The Flight of Falcon and Dragon

by LuisLass

Pokémon ORAS (Specifically Omega Ruby). Seven years after becoming the new Pokémon Champion of Hoenn and saving the world. Brendan is now the defending Champion on Ever Grande City, but his life has become a solitary path with almost everyone growing distant from him. That is until a Draconid lady came back to his life, changing everything with just one night.

33. Chapter 33 - Aqua

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or its characters.

Author's Notes: Hey... I told you guys that I would release two chapters at the same time and all that. But seeing how much time I am taking to make those two in particular, I am just going to released chapter 33 and then continue to work on 34. I made a few adjustments to this one so it would make more sense without chapter 34, but oh well... Here it goes nothing, I guess.

---

"When we will start this?" One of the least patience trainers raised the question that most of them have at the moment.

Steven spared a glance at Brendan, seeing as the youngest was the one at the head of this strike force everyone is basically waiting for his approval for anything. As for the big champion himself… well, this pressure and expectation are not easy to deal with as he had spent most of his early adult life as a closed-in workaholic, and not really building leading or even proper communication skills.

Brendan looked at the overexcited man, giving him an off look. "We are still waiting for someone." He answers the question only to have twenty more being tossed at him. The poor young man had to close his eyes and rub the bridge of his nose to quell the forming headache.

"Please… rest your voice for a moment." Steven addressed the agitated crowd, getting their attention to him as he walked in front of his friend. "Brendan, let's at least coordinate the groups and the proper point of attack for each of them."

"I suggest that we focus on Mauville City and Slateport City." Wally added in before Brendan could say anything. "Things sound pretty dire there, kinda worrying dire. Plus, if we liberate those key spots, they will lose access to the TV news network and the biggest port of Hoenn."

"Sounds good." Brendan replied, giving his green-haired friend an approving grin. "We should spread everyone in two big and impactful groups instead of spreading us too thin."

"Hm… If we overtake them in a quick swoop, then we can spread on other groups from there and help the smaller towns." Steven nodded in accordance. "That can work. If we want to properly execute this, then some leaders should be designated to each group to make the proper call in the heat of the moment."

"Steven, can you lead the group to Slateport?" Brendan asked his silver-haired friend, who looked at him with a raised eyebrow for a moment but then just nodded. "Drake, I want you to take charge of the second group."

"That would be no problem, but what about you kid?" Drake tapped the tip of his hat, giving Brendan a curious look. "It sounds a bit strange for the one rallying everyone to not be in charge of one of those groups."

"I will not be going with you." He replied with a stern look in his glowing ruby eyes. "That giant floating thing is still out there. I have a hunch that whenever we start to fight back, they will retaliate using that as an advantage."

"So, you're going there and stopping that thing by yourself?" Drake asked back.

"Not alone…" Brendan's voice responded to the old dragon tamer, but it didn't come from the boy standing in the middle of the crowd. "I will follow him, even if he jumps into a dark damp hole." Spiegel's interjection stole a lot of gasps and whisper, people looking at him at his lone spot in the corner of the square.

"Of course, he is not doing this alone." Zinnia let her voice sound loud and clear. She walked with her commanding and strong stance, stopping right next to her boyfriend and clapping him on the shoulder. "As if I would let my cute Brenny risk his pretty little neck all by himself."

Brendan exchanged looks with his girlfriend, she staring at him with the biggest grin ever, while he just quirks his eyebrows a little bit. "As you can see old-man. I am not alone in this." He replied to Drake with a smile of his own.

"HEEEELLOOO PEOPLE!" An echoing voice sounded from above the town, catching every spectator by surprise, their shock, however, was pale and weak in comparison to how they felt when the ground shook and their feet suddenly got ejected into the air as a massive body slammed down at the open space between the sole trees of the plaza. With eyes as open as they could get, every trainer glanced to their left, their gaze landing on the impressive form of a legendary Pokémon. To their wonder and a bit of fear, Lugia spread his wings far wide and unleashed a powerful roar, making even the member of Hoenn's Elite Four protected their ears from that monstrous sound.

Ethan stared down at the mesmerized faces of his audience and his satisfaction skyrocketed, especially after his lackluster response to the abandoned city of Rustboro. Sitting behind him, embracing his body with a tight and strong grip, is a distressed red-haired. Silver still shivering from his companion's crazy shenanigans, he felt his heart slow down a bit after their explosive landing and as his nerves got back on track, he made a casual low sound on the back of his throat and jumped down of the white giant bird. Sadly, for the poor boy, despite his best attempt to play cool he made a little show of himself as he walked away from Lugia, legs wobbling and weak after the whole ordeal.

The golden-eyed star jumped down from his trusted Legendary Pokémon with much more class and poise than his lover did. Ethan landed down with a cool pose, holding his head down to hide his bright smirk. "So," He called out to the still dumbfounded crowd. "Are you guys ready to dismantle this invasion?"

Be his stern sounding question or his remarkable entrance, everyone's went into a frenzy of shouts and heated words after Ethan's words, boosting their own moral to the fight ahead of them.

The now beaming Johto's champion, trailed next to his red-eyed friend, giving Brendan a healthy clap on his back. "Are you ready?" He asked his friend directly.

Brendan nodded and clapped Ethan back on his back with the same amount of strength. "You bet."

"Good, because I will need you to be." Ethan's golden eyes traveled all around searching for the sapphire-eyed boy and as he found him, a soft grin broke his lips apart. "Both of you." Taking two fingers to his lips, Ethan blew a loud and fierce whistle, the sound of it breaching even the energetic voice of the numerous trainers around them.

A little ball of little floated down from above, swirling a couple of times around Ethan and then settling at a comfy spot on his hair. "No candy?" Echoed a soft child-like voice, a voice that only three people out of everyone here could hear.

"I gave you candy not that long ago, don't be greedy." Ethan waved one finger in disapproval, the little ball of light on top of him making a sad little sound and them losing its shine, taking the form of a green little Pokémon. "See this guy right here?" Giving her small frame a few tickles with his fingers, Ethan pushed her moody features away and quickly pointed to Brendan right in front of him.

Celebi brought her huge eyes to the young champion's face and nodded.

"He will give you lots of candy." Ethan said with a wicked grin. "He has a huge treasure chest full of candies, every flavor, and every color." The little timekeeper stared at Brendan as if he was made of candy himself, her eyes getting even bigger and her little mouth wide open with awe. "But, he will only share with you if you do us a small favor."

"I'll do it!" Celebi replied right away, her tiny voice sounding a lot more powerful now. Even forgetting about her shyness, the small onion-head floated up and away from Ethan's head and slowly floating closer to Brendan. "What you want?" She asked the red-eyed champion himself. "A small peek in the past or a little stop two days ahead… I'll help you, but the meanie will be angry."

"Ah... Ethan?" Brendan diverted his eyes away from the eager Pokémon dangling in front of him. "I don't have any-"

"SIMPLER THAN THAT!" Ethan shouted in an attempt to overlap Brendan's voice, which he managed to do quite well as Celebi turned back again to look at him. With two large steps, he quickly went to his friend's side and locked him in a neck hold. 'Just go with it and feed her any candy you can find.' He whispered for only to Brendan to hear, making the brown-haired youth even more confused. "So, here is the deal my adventurous short-stuff. I need you to stay with Brendan for the time being and help me communicate with him through our link."

"Just that…?" Celebi eyed her long-time friend with a shadow of suspicion in her eyes.

"Yep." Ethan replied with a bright grin. "Easy as that."

"Okay… I can do it." Celebi gave a little nod and a small smile to the two of them, she then went up and sat upon Brendan's head. "The meanie will not get mad with just this."

"You're amazing as always." Ethan's words and the small pat he gave her in the head made Celebi smile even more, her little feet dancing up and down. To everyone's strangeness to the scene, Ethan crouched beside Brendan and sunk his hand onto one of his friend's pockets. "Oh… look at this!" He proclaimed with an exaggerated act, then yanked his hand out carrying a little bag of round candies with it. "Look, he is the king of candies!" He raised the small bag in front of Celebi, his other hand going to his mouth as he faked surprise.

"Ooohhh." Poor Celebi fell way too easily to the foxy trainer's act, she stared at the candies with sparkly eyes, giving a few glances down to Brendan.

Brendan, Steven, Wally, and Zinnia all stared at Ethan as if he had a second head. His behavior always fled the ground of common sense, but now he was a standing a bit far from that line. And yet, to the golden-eyed menace's pleasure, the crowd gasped and applauded his little trick of magic. The youngsters of the trainers being the more impressed by his display, of course a pair of sapphire eyes watched Ethan smile and bow his head to his audience, a whimsical curiosity taking over Spiegel.

Ethan eyed Brendan again, giving him a stern look for the first time since he arrived. "Brendan, while we will be all busy, fighting and all that stuff. I will leave my little friend here with you. That way we will be able to talk with each other in a split of a moment. Please, take care of her and keep her safe."

"E-E-Ethan…" Celebi's voice stuttered, her little body trembling as she clenched the small bag of candies close to her. "The meanie…"

He didn't need her warning to feel it, Ethan felt all to well the immense pressure looming from the sky. It felt like the height of the world itself was coming down on top of him. The bubbly, happy and easygoing champion froze in place, a scowl twisting his expression. To say that Ethan's sudden change scared everyone is an understatement, the people who were laughing and cheering up ever since his appearance, all went silent and cold with fear.

Jerking his body forward, Ethan started a reckless sprint. "Brendan, you take care of her!" He shouted without turning, hastily making way to Lugia on the other side of the open area. The giant Legendary, who was gazing upwards to the sky in a frantic manner, only waited until Ethan jumped to his back, then with a mighty roar, the mighty Pokémon took off to the sky, vanishing away from view behind the clouds.

As Ethan fled Ever Grande, a gigantic shadow enveloped the entire island. It felt as if the sun had gone cold and hiding, making a twilight scene out of the early noon. Then from within the grey raging clouds, the figure of an impossibly large phoenix stormed down onto the town. People screamed and cowered in fear as Ho-Oh soared down upon them. The might beast flew so close that the trees bent down, creaking sounds coming from them as gushes of wind wiped any dust from the ground. With a spare glance to the people bellow him, Ho-Oh searched for his target and found a feint trance of him, a lead, that was enough for the imposing Phoenix to cry loudly, painfully and deafening loudly, then fly at high speed after his runaway guardian.

"What… W-what was that?" Wally asked, still holding both hands against his ears.

"I don't know." Brendan replied, looking just as shocked as everyone else.

"That's the meanie… That one was Ho-Oh, the ruler of Johto." Celebi's replied sounded like nothing more as an afraid little cry for everyone else besides a certain duo of trainers.

"Ho-Oh?" Brendan said, looking upwards but failing to see the small green Pokémon on top of his head. "Wait, isn't that the deity he spoke about? Why is Ho-Oh here and why are you two so scared of him?"

"I don't know why he is here…" She replied still shivering. "But he is a meanie, that's why we don't like him… At least I don't."

Steven chuckled from his spot, surprisingly enough he looked unfazed by the whole ordeal. "You were right about something." He said to Brendan. "What a crazy first impression he gave me, wow."

"We were waiting for that guy, right?" Wally asked. "Now what?"

With the question laid to him, Brendan diverted his gaze upwards to the sky. He watched the board vacuum line Ho-Oh left on the sea of clouds, like a searing arrow flying towards its victim. 'Is he going to be okay?'

---

To cross the skies in a rocket-speed is a little feat that Ethan is more than accustomed to by this point in his life, but doing so while frantically swinging his head left and right is wearing him down more than he expected to.

"C… C… Can you sense anything?" His voice cracked, his jaw having a hard time to move properly against the harsh winds.

"Why are you asking me? You're the one bound to him." Lugia spat angrily, the giant bird avoiding each clump of clouds in awareness of what could be inside.

"STOP!" Ethan shouted suddenly, his agitated voice startling Lugia.

As the young human asked, Lugia stopped in a rough swing of his wings, forcing Ethan to hold the bird's feathers with a life-saving grip. A whooshing sound echoed from the right, and then a swift shadow crossed from the left, at each movement an eerie mood settling around the two.

'He looks pissed…' Ethan straightened himself on Lugia's back, whispering these words as he did so.

"Is my feisty guardian afraid?" Ho-Oh's deep voice sounded from everywhere.

"Ha! You know that is not possible." Ethan replied with a confident grin.

A gush of wind flew in from behind, forcing Lugia to raise his height. "Then why did you flee?"

"Come on Ho-Oh, give me some credit. You took my ability of feeling fear, but not my self-preserving instincts." Ethan said with a sigh. "What you expected me to do when you dive bomb the place with a furious killer intent aimed at me?"

"Hoo… I can take those words as a declaration of respect coming from you?" A vigorous laugh exploded from the Phoenix, making Lugia and Ethan feel chills in their skins. Casting shadow over the already massive Lugia, Ho-Oh erupted from the clouds right in front of the white bird, rainbow quills shining with the power of the sun. "How pleasing to see such humbling act coming from you."

"Yeah, humbling and respectful… all the joy to you. Now, have you come here just to scare the pants out of everybody or…?"

"Here comes the defying tongue again… such is life." Ho-Oh said not too pleased, but not visible angry. "I warned you of the impending danger, yet you have not heeded my words. Have you made up your mind? It is not too late to leave this land behind and avoid the ever consuming darkness."

"Sorry man, no can do." Ethan replied with a simple waving of her hand. "I am not as spineless to just care about my own skin and leave these people to their own luck. Besides, it would not be very 'guardian' of me to just run away when things get hard, would it?"

"Indeed… Have it your way, Ethan. I will respect your choice and I will overlook your little transgression this morning with a certain time-keeper who doesn't keep the strings of time away from you."

"Really?" Ethan beamed with a bright smirk. "Then, have you give any thoughts of actually helping in this?"

"Don't push it, boy." Ho-Oh's stern response just made the goofy trainer laugh right back at him. "Although… I see fit to share something with you. A gift, if you will…" Unleashing a bold, beautiful cry, Ho-Oh spread his wings against the sunlight, two rainbows raining down from him. From this shower of light, two little feathers slowly floated down, pairing in front of Ethan, waiting to be picked up.

Ethan reached forward with one hand, taking the marvelous quills in his fingers and bringing them closer. Then within his grasp still, one of the feathers set itself ablaze, even burning the young champion slightly.

"Gaaah! What was that for?" He glared at his patron with a pair of angry golden eyes.

Ho-Oh chuckled and shook his head. "To make your ambitions true in this dooming ordeal, I am sharing the power of miracles with you." The might Phoenix got closer, pointing with his golden peck to the ashes lingering on Ethan's hand. "One feather for one miracle. As you can see, you already wasted one."

"What?! How did I waste a miracle in the middle of nowhere?" He spat back to the massive red bird.

"To see where your eyes cannot. I don't have the gift of omnipresence, neither do you. Only with a miracle can you reach your enemies before they set the world on ruins." From Ho-Oh two beams of light erupted and traveled from him to the sky, making clear serpentine roads to two specific locations in Hoenn. "Follow the lights and you shall meet your foes." Letting his own body be lit in burning flames, Ho-Oh cried loudly and flapped his wings in powerful yet graceful movements, taking flight to the heights even higher. "Make haste my champion, and pray that you do not meet the embodiment of hatred."

Ethan looked to the two trails, somewhat recognizing both places where they traveled to. "A golden road to the treasure chest, huh?" He hummed a little song and grinned as he closed his eyes and concentrated his thoughts. "Every tale needs its ending. This is yours, Giovanni."

---

"Brendan, I stayed mostly quiet the whole time before. But we can't stay put and keep waiting for Ethan." Zinnia interjected in the middle of the group for the first time. "He is quite strange, remember all the antics he pulled on us when you asked him to teach you some stuff?"

Brendan sighed, deeply. He clearly remembers the exhaustive process of keeping up with his senior guardian. "I… when you put it like that…"

From one of the corners, a silent red-haired covered his face in embarrassment. He was present in most of said antics of his boyfriend and was even the cause of one of them, when Ethan refused to leave his bed until Silver said good morning to him, to which the proud and hardheaded boy refused to comply just to spite the other one.

"Bi!" A sudden noise echoed from atop of Brendan's head, Celebi closing her eyes and her cute little antennas twitching wildly as she concentrated.

"Hello… Brendan, can you hear me over there?" Out of nowhere, Ethan's voice began to broadcast from within Celebi's little body.

"Ethan?! Yeah… We can hear you." Brendan decided to say we as differently from whenever Celebi was talking, everyone paid attention to Ethan's words clearly hearing him. "Are you okay? Ho-Oh almost squished Ever Grande and then chase madly after you."

"Haha, don't worry about me, I am fine and dandy. Ho-Oh just wanted to give us some spooks, he is funny like that." Ethan's carefree laugh sounded off, getting a strange echo as his voice got overshadowed by strong blows of wind. "Listen, I just had a quick chat with the big guy himself and after some strategic moves coming by yours truly, he helped me track two of our major objectives."

Steven quirked a brow, he stepped forward and closer to Brendan, unsure of how to communicate properly with this trainer, but letting his voice sing anyway. "You may want to get up to speed with the meeting we are having." The stone-scion said stoically. "We decided to strike and liberate Mauville and Slateport, those are our major objectives."

"Who's that?" Ethan voiced his confusion over the third voice. "Never mind, that doesn't matter now. Cool ideas bro, I liked it a lot. Cut their means of communication and the massive entrance port, really like it, proud of ya. But there is an even bigger fish we need to fry. Giovanni brought two dangerous creatures over to Hoenn and if we don't stop them before they merge their powers…"

"Giratina." While the common reaction from Brendan's words was a silent confusion, a soft gasp could be heard from within the group. Steven was the one to notice it the most, taking some time to glance from Brendan to a disturbed Cynthia.

"Bingo. So, you know about the big baddie, huh?"

"A little bit." Brendan responded. "Rayquaza warned me about this creature and how important it is to stop it from coming forward."

"That is the thing. Ho-Oh gave me the exact location of those two. I don't know exactly who is where, but I do know this… Palkia and Dialga… One is being kept in Sootopolis, somewhere deep down in there and the other at the top of Mt. Chimney." Another powerful gush of wind interrupted Ethan's speech, showing how fast he is traveling while talking. "Right now, I am going to Mt. Chimney, since is the farthest place from Ever Grande. Someone needs to answer the other part on Sootopolis."

"I will go." An almost instant reply came from behind the crowd. People turned in surprise to once again stare at Spiegel's unfazed expression. "I will deal with whatever is in Sootopolis."

Brendan looked at his other-self, gut-wrenching guilt flared inside of him. Biting his lower lip in frustration and anger, he slowly lowered his head before talking. "Are you sure?"

Spiegel snorted, waving one hand in front of him in dismissal. "I told you yesterday, it has to be me."

"I AM GOING too!" Flannery's voice stormed from behind the blue-eyed youth, even startling him.

Looking back at the red-haired fiery girl, Spiegel allowed himself a short but grateful smile which soon turned into a stern frown. "That you will not." He replied without a hint of warmth in his words. "This is my job and I am doing this alone."

"WHAT?! WHY?" She looked at him with a watchful glare. "They said that something bad is hiding in there, MAKES NO SENSE for you to go alone."

"It is not up to debate!" Spiegel growled angrily, his sapphire eyes throwing a piercing glare back to the girl, making Flannery take two steps backward. "If you want to help, do whatever Brendan asks you to. I will be going alone and that's final." With that said, Spiegel promptly stepped away from the center of the city, leaving a dumbfounded and even hostile group of witnesses glaring at his back. From the people's point of view, he had no need to be so rude to the poor Gym Leader and the fact that a few tears glowed on the side of her eyes, only serves to make their dislike grow bigger.

"Spiegel, wait!" Flannery went right after him.

"Hey Brendan, a have another heads-up for you all." Ethan's voice pulled everyone's attention back to Celebi. "Just moments ago, I sighted Giovanni's flying toy. They were heading very fast towards that huge tower close to Sootopolis. Whatever it is, he is in a hurry."

"Sky Pillar?" Brendan shared a quick glance with Zinnia. "I got it, I will go after them."

"We will." The draconic girl quickly corrected her lover, to which he obliged with a single nod and a short grin.

"Ah, do me a favor, will ya. Please take Silver with you. Not only he will be a helpful guide while dealing with Rainbow Rocket, he… he also has some stuff to get straight with his old man."

Brendan noticed the grumpy red-haired young man walking closer to the crowd, still maintaining his self-space. Silver looked over to Brendan and gave him a firm nod, receiving a nod himself from the young champion. "Okay, we will go there together."

"Cool, we will talk again later…" A strange silence remained but Ethan's presence had not left Celebi's concentration, he measured the worlds and the height of their mission. "Brendan, when everything is done and over with, I will buy you a drink. Good luck out there, champ."

"Yeah… good luck to you too." In the mere seconds of hesitation Brendan took to say the words back, Celebi had already opened her eyes, weakly laying down over his soft hair. Letting out a soft whimper, being visibly tired, the tiny green Pokémon hugged her little bag of candies in a vain effort to hold onto it as her body slowly vanished back to her little special place. Soon, her valuable possession fell on the ground; she was gone from Ever Grande.

"This is it then?" Steven stepped forward. "Should we commence it now?"

Taking a forward step, Brendan tapped the back of his right hand on his friend's chest, giving him a wide smile. "Let's take Hoenn back."

A deafening roar exploded, trainers letting their voices echo loudly without recourse. The most experienced among them quickly getting the other's attention and organizing a functioning party next to their two pillars, Steven and Drake. With this rush of people going everywhere and talking all over each other, Brendan had little room to say anything else to Steven, Wally, May or even his colleagues of the Elite Four. Yet, seeing his people so heated and ready to defend themselves, that imagery brought a huge smile to his face.

Carried away in his own thoughts, the young champion of Hoenn failed to notice the girl and the boy circling closer to him, only breaking his little trance when Zinnia gave him a small tug on his arm.

"Let's go?" She called to him.

"Sure… just give me one brief moment." Brendan brought Zinnia close to him, grazing her cheek with one of his thumbs. "You two go over the sea of flowers and get the king of dragons up to speed. I will meet you two there."

"This again?" Zinnia frowned at him, putting both hands on her waist. "Really Brendan, what is going on with you two?"

Even if it is not something Brendan likes to do and he truly hates to make his draconid girlfriend mad, but he just ignored her words, turning around and walking away.

'Sorry, Zinnia… This is between us.' He raised a hand above his shoulders, giving a weak little wave to her.

---

"I WILL NOT accept this." Flannery's voice raged on the silent steps to the waterfalls. Despite her best efforts, he was not stopping or slowing down. So she did the only thing she could do and grabbed his arm, pulling him forcedly back and getting in front of him. "Spiegel, you promised me. You promised that you were not hiding anything… What is this?"

He looked away, making sure that his eyes were fixated the grass next to his feet.

"TELL ME!"

"I can't!"

Finally getting a proper reply from him caught Flannery's off-guard, it was an answer and a confirmation of sorts, but now she was just getting angrier. "I can't understand you… In one moment you are the sweetest person I've ever met, then the other you are this bitter man full of secrets. Which one is the real you? I… I can't do this if you're going to flip like that at a moment's notice." She stared at him, waiting for any reply. As the seconds passed and he remained there, looking down and away from her, she felt her chest get tight and her patience getting smaller. "If you're not going to talk, then…"

Flannery released her grip on his arm and walked past him, fighting the urge to spot and look at her side, as she stood right next to him.

"I don't want you to get hurt." He said in quiet desperation, his words flying out of his mouth as soon as he felt her getting farther away from him.

Hearing him, Flannery stopped. She turned around and looked at his back. She noticed his frame shrinking down a bit, shoulders trembling and even his loose arm quivering while he stood there on the same spot. "You're hurting me right now." She replied back and walked away, making a slow trip back to the city.

That hurt, those words coming from such an innocent and sweet girl almost broke Spiegel down in half. He wanted to do the right thing, turn his heels around and run right after her, to get closer to her and never let her go away. Yet, the fact that he cannot is making this ten times worse than it already was.

"You don't need to do this." Brendan walked out from behind one of the trees of the path. His uninvited comment earned him a heated glare from his other-self.

"Don't I? If I don't do it, then what is going to happen?" Spiegel spat back, turning to the right to properly look at Brendan.

Brendan frowned in his lack of answer, even worse; in his guilt, he forced his gaze away from the other boy. "Last night… You said that you don't believe him." His eyes darted back to those sapphire gems. "That Rayquaza is wrong, so why are you so hell-bent in doing this alone?"

Spiegel sighed, resting his good arm on the back of his neck. "I don't and I don't want to believe that dragon. If I am right, then I will prove for him, once and for all, my worth, but… If by any chance, I am wrong... If it was you in my place, would you bring Zinnia with you?"

"No… Never…"

A shy smirk parted the blue-eyed boy's lips apart. "It just hurts to think that in the end, if I make her hate me too much, Flannery will just resent and then forget about me."

"She won't. I've known that crazy girl for a long time. She is way too nice and caring to think that way." Brendan curses softly under his breath, he stressed this idea on the back of his mind the entire night, but now is finding more and more difficult to accept it. "Spiegel, maybe we…"

"Stop!" He cut his twin before he could say something stupid. "I accepted this. Not for you or because I am some altruistic saint. This is the right thing to do for everyone. Brendan, it has to be me."

"With you speaking like that… it really feels like you are my stupid younger brother."

"Ha! You wish! I am the older one."

They shared a warm laugh for a good couple of minutes. Spiegel letting his woes escape from his in this way, while Brendan is letting something else escape, some cold tears at the corner of his eyes.

"You know what? I will side with you on this one." He said sheepishly, getting a quirk from Spiegel's eyebrows. "Here." Brendan took one Poké-Ball out of his pockets and presented it to his twin. "I will have faith in you and to make sure that you win the bet. Take this friend with you… He helped me a lot when I was in danger."

Spiegel took the little ball in his hands, giving it a long stare for a few moments and then glancing upwards to Brendan's expecting red gaze.

"Ah-ah! Don't open it until you need it." Brendan said with a jesting tone. "Let's keep this one a surprise."

The blue-eyed twin shook his head at Brendan's antics, yet his grin was getting bigger and bigger, a warm sensation crossing over his chest over this small act. "It doesn't matter who is inside. I have faith in them, in every single one of them… It may be just a fabrication of my head but to me… they are my best friends in the world."

"He will be glad to know that." Brendan replied with a bright smile. "Take care out there, brother."

With mouth open and words at the tip of his tongue, Spiegel failed to reply. He gagged, sniffled and sobbed. Surprising Brendan and even more himself, the sapphire-eyed boy dashed forward and embraced his twin in a tight hug, even ignoring the annoying pain that he feels in his broken arm in this position.

"Yeah…" He said weakly. "See you later… brother." In his moment of fragility, Spiegel failed to notice a sudden movement on his twin's part. Without making a sound to it, Brendan slid downwards on the height of his so-called brother and sneaked a little rock inside one of Spiegel's pockets.

---

Landing on the secluded sea-hugged city was like a strange déjà vu. Silent, grey and devoid of any warm, a copy image of Rustboro minus the rampant destruction. Walking on that desolated mess with Ethan by his side was a jarring experience in itself, but doing it now by himself is a terrifying thing to do. Feeling his cold feeling creeping up on his skin, Spiegel took his own time to wander inside the isolated place.

Took little time after stepping inside the more house populated part of Sootopolis for a strange chorus of groans and other muffled noises to appear. Still having some images from that haunted hospital stuck in his mind, Spiegel felt difficult to proceed forward, making his pacing twice as slow, that until he spotted the source of said voices; a group of knocked out innocent citizens, most lying with their bellies against the ground.

Forgetting about his fears and traumas, Spiegel darted over to them, kneeling in front of a couple of young trainers. "Hey, can you two hear me?" He carefully pushed the boy with a strong tug on his back but got no response other than a pained grunt. "What happened here?" He raised his gaze to the rest of the people in the same condition. "Is anyone conscious here?!"

"B-Brendan…" A weak male voice sounded in a reply.

"Wallace?!" Spiegel jumped, getting straight on his feet. Running towards Sootopolis' famous fashionista, he grabbed Wallace before his wobbling legs gave out and his body could fall on the street's floor. "Why is everyone like this? Who did this?"

"I-I… I tried to stop her… That thing was too strong…" the older man fell like a ragdoll on Spiegel's arms, in his last strengths he forced one hand up and pointed to the center of Sootopolis. "Stop… her…" After handing his desperate plea, Wallace gave out like the rest of the city.

Carefully resting Wallace on the warm concrete floor, Spiegel turned his gaze to the ominous gape-open entrance of the fabled cave. From his memories, he knows this place, Brendan's memories. The time where he went after Groudon and stopped the giant ruby titan from destroying the world.

Normally, the young doppelganger would feel thrilled to get a chance to live what his other self once experienced, a real heroic adventure. However…

'What now echoes twice shall once again return to one.' Brendan's words from last night crossed Spiegel's mind once again.

'Tomorrow, a light will vanish from this world. So thousands more may keep shining.'

The dragon king's prophecy scared Brendan out of his mind, the poor champion barely had any sleep last night with the turmoil that was taking place inside his head. Spiegel, on the other hand, feels almost close to nothing, for he has not a doubt in his mind that…

"It has to be me." Steeling his nerves to what he offered himself to, the young trainer took a long breath and then marched head-on inside the mythical cave of origins.

---

The sound of running magma echoes faintly inside this place, like a calm river just witnessing the true display of sounds and light at the core of this place. Massive crystals popping out from the river of flames, pink in color and light but sparkling with a reddish glow. From the ceiling hangs the source of every energy floating within this place of power, a truly beautiful and terrifying formation of upside-down spires of glowing yellowish crystals, trembling with energy, sending jolts across the room, the very definition of legendary.

"Ah… For a moment, I thought the brilliant young champion had grassed me with his company." The busty blond woman, second in charge of Rainbow Rocket, called out from the middle of the room. "But it seems that it is the failure who has come instead."

Standing passively on top of a little rock elevation at the other side of the room, Leyla is quietly observing the glowing power source. Different than every other occasion, this time she is wearing a very eye-catching attire, made of a black buttoned shirt with long arms, the top three buttons out of their sockets, letting her large bosom almost completely at view, save only by her athletic red bra. On her lower side, she is using a long dress; a battle styled one, dark and black as her shirt with an open gap on the left side, making her thigh very visible. Lastly, are those hard-leather grey high heels boots, enhancing her already big stature.

She turned her eyes away from the glowing majesty in front of her, making a disgusted face as he addressed Spiegel's arrival.

"Why are you here?" He asked, not making any efforts to hide his own displeased frown. "This is a sacred place; your type is not welcomed here."

"My type?" The mature-looking woman busted in a fit of laughter. "And what is my type? Could you spare a few words explaining or is that too hard for your, abomination?"

Her insult managed to grind on his nerves, making the young doppelganger step forward and away from the entrance, baring his teeth at her. "Why did you attack them? They are innocent people!"

"Another assumption of yours. Listen, dear, I didn't move a finger." She replied with a shrug. "Those annoying peasants made very clear they would stay in my way, so my escort here simplified the situation." She showed an evil grin on her lips, and then waved her head upwards, pointing to something above them.

Spiegel's gaze followed her motion, his sapphire-colored eyes soon landing on the sight of a massive creature floating just behind the giant upside-down formation of crystals. The pinkish biped dragon glared down at him, its red eyes shining with a murderous glint. Palkia crooked its head to the side, letting out a monstrous roar.

The young man froze for a moment; the howling feeling was way too real as that deep voice resonated inside his mind. 'One light for a thousand others…' Spiegel repeated this sentence inside his head, this mantra giving him the strength to push his hesitation away and letting him approach even further inside the unstable cave.

"Whatever you're doing down here, It has to end." He said, glaring at Leyla. "This is my mission and I will do it, no matter the cost."

"Ho… bold words. Such a big statement for someone so… little." She spat with a notion of dismissal, clearly not threatened by a boy who has only one functioning arm and a trembling semblance on his face. "Oh well, it falls to the hands of the leaders to clean up the messes of their lesser… You, my deluded freak, is a mess of our own creation… WHICH I WILL BE CLEANING NOW!"

Letting out a terrible screech, the crazed woman did an impressive midair spin, three Poké-Balls flying out from her dancing long skirt and landing right in front of Spiegel. One Magmortar, an aggressively angered Electivire and a swift Gliscor appeared from within their balls, each posing their own size of threat and with three different levels of rabid rage to their eyes.

Spiegel fumbled in with his pockets in subtle desperation, taking out his Poké-Balls proving to be an excessively hard task with one of his arms, his best one, mostly unusable inside that casket. Still in his struggle, he tossed his original set of three Poké-Balls in front of him, his team of three popping up, promptly staring up against their opposition.

There was no more trade of jabs or any commentary at all, the two trainers only stared at each other and poised themselves to the battle ahead of them.

Leyla stepped forward, sweeping her right arm forward. "Magmortar, use Fire Blast." She yelled her command and her large fire Pokémon responded.

Rocking both arms upwards, Magmortar unleashed an inferno of flames towards the three Pokémon in front of him at the same time. Spiegel's team reacted in instant time, no words needed; Armaldo in his heavy frame dodged backward, Absol jumped above the fire wave and landing next to the flying purple bat, Sandslash dug herself a short tunnel from her spot all the way to the ground below Electivire.

From there, Absol and Sandslash engaged their opponent in a close battle, with the fierce earth crawler digging up a hole, jumping right up to the surface to deliver a powerful slash and them digging right back down. Absol just refrained his moves to keep Gliscor from ever taking flight.

Watching the start of a disparity on their duel, Leyla gritted her teeth in anger. "Electivire, just blast a massive Thunder Bolt inside one of those holes, THEY ARE CONNECTED!" She spat madly in anger. "Magmortar, just don't stand there, blow that stupid Absol to bits." As she wailed her order as a mad banshee, their Pokémon looked as if they were getting more and more enraged, in reaction to that also getting stronger.

Electivire roared pounded his chest, the sound almost too loud as if he was breaking his bones or tearing his muscles at each pound. Lightning began to crackle at the tip of his hands and then he clashed both members against the ground, unleashing a devastating storm of thunder inside the tunnels. Yet, from all the noise he was making with his attack, he and his trainer failed to notice the shuffling sound coming from right below his feet. Sure enough, Sandslash came flying from the ground, talking the huge electric ape on the ground, face first inside one of the holes. As the earth-spiky Pokémon casually danced between the yellow rays coming from the holes, Electivire ate one portion of his own thunder without any chance to defend himself.

Right behind those two, Magmortar is aiming with his right arm at the white canine struggling with Gliscor. Molten energy forming at the gaping black hole at the fire-type cannon, ready to unleash its fury on the unsuspecting Absol. Then, the huge weight of Armaldo's claw clashed against Magmortar's back, making the impressive beast whimper in pain and tumble forward, losing all the energy he was amassing on his hand.

Leyla watched the scenes unfold in front of her eyes, her nerves grinding and a vein almost popping from her forehead. "What are you two doing…?" She hissed through her clenched teeth. She then threw a dagger-sharp glare at Spiegel, sizing him up with a sense of disbelief in her eyes. "No commands… He said nothing, and I am loosing?" She said to herself a bit too loudly, her words succeeding in reaching the young man's ears.

Seeing her clear shock in the difference, Spiegel just scoffed at the blond woman. "You called me a failure and a freak." He said, a slight frown forming in his features. "But you fail to realize something. In here." Taking his usable arm up, he tapped his left temple. "Everything that Brendan is, is right here, inside my head. You and him… that's a difference in skill that is meaningless to try and measure how much it is. With that said, you have no chance of beating me."

His provocation worked like a charm as the blond woman snarled at him with full spite. However, how much she wants to open her mouth and denial everything that the boy just said to her, the gap between their skills is way too huge and blatant. Someway, somehow, his team is coordinated enough to match her own movements without a word coming from him. This realization brought up an immense sense of dread to the otherwise confident Enforcer, but with his hopeless feeling also came desperation.

"Ha… hahaha…. HAHAHAHAHA!" As if taken by madness, Leyla tossed her arms upwards and began to laugh away. From one of her hands, a distracting glint shining true. A round black sphere, which is reflecting the powerful light from the upside-down pillars above. "But of course, what else could I expect from a guardian. Abomination or not, still you are made from the invincible champion's cells. But, this is far from over… boy." She clenched the dark sphere on her hands, and Palkia responded with a frenzied screech.

Palkia's pained voice echoed all around, the majestic Pokémon trashing and growling, obviously suffering from whatever she did to him.

"Magmortar, use Overheat." Leyla commanded; her voice surprisingly calm and tempered.

Following his mater command, Magmortar let his body be consumed by a coat of fire. Using this newfound energy enveloping his form, the fire-Pokémon threw himself at the closed target next to him, the stern Armaldo.

Reading his opponent's move, Armaldo stepped to the left, letting the already cracked ground carry his weight away from the attack. Magmortar speed by Armaldo's side like a derailed truck, missing his target.

A wicked smirk crossed Leyla's lips as he waited for the inevitable.

Therefore, the inevitable, the impossible happened. Magmortar's huge and heavy body just vanished from his spot, as if a thin layer of cloth was just blown away by a gush of wind, he disappeared. It was too quick, rather, to sudden for Armaldo do respond as his opponent just appeared in front of him, out of nowhere the attack that has just missed its mark, now clashed at full force and twice the speed against the blue chitin of the unsuspecting Pokémon.

Spiegel's eyes widened in surprise. He, who was in the advantage of their battle, now saw one of his Pokémon be completely knocked out from just one attack, even worse, that attack was an impossible one. He saw with his own eyes that Magmortar miss his mark by a large margin, then he vanished and his attack stroked true anyway.

"Electivire!" Leyla called out to her yellow menace. "Let's repay that rat for that one, use all that electricity that hit you and unleash a Charge Beam."

A heavy fist exploded on the ground, Electivire clearly furious from his last attempt. The electric beast got back on his feet and began to amass a ridiculous amount of energy on his body.

"Sandslash, get away from his body and make a circular line around him!" Spiegel shouted in response.

Again, with the heavy pounding to his own chest, Electivire began to unleash his power, eyes fully locked on Sandslash spinning form. Without even thinking if he had the target in his line of fire, Electivire shot a massive beam of energy, burning even the already scorched ground.

Then the sound of a soft snap of fingers sounded. From where Sandslash had quickly rolled away, safely from the attack, Absol appeared there out of nowhere. From then out, everything happened too quickly, the destructive beam clashed on the poor Pokémon's small frame, making it fly fast and high, with its landing destination being the hot lava below. Before the white disaster Pokémon could fall to his death, Spiegel called him back to his Pokémon, leaving only Sandslash standing.

"Well… You were saying?" Leyla said with a huge smug grin.

"GRRRAAAH! CEASE THIS! RELEASE ME!" Palkia released another roar of pain, this time the entire cave trembling at the sound of its voice. Then right after the structure had quieted down from its quivering, another massive bang came in, but this time echoing from outside.

'Boy, like we planned; I will breach the cave in just a couple minutes, just hang in there.' Kyogre's voice sounded inside Spiegel's mind.

While he tried to reply anything to the blue titan, his shock is way too big and dampening. Once more, he watched closely and carefully as the events happened in front of him, but it was all too surreal for him. Leyla's Pokémon are still just as clumsy and slow as they were before, it should be impossible for them to beat any Pokémon from his team, yet, reality itself was bending just to make the outcome different.

"No… not reality… Space!" He pondered with a faint whisper.

Sandslash's cries of distress woke the sapphire-eyed trainer from his daydreams. Spiegel shot his gaze upwards just to see her flying into the air with crackled of lightning and sparkles of ember marking her tilted stone-quills. With a sultry clashing sound, his land standing Pokémon fell on the ground just in front of him, her eyes already closed and not showing signs of opening any time soon.

"Oh… look at that, dear. I guess I've won this duel." Leyla's voice could not carry anymore gleam that they are right now, the satisfaction of beating his impertinent boy bringing her much joy, but yet to bring enough, at least until she proceeds to do what she wants.

"Not yet…" Spiegel replied. As the three evil-looking Pokémon walked closer to him, the young doppelganger took two more steps back. Taking his left hand back to his pants pockets, he pulled out his last shot at stalling for long enough for Kyogre to get here. 'Whoever it is… I will trust you.' Pulling the Poké-Ball Brendan handed to him earlier, Spiegel called out his last hope against those three. "You…"

---

Mt. Chimney, now a twisted mess of its calm visage from before. Boulders of dry lava rampaging everything and everywhere, reforming the summit of the mountain, making it larger and taller, yet completely deformed. No trees, no rails and no more roads, just a massive landscape of rocks and hot earth.

Ethan quickly reached Mt. Chimney's summit, the earth rumbling and cracking as Lugia's massive body landed on the darkened rocks. Took little effort in searching for the golden-eyed champion to find the massive blue Pokémon floating just above the lake of lava right in the middle and a lonely raven-haired young man sitting quietly in an elevated boulder.

"Ah… Ethan." Josh called out, his face lowered and mostly hidden behind his bangs jet-black of hair. "This is a most pleasant afternoon, isn't it?"

"Meh… so-so." Ethan jumped out from Lugia's back, looking up to the peaceful looking boy. "Who are you again? And why you're so casual with me?"

"Who I am doesn't matter. I was called Josh until now, but I have yet to think of another name." Josh's shoulders shrugged slowly. "And about you, well, I'm a bit ashamed to admit that I have a slight fascination with you. Oh, you may call me by my father's name. So, call me Red."

"Red?!" Ethan frowned, his voice transmitting the full extent of his disbelief. His reaction got a soft chuckle from the other boy. "Last I checked; Red is two or three years older than me. I can't really see him having a son, let alone one at your size."

Letting out a disinterested sigh, Josh raised his head, his red eyes shining brightly with a strange and yet familiar glow, both shining powerfully, but each eyes carrying a different brand-style in their iris. "Brendan didn't have a twin-brother either, did he?"

"Wait, you too?" Ethan didn't even felt his legs pacing backward, being so taken aback by that he could just focus on Josh's face and that small grin of satisfaction.

"Not me too. I am the first one. Although, differently to your goofy friend, I was not made completely on a lab." Josh explained, his hands dancing in front of him as he spoke. "Like you, I was born normally and in a 'normal' household. Unlike you, I was born in mediocrity, fated to be another little insignificant drop in the great scheme of things."

"Looker had a photo of a chubby kid. One he claims that Giovanni ruined his life and turned him into something bad." Ethan said, watching carefully as Josh's facial features twisted a bit at those words.

"Something bad?" He snorted. "He made me perfect. Giovanni accepted a worthless piece of trash and molded him into greatness. Molded me into Red." Getting his confident grin back on his lips, Josh pushed himself from his large stone, letting his feet land on the same level ground that Ethan stands. "The process they used to revive and remake Deoxys into what he is today came from the experiments they did on me. Getting Red's DNA, they changed mine to mirror his. Taking out the bad and putting in the good."

"Experimenting on people? On a kid?" Ethan shook his head, a scowl showing on his face. "That is sickening. Shit man, this is not the usual stupid stuff Team Rocket is stuffed in… I've changed my views of that man. Giovanni is twisted in the head."

"Say what you will, guardian of Johto. I merely found entertaining to share some of my origins with you. What you think or believe, do matters little to me." Giving Ethan a stern look of disapproval, Josh turned to Dialga and pulled a white orb from one his coat's pockets. "Thanks to that process, I now have the same power as you do. With that, I can tame even something as powerful as that."

A powerful light shone from within the orb, its power making Dialga twitch and roar in pain; several rays of light exploding from within the legendary Pokémon. However, as sudden as that outburst came, it vanished to nothing again as the young raven-haired Enforcer lowered his arm.

Josh sighed; he turned and looked at Ethan with a face of complete boredom. "Yet, I have tired of this toy. Too little of a challenge, too little of a leverage. Here, take it." He tossed the white orb to Ethan, getting the golden-eyed champion by surprise. He waited to see if Ethan would catch the round object, and seeing that he snatched it just fine, a faint smile crossed his lips. "We shall meet again very soon, Ethan. When the world sings the calling of its savior, we shall meet for the last time."

"Wait!" Ethan reached with one arm towards the other boy, yet had little impact on his behavior.

Giving his piece in a unilateral manner, Josh turned around and strolled casually down the twisted path down the mountain.

"Unleash me!" A powerful, yet distressed voice echoed on the silent summit. "Undo these bindings, release me of this torment!"

Ethan turned around, just to see the giant blue dragon glaring down at him. For some reason, Dialga still stands in the same place, floating without recourse and apparently without being able to move a single inch away from his spot.

"You… bearer of golden flames. You are a guardian, are you not?" The blue dragon continued. "As much as this brings me shame, I implore you; destroy the chains that bind me here."

Displaying his natural trait of reckless, Ethan stepped closer to Dialga, barely keeping his feet behind the ledge of the lava lake. Lugia watched closely as the frail human walked closer to a beast that even the legendary had a certain hesitation off.

"I would love to do just that. However, before, I have to know that you will not turn berserk and attack me. Can you promise that?" Ethan said.

"Even in my prison, I can still strike you where you stand. If you want proof of my neutrality and cooperation; the fact that you still lives proves as much." The blue dragon replied sultry, clearly getting impatience in his insufferable position.

"Yet you need me to release you. The fact that I still stand proves nothing but that you require someone to break you free." Ethan countered. "But… I understand your point. Having suffered a similar fate not too long ago, I can relate to the grueling experience of being caged. I will comply with your wishes; so how do I help you?"

"That boy… he is the same as you. Using his gift, he bounded me to this place and using my own stolen power he trapped me with that orb you hold." Exerting a massive effort with his body, Dialga leaned with his head and pointed to the white round object. "I never witnessed a guardian with such a strange object, so I have not the knowledge of this puzzle. Yet, your gift is the key."

"This thing, huh?" Ethan held the orb up, getting a proper look in the faint glow that sparks from within it. "A similar orb to the primal ones of Hoenn… This is not from your region?"

"Never- Gghhh… Never laid eyes on such an object before."

"Hm… Brendan would be the expert on this, but I will try my best." Ethan closed his eyes and turned off most of his thoughts. With an edge-sharp focus, he felt his heartbeat in its rhythmic pace, getting deeper inside his own soul. From there his surroundings expanded to a vast sea of darkness, devoid of any light and sound.

From the palm of his hand, a warm-prickling sensation sprung to life. The orb reacted to his call and from within a blinding light ushered out like a storm on a winter night. His void surroundings being filled with power and a majestic presence, a form made of pure diamond-light.

"Now…" Dialga's voice echoed from the light taken form. "Command those chains to release me."

As asked by the blue giant, Ethan felt the strings of light wrapped around the legendary Pokémon, with a single pull, tore all of them out.

Dialga's body erupted in a chaos of light and energy, his large form jolting away from the infernal space he was confided into, letting his tired self, land not so gracefully on the unformed rocks close to Ethan.

"Champion of the Phoenix… You have spared me from an endless torment." Dialga said, turning his head to the sight of the goofy grinning trainer. "For that, I shall be forever grateful."

"You better choose your words carefully, Time-Walker." Lugia called out to the exhausted dragon. "He may look small and frail, but his whimsicality knows no bounds."

A very displeased Ethan threw at his white-winged companion a mean look and a quick sharp glare. "You need to bad-mouth me every time we make friends?"

"He is not my friend." Lugia hissed at the tiny and feeble thing next to him. "Neither are you."

"So, about that gratefulness deal you were speaking." Making use of his infamous 'ignore skills'; Ethan turned his gaze back to the blue dragon, leaving a fuming Lugia behind him. "I want you to do something for me. To be more specific, I want you to NOT do something."

Dialga eyed the small human strolling over to him, giving Lugia a spare glance and receiving a neutral gaze back from the white Pokémon. "Speak your mind. However, don't expect me to follow through anything you ask."

"Great, just hear me out." Already standing beside the massive Pokémon, Ethan gave his new friend a cozy slap on the side of one of his giant legs. "Seeing as I rushed over here in time record to save you. Could you please don't summon Giratina?" Ethan asked with a small grin. "That would be awesome."

Feeling a bit dazed by the request, Dialga stared down at the peculiar human, wondering his motives and his boldness for having the gull to slap one of his legs. "I have no desire to summon that which was banned from existence." Ethan beamed happily after hearing that, but the dragon continued. "Yet, neither I nor Palkia has control over that. Giratina is not bound by our call or summon. That creature watches restlessly from its domain, waiting for a tear in reality to make his way back from exile."

"How can you not tear things up? If you don't do that, everything is fine again." Ethan rebutted.

"When time and space collide against each other, the reality is warped. It is not an event we make by choice." Dialga locked his eyes to the white orb on Ethan's hands and growled ever so quietly. "I may vouch to leave this plane, yet that may serve for naught. For in your hands you hold a portion of my powers."

Ethan glanced down at the still warm object in his hand. "Then I just need to destroy it." The golden-eyed youth promptly arched his arm behind his back, getting the proper impulse to throw the blasted thing inside the lake of lava.

"Cease your actions, impulsive one!" Dialga roared loudly, startling Ethan enough that he not only stopped in his tracks but also let the ball slip and fall to the ground. "The individuals who trapped me, they extracted a part of me. Akin to having my soul stripped out of my body, the most painful experience indeed. Two orbs were made from me; two times I felt my essence being drained."

"Two?!" Ethan replied with an outraged voice. He eyed the shining thing, now dirtied with dark dust. "Then, they can still do it?"

"My body aches and my power wavers… I shall soon return to my place and leave this land, if I can help, forever." Letting out a heated wave of exasperation, Dialga laid down on his belly. "The orb you now possess is an instrument of pure evil. A cage made to wither and weaken a powerful soul, a soul like mine. Yet, may the bringer of destruction cometh from the void… you shall require its power."

Little by little, Dialga began to fade into an ethereal form, the sunlight staring to pass by its transparent scales.

Resting with one knee over the rocks, Ethan leaned down and reached for the time-orb. "How? Isn't that Giratina guy crazy powerful?"

"Time is a construction of reality. If Giratina's essence is still bound to the rift between worlds, my power shall be enough to push it back to the void." With most of his lower body already gone, the blue dragon laid his head on the ground, closing his eyes in search of rest. "Shall the creature fully escapes from the grasp of its prison…? Time will cease… to… work…"

After watching the last trace of the time dragon vanish back to its original plane, Ethan switched his sight to the horizon, his eyes searching for the sky touching tower, but failing to see much more than a foggy silhouette at the back.

"First Ho-Oh and now this guy…" He clenched his hold on the gift Dialga left to him. "I have the worst feeling about this… Brendan, Silver… please hold on until I get there."

---

Sen no Kiseki OST - Exceed! ======= ( watch?v=L2OBpsUK5PU )

---

A blur of white and green snapped forward, tackling away the ferocious Electivire who was aiming his left fist at Spiegel.

"You… Violen!"

Standing tall in his fighting pose, the proudful Galade raised against the young trainer's foes. "What a rude wake-up call." Violen stared at the trio of Pokémon in front of him; his position shifting from both legs standing neutral in parallel, to a more aggressive one, right leg moving forward past his hips and the left one resting behind his backside. "Are you sure that we will take those three alone? Naito may be of a little help in…" His words stopped when for just a moment Violen glanced behind him, his eyes landing on those two sapphire eyes.

"Sorry, friend." Spiegel replied. "Today is just the two of us."

Standing quietly, Violen frowned and found himself deep in thoughts. Took him a couple of seconds before any words slipped out from his mouth. "Be as it is then." He said stoically, a light grin warming up his features. "At least I will have the record over Ekkisu. He was insufferable for weeks after his one-on-two duel. Just him wait until I beat these three at the same time."

A powerful laugh stormed out from Spiegel, showing the extensive capacities of his lungs. "You and Ekkisu are still bickering all the time?"

"Hmph, he is the one with a senseless pride." Violen replied with a slight snort, taking out another round of boisterous laughter from the young trainer. "You may ask Brendan about this if you want to know more. But he is likely to side with Ekkisu… Always did, even before he could understand us."

"Not true!" Spiegel yelled in distress. "I… Brendan never had favorites."

"Are you done?!" Leyla snarled from the other side of the battlefield. "As entertaining as it is to see a brainless fool talking to himself, I bore of your face." She stepped forward, her team mimicking her action and getting even closer to the sole Gallade. "This pathetic help you found yourself, will change little in the outcome. Outnumbered three to one, even if this Gallade was anything special, he will never win." She sneered, hoisting her black orb in front of her.

"Pathetic?!" A deep frown twisted Violen's face, his swings of moods ever so dangerous, now bordering the line of murderous.

"You heard her, partner. Let's show this woman, how pathetic we…" Spiegel paused, his gaze is drawn by the dazzling light piercing the fabric of his coat's left pocket. Sinking his hand inside the glowing spot, he felt his fingers grazing against a warm and solid object. Taking the stone out in the open, Spiegel felt a tingle in his eyes, his hand almost crushing the Galladite with its pressing-tight hold. 'Brendan…'

Letting out a mighty war cry, Violen was engulfed in a sphere of pure light. His once green arms, slashed its way out of the sphere, now white and clad with a sharp and long red blade on its outer sides. His legs taller and faster, dashed out from his position and on the blur of its movements a majestic pair of capes followed, making his appearance one of a superhero.

"Violen, she will try to lock you with the strange power of that Legendary Pokémon floating in the air. Just keep going at max speed, moving on her blind spots… Destroy her team."

"Hai! I got it!" In a boom of invisible force, Violen vanished from his spot. A single stream of white and teal crossed the caves grounds in unmatchable speed. Neon-like lights began to appear in the wake of this Mega Gallade's path, a beautiful display leaving a trail of lines, circling and closing in against the stunned trio.

"You first!" Violen cried out loudly, his stream of white and teal suddenly got marred by a tint of red, this streak of red shortly overpowered the other colors and from there, Violen's blur just appeared in front of the Electivire.

The massive electric-ape growled painful, his body shooting all the way back against an overreaching pillar of crystals on the end of the cave. Before his other two companions could even register what happened, Violen's red arm-blade crossed a duo-slash cut on the upper-side of Magmortar's back, the flaming Pokémon crashing down on the ground.

Leyla stumbled backward, her eyes being way to slow to even follow the events happening around her. Violen was moving at such high speed, that the blond woman has yet to understand how and when her two Pokémon got struck down like nothing. "No…" She whispered with quivering lips. "I will not lose, I cannot lose…"

While she was trying to get her bearings back, her stone-bat cried out in panic, batting his wings as fast as he could upwards to the ceiling of the cave. Unfortunately for Gliscor, the stream of white and teal shot from the firm grounds all the way to the sidewall, raising up still at full speed to the top of the cave, hastily closing the distance to where Gliscor had tried to find refuge in.

The thundering sound of Violen's blades clashing against Gliscor's body echoed inside the large room, the battered purple Pokémon flying down to the ground like a loose arrow.

"Normally, I am against it." Violen's blur of a body landed-crashed on the floor close to Leyla. "But call me pathetic and you deserve a slap." He sprinted at full speed towards the baffled woman.

"STOP!" Leyla shouted from the top of her lungs. Her eyes trembling like crazy and her legs shivering wildly, the blond woman raised the shining orb high in the air, making its intensity three times worse. Palkia screams also followed in that power's wake, his body trashing and crashing wildly, desperately fighting to break free.

Electivire and Magmortar both appeared in front of their master but not by will, instead, forced to do it in a mere split second by the power of that black orb. The force of the pull dragging those two together is so strong, that their body pressed together violently as if they were merging into one being, one wall of flesh with the only purpose to stop Violen's attack.

Witness both the furious cries of the floating dragon above him and the excruciating roars from the two in front of him, Violen stopped in a storm, still holding his right arm up and ready to attack.

Taken aback by the absurdity of this scene, the extremely fast Mega Gallade glanced back to his trainer. "What is this? What do I do now?"

"No! Don't stop moving!" Spiegel's warning came a little too late.

Before Violen could resume his sound-speed marathon, Leyla pushed her hand forward and sent both Pokémon flying like a bullet towards the unsuspecting Gallade. The two heavy bodies clashed on top of Violen's frailer one, making the three of them roll and trash against the heated ground.

"Power is absolute… Power is everything… And I, the one controlling the greatest power shall be the one victorious!" Leyla pressed her fingers more and more against the raging orb, the surges of power making the space around her twist and twirl as if the reality of the world was breaking around her will. Palkia screech of terror and pain almost drove everyone deaf from its intensity, the more the woman uses this power, the more feral and unhinged the pearl dragon seems to become.

The cave of origin began to shake as a whole, huge holes exploded from the walls and from the ceiling, a waterfall of seawater began to pour in, even worse, began to fight and clash against the river of lava for dominance, the entire area transforming into a mess of steam and sultry fog.

"I… will be one destroying you, freak." Leyla's voice sounded from behind the curtains of white smoke.

Spiegel tried to follow it in hopes of finding this inside woman, his eyes, however, shoot right up to the towering figure standing right on top of them both. Two gleaming, furious red eyes glaring down, trembling in a killing thrill. The sound which followed next was so loud and painful to witness, that Spiegel's worlds went silent for just a minute, his body tossed down to the ground in a violent force, this shockwave exploding the fog away and revealing the dreading sight of Palkia's gigantic form, flying freely on the ceiling of this cave.

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Soaring an air pathway, a ridiculously massive orange dragon crossed the region of Hoenn, taking in his back his owner and master.

"Haha… what a joke scenario, huh…" A calm Josh spoken to himself, the young raven-haired stared down at his distorted reflection on the seawater.

"I warned you, Leyla. Nothing can stand against the power of a guardian. You tried to force past your limits… now look at the results." He noticed the bright glow of his red eyes disappearing, the last symbol still present in his iris also fading away.

"Such a pity, beautiful Leyla. But alas, that is the fate of the little ones." Josh cocked his head backward, resting his body properly on the backside of his flying Dragonite. "Now, what will you do, powerful Palkia? Will the world succumb before the hero arrives?" He chuckled softly. "That would be most unfortunate, but surprisingly hilarious."

Having a fit of laughter, the young red-eyed man shook his head, rubbing his face with both hands. "Go on, Deoxys. Cast your lot and show me your destiny."

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Sen no Kiseki II OST - Blue Destination ======= ( watch?v=Goj8hyy_L0M )

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'Spiegel… tomorrow one of us will die.' Brendan's voice ringed on Spiegel's mind, a soothing melody against this chaotic nightmare surrounding him.

'I am sorry… After all that… after everything we did to each other, said to each other. I didn't want this.' Brendan's words continued.

'I don't believe him.' Now an echo of Spiegel's own words comes through. 'I may be biased against that blasted dragon, but I don't believe him.'

'Rayquaza has no reason to lie… Tomorrow, for everyone that we love…'

"I will die."

Spiegel opened his eyes back to reality, the gruesome reality of the foe he is facing right now, one of the powerful dragons of creation. Palkia, the Pearl Dragon of Space, is staring down at him.

"Oi… OI, Stop daydreaming already!" Violen's distressed voice pulled Spiegel away from his dazedness.

Hissing and growling in pain, the young doppelganger pulled himself up from the ground, his right arm throbbing like never before, the white plaster around his member all cracked and mostly ruined, making his broken limb dangle lifelessly to his side. "Violen…?" He called out to his Pokémon partner, but the response he got was just the stomping sounds of a heavy battle happing to the side.

Spiegel's blue gaze traveled upwards, resettling itself to the bright surroundings enveloping him. The image of a white blur caught his attention; right after a giant light pink form trampled the earth and rocks in its way.

Doing his best in his horrible situation, Violent is engaged in combat against the massive dragon, but the agile Pokémon can do nothing more than dodge and run, all the while Palkia is throwing attack after attack in an attempt to crush his enemy.

"O-Oi… Get a hold of yourself already—Gah!" A large boulder flew from the ground at the edge of the floor, storming its way onto Violen's blind spot and striking the Gallade at his left side.

Seeing his friend get hit and roll violently across the floor, triggered a powerful response on Spiegel's body, forcing himself up despite his aching parts and wobbling legs. "What… What have you done?!" He shouted his question in a full display repulsion, yet his words found nobody and soon enough his eyes understood why.

A massive spiral rock is planted against the rock-like floor, its sharp tip broken and buried inside the ground, the ground itself soiled with more than just dust. Red marks the area around the impact, blood covering the boulder spike and the small crater itself; from the lower side of the rock's tip, a lone and slim arm stands out with a hand twisted and cramped, the fingers showing in full colors the horrifying despair that woman felt before being crushed to death.

From the base of Spiegel's stomach, a sickening sensation erupted all the way up to his throat. What little food he had today when he shared breakfast with Brendan, came hurling out from his mouth as the strong smell of blood rushed to his nose, and paired together with the heavy odor coming from the boiling lake below him, it was all too much for him to handle.

After failing to resist the urge to puke, Spiegel rocket his head right up again, his eyes quickly drifting away from Leyla's grim fate. At that rapid glance to the side, the noticed the small orb she was carrying in her hands, the black sphere still flared up in light and power despite having lost any contact to a person's hand.

Palkia's large foot exploded on the ground next to Spiegel, the impact against the loosen earth launching the young trainer up in the air just for him to land with his face on the pool of Leyla's blood.

Breathing heavily and scarcely, Spiegel pulled himself out of the ground again, half of his face covered in red, even the tip of his bangs dripping with some of that blood. Trying to get up in his feet, his balance gave out, making his right foot slip and his bums to crash down on the floor again.

"Ha… Ha… One light... for a thousand more…" He repeated those words yet again, but what little confidence he could have gained from it were outmatched by the sheer pressure of Palkia's murderous glare.

As the Pearl Dragon charged forward, his glinting eyes displaying his killing intent to the fullest, another blur of light came rushing forward. White, teal and red; Violen threw himself desperately against the heavy Pokémon, with little hope to bring down such aggressive and powerful enemy. However, his efforts were enough to push Palkia to the side and out of the ground platform, forcing the dragon to get airborne again.

"It's no use…" Violen walked next to Spiegel and then fell with one of his knees to the ground. "He is too hard… At each hit, my body feels like it's going to snap and break." Taking his gaze upwards, the tired Gallade frowned. "Oi!" His long arm flew upwards, hitting Spiegel's on his cheek. "What is wrong with that face of yours? Have you given up?"

Spiegel looked to the side, his face was still neutral but mostly shocked. He eyed Violen with a lost look in his eyes, slowly opening his mouth. "Rayquaza was right… I can't… That thing is too much for me."

"The hell it is!" Violen snapped angrily at the stunned trainer in front of him. "Groudon seemed too much for Brendan, he did it anyway. Rayquaza was twenty times bigger than he was, yet I fought by his side to calm the beast's anger… But if this fight is too much for you, I will deal with it alone." Scowling at Spiegel's cowardice, Violen pushed his body back up, getting his legs straight and his gaze upwards to the circling dragon.

Without another word, the brave Pokémon stepped forward and then rushed upwards in a blur of colors, surprising the legendary menace with his speed and resilience.

'Trust in me…' Words from before coming back to haunt the distressed boy at this time, now his own words coming up inside his mind. 'You stopped a crazed monster inside a boiling rock, and then flew to space to stop a crazed monster trying to squish the planet… Heheh, as your equal in everything, I can do my part as well. Just you watch it!'

"Aa… I can do it." Legs shivering and lips quivering, Spiegel found himself standing up once again. "Just you watch it, Brendan, I will fight this." His left arm trembling, rocking back and forward, but his hands sitting steady and firm, holding in its grasp the black orb with which Leyla was controlling Palkia before. "And you will live!"

Pressing his hold against the orb, Spiegel took it in. Its light, its power, and its pain. Everything came flying inside of him like a turmoil of rabid rage. His blue eyes shone with a darkened light, his head rocked backward and his mouth shot open as his voice stormed out in a cry of utter pain.

"RELEASE ME!" A deep, tormented voice sings from within. "BREAK THIS CAGE, FREE ME OF THIS CURSED PLACE!"

Palkia in its enraged state felt the foreign presence trying to break inside his being. His body reacted in the same violent manner as before, thrashing around wildly as the dragon tried to regain control of himself, but failed yet again. However, this single moment of lucidity changed Palkia's behavior from a mindless rage-infused wrecking ball to a focused killer with a bright painted target.

Darting downwards like a spear of brutal force, Palkia flew at Spiegel with his full speed. Violen flying in just in time to push the legendary powerhouse out of his trajectory, but the impact of their clash ended up being so strong and unrelenting, that Violen fell down to the ground, losing his mega form and his consciousness at the same time.

While the Gallade suffered terrible wounds and bruised form the impact, Palkia just glided over to the side and soared right up again. Doing a mid-turn with a graceless motion, the giant dragon swoop right back down again, this time no Violen to push him out of the way.

Nevertheless, the dragon never hit his target. The entire ceiling above their head came crashing down. A downpour of water spreading a massive hole into the cave of origin, destroying the majestic upside-down crystals. Palkia fought to break away from the hold of the tempesting waters, but soon found his body being tackled by the massive force of Kyogre's charge.

"Boy, are you alive still?" Kyogre raised his question as his gaze fell on the destruct state of this place. "Boy? Oi, Spiegel?!"

However dire the situation looked before, now is ten times worse. After Kyogre's intervention, the sea is raging inside the cave, filling every nook and cranny that it can find. By now, more than half of the room is now filled with water, burning heat water.

"I will not fail!" Spiegel's voice echoed from everywhere. "For the people that trusted in me, for the person who gave me meaning… and for the man who embraced me as his brother." Taking hold and using Kyogre's power as if they are his own, the young doppelganger is surfing on top of a small wave, his feet standing above all that blue, while his back is getting pushed forward in a fast rush in.

"One light snuffed away, so thousands more may keep shining." He pulled his left arm behind him, preparing his body to a deadly impact. "BEGONE FROM HOENN!" In a miraculous leap from his liquid platform, Spiegel tossed himself against Palkia. Swinging his arm forward, he bashed his hand onto the dragon's forehead, exploding the small orb into a million pieces.

Palkia roared madly, as his body felt the surge of energy erupting. From the top of his head, a single minuscule point of light came to life, this little source of energy soon expanding and exploding.

Palkia vanished, consumed by his own power.

Kyogre stood paralyzed as his own massive body was swallowed by that vortex of darkened energy.

Every Pokémon floating in the water; Sandslash, Armaldo, Absol, and even Violen, all were sucked into the light.

Spiegel watched was his arm vanished first, no pain or panic… just a cold sensation taking over him slowly.

'Sorry, Flannery… I wanted to at least say good-' In the last surge of light exploding from the destroyed orb, the blue-sapphire eyed doppelganger disappeared.

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Reviews:

Mr MogiGaming chapter 32 . Oct 30 – Well, I will have to delay my answer to this question about Maxie and Team Magma, for that would be a huge spoiler. So just wait a couple of chapters and you will know.

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Mallory S Nocturne chapter 32 . Nov 3 – Welp… reading this comment now makes me sad. T.T