Previously in Pokémon: The Lost Child. Empoleon and Sceptile arrive in a new town to meet a former member of the mysterious Brotherhood. During which a one-of-a-kind Pokémon warns them about The Brotherhood approaching to take down Zoroark. The two go to warn Zoroark but by then it is already too late.
"If you don't want to face our wrath, surrender Zoroark to us, citizens of this town," Aegislash said.
All of the citizens of the town get out of way to let Aegislash and his two partners pass by. The only one who was refusing to move out of the way was Empoleon.
"If it isn't Empoleon, you and your buddy have been a real pain for a while. Don't make this any harder than it needs to be. Tell me, where is Zoroark? We have some special business to deal with her."
"If you want me, you can talk right to my face," Zoroark shows herself.
"We aren't going to let you get Zoroark so easily," Sceptile said, also showing up.
"I am giving you one last chance to stand down, I am feeling extra generous today, so Zoroark, I will give you a chance to stop your crusade against us. Maybe you can look past my murder of your parents. It was just business, nothing personal," Aegislash said.
"Wait, it was you that killed my parents," Zoroark said, getting even more enraged than she already was, now having a specific person to target for the murder of her parents. Zoroark attacked with a dark pulse right away, but Aegislash was able to dodge out of the way and continue speaking.
"I will admit my recollection of that event is vague, but yes, it was me that did that," Aegislash said.
"You haven't changed at all, have you Aegislash?" Sawk said, showing up for the first time to see his former allies for himself.
"If it isn't Sawk, I remember your time in The Brotherhood. I honestly thought you were dead," Aegislash said.
"I am done with your organization, Aegislash, and I would recommend you do the same," Sawk replied.
"I think I will pass on that; the payment is too good for me to leave. Since you have now turned traitor, this means that you will also need to be eliminated from this world," Aegislash replied.
"We are ready to put up a fight, Aegislash," Empoleon declared.
"I wish we could have done this the easy way, but have it your way." Aegislash and the other members of The Brotherhood charged forward, and so did the heroes. They meet in the middle, with each of them targeting a different Pokémon.
Aegislash and Zoroark clashed, with Zoroark eager to take him down as revenge for the death of her parents. Aegislash was able to dodge multiple dark pulses from Zoroark. Aegislash fired off a shadow ball at Zoroark, but she destroyed it using a dark pulse. Aegislash, when getting a bit closer, tried to hit Zoroark with his sword, but she was able to dodge out of the way. She used a flamethrower to burn the ground and make it harder for Aegislash to approach her.
Meanwhile, Empoleon was taking on Golem along with Sawk. They thought they would be able to overwhelm Golem with their combined strength, but he launched a huge earthquake that hit both of them really hard, especially Empoleon, since he was weak to it. Saw jumped towards Golem and started rapidly punching him super hard, but Golem blocked the hits, though not super well, and started rolling away. Sawk tried to chase after him, but he circled around and hit Sawk on the way back.
Meanwhile, Sceptile was taking on Simisage. It was grass versus grass. Sceptile would try and slash Simisage up with his leaf blade but Simisage kept dodging it. Simisage then launched a seed bomb that Sceptile was only narrowly able to avoid before jumping back in to hit him with a Leaf Blade. Simisage was able to only barely block it, though, and it threw him backwards and kept launching seed bombs. Sceptile slashed all of the seed bombs up. One of the seed bombs got very close to hitting him, which he had to detect to protect himself from the damage.
"I do have to admit, Sceptile, you have gotten a lot stronger since the last time we met, back when you were still a Grovyle," Simisage commented.
"How unfortunate for you. Hey, Simisage I have been wondering what happened to your little friend Magmortar. I haven't seen him yet," Sceptile asked.
"Oh yeah, let's say that my master took care of him for his failure. Good riddance I say."
Hearing this sent a shiver down Sceptile's spine. Magmortar was a bad Pokémon, but to hear that the leader just killed him for failing, well, that would shake up anyone. This must be a very dangerous Pokémon that they are dealing with. It brought all of Sceptile's fears of the Brotherhood to the surface.
Meanwhile, during Zoroark's fight with Aegislash, neither of them was getting the upper hand, which was surprising to Aegislash, he had not been used to facing this level of resistance from someone.
"You are clearly very strong, Zoroark. Maybe you could have been a valuable asset to The Brotherhood."
"I don't want anything to do with you filthy organization. Aegislash, go to hell," Zoroark responded, more enraged than ever.
"I was afraid that you would say that," Aegislash said, shooting another shadow ball at Zoroark, to which she responded by destroying it with a dark pulse. Zoroark then launched her dark pulse at Aegislash, which he blocked with his shield, and then launched another shadow ball, which Zoroark dodged this time.
"I have been training my whole life for this moment, the day when I get revenge for the death of my parents. Now I finally have someone to get revenge on besides just The Brotherhood." Zoroark changed up to Aegislash kicking and punching him and slashing with every fury that she had. Aegislash was trying to block all the attacks, but she was able to break through the defence and actually hit him. Aegislash responded by slashing his sword, which he managed to hit Zoroark with and damage her quite a bit.
Sceptile was starting to gain the upper hand on Simisage. He was getting overwhelmed by repeated Leaf Blades, as Sceptile was able to dodge every single thing Simisage threw at him. Simisage was so badly weakened eventually that he was barely able to move. Sceptile pinned Simisage to the ground as he fainted.
At the same time, Empoleon and Sawk were overwhelming Golem by their sheer strength in numbers, and eventually, after Empoleon landed another aqua jet on Golem, that was enough to push him back.
Aegislash was doing the best of the 3 and was still mostly evenly matched with Zoroark and was even winning despite Zoroark's best efforts. However, once Simisage and Golem were taken care of by Empoleon, Sawk and Sceptile they were able to join in the battle against Aegislash. Aegislah knew that he couldn't possibly beat all four of them against him.
"I have to admit I am rather impressed, I didn't think that you guys would put up such a fight," Aegislash responded, seemingly genuinely impressed at their show of skill.
"It is clear you have vastly underestimated us Aegislash," Sceptile said.
"It seems that I have, be warned though you have been a very dangerous enemy, our organization is vast and this is only a taste of things to come."
Aegislash launches a shadow ball on the ground, causing a massive purple smoke cloud that allows Aegislash to slip away. Zoroark tried to chase Aegislash through that, but he was able to get out of sight of her. Golem would also follow suit, rolling in that direction.
"Arceus, damn it, they got away," Zoroark said.
"Don't fret, Zoroark, we still have one of their members," Sceptile said as he was pointing towards the unconscious Simisage.
Zoroark approached Simisage with a clear intention; she was going to get some information out of him no matter what she had to do. Zoroark would use her flamethrower to burn Simisage, which quickly woke him up in extreme pain.
"Tell me everything you know, Simisage, or else the pain will continue," Zoroark said in a very clear way. She wanted to do more of this.
"I will never tell you anything," Simisage said, struggling to make those words come out, not wanting to reveal anything but also not wanting more torture.
"Have it your way," and Zoroark would make good on her threat and continue burning Simisage. Simisage was able to hold on for a while, with Zoroark continuing to burn him for several minutes until Simisage couldn't take it anymore and said, "Please stop. I will tell you anything."
"This information better be good," Zoroark said.
"Look, I don't know much about The Brotherhood, I am a pretty minor member in the grand scheme of things, but I do know one thing. I know the identity of our leader."
"Who is it," Zoroark said with an aggressive tone, wanting and needing that answer. "Darkrai," Simisage said in a hesitant and nervous tone. That name sent a shock through everyone, even Sawk, who had not been made aware of the identity of the leader during his time in The Brotherhood.
During all of this in the base of The Brotherhood, Aegislash was giving a report to his master about what happened, "That is all that happened, my master."
"This is rather concerning. It seems that we have vastly underestimated these three. You say that Simisage was left behind. That must mean that they have them."
"What about Golem?" Aegislash wondered.
"He is getting punished for his failure as we speak," his master responded.
"What about me?" Aegislash asked very concernedly if he would also get punished for this.
"I would never do anything to you. Anyway, it is time for us to step up our game. These three are clearly a far bigger threat than we could have ever anticipated." Darkrai, while talking, would get out of his chair, showing his face to Aegislash for one of the few times. Aegislash knew right away that this meant Darkrai meant serious business. Darkrai followed up with, "It is time for me to unleash my special weapon. Let's just say I will be beating them at their own game," Darkrai pointed towards a capsule that contained an Empoleon, but it was different. It was an Empoleon that was completely black, not like anyone that had ever existed.