Dark Empoleon had his claw out, ready to strike and finish Empoleon and Sceptile to eliminate two threats to The Brotherhood for good. Darkrai's weapon had worked and there was nothing that anyone could do to stop it, or so he thought.
As Dark Empoleon was seconds away from dealing the killing blow, he was very suddenly hit with a dark pulse attack, knocking Dark Empoleon far back and onto the ground, as he wasn't ready for it and thus wasn't able to block it. Empoleon and a waking up Sceptile turned around to see that it was Zoroark back to help them.
"Long time no see," Zoroark said.
"Thanks, Zoroark; we need you now more than ever before," Empoleon replied.
"How did you know to come?" Sceptile asked.
"I can't reveal some things to you two right now, but all will be answered soon."
Before Empoleon and Sceptile could ask about that further, Dark Empoleon got back up. Darkrai through Dark Empoleon started speaking right away, "Heh, heh, heh, if it isn't Zoroark, my agents have been having a real tough time tracking you down. Two Pidgeys with one stone edge, as they say."
"What is that thing?" Zoroark asked.
"That is Dark Empoleon, some sort of living weapon for Darkrai, and the one speaking through it is Darkrai himself," Empoleon responded.
"This thing is my ultimate weapon. What you have done is certainly an inconvenience, but my weapon will have no trouble taking you down," Darkrai said through Dark Empoleon.
"I am going to enjoy taking you down. Do you also not remember ordering my parents to be killed," Zoroark said.
"I don't remember that very well. Ordering the deaths of Pokémon, well, let's just say that it is something that I do quite often," Darkrai said through Dark Empoleon.
"You are nothing more than a heartless monster. You see Pokémon simply as tools to be used and thrown away as you wish," Zoroark said.
"Just remember this, I could be far worse, far, far worse. Things are not always as simple as they first seem. A narrow black and white view of the world can give you a misplaced idea about Pokémon," Darkrai responded through Dark Empoleon.
"Don't you dare say that," Zoroark replied, completely enraged to hear this villain lecturing her on morality? Zoroark was so angry that she fired a dark pulse at Dark Empoleon as fast as possible. Dark Empoleon blocked the dark pulse and responded with his dark hydro pump. Zoroark dodged out of the way of that and responded with a flamethrower, which Dark Empoleon quickly dodged out of the way of.
"I will say anything that I choose to. And right now I say that you all will die by the hands of my weapon," Darkrai said through Dark Empoleon.
Dark Empoleon charged forward towards Zoroark to attack, but Empoleon got in the way to block his strike, causing another shockwave that Zoroark felt. Empoleon and Dark Empoleon got into a battle, clashing each other with their claws multiple times while each was trying to dodge whatever attacks the other would throw at them. Empoleon and Dark Empoleon would get a few hard hits in on each other, but neither was making much progress.
Meanwhile, Sceptile was finally getting back up and was ready to continue with the fight. He right away saw Empoleon directly duelling Dark Empoleon. Sceptile jumped in and started trying to slash Dark Empoleon with his leaf blade to try and overwhelm him with both attacks at once. Dark Empoleon was able to block both of their hits very well, though, and barely got hit at all.
Dark Empoleon later teleported away from the direct brawl and came behind Empoleon. Dark Empoleon attempted to slash Empoleon with his claw, but Sceptile saw this and blocked it with his leaf blade.
"That was a dirty trick you pulled," Sceptile commented.
"You think that I care about that? I want you three dead. It doesn't matter to me how I accomplish it," Darkrai said through Dark Empoleon.
"Why don't you get a taste of your own medicine?" After Zoroark said that she launched a dark pulse at Dark Empoleon from behind, which hit him and did some damage to him, Zoroark was pretty pleased that she managed to get that in.
Dark Empoleon teleported next to Zoroark and attempted to slash her with his claws. But Zoroark was able to dodge out of the way and counter with a dark pulse, which Dark Empoleon was able to dodge. Dark Empoleon then countered with a dark hydro pump, which Zoroark deflected with another Dark Pulse. At the same time, Sceptile approached from behind and tried to hit Dark Empoleon with his leaf blade, but Dark Empoleon teleported out of the way.
Dark Empoleon blasted dark hydro pumps over and over again at the trio. They were able to dodge out of the way of most of them, but Zoroark eventually got hit by one when she made a mistake. Dark Empoleon teleported to Zoroark and tried to finish her off, but Sceptile caught this in time and was able to run up and block Dark Empoleon's attack.
"You don't know when to quit, do you," Darkrai said through Dark Empoleon.
"You misunderstand Darkrai. As long as we can, we will never give up. You won't kill us and we will not stop trying to protect our friends," Empoleon responded.
"How noble! Too bad that it is going to kill you all." Dark Empoleon after duelled directly with Sceptile's leaf blade using his claws. Sceptile was able to get a few hits in, taking advantage of the reach his blades had to do so, but Dark Empoleon shrugged them all off and countered with a very powerful slash of his claw, knocking Sceptile back.
Zoroark, after getting up, struck Dark Empoleon with another dark pulse and then jumped in to attempt to get some more hits. When Zoroark fired another dark pulse, Dark Empoleon fired his dark hydro pump, and the two moves clashed with each other. While this was going on, Sceptile slid under Dark Empoleon's feet and hit him from behind with a leaf blade, causing Dark Empoleon to take a knee. The trio used this opportunity to beat Dark Empoleon up with every attack they had, which worked for a bit until Dark Empoleon sent out a massive shockwave, knocking all three of them back.
"This shouldn't be possible." This was supposed to be easy," Darkrai said through Dark Empoleon.
"This is what happens when you over-rely on your power, Darkrai. Teamwork is just as important," Empoleon responded.
"I will not lose this. My power is unmatched by you mortals," Darkrai kept saying through Dark Empoleon.
"This is honestly getting kind of tiring. Just give up, Darkrai. You won't win as long as we have each other," Sceptile said.
"If you need each other to win, how about I just get rid of that option?" Darkrai made good on his promise, using his power through Dark Empoleon to split apart the tectonic plates separating the trio from each other. It was exactly as Darkrai planned. With this separation, they would not be able to help each other and Darkrai could win in this long battle.
Dark Empoleon jumped onto one of the rocks and started taking on Empoleon. The two got into a hand-to-hand battle with their claws. Sceptile was on another rock and was trying to jump over it.
"Zoroark, Empoleon is in trouble. We need to get over there," Sceptile said.
"I don't know. One wrong move and we will fall into that bottomless pit," Zoroark replied.
"I don't think it's bottomless," Sceptile replied.
"Yeah, I know it was meant to be a joke," Zoroark responded.
"I have an idea. I am going to jump over and you hit me with a dark pulse to boost me to where Empoleon is," Sceptile suggested.
"That seems like a really risky idea," Zoroark said.
"Do you have any better ideas?" Sceptile responded.
"I can't say I do." Sceptile went through with his suggestion. He jumped over to the part where Empoleon was one and Zoroark launched Sceptile over with her dark pulse. The plan worked and Sceptile got over to the other side where Dark Empoleon was taken massively by surprise and got hit by their moves.
Dark Empoleon was still not down yet and was getting back up ready to continue fighting while Darkrai said through it, "I can do this forever. You can not win."
However, when absolutely nobody expected that Deoxys would come back down to earth, he teleported in, grabbed Dark Empoleon, tossed him up in the air, hit him with a bunch of attacks, and then sent him flying in another direction. Deoxys then used his psychic powers to put the earth back together after Dark Empoleon tore it apart. It was a very abrupt end to this battle, but Sceptile still had to say, "Well thank you, Deoxys."
"I had to interfere in this. Darkrai messed with the tectonic plates," Deoxys replied.
"So it was doing that that led to his defeat. How ironic," Zoroark responded.
"You three have shown admirable strength in your battle against Dark Empoleon I feel like you may have won eventually. The power of teamwork is stronger than we gods tend to give it credit for," Deoxys replied.
"What does that mean?" Empoleon asked.
"It means I think that you might have a chance at actually taking down The Brotherhood for good. Your battle with them is fast approaching. Be ready for it at any time.
Empoleon, Sceptile, and Zoroark sat stunned at what Deoxys had just said but also frightened at the same time. A battle with The Brotherhood is something they did not expect to come so soon. Not only that but one they might have a chance to win. Deoxys left to head back to space. Empoleon, back on the ground, said, "Zoroark do you have." While Empoleon was talking, he looked around to notice that Zoroark was gone.
"That is strange. Where did she go?" Sceptile commented.
Meanwhile, at the same time, Darkrai knew what had just happened to his prized weapon. It hadn't died, but it was defeated.
"That blasted Deoxys, hmm, it's no matter, my plan is still almost complete and not even he will be able to stop it," Darkrai said.
"Master, I have returned," Aegislash said as he was approaching.
"Good Aegislash, you are exactly who I need. My plan is under fruition. Let's just say that this whole world is going to have a long nightmare," Darkrai said while smiling, ready for his master plan.