A/N- I think I mentioned somewhere in my author's profile that I had already written a lot of stuff ahead of time, and so everything's finishing up pretty soon. Still gonna be a lot of cliffhangers (we all know how much I love them hahaha) and death! The death just doesn't end, huh?

This is officially the second to last chapter (I'm pretty sure), and you all are probably curious to how it's gonna finally end. Death is how it will end (kidding. maybe).

Enjoy.

Chapter 8

Leader

Ellie burst into the top room, ears laid back, paws firm on the tiled floor. Part of the wall on her right had been torn down, likely from Rayquaza's rampage outside. She could hear him now, actually.

"So."

Ellie tensed, her eyes drifting to the Pokémon standing directly across from her. "Hello Meloetta," she said smoothly. Her eyes narrowed. "Or maybe you'd prefer to be called Leader?"

Meloetta's eyes travelled over her. "I can't quite fathom how you've managed to avoid detection as well as you have. Cancelling out Dialga's attack, managing to get this far… care to explain?"

"I don't know," Ellie said simply. Meloetta's eyes glimmered, but she didn't press the issue.

"You will stand in our way," Meloetta mourned. "My utopia, my perfect utopia… I'm so close to achieving that one dream." She shook her head, standing. "And only two things that still need to be done…"

"What things?" Ellie asked.

She shrugged mockingly. "Who knows? I'll tell you one of these things though…"

Ellie raised a brow. "What?"

Meloetta's eyes flashed. "Getting rid of a certain obstacle—" She raised one hand to the headpiece in her hair, a wide grin stretching across her face. "You."

Before Ellie could do any more, Meloetta let out a deafening shriek, a melody that would have been lovely it if it weren't deadly echoing off the walls. Meloetta's hair wrapped itself around her head in a fabulous updo and transformed from green to orange. Her dress split off into four petal shapes instead of its normal one. Leader smirked at Ellie's stunned reaction.

"Impressive, yes? I finally found the secret to my transformation after eighty-two years of searching. Unlocking one final emotion triggered it, according to Mesprit."

"And what emotion might that have been?"

Meloetta ignored her question and instead charged full-speed at Ellie Not giving the Eevee any room to dodge, Meloetta swung her fist into Ellie, throwing her across the room into the wall, causing cracks to appear along the surface.

Ellie winced as she fell back to the ground, her eyes shut in pain. Forcing her eyes to open again, her eyes widened and she ducked as Meloetta's leg landed a blow where her head had just been, instead breaking through the wall so Ellie could faintly see the support beams within the wall.

The Melody Pokémon tsked in almost disappointment. "A shame. I thought you'd be so much more, with the way you managed to get here."

"Leader! …Leader?" Latias was hovering in the air inside the room, looking genuinely shocked as she realized just who Meloetta was.

Not taking her eyes off Ellie, Meloetta smiled brilliantly. "Yes, I am Leader. It will hardly matter by the time he finishes up though."

"… The hell does that mean?" Without waiting for an answer, Ellie sprinted forward, shooting a shadow ball at Meloetta, then spinning in for an Iron Tail attack. The Melody Pokémon barely flinched, only deflecting the Shadow Ball to the side with one wave of her hand as if it were nothing more than a pesky fly. She veered sharply to the right as Ellie's Iron Tail swung down, digging into the tile beneath. The power of the attack sent light dust swirling around the room.

Meloetta flipped in the air, landing perfectly on the ground several feet away. "You know there's no point in fighting me! The only one who could've stood a chance was that worthless mutt. That one who won the previous Games!"

"Manectric?" Ellie paused in confusion.

"She'd been trained by that other one, the Power, Arcanine," Meloetta jeered. "Even after the Games, she knew. She knew who I was. She figured out everything about me the past year. But she waited too long—No, she decided not to do anything!

"And then you came along, convincing her to join your hopeless cause against me." Meloetta shook her head. "I got rid of her. We got rid of so many… Palkia, that little child from before…"

Ellie frowned. "Little child?"

"The little girl imbued with the power of Celebi. To this day, I have no idea why Celebi grants her powers to the strangest specimen… but that girl was planning the destruction of me, Leader. Both of them are gone now. Both her and Celebi."

Rage boiled inside Ellie. "You—"

"You killed them?" This time, it was Latias who spoke.

For a second, grief flashed across Meloetta's face. She closed her eyes, as if thinking. "I had no choice. They stood in my way, in the way of my perfect utopia, so I dealt with them. Manectric too, that mutt… I sent someone to break the ice of that shelter that time. She wasn't at fault for the collapse, although her sparks did help speed the process. Ellie, you should understand what I am saying."

"You killed them?" Latias repeated, disbelief evident in her voice.

Meloetta sighed, but didn't move from where she stood. "Our goal was to rid ourselves of anything that was against us or were no longer of any use to us." She wrung her hands, her eyes glimmering as she looked down upon them.

"Why did Manectric have to die? Why did anyone…?" Ellie trailed off, not sure of what else she could say.

"You know of the Games?" Meloetta asked.

Ellie nodded slightly, still wary. "What of them? They're over."

Meloetta shook her head. "Not quite. See, the Games were supposed to single out one Pokémon, the winner, and they would receive Arceus's Blessing to remain unharmed for the rest of their lives. Something completely out of my power actually."

Ellie frowned. "But then why did Manec—" She stopped herself at Meloetta's smirk.

"See, Arceus's Blessing is very slight, but it still holds power. By killing the past victors, I would obtain this power because the one who'd governed the flow of life is now gone. She was powerful. She did help the first twenty-some pass on with the normal flow of life, but once she and her Fairy-types died since their Region was the first to go with the loss of Arceus, and… well, I stole the souls of the past victors back with someone's help. Arceus is dead now anyways! He can't stop me. Once the Games hit a hundred… that should've been it. I should've been able to obtain my wish. However…"

Ellie's eyes narrowed.

"There are, or were a few… complications."

"Like what?"

"The Games were cut off just before one hundred, and none received the Blessing." She shook her head again. "Easily solved, I finished off Manectric, and stole the power of the souls of the civilians. They made up for the final Victor, as well as for the nonexistent Victor of the ninety-eighth Games, as well as several others since they all ended up dying."

"You murdered for power?"

Meloetta scowled. "It won't even matter since you all will be dead soon anyway. But one more thing… He is reluctant… Why she decides to pass her power on to Pokémon like him, I'll never understand… She and Celebi were fools…" Her eyes hardened with her next statement. "Unlike the Time Traveler, however, she hid herself. No one knows where she is… Well she won't be coming back. Not in my utopia…"

"You keep talking of this utopia," Ellie snapped.

Meloetta tsked. "Well, you won't be in our lives by then, anyway."

Ellie ground her teeth together. "You—"

"But… but wait a minute…" Latias cut in, looking confused. "If… if you killed Celebi… then is there any others…?" her voice shook with realization.

"No, dear, it wasn't I." Meloetta's words seemed to relax Latias for a moment, until she continued. "But it was me who ordered such…"

The Eon Pokémon's eyes were wide, blank and empty as she hung her head. "If it wasn't you… If you ordered…"

"That reminds me."

Latias's head snapped up at Meloetta's voice.

"Your brother. He was a nuisance, working with some other Pokémon, unknown as of now. They were planning something, and I couldn't let them continue."

"What?"

What? Ellie tried to move, but found herself frozen in shock. She'd guessed what Meloetta was implying before, but to recklessly reveal this as she stood before the one who'd lost him…

"Latios… What did you do to him?" Latias finally asked, her voice a soft whisper.

Meloetta smiled grimly. "It will hardly matter after this… The destruction of the world is coming, and from its ashes, I shall recreate this world anew. Everything will be perfect."

"What will happen to us?" Latias demanded, her fists clenched at her side. Even as she asked it, she didn't seem to listen for the answer.

"In order to create the perfect utopia, my utopia… I must do this. You and all the others will die. But don't worry, you'll be resurrected." Meloetta's eyes were shining with the visions of her dream and delirium crept into her voice. "In my new world, you all will, the Legendaries. We will live in happiness."

"What of me? And the humans?" Ellie broke in.

Latias looked over at her in almost surprise, as if she'd forgotten that she was there.

Meloetta barely even glanced at her. "You all and the humans are unworthy. Your existences' shall all be erased."

There was a scream of fury, and Ellie launched herself at Leader.

But someone else beat her to the Melody Pokémon.

"YOU KILLED HIM!" Latias screamed, slashing her claws down on Meloetta, who merely blocked her onslaught with a Protect strengthened with Psychic. "YOU KILLED LATIOS!" Her sobs echoed through the room.

Ellie stopped short, her eyes wide. She tried to speak, to tell Latias to stop because she knew her attacks weren't even connecting, but fear of what could happen if she did speak stopped her.

Meloetta didn't even flinch. "I only did what I deemed necessary." Before she could say anything else, Latias's claw broke through the Protect and narrowly missed her neck, instead tearing through Leader's chest and left arm. Blood flashed in the air in an arc for a split second before falling to the tile floor. Meloetta's eyes were wide, and her left arm twitched slightly before hanging limply at her side. The joints connecting her arm to her upper chest had been slashed apart.

"How can you live with yourself?" Latias snarled, ceasing her attacks but keeping a ready stance.

Meloetta's features distorted and her eyes flashed murderously. "You had the perfect opportunity to kill me," she said. She took several steps back, her eyes not leaving the Eon Pokémon.

"I missed on purpose." Latias shook her head in disbelief. "To think, I looked up to the figure of Leader, and I respected you… Latios and I were close. Like most sibling Legendaries, we could feel each other's emotions and pain. He was suffering every day from some mental pain, but he never told me. Latios was hurt already that day he died, but he would've been fine if his wounds were just that… And then there was a sudden wave of angst and pain from him and… I couldn't feel him anymore… I'd guessed that Latios was simply resolving some in-Region fight or something…

"But no, it was my own friends who killed him in the end, wasn't it?"

"He sent out a Psychic ring expanding from his body," Ellie cut in. "he killed the inhabitants of the Poison Region! How is that any better?"

Latias turned on her. "He would never!"

"That wasn't Latios's fault," Meloetta replied smoothly. A thin line of blood trickled from her mouth. "That, actually, was me."

"How can you even say that?" Ellie demanded. Everything was fitting together, making sense… All she had to do now was actually figure out Leader's master plan, how it worked.

Meloetta was still for a moment a smirk stretching across her face. "It doesn't matter. You will soon be dead, and I… I will have my dream."

Latias shook her head. "No."

"What?" Meloetta's eyes flashed as she turned towards Latias. Her voice was low, holding malice.

The Eon Pokémon clenched her fists again, her body shaking uncontrollably with tears. "No. You won't have it."

Now Meloetta's attention was solely focused on Latias. "I could simply kill you and bring back Latios in my world. Is this what you want?"

Latias was silent then, having gone rigid. "I… I've always held him back… I was the stupid sister, always begging him to stay with me, to protect me… If he can have the freedom to do as he pleases, then I'd be happy for him. See, I don't think that he really even was happy having to care for me all this time… However…"

Meloetta's eyes narrowed as Latias continued.

"Latios loved this world. Even with its faults, he loved it because it was our home." Latias's eyes glowed with fury. "I can't let you destroy the home we were meant to protect."

Ellie smiled softly, seeing Latias's firm resolve.

"Very well then."

And before either Ellie or Latias could move, a thin streak of energy flew at Latias, striking her in her chest and tearing through her entire body. The beam crashed into the wall behind Latias, but Ellie didn't take notice of that.

The Eon Pokémon's eyes were wide, and she hung in the air for a moment before crashing down on the tile floor. Dust flew up, then settled in a messy ring around her. Tears entered her still-wide eyes. "But… why…"

Shock filled Ellie as she watched the Legendary Pokémon fall. Her body shook with barely concealed anger. "You monster," she spat.

"You fool," Meloetta retorted. "If none of you stood in my way, none of this would have had to happen."

Ellie didn't reply, and instead stepped over to the fallen Eon Pokémon's side.

Latias didn't show any hint of acknowledging her presence, but whispered quietly, "Latios?"

Swallowing, Ellie replied, already realizing what Latias must be seeing in her last moments of life. "Yes."

"Were you… ever proud of me?" She began to cry.

Ellie hesitated for a second, but said, "Every moment."

There was no reply.

Latias was dead.

"How can you live with yourself?" Ellie hadn't moved from her position by Latias. Her eyes narrowed as they bore into the Eon Pokémon's still form, as if trying to find any sign of life within her. She couldn't believe that after days of chasing, Latias was actually dead now. She barely heard Meloetta's reply.

"Maybe I don't. Maybe I believe I won't even have to live with this knowledge after he finishes."

Her claws slid out, and she spun around in fury. "I will end you," she snarled.

"Give it a try, little Eevee. I doubt—"

Before Meloetta could finish, Ellie fired several Shadow Balls at her in quick succession.. Meloetta's already been injured. She can't fight with her left arm.

Dashing into the smoke that came from the collision of the Shadow Balls to Meloetta's Light Screen, she spun as she hurled her body into the Melody Pokémon with a Take Down. Recoil flashed through her body as she slid into a landing. She looked back over her shoulder. "I'm not done yet."

She charged again, attempting an Iron Tail, but this time, Meloetta expected the attack and blocked it easily with her right arm, knocking her aside. Her eyes narrowed.

"I'll admit, I wasn't expecting that first attack," Meloetta began, shaking her head. Her body was a flash and she appeared over Ellie, swinging a powerful leg out into the Eevee's stomach. "But you can't hope to win against me."

Ellie was thrown into the air. She could feel her sides burning and her entire body was sore and coated with blood. She coughed and her eyes widened as she tasted blood in her mouth, but she shook her head and forced herself to use Iron Tail once again, this time using her fall to make the impact harder. Meloetta blocked again, but her arm shook as she threw Ellie off again.

"Why do you want to stop me so badly?" Meloetta wailed.

"You're hoping for the destruction of our world. You… you're killing for power," Ellie snapped. "How could I just let you continue your murder spree?"

"Again with those foul words… I don't need any more souls, little Eevee. My tirade of attacks are done, and soon, so shall you—" Meloetta's words became a gasp as said "little Eevee" suddenly ducked under her punch. Their eyes met briefly, both consumed with anger, before Ellie hurled herself forward.

At too close range to dodge or set up any barriers, Ellie tackled Meloetta down, sinking her teeth deep into her right shoulder, right by her neck. It was silent. Ellie let go briefly, but as Meloetta tried to speak, Ellie slashed one claw down Meloetta's face, earning a pained cry. The Melody Pokémon attempted to block with her face with her right arm, but Ellie slashed again, tearing that arm apart. Blood sprayed onto both their faces. It was silent. She kept scratching at Leader, wanting to make her hurt as her friends had, until one of Meloetta's legs came around and slammed into her wounded side seconds later. Letting go of Leader, Ellie hit the floor and slid several feet away, exhausted. The blood loss was making her vision hazy, and her breaths were growing harsher by the second.

"You…"

Ellie closed her eyes for a moment, but struggled to her feet. Her eyes opened again as she turned to face the fatally wounded Legendary.

There was a flash as Meloetta transformed back into her Aria Forme. Blood streaked her face, her arms, and body, and both arms hung at her side uselessly. She laughed breathlessly. "You say I'm the monster… ahaha… well congratulations. You've destroyed me, taken my dream. How does that make you any better than what I am…?"

"I defeated you, so everyone can have a life now," Ellie retorted.

"A life? Look around outside, at every single Region!" Meloetta's arm twitched at her side, as if to motion at her surroundings, but it remained still. "There's nothing left."

"The Pokémon eggs in incu—"

"They're all destroyed, little Eevee. Them, most of the Regions… The only Regions still intact are the Dragon Region, Psychic Region, and Ghost Region. Even if you did succeed in reinstating something else to this world, it wouldn't be worth it anymore. See, child, they have nothing to live for now." The Melody Pokémon collapsed on the ground, no longer having the strength or use of her arms to push herself back up, nor the will of mind to force herself into the air with Psychic. She grinned, despite herself. "My perfect utopia…" she began to mourn, "our dream… I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"

"It's over. I'm going to fix our world of the destruction you brought upon it. There's still hope." Ellie turned away, grimacing. "They won't have to live under your tyrannical rule anymore, Leader." She threw out the word scathingly.

There was a low chuckle, and Ellie froze. "Can you? The way you are now, you can barely stand… oh, and your little… problem… that'll kick in in about…" Meloetta sneered.

Panic arose within Ellie's thoughts at that, but she tried to shove it away. "Maybe. But I've cleared the future for everyone else."

Now Meloetta laughed even harder, and the Eevee spun around to face her, eyes suspicious. "What are you laughing for?"

"Leader, huh?"

"What?"

The weakened Legendary continued to laugh. "You've lost."

Ellie's eyes narrowed. "What are you—?"

There was a faint swishing sound, and claws tore through her back. Blood seeped from the wound, falling down her fur.

Silence.

Ellie's leg's trembled, and she too collapsed seconds later. Struggling to get up proved to be pointless, as a Brick Break slammed into her back, forcing her back down. There was a loud snap and she cried out in pain. Her head pounded as all the pent up confusion and anger that she'd kept locked away spilled though her mind.

Her head turned to figure out just who this mystery attacker was.

Meloetta smiled, her eyes soft. "So you came."

Darkrai. Ellie had never seen him before, not in the hidden cameras throughout the Center, nor through the Regions. He never really showed himself… Save for the one time he did make a formal appearance, at the seventy-third Pokémon Games… and that had been deadly, according to the tapes—catastrophic, almost. Other than that, she knew nothing of him other than the fact that he was evil.

The question was: why was he here?

"Meloetta." Deeming the broken Eevee as no longer any threat, he left her and floated to Meloetta. His body hovered just above the tile, and he gently lifted the smaller Legendary into his arms.

"I couldn't come any faster," he said.

She grimaced. "I guess I can't see our dream come true in the end, huh?"

Darkrai caressed her face softly, being so much more gentle than Eevee ever knew he was capable of.

"That one final trigger emotion… to my hidden Forme…"

Ellie raised her head weakly, realizing she was being addressed, and shot them a fierce glare.

"Little Eevee, do you realize what that emotion was?" Meloetta laughed again. Darkrai's one eye closed.

And she knew. It was so blatantly obvious now. "It was love," she said quietly. And in the end, love is cruel. It always is.

The Melody Pokémon nodded faintly. "See through our dream?" she asked Darkrai.

Their? So Darkrai was the one working with her?

"I told you it was far too risky on your own." Darkrai seemed reluctant.

She shook her head. "It's our dream… our dream… I almost had it too…"

Darkrai's eye opened again and he stared down at Meloetta in his arms. Her breathing was faint now. He pulled her into an embrace, and whispered something to her. She smiled.

And then she died in his arms.

Darkrai pulled away for a moment, gazing intently at her still form, then set her down on the dusty tile.

Ellie closed her eyes tightly. She'd finally achieved her goal! So why did she feel so guilty? The headaches were suddenly overwhelming.

"It was never truly Meloetta," Darkrai said, his voice thick with anger.

Ellie winced as a spasm of pain tore through her head. "What…?"

"I killed Palkia. I killed that little girl, I killed Celebi… I even killed Latios because he worked against us…"

"That doesn't say anything." Even as she said it, deep realization dawned on her.

"Meloetta said she didn't directly kill Manectric. That's true. It was all I."

"You killed Manectric?"

He still didn't move. "Her and all those hopeless Pokémon who tried to continue living underground. And yet, you still fail, after coming so far."

Was it supposed to hurt so much to look up? To open her eyes? Ellie tried to shake her head, but even that was painful. Her heart pounded in her ears loudly. "Just spit it out! What… what are you…?"

"She wasn't Leader."

At those words, Ellie's heart fell. The Pitch-Black Pokémon floated up, his eyes brimming with hatred as he finally faced her.

XXX

One lone Pokémon raced through the streets, eyes darting wildly from side to side. They grit their teeth as panic and fear pounded through their mind.

They still didn't know. Leader didn't know… right?

The Pokémon looked to the stars that were now slowly coming into view among the night sky, silently thanking her, asking for help to make their final decision.

An image flashed through their mind and made their blood run cold. They muttered a curse under their breath.

"Dammit Darkrai… You swore, remember? YOU SWORE YOU WOULDN'T TOUCH HER!"

XXX

"I am Leader." Amusement filled Darkrai's next words. "We did such a good job of keeping it a secret, too…"

"Y-you?"

"The victor of the seventy-third Games actually figured it out, managed to see through Meloetta and I, but only after they'd won. So, I had to dispose of them as quickly and smoothly as possible. Simple. However, they were smart. They faked their own death, and for three months we believed it. Then, when they tried to escape into another Region, I realized the trick. That night, I entered a dream, transformed it into a nightmare, then quickly killed them in their sleep. Easy."

He gazed down at her. "Seems I don't need to do the same to you."

"You've… always been hiding as Meloetta's shadow, huh?" Ellie muttered.

"Her idea, you see. After Arceus gave her free reign to rule, she passed true leadership to me. She said she would play the part of Leader to those who wanted to overthrow us. I tried to stop her, when it came down to this one final piece of our plan.

"Meloetta… she is prideful. Headstrong. She wanted this world in her hands, and when he finished everything, that should've been it. We would've been able to reshape the universe together, and make it perfect for just us and select others…"

At mention of "he", Ellie's breath hitched. Darkrai wasn't the one Meloetta and others were constantly referring to?

Then who?

"But," Darkrai began speaking again in a mocking tone, knowing she couldn't fight anymore. "He has betrayed us… Well, no matter. I will find another way. I will see to it that Meloetta's dream is fulfilled."

"You… I won't let you… get away with this…"

His one eye flashed. "You?" he sneered. "You can't do anything anymore. I already know of your illness. The illness that can only be given through a wish." He let out a low chuckle as Ellie flinched on the ground. "It's impressive, actually. I never knew such a disease still existed. Well, that you are here today, it has surpassed entropy, according to Dialga. It's no wonder your life was cut so much because of it."

Shock kept Ellie still.

"Even now, you are dying. You can't move thanks to that spine. Your consciousness is barely intact. Think, little Eevee, how long has it been?"

"I still have time," she snapped quickly. But her heart sank. She couldn't move her back legs. They felt numb. She tried to push herself up with her forelegs, but as Darkrai said, pain flashed in her head and she collapsed back to the floor.

Darkrai was probably smirking as victory glimmered in his cold eyes. "You did have time," he corrected. "And you would've still had time had you decided not to waste your pitiful life trying to defeat an undefeatable foe. But because you decided to fight, you gained injuries, and those injuries only sped the process, no?" He raised one clawed hand, then snapped.

As if on cue, pain began to wrack her body and she finally screamed. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes as her eyes tried to focus on her paws.

Everyone…

Her body convulsed, and she coughed violently. She'd only been delaying the inevitable this whole time… She tried to wipe the tears away from her face, but couldn't lift her trembling paws anymore.

Everyone…

Tears streamed down her face as darkness shrouded her world. Was this really it? After everything they'd done? She… she…

I'm sorry.

She failed.

A slam. Swearing. Screaming.

"… No!"

A/N- Told you, cliffhangers. Last chapter coming soon!