Raikou wasn't quite sure what happened next after Terotrey had grabbed him and Darkrai, fleeing into another dimension afterwards to escape his betraying robots. The silver-haired dragon, even if he did carry the power of Arceus, could not even fight back against his metallic minions when they all ganged up on him like they did. Perhaps, Raikou had thought during the process of turning them against him, that his own weapons would be his own demise.
But, of course, he was wrong. The thunder tiger knew it was too good to be true – that a being of Terotrey's power would not go down because of his mere forgetfulness of the ones who originally stood beside him, even if the dragon's stupidity had indeed been revealed. Such strength tended to cloud one's mind, which was why Raikou was certain that even if the sin Legendary was able to gain control of the world, he would lose it in a matter of decades, possibly from a war he would be too distracted to prevent, or the neglectfulness towards his people that would eventually cause his banishment from the civilizations' faith.
Despite this, though, Terotrey's victory would involve the destruction of the Legendaries, which was why he needed to be stopped before he did something that spread apocalyptic mayhem all over the planet. His role as God would surely mark the beginning of a hellish reign…
It wasn't long before Raikou noticed the smothering darkness around him dissipate, opening in front of his body like a gateway of the sort. The next thing he knew was that he was launched forward by some force, flying out of the black space he had been trapped in and soon making painful contact with what felt like cold sand. He emitted a slight growl of nausea as he struggled to return to his feet, his vision slowly returning, the new world around him spinning in a heap of blurred purple. Eventually his eyes regained their ability to see, his ears replenishing their hearing, which was when he wandered his widened gaze over his surroundings in a quick motion. He felt his jaw drop in the midst of it, feeling both confused and worried at the same time.
The sky was made of a swishing purple, swirls of black cackling across it as if the atmosphere above was made up of a surreal sea of dark colors. In fact, there were no stars…no sun…no moon…just the sky that flashed with an eerie pattern, illuminating the desert backdrop around the thunder tiger in amethyst. Raikou allowed his head to snap around, his gaze traveling over the land, noticing that nothing else of the sort seemed to be in sight, as if the world he had been shot into was nothing but a calm desert. Dunes rose high, cacti and other plants that would've been native to the area nowhere to be seen, and as soon as Raikou opened his mouth he felt immediate dryness enshroud the inside.
The thunder tiger wanted to know where he was, but he instead brought his head up towards the spot among the sky where he had fallen out of, seeing the last inch of a portal close up right as he brought his eyes to it. He felt sudden fear take over him – on how, without a dimension-traveling portal, there was no way out of the deserted landscape he had been plunged into randomly. Of course, his interest to know the whereabouts of Darkrai and Terotrey prevented this from gaining all of his attention. Terotrey had been in a rush when he entered the portal, so obviously he couldn't control where everyone went exactly and therefore the location of him and Darkrai remained unknown to Raikou.
"Great…just great," the thunder tiger sighed to himself, although, for some reason, it was in the form of a whisper. He was all alone in a surreal world with no way to get out. It would be useless to travel forward – the land, Raikou could tell immediately, consisted entirely of desert, no other life forms apart from himself occupying it –
"KID! LOOK OUT!"
Raikou blinked, turning around towards the source of the yell…
…and only to meet a pair of sea-green eyes right before their owner collided with him, bringing them both flying backward and crashing harshly into the sand after a few ricochets across it. Raikou hacked as he dug himself out from the crater he formed, shaking any last specks of sand from his fur before turning to attend to the being that had crashed into him.
Darkrai…
The thunder tiger felt relief wash over him, his feeling of loneliness dissipating.
The nightmare Legendary coughed himself, regaining his floating stance as he recovered from the fall. It was obvious that he had been shot out of the portal right before it closed up, having no control where he went and instead colliding right with Raikou in the process of landing. Raikou didn't mind, though; he was just happy that he was no longer by himself in the strange, eventless world they were now trapped in.
Before he could question him on if he was okay, though, the nightmare Legendary lunged forward, grabbing Raikou and pulling him down to a crouch on the ground. The thunder tiger quirked his eyebrow in bewilderment, shooting a glance towards Darkrai's narrowed eyes, which were silent yet serious like the rest of his countenance and seeming to be glued to a spot among the sky. A purr of anger rose from within the Pokemon's throat, gritted teeth beginning to show from behind his red collar, and all Raikou did was cease his need to ask about the sudden, unexplained crouch since Darkrai's facial expression was practically ordering for him to be quiet.
It was silent; the passing winds the only source for sound as they added more coldness to the barren landscape.
Raikou shifted his scarlet eyes to Darkrai once again, whose expression hadn't changed an inch despite that more of a minute had passed. The thunder tiger was tempted to at least whisper out the need to know why the nightmare Legendary seemed prepared for something, trying to get them both to hide against the ground, buried somewhat beneath the sand. However, as Darkrai's eyes narrowed even more until they were thin slits, Raikou widened his own gaze when he felt the sand that cushioned his body begin to vibrate.
The winds stopped.
The dunes shook.
The ground rumbled with the familiar thunderous sound of a stampede.
And, somehow, Raikou was able to tell of the cause before it even appeared.
Terotrey…
A portal opened up across the sky once again, maintaining the façade of a black hole or a simple rip amongst the pattern-like atmosphere. It wasn't long before the colossal countenance of Terotrey emerged from it, able to avoid being launched towards the ground and instead immediately lowering until he was hovering over the desert grounds like a surveying Fearow. With his pure-maroon eyes narrowed with hatred, he let out a roar. He was only a few feet above the ground, obviously aware that Raikou and Darkrai were somewhere in the proximity. Revenge decked the beast's mind, making him lust the sound of the aforementioned Pokemons' bones crunching beneath his strong grasp.
It was obvious he wasn't leaving until the exile and revived Legendary were dead.
"Get. Down," Darkrai whispered viciously between his clenched teeth. Raikou now understood why he had forced them both to the ground, hoping to blend in with the sand as it covered them. Terotrey had not been far behind after Darkrai entered the dimension, and therefore their only alternative to making it through the next hour was to stay hidden until they could come up with a plan that would somehow help the situation.
Without hesitation, the thunder tiger lowered his head alongside Darkrai's, practically praying to the corrupted figure of Arceus that it would be enough to keep them from Terotrey's sight. The dragon flew forward, heading straight towards them…
…and flew right past, oblivious to their position.
Raikou felt himself sigh in temporary relief as he eyed the distancing figure of Terotrey. Darkrai, on the other hand, only rose his head up for a second to calculate how far the sin Legendary was, before looking forward, obviously thinking of a plan. The thunder tiger was nervous when it came to emitting a sound of any sort, paranoid of Terotrey managing to hear it over the winds.
"We gotta get as far away from him as we can," Darkrai then whispered, Raikou blinking at the thought. "We can't stay in one position for long – no doubt would Terotrey find us if we did."
The thunder tiger soon nodded, slowly following Darkrai as the nightmare Legendary rose to a steady float. He then shot forward, Raikou looking back once more to confirm that Terotrey was nowhere close before following his comrade. The sand brushed away as he ran across the desert, Darkrai leading the way and making sure the path involved going behind tall dunes, in case Terotrey grew aware that they were on the run. Everything was quiet, which Raikou, for some reason, found unbearable and as an omen for upcoming doom.
Soon they both stopped behind a tall dune, leaning back to rest across the cold sand that it was made out of. Raikou, in order to calm his worries like he constantly had to, peaked over the edge to try and spot Terotrey in the distance…
The dragon wasn't there.
Raikou felt his heart plummet.
"Where's Terotrey?" he questioned almost instantly, now anxious to know of the sin Legendary's position. Darkrai felt himself scold their luck as he noticed this as well – that Terotrey was no longer in the spot he was originally surveying and had now disappeared from their sights altogether. Did he enter another dimension, perhaps? Was he on the ground now, hidden away by the dunes that marked the horizon? Raikou wanted an answer, and therefore turned to Darkrai to hear his suggestion.
However, before he could emit one, the ground shook violently once again, a loud thunder rising from what sounded like behind them –
They both immediately snapped around, widening their eyes as they soon stared at the towering figure of Terotrey, who was staring right back at them.
The dragon's teeth exposed themselves in the form of a vicious snarl, his eyes narrowing, and he slowly leaned forward until he was on all fours, which allowed him to impale his gaze into his preys' eyes more powerfully. The moment they were in was like the quiet time of a storm before a hellish tornado touched down, and Darkrai and Raikou found themselves nearly dying from fright then and there as they were now face-to-face with the Devil himself.
And he lusted for revenge.
Terotrey began to charge up one of his beam attacks, the blue energy that powered it beginning to originate from the back of his throat. Darkrai wasted no time in grabbing Raikou, forcing the thunder tiger onto his back and then taking off into the air. The dragon released the beam, its torrid surface barely skimming the skin of the nightmare Legendary as he barrel-rolled out of the way to dodge it. Raikou wrapped his forelegs around the Pokemon's neck and held on for dear life. Another roar escaped from Terotrey as the dragon took off as well, chasing after them.
More and more beam attacks shot from the sin Legendary's jaw, and despite that Darkrai was becoming fatigued from the weight of Raikou and the fast dodges he had to perform, the revived Legendary managed to make it out alive by the skin of his teeth. Terotrey grew more frustrated, increasing his speed and therefore allowing his bulky body to come flying towards Darkrai right as the said Pokemon noticed this and pulled off another evading maneuver. How the dragon's colossal size made Darkrai shake as he passed by unwillingly every time was practically throwing the nightmare Legendary from his spot in the air. Raikou was having a hard time holding on as well, his hind legs dangling from the end of Darkrai's body, somehow amplifying the illusion that they were hundreds of miles above the ground.
Terotrey recovered from his crash landing into the sand, his anger blinding him and therefore he wasted no time in plunging his fists into the ground. Darkrai, looking back at him for a split second, quirked his eyebrow at the strange action…
…but only to gasp when he turned his head forward and noticed that a pillar of fire had burst from the ground and right in front of him.
Soon, more and more of these pillars burst from the sand like geysers, shooting into the air in movements similar to rockets. The area became enshrouded with them, turning it into a heated jungle of infernos, and Darkrai, sweating from the temperature as Raikou was, struggled to avoid the vicious attack as new pillars shot up from unexpected places.
However, he couldn't dodge them forever.
As he flew by one, another shot up from right under him, hitting his underside slightly and causing him to groan outwards in pain. Raikou found himself bracing for impact when the Legendary then lost consciousness and headed straight towards the ground, crashing into the sand while pillars of fire surrounded the area, cutting off any more escape attempts. Raikou got off immediately, ignoring that they were trapped and instead concerned for the status of his ally, therefore shaking him, calling out his name in hopes of waking him. Darkrai's entire chest was burned badly, even his red collar blackened in some parts, and he showed no signs of waking anytime soon.
Another stomp from behind signaled that Terotrey had landed behind them, folding in his wings as pillars of fire immediately closed off the entrance, packing all of them into a large circle. Raikou snapped his gaze around, realizing the lack of exits and soon landed his eyes onto Terotrey as the dragon allowed a smirk to cover his snout. The raging infernos around them illuminated their eyes, brightening Raikou's fright and Terotrey's insanity.
"What's it feel like…Raikou?"
The thunder tiger felt himself blink as those words poured from Terotrey's mind – his telepathic voice finally revealing itself. His tone was slow and gothic, but yet loud as it surged through the air like the very tense atmosphere that was smothering them. The exile backed away slightly to hide Darkrai's fallen body behind his own, although Terotrey seemed to show no interest in it.
"Being the one about to die, I mean?" Terotrey spoke again, his jaw opening in the midst of it so his snarl could grow in volume. "Everyday you Legendaries fight with only each other, bringing death wherever you decide should be your battlefield. You never care how many innocent lives are lost – all you care about is yourselves."
"Kid…"
Raikou blinked, turning to the source of the whisper as he brought his eyes to Darkrai. The nightmare Legendary was slightly awake, yet still drowsy, although his regain of consciousness remained unknown to Terotrey since he was whispering. "Kid…you gotta get me onto that extraction machine…I…I think I…I…might have a way of getting us outta here…" Just as fast as he had spoken those words, he closed his eyes once again. Raikou, however, only returned his gaze to Terotrey.
"Give up," Terotrey snarled, stepping forward. "Resistance against me is futile; you will be punished for your sins – for your mistakes!"
Raikou widened his eyes at the intimidating threat, although he soon furrowed his brows. "You're a hypocrite, Terotrey. You cause pain to bring about your own reign. You don't allow forgiveness like Arceus would...like a true God would."
Terotrey snapped, roaring with anger. "I WILL ALWAYS BE THE ONE AND ONLY GOD!"
And with that he lunged forward, hoping to pounce on Raikou and Darkrai then and there. The thunder tiger gasped before he hoisted Darkrai onto his back and struggled to get out of the way of the oncoming behemoth, managing to move to the side as Terotrey landed harshly across the ground. However, the dragon couldn't stop then; his body twisted as he rolled from the momentum of the pounce, moving forward just an inch…
…and into the wall of fire that surrounded them.
Terotrey moaned in agony as the flames impaled his figure, launching his body out the other side and into the open. Some of his scales were singed, smoking even, and all he could do was whimper in pain as he collided with the sandy ground in a thunderous motion. Raikou was relieved when he saw the wall of fire that surrounded him die down, allowing him to jump out with Darkrai still clinging to his back. As he saw Terotrey's fallen figure, he knew the dragon wouldn't be down for long; therefore he nudged the nightmare Legendary, waking the being up. Darkrai brought his droopy eyes towards the sin Legendary, who was already in the midst of getting up, shaking away any lingering disorientation that had come with the crash.
Immediately the phantom rose to an unsteady float, practically pulling Raikou with him as he led forward and quickly grabbed hold onto one of the ledges that decked the extraction machine's surface – the chest piece to the vicious dragon. Raikou wrapped his forelegs around Darkrai's neck once again, shaking slightly as he felt Terotrey notice their position and roar with anger. However, right before the dragon could swat them off, Darkrai moved closer to the containers that held the Legendaries' essences, raising his claw as he then brought it forward with strength and smashed it against the glass that imprisoned one of the essences.
Terotrey keeled over, as if in pain, Darkrai and Raikou dangling from their grasp onto the extraction machine. Quickly the phantom turned to the thunder tiger, who was examining the dragon's weird response when pressure of any sort was pushed towards the essences. "Hold on, kid!" Darkrai ordered, bringing the exile to eye him bewilderedly…
…that is, before the nightmare Legendary smashed his fist yet again onto another container.
Terotrey whimpered as he immediately took off – like a desperate animal trying to flee from whatever was attacking it. However, Darkrai held on with all his might, trying his best to break open one of the containers – any of the containers, because a loss of an essence made the dragon weaker. The glass was quite strong, though, which Darkrai found himself struggling slightly as he tried to free an essence and yet avoid being thrown off at the same time (Terotrey was now shooting through the air, blinded by pain).
Raikou looked down, noticing how high they were from the ground. He tightened his grip around Darkrai's neck, feeling slight acrophobia at the sight. He felt like he was going to be thrown off any second; it was becoming harder and harder to hold onto his ally with every sharp turn Terotrey made.
Darkrai rose his claw upwards, throwing it down onto the container once again, and all Terotrey did was roar in agony. The dragon eventually, though, did the only thing he could manage to do.
Open up a portal into a different dimension.
Raikou gasped as he saw a large hole expand in front of them, the way a grunt emitted from above proving that Darkrai had noticed this as well. The nightmare Legendary gritted his teeth, returning his eyes to the container whose essence he wasn't quite sure held. All he knew was that it was mandatory to free it – if there were any hopes of defeating Terotrey on their own, then they needed to weaken him as much as they could. The phantom quickly rose his claw up, shadowy energy forming around it as he slashed it across the glass, growling when he realized that it just wouldn't break despite.
"Darkrai!" Raikou called out, as if warning him that the portal was coming up. Darkrai snapped around to eye it once again with stressed eyes.
They didn't know what was in the dimension they were heading to, but because of the unknown dangers that could lurk inside, Darkrai continued to bash the glass with all he could in hopes of breaking it before they entered the portal. Eventually, though, his sight became dark, as if he was blinded, although he could tell it was because they were now traveling to a different dimension – a new surreal world.
He felt himself mentally curse right before the new world opened up just as fast as they had left the one prior. It was a volcanic terrain, the ground exploding in a mesh of lava, volcanoes in the far distance bright with glowing fire. Smoke from their bellowing funnels rose into the air like endless clouds, painting the sky the color of ash that left both Raikou and Darkrai feeling smothered in the heated air.
Terotrey, on the other hand, was still left within a void of agony, which was why he only continued forward like he had been doing, shooting through the air in an attempt to shake Darkrai and Raikou off.
Raikou looked upward as this occurred. He could sense that Darkrai was struggling to hold on; if they lost their hold then Terotrey would be able to recover and kill them on the spot. The nightmare Legendary was still weakened from the obstacles he had to go through before, which explained why his narrowed eyes looked more drowsy than serious. The thunder tiger knew that at any second his hold would give out, sending them both sprawling towards the volcanic land below.
Of course, this was why the exile slowly narrowed his own eyes in determination.
Slowly he began to climb up, using Darkrai's shoulders as support. The nightmare Legendary felt his eyebrow quirk. "Kid…w-what are you doing?"
Raikou, nearly losing balance when Terotrey suddenly dove downward, ignored Darkrai and instead threw his own paw backward, then bringing it forward as electricity began to spark from the ends of his claws.
He jabbed it into the container Darkrai had been attacking…
…which was the last it could take.
The glass shattered, a bright light beaming from it as the essence flew outward and into the air. Terotrey emitted a roar of pure pain, his wings giving out then and there, sending him, Darkrai, and Raikou sprawling towards the ground like a plane on the verge of crashing.
Darkrai closed his eyes, bracing himself, as Raikou did.
They jerked forward when they felt Terotrey hit the ground. Fortunate to them, the dragon had rolled onto his back right before, which aided them in avoiding getting hit by any splotches of hot, melted rock that surged out of the ground in response. As Terotrey, his eyes slowly closing, allowed his head to fall back against the ground, Raikou recovered from the impact.
"Darkrai?" he called out as he regained his thoughts. Terotrey had been knocked out, it seemed, and all the thunder tiger cared for was finding Darkrai before doing anything else.
His eyes soon wandered onto a dark form a few feet away.
The exile gasped as he jumped off Terotrey's stomach, making sure to avoid stepping into puddles of lava that covered the hard ground below while he ran over to Darkrai's fallen figure. The nightmare Legendary appeared unconscious as well, his face reflecting pain and tiredness, although his eyes soon opened into slits.
"Ugh…kid…" the phantom muttered out, slowly shifted his head so he could look at Raikou.
Raikou put on a face of concern. "You look hurt…"
"Really?" Darkrai then coughed out, a sarcastic tone riding his voice. "Gee, I wonder where you got that vibe from, 'cause I sure as hell ain't show no signs of being in unbearable. Undeniable. Incomparable. PAIN!" He coughed again. "Ugh, I'm getting too old for this crap…"
Raikou couldn't help but let out a relived chuckle at Darkrai's sense of misplaced humor.
The phantom turned his head to the exile. "Kid…where's Terotrey?"
The thunder tiger blinked in realization, remembering Terotrey. He was about to turn around to eye his fallen figure when the ground began to vibrate, and he slowly brought his eyes to face the source.
He met the pure-maroon ones of a wide-awake and angry Terotrey.
The dragon roared out. Two essence containers upon the extraction machine were now broken – one, which held the essence belonging to Darkrai, and the other, in which the essence it held was flying around in the sky, unable to reach its owner since he or she was in a different dimension.
Quickly Raikou hoisted Darkrai onto his back, jumping out of the way right as Terotrey smashed his fists against the ground. Lava surged out of it like geysers, although Terotrey paid no heed to it, instead chasing after the thunder tiger and revived Legendary on foot – his wings too weak to carry him. Raikou struggled to avoid the sin Legendary, as well as lava as the ground began to erupt like the very volcanoes that traced the horizon. The air grew hotter, the ground beginning to melt as lava rose from beneath. Before Raikou knew it, his pathway had diminished and was replaced by a sea of yellowish, melted rock.
He turned his head to eye Terotrey as the dragon approached. A beam was already charging in the back of the creature's throat, and he soon shot it out, snarling when Raikou dodged it, it instead hitting the lava pool in front of him, causing a short wave to glide across its surface.
"YOU CAN'T ESCAPE!" the sin Legendary snarled as Raikou began to run towards a cave in a nearby mountain. The dragon immediately followed, the ground breaking beneath his stomps as lava dominated the area, turning it into an ocean of melted rock.
Raikou stopped for a brief moment once he had entered the dark cave. The sounds of exploding ground outside were muffled from the thick walls, which ran upward like a tower rather than deeper into the ground like catacombs. The top was barely seeable, and with the way ashes covered the ground, crumbling underneath Raikou's paws, the thunder tiger could tell that the whole thing was a dormant volcano of the sort. As he readjusted Darkrai on his back so the nightmare Legendary wouldn't fall off, the exhausted exile turned towards the entrance, wondering if Terotrey had followed.
It was quiet.
Too quiet.
The isolation from the sin Legendary somehow made Raikou worry. It was suspicious and eventless – something uncommon in such a time when one was being chased by a hellish fiend determined to smash them into pieces. Raikou felt his teeth grit at the thought, although it was mostly out of anger than nervousness.
"Kid…" he suddenly heard Darkrai mumble, his head dangling over the edge right beside Raikou's face. The thunder tiger, narrowed eyes wandering over his surroundings in search of any signs of Terotrey's presence, replied with a grunt to show that he was listening. "We…need to free those essences," the nightmare Legendary explained, his voice slow. "Terotrey grows weaker every time…we free one. You need to get as many as you can…freed."
Raikou frowned in disbelief. "How can I do that, though? We managed to free one, but almost died in the process…"
Muttering out a response was useless, because Darkrai had already given into his fatigue once more and fainted.
The thunder tiger felt himself curse at his luck. Before he could do much of anything else, though, he was thrown backward when Terotrey burst through the wall, rocks tumbling outwards and all across the ashy ground. Raikou recovered as fast as he could, gazing in horror at the sin Legendary as the dragon began to snarl again, which convinced the thunder tiger to back up against the wall.
"Scared?" Terotrey spoke, stepping forward with a large stomp, and Raikou couldn't help but eye the ground because of it, examining how fragile it seemed to be, coming up with a plan then and there. "You should be!"
And as Terotrey released another beam attack, Raikou ran out of the way, eyeing a ledge upon the wall as it came close. As if it was instinct he immediately hopped to the next one, doing the same with the one right above it. Soon he was jumping across the ledges that ran up the tower like stairs, and all Terotrey did was turn around to eye the thunder tiger, who was now high enough to be eye-level with the dragon's tall figure.
"Run all you want!" he snarled, slamming his claw against a ledge right as Raikou passed it. "You can't escape; death is inevitable!"
Eventually Raikou came up to a long ledge close to the ceiling, Terotrey impaling his claws into the wall so he could hoist himself up to the exile's level. With no other ledges – with no other escape - Raikou was trapped, and all the thunder tiger did was turn to face Terotrey's gleaming eyes, his face horror-stricken.
"My whole life," Terotrey began, bringing his snout closer to Raikou, "I wanted a world without pain or crime! You won't dare take that way from me!" He chuckled. "Not as you could anymore, anyway. You were lucky the first time, but now not even your allies are here; you're all alone. Poor…little…measly…Raikou…is all alone!
"I am God. I am the redeemer – the arbiter!" He slammed his claw right beside Raikou, causing the thunder tiger to jump. It was obvious the dragon wanted the exile to be scared before he killed him and the fallen Legendary that lay on his back. "Do what you want, Raikou, but you won't be able to defeat me!"
Raikou turned his eyes downward, noticing that the pebbles right by his paw were beginning to shake. He wanted to smile at the sight, but instead forced a look of anger to cover his face. "I'm not scared of you!" he then retorted and Terotrey pulled back, slightly surprised, although his intimidating expression returned just as fast.
"Oh? And why's that?" the dragon asked, feeling his devilish smile come to his snout at Raikou's denial to accept the 'truth'.
Raikou smirked. "Because, unlike you, I've learned not to let my arrogance blind me."
Terotrey cocked his head at the weird statement.
That is, until the ground began to shake, Terotrey nearly loosing balance from it all.
Raikou's plan had worked.
Rocks began tumbling down from above as the ceiling caved in from the quake. Terotrey grunted as the rocks smashed into him, forcing his head downward where he then noticed that the floor beneath his feet was crumbling.
And because all of the stomping he had done chasing Raikou had awoken the volcano.
Terotrey shot his head up to eye Raikou with anger; however, before he could do anything else, the ground gave out, and he roared as he stabbed his claws into the ledge Raikou was standing on in hopes of avoid falling into the newly-formed pit below.
However, as more rocks tumbled from above, smashing into his face, Terotrey lost his grip and was sent tumbling down. Raikou ran over to the edge, watching as the dragon then splashed into the lake of lava that now lay below, his whimpers managing to come out despite. His head burst from the melted rock as it burned him, the heat tearing away at his scales and the soft membrane of his wings. No matter what he did, though, there was no support to stand on or escape with.
And therefore all Terotrey Horrifiance could do was let out roars of pain as the lava soon swallowed him up altogether.
Raikou felt his heartbeat quicken at the sight, the echoes of Terotrey's last roars slowly diminishing into thin air.
Suddenly, a large beam of white shot from the lava, shooting upward into the air like a gamma ray burst. Following this, the essences of the Legendaries – every single one of them – burst from it and into the sky, circling around each other until a pink and black one – Palkia's, Raikou could tell, stopped midway. Being the only one holding the ability to do so, it opened up a portal – no doubt one that led back to the right dimension where the Legendaries were; where their long-lost owners were.
The thunder tiger couldn't believe his eyes. The essences – all of them…were freed. Did that mean Terotrey was…
…dead?
Raikou smiled. It was over. It was finally over.
As the volcano prepared itself to erupt, Raikou shot one last look to the sea of lava as it began to shoot up the tower. With Darkrai still on his back, the exile quickly hopped up on a nearby edge and onto the roof, then jumping into the portal Palkia's essence had created and, with the others, had already entered.
Since Terotrey had traveled to another dimension with Raikou and Darkrai, the battlefield of the war had grown quiet. The storm above had dissipated, revealing the crimson skies underneath. The army had settled down, all displaying worry of Raikou and Darkrai's safety, while Mewtwo, Deoxys, Heatran, Drendan, and Jeff and Skyler sat by the destroyed Rocket base. Hours had passed, but even then none of them had calmed down from the incident. They all constantly worried for Raikou and Darkrai.
Were they okay?
Had Terotrey killed them?
Mewtwo rose his head slightly as a robot came by him, its expression emotionless, as usual. All of the robots had spread out over the area, unable to hunt down their target since he was in another dimension. Deoxys, looking even more depressed, slowly placed her hand over Mewtwo's. She then leaned her head against his shoulder, where Mewtwo sighed before placing his head on top of hers.
What were they going to do?
Jeff, who was sitting on top of Skyler's head, sniffed, appearing ready to break out into tears. "I never got to tell Raikou that he was…like…like…MY MAIN DUDE!" He cried hysterically, covering his tear-stained face with his rose hands, and Skyler patted him on the head affectionately, holding back his own tears.
That is, until he rose his eyes up…
…and spotted a portal form in the sky.
"Mates…" he began slowly, disbelief covering his voice at first. "Mates! MATES!"
Mewtwo and the others turned to face him, allowing their eyes to wander where his claw was pointing to, and they gasped themselves when they saw the portal, as well as a familiar yellowish form fall out of it.
"RAIKOU! DARKRAI!" Deoxys called out. The whole army seemed to stop what they were doing and turn to look at the said thunder tiger and phantom as they fell towards the ground by the Rocket base. Deoxys and Mewtwo immediately flew forward to catch them, bringing them softly to the ground afterwards where the rest of their allies covered them almost instantly, asking tons of questions despite Raikou's drowsy state.
However, their eyes returned to the portal again when essences burst from it, flying downwards and towards the cave where the rest of the weakened Legendaries had been placed for safety. Meanwhile, Mewtwo turned to Raikou as the thunder tiger finally recovered from the trip, feeling himself smile like a drugged person when he realized he was finally home.
That it was finally over.
Heatran, on the other hand, had stayed in the back, observing the essences as they came out of the portal. His eyes slightly widened as he realized something, which he quickly rushed forward and towards Raikou.
"Raikou," he began, "where is Arceus?"
Realizing that he hadn't remembered about the God Pokemon, the exile immediately returned to his feet, growing anxious as he was certain he never saw Arceus escape the lava.
Wait…then did that mean -?
Raikou gasped as he then turned around to face the portal.
And only to see the pure-maroon eyes of Terotrey as he emerged from it.
He wasn't dead.
It wasn't over.
His body was torn up, blood pouring down from his burnt scales. The extraction machine had been partially melted from the lava, which explained how the essences were freed, although Arceus was still corrupted, trapped within his orb prison in the middle of the chest piece.
No one had noticed Terotrey sneak in, and therefore, the beam the dragon had been charging up was already ready to be released.
The beam shot forward and towards Raikou and his allies, all of them too frozen in place to dodge it. It was coming towards them like a blue behemoth determined to kill, proving that Terotrey wanted Raikou, Darkrai, and all the rest of his comrades dead then and there.
Raikou's life flashed before his eyes as the beam came closer.
It was over for him –
Raikou stumbled back when he saw a giant figure appear in front of him, the being throwing her arms up and immediately blocking the beam from shooting forward. The thunder tiger widened his eyes as he then realized who it was.
Palkia!
The revived Legendary narrowed her eyes as she continued to push back on the powerful beam with her armored arms. However, Terotrey kept shooting it out of his mouth, making the attack endless and deadlier by the second. The space originator was already beginning to lose her grasp of it – at any second it would shoot right past her and into its target.
That is, until Rayquaza, Dialga, Groudon, Kyogre, Zapdos, Entei, Giratina, and the rest of the now-revived Legendaries appeared beside her, launching their own beams that collided with Terotrey's…
…and therefore reflected it back.
Terotrey widened his eyes as the beam retaliated onto him, shooting towards him and impaling him altogether.
The dragon roared in immense pain as the beam shot through his front and out his back, continuing onward until it dissipated. The extraction machine practically shattered then and there from the power of the hit, Arceus' cage breaking and releasing the true God of the world. Slowly Arceus' fur lost its obsidian hue to its original albino, his eyes regaining their proud gold color.
Terotrey, on the other hand, began to fall towards the ground. With the loss of the extraction machine – with the loss of the power he had been waiting so long to obtain, his dragon body shattered away, revealing his normal human self. His expression displayed a look of both disbelief and pain. All he wanted was a perfect world – a world he could control and watch over; but that dream was dying away…
…just like him.
"Im…impossible…"
And with his last word muttered, he closed his eyes, no longer fighting death as it came to him - and he faded away right before he hit the ground.
Arceus, however, allowed his gold eyes to glow brightly as a white light shot from him, engulfing the land below and seething through the ground like a pool of expanding water. Raikou and his allies blinked to each other before the white light surged through the ground right beneath their feet, the army doing the same when it came to them.
Everyone could slowly feel their bodies become weightless, beginning to rise into the air as the white light headed onward to engulf the whole world.
However, for Raikou, everything went black as he gave into his fatigue.