Hellooo everybody, happy Valentines!

So sorry for the delay, couldn't sign in to fanfiction yesterday for some reason.

Me no-owny Pokemans.

If you enjoyed this chapter, please review!

Xx

Chapter Fourteen- Spark

-Black's PoV-

"Get down!" Cheren warned fiercly, swiftly grabbing my collar before coarsely yanking me behind a sturdy marble pillar next to him and Iris, his brow furrowing as he keenly watched a nearby patrol guard pause momentarily to glance around him suspiciously. Letting out an exhausted groan as the guard eventually disappeared off further down the grey-stone balcony on which we were currently hiding, he released his grip on the back of my jacket, causing me to stagger forwards awkwardly.

"Now!" Iris whispered sharply, taking the opportunity to dash forwards along the balcony that seemed to run the entire length of the side of the castle. My legs picking up speed as Cheren and I both darted ahead to join her, I ground my teeth together crossly. This charade was getting ridiculous; half an hour we'd been frantically skimming along the side of the castle, searching desperately for a way to gain entry while attempting still to stay hidden from the guards, yet we made no progress. Between pausing every twenty seconds to hide from a passing grunt, or having to climb fifteen feet up the prickly vines of ivy to get to where we estimated would lead us deeper into this never-ending maze of a castle, we were going nowhere.

The sound of a bell's deep tolling suddenly reverberated across the sky, causing me to crane my neck as I attempted in vain to see across the tops of the pointed roofs above me as I ran, figuring that the bell tower could be situated at the centre of the palace grounds, which might just be a good place to start searching for White. Realising the roofs were too high up to see across them, my eyes, seeking out other methods of gaining a view, began to drift downwards, where a lightbulb suddenly flickered on.

"There!" I cried, skidding to a sudden halt to lean curiously over the balcony edge, gazing down at the identical one beneath us, where double-glass doors hung wide open, giving entry inside the castle. "We can get in!" I exclaimed, awkwardly swinging a leg over the railing.

Before I could continue to drop myself down onto the balcony below me, Iris had already effortlessly somersaulted off the ledge, landing in a graceful pose as she smirked arrogantly. "Try to keep up, fellas…" she laughed with a wink, before, with a swish of her soft, purple hair, disappeared forwards inside the castle. Attempting once more to drop onto the balcony, I was stopped this time by Cheren, who placed a cautious hand on my shoulder to prevent me from leaving.

"What do you see, Iris?" he queried the young girl, I guessed as a way of telling if this was a safe route.

"It's clear!" she called back, the sound of her light footsteps gently tapping against glossy stone tiles below as she explored. "It's just a hallway… weird statues…. paintings… some funny ar…"

Both our bodies tensed as the scene below fell deathly quiet, with not so much as the sound of Iris' footsteps to assure us she was still down there.

"…Iris?" I called out concernedly, as Cheren and I swapped apprehensive looks. "Iris?" I repeated, having been met by nothing but sheer silence. A sudden alarm simultaneousy going off in both of our heads, we insantly scampered over the stone ledge, landing with painful thump onto the hard floor many feet beneath us.

"Iris!" Cheren yelled distraughtedly, dashing forwards through the glass doors as I clutched at my newly-injured wrist painfully, eventually managing to race after the disappearing teen as he ventured cautiously in to the grand hallway. As I scurried into the castle, my eye was caught instantly by a striking oil-painting of none other than Ghetsis himself, hanging imposingly upon the glistening cream wall with a sly smirk on his wrinkled face, his beady eye staring out arrogantly. On the elevated ceiling above, a sparkling, impossibly-large chandelier existed between a vast collection of countless elaborate murals, reflecting the dim lighting within its many crystals.

Yet, apart from these amazing pieces of art and the two of us, this hallway was empty. Completely empty.

"Iris!" Cheren bellowed once more, realising an instant later that we were most likely within hearing distance of a tuckload of grunts. Unwilling to hang around and wait for them to come arrest us, we quickly scampered, the screech of muddy trainers skidding against the tiles as we dashed further down the hallway.

"What are we supposed to do?" I yelled a little unwisely across at Cheren, who only furrowed his brow, his teeth grinding together roughly as he ran.

"Just run!" he eventually directed, spurring himself forwards while tugging at his collar anxiously, his eyes scanning all around him on sharpened lookout for guards. "Where the hell are you, Iris?"

It was then the sound of the clinking of heavy metal uniforms reached my ears from the distance, causing me to cast a quick glance backwards as we continued sprinting through the seemingly never-ending hallway. My eyes sank instantly as I noticed, approaching from the opposite end of the hall at breakneck speed, a pair of burly guards with matching mallets gripped firmly between their hands, emanating vicious snarls as they neared us. Cursing loudly, I forced my legs to carry me faster, deciding that my mission for the time being would be to avoid getting turned into mincemeat by these apes, who must have been some of Team Plasma's tougher members, if the bulging muscles jutting out from beneath their uniforms were anything to go by.

"Crap!" I yelled, grabbing a shaken Cheren's arm to yank him further as the beasts approached, their growls now fully audible in our ears. Naturally, it was then that Cheren, in another genius lightbulb moment of his, just had to notice an entrance into another hallway, and, without taking the liberty of consulting me on the matter, instantly plunged through the doorway, dragging me along with him. Of course, his ingenious plan might just have worked if he'd thought it through properly, and not endangered both our lives by trapping us in a sharp dead-end, where the pro-wrestler-sized guards would soon arrive and beat us to a pulp. Oh Cheren, my old friend; all this stress was making you dumb. It was nice knowing you!

I cussed in frustration, just in case the guards had missed our little acrobatic display and needed some sort of indication as to where we were hiding. No such problem, of course, as, only a matter of seconds later, the two monsters of men charged into the tiny hallway, their shining mallets gripped tightly and their wrathful eyes beaming into us hostilely.

"Idiot…" I snarled at Cheren, who only staggered back as the space around us tightened and we were pushed further against the castle wall, our short lifespans quickly ticking away with every step the guards took. "Think of something already!"

"Like what?" he snapped, his back sharply colliding with the wall as the guards edged even closer, their stale breaths now to be felt beating against our white faces.

"I don't know, you're supposed to be the smart one, dumbass!" I yelled, clenching my eyes shut as the guards swung their heavy mallets into the air in an instant, emitting seismic roars as panick coarsed through my entire body. This was really it, wasn't it? This was how I would meet my end, smashed into tiny pieces by deluded apes in a crappy little broom-cupboard, or whatever this was supposed to be. I was too pathetic to even attempt at saving my sister at the time she needed me most, a truly awful excuse for a brother.

A sudden clashing sound echoed across the room, though it wasn't accompanied by a piercing surge of pain in my head. Flickering my eyes open, I gasped as I watched the previously indestructible guards cripple instantly to the floor, their eyes spinning madly as their burly bodies collided with the marble.

"How's that for good thinking, huh, Black?"

Blinking rapidly, I glanced upwards from the unconscious bodies on the floor to the pair of familiar teenaged girls standing across from us with cheery smiles on their faces and a heavy stone statue in each of their hands. Bianca and Iris both giggled at one another as they tossed the statues used in the guard's demise aside, Bianca's conceited malachite eyes drifting across towards me suddenly. "And to think you always said I was a dumb blonde!" she chirped with a giggle.

"Y-you… you came back…?" I stammered, in disbelief that the ditzy Bianca I'd known all my life had not only done something productive, but saved lives in the process.

"Of course!" she exclaimed, fixing her beret proudly atop her mass of soft blonde curls. "Nurse Joy's taking care of Alder, so I decided to help out, too!"

"And with a little help climbing up the castle wall from me…" Iris continued with a cheeky smile in our direction as she explained her random disappearance. "There're four of us again!"

Cheren and I swapped exasperated expressions. Women…

"Thanks for scaring me half to death, by the way, Iris!" he bellowed, folding his arms defensively across his chest. "I thought you were dead!"

"Oopsie…" Iris chuckled, scratching her head goofily. "Guess I got a little carried away… but I had good reason! I saw N on the other side of the castle from outside the window, and when I left to investigate, I discovered Bianca trying to climb up the wall. I couldn't just leave her, now could I?"

Cheren exhaled heavily, wiping his hand across his forehead in a tired gesture. "Whatever, Iris…" he moaned exhaustedly, to which Iris pouted and folded her arms huffly across her chest, unsaitisfied with his reaction.

"N?" I grumbled, feeling fresh anger rise and bubble inside of me. "W-was White with him?"

Iris shook her head. "Nah, he was alone. Poor guy seemed kinda upset, too. He was staring out a window, banging his head against the glass... I never knew villains could feel remorse…"

Of course that monster couldn't feel remorse, because that's all what he was; a cold-hearted monster who only cared for himself. Grinding my teeth together furiously, I began to trudge sullenly towards the doorway leading out of the room we were stood in, my eyes keenly scanning the deserted hallway outside before quickly ducking back inside to confer with the other three.

"Where exactly did you see him?" I asked Iris, who paused to think for many moments, a puzzled expression clouding her features. She knawed on her lip as she remained deep in thought for many moments, and I face-palmed. "…You don't know, do you?"

"Not true!" she insisted, her brow furrowing. "It was a window… that had… a lot of glass… and… was across from a… wall…."

"She doesn't know. Of course, that's just typical…" Cheren muttered, earning himself an evil glare from the very offended teen next to him. He stuck his tongue out at her teasingly, before turning back to me. "So what do we do now, Black?"

I tensed as I realised I had no clue whatsoever. To sum up the situation at hand, we were four teenagers who didn't technically have a clue what they were supposed to be doing or where we were supposed to be going, who were lost somewhere in the depths of an enormous castle in the middle of nowhere, where people were waiting at every corner to arrest and/or kill us. How the freaking hell was I supposed to know what we were supposed to do now?

"We… we…" I stammered, turning away back out into the hallway, feeling the curious gazes of all three teens focused on me. "We find White of course!"

Hesitating for a moment, the three eventually followed me carefully back into the hallway as I took off in a random direction with absolutely no idea of where I was going or what I was doing.

Bianca's twinkly voice piped up many silent moments later from behind me as her flats skimmed lightly against the marble floors. "So… we don't technically have an actual plan or anything, do we Black?

I sighed, burying my hands anxiously into my pockets. "That would be a no…"

-N's PoV-

Time agonisingly slowly ticked away as I sat motionless, hands stretched out grandly on the smooth golden armrests of my throne, with only my restless thoughts to accompany me in the massive, empty hallway that was my throne room. My blank, emotionless stare remained focused directly ahead of me as my chest ruggedly fell up and down, the pounding of my heart against my chest the only thing to assure me I was even still alive.

She'll be awake now… I realised, recalling how only minutes previous, Ghetsis had concluded White was rested enough, and ordered she be awakened so that we could commence our final battle. She was on her way here now. She was going to cry soon.

My heavy breathing was the only sound to be heard resonating quietly across the still, desolate arena, which existed as a flawlessly intact marble passage-way with a wide arena stretching through the center, wedged in between two lakes of shimmering crystal blue water, the exact colour of White's eyes. Enormous stone pillars protruded from beneath the sparkling water on either side, each decked with elaborate banners bearing the letter 'P' in large lettering.

There was almost no life to be found in this empty place; only me, a so-called 'hero'.

I exhaled a long, painful breath, wondering if I even deserved to be called that anymore. Maybe I was a hero in blood, that that was why Zekrom had chosen me, but did true heroes really do the things I did? Did they cause panick and rage across a region they were supposed to care for, like I did? Did they brutally do anything, even disrupt the course history, just to get what they wated, like I did? …Did true heroes ruthlessly force the ones they loved into battles they couldn't win, just like I did…?

I felt my fingers grip the rests of my throne more vigorously as the thought lingered in my mind. Knawing viviously at my lip, I shook my head many times, a pointless attempt at clearing my mind, as a low groan escaped my lips. I had to get rid of these thoughts, I just had to forget about them before they started taking over me. Now was the moment I'd dreamed about for so many years, the day I finally gained enough power to free all pokemon, yet inside, I was dying, and all because of her.

White had always said I was wrong, that pokemon and humans could live together in harmony. She didn't see what I saw, yet she believed in this so wholly, she was willing to put even freedom on the line just to prove she was right. She didn't see what I saw, and probably never would, yet she still convinced herself her words held truth. Because she was so headstrong, so frustratingly stubborn, I had no choice but to fight against the one I loved, just to try once more to convince her to abandon her beliefs. But she was too strong; she was never going to give up, and it was killing me.

Slinking back against the back of my throne, I exhaled a final, painful time. My new world would begin soon. My lifetime dream of freeing all pokemon would finally be a reality, Team Plasma would obtain power over Unova, and I would be complete; for I would have White. That was the plan, I told myself again and again, forcing it into my mind. And that was how things were going to be...

Suddenly becoming alert as my ears detected the sound of heavy trampling of footsteps in the distance, I snapped up straight, eyes widening as the distant figure of a young girl came into view at the end of the hallway.

"White…" I whispered her name to myself as she stormed furiously into the throne room, heavy boots banging brashly against the tiles. Rising from my throne, her wrathful sapphire eyes, like stormy oceans raging against a glossy white exterior, met mine, following me as I processed calmly towards her. Grinding her teeth, she continued charging defiantly forwards until we were both stood at opposite sides of the arena, separated only by a dozen short yards.

For many seconds, an unbearable silence hung in the air as I cast my own blank stare back at the fuming teen across from me, who only snarled in my direction, cerulean eyes narrowing.

"Hello, N…" she spat callously in my direction, feet planted firmly into the ground.

"Hello, darling," I greeted her, the tiniest of smirks sneaking onto my face as hers twisted into its own disgusted scowl.

"You lost the right to call me that when you betrayed me, you jerk…"

"Of course I didn't, White…" I continued, sighing disinterestedly as her eyebrow arched in suspicion. "…Because it's a king's entitlement to call his beloved princess whatever he wants…"

White growled, almost pokemon-like, and hissed a curse I didn't understand, thick lines etching onto her brow as she frowned. Silence took over the arena once more.

I exhaled, tiring of this charade and wishing for White to simply give up. "…There's really no point in continuing, my love, is there? Reshiram has abandoned you, if what I've heard is correct…"

White glanced away painfully then, her lips clenched together tightly and her brow creased. "S-SHUT UP!" she eventually snapped, though her fuming tone was ruined by the fact she was trembling as she spoke.

"That's a shame…" I muttered monotonously, my hands planted casually into my pockets, as if what was happening was no different to any other normal social interaction between friends. "I really thought you were the Light Hero… my mistake…"

Of course she was Reshiram's Hero, that much as evident. As to why the legendary dragon had chosen not to appear was a puzzle, however, yet I knew it wasn't because White wasn't the right person. Of course, she didn't know that, now, did she?

She growled irately, her arms shaking wildly now as she stared me down intensely. "Y-you tricked me!" she shrieked madly, tiny tear-clouds just visible in the corners of her eyes as she realised she'd thrown away her life. "Y-you tricked me into thinking I was a h-hero… how could you do this to me, N?" Her furious tone seemed to change to one of sadness as her gaze drifted from me to the floor, her breathing becoming heavier with every passing second.

Many moments of silence passed. White's eyes remained glued to the floor before eventually finding their way back up to me, this time brimming with such pain and sheer hatred, it was almost enough to send those troublesome thoughts from before straight back into my head again. "…You… you've ruined my life, N…"

I shook my head vigorously, holding her gaze as she ground her teeth together viciously. "No, White…" I insisted, feeling a lump rise in my throat. "I'm going to make your life better. We'll be happy together here, forever, and no-one will ever disturb us. White, you'll make such a beautiful que-"

"SHUT UP!" she shrieked tenaciously, losing control of the tears that slowly trickled down her cheeks as she reached for her shoulder bag and swung it beneath her arm, desperately rummaging through it in search of a pokeball. "I'LL NEVER LET YOU WIN, YOU SICK, PERVERTED BEAST! NEVER!"

My heart seeming to clench inside my chest, I sighed, wondering why she insisted on putting herself through the gruelling humiliation of failure, when she could so easily just give up now.

"Reshiram has left you, my angel, given up on you. Your friends are nowhere in sight, and you and I both know your Pokemon aren't strong enough to defeat mine. You need to realise there's just no point in going on, because you are doomed. Why do you this to yourself, darling?"

"It's something you'll never understand, N," she snarled, producing a pokeball from her bag and gripping it tightly between her fingers. "It's called honour. Duty. Love…" –she stiffened at that last word- "…I was an idiot for thinking someone like you was even capable of loving another person, N. Not when you're already in love with yourself…"

"That's where your wrong, my princess. So very wrong…" Then, suddenly picking up the sounds of my faithful dragon's excited thoughts echoing inside my head from behind the castle wall, I slowly rose a single hand and snapped my fingers together, knowing that Zekrom's sensitive ears would easily pick the signal up. "…I love you with all my heart, White…"

A thundering crashing noise suddenly reverberated across the arena as the back wall of the hallway briskly shattered into a thousand shards of rock and glass and a burst of blinding light filtered into the previously-darkened room, accompanied by an impossibly strong gust of wind ripping through the demolished wall. White shrieked as her petite body skidded backwards against the force of the breeze and raised her arms over her head to shield herself from chunks of wall flying through the air as a looming black figure began to materialise against the backdrop of brilliant light, its piercing, all-knowing crimson eyes focused straight ahead into the arena below.

Zekrom roared deafeningly as it catapulted into the hallway in an eruption of shining, cobalt electrical-currents, which danced about the legendary dragon as it landed with a thud on the stone floor and flared its enormous wings outwards threateningly. I smiled as I greeted my trusted friend, who shrieked once more in acknowledgment, its enormous chest falling up and down in accordance to its heavy breathing.

"You see…" I continued, turning away from my Pokemon back to White, who lay knocked to the floor as a result of the now-subsided windstorm. "You can't beat me, my beloved. Just give up, and you'll never have to worry about anything ever again. Our new world is beginning soon, it's just time you realised that this is your destiny. To stand beside me forever."

"…N-never…" she stammered lowly, shrieking as her pokeball rolled away into the distance, escaping from her grasp. I sighed once more as I watched her push herself feebly to her knees to just about retrieve it before it dropped into the water of the pools, never to be retrieved.

"Look at what you've become, White…" I murmured, shaking my head in disapproval. "…You used to be so headstrong, so powerful; an unstoppable force. Now look at you." She met my gaze for an instant before proceeding to tuck her pokeball back snugly into her bag, and for a split-second, I thought she'd finally given in. For one tiny instant, I allowed myself to believe that her love for me had at last conquered her defiant spirit, yet then I could only watch as she carefully lifted a heavy, white stone from her shoulder-bag and held it firmly with both palms, letting a single, silver tear drip upon its smooth surface. Reshiram.

"Please…" she whispered, almost inaudibly against the sound of Zekrom's heavy breathing, but whether her plea was directed at me or the stone I didn't know. Her body tensed as the stone remained completely inanimate, and she hung her head so that her cap covered her face and tear-drenched eyes. Muffled sobs escaped her.

This was getting ridiculous. There were a million more productive things White and I could both be doing for our future right now other than sit about crying over a rock, and I think she'd spent enough time already doing just that. Slinking my hands out of my pockets, I began to make my way towards the distraught teen several yards away, smiling reassuringly as her gaze met mine.

"Come on, darling…" I whispered to her as I neared her. "…it's over…"

She sat trembling for many moments, her head tucked inwards, as if biding energy to reply. Her fingers tightened around the Light Stone as she puffed out several heavy breaths, then, at last gathering enough energy to force herself to her feet, she let out a piercing shriek.

"NO IT'S NOT!"

The deafening scream echoed many times across the vacant hallway, and I was sure everyone in the palace could easily have heard it. White stared ahead at me from only a few feet away, boots all-but ingrained into the tiles and Reshiram gripped tightly in her hands as her rugged breathing filled the hallway after her shriek.

And then, at long last, something happened.

The shock of the sudden vibrations between her hands caused White to stumble backwards in disarray, dropping the stone instantly, though it did not hit the floor. The both of us watched on curiously as the once-lifeless rock simply hovered, suspended in mid-air, emitting a radiant amber glow that pulsated in shapeless wisps through the still air surrounding it, seeming to draw it into itself as a thunderous booming sound reverberated across the arena.

Zekrom hollered uncontrollably, his vicious thoughts indistinguishable as he scratched a heavy claw against the tiles and I quickly retreated backwards to join my dragon, just in time before the quivering ripples of flames, as I now recognised them to be, could brush against me. From across the room, White's mouth hung open as she watched her stone slowly ascend further into the air and become consumed by a quick surge of fire, which pulsed slowly as it continued to grow larger and larger until it eventually erupted into a sudden spark of orange. Another booming sound rifled through the arena as the gust caused by the unfolding transformation pushed White's body backwards several paces, though she defiantly trudged through this force to regain her footing.

The stone twirled as we watched, and suddenly began to change form as its shiny white exterior seemed to shatter into dozens of pieces before reforming itself back together, this time taking shape into an amorphous, snow-white blob, which twisted many times in the air as it continued to morph itself into the shape of a creature. Two, icy-blue eyes materialised as the shape lengthened, before eventually, a pair of long, pure-white wings flared outwards, emitting burning flickers of fire, before two heavy claws landed before White and another deafening roar resonated across the room.

Reshiram had appeared.

The enormous legendary dragon's soft breath brushed against White as the astounded teen took several cautious step forwards, her wide, azure eyes focused on the vast, white creature as it cast back its own knowing stare.

'White...' Reshiram's soft thoughts chimed in my head, though of course the one these were directed at could not hear. 'I've waited so long for you, my hero…"

The dragon lowered its mighty head so that the two were separated by only a few short feet, while White stood for many moments, staring intently into Reshiram's eyes. Placing one anxious foot before the other, she gingerly moved forwards, stretching a single arm through the burning flames that surrounded the pokemon, which seemed to pass straight through her skin, much like Zekrom's electric vibes had with me, to gently place it atop her head.

"H-hello…" she eventually stammered, crystal eyes filling with tears of sweet relief, that, even if it was tiny, there was still some hope left for her to rebuild the life she'd lost in coming here. Then, her emotions suddenly becoming too much for her, she rushed forwards to tightly wrap her madly shaking arms around the dragon's neck and sob loudly into her soft fur, silver tears streaming down her cheeks as Reshiram outstretched her long, whimsically-shaped arms around the teen, as if sheathing her within the comfort of a protective caress.

I smiled. Reshiram was awake. This was good- it meant that when White eventually lost, Team Plasma would have two legendary dragons in its possession to help enforce its rule over the region, assisting us greatly in our effort to gain power over Unova and eventually the world.

Zekrom's hateful ruby orbs remained pinned on his old enemy and other half as he snarled lowly, his fangs grinding together as he did so.

"Hold yourself, my friend…" I whispered up to him as his wrathful thoughts echoed inside my mind. "You'll battle soon, if she puts up a fight… but first…"

Reshiram lifted its comforting barrier from White as she twisted to gawk at me summoning Zekrom back inside its pokeball. Taking several steps forwards so that Reshiram stood behind her, I could see that longing hope in her face that I'd finally given up, only for it to be briskly shattered moments later.

"Y-you're not using him?" she mouthed, her body growing weaker as her eyes widened. I shook my head before slipping my dragon's pokeball back onto my belt and withdrawing another.

"Of course not… well, at least not yet…" I said as I brought the new pokeball up for her to see. Her face took on a confused expression and she staggered back quickly as I tossed it into the air and a sudden beam of red darted out instantly. Zoroark landed with a brash thud several feet away. "…I'm saving Zekrom for last, sweetheart. That way, he won't have to worry about battling at all. I highly doubt you'll even manage to make it past the rest of my pokemon, and I don't want to have to tire him… you understand, don't you, darling?"

Her face twisted into a fuming scowl then and her knuckles turned white as she clenched her fists into tight balls, her narrowed eyes beaming hostilely across towards me.

"I'm going to make you wish you never said that, you heartless pig!" Tossing her bag between her elbow and her hip, she rummaged around quickly before finally producing a pair of pokeballs, one of which she tossed towards Reshiram, who disintegrated within it before she quickly caught the ball once more and planted a gentle kiss on its smooth surface. Tucking it away into the safety of her bag, she hurled the other ball into the air.

"Go Druddigon!"

A smaller Dragon-Type pokemon with hateful, glassy eyes and a coat of jagged ruby-red scales covering its body emerged from the ball and landed with a roar across from Zoroark, who snarled viciously and scraped a heavy black-furred paw against the tiles, etching automatically to battle this strange creature it knew nothing of. I dejectedly shook my head as White clenched her fists together stubbornly, the gentle breeze wisping from the gaping hole behind me whipping her unruly chestnut hair behind her face.

"You really want to do this to yourself, don't you?" I sighed, glancing slowly from her to the Pokemon before us. Without thinking twice, she nodded her head.

Hateful sapphire orbs met disheartened malachite ones from many yards away, causing another ripple of sickening anguish to pulsate through me at the thought that the loving warmth that had once occupied those same, amazing eyes had seemingly disappeared, replaced now only by the shallow iciness of ruthless determination. "…What do you think, N?"

I took a moment to gather myself, then sharply in-drew a quick breath, as if accumulating energy for the inevitable battle facing us. This moment had been destined to occur ever since that tiny Oshawott had first bumped into me on that amazing Autumn evening, the evening that changed my life forever, and I'd been fooling myself by trying to convince myself I could avoid it. Because, like Reshiram and Zekrom themselves, the heroes of light and dark were bound by fate to attract one another, then eventually clash in an explosive climax. Only this time, the Dark Hero would triumph over the much weaker force, a force that knew only of joy and happiness and could not hold themselves against one who had had an entire lifetime to prepare for this. Because this time, there would be no grey.

"If this is what you really want…" I muttered blankly, lifting the visor of my cap to better my view of the battlefield. "…Zoroark, Shadow Claw!"

A cloud of swirling grey dust rippled across the arena.