Hey Guys, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR 50 reviews! Here's the penultimate chapter! (Yeah, I know I said there'd be eighteen, but I'm too lazy, sorry)

I do not own Pokemon.

Chapter Sixteen- Heroes

-N's PoV-

A gushing noise sounded in my ears, pumping vigorously as my chest rose up and down, it itself consumed by a dramatic pulsating motion spanning from my heart and rippling throughout my entire being as a shrill cry echoed across the demolished arena before me. Dented marble tiles and dunes of fine powders that had once existed as ten-feet tall stone pillars littered the once immaculate, meticulously-crafted hallway in which I was now stood, eyes pinned on the teenage-girl standing two-dozen feet across from me, who cast her own hateful leer back towards me as she puffed out exhausted pants.

"Your move, asshole."

My gaze drifted across towards the shrieking Archeops hovering wildly in the air before me, its spiked cobalt and golden tinted feathers drifting to the destroyed floor with every forceful beat of its muscular wings as it cawed threateningly across at the Swanna flailing its own powerful wings to the other side of the arena. Both Pokémon displayed evident signs of exhaustion as they anticipated their trainers next demand, whether it was in the form of a clearly difficult intaking of breath or a slight crippling of their vast wings. These two Pokémon, as a result of having battled against each other for going on half-an-hour, were failing to bring the opponent down and had been simply playing each other in an intricately-woven game of chess. The birds had adapted towards one another during the course of the battle, and were now, much like White and I, aware of each other's weaknesses and anticipant of each other's moves.

The entire battle had been raging for two full hours, at the very least. As expected of her, White had put up an extremely-difficult defence as we fought, even managing to keep herself in the competition for four rounds as we continued to consecutively knock out one another's Pokémon. But she was quickly losing her grip on the battle; my Archeops would soon gain the upper hand over her Swanna, who's HP had now been dwindled away to under a third, I calculated. This wouldn't last much longer.

"Dragon Rage, Archeops," I instructed my Pokémon, who cawed in recognition as it braced itself. Suddenly shooting forwards, a forceful gust whipped through the arena as the Pokémon shrouded itself in a mystical glow of power, and, finally pushing itself forwards, unleashed this accumulated vigour upon White's Swanna. She let out a shrill cry, her thoughts a jumbled series of piercing shrieks, as she skidded backwards many feet and landed in a twisted pile upon the jagged floor. Her trainer's eyes filling with horror for her beloved Pokémon, I watched as the bird, calling on what little strength it had left, feebly pushed itself from the tiles and staggered forwards on brittle webbed-feet, determined to finish what it had started.

This would be over soon. Swanna would collapse in the next few moments, leading White to call on her final remaining Pokémon, Reshiram. Of course, once Archeops had been revitalised with a Hyper Potion, a fully-powered Draco Meteor would send her crashing, finally drawing the battle to a close. I wouldn't even have to call on Zekrom. This whole thing was coming together very nicely.

Legs shaking in fear of impending failure, White's view drifted from her struggling Swanna, then briefly to me, before returning back towards the Pokémon again.

"I'm so sorry, girl…" she whispered to her, her voice but a cracking whisper, as she momentarily clenched her eyes shut. Her chest rose up and down vigorously, and for a moment, I almost believed she'd at last given up, though this theory was crushed several seconds later as her eyes flickered open, now wide and brimming with unlikely confidence. She was planning something, and I knew I wouldn't like it.

"Swanna!" she called to grab the bird's attention, who instantly pushed itself upwards to prepare once more for battle. A smile played on the teen's lips as her newfound menacing gaze met mine, and she swung an arm confidently into the air. "Brave Bird! Now!"

No.

I could only watch on as Swanna thrashed against Archeops, flinging the both of them back forcefully into a pillar. A rumbling sound echoed as the structure collapsed into the water, and both Pokémon spiralled uncontrollably to the floor, each defeated.

This hadn't been part of the plan. White had mapped out the entire battle, and used her meticulous tactics to defeat me when I let my guard down out of overconfidence.

I'd been 'played'.

Letting loose an exasperated moan, White clutched at her side as she withdrew Swanna into its pokeball. Then, safely tucking it within the sanctuary of her bag, she produced her final pokeball; Reshiram.

"That was sneaky, darling…" I sighed, smirking as I casually withdrew Archeops and slipped his pokeball into my pocket. I paused for a moment, my fingers hovering above my mighty dragon's pokeball, to watch her as she clutched at her sides and forced out exhausted breaths, her accelerating heartbeat burning her cheeks a deep crimson. "But I don't think you understand just how serious this whole thing is. I know everything about Zekrom- and Reshiram too, for that matter. It's gonna take a lot more than just being sneaky to even last a minute against the two of us, so I'll give you one, final chance; give it up. Give it all up, and I'll make sure you never have to worry your little head about anything ever again. I'll bet that sounds so tempting right now, doesn't it?"

Wiping sweat from her forehead, she straightened herself as she glared resentfully across at me and swiftly drove a hand into her bag, eventually withdrawing her very last red-and-white ball and gripping it tightly between her fingers.

"What do you take me for?" she snarled, as, calling on what little strength she had left, she tossed the small sphere madly into the air. Another deafening cry blared throughout the hall as the legendary white dragon materialised from the resulting burst of light and scraped its claw menacingly against the floor, ripping out many shards of tile in the process.

"If that's what you really want, princess…" I said with a crooked, devious smile as I threw Zekrom's ball into the air and watched as he appeared in a burst of crackling sparks of electricity and did the same as Reshiram.

White stood no chance. I'd had my entire life to prepare for this moment, while she'd had but three days. Zekrom and I had been together for much longer than she and Reshiram had, and as a result were tightly bonded and obviously strong, while she'd met Reshiram a mere two hours ago. They were outmatched, and they would fall soon. Bitter tears would soon spill from her eyes, and I would go straight back to hating myself. But, wouldn't things be different once we were together? Surely once all of this was out of the way, things between us would go back to the way they used to be, like the times when it was just the two of us together; no fury, no hatred, no stupid Black.

There would be no room for problems in our new life.

'I've been waiting to finally finish you, Reshiram…' Zekrom's hostile telepathic thoughts echoed as he stared his counterpart down, piercing scarlet eyes pinned at the white dragon across from him.

'I'd like to see you try…" Reshiram snarled in response, as White glanced quickly towards her and began gnawing anxiously at her lip as the realisation that she still knew next to nothing of her new Pokémon's strengths, weaknesses or even moves, hit home. The dragon, sensing her trainer's distress, offered its calming thoughts, though whether White could hear these or not I was unsure.

'Do not fear, my Mistress, you already know how to use me in battle… just do what comes naturally…"

I sighed and brushed away a protrudent spike of hair as the atmosphere in the room suddenly escalated to impossible levels. The Pokémon's' anticipation to fight filled the air as I took a brief step forward and met White's restless gaze with my own arrogant one. Like I'd said; this wouldn't last much longer…

"Ladies first," I called, hiding my smirk as her brow creased in suspicion.

"No way!" she shrieked, glancing quickly from me to Zekrom in an effort to piece together a solution. "You're planning something, you pig!"

She really was sharper than I gave her credit for, and a good thing for her case, too; if, like I'd originally calculated she would, she had seized the opportunity to deal the first blow and chosen Fusion Flare to inflict an average amount of damage on Zekrom, I could have easily retaliated with a Fusion Bolt, and since Zekrom's unique move is twice as powerful once it's been powered up by Reshiram's, that would have brought an end to her struggle once and for all.

"Fine then..." I sighed noncommittally, the tiniest of smirks playing on my lips. "…I'll go first…"

Both Light Hero and dragon braced themselves as I glanced dramatically from Zekrom to Reshiram, a fake indecisive pout on my face as if I actually had to contemplate what move to use next, when, in reality, I'd already practically choreographed the entire battle in my mind within seconds. I had no reason to be worried just yet- I might have let my guard down a little in letting White take down the rest of my team, but, while panic was currently crippling the said teenager at the very same thought, I was nothing but collected. I knew just how to get out of this, so why not play around for just a little while longer?

"Hmm… Draco Meteor, Zekrom!" I proclaimed, thrusting an arm in the air as the Pokémon fanned its amorphous, jet-black wings into the space surrounding it, and let out an ear-piercing screech as it paused momentarily to gather an unearthly orb of pulsating purple energy. White tensed from across the arena as she watched Zekrom fling its body into the air, and, upon the anticipant Reshiram, released a shower of hailing jagged meteors.

Reshiram snarled as it was pounded by a thrashing cascade of rock, though sturdily stood her ground as her trainer exclaimed anxiously behind her.

"What do I do?" she cried in anguish, more to herself than anyone else, as she clasped a trembling hand upon her open mouth. Reshiram firmly planted a heavy claw forwards as the meteors subsided and crumbed to dust after colliding with the tiles.

'Do what comes to you, my Mistress…'

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she yelled in response, as Zekrom suddenly let out another hollering roar towards the opposition. So White could hear Reshiram's telepathy too… Interesting…

"Ready to give up yet, sweetheart?" I snickered from the opposite end of the battlefield.

"Shut up!" she snapped briefly towards me, before pausing to gnaw at her lip anxiously. She glanced many times up at the mighty dragon towering before her, before eventually clenching her eyes shut in frustration.

'Just do what feels right, Mistress…'

"I'm trying!" she yelled, sweat trickling from her forehead as her knees trembled beneath her. Panting heavily, she clasped a hand to her throbbing head as she surveyed the scene a dozen times more. She was unravelling.

"I'm waiting, White…" I sighed, folding my arms across my chest in feigned boredom as she straightened herself, her undying spirit suddenly breaking forwards once more as she bellowed towards her Pokémon.

"Sh-Shadow Claw, now!" she screeched, sending the dragon spiralling into the air to quickly ready a powerful attack on Zekrom. Steadying its massive claw, it paused for a moment before unleashing it in a pounding crash upon the black dragon, who ripped dents into the tiles as it skid backwards a foot or two following the collision.

Heavy breathing filled the arena as the conflict finally subsided, and White's angry, antagonising eyes met my calm, collected ones. I paused to think for a moment; maybe she, this young girl who, before now, had been nothing more than a ditzy teenager headed off on a journey with her friends, really did know how to use Reshiram… Maybe I wasn't taking her seriously enough…

I briskly cleared my throat, before raising an arm in signal to Zekrom.

Either way, I had a feeling that this battle wouldn't be ending anytime soon…

-Black's PoV-

So close. So unbelievably close.

The tops of my arms throbbed under the pressure of the guard restraining me's iron grip as I felt my feet carelessly dragging against the stone tiles beneath me. The pungent taste of blood, the remnant of an unsuccessful attempt of breaking free, stung my tongue, as my view remained pinned absently at the spinning floor beneath me.

So very close.

"Where should we dump 'em?" one guard grumbled across at the other as he came to a stop, dragging the stumbling Bianca to a stern halt. She groaned in agitation as the guard snickered callously in her ear.

The guard restraining me, eyeing the nearby castle windows, let out his own malevolent sneer as he brutally pushed me forwards, almost smacking me against the glass. "How 'bout out the window here? I'm sure they'd make a huge splat when they land on the rocks outside!"

"Shut up…" I managed to moan in retaliation, as the guard pulled me away from the glass, only to strengthen his grip on my arm and yank it forcefully behind my back.

"Watch your mouth, kid!" he snarled as I hissed in pain, and Bianca whimpered. Her watery eyes were pinned on me as the guard released his hold to grab an even firmer grip on my arms, before coming closer to jeer into my ear. "…Since I'm feeling especially charitable, I'll spare your pointless little life… but I know you'll enjoy watching as Unova falls, and that's why we've had some special, ringside seats made up for you…"

The other guard grunted, smiling slickly as our feet were once again lifted from the floor and recklessly dragged across the tiles into the next hallway. I cussed under my breath as I felt myself being shoved mercilessly against wall once more, and cold, iron chains bolted around my wrists. Next to me, Bianca was struggling wildly as the guard attempted to wrap the chains around the screeching teen, eventually gaining the upper hand and pinning her against the wall as he fastened the over-sized shackles around her petite wrists. They stayed put nevertheless as she quickly tried to yank them out, before erupting in another bout of furious shrieks as both guards pulled away.

"When you're done throwing your little tantrum…" one snapped towards Bianca, who only huffed sourly in reply. "…there's a little show for the two of you to watch... well, listen to, more like…"

I followed his gaze till I was met by a striking archway lingering towards the end of the hallway, deafening clashing sounds emanating from the room within. Straining my ears, my mouth fell open as I picked up the sounds of a young girl's shouts bellowing from far away, and I instantly found myself exploding in a fit of frenetic kicking and screaming. It was White.

"Calm down, sonny, she can't hear you…" a guard mocked, as the both of them took a final few seconds to snicker coldheartedly in our direction before heading off back the way they'd come. "And you're gonna be there a while, save your energy for the good part!"

Their snide remarks faded into oblivion beneath my ear-splitting cries as I continued to stab my feet into the wall, into the tiles, anywhere I could reach, in a desperate bid to free myself from this torture. She was right there, practically right in front of me, yet these monsters were heartlessly holding me back, just like the beasts they truly were. There was no way she could hear me; the thunderous smashing sounds reverberating from the room far outmatched my shrieks, yet still I continued to scream as if she could.

Next to me, Bianca dangled glumly, tiny tears of desperation streaming down either side of her face as she silently watched me roar a final deafening time before collapsing into a fit of hyperventilation. I was so close to White, I could so easily just run straight ahead and take her far, far away from all of this, and yet I couldn't. I was useless.

"I-I'm sorry, Black…" Bianca sighed, yanking lightly at the chains, almost as if she expected them to just come off. I continued to force out rugged breaths as I hung my pounding head lowly, the floor spinning wildly beneath me as I closed my eyes and attempted to make everything disappear. This just couldn't be real…

"I-I…" I rasped, my knees shaking madly beneath me. "I let all of this happen… Why did I let her go? I could've stopped her!"

"No you couldn't Black, and you know that…" Bianca sighed, as she surveyed the archway ahead of us a final time before gradually allowing her head to hang morosely. "Please don't blame yourself…"

A deathly silence enveloped the halls. My mind seemed to have practically shut down, capable only of creating frazzled, anxious thoughts that buzzed about the insides of my heads as I half-consciously watched time pass me by. Even when, after what could have been anything between ten minutes and an hour, another crowd of guard's appeared and bound the rebelling Cheren and Iris next to me, I found myself unable to even shift my view from the tiles. I was breaking down.

"Black…? Are you okay, man…? What the…?" Cheren's broken words filtered through me as, after they and Bianca had swapped stories, their attention turned to me.

"He's been like that for ages… I think he might be broken…"

"Black?" Iris called to me, having unsuccessfully tried to wave an imprisoned arm in front of me. "Black, wake up!"

This time, I managed to pry my head from my chest, if only briefly, to cast my tear-drenched eyes upwards.

"I- I-m so s-sorry…" I stuttered, before finally giving in to my crippling emotions and allowing my knees to cave in and pull me back against the wall in a heap of tears and desperation. Bianca, bending down next to me, rested her head comfortingly in the crook of my shoulder.

"I think we all are, Black…"

-N's PoV-

This wasn't working. How could it not be working?

My heart palpitated thunderously against my chest as I watched Zekrom skid back against another pillar, smashing it to smithereens as it braced through Reshiram's burning attack. The said dragon, enormous white wings creating strong gusts as she flapped them through the dry air, instantly pulled back closer to her trainer as her counterpart roared tenaciously before prising himself with great difficulty from the floor.

Both were slowly draining away. Both were weakening. Yet neither was falling.

This wasn't right.

White, exhaustion rolling in the form of rivers of perspiration from her forehead, paused for many moments to inhale and exhale deeply, her shaking arms wrapped across herself as her legs trembled in exasperation beneath her. Under normal circumstances, I would have brushed these actions off as amateur- the typical reaction of someone who had no idea what they were doing, yet I found myself unable to; and maybe it was down to the fact that I felt like doing the exact same thing myself. This was unbearable.

Two hours the dragons had been fighting. Two long hours of wild bursts of flames, shocking blasts of electricity and deafening roars, and yet still no victor prevailed. How was this possible? I hadn't planned this- I hadn't anticipated that she would put up such a strong defence, and now I'd gotten myself stuck in a very deep, dark hole…

I didn't know how to get out of this.

"Ready yet?" I called to White, feigning confidence as I inhaled slowly. I would have to keep going with the same willpower if I was going to stand a chance, and there was no way I was giving in now. Not when I was so close.

She stopped, her blood-shot eyes wide and anxious, and glanced quickly from Reshiram to me. She was starting to doubt herself- she didn't understand how to fight this fight, and she knew just as well as I did that it was only a matter of time before the entire battle lead up to an explosive and devastating climax, the outcome of which was still troublingly unclear.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

I shook my head morosely at her words, inhaling sharply. "You know that's not true…"

She laughed then, though nothing like how I'd ever heard her laugh before. This laugh was worlds apart from those times she'd chuckled nervously when we'd unexpectedly met, or erupted into uncontrollable fits of giggles while we were trapped in Chargestone Cave; this laugh was malicious, desperate, and dripping with the vile bitterness of sheer, merciless hatred.

"You're a filthy liar, N. All you've ever done to me is lie- you lied about who you were, you lied when acted like you loved me, and now you're even lying to yourself…" Her voice trailed off momentarily as she paused to laugh in desperation, her eyes absently surveying the room before finding their way back to me again. "…So don't you dare tell me that you don't enjoy seeing everything fall into place in your sick little plot. You planned all of this, right from the start I'm betting, and you just didn't stop until everything around you was destroyed. Well, congratulations, your highness, mission accomplished! Are you happy now?"

I was silent as her words seeped into my brain and instantly started stinging. Again and again they spiralled about the depths of my mind, causing the insides of my head to pang with newfound guilt. Why was she saying things like this? Why did she have to mess with me like this, to make me question the simplest things that had once been so vividly clear?

"…I… I'm sorry White, but-"

"But what! What can you possibly say right now that can make me forgive you for doing all of this? I hate you, N. I hate your very insides, so don't go telling me 'I love you' or 'I'll make it better' or any of that other crap, because I'm done with you! You're not the same, kind, loving person you used to be, and it makes me sick, because the N I used to know would never do anything like this… but you're not that N anymore, are you?" She stiffened at the last sentence, her eyes reluctantly glistening over in a veil of shimmering tears.

I stopped, staring straight ahead into her as the words registered, before quickly glancing towards my dragon and down at myself; a stranger. …Was it… was it possible that this wasn't who I was…? Was it really possible that I'd taken this too far, that I'd made an enormous, unforgivable mistake?

Doubt! Why was I back to doubting myself now, when this had been so very clear all my life? There was no place for doubt in my flawless plans, yet now everytime I looked at her, it suddenly consumed me, to the point where I almost wanted to give up…

But N Harmonia didn't give up.

I smiled then, a pathetic attempt at concealing the surfacing emotions that spiralled inside me, and exhaled. "…you were the only person that ever really understood me, White, that trusted me…" I stated, as she frowned in my direction, tiny tears trailing down her cheeks. "…I'm so sorry I had to ruin that…"

"Sorry doesn't cut it anymore…" she snarled, as, with what little energy she had left in her exhausted body, she slowly raised an arm into the air. "I'm going to take you down, if not for my sake but for the sake of all good people in this world, people who don't deserve to have their Pokémon taken from them by a bunch of rotten crooks!"

Reshiram's muscles tensed as she straightened herself and anticipated her trainer's order. I clenched my own fist as Zekrom let out a low, antagonistic growl and dragged a jagged claw roughly against the floor. We weren't giving in just yet.

"…And you really believe you can do that?"

White buried her feet into the ground as Reshiram howled tenaciously in impatience, its azure orbs pinned on its arch-enemy. "Either I take you and all your little minions down…" she paused to inhale a final time as I quickly created a new strategy in my mind. This was it- this would be the final round of the battle… all that mattered now was impeccable timing.

"…Or I die trying! FUSION FLARE!"

"FUSION BOLT!"

A dazzling lightshow of luminous reds and crackling blues instantly streaked across the air, accompanied by the brash echoing of several ear-piercing booms as both dragons forcefully collided with each other in a heap of violent screeches. Dynamic winds whipped through the arena and beams of light consumed all as I felt myself being thrown back against the immense pressure of the unfolding conflict, my eyes suddenly becoming worn and unable to handle the intensity. Struggling to maintain my dwindling view, I could do nothing but yell as I felt my feet tangling beneath me, instantly forcing my body to the floor, though I caught myself before my head could hit the tiles. White's screams reverberated across the battlefield as, suddenly, an all-powerful, all-consuming blast of legendary energy erupted across the demolished hallway, bursting into millions of tiny, sparkling crystals before quickly subsiding as everything fell eerily quiet.

I coughed out a rasped breath, my legs too frail to push me from the ground, as my weakened eyes scanned what had only moments ago served as the warzone for one of the most momentous battles in history.

Beneath never-ending pools of swirling grey dust, the exasperated bodies of two dragons lay sedentary, motionless apart from the rugged palpitating of their heavy chests against the tiles. Neither stood. Neither lost. Neither prevailed.

They had simply cancelled out.

Only one more chapter to go! I'm currently adding the finishing touches, so hopefully it will be done in time for next Friday xx