A/N: Happy New Year's Eve, y'all! It's almost time to make way for 2014! Hopefully you all thought of your New Year's resolutions by now!

Anyway, I thought I'd celebrate this occasion with a new chapter to this story, as well as a little sneak peek to my next "Pokémon" story, which I promise shall be extremely exciting! The sneak peek can be seen at the end of this chapter, so if you want to, you can skip ahead to read it.

ENJOY!

P.S.: This story's almost reaching the 200-review mark! Whoever will the 200th reviewer be?...

P.P.S.: Most of this chapter picks up where we left off in Chapter 20, when Gary was about to interrogate Wayne, the previous leader of the Sky Soldiers. Also, there's a little important part in that same chapter that I'm pretty sure people forgot about, so I recommend reading Chapter 20 if people get confused.

Edit: If you guys are wondering where the "Legend of the Aura" sneak peek is, I have recently decided to delete that part, since I have also decided to revamp the entire structure of that story. It will bear the same title, but now, most of the plot that all of you expected will be nonexistent.

Temporary Cell #002318
The holding cell of Wayne Ketchum
The Silver Town prison

"Hello, Gary Oak. Long time, no see. I saved you a seat."

Gary silently stared daggers at the man responsible for the death of his longtime friend Ash. Prison sure took a toll on him, considering how emaciated he was. However, despite the lack of health that seemed evident in his body, Wayne Ketchum appeared surprisingly lively, from the strange glint present in his only eye to the seemingly excited shuffling of his foot. The Professor watched as the inmate gestured to the unoccupied seat that was on the other side of him.

"Come on, Professor," encouraged Wayne. "Take a seat."

Unsure of how to verbally respond, Gary merely partook of his offer and sat down on the chair, resting his arms on the wooden table as he stared at Wayne.

"How long has it been?" Wayne asked, his eyebrow raised, as if he really didn't know the answer to that question. "Ten years?"

"I am not here to acquaint myself with you," replied Gary bitterly. "Not now, not ever."

Wayne smirked and chuckled in response. "Well, you're welcome. I was trying to impose a friendly attitude with you, but obviously, it's not working-"

"Because you're the reason my friend is dead," Gary interrupted, the anger steadily rising in his voice.

Wayne chuckled again, as if Gary told him a good joke. "Right. Right. If you say that, then why in Arceus's name did you come over to this damn hellhole to visit me, during this time of the year, of all days of the year? Shouldn't you be attending to your precious Pokemon studies, Professor?"

"The Sky Soldiers are back, and they tried to capture Ho-Oh. Do you know anything about that?"

"Oh, of course I do, Professor." Wayne pointed to the television set that was hanging in the corner of his cell. "I've got a TV right over there, you know. One of the very few privileges that you allowed me to have when you arrested me for no justifiable purpose."

"You were about to destroy the world, Wayne."

"But with good intentions. I wanted to exterminate the evil that plagued it like a cancer. The only wrongdoing I've ever done was underestimating the power of Pure Impurity. I truly thought it'd be much lesser of a challenge, but alas, I was wrong on that. But underestimation of something as powerful as Pure Impurity isn't an act of evil. It was just a simple mistake. Yes, it was one that would've cost the entire world its survival, something that I fully recognized, yes, but I had good intentions in the end. If you were in my shoes, you would have understood that I did what had to be done."

"No. If I were in your shoes, I would've taken a different course of action. But I'm not here to debate about your ideals."

Wayne shifted in his seat. "Ah yes, that's right. You are here to interrogate me about that little incident that occurred at the Ketchum Month Stadium two days ago. The return of my Sky Soldiers. Before you ask, no, I had no involvement in that whatsoever. Remember, I'm not allowed to have any visitors."

"I know that, and I'm not here to accuse you of any involvement in that matter. See..." Gary stopped for a moment and sighed before reluctantly continuing, "I came here to visit you, after all of this time, because...I am..." The Professor hesitated. "I am asking for your help."

To his surprise, Wayne didn't seem to display any shock at the request, or even taunt him. Instead, he raised an eyebrow, but replied, "Of course you are, dear Professor. After all, it was I who founded the Sky Soldiers in the first place. And if these newbies are following in the footsteps of the old organization, word by word, then it means that their methods are completely identical to those that I employed when I was in power."

"Some of them escaped, Wayne," Gary said. "Ho-Oh's still somewhere in Ketchum City, wounded. What do you think they would do in such a situation?"

"Simple. They'd find Ho-Oh. But..." Wayne stood up and approached a nearby window, staring out of the bars and into the cloudy sky. "If their numbers are low and they are almost at the end of their game, they would become desperate. Very desperate. These new Sky Soldiers are obviously not as experienced as the old ones. It will not matter anymore if they'll have to cross the line that separates good and evil in order to accomplish their goals. At that point..."

Wayne turned around to face Gary. There was a twinkle in his eye.

"...You'll have to be very careful, Professor. Even I won't be able to predict what they'll do once they reach that point."

Gary's eyes widened in shock. Wayne was right; these new Sky Soldiers didn't seem as experienced, otherwise their grand master plan wouldn't have fallen to shambles the very second things went out of their control. And desperation opens to new measures, ones that can be thought of as impossible, out of nature.

"You don't think they'll-" he began.

"Kill Ho-Oh intentionally?" completed Wayne. He remained silent for a moment. "If it means success, then they surely would be willing enough to go for it. But I find it so odd that you're being so worrisome, my dear Professor. I thought you had your secret weapon to remedy things."

"Secret weapon? What secret weapon?"

"Have you seriously forgotten about the boy that helped bring you closer to the grasp of success?"

Gary's eyes widened even more. "N-Nate?..."

Wayne smirked. "Ah yes, Nate. Nate Ketchum, although I assume he doesn't know of his true heritage yet."

"He has."

"Oh. Well then, I pray to Arceus that he has accepted his destiny." The former villain closed his eyes and let out a long sigh of content. "We're all gonna need it. After all, only one with a pure heart can save Ho-Oh, even at the cost of his or her own life. Being the latest descendant of Sir Aaron, the first known person of the Ketchum line, who selflessly cast aside his life in order to prevent a war from devastating an entire kingdom, the key to salvation for mankind and Pokémon alike lies within Nate. And it takes so much effort for a ten-year-old child to accept the fact that he may die fulfilling this kind of destiny."

"I'm not sure if that's already happened or not. He...He and a friend of his disappeared after the attack on the stadium. We can't find them anywhere."

"Sure you can."

Gary blinked as he flicked his head at Wayne, a shocked expression etched on his face. "Really? H-How?"

Wayne frowned, and he glanced at the Professor. There seemed to be something about his expression that signified...disappointment.

"Do you not know about the other Ketchum?"

Gary stood up, overturning his chair in the process, but he didn't care the slightest.

"Ash had another child?!" he exclaimed. "Impossible! He only has one child, and that is Nate! I know that myself! I witnessed Nate's birth!"

Wayne was undaunted by Gary's outburst, instead replying, "I didn't say this other Ketchum would be Ash's child. If I can recall, I had two cousins, not one."

"Lyra?" answered Gary.

"Oh, but you have just scratched the surface, Professor. Ever since you found out Hilda was pregnant with Nate, you saw no hide nor hair of dear Lyra Silver or Khoury Evans for the duration of Hilda's pregnancy. Didn't you find that at least a little suspicious, Professor?"

"They left to spend time together. After all, after the...incident, they began dating, and they thought they'd spend the next several weeks by themselves."

Wayne's eye glinted suddenly. "Except that little honeymoon of theirs didn't last for several weeks, didn't it, Professor?"

"Considering all that we've been through, I thought that they just needed privacy. Lyra just found out that Ash was her twin brother, and Khoury lost his father to your grunts, after all." Then, as his mind began to think about what revelation Wayne was giving to him, Gary suddenly found himself connecting the pieces, which were slowly but steadily forming a clear picture... "No...wait a minute... No... No, no, that's not right..."

Knowing that Gary was realizing the message, Wayne smiled again and glanced out of the barred window. "Unfortunately, Professor, it is right..."

"But...But it's not possible..." Gary collapsed on his chair in disbelief. "Lyra should've told us that she was pregnant the entire time... But...But why didn't she?!"

"Unfortunately, Professor, that is where my information on that subject ends. I can only assume that something must have happened during their 'honeymoon'. Something that told them that it was a good idea to keep Lyra's child, Nate's cousin, the second chance for the survival of this world and everything we know, a complete secret that must never be disclosed until the right moment. And it looks like today's the right moment, Professor."

"But...But you were in rotting in a cell for the whole time, with only a TV to keep you informed! How did you know all of this?"

"Seems like you forgot that little lecture you watched Arceus give to dear Ash and Lyra, Professor. Every member of the Ketchum lineage has complete mastery of Aura, including an advanced branch of it that involves connecting your mind to the minds of others at pure will, although that innate ability is reserved to only the minds of those who share the same blood as you. The reason I remained sane for the past decade was because I monitored the progress of my cousin, my nephew, and my niece, the only remaining family I have left. I watched them as the years went by, through their minds, to see how they were doing.

"You see, Professor..." Wayne once again looked at Gary, and this time, he walked back towards his unoccupied chair and sat down on it. "Ever since your dear friend Ash defeated me, I received a sort of...enlightenment as I sat in my prison cell. I remember him lecturing to me, not once, not twice, not thrice..." Then, he smiled and let out a soft chuckle. "Good Arceus, I have lost count of the times he's given me that lecture. Anyway, he told me that sometimes, for the world to keep moving forward, for the forces of good to truly find a reason to be good, there must be a force of evil to accompany it, to balance it.

"Of course, I found the lecture to be utter nonsense and completely flawed in its basic ideals. But when I found myself sitting in a prison cell, being persecuted for countless of crimes, I found myself in a position that I hoped I'd never be in: one where evil is punished. I...I was the evil, while the courts were me and my once-mighty Sky Soldiers, out to rid the world of the evil that plagued it. I realized that no matter how good my intentions, my actions were, they were still evil because they defied the primary principle that Arceus set for us, a principle that my father and I, and those new Sky Soldiers were completely blind to.

"There must always be evil in order to stand beside good, complement it as a foil. No matter what I did, I was the villain. And I was defeated. See, that is why I am helping you out, Professor, instead of praising these wannabe Sky Soldiers and ranting on about how noble and founded my goals were and how all of you were the real villain for preventing them from coming to fruition. That is why I am helping you, Professor."

"You were ranting about your goals just minutes earlier, Wayne," Gary replied bitterly.

Wayne shrugged fleetingly, his lips pursed. "Well, old habits die hard, I guess. Anyway, what I just told you was legitimate information that is vital in completing this new adventure to save the world." He leaned towards the Professor, his eyes continuing to glint despite the absence of light in the room. "All you have to do now, Professor, is find the other Ketchum. She will master her ability to connect with Nate's mind and use it to find him."

"She?" asked Gary, raising an eyebrow.

"It's a girl," Wayne replied, smirking. "But that's all I know about her."

"I thought you were able to connect with her mind. Doesn't that mean you'd know her identity?"

Wayne continued to smirk. "There's always a catch to everything, Professor. Even catching Pokémon has a catch. You can't tell what sort of path that one single capture will take you, what development said capture can bring for you. Do you get the joke, Professor?"

Gary didn't respond to Wayne's question, Instead, he stood up, walked up to the cell door, and pressed the button on the side of it. An ominous ringing noise reverberated throughout the cell and the hallway outside, just seconds before a latching sound was heard, and the cell door opened with a creak.

"I get your joke, Wayne," Gary replied, "and I didn't find it funny the first time."

"Maybe you'll find it funny the second time," said Wayne, smiling widely and brightly as if they were concluding a friendly discussion.

"Maybe, Wayne. Maybe." Gary stepped out of the cell and looked back at the inmate as the door began to close. "Thanks. For all of your help."

"Does it look like I had a choice?"

Gary's response was terse and simple. "Not really."

Then, Wayne asked, just seconds before the door closed on him, "How's Tory doing?"

The bang resonated throughout the cell before he could get a satisfactory response from the Pokémon Professor, and the only thing Wayne could see was the familiar, sturdy iron that made up the door separating him from the freedom that he needed but didn't rightfully deserve.

Wayne sighed heavily and leaned back against his chair, staring up at the cracked ceiling.

"You're welcome," he whispered to himself. Then, his lips curved into a smirk. "Oh, I forgot to tell you, I remembered who the other Ketchum is. Plus, Ash is alive and well, Professor. Rejoice." The former villain glanced at the closed prison door. "Oh, forgot. The Professor left the room." He let out a soft chuckle. "Well, just because I learned the error of my ways and saw the golden light, doesn't mean I can't have a little last laugh on something."

The prison waiting room
Several minutes later

Misty and the others stood up from their chairs as Gary reentered the room, his hair hanging low over his face, obscuring his eyes. A tight frown seemed to be etched on his lips. Everyone else cautiously approached him, unsure of what emotional state their friend was in.

"Gary?" asked Misty. "Did you... Did you talk to him?..."

Gary was silent for a few minutes. Then, he replied in a grave tone, "Yes..."

"What'd he say?" Max asked.

"Did he provide anything helpful against these new Sky Soldiers?" asked Brock.

"He told me a lot," replied Gary. Suddenly, his fingers curled up into his palms, turning his hands into clenched fists. "Lyra?"

"Y-Yes?" Lyra answered, stepping forward cautiously.

Gary looked up at her, and Lyra's eyes widened. An expression of betrayal was evident in the Professor's eyes. His lips pursed themselves even tighter.

"Why? Why didn't you tell me? ...Why didn't you tell us?"

"Tell you about what?"

"About her. Your daughter."

Everyone gasped and turned their heads at Lyra and Khoury, both of whom now looked extremely nervous at this new predicament. The couple looked at each other, and Khoury was frantically shaking his head at Lyra as a signal. However, she sighed softly, shook her head at him disapprovingly, and looked at Gary.

"Wayne knew I had a daughter?" she asked.

"He's your cousin," Gary replied, "and a Ketchum. He said he spent the last decade connecting with your mind, Nate's mind...and your daughter's mind..."

"He...He connected with my mind?!" exclaimed Lyra, clutching her head as if her former arch-nemesis was doing so at the moment. "That...That BASTARD!"

"Wayne doesn't matter right now, Lyra. He told me that he knew you had a daughter, and that you and Khoury kept her existence a secret from us. He says he doesn't know why, though. ...Why didn't you tell us about her? Such information would've been very helpful for us..."

"We weren't supposed to tell you!" Khoury suddenly exclaimed. "We weren't supposed to tell you about our daughter until the moment was right!"

"And when was the moment supposed to be right? When Ho-Oh is on the verge of death, and the world is in danger of falling into death and destruction?"

"We're not supposed to tell you that either! Only-"

"Who in the world instructed you not to tell us any of this?!" Dawn snapped angrily, staring at Lyra in particular. "We're your friends, Lyra, Khoury!"

"You could've easily entrusted us with such information!" added Marina.

"It doesn't matter if we didn't tell you or not," Lyra said in response, looking down at the ground sadly. "We had specific instructions..."

"From who?" demanded Gary.

Lyra looked at the Pokémon Professor, regret and reluctance in her shimmering eyes. Khoury sighed, knowing that the two of them were cornered.

"Zekrom..."

Elsewhere in Silver Town

"Ms. Brown, wait!" exclaimed Rosa, stopping in her tracks. She and Kelly were on their way to the Silver Town prison, where they knew the others were at.

"What is it, Rosa?" Kelly replied, facing the young girl.

"You came..."

"Well, couldn't resist the savory taste of a challenge any longer."

"Nate's now in Ketchum City..." Rosa blinked as she tried to focus herself. "And someone else is with him... But I can't tell who..."

Kelly's eyes widened in concern, fearing that Nate might be in the clutches of the Sky Soldiers. Quickly, she grabbed Rosa's hand.

"Come on, Rosa!" she exclaimed. "We have to get to the others as quickly as we can! We don't have time to lose!"

Ketchum City

"Faster, everyone!" Nate cried as he and the others continued to run down the stone walkway. "We've gotta run faster! Lucario, is Ho-Oh nearby?"

"He's nearby," replied Lucario. "The Genesect Army is keeping him safe." Then, the Aura Pokémon gasped. "But..."

Nate's eyes widened; Lucario's tone sounded...grave... "But what, Lucario?"

"His Aura... It's growing weaker by the minute... He's dying, Nate..."

"That doesn't sound good at all!" exclaimed Hugh.

"It isn't," Ash replied. "Ho-Oh was created by Arceus to protect the world for Pure Impurity, a powerful force of pure, unstoppable evil that Arceus buried within the planet. If Ho-Oh dies, then Pure Impurity will be unleashed and its wrath will be devastating enough to destroy the entire planet! Everything we know-"

"-Will die..." completed Nate gravely.

"We better hurry, everyone!"

Suddenly, the buildings in front of them exploded, spraying the group with a shower of small pieces of concrete. Adjusting his eyes towards the billowing cloud of light-gray smoke, Nate could identify the silhouette of a fallen dragon that appeared to be white in color...

"Oh my Arceus, Zekrom!" Yancy screamed.

Everyone else looked up and watched in horror as the Deep Black Pokémon flew across the air, small flames and pieces of ice on its body. With one last roar of pain and agony, Zekrom crashed into the buildings that were standing behind the group, spraying them once again with concrete and rubble. Once the clouds of smoke settled, they realized that the bodies of Zekrom and Reshiram were blocking both sides of the pathway, while buildings stood on either side of them.

"We're trapped..." Hugh said.

"We need to get out of here!" exclaimed Nate. "Quick, climb over Reshiram's body!"

"I think not, Nate Ketchum!" a voice commanded suddenly.

Multiple beams of light-blue appeared from above, some of which struck Reshiram, creating a large, thick layer of ice that covered the Vast White Pokémon and formed into an icy barrier. The remaining light-blue beams also hit Zekrom, freezing it as well and creating another barrier. Nate, Ash, Hugh, and Yancy gasped.

"Who in the world is doing that?!" Hugh shouted.

"I know who..." snarled Ash angrily, looking up.

The others followed his gaze and saw Kyurem levitating in the sky, its yellow eyes gleaming menacingly.

"Hello, puny humans. I believe you have something that rightfully belongs to me."

A/N: Well, that's the sneak peek to my new "Pokémon" story, which will be up sometime in January 2014, maybe later! The story is actually meant to be some sort of a spiritual successor to this story, meaning that the new story will borrow elements of this story. However, there'll obviously be differences, namely the fact that the story will feature the newest characters from the XY saga of the anime! And it shall indeed be interesting.

Well, hope you enjoyed the sneak peek! It probably wasn't much, but it's very important to the main plot, obviously. :D

Anyway, removing the sneak peek, this was probably a shorter chapter, but I enjoyed writing it, especially in commemoration for the last minutes of 2013! It's been quite a fun year, and we as a human race have been through a lot during that time. Hopefully 2014 is the signalling year for a start of prosperity! :D

I'd like to thank those who reviewed (cannot answer reviews right now, sorry):

darkrai6543

Fireminer

Marissa Flynn

Legionary Prime

BlueLightningXD

Alpha B. A. 7

Galaxina-the-Seedrian

random girlz

Well, hope you enjoyed this chapter! TheCartoonFanatic01 is out. PEACE, AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! GO 2014! :D :D :D