A/N: Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry for the long wait! I was really busy with life, as well as working on the first few chapters of the upcoming fic whose preview you saw in the previous chapter. I'm on a roll with that story; the prologue's already finished, and I'm more than halfway done with the first official chapter, plus I already have an idea where the next couple of chapters will go once I start writing them down.
But, at last, I finally decided to give myself enough time to work on this chapter, which would be this story's first update of 2014! :D :D :D Hopefully it is enough to give you guys a good read; I understand that it's a bit shorter unlike most of the other ones.
Enough rambling! ENJOY!
P.S.: This chapter's dedicated to random girlz, who is this story's 200th reviewer! :D Hopefully you like it!
Ketchum City
"KYUREM!" Ash and Nate shouted simultaneously.
"PIKA!" Pikachu added, his cheeks sparkling with bolts of electricity as it went into a defensive stance.
The Boundary Pokémon chuckled malevolently before growling, "Just hand over the Pixie Plate, Ash Ketchum, and no harm will befall you, your son, and your friends." On cue, Kyurem's Cryogonal army surrounded Ash, Nate, and the others, threatening to overwhelm them. "And believe me, the consequences of disobeying the command I issued to you will be not for the faint of the heart. ...Just hand over the Pixie Plate..."
Kyurem's yellow eyes glinted greedily as it glanced, with a hungry expression, at the Pixie Plate, which was in Ash's possession. However, Ash gritted his teeth and boldly stepped towards Nate, who looked just as defiant towards the Boundary Pokémon; Hugh, Yancy, and Lucario followed suit.
"Never," Ash replied.
"You have to let us go, Kyurem!" exclaimed Nate. "Ho-Oh is dying, and once it does, the world will be destroyed!"
"The world you swore to protect!" added Ash.
"PIKACHU!" Pikachu cried.
Kyurem's head moved for a fraction of an inch. "I will let you go to fulfill your destinies," it snarled savagely, "if you give me what I asked for..."
"Well, then," Ash said, "I guess we have no choice! Hang on, Ho-Oh; it won't be long. Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"
"PIKA-CHUUUUU!" Pikachu leaped into the air and unleashed a Thunderbolt attack, striking several Cryogonal.
"Yancy, stay close to me!" cried Nate as he stepped closer to the pink-haired girl. He took out six Poké Balls and threw them. "Everyone, attack the Cryogonal!"
"You guys too!" Hugh ordered as he threw his own Poké Balls.
Nate and Hugh's Pokémon teams were summoned, all attacking numerous Cryogonal with their moves. Lucario, in the meantime, began to repeatedly fire Aura Spheres to attack any advancing Cryogonal. Very soon, the Pokémon were engaging the Cryogonal army in battle, knocking out many with multiple attacks that flew left to right as Kyurem watched, seemingly in amusement. Many minutes passed, and there seemed to be no end in sight for the amount of Cryogonal.
Eventually, Hugh exclaimed, "The Cryogonal just won't stop coming! We have to think of something else, guys!"
Nate didn't respond, instead glancing at Kyurem, who continued to stare down at the scene from above. There was something uncomfortable about the way its refusal to participate in the battle. It seemed to just be a mere overseer, a deity from above. He gritted his teeth and pointed at it.
"PIGNITE, USE FLAMETHROWER!"
Pignite immediately shot a stream of red-hot fire at Kyurem, who merely remained still as the attack hit it, engulfing it in flames. Nate gasped in shock.
"Well, well, Nate Ketchum," Kyurem's voice echoed menacingly, "you're surely your father's son." The flames parted, revealing an unscathed Kyurem, who had turned into its White Kyurem form. "Reckless in his pursuits, yet strangely fortunate to benefit from such brash actions. I'm very impressed." Then, it formed a swirling ball of orange flames inside of its mouth. "But now, I presume that it is time for me to intervene! YARGH!"
Kyurem then fired a beam of orange flames from its mouth, which headed straight for Nate. The Trainer reacted quickly.
"PIGNITE, FLAMETHROWER AGAIN!" he commanded.
Pignite fired another Flamethrower, which hit Kyurem's Dragon Pulse. However, the Dragon Pulse pushed forward assertively, being stronger than Pignite's own Flamethrower. Nate gasped as the Dragon Pulse continued to head towards the Fire Pig Pokémon despite its efforts to repel it.
"PIGNITE!" he screamed.
"PIKA-CHUUUUU!"
A Thunderbolt struck the Dragon Pulse, joining Pignite's Flamethrower in the fight to force the Dragon-type attack backward. Nate glared over his shoulder and saw none other than Ash, pointing heroically at Kyurem, much like the statue in the town center. Ash then lowered his arm, spotted Nate, and nodded subtly at him, cracking a small but bright smile. Nate smiled and nodded back before glancing at Kyurem and pointing heroically as well.
"CONTINUE FIGHTING, PIGNITE!" he ordered. "GIVE IT ALL YOU'VE GOT!"
"YOU TOO, PIKACHU!" shouted Ash. "WE CAN WIN THIS!"
Nate noticed, at the corner of his eye, a Cryogonal heading straight for him, preparing to fire an Ice-type attack. Just then, a Water Pulse appeared, hitting the Crystallizing Pokémon and knocking it out. He glanced over his shoulder and spotted Hugh standing with Yancy, giving him a thumbs-up. Nate nodded back and then glared back at Kyurem's Dragon Pulse, whose power was now being rivaled by the combined might of Pignite's Flamethrower and Pikachu's Thunderbolt.
Meanwhile, as Hugh and Lucario battled the oncoming Cryogonal, Hugh shouted, "This can't last any longer! Kyurem's a Legendary Pokémon! At the rate this is going, its power will soon overwhelm Pignite and Pikachu, and only Arceus knows what'll happen next! We have to help the two of them out!"
"No!"
Hugh glared at Lucario as it finished off two Cryogonal with a Bone Rush attack. "No?!" he repeated. "Why 'no'? Nate and Ash-"
"They can handle Kyurem," Lucario interrupted harshly. "I have complete faith in that."
"How?! This is one of the Legendary Pokémon of Unova we're talking about!"
"Because they're the Chosen Ones!" Yancy suddenly exclaimed, catching Hugh and Lucario's attentions. "They're the Chosen Ones, the ones who will always be able to restore balance to the world! It's in their blood, as it always was ever since their first known ancestor, Sir Aaron, sacrificed himself to save the Cameron Palace from chaos and disarray!" She looked at Nate and Ash as they continued their battle, and whispered softly, "They're the Chosen Ones.
"I don't think they can do it." She smiled. "I know they can do it."
"YOU CAN'T WIN, ASH, NATE!" roared Kyurem, its loud, booming voice piercing the atmosphere as it strengthened its Dragon Pulse. "I WILL TRIUMPH!"
"NOT IF WE CAN HELP IT!" Ash and Nate replied simultaneously, with equal determination. They both pointed at the Boundary Pokémon. "GO!"
"CHUUUUU!" screamed Pikachu as it continued to channel its Thunderbolt.
"NITTTEEEEE!" roared Pignite as it continued to fire its Flamethrower.
It seemed as if all of the power was being put into all three attacks. All of Ketchum City was bathed in a bright light, like a star ready to go into supernova...
Silver Town
"Whoa, what's that?!"
Kelly followed Rosa's finger and found that she was pointing directly at the faraway ruins of Ketchum City. There, a bright light was shining, threatening to even engulf the entire city. Continuing to fear the worst for Nate, Kelly tightened her grip on Rosa's hand as the two continued to run across the town. Unfortunately, many civilians began to crowd around the walkways to observe the expanding light at Ketchum City, obscuring Kelly and Rosa's way.
"Hurry!" she exclaimed. "We've got no time to lose!"
"Yeah!" replied Rosa in agreement.
The Silver Town prison
"Zekrom gave you those instructions?!" cried Iris, shocked beyond belief at the revelation. "But...But Cilan and I... We spent the last few years with him... ...We thought he told us the entire truth, about what we all needed to do..." She approached Lyra and snarled, "What did he instruct you and Khoury to do?!"
"But-" began Lyra.
"I don't care at ALL about when you were supposed to give us this information," Cilan snapped, stepping beside Iris and crossing his arms. "We need answers. Nate and Hugh are out there, likely in the clutches in the Sky Soldiers, and Ho-Oh is no doubt close to death after the attempt to capture it. Tell us."
Lyra and Khoury looked at one another before sighing collectively. Then, they looked back at the rest of their friends.
"Okay, we'll tell you," Lyra replied reluctantly. "But...But if we meet Zekrom again, don't say a word about this! Okay? Promise?"
"You have our word for it," said Dawn. "Now, tell us what happened."
Lyra sighed and began, "See, we didn't know I was pregnant when we went on our honeymoon. All we were focused on was spending time together, and also remembering Ash and Khoury's father." A brief shadow of grief encompassed Khoury's face for a second, but disappeared just as quickly. "Then, just a week in, I began showing the symptoms of pregnancy, and after making sure, the both of us couldn't be any happier.
"But then..." Lyra lowered her face to stare at the floor. "He appeared."
"Zekrom?" May asked.
Lyra shook her head. "No. It wasn't Zekrom. He's to come later. It was..."
"Arceus," completed Khoury, not showing a single trace of reluctance or fear.
Everyone's eyes widened, and some gasped in shock at the revelation.
"Arceus?!" Brock exclaimed.
"What do Arceus and Zekrom have to do with you not telling us about your child?!" asked Marina.
Lyra continued, "Arceus told us that, since our child was a Ketchum, destiny will be tied into his or her life. He then told us that this destiny was greater than we ever imagined, and as a result, we had to give it away to another family and never see it again. That was the direction our baby's life was supposed to take, he told us, and that if it strayed from its destined path, the consequences would be so unimaginable, even he can't imagine what would happen.
"I didn't know what to think of it at first, but then Arceus assigned Zekrom to supervise us. That was when he gave us the instructions."
"He told us that we would see our child again," Khoury said, "but not until it was of a proper age, and its destiny was already in motion. Arceus did not mention anything against us telling you about our baby, but Zekrom did. He said that you all must not know of this until everything was already in motion. We asked him why we couldn't tell you guys, and he was only able to give us this reply: 'Until the light expands, the fox among the sheep will operate'.
"Judging by that, we thought..." Khoury hesitated for a moment. "We thought that, at the time, one of us was untrustworthy."
The resulting uproar startled the entire visitors' room.
"One of us couldn't be trusted?!" Dawn exclaimed.
"There's a traitor among us?" asked Jimmy.
"It can't be possible that one of us is a bad guy!" Hilbert cried.
"EVERYONE, CALM DOWN!"
The group glanced at a prison guard, whose arms were crossed, his shoulder pointed to the door.
"If you're gonna keep up that conversation," he said sternly, "I suggest you take it outside."
Nervously, the group slowly began to walk out of the visitors' room and into the outside street.
"I can't believe there might be a traitor in our group..." Hilda said.
"Well, Zekrom said that the 'fox' will operate until 'the light expands'. Khoury and I assumed that the first part meant the traitor will stop at a certain point. But the problem was that we don't know anything of an expanding light, so we knew we had to stay silent until we saw a sign..."
"GUYS!"
The group glanced down the walkway and saw Kelly and Rosa running towards them frantically.
"What is it, guys?" asked Gary.
"Rosa says she senses Nate nearby!" Kelly replied.
Everyone glanced at Rosa, who began to look extremely nervous at the attention she was receiving. Gary then glanced at Lyra and saw her eyes shimmering.
"I'll be damned..." he whispered.
Ketchum City
"DIE!" screeched Kyurem as it further strengthened its Dragon Pulse, the attack beginning to barrel down upon Pikachu and Pignite.
"PIKACHU!" Ash cried.
"PIGNITE!" screamed Nate.
All of a sudden, Pikachu and Pignite's outlines began to glow in separate colors of light: Pikachu was glowing light-blue, while Pignite was glowing deep-red. As they continued to glow, their attacks suddenly grew stronger, and the Dragon Pulse was being pushed back again. Everyone gasped at this new development.
"What?!" exclaimed Kyurem angrily. "What in heaven's name is happening?! I absolutely cannot afford to lose!"
"What's happening to Pignite and Pikachu?" Nate asked, looking around.
Then, he noticed that the ice encasing both Reshiram and Zekrom were also glowing similar colors, as if in correspondence with the glowing outlines of Pikachu and Pignite. He could barely see the bright light emanating from the glowing eyes of both legendary dragons as the glowing began to grow even stronger, thus enabling both Pikachu and Pignite to fully repel the Dragon Pulse, triggering a tremendous explosion that engulfed everyone in a thick, billowing cloud of smoke. Lucario, Nate's other Pokémon, and Hugh's own seized this opportunity to attack the blinded Cryogonal, defeating all of them.
As soon as the smoke cleared, Nate saw that Reshiram and Zekrom had stopped glowing, but Pikachu and Pignite weren't...and yet, they both looked as if they were fueled by a newfound source of energy. His eyes widened in realization, and then he smiled widely. Looking at Ash, who smiled back, both then glared at Kyurem, the Boundary Pokémon recovering from the explosion, now in utter bewilderment at the newest development.
"I-Im-Impossible," it said. "This can't be... I...Kyurem, the strongest Dragon-type Pokémon in the world...defeated by two weaklings?"
"They're not weaklings," spat Ash.
"They're our friends," Nate continued.
Then, both shouted, "AND TOGETHER, WE WILL STOP YOU!"
"PIKACHU, USE THUNDERBOLT!" Ash ordered.
"PIGNITE, USE FLAMETHROWER!" commanded Nate.
"NO!" Kyurem hollered furiously as it unleashed a barrage of reddish-purple beams at both Pokémon. "I REFUSE TO BE DEFEATED BY THE LIKES OF YOU!"
However, the Thunderbolt and the Flamethrower, fueled by the new energy provided by Zekrom and Reshiram, shot past Kyurem's Ice Burn attack, repelling it with ease, before striking the Boundary Pokémon with full force, causing a larger explosion. Ash and Nate heard Kyurem scream in pain.
Then, they watched as Kyurem emerged from the cloud of fire and smoke, critically wounded by the two powerful attacks. With some sort of effortless grace, it glided down towards the earth, unable to fly anymore due to the major damage it suffered. Nate, Ash, Lucario, Hugh, and Yancy collectively braced themselves as Kyurem crash-landed into the buildings beside them, once again spraying them with rubble and then engulfing them in thick smoke.
Once it cleared, however, the five, plus Nate and Hugh's Pokémon, all gazed upon the fallen body of the Boundary Pokémon, now reverted to its original form.
"Is...Is he?..." began Yancy.
"No," replied Lucario, sensing her thoughts. "He is not dead. His Aura is still active."
"You...fools..." a voice croaked weakly. The group watched as Kyurem shifted slightly, facing them. A light seemed to have gone out in its yellow eyes. "You all think that you fight for a great cause, that it is for the good of the world? Heh. You are all nothing more than mere puppets, and the almighty Arceus, who sits idly on his throne in the Hall of Origin, is the puppet-master. All of your actions only serve to his purpose. You should know..." He was looking directly at Ash as he spoke this latest sentence. "But...give me the Pixie Plate, and allow me to merge with my Brothers... Once Arceus is usurped, there shall never be any need to worry. Free will is yours to bask in. No longer shall you see a hand and strings connected to you.
"Just give me the Pixie Plate, Ash, and you shall be free from Arceus's influence..."
However, Ash frowned defiantly. "Never," he spat. "For the past ten years, I've tried to run away from Arceus, to cower behind a great shield that even he could never break. But...now...I've realized that this will not last for me. Even with all of the protection, more than I could ever ask for, destiny still found me." He then looked at Nate. "I've had my eyes opened to a new understanding, a new realization. I must let go of the burden of the reality that is before me. Certainty has plagued my life for so long. And now, I have decided to take a leap of faith and confront the problem head-on, without being certain of all possible outcomes."
Ash looked back at Kyurem and continued, "You have become so certain that the Fairy type will overwhelm the Dragon type, that you fail to understand the one critical thing that always led my life when I was a Trainer: strength and power doesn't determine the chances of victory, but determination and confidence. Have you forgotten all of the accomplishments I've done, Kyurem? I, a mere Trainer from Pallet Town in the Kanto region, encountered many unimaginable situations, squared off against many Legendary Pokémon...and I won. All because I was determined and confident of success, not because of what power I had.
"It's something that you've failed to understand, Kyurem. But just because you fail to do so now, doesn't mean it's not too late for you to change your mind."
"Why should I ever change my mind about those Arceus-damned Fairies?!" Kyurem roared savagely. "The Dragon type, the greatest Pokémon type in existence, being overthrown of its almighty power by puny little sparkling creatures? Unbearable!"
"I see you do not plan on changing your mind, Kyurem," said Nate solemnly. "Well then, don't continue to succumb to hatred. It'll consume you totally one day." Then, he pointed at the ice individually encasing Reshiram and Zekrom. "Pignite, free Reshiram and Zekrom with Flamethrower!"
Still energized, Pignite fired a powerful Flamethrower that melted the ice in mere minutes. Zekrom and Reshiram both shook off the last remnants of the ice and let out loud roars. Then, they both looked down upon the humans; Nate and Ash could sense the pride radiating from their fierce eyes.
"You succeeded, you two," Zekrom said.
"There was no doubt that you both could overwhelm Kyurem," added Reshiram as it joined Zekrom's side.
"Yeah, well," Nate replied, "we obviously couldn't have done it with you both."
"Thanks, Reshiram, Zekrom," said Ash, giving both dragons a thumbs-up.
Reshiram and Zekrom both nodded before looking up over the rooftops, sensing something.
"All of you, go, now!" ordered Reshiram. "Ho-Oh is still dying..."
"We shall stay and watch over Kyurem," continued Zekrom.
"All right!" Ash shouted. "Thanks again, you two. Come on, guys! We haven't got a minute to lose! Pikachu!"
"PIKA!" Pikachu cried, hopping on its Trainer's shoulder.
The humans and their Pokémon climbed over the rubble that was left by Reshiram's crash-landing and eventually vanished down the walkway, leaving Reshiram and Zekrom with Kyurem and the fallen masses of Cryogonal. Both dragons glanced at their Brother, who looked up at them humbly.
"You win..." Kyurem snarled.
"Oh no, we did not win, Brother," replied Reshiram. "We never did. ...No one did."
However, a new glint appeared in Kyurem's eyes. "Not for long, anyway."
"What?!" both dragons exclaimed.
Kyurem merely let out a sinister chuckle.
Nate, Ash, Yancy, Hugh, Lucario, and the other Pokémon continued running down the walkway, not noticing that more Cryogonal were following them.
A/N: Well, that concludes the newest chapter! I honestly did not like the chapter's pacing, especially since I feel like the battle with Kyurem was a bit too short. However, I still enjoyed taking care of this, since I wanted to assure everyone that this story was still alive. So, hopefully you enjoyed reading this!
I'd like to thank those who reviewed:
Anthony627AA: Sorry if this chapter wasn't posted as soon as you hoped it to be. But I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless! :D
Rokudosatoshi: Thank you.
woodland59: And a belated Happy New Year to you too! :)
darkrai6543: Yeah, I noticed that people didn't seem to mention Zygarde a lot in any fan forums or work, so I thought I'd change that.
BlueLightningXD: Well, you're my 199th reviewer, that's something. :) And that mysterious man is a complete OC, I'll tell you that.
random girlz: A.K.A. this story's 200th reviewer! :D :D :D And yes, you're right. Congratulations!
Fireminer: I just did serve some more. Hopefully I've got a big enough plate to handle all of them. :)
eracman920: Yeah, who would've thunk it? But he's on the road to redemption now, he's almost there.
JZuCuadra: Hopefully what I have planned for him in the end is satisfactory enough.
Well, hope you enjoyed this chapter! TheCartoonFanatic01 is out. PEACE!