The Ampharos strode through the winding tunnels, with a concentrated sphere of pure electricity as his light source. Of course, now that he didn't have to be carrying someone around, it was much easier to move, or do anything, really.

After what could have been either minutes or hours, he finally reached his destination.

Ahead of him was an opening that led into a massive, spacious chamber, which was rounded-out, much like the rest of the tunnel network. In the center of the chamber, a massive black and green serpent sat with their back turned to the Ampharos, and as their scales gently pulsed, the room was tinted neon green.

The Ampharos dismissed his electricity sphere. It dissolved, and the energy that had been contained within it flowed into his body.

He steeled himself before he called out to the serpent, "Zygarde, I wish to speak with you."

There was no indication that he had been heard.

He sighed before trying again. "It concerns the one I brought into your realm some time ago."

Zygarde turned their head slightly, and their scales stopped glowing. "Have you come to inform us that you are removing him from our realm?"

"No."

"Then you have no reason for being here. Leave."

"That's not happening. Look, I know you don't like me, or… any of the others--"

"That is a severe understatement."

"I don't think the severity of your disdain for everyone else makes a difference. But alright, I'll make this quick, then. I've spent a lot of time thinking about this, but I've finally come up with a plan that'll get rid of Reshiram."

Zygarde fully turned to look at the Ampharos, and slithered towards him. "And what exactly does this 'plan' of yours entail?"

"It's simple. You might not like it, but you're going to be involved in this. First, you'll need to claim the mortal as your Champion--"

"We refuse."

The Ampharos paused for several seconds, then sighed deeply. He could already feel a spark of rage coursing through him.

"Listen. You hate everyone. That's all you ever talk about. So, wouldn't it be logical for you to want to help kill some of the others?"

"We 'hate' most, not all, of our fellow gods. You should learn the distinction. And if we are to eliminate others, we shall do so in our own way, and at our own discretion."

The Ampharos gritted his teeth.

Fuck this.

In a blinding flash of light, he shed his mortal disguise and now stood before Zygarde in his true divine form: a colossal, muscular black dragon. The air crackled and hummed with electricity, and bolts of lightning danced around him.

"How much of a fucking hypocrite do you have to be?" Zekrom growled, and jabbed a claw at Zygarde. "You're always going on about how much you hate all of the other gods, but now that I'm giving you a chance to kill one of them, you say it's not worth the effort?! Just what the hell do you think you're playing at, huh?!"

Zygarde was silent for several seconds. Finally, they answered, "We are not 'playing at' anything. You simply fail to comprehend our actions."

Zekrom snarled and lunged at Zygarde, then wrapped his claws around their neck and squeezed with as much might as possible.

"I'm not failing to comprehend anything. I see the truth, and I see you for what you are: nothing more than a selfish, pathetic excuse for a god. Understand this." He drew his arms in, and thus dragged Zygarde closer to him. "You will not squander my chance at freedom."

Zygarde was completely still, even as Zekrom's claws pierced their scales, causing droplets of their golden blood to seep out.

After a short while, there was a squelching noise, and a writhing tentacle covered in small barbs appeared behind Zygarde. It shot out and wrapped itself around Zekrom's neck. He hissed in pain as the barbs dug through his scales and made his own golden blood drip out.

Zygarde tilted their head slightly. "If your link to Reshiram did not prevent you from doing so, then we presume…?" Their layered, echoing voice was seemingly completely unaffected by the claws in their throat.

Zekrom grunted, struggling to get his words out as the tentacle coiled tighter around his throat, the barbs digging deeper into his flesh. "Would have been-- hrgh-- dead, thousands of years ago, yes."

Zygarde stared at Zekrom for several seconds. The tentacle that choked Zekrom released its grip on him, and withdrew back into Zygarde. In response, Zekrom took his claws away from Zygarde, and one of his hands flew to his own throat to apply pressure to the puncture wounds, as he took deep gulping breaths.

Another several seconds, perhaps closer to a minute, went by. "Is this why your plan requires our aid?" Zygarde inquired, completely unfazed by what had just happened.

Zekrom grunted in affirmation and removed his hand from his throat as the wounds gradually closed up.

"We did not allow you to elaborate upon your plan." Zygarde leaned forward almost imperceptibly. "We assume that you will leave us in peace after you explain it?"

"...Yes."

"Very well. Explain."

"My plan is this: You'll make the mortal your Champion, then he'll find Reshiram-- or you can find her for him-- and then, with your combined strength, you'll kill her."

"...Intriguing. Now, leave. We must think about this."

"And I'm glad to leave at this point." Zekrom huffed before he turned and walked away.

While on the way back to where the mortal lay unconscious, he shifted back into his own mortal form.

I don't think the mortal would take too well to a god being the first thing he sees when he wakes.

He paused mid-step.

...Come to think of it, he's been out for a long time. ...I suppose I can only hope he wakes up soon.

He continued on his way.

Several weeks later…

Zygarde sat in their chamber and contemplated what to do.

They would not be the one responsible for the mortal. Despite what Zekrom wished, Zygarde had no plans to work alongside anyone, whether mortal or god.

Though… perhaps they could pass the burden off to another… yes, that would do nicely. Zygarde would no longer have to put up with Zekrom's pestering, and Zekrom himself would get his plan fulfilled. An ideal situation for both of them.

Zygarde knew of two gods who would be most likely to accept the burden, for one reason or another.

They cleared their mind, and sent a mental summon to the two gods, which consisted of only four words: Come to the Council.

Zygarde teleported away to the Council realm.

Once they arrived, they were greeted with the familiar sight of a gleaming white and gold corridor, along with the opalescent sky that hung above the open hall.

They slithered through the passageway and passed through a set of open double doors, into the main chamber of the Council.

The room was massive, the ceiling being several times their own height. Twelve thrones were placed at the far end of the room, arranged in a wide semi-circle.

Only one throne was occupied: a simple throne, colored dark grey and silver. On it sat the Lord of Time, Dialga.

Zygarde moved across the room and stopped a respectable distance from where Dialga sat.

"We thank you for answering our summon."

Dialga grunted. "I don't exactly have anything else to do right now."

"...Understandable." They turned to look at one of the empty thrones. "The other is late."

"Oh? You called someone else?" He followed Zygarde's gaze to the vacant thrones. "Hmm. Whoever it is should know better than to disregard a summoning."

"We shall retrieve them, and we shall return shortly." Zygarde teleported away as soon as they'd finished speaking.

They found themself, again, in another realm.

This time, it was a realm consisting only of the fluorescent green outline of a circle against a void filled with countless distant stars and planets.

Zygarde knew how this realm played tricks on the mind, appearing much smaller than it truly was. Of course, it was only fitting that this realm was but a small taste of the Lord of Space's power.

They moved through the realm quickly, wasting no time on looking at the scenery.

Zygarde only stopped when they felt something slippery underneath their scales. They backed away slightly and stared at what they'd slithered over.

A splatter of silver blood. The blood of a lesser god.

They closely surveyed the area as they continued to move, albeit slower than before. Several large silver blood splatters were visible throughout the realm. Occasionally, they would find a droplet or two of golden blood mixed in.

After quite some time, they could finally see the shape of the Lord of Space in the distance.

Once Zygarde was close enough, they could see that the spilled blood was largely concentrated around this area.

"Palkia. We must speak to you regarding--"

Palkia whirled around, glaring at Zygarde in smoldering rage. "Oh, what? You're gonna tell me that I didn't answer your bullshit call? Yeah, yeah, I know I didn't, now fuck off."

Now that Palkia was facing them, Zygarde could see that his forearms were coated in silver blood, and additional blood was splattered across his face and torso.

Zygarde flicked their tail. "Yes, we were going to speak with you concerning your lack of appearance at the Council. However…" They leaned to the side, and could barely discern a corpse behind Palkia. "It would seem there are more pressing matters at hand."

Palkia snorted. "Oh, don't even ask me what all this shit is. I mean, you know what, I'll just show you, and I know you're gonna like it." He stepped aside from the corpse, revealing that it was the mangled body of Virizion.

Zygarde slithered closer to inspect the body, and found that all of Virizion's legs had been broken, as well as her midsection being torn apart, and her head had been ripped off. It lay nearby, with a few vertebrae poking out.

"Heheh… one down, yeah? Who fucking knows how many more to go." Palkia muttered seemingly to himself.

"...We did not see you as the type to so willingly take the life of one of your own kind."

"Don't get me wrong. Normally, I wouldn't dare do that. But, well, when you're one of the bastards that participated in humanity's extinction…" He shrugged with a smirk. "You get what you deserve, y'know? I think it's fair."

"...And how exactly did you deduce that Virizion had a part in humanity's extinction?"

"Oh, well, uh… I dunno, I just kinda… guessed. I mean, at least she admitted to it, so… y'know, I don't have the murder of an innocent on my conscience, heh."

"We see." Zygarde turned around to face Palkia. "We will again request that you come to the Council. There is a matter that we think you will be interested in."

Without waiting for a response, Zygarde went back to the Council realm.

They appeared exactly where they had left. Now it was only a matter of waiting.

Only a handful of seconds passed before Palkia appeared on his throne, having neglected to rid himself of the divine blood that coated his arms.

Dialga looked over to see who had just showed up, and scoffed. "Hmph. Out of all the other gods, it just had to be you."

Palkia glanced over, and had to do a double-take, before he snarled and glared at Dialga. "Why the fuck are you here?"

Zygarde could feel the tension in the air threatening to take a turn for the worse. On one side, the cold contempt from Dialga chilled the very atmosphere. On the other side, the fiery fury from Palkia superheated the air to a near-boiling point, in danger of exploding at any moment.

Of course, Zygarde knew nothing would happen… not here, at least. Arceus had made the Council so that a divine spell prevented any and all bloodshed within it. Naturally, any and every other possible location was free of this restriction.

Zygarde looked between the two gods; nearly every other god knew the two as being sworn nemeses for countless millennia. This was not the place to harbor such trivial hostilities.

"We have summoned you two to discuss something that another god has entrusted us with."

Palkia glanced over at Zygarde, skepticism shining in his eyes. "Okay, hang on," he said as he leaned forward and inadvertently smeared blood across his legs, "you're saying someone gave you the responsibility to do something? There's a lotta problems with that. First off, anyone going to you for help with their problems is about as likely as me and this guy," he said with a quick jab of his finger at Dialga, "actually getting along. So, basically zero-percent chance."

Dialga sighed. "For once, I agree with a statement you've made."

"You shut the hell up!" Palkia hissed at Dialga, before calming down and turning his attention back to Zygarde. "Anyways, like I was saying, I kinda don't really believe you, sorry."

Dialga muttered under his breath, "You claim to have multiple issues with Zygarde's statement, then only elaborate on one…? Idiot."

If Palkia heard Dialga's remark, he didn't show that he did. "But also, I have another question. Who even asked you about this… whatever it is?"

Zygarde waited for a split-second before answering, "Zekrom asked for our help. We suppose we should elaborate upon what this responsibility is. Essentially, we have been asked to make a mortal our Champion, and that mortal, with our help, shall go on to kill Reshiram."

Dialga tilted his head. "Hm. I'd been under the impression that Zekrom and Reshiram were… inseparable, in a way. Has something occurred to disrupt that?"

Palkia snorted. "Look at you, being the stupid one for once! I know you've been holed up in that weird castle of yours for, like, forever now, so you don't know what's going on, but don't worry, I'll explain it to you! Okay, so pretty much, the whole situation with Zekrom and Reshiram, as far as I know, is that they're kinda like you and me," he pointed back-and-forth between himself and Dialga, "except I guess they don't have the ability to actually kill each other, which, uh, that kinda sucks. And I think the reason why that is… is because, uh, I think when they used to be in that weird combined form, before humans showed up, I think something like that sort of stuck around, so they can't do anything to each other, even though they're separate now. So that's why Zekrom's trying to get Zygarde to do his dirty work for him!"

He clapped his hands together only once, and looked over at Zygarde. "Is that what's going on, or am I just stupid?"

Zygarde stared at Palkia for several seconds. "You are correct."

Palkia celebrated with a small fist pump, and a quiet "Yes!".

Dialga contemplated Zygarde carefully. "This is… intriguing, to an extent, but I must know why you're telling us this."

"We shall not be the one to handle this responsibility. We wish to pass it on to either of you."

Palkia stared at Zygarde, dumbfounded. "I… huh…?"

Dialga blinked in surprise. "That's… not an answer I had been expecting."

"We require your answers now."

Palkia's eyes darted around the room. "Um, uh, I mean… I guess I could, but then one thing would lead to another, and soon enough I'd probably have to deal with a very pissed off Zekrom, and, uh, I'd rather not…" He quickly teleported out of the chamber before anyone could react.

Dialga shifted slightly. "I refuse. Try doing your own work instead of wasting time on trying to pass it off to others." He, too, teleported away.

Zygarde stared at the empty thrones.

We suppose we have no choice. Fine.

They left the chamber, and returned to their own realm. Perhaps that mortal would be awake now… It had been a few months since Zekrom had first brought him…

Antares awoke to a searing pain shooting through his leg, and a bitter chill in the air that made him shudder uncontrollably.

He eased his eyes open-- and saw absolutely nothing.

What? Have I been blinded…?! No, surely not!

Panic wrapping around his heart, he pushed himself off of the cold, stone-like ground. As soon as he stood uneasily, his leg gave out, and he stumbled forward into a wall.

He rested his head against the wall, hearing only the pounding of his heart and his trembling breaths.

I am in an unfamiliar location, currently experiencing great pain, and my sight may have been taken. Were I in better condition, I'd not be struggling so… though perhaps that's only obvious. As soon as I am able, I must investigate what has happened.

"Ah, you're finally awake."

Antares jumped slightly, and turned around, his dorsal fin scraping against the wall. He swallowed his fear and mustered his courage to yell out, "Who goes there?! Show yourself!"

Imbecile! You've no means of sight!

There was a brief moment of silence, followed by the stranger's confused muttering of, "You can't see me…?"

The environment suddenly lit up, as though a miniature sun had formed within it. Antares flinched and shielded his eyes. At least now he knew he wasn't blind.

"Oh, too bright… hold on." The light dimmed, and Antares slowly looked to see that the stranger was the Ampharos who'd saved him. In his paws, he held a cyan sphere, lightning encased within it, lighting up the surroundings.

"You! Why have you brought me here?" He demanded of the Ampharos.

His savior shrugged. "...Because it was the only safe place I could think of? You might want to try being grateful."

"Believe me, I am most grateful to you! I simply have far too many questions concerning my situation!"

"That's fair." He eyed Antares, noticing how the Garchomp struggled to stand up. "Hm. I guess that free healthcare did a number on you."

"What do you mean by that?"

The Ampharos pointed to Antares' leg. "Well, you had to be kept alive somehow. The methods were… unsavory."

Antares looked down at his leg to see a small circular scar on his thigh. "What did you do?!"

"Oh, it wasn't me. I guess you'll find out soon enough. Speaking of which, we should probably go." A small smirk grew on the Ampharos' face, before he said, "Do you need me to carry you, or can you walk on your own?"

Antares scowled. "Hngh… I can walk just fine, thank you."

"Alright, suit yourself." With that, the Ampharos turned and started walking into the darkness, leaving Antares to limp as fast as he could to keep up.

It was several minutes before the Ampharos led Antares into an absolutely gargantuan chamber within the confusing labyrinthine network of caves and tunnels.

Antares no longer had to limp, as it seemed his leg injury had only been temporary.

He took in the surroundings, seeing nothing in particular, besides its size, that suggested this chamber was any different from the countless others they'd walked through.

Antares was about to say something, but the Ampharos held his paw up in what was clearly a shushing gesture. He glanced back at Antares and whispered, "Let me handle this."

He stepped forward, and cleared his throat, before calling out, "Zygarde! He's awake!"

Antares had no time to ponder who, or what, this 'Zygarde' was, before the chamber was tinted with a green glow coming from a serpent that was just as massive as the room itself.

"It has taken long enough." They hissed, in an unnatural, echoing voice that sounded as though thousands of individual voices were all speaking over one another. It sent shivers down Antares' spine.

The Ampharos took a few steps away from Antares. "Sorry about that, but now that he's here…" he trailed off, and averted his gaze.

Antares looked back and forth between this 'Zygarde' and the Ampharos. "What is the meaning of this? What's about to happen?"

The Ampharos was silent, and so was Zygarde.

There was a nauseating squelching noise, as though flesh were being torn apart, and a writhing, slightly transparent tentacle came out of Zygarde's side. It shot out towards Antares, and wrapped around his arms, rendering him unable to resist whatever was about to happen.

He squirmed in its grasp. "Release me at once!"

It lifted him off the ground and held him there.

A second tentacle appeared and shot towards Antares, stopping only mere inches from his chest.

It began glowing until it was a sickly yellow, then pressed itself against Antares' chest, superheating his scales, burning both those and the skin underneath.

It felt as though a molten knife were carving him up as though he was nothing more than a festive pumpkin. He grit his teeth to prevent himself from making any kind of noise.

After about a minute of agonizing heat, the tentacle pulled away and withdrew into Zygarde. The other tentacle that had been holding Antares released him, unceremoniously dumping him onto the ground.

Antares glanced down at his chest. Some kind of symbol had been seared into his chest. Upon closer inspection, it was… just the letter Z.

He glared up at Zygarde. "What compelled you to do this?"

The Ampharos, who'd been looking away the entire time, coughed before responding, "Sorry you had to go through that. It's… well, neither of us can tell you right now, but you'll understand eventually. Just trust us on this."

Antares whirled around to face him, snarling. "What could possibly explain any of this?"

"We have a plan, alright? I know it's something you're going to want to go through with, and even on the off-chance you don't, well, it's already too late for you to back out."

Antares folded his arms, but quickly put them back down after a flash of pain shot through his new burn scar. "…I suppose I'll hear you out."

The Ampharos sighed in relief. "Good. Okay, so our plan is, simply put, this: you're going to go out into the world, and… you'll go kill Reshiram. Should be easy for you."

Antares had to take a few seconds to process this. He was going to be able to avenge everyone he had ever considered his friends and family?

He would be stupid to not agree with this.

"…I see! You have my apologies for being so aggressive, then."

"Don't worry about it." He paused awkwardly. "Do you think you'd be ready to go back out into the world right now?"

"Have I regained my full strength?"

The Ampharos shrugged, and looked towards Zygarde.

They stared down at Antares. "We have ensured that your strength has returned to normal levels, and has remained consistent since you arrived."

Antares nodded. "Very well, then, yes, I'm prepared to search for, and vanquish, Reshiram!"

The Ampharos nodded in response. "Great. Alright, then, guess I'll see you around! Good luck."

There was a brief feeling of weightlessness, as though Antares had just entered the vast reaches of space, and then a blinding flash of light… and he was no longer in the caves.

He found himself standing in a flat field, surrounded by trees. Blades of grass swayed gently in the breeze, and the sun shone overhead. It was… oddly calming.

Despite everything that had happened, Antares found himself relaxing a bit, the tension leaving his mind.

He found a small lake nearby, and sat near its bank, staring out across it.

So… he supposed this was his life now. His only goal was to hunt down and kill Reshiram, that foul wretch who had taken everything from him.

That might suffice for now… but after I achieve that, what will I do? What can I do? The world has been irrevocably changed. There is no place for one such as myself. Mayhaps I might simply become a nomad, wandering the land with no rhyme or reason.

He exhaled deeply and watched the water as it rippled with the wind.

As content as he would have been to simply sit here forever, and remain at peace, he knew that couldn't happen. He needed to keep moving forward, and for that to happen, he needed to get his revenge.

The sound of footsteps behind him snapped him out of his peaceful trance, and he quickly stood and turned to see who was approaching him.

It was a Blaziken, who didn't seem very hostile.

"Hi there!" The Blaziken waved as he got closer to Antares. "Don't think I've seen you around here before. Mind telling me where you're coming from?"

Antares eyed the stranger. They were exactly the same height as each other, so if it came down to a fight, it might be evenly matched…

"I apologize, but I don't recall where I've come from." That wasn't entirely a lie. He didn't know what the cave system had truly been, or even where it was.

The Blaziken tilted his head. "Huh, yeah, I get that. It's been a few months, everyone that's still alive is running in circles trying to get their collective shit together. I don't blame ya!"

"...Pardon me, a few months? A few months since… what, exactly?" Antares' stomach slowly constricted with dread, if his guess as to what the Blaziken was referring to was right…

"Uh. Since the Reset, buddy. Y'know, that thing where most of the gods came down to earth and stamped out the humans? That. I don't know if you've been livin' under a rock or what, heh, but you should've at least heard of it from someone you know!"

Antares stared at the Blaziken for several seconds, a million thoughts racing through his head at once.

He mentally chided himself, Stop. This is no time to get caught up in your grief. You must keep going, no matter what.

"...Ah. Unfortunately, I lost everyone I'd known when… that happened."

"Oh. Sorry." The Blaziken sure didn't sound very sorry.

"Do not apologize, it was not your fault."

"Yeah, I know that, just… I don't know, isn't that the thing most people say when they're upset or whatever?"

Antares shivered slightly, though he wasn't sure why. It wasn't cold… "In a way, yes, it is."

"Wait, so you know what the Reset was, because I guess you witnessed it first-hand… then why'd you ask me what it had been a few months since? You should've known that."

Antares put a claw to his chin. How should he construct this lie…? "I was… unconscious for several months, and I was aided by someone."

The Blaziken leaned in slightly, an odd glint in his eyes. "Who helped you?"

"Er… I can not say, for I do not know who they are."

"Hm. Alright." The Blaziken was clearly not satisfied with that answer. "Well, we don't have to be strangers! What's your name, bud? I'm Kai!" He put a hand out for a handshake.

Antares awkwardly slipped one of his claws into Kai's talons and shook. "My name is Antares. I suppose it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Kai."

"Heh, same to you, pal." Kai's eyes slid over to their weird handshake-- and stopped. "Say, what's that, uh, marking you got there?"

Antares took his claw back, letting it awkwardly drop to his side. "Erm… simply a burn that I received from an attack, long ago."

Kai's eyes had an almost predatory look to them. "So you say. I know burns, since, y'know, I'm a Fire-type an' all, and that looks too recent to be 'long ago'."

Antares gulped, and thought he noticed movement behind a tree out of the corner of his eye. There was nothing there when he glanced over to it, though. "My apologies, my memory has been--"

"That's no damn regular burn. That's a branding mark!" He hissed, and glared at Antares. "Who're you with, huh?"

"Who am I-- what?"

"Don't play stupid with me, you're with some god, and it sure as hell ain't Reshiram!"

Antares' blood froze.

Reshiram?

No, no, no, this wasn't happening. He had not just stumbled into a supporter of that… that villain! She who deserved nothing but death!

"I-I have no idea what you're talking about, really!" Antares took a step back, and watched as a Breloom stepped out from behind the tree he'd noticed movement from only a few moments ago.

Kai snarled. "If you aren't gonna talk, then we'll make you!" He turned to the Breloom. "Get him!"

Antares turned and prepared to fly away, but was struck with a cloud of pale white spores.

Sleeping spores! No--!

He quickly succumbed to the effects, and collapsed right there.

Kai and the Breloom stood over him, chuckling to themselves.

"The Father's gonna be real happy with this one." Kai muttered.

Antares fell into unconsciousness, not knowing what would happen to him.