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Slybill: WARNING! WARNING! LONGEST CHAPTER EVER! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Participants Plaza, Pokemon League.

Dawn had come quite some hours ago and Lightning yawned at his disheveled appearance in the shower room mirror. If there was one thing he just couldn't work on, it was the nasty bedhead he always got every single time he slept.

"Maybe I should just gel it all back-de arimasu," he muttered as he pushed the bangs out of his eyes and took a toothbrush.

"Should I give you a haircut?" Haxorus piped up, voice audible over the other stall were it-he- was giving his tail a good scrubbing. Now that Lightning was in the League's HQ, he had found quite a lot of nifty stuff in the science departments, including a translator for pokémon.

"If there's one thing I learned throughout my training journey, it's that Pokémon aren't meant to be barbers for a reason-de arimasu," the cowboy deadpanned, recalling the times when his late Samurott, as a Dewott, had graciously given him a haircut, grazing his scalp and leaving him bald in several places. Yeah, Lightning had stuck to hats after that semi-traumatic ordeal.

Suddenly, cold water was splashed on his back and he jumped with a yelp before pointing an annoyed glare at the chuckling Mienshao holding an empty basin in its paws.

"Samui de-arimasu!" he shrieked in Jhotonese. "Don't you know how cold it is at this time of year-de arimasuka?!"

"Let the girl have some fun once in a while," Boufallant remarked in his slow, semi-tired voice. Oh yeah, getting voice translators had given Lightning a whole new outlook of his team. Mienshao was just about the only female in his team and Boufallant's deep voice, though not too surprising, was still a bit startling. Haxorus had an accent, a thick one that probably meant he had migrated from some other region (possibly Hoenn since it sounded like a cross between Spanish and Russian). Braviary's was the most surprising though. For all his shrill squawks, he had a surprisingly mellow tone for a bird, when calm of course.

"I guess I'll just leave y'all alone for now. I've gotta get to the Centre and buy some pokemon food-de arimasu."

"I want a steak, Gilbert!" Haxorus piped up. Yup, Lightning had not only found out that his pokemon got slightly pushier in requests but also the painful fact that not even his own team got his name right.

"Congratulations, you earned a one-way ticket back into your pokeball-de arimasu," he growled, holding up the ball menacingly. Haxorus snorted and quietened down, satisfying the blonde as he recalled the dragon-type back and pocketed the ball. "Besides, I'll need your help in choosing flavors anyway-nya."

An hour later, Lightning's pokemon were given their respective breakfasts and the cowboy left for the dining area where some scientists and workers had already gathered for the usual meal. The usual meal being superbly-made french toast, sandwiches, tarts, waffles, crepes and cream along with a variety of drinks from juice to wine.

"I am so living here-de arimasu!" Lightning cooed as he pressed his face to the glass casing over the serving table and drooled. "They've even got cinnamon roll pancakes-nya!"

"Drool too much and you'll end up flooding the hall," someone remarked and Lightning spun around to see Iris stacking waffle upon waffle on her plate while her Axew was busy stuffing its cheeks with Pinap Berries. "What's up, cowboy."

"Yo!" He grinned back and took a plate before piling it with every meal within reach. "It's been a while, Iris-chan-de arimasu."

"Yup. We would've met sooner if you had come for Drayden's funeral," she pointed out and Lightning pushed out his bottom lip in a pout.

"I was injured-nya. And I guess you've gotten over his death already?"

Iris's wild hair bobbed as she nodded. "I've gotta be strong as a champion. You wouldn't see Cynthia putting on that kinda of show at a funeral, would ya?"

Unsure of whether to reply, Lightning opted for a small cough and finished stacking his plate before turning to her and gesturing to the tables. Nodding, Iris gently picked her Axew off the table with one arm and followed the now-retreating cowboy.

"I saw your Haxorus," she piped up. "He looks pretty strong for his size."

"That's what I get for training with Cynthia-sama's Garchomp-de arimasu," Lightning gloated, happy for the change of subject. "We almost had them too with our newly-perfected Draco Meteor-de arimasu!"

"Whoa, seriously?! You guys learnt Draco Meteor already?" she gasped, earning a toothy grin from the younger trainer.

"There's no challenge too big for a hero-de arimasu!" he declared loudly, striking a pose and drawing the attention of all the people and pokemon in the area.

Giggling, Axew copied the pose and gestured to his pokeball.

"I think he wants to see Haxorus in action," Iris translated with a wink. "I'm sure you know where I'm going with this."

Lightning blinked before feeling his stomach go queasy. "You wanna battle us already-nya?"

"There's no challenge too big for a hero-is what you said, remember?" she replied with a sly chuckle. "Don't sweat it, Phil. I'll only use Axew."

"Even worse-de arimasu! Everyone knows Axew's your strongest-de arimasu!" he shrieked, flailing his arms anime-style. Unfortunately, he still had the plate and as such, sent it flying right into a certain greenette's masked face as he entered the hall.

SPLAT!

Slowly, the mess slid off N's mask and Lightning blinked before closing his eyes and tilting his head with a smile. "Ohayo. N-san. Did you sleep well-de arimasu?"

"Pretending like it never happened doesn't help matters, Albert."

"Even you-de arimasu..." Lightning lamented and sharply bowed as he caught sight of the angry Zoroark flashing a spoon behind him. "Gomen! It'll never happen again-de arimasu! Just tell your Zoroark to not scoop my brains out and I swear it will never happen again-de arimasu!"

He and the Zoroark had had some kind of beef for a while now, ever since the cowboy had made the mistake of pulling on her red mane some years back. Thanks to that, Lightning had always exercised caution with the feisty pokemon after receiving some devastating nightmares as a reward.

All of a sudden, the hall fell deathly quiet as a blonde strolled in and Lightning could see Iris go rigid with malice. Ignoring the hateful glares sent at her, Alphinia spotted Lightning and co, waving a bit in greeting before hurrying off to get some food for her pokemon. It was only when she exited the hall that noise returned and relieved sighs were let out.

"I thought she was gonna eat us," one man remarked.

"Did you see that smile of hers? She's definitely planning something," another person muttered.

Lightning rolled his eyes at the rumours flying and gestured to a table. "So...eat-de arimasu?"

Nodding stiffly, Iris followed him and sat herself down on the chair before picking at her food with sudden disinterest. "Why is she still here?"

"Alphinia's assistance will still be needed in dealing with Team Plasma. She might have some other info on dealing with whatever monsters Ghetsis sends our way," N replied, taking a seat and lifting his mask a little.

"Hey N-san, why do you wear that mask anyway-de arimasu?"

"Well, I wouldn't want Team Plasma spotting me so easily," the man mumbled and shook his head. "No, that's not it. I guess I just don't want to face the world after all the things I did...and could've done."

It's not your fault for not stopping Ghetsis from escaping, Zoroark soothed, placing a paw on his shoulder. It was unavoidable and besides, what's done is done.

"But that doesn't change the fact that I wasn't in time to save White," the greenette muttered to himself though Lightning and Iris heard it clearly. "I failed Black."

"But we'll save her-de arimasu!" Lightning declared, putting up a grin. "That's why we've got Alphinia. So long as we've got that edge on our side, beating Team Plasma'll be a piece of cake-de arimasu."

"...You're always like that..."

Lightning tilted his head at Iris' statement. "Nya?"

"How can you be so confident in her?" the young woman asked, expression hooded by her hair. Axew gave a sympathetic whine as her shoulders trembled. "Why're you so trusting? I mean, she's a Dragon Knight! Sister to that demon who...killed...Drayden and Haxorus! We can't just believe her..."

So she wasn't totally over it. And just when things were going good too-de arimasu, Lightning inwardly mused and Iris furiously shovelled food down her throat to relieve herself of her anger. "I'm not saying I trust her completely-de arimasu. I do think she's changed for the better though."

"Hmph!" was the reply as she stuffed the last pancake into her mouth. "You're such a kid."

Sweatdropping, Lightning grasped N's mask and swiped it off, smirking at his bewildered look. "Since Iris's calm mask fell off, I think it's only right to take off yours too, N-san. It'll just be plain running away if you keep saying you failed everyone and that's not a very manly thing to do-de arimasu! So face the world like a man and head towards the future with the resolve to save White-nya! And don't worry Iris. I'll beat those Plasma guys so hard, Ghetsis himself will be begging for your forgiveness-de arimasu! So don't waste your anger on Alphy. Save it for when we punch Ghetsis into next week!"

I can see why Cynthia dropped him here, Zoroark speculated as the greenette sighed, tried and failed to take the mask from the laughing blonde. She wants everyone to stay motivated despite all the tragedy going on and this clown seems to be the only one capable of such a feat.

Iris mumbled some incoherent complaints before deciding to lighten up. "Fine then. So, what about our battle, cowboy?"

Lightning grimaced and N finally got his mask back. "Well...uh...sorry-nya! I think I've gotta use the bathroom-de arimasu!"

"Aww. No fair!" Iris whined as he virtually poured the contents of his plate down his throat and dashed off. "Oh well. N! Battle me!"

"But-"

Before the greenette could lodge a complaint, Iris had seized him by the hair and was now dragging him towards the training fields outside with Zoroark following at a safe distance and commenting that she hadn't had some exercise in a while.

Meanwhile, Lightning picked his way out of the hall and towards the pokemon center where he spotted his new-found friend selecting a sizeable bag of feed from the shelves, most likely for her Salamence.

"Yo, Alphy," he greeted, walking up to her.

"Morning Hilbert," she replied, taking the large bag off the shelf and turning to him. "I guess I probably ruined the morning by walking into the dining hall, right?"

"Uh, a little I guess. But it's not your fault-de arimasu! It'll just take some time before everyone trusts you-de arimasu."

Nodding, the blonde weighted the bag a little before looking down a little in embarrassment. "Uhm...I'm supposed to buy this, right?"

"Way ahead of ya-de arimasu," the cowboy grinned, taking out his wallet. "Which reminds me, I haven't seen you eat anything-de arimasu."

The girl chuckled a little. "Sorry but I'm not exactly used to human diet."

"So what do Dragon Knights eat-de arimasuka?" Lightning asked as they headed for the counter. Her answer made him pale.

"People."

Gawking, Lightning slammed the money on the counter, took Alphinia's hand and rushed her to the far end of the center, away from whatever group of people were nearby.

"Seriously-de arimasuka?!" he spluttered once they were alone. "Is that all you eat?"

"Well, we're capable of eating some other things but dragons are carnivores by nature," she replied, showing her fangs. "We pretty much prefer humans because it gives us a twisted sense of temporary completeness somehow. In our sub-conscious longing to be human again, our taste palette subjected us to relishing in human blood and whatnot."

Lightning scowled. "I don't get it-de arimasu."

"Me neither," she replied and leaned against the wall. "But don't worry. We can go without food for a long, long time so you guys are relatively safe. For now though." Twirling a strand of her hair, she looked away nervously and sighed. "I fear that my hunger will inadvertently fuel my old lust for destruction and make me lose my mind again. I don't want to snap out and find myself feeding on your guts, Hilbert. That's why I think I should be isolated...or killed now."

Silence. Lightning folded his arms and closed his eyes in thought. She really looked like she was afraid of this old self of hers, fidgeting and glancing around nervously. This further proved to the cowboy that she was doing her best to reform and it was a little sad that this outcome was painfully inevitable. But he had an idea.

"The league's chefs should have some raw meat stashed away somewhere," he spoke up, catching her attention as he took her wrist. "If you're so hell-bent on being a carnivore then I guess that should be enough to satisfy you, ne?"

Minutes later, Salamence and Natu were hungrily feasting on their meals while Alphinia stared blankly at the bloody mass of Boufallant meat set before her.

"Uhm..." she murmured, looking up to her hopeful friend. "I'm a monster but even I have standards."

"Just try it-de arimasu," he pressed. "A dragon's palette should favour something raw, right? I mean, Haxorus doesn't complain when he eats this stuff-de arimasu."

Sighing, the knight took a strip and shoved it into her open jaws before chewing thoughtfully (somewhere, somehow, Lightning's Boufallant started crying for no good reason). Seconds later, she swallowed and winced. "I can't survive on it."

And that was how she became somewhat of Lightning's personal meat-tester as he brought back piece upon piece of several different types of meat. Some were swallowed, others were spat out and the Ekans strip had her nearly vomiting. It was obvious that she wouldn't be getting much nourishment any time soon at this rate.

"I'm sorry," she apologised as the flustered boy scratched his head in thought. "You don't have to feed me or anything. I'll sort myself out...eventually."

Sighing, Lightning rested his head on the table and stared at her as she looked towards her pokemon. He knew what a hungry person acted like and he was quite sure she hadn't eaten a thing since she left Team Plasma to find N. Who knows, maybe she hadn't eaten much before then either and if this hunger was going to make her snap and revert to her old self or worse then he'd have to find a way to sate it. She was a valuable ally after all and he felt a little sorry for her predicament.

And that's why he made a statement he knew he would regret very soon.

"Bite me-de arimasu."

Surprised, Alphinia turned to him fearfully. "I can't do such a thing-"

An audible growl caught their ears and she looked away quickly. "Not now...of all times..."

Swallowing, the boy got off his seat, took her hand and led her out of the building and into the woods nearby, ignoring her questioning glance and asking himself why he was rendering himself virtually defenceless. Stopping at a clearing, he turned and put his hands on his hips.

"I don't want you going berserk when we need you the most-de arimasu. You prefer human blood, right? Take some of mine-de arimasu."

"...But, what if I don't stop?" she asked lowly, legs starting to back away. "I could kill you-"

"We're friends now, right?" he cut in, grabbing her shoulders and staring into her red eyes. "Friends trust each other with their lives-de arimasu. Right now, I'm counting on you to keep your humanity long enough to help me beat Ghetsis and if sucking me dry helps then Ho-oh be damned if I don't comply-de arimasu!"

Alphinia stared at him for a full minute before tearing her gaze away from his eyes. "Why do you trust me so much? How can you gamble on your own safety for the sake of my well-being?"

"Hey, I'm the hero. remember-de arimasuka?" he boasted and grinned. "I know a certain scar-faced idiot who'd do the same thing if it came down to it for White's sake-de arimasu. I'm not gonna let some minor thing like blood-letting put me down for good-de arimasu! So take it, Alphy. I'm made of tougher stuff-de arimasu."

The girl chewed her lips before parting them slightly (Lightning admitted to cringing when he saw the serrated fangs again) and resting them on his shoulder.

"It will hurt."

"I've had my shoulder bitten by a rabid Stoutland. I'm sure I won't feel a thing-de arimasu."

Slowly, she peeled his collar back and ran her teeth against the skin, making him tingle a little at the light sensation. This sensation soon transformed into a sharp bolt of pain as her teeth sank in and the hungry sucking began. It hurt a little (okay, a hell of a lot) and Lightning had to bite back a hiss as she clamped a little harder. Suddenly, he felt her grip on his arms tighten and he knew instinctively that her wild side was fighting to re-surface upon the taste of human blood. The sucking continued and he squeezed an eye shut in pain before rubbing her back.

"Stay yourself," he murmured soothingly. "You can do it-de arimasu."

Her only reply was a further squeeze on his arms and a muffled cross between a moan and a growl. Seconds later, he unsurprisingly felt that wave of light-headedness and he was sure she was now taking a little more than he could handle. But he trusted her and he would not go back on his word. And just when he felt his skin grow cold and his legs began to buckle, she pulled back sharply with a gasp and began panting for breath as she held onto him to keep steady. She was pretty sure she was starting to lose it again and would've nearly tumbled off her edge of sanity had it not been for Lightning's soothing words. Fearfully, she looked up at him and was met with a shaky but happy smile.

"Satisfied-de arimasuka?" he joked. "Or should I have flavoured it more-de arimasu?"

Alphinia gradually stopped her panting and eyed the wound. "Will you be okay?"

"Like I said, don't sweat it-de arimasu!" Lightning replied giving a thumbs up...and falling on his back with swirls in his eyes. "J-just give me a sec to rest-de arimasu..."

"...You're so careless," she deadpanned and wiped her lips furiously. "You could've died."

"But I trusted you-de arimasu," he replied with a smirk. "And you didn't let me down."

Alphinia would've shaken her head at his childish but true reply had it not been for a sudden scent she caught.

"Hilbert...I smell blood."

"What else is new-de arimasuka?" he deadpanned, mistaking the source for his own.

"Not you," she replied lowly. "It's more hostile...more sinister. Death. It's coming..."

Confused, Lightning sat up and tilted his head. "Huh?"

Rolling her eyes, she pulled him up and began running back to the main building. "We don't have much time. Ghetsis's minions are coming and they brought those two with them!"

"But they won't get in-de arimasu," he replied as they stumbled into the building's reception. "This is the most guarded place in Unova. If those Plasma assholes so much as set foot past the main gate, there'll be elite-class pokemon trainers and guards waiting for 'em, not to mention the various defence mechanisms installed in the areas around the buildings-de arimasu!"

Alphinia led him towards the elevator and rapidly tapped the top-floor button. Quick as a flash, the doors slid shut and they were whirled to the observation deck on top where N and his Zoroark already stood, watching the far-off hills solemnly.

"I knew they would come," he murmured as soon as the teens ran up to him. "I just hoped they'd be here later."

"What're you talking about-de arimasu?" Lightning asked, pressing his face to the glass. "I can't see anything-de arimasu."

His question was soon answered as a small, black shadow appeared behind the hills, bathed by the sun itself. The shadow slowly grew in size as it came to focus and N's brow twitched.

"They brought it," he murmured as Alphinia stared wide-eyed at the sight.

Lightning followed her line of sight and felt his chest tighten. The shadow took the shape of a massive, airborne ship with what looked like a sword-like crest and a shield at its stern with a golden plasma emblem on it. Atop its large hull sat a small tower and a massive cross projected out of its top, giving the ship quite a unique look. With decorated wings spread out from its sides and a single brilliant blue flag flapping from its mast, it was magnificent. And deadly as Kyurem's sculpted face stared at them from the area between ship's bow and bulbous bow.

"The Cathedral Plasmos," Alphinia murmured and quickly turned to N. "This is bad! We have to get everyone to safety."

"No need. We're taking that thing head on," he replied solemnly, arms crossed while still facing the intimidating structure. "We were expecting it."

"No! You don't under-"

"Sir N! The Cathedral Plasmos is now crossing the boundary fields!" a voice rang out and a holographic screen appeared before the greenette. The sectional chief of the league's defence stood before him and pushed up his glasses. "We have our weapons and pokemon ready for any assault. Shall we take action?"

"Since when did you become boss-de arimasuka?" Lightning asked.

"Normally, Iris should be the one leading this but as she is still young in these matters, Cynthia saw to it that I be made the leader of the defence operation. Just in case something like this happens," N replied and looked to the woman. "Hold your fire. I wish to speak with the leader on the Cathedral. Can we get a request through?"

"The communications team is on it," the woman replied and held the receiver to her ear for a minute before nodding. "We're linked. They wish to get a visual too."

"Let them. I want to see just who is piloting that ship."

The screen instantly changed and Lightning found himself staring into a dark, sparsely illuminated control room. Suddenly, a face blotted it and grinned. It belonged to a young man with ash-blonde hair and shock pink eyes, wearing black lipstick and purple eye shadow.

"Franz," N murmured.

"Yo! It's been too long, hasn't it, Natural?!" he greeted over-cheerfully. Lightning spotted his long fangs flashing. "Who would've known that they'd actually send me on a test run. And against you of all people. I thought you had your pride, man. Even if you abandoned us, you could've done us a favour and NOT joined hands with the league. Ah men, this is gonna be a pain. On the bright side, I get to slaughter and devour so many humans!"

"What has Ghetsis done to you?" N asked slowly, recalling Franz to have been quite a close confidant when he was younger. Ghetsis had picked the orphan up to give his children some company and also trained him up to replace N should he not qualify to be 'king'.

"Oh? Didn't ya hear? I became a Dragon Knight!"

"Shit," Lightning cursed.

"Also, Thanatos and Ares are here too!" he cheered loudly. "Remember them, Natural? They were your sisters' little friends, weren't they?"

"That bastard," N growled, clenching his fist. "Ghetsis turned those children into Dragon Knights too?!"

Franz cackled and grabbed the controls before grinning evilly. "They'll be especially useful in capturing Alphinia AND subduing you, for good. They need the exercise after getting reborn after all. Plus, Hydreigon and Bisharp, yes those two, shall be aiding us in retrieving Zekrom. Now I'm a nice guy so I'll make you a preposition. Hand over Alphinia and the black dragon-pokemon and your precious humans and pokemon just might be spared."

"Over my dead body," he replied icily, earning another horrible screech of laughter from the blonde.

"So be it! I was itching for some action anyway!" he barked and gave a obscene gesture with his middle finger. "BTW! You just might wanna see what Ghetsis sent the league as a present."

Suddenly, the visual changed to the cross on the hull and Lightning's eyes widened in sheer disgust and horror.

For nailed to the structure was a figure. His head was chopped off and pinned to his chest and where the neck was, sat the severed head of an Electrivire. The arms and feet were also reversed and switched with different pokemon parts and to top it off was a sign with the words PENANCE etched in latin and fresh blood. Frankly, it looked like a mismatched doll with different arms and limbs. But without asking, Lightning knew who the human head belonged to.

"Mr Charles Goodshow," a voice murmured and they turned to see Ray staring hatefully at the screen. "What is the meaning of this, Franz?! We had a deal!"

"And you just ratted yourself out, buddy!" Franz replied and leaned back in his chair. "Also, we don't need the geezer anymore so..."

Cursing, Ray made to run when Zoroark casually sent a Focus Blast his way, hitting him square in the afro and exploding, knocking both he and his Dunsparce out.

"Chief of defence, battle stations!" N barked.

"Yes sir!" she replied and Franz sniggered.

"You'll regret this." And with that, the screen switched off totally.

"Lightning! Alphinia! I want you two at the underground HQ pronto!" N ordered walking towards the elevator.

"But-"

"No buts! Alphinia's safety places the most priority and I can't have you running around with those injuries of yours. Go. Both of you."

Lightning was about retorting when the girl placed a hand on his shoulder. "Come on. He's got a point. But N, don't be surprised if the defences fail. Cathedral Plasmos has an extra function we should all be worried about."

"And that is?"

The blonde pointed to the ship. "A Sub-zero Cannon."

...

Underground HQ.

Lightning paced back and forth in the meeting room where the revelations had all began the day before and stopping to scratch at the bandage on his shoulder.

"I told you so," Alphinia muttered. "You should've done away with me when you had the chance."

"Look, we've got the Elite Four, a champion, an ex-champion and several kick-ass pokemon up there along with several of the latest in defence tech-de arimasu. Plus, N probably put me here with you so I could protect you if it comes down to it. We're strong, Alphy. We won't lose to Team Plasma-de arimasu!" Lightning replied, clenching his fists. "So just sit tight and wait all this out-de arimasu."

Reluctantly, she nodded and took to petting Natu nervously. If it came down to it, she would fight too but against Ghetsis' Hydreigon and Bisharp, not to mention two other Dragon Knights? That was asking a bit much and though she didn't doubt Salamence's strength and Lightning's pokemon's either, she had a gut feeling that things wouldn't go according to plan.

"I guess we'll have to see how this plays out," she whispered and Natu chirped in response.

Unknown to them, three shadows flitted through the underground street.

...

"They're locked on target sir!" a defence personnel stated as N and his Zoroark walked into the control room.

"Have the force field set up immediately and waste no time in pushing them back," he ordered and clenched his fists. "Hit them as hard as you can and with everything you've got. Cathedral Plasmos must not be underestimated."

Just as he said that, a loud boom was heard and they turned to the cameras to see gigantic cannons on either side of the ship, firing off cannonballs that cracked with energy and plasma. Just like a dragon pokemon's Dragon Rage!

"So they've reproduced Dragon type projectiles," he murmured. "Is the force field strong enough to withstand that?"

"Our defensive fields are designed for anything, sir. Not even Arceus' Judgement can penetrate it," a man scoffed.

Let's hope that's true because we'll need something stronger than Arceus to hold those psychotic people off, N inwardly deadpanned and pressed a hand to the transceiver on his ear. "Fire the pulse cannons. We have to jam whatever power source they use."

A second later, cannons popped out from every side of the buildings and in an instant, the sky was lighted up with exploding bullets and noisy explosions as Cathedral Plasmos was subjected to the punishing force of the League's cannons. Ever since the Black-White incident years ago, safety measures had been taken to the far extreme and they would use every means necessary to stop a raid, especially from Team Plasma.

And that was why Zoroark didn't make any comment on overkill as even the fields below had steel barrels projecting out and firing blast after blast of energy balls, rockets and whatever nifty bullets the science departments had created. Even Iris's team of dragons joined in the cross-fire as several Draco Meteors rained down from the sky, ramming into the smoky clouds that had now enveloped the ship completely.

Yet unsurprisingly, the ship's almost alive bow shot through the clouds, unscathed along with the rest of its massive bulk.

"Impossible!" some people cried, baffled. "We can't even detect a force field on them!"

"Then it looks like not only their power source differs from normal technology but the very ship is made from something impervious to such attacks," N remarked and pointed. "But if you look closely, there seem to be scratches were Iris's pokemon hit. Also, they're healing."

"Are you saying the Cathedral Plasmos is alive?!" the chief exclaimed.

"Made from Kyurem's indestructible cells. Keep firing but have all pokemon that know long-range firing moves be called to the fore. Zoroark, we're moving out!"

As the greenette exited the room and headed for the elevator, his pokemon shot him a curious glare.

You know that no matter how hard they try, their attacks won't work, right?

"I know. But we'll have a chance if we can get on that ship. That's why their firing should be enough to distract Team Plasma," N replied quickly and pulled out the pokeball containing Zekrom. "Looks like your assistance will be needed again, my friend."

Meanwhile, the eerie Kyurem head on the ship had surprisingly opened its jaws wide and a blue beam began to form. Almost immediately after, there was a flash of light and the beam was sent at the fields, tearing up the ground, cannons and all. A devastating explosion came afterwards that made the building shake but what surprised them the most was that an icy wasteland now lay were the grassy fields were.

"The lower Pulse cannons are offline!" a man cried.

"Then shunt the power to the ones on the main buildings! And where are those firing pokemon?!" the chief barked.

"Ma'am!" someone cried, rushing in. "The pokemon storage department has been raided! Almost every pokemon assigned to defence has been stolen has been stolen!"

"What?!" she cried and slammed her fist on the control board. "Don't tell me we've already been infiltrated! Dammit! This is why I always carry my pokemon with me! Fine then, ready the ones on hand now and have guards patrol the area. We have to make sure whoever came in doesn't come out and wreak more havoc."

"Yes Ma'am!"

"Call in the Elite Four for back-up," she said, turning to the subordinate at the far-right. "And alert the gym leaders too. That Sub-zero cannon really packs a punch for it to be capable of disabling all the pulse cannons on the fields. Someone tell Iris to have her dragon-pokemon aim for there. If we're lucky, N's Zekrom just might have enough time to charge up a Bolt Strike and blast that thing out of the sky."

"Roger!"

At the top of the main building, Iris tugged on her collar and stood with her arms firmly crossed and a stern expression on her young face. "We won't let those horrible psychos get past the fields, will we guys?"

Her team of powerful pokemon (Hydreigon, Druddigon, Aggron, Axew, Archeops and Lapras) bellowed an affirmative and she sent a finger at the invading ship.

"Show 'em no mercy!" she ordered and hopped aboard her Archeops with Axew as Hydreigon charged up another Draco Meteor. Druddigon followed suit while Aggron readied a Flash Cannon and Lapras joined a Hyper Beam to the round. "FIRE!"

With a boom, the powerful moves were unleashed and Cathedral Plasmos's head took a direct hit, lighting up and exploding loudly. The attacks did quite a lot of damage but Franz's cackles through the stupendously-loud loudspeakers clearly showed that such attempt at stopping them was useless and Iris bit back a curse upon seeing the burns and dents mysteriously healing up again. However, Franz's laughter was caught short as from nowhere, a gigantic ball of blue lightning smashed into the ship's side, not only pushing it far back but also helping in redirecting the new shot that was about to be fired by the cannon.

"You may have a living ship but we've got a legendary on our side!" Iris scoffed as the deep black form of Zekrom flew out from the smoke with N and Zoroark atop his massive back.

"Iris! Let's go for a joint attack to the cannon!" N ordered and with a nod, both Zekrom and Archeops unleashed Ancient Power at the cannon.

"Punks!" Franz barked and veered the surprisingly-nimble ship to the right, dodging the attacks. "I've got Fighter Pilot standards! How about you eat some of this!"

With that, Cathedral Plasmos sprouted cannons from every hole in its bulk and fired massive shards of black ice in every direction.

"Try to keep up," N remarked as Zekrom went on the evasive.

"Hmph! You're talking to someone who dodges Rock Slides for exercise!" Iris boasted and patted Archeops's head. "Agility."

Crying shrilly, the pokemon darted forward and began to evade each missile with blinding speed. Zekrom followed suit though he, being far larger, took some hits. None were serious but N knew that too much of those ice shards would eventually tire Zekrom so he decided on another course of action.

"Fusion Bolt!" he ordered and his dragon surged forward, gathering electricity at its forehead which served to shield him from the icy onslaught. With a powerful roar, he smashed into Cathedral Plasmos's flank again and N used that chance to hop onto the empty deck. Said deck wasn't empty for long though as grunts suddenly flooded in with their pokemon.

"Vanilluxe! Carracosta! Double Blizzard!" the greenette ordered, throwing up his pokeballs just as the enemy pokemon attacked. In a flash, everything was covered in ice and N nodded to Zoroark before dashing towards the control superstructure. "Keep the incoming grunts busy. We'll be back!"

His partners nodded and the duo disappeared behind the steel door. Having a small knowledge of the Cathedral's interiors, N picked his way through the stairs, grunt-filled hallways and rather oddly-designed rooms before finding what he was looking for. Stepping on the left warp panel, he and Zoroark where soon transported to the captain's control room and they went on high alert upon not finding anyone behind the swivel chair.

"That's strange," N murmured.

I cannot sense anyone, Zoroark observed, nose twitching and ears swivelling erratically.

N shrugged and ran up to the board were several blinking buttons and levers lay. "Then let's see if we can find a way to shut this thing down from the inside."

The attempt was promptly interrupted by a laugh and Franz's face appeared on the nearby monitor. "You fell for it, dumbass!"

"What're you talking about-"

N! The warp panel disappeared! Zoroark barked making N narrow his grey eyes at the blonde.

"You're a valuable sacrifice so we can't have you dying on us in the cross-fire. In fact, now that the worry of accidentally hurting you is outta the way, Thanatos, Ares and King Ghetsis' pokemon are now ready to be dispatched. Watch as the once precious friends of yours now tear the league apart!"

With that, the huge screen changed so that N was now staring back at the League building and he hissed as the deck below slowly tore open, swallowing the frozen grunts and pokemon. Luckily, Vanilluxe and Carracosta had retreated to the interior but N almost wished they were there to stop the container-like structure now rising from the dark opening. Franz smirked, snapped his clawed fingers and all at once, the container's top blew open and a massive creature burst out, snapping its three heads at Zekrom before unleashing a powerful triple Hyper Beam that Zekrom just narrowly avoided. Owing to its sheer size, N knew that this was Ghetsis's personal Hydreigon, the one originally belonging to Felicia which had morphed from a loveable glutton to a horrific, bloodthirsty monster sporting strange icy coverings on its back and a long tail coated in the same material. Not too soon after, the side of the container dented before suddenly getting shredded to pieces and a Bisharp came out, skin coloured in a hideous black and golden hue and red, blood-shot eyes. Like Hydreigon, this pokemon sported ice on it though this one had it in place of its steel blades and a razor-sharp icicle-crest on its helmet-like head. Though normal Bisharp have no fangs, this one sported white pins in its open jaws and gave a savage cry before making a powerful leap off the deck and down to the ground below, blades growing to monstrous proportions and outstretched as if ready to cleave the building before it in half.

However, the pokemon were minor compared to what came next. The rest of the container blew to smithereens as soon as Bisharp had left and N's eyes widened at the shadows taking form within the icy smoke.

One was a tall boy of 15 with icy blue, spike-up hair and deep purple eyes that seemed to swirl with utter malice and raw disinterest for the world whatsoever. He had no shirt on, choosing to don a scarf that did nothing to hide his chiselled torso...or the ice crystal embedded into his chest. Army jeans and steel-toed boots sheathed his legs and a tattoo of the Plasma logo mocked N's wide eyes from the shoulder where it sat. But his most discerning feature was the big, bony sword in his bandaged arms and N recognised it to be composed of the bones belonging to an Aggron, a pokemon said to crush diamonds in its palm with a simple flex of the hand.

"Blake Frost," the greenette murmured and clenched his fists. The boy before him now was nothing more than a shadow of the roguish but jolly orphan who had helped Anthea and Concordia to set up the home for lost and abandoned pokemon in Driftveil after the Black-White Incident. A kind-hearted soul who would rather die for the sake of his friends.

Beside him stood a shorter girl with messy green hair tied back into two spiky pigtails. She wore surprisingly little despite the rather-chilly afternoon, donning a simple blue jacket that stopped before her belly button and black, ripped shorts with cowgirl boots, giving her a rather unique cowgirl appearance.

"WHAT'S UP, GUYS?!" she greeted loudly, waving madly at the League building before them and flashing the black ice-crystal on the back of her right hand. "Wow, this is some party we gat going here, eh, Thanatos?"

"Lisa Frost." N grit his teeth and punched the glass, recalling the energetic younger sister to Blake who had pitched in and kept his own sisters company with her explosive personality and odd gimmicks. Now that she had a bloodthirsty grin replacing her previously-innocent one and a 6 meter long electromagnetic pulse-rifle strapped to her back, she barely resembled her old self and that only deepened the guilt N felt for not saving his sisters in time.

"Ares! Thanatos! You know what to do, right?" Franz called from the loudspeakers and without a word, Thanatos drew his massive bone sword and stepped up to the safety railings before kicking off so hard that the ship was pushed back in recoil. Like a rocket, he shot through the onslaught of bullets and pokemon attacks with his weapon raised in front of him and with the brutality of a barbarian, brought it down on the reddish force-field separating Cathedral Plasmos from the League grounds. A sharp crack pierced the ears of everyone nearby and the staff at the operation room in the League HQ all gasped in surprise as their so-called impervious defence developed a crack. To make matters worse, Bisharp leapt into the air and began to spin, forming a deadly drill-shaped Double Edge that hit the shield at the crack, making several sparks fly and more cracks to develop.

"Have Caitlin's psychic pokemon strengthen the barrier, now!" Miles ordered and the worker beside her nodded before radioing the Psychic Type Elite Four member, Caitlin for assistance. At the foot of the building, the blonde girl nodded and calmly ordered her array of powerful psychic-types to create Barriers and Light Screens. Marshall, the Fighting Type Elite member stood at the reception with his buff pokemon ready should Thanatos's and Bisharp's combined attacks somehow destroy the shield. Shauntal, in her ditzy self, had chosen that day of all days to head for her own book launch and Grimsley was also nowhere to be found, leaving a simple note that he had gone to Castelia to see a business associate. So with two elites and cracking defences, the staff prayed that N, Zekrom and Iris could somehow stave the bad guys off long enough for the force field's self-repairing system to finish up.

This prayer was cut-short as a silent, unknown member in the room calmly stood up and pulled out a pokeball.

"For the glory of Team Plasma," he all but whispered and his Electrode unleashed the deadliest Self-destruct attack the League had ever seen, blowing Miles, his colleagues, himself and the controls to high heaven and thus fulfilling his deadly purpose of disabling the force field completely.

Marshall and Caitlin heard it.

Lightning and Alphinia felt it.

N and Iris saw it.

And like that, the Pokemon League's state-of-the-art weapons lost their controllers and shut down completely, force field included. Now N had counted on a lot of things...but he hadn't considered the true threat of a traitor.

"NO!" Iris cried as Thanatos and Bisharp burst through and mowed Caitlin's pokemon down, crashing into the building's reception were Marshall began his assault on them, sending his fighting pokemon out with the intention to either cripple the intruders...or kill them if the need arose.

This proved rather difficult.

More like impossible as Thanatos raised his heavy weapon and smashed it through Conkeldurr's concrete pillars, breaking the pokemon's defence and rendering it vulnerable to Bisharp's guillotine. Marshal's Conkeldurr lost its head in the literal sense of the word. The vicious cycle repeated with Thanatos usually crippling the fighting-types with swift blows and skilful mastery of his undoubtedly-hard-to-handle blade while Bisharp delivered the finishing blows with horribly-accurate Guillotines made from its icy-steel extensions. In no time at all, Marshal was reduced to only his Throh and he shot a hateful (and unnerved) glare at the silent slaughterhouses on legs.

"You villains," he growled and got into a fighting stance. "You shall go no further than this! You'll have to fight us to get through-"

BANG!

Throh staggered back and gaped at the massive hole in its chest before sinking to its knees and dying on the spot. Right before Marshall could register the source of the gunshot, Thanatos's frame was in the air right behind him and the stunned fighter only caught a glimpse of his glowing purple eyes before taking a deep slash to the spine. Elite Four Marshal fell.

"Some elite trainers they turned out to be," Ares snorted from the door, cocking her rifle and placing it behind her back. Blood coated her thighs and boots and she wiped some of it off with her finger before taking a gentle lick. "Caitlin's pokemon and their barriers didn't last a second against my shots. Neither did she. And the esteemed fighting master from all of Unova got felled because he got distracted by lil old me. Heh heh, King Ghetsis was right. Humans and pokemon are weak after all, compared to us."

Thanatos only nodded blankly and gestured to the elevator.

"So the Shadow Triad said she's down there eh?" Ares asked and chuckled. "The place looks solid though. You sure there's something under us, Bro?"

Thanatos's only reply was to drop his sword and dig his fists into the ground. With herculean strength, he ripped the floor out and Ares cooed at the deep hole and cool air underneath.

"Cool. Alrighty then! Let's go get our big sis, Alphinia!" she cheered and jumped in. "GERONIMO!"

Bisharp followed after her and Thanatos only shook his head and sighed quietly before jumping.

...

Iris was too late. Caitlin lay bleeding at the doorsteps and further inside, the sight of slaughtered fighting-type pokemon made her heart wrench. Marshal was still alive but barely and from the looks of it, his spinal cord would never be the same again.

"What happened here?!" she screamed and Axew barked out to anyone still within hearing range. Their voices only echoed through lifeless reception and Iris ran her hands through her hair as tears began to sting her eyes. What if that bomb blast or those new dragon knights had wiped out the staff completely? How could the safest place in the world be breached by two monster-teens and a mutated Bisharp? Nothing made sense anymore now and she let the tears spill upon seeing the carnage once more. "DAMMIT!"

Axew wiped her tears and made some noises before gesturing to the hole, making Iris's brown eyes widen in shock.

"Lightning!" she cried, dashing forward and diving into the hole with her Axew.

...

Cathedral Plasmos.

"So what're you gonna do now, Natural?" Franz sneered wickedly as N stared at the smoking building and the two dragon pokemon ferociously battling each other with Ghetsis's monster surprisingly keeping up with Zekrom's attacks. This was mostly due to that icy substance, Kyurem's cells no doubt, that not only regenerated whatever limb that got torn off but also served as a power source for unusual attacks like Sheer Cold, Icicle Spear and even an ice-coated Dragon Rush, all of which served to hinder Zekrom from reaching Cathedral Plasmos again. "The League's been broken into and those weak elites and defences couldn't do a thing. I'd say you're stuck."

"No," a voice muttered and Franz's eyes widened as the very source of that voice came from right behind his chair. "Checkmate, Franz."

"Impossible," the blonde stuttered, slowly turning away from the screen and seeing the very man he had thought was trapped. "How did you-"

"Zoroark are quite the skilful illusionists, if you know what I mean," N remarked coldly as he drew a gun. On cue, the N in the monitor crackled and fizzled into nothing and Zoroark gave a thumbs up before bashing the glass and leaping to the deck below. "I had a feeling that choosing one warp panel might bring consequences so I had Zoroark create an illusion of us going through the right warp panel when in fact, I went through the left. I utilised my friend's abilities wisely. You did not."

Franz snapped his gawking mouth shut and grinned wryly. "So what're you going to do? Shoot me? You don't have the guts to do such a thing, Natural and besides, I'm a dragon knight. Such puny attacks won't-"

BANG!

"Argh!" Franz screamed as the bullet passed through his skull. The hole sealed up immediately after though. "That fucking hurt-" BANG!

"I know," N replied casually and twirled the gun. "I don't have the heart to kill you per se but I do need to cooperation from you and I will inflict as much pain on your immortal body as possible to get it. Number one, shut down Cathedral Plasmos."

"Over my dead bo-" BANG! Right in the knee.

"Call off Hydreigon."

"Never-" BANG! "Ow, dammit! That was my eye!"

"Tell Thanatos and Ares to retreat."

"No-" BANG! BANG! Lungs.

"At least tell me where Team Plasma's main base is."

Franz shakily gripped the control boards and started to lift himself off his seat, earning more gunshots from the greenette which he took with a curse, hiss or swear word but still rose to full height anyway.

"If you think you can just order me around and torture me to get info then you've got another thing coming, Natural!" he cried and dashed madly towards him with a maniacal grin on his face. "I'll stuff those bullets down your pie hole!"

N simply waited until the dangerous hybrid got close enough and dodged his arms before grabbing his shirt and flipping him over his shoulder and into the wall nearby which dented from the impact due to the speed at which Franz had been going. "I may not be as strong as you are now but I certainly know a lot about subduing a dragon pokemon. And one of them is the trick of using their own strength against them."

"Damn you!" Franz growled and tore himself off the wall before ripping out a sword hanging off the wall and hurling it at N. The latter quickly dodged though his coat suffered a rip and Franz used that chance to dive for the pokeball resting on the table. N, however, blew his hand apart before he could grasp it and Franz hissed acidly as he stepped back. Luckily, the injury healed up again. Unluckily, N had now seized the pokeball and had his gun trained on Franz's forehead.

"So what power did you gain, Franz? What exactly did Ghetsis turn you into?"

Franz bared his teeth in response and promptly snapped at the muzzle, chopping it cleanly in half. Now that the gun was useless, he kicked the remains out of N's hand and proceeded to lunge at him though N dodged it again. The cycle of attacking and dodging continued fiercely until both came to a stalemate as N pulled out another gun and Franz's claws stopped just inches near his neck. Both remained in that position for at least a minute before Franz grinned.

"You know I could kill you right here and right now, right?" he mocked. "Your stupid gun wouldn't have done a thing."

"And I also know that you can't kill me either as I'm one of the 1000 unique souls needed to awaken Kyurem. That gives me full immortality against you guys lest my father sever your head from its shoulders."

The two fell into silence afterwards until Franz promptly broke it with a laugh. "He said I couldn't kill you but he never guaranteed the probability that you could lose a limb or two. Say Natural, you love pokemon an awful lot, ne?"

Suddenly, N's pokemon burst in to help their master but N immediately realised just what Franz's power was. Locking his pink eyes with Carracosta and Vanilluxe, he barked, "KILL HIM!" and the pokemon's eyes went shock pink instantly. With joint screams, they blasted at N and Zoroark with Hydro Pump and Icicle Spear, making that section of the superstructure blow and forcing the stunned duo out into the air where they would've fallen to their deaths had Zekrom not swooped in and caught them on his back.

"You took control of my friends?!" he barked as Carracosta and Vanilluxe began to shoot attacks at the dragon which he dodged with some ease.

"I can manipulate their strengths too and make them perform powerful moves to some extent," Franz called out and pointed to his eyes. "Kinda like Black's power but not so strong. It should be strong enough to keep you busy though since you can't hurt your friends! HAHAHAHA!"

"Why you-!"

BAM!

N had almost forgotten about that rabid mega-hydreigon and he cursed as Zekrom took a direct Crunch to the arm. Though N wasn't fond of hurting pokemon especially in savage battles like these, he knew he had to put the thing down long enough to save his pokemon and shut down Cathedral Plasmos.

"Oh wow, good news Natural!" the annoying blonde cooed from the loudspeakers. "Thanatos and Ares just found out were our good little Alphy is below ground. I wonder if she'll be strong enough to hold them off and the Shadow Triad too."

"Darn it!" N hissed lowly, turning to the building. "At least Iris and Lightening will be there. If we're lucky, they could hold them off."

After what they did to Caitlin and Marshal, I highly doubt it, Zoroark thought to herself and hung on for dear life as Zekrom now executed and Bolt Strike with Hydreigon still on his arm, slamming them both into the ground below.

"Now that we know we don't need the top anymore, there's only one thing to do," Franz remarked and with a groan, Cathedral Plasmos started towards the building. "Let's see what happens when I crash the Cathedral into Unova's most dignified building.

"NO!" N cried and Zekrom instantly grabbed the back of the ship before starting to pull it back (a feat that surely started to drain his massive strength as Cathedral Plasmos was fifteen times his size) while N called out his Archeops and hopped on. "I'm going to stop Franz again. Please keep the ship from going any further. We're counting on you, Zekrom!"

Zekrom roared a response and Archeops immediately flew towards the control room again though its path was stopped by Vanilluxe who seemed intent on blasting them out of the sky. Hydreigon joined in now, snapping at Archeops at every given opportunity and chasing after them as they manoeuvred their way towards Franz.

"Alphinia's safety rests on your shoulders, Norbert, Iris. I'll do my best here!"

...

Meeting room, Underground HQ, Ancient city ruins.

"They're really going at it, aren't they-de arimasuka?" Lightning remarked as he heard the light explosions above. "I'm kinda starting to wonder if the defence team really held that big airship of theirs back-de arimasu."

"I wouldn't be surprised if the shields failed. Or worse, some spy might've sabotaged the system while we were gone," Alphinia speculated.

"Love the optimism-de arimasu," Lightning deadpanned and shifted uncomfortably. "Hey, my hero senses have been going crazy for a while. I...think we're being followed-de arimasu."

"Perhaps it's due to the guards and scientists at the other workstations here...or those guys..."

Lightning tilted his head as she slowly got off her seat and placed Natu on her head. "Which guys-de arimasu?"

"Lightning," she spoke up suddenly and grabbed the long table. "I'm going to need you to duck."

"Nya?"

To his utter surprise, Alphinia lifted the long table with frightening ease and hurled it right at him. The cowboy dodged of course and for a moment thought she was trying to kill him but was quite relieved and shocked to see the table bash through the window and hit something that seemed to be trying to carve a hole into the window behind Lightning. Quickly, the teens rushed to the broken window and looked down to see a mutated Bisharp lying in a crater on the ground with the table over its torso.

"I knew it," was all Alphinia stated and suddenly, screams and gunshots were heard from behind the door. Haxorus was already called to the fore by now and Lightning pulled out his seamitars upon seeing the blood leaking through the bottom of the closed door. "They're coming."

All went silent afterwards for a little while before Lightning began to hear a small, eerie screech. Suddenly, Alphinia's eyes widened and she quickly flung herself at Lightning, sending them both away from the door which, at that exact moment, blew apart forcefully.

"Here's JOHNNY!" a girl greenette declared, popping her head in and scanning the smoky interior. "Hmm...I can't see anyone in all this smoke."

Lightning would've heaved a short sigh of relief but he knew that that would've been fatal. However, what she said afterwards made his eyes widen.

"Oh well, I guess I just detonate this building and its scientists along with all the other ones."

Quick as a flash, she raised her rifle and blocked a stab from the enraged cowboy.

"Wasting lives isn't something a hero can tolerate-de arimasu!" he barked and raised his other seamitar. "Plus, you copied my style-de arimasu!"

He was about bringing it on her side when Alphinia suddenly yelled his name and with quick reflexes, he pulled back as the wall to his side exploded, revealing a massive blade that would've surely run him through had he not dodged in time.

"Took you long enough, Thanatos," Ares remarked, inspecting her gun. "Wow, that damned human actually nicked it. This is gonna be fun."

Thanatos simply shook the dust off his intimidating weapon and turned to face Lightning and Haxorus who had jumped back a good distance away. Purple eyes dropping to the seamitars in his arms, the bluenette gave a ghost of a smirk and raised his fingers at Lightning before giving him that come-get-me gesture.

"His strength is almost on par with mine," Alphinia whispered, fingering the pokeball containing Salamence. "I don't think it'd be wise for you guys to face him."

"Ha! Like I'd let some half-naked guy walk over me-de arimasu!" Lightning scoffed and raised his swords. "You go and find some place safe. Me and my pokemon'll deal with these bozos in no time-de arimasu!"

"Bozos?" Ares echoed and brandished her rifle. "You know what, maybe I should take them on."

"No way-de arimasu! A hero doesn't fight girls!"

"That's so sexist! Fight me!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

Thanatos interrupted by pointing to the window ledge where Alphinia had already snuck on to.

"Arceus-dammit!" Ares swore, rushing past them just as the blonde hopped off and released her Salamence.

"Lightning! We'll take down Ares! See if you can handle Thanatos but please run if you find no chance of winning!"

"Run? Us? Nyahahahaha! No way-de arimasu! Heroes never turn their backs on danger-"

Thanatos's massive blade appeared right above the unsuspecting cowboy and he quickly jumped out of the way as it came down, smashing the entire floor and thus reducing the underground building by a floor.

"Now that's powerful," Haxorus commented as Lightning's released Braviary carried him by the shoulders with their master on its back. "You sure we can take him on? For all we know, he could be just like Joid."

"Remind me to take off that test translator when this is over, Mr Pessimistic-de arimasu," Lightning deadpanned as the dust cleared. Thanatos rose and eyed the flying type before snapping his fingers. All of a sudden, Bisharp came in from nowhere and took a deadly slash at Braviary who narrowly avoided the attack but accidentally threw off its cargo. Both dragon and cowboy landed on the ground not too far below and Lightning instinctively returned Braviary before ducking as Bisharp now focused its deadly attention on him. Luckily, Haxorus came in from behind with a Rock Smash that pushed Bisharp off, just as Thanatos leapt off the building to attack Lightning on the street below. The blonde jumped away just in time as the bluenette's blade came down on him again, smashing the road instead.

"Just what exactly are you-de arimasu?" he growled as Thanatos wrenched the sword out and held it out to his side. "Isn't it tiring lugging a big sword like that?"

The boy in question only smirked and dashed forward, engaging it close-quarters sword-fighting with Lightning while Haxorus took to fighting the deadly Bisharp. Both soon found out just how strong their opponents were as Thanatos and Bisharp blocked every blow with ease and attacked as if toying with them. Every single time Lightning deflected a blow from the heavy blade, his arms would scream murder at the sheer weight of the attack and the intense vibrations it caused to the seamitars. Haxorus fared worse as with every blow he reigned, seven light nicks were rewarded on his armoury hide. Hell, Bisharp even dented the plates near his neck with a single kick that sent him flying into a building.

"Heh, so I guess those muscles aren't just for show-de arimasu," Lightning remarked and parried Thanatos's sword with one seamitar before quickly side-stepping and getting behind him. "But using a double-handed sabre has its disadvantages!"

With a cry, he slashed at Thanatos's back and-CRACK!- watched as his seamitar broke in half against the boy's bare skin!

"What the-"

Thanatos immediately turned and grabbed him by the shoulder (where Alphinia had bitten him) before hurling him like a discus across the rocky street where he slammed back-first and upside down into a wall. Lightning drew a sharp breath as the bite wound on his shoulder opened up and bled. Before he could give it any attention, Thanatos's hulking frame loomed over him and brought his sword down again which Lightning had to block with his remaining seamitar, an action he regretted as that same strain overcame his muscles again. Slowly, he raised a foot and sent it into Thanatos's abs before rolling away and jumping to his feet.

"Looks like I'm down to one-de arimasu," he murmured and narrowly avoided a stab from the heavy sword. Being a double-handed fighter also had its own disadvantages too and Lightning had a feeling that Thanatos was slowly driving him into a corner with his brutal swings and vicious slashes.

Meanwhile, Haxorus skidded back from his clash with Bisharp and panted for some seconds before leaping into the air and trying a Giga Impact. Bisharp watched the attack before taking a stance with its legs placed together and its blades splayed out evenly on either side. With a short hiss, it brought the left blade forward and shifted slightly to the right, skilfully (and narrowly) avoiding the powerful attack by a hair's breath while hooking Haxorus's left tusk in its blade, thus bringing the dragon to an abrupt halt and throwing him backwards at the same speed he had used to come. Following the pokemon, Bisharp kicked forward and delivered icy Slashes on Haxorus before grabbing his tail and throwing him into the ground. With sharp movements though, the golden dragon landed on his feet and used that split-second to launch a newly-learned Focus Blast at Bisharp who got blasted all the way to the rocky ceiling above the underground city. As such a close range and with the numerous stalactites on the ceiling, it was no surprise to see the steel pokemon fall back down with several dents and even a hole in its abdomen. To Haxorus's surprise though, ice covered the wounds and shattered, revealing good-as-new parts that left Bisharp more than capable of avenging its near-death.

With a snigger, it doused its horn in metallic energy and executed an Iron Head attack which Haxorus countered with his Rock Smash attack that threw up dust and wind upon collision and knocked them both back. Perhaps it was because of his armoury hide that he hadn't gotten slaughtered yet like Marshal's pokemon and Haxorus knew he had to be extra-careful with those razor-sharp blades on his opponent's skin. If he could somehow use another fighting type move and perhaps knock out that troublesome ice-crystal he had spotted on its forehead then perhaps his chances of winning would drastically increase. So with that in mind, he crossed his arms together and Bulked Up, letting his muscles swell with power before taking the risk and entering into close combat with the pokemon who was all to happy to retaliate. Tusks glowing, Haxorus unleashed a powerful Slash which got blocked by Bisharp though that left an open space for him to use Dragon Tail and hit it in the side, smashing it against an old pillar. Bisharp flew out with its blades elongated now in preparation for a Guillotine but Haxorus ducked, wrapped his tail around its leg, spun and launched it straight into the air before letting loose rapid-fire Dragon Pulses which Bisharp had to slice through though each one exploded upon impact, blinding it temporarily. By the time its senses cleared, a brick-red ball had already formed in Haxorus's hands and he threw it towards his opponent, hoping to hit home.

He missed.

You're a 1000 years to early to think you can hit me, boy! Bisharp cried, spinning in the air and coming down in a gigantic, ice drill.

"Haxorus!" Lightning cried.

"Curses!" Haxorus spat, arching his head back and charging up his strongest move. "Draco Meteor!"

BOOM!

The entire road was enveloped in black and purple smoke that made their clothes ruffle and hair billow wildly. Thanantos had to jam his sword into the ground and prevent himself from getting blown away while Lightning stuck fast to the wall behind him, using it as a wind shield.

"Haxorus! Answer me!" he cried, frantically hoping that the explosion hadn't torn his partner to shreds. Even his hide couldn't have withstood a blast akin to a a small-scale nuclear explosion and Lightning virtually screamed at the smoke to blow over. Seconds later, the explosion died down and Lightning was about going to the smoky crater when Thanatos's sword came in sight again. This time though, the blonde took the blade to his shoulder and grabbed the hilt before giving an enraged cry and smacking his seamitar into Thanatos's face, compressing it completely, releasing his hold over his own sword and sending him flying.

Pulling out the blade, Lightning staggered towards the smoke, ignoring the blood and pain in his shoulder.

"Haxorus!" he called while holding a hand over his nose to gauge the amount of noxious fumes pouring into his lungs. "Are you okay-de arimasu?!"

His ears caught a groan and he quickly turned to see his pokemon stagger out, coughing and spluttering before falling on his belly. Running up to him, Lightning quickly knelt and felt his jaw drop at the horrendous gash at the dragon's side that oozed blood. Dust and dents graced his armour and his right arm seemed a bit out of shape. But the most prominent injury that perhaps scarred Lightning was the loss of his pokemon's left tusk. It had been snapped off completely in the collision and a disheartening memory came to the teen.

A Haxorus's tusks never grew back once broken. That was what the pokedex had said when he had just evolved him months back in Opelucid under Drayden's care. This was a heavy loss as it not only meant a devastating loss in body balance and signature moves but would also impart a deep, psychological trauma on the pokemon upon awakening and Lightning had never wanted to see his pokemon in such a state.

"Damn it," he cursed and held up a pokeball. "I'm so sorry-de arimasu. Return, Haxorus."

A beam of light later, Lightning pocketed the ball and slowly got up with his expression hooded. The right thing to do now was run as Bisharp was now clambering out of a deep hole with a murderous expression on its face. Haxorus might've lost a tusk but he had done his job and had actually managed to wrench out the blue-crystal on Bisharp's forehead, thus reducing it to a normal pokemon. However, it was still highly dangerous more so that it knew its regenerative abilities were now lost. Screeching, it dashed towards Lightning with its blades drawn and would've cleaved him in half when the human did a very interesting thing.

Lightning let the blade sink into his chest and Bisharp's expression changed from murderous, to surprised and finally to horror as the cowboy took its arm and with unknown strength, broke its blade off totally. This turned out to be excruciatingly painful as that weapon was still considered a part of its arm and it stumbled back in pain while Lightning took the blade and wrenched it out.

"Now we're even-de arimasu," he growled and spun around to block an attack from Thanatos with the severed weapon. "Let's see how well a Bisharp's blade does against your sword-de arimasu!"

...

"Hold!" BANG! "Still!" BANG! "DAMNIT!" BANG!

Salamence skilfully avoided each searing bullet but Alphinia had to hand it to Ares. She really had a good eye for pinpoint aiming and even singed her pokemon's skin. Natu's barrier was next to useless as her shots broke everyone of them and continued to assault them mercilessly.

"Dragon Breath," the blonde ordered and her dragon roared, dodged a bullet and sent bluish flames at Ares's rifle. The greenette only smirked and cocked her gun again, letting the barrel come in contact with the flames. Unsurprisingly, it absorbed the attack completely and with a mad grin, Ares pulled the trigger, unleashing a giant, crackling ball ringed with fire. Salamence narrowly dodged it but to their shock, the ball followed them and hit the dragon pokemon square in the side, blowing them out of the sky instantly. The girl and her pokemon hit the ground below and Natu threw a worried chirp at the severe burn on Salamence's side. Before her pokemon could take any further damage, the blonde had withdrawn it and turned to face Ares as she slung the rifle over her shoulder. "I suppose you were just reborn, right?"

"Don't know what the hell that meant but King Ghetsis decided to let us out for a test run shortly after our awakening," she replied and rested a hand on her hip. "Although, where's the wild animal I expected to see? The Shadow Triad did say you were quite dangerous."

"I'm not a wild animal," Alphinia replied coldly and kept her gaze hard on the greenette. "I'm human. But if you've come to capture me then I'll have to resort to some very unpleasant actions which I'll regret later so I'll only say this once. Leave."

"Human? Whoa there, girlie! You off your rocker or something? How can you just say that? They're trash, you know?"

Somehow, it irked the blonde to recall those days when she herself had used such words for their less-dominant relatives.

"And here I was, thinking you had been captured against your will or maybe even brainwashed. Looks like Ghetsis's favourite pet finally lost it."

"I'm not his pet," Alphinia growled and extended a hand before ripping out a nearby pillar and pointing it at Ares. "And instead of talking, I suggest you keep your mind trained on survival."

"Knight versus Knight, eh? My kinda style!" Ares sneered and cocked her gun again before starting the battle with six loud rounds, all composed of the same flames used to injure Salamence. Alphinia dodged past each one quickly before swinging the pillar at Ares, intending to knock the rifle from her hands. However, Ares jumped up and avoided the blow before letting off some rapid fire energy shots that shattered the pillar completely. Nevertheless, Alphinia had Natu conjure up another psychic barrier and thus shielded herself from the scattering debris. Right as her pokemon dropped it, the blonde ran forward and raised her fist before sending it into the ground, causing a light rumble that made Ares lose her balance for a second, the time needed for her target to close the gap between them and aim a kick at her face. Huffing, the greenette dodged and tried to jump away but Natu sharply created a barrier behind her, stopping her from retreating. A short display of attacking and dodging followed afterwards with Alphinia being on the attack and Ares being on the defence.

"Since I'm a close range fighter, I figured they'd send someone like you to capture me. But I guess that's also your weakness since you probably don't do too well in close combat either," the blonde commented and swept Ares's feet from under her, felling her instantly. "That's why I closed our distance, as you can see."

"Don't get cocky, blondie!" the greenette snapped, quickly rolling away and getting into a sniper position. Seven trigger pulls later, Alphinia was forced to move back and with a smirk, Ares cocked her gun and began to twist it in some areas. "As you said, I ain't good at close-range stuff but you're just as weak to long-range as I am to short-range. Besides, all I've gotta do is keep some distance and then you're mine! So in the meantime, have some shots, machine gun style!"

Senses snapping to alert, Alphinia scowled and turned before running as the rifle barrel changed shape and split into six. On cue, bullets were sprayed and the ground was turned to swiss cheese as Alphinia avoided each nasty round. Changing course, she jumped onto a window ledge and quickly leapt from ledge to ledge with Ares's bullets and maniacal laughter following her all the way. Unknown to the latter, Alphinia had actually closed the space again and it was no surprise when Ares suddenly found her staring down at the greenette on the building right next to her. With a small huff, Alphinia raised a foot and stomped hard on the building's roof, causing a large collapse altogether. The ensuing debris served to cloak her well and in no time at all, Alphinia was in front of Ares again and this time, had her hands on the barrels of her rifle.

SNAP went the gun and Natu was now sure that they were victorious. They never saw it coming when Ares sharply pulled a hand gun out of the holster hidden in her belt and planted a bullet right into Alphinia's forehead. Now under normal circumstances, she would've died and the mission would've been spoilt. But hey, it's monsters we're talking about here and Alphinia staggered back while grasping her blood-stained head.

"Ow, dammit. That hurts every single time," she hissed and ripped out a chunk of the road before hurling it at Ares who failed to dodge in time and got her side crushed. Their movements were slowed but definitely not stopped as in no time, their injuries sealed up and from there, Alphinia just decided to let all caution out the window. With a yell, she ran towards Ares who shot and shot and shot until she could shoot no more and was promptly socked in the face by her fist. The greenette was knocked a good twenty meters and landed on the ground before getting up quickly and jumping from the path of an incoming piece of the road. She pulled out another handgun and began to shoot again as Alphinia walked forward, hitting her heart, thigh and again her head but the blonde only stuck her finger into the hole and ripped out the bullet before flicking it back at Ares. Due to her sperb strength though, that flick was akin to a gun fire and Ares felt the bullet pierce her shoulder with ease.

"I'd say we're going nowhere," she remarked.

"Took you long enough to notice," Alphinia deadpanned and pointed to the crystal on her hand. "However, I know that that's your weak point. You're a newer version of the dragon knights, created by forcing a device, termed Heart, holding Kyurem's cells into your genes. The method is effective and it brings little pain without so much as a toll for drawing power on it. However, you differ from the real dragon knights. Unlike Draco, Aqua and Terra, your Heart is external and made from cloning Kyurem's cells. Artificial cells are powerful but I doubt they last very long."

"And your point is?" Ares scoffed, cocking her gun again.

"You're fake Dragon Knights, more human than pokemon. At some point, your regenerative prowess will drop exponentially with each severe injury and in no time at all, you will be rendered absolutely incapable of regeneration."

Alphinia suddenly sped up again and dodged a bullet before getting behind Ares and grabbing her arms, twisting them behind her back and pulling sharply, automatically dislocating her shoulders. "And when that time comes, you'll be as mortal as every other human being. Or, I could destroy the crystal now and end your life here."

"How did you know all that?" Ares growled as she jumped back and waited for her arms to snap back into place.

"It was the basis for Joid's creation. However, they used Kyurem's original cells to create him just like they did to the others...and me."

"Screw you! I'm still powerful!" Ares barked and cackled before twirling her guns. "Hey, wanna know what my power is?"

"Pinpoint aiming, unlimited reloading, element absorption and regeneration?" Alphinia offered and earned a sly smile from the greenette.

"That ain't all there is, blondie." And with that, she aimed both handguns at Alphinia and let her eyes glow electric blue. A flash later, Alphinia felt two short spikes of energy hit her shoulders.

"..."

"..."

"Was that it?" she asked and grabbed the rods, intending to pull them out. She couldn't and no matter how hard she tugged, all she drew was more blood and burned palms. "Okay, so I have two six-inch rods in my shoulders. Tell me then, just what is this dangerous power of yours that made you eligible to capture me?"

Ares grinned and raised her empty guns before pulling the triggers. No bullets came out but Alphinia heard an audible bang and suddenly, her arms got covered in blood and became unusable. Like some heavy weight had been placed on her shoulders, Alphinia found her legs buckling and was now on a knee while hacking up blood.

"Kyurem's cells gave me the ability to manipulate aura, kinda like Lucario. But I can't openly manifest it so it took on Kyurem's modus operandi and became parasitic. Like Draco's G-factor except mine is only capable of one thing. Breaking down the nervous system and destroying the host from the inside out. Pretty neat, ya? Oh, don't count on your regeneration system. It will work but rebuilding of nerves is painfully slow and so long as those aura bars are in your system, I'd say there's no hope of escape for you-WHOA! I said they won't be pulled out!"

Alphinia meanwhile was straining at the bars, pulling them for all her worth and drawing torrents of blood and frightened cheeps from Natu. Lifting her arms was an effort of its own and one could see the veins on her arms pulsating in agony. Yet she somehow staggered to her feet and, to Ares's surprise, started to pull the bars out inch by bloody inch.

"So it's true," the greenette murmured and stepped back as a bead of sweat rolled down her face. "Dragon Knights born directly from Kyurem's own cells are monsters after all."

Before Alphinia could pull the bars out completely, Ares whistled sharply and three identical, ninja-looking men with long, snow-white hair appeared from above and surrounded the blonde. In their hands were small handguns which fired some sort of wire that jammed into her arms and sent a foreign charge of devastating power into her veins, electrifying her completely. In a minute, she was back on the ground, coughing out blood and taking slow, raggedy breaths.

"Well, this was easier than expected," Ares sneered walking up to her and crouching to stare into her eyes. "I suppose it'd have gone a lot harder if you snapped and lost it. Aren't the original Dragon Knights supposed to go berserk when they're about to lose?"

"I...am not...a Dragon Knight," she half-hissed, half snarled at the greenette before receiving another dose of the purplish electricity.

"She shall fall into null consciousness though it could take longer since her mind is far more complex than that of a human's," a triad member stated and retracted his wires with the others following suit. "The psychic charges we pumped into her bloodstream will be enough to subdue her."

"Then I'd say mission accomplished!" Ares cheered.

"I will not..."

"Huh?"

Alphinia grit her teeth and slowly rose her head. "I won't go with you...I'd rather die."

"You ain't got that choice, blondie," Ares deadpanned, giving her guns a click and thus driving the bars deeper into her shoulders. Natu cheeped and was about executing a Psychic when Ares's hand overshadowed it and flicked it away like a speck of dust. "And with that, let's be heading off-"

"Dragon Rage!"

Ares and the Shadow triad quickly jumped away as a bluish beam tore past them and the former hissed upon seeing Iris and Axew running over to and standing before Alphinia.

"If you think you can just kidnap a valuable ally then you've got another thing coming!" she barked and Axew gave quite an intimidating growl for its small size. "Are you okay, Alphinia?"

"Do...I look...okay?"

"I'll take that as a yes for now," Iris deadpanned and glared fiercely at the other Dragon Knight while pulling a pokeball. "Just you sit tight. I'll beat these guys off and then we'll have you at the hospital in no time."

"I thought...you hated me," Alphinia remarked as her eyes started to dull.

"I don't particularly hate!" Iris exclaimed. "I just dislike people's actions. Except Ghetsis. I hate him."

"Good to know but I think you're forgetting something!" Ares snapped and pointed her guns at Iris. "Die, flattie!"

"Flat?! That's it! Lapras, freeze them!"

Iris's pokemon burst out and immediately sent an Ice Beam at the group though the Shadow Triad disappeared in blurs and avoided the attack. Ares simply took it head on and absorbed it into her guns before volleying it back as two large, icy-blue cannonballs which exploded just inches before they hit Lapras. Cold wind billowed from the explosion and Iris held Axew close as the temperature would've damaged it. Looking around, she was surprised to see Ares missing and even more surprised to see Lapras on the ground, knocked out.

"That was some blast," she murmured and withdrew it before turning to Alphinia who at this point was barely moving. "Hey! Hang in there!"

"Behind...you..."

Two looming purple dots flashed in the cold smoke and Iris turned to see Thanatos with his face completely scraped off leaving only the reddish muscle underneath and fangs that seemed to smirk at her. She screamed.

"Finish her, bro!" Ares's voice called from within the smoke and his bloodied blade raised itself high into the air. Axew would've promptly attacked had it not also been rooted to the spot in what both trainer and pokemon now recognised as cold, raw, rigid fear. They were going to die. They were going to die. They were going to-

"Don't you dare-de arimasu!" And a knee appeared through the smoke in mid-air and sank into Thanatos's left cheek, knocking out teeth and sending him stumbling away from the girls. The smoke soon cleared and Iris's eyes widened upon seeing Lightning, battered, slashed and drenched in blood. "You're not hurting anymore of my friends-nya!"

"Are you okay?" Iris asked, tone heavily laced with concern.

"I'll be fine! You need to take Alphy and get outta here-de arimasu!" he barked and raised the long Bisharp blade in his arm. "These guys are strong and I don't think you'd last long against their regenerative abilities-de arimasu!"

"Speak for yourself! You're coming with us!"

"No!" he snapped and immediately pushed her out of the way, saving her from a deadly swing of Thanatos's blade. "I have to fight them and keep them busy while you guys escape-de arimasu!"

"You...can't take them both...alone..."

Lightning turned and gasped before running up to Alphinia and eyeing the glowing bars in her shoulders. Dropping his weapon, he grabbed hold of the bars and sharply retracted his hands as they burned from the white-hot temperature of the material. And to think Alphinia was taking such torture under these conditions with only a pained wince.

"Hold on, Alphy. We'll get those things out," he reassured her and turned to Iris. "She's in pain and needs help. Don't worry about me-de arimasu. Just get her, your pokemon and any workers here out to the surface now."

"Don't be an idiot! You know you can't possibly beat these guys on your own," Iris snapped, both in anger and in concern.

"I have to agree with the human. You ain't got a chance, cowboy," Ares piped up, some distance away from Iris with her guns trained on the purple-haired champion. "So why don't you just sit there and watch while we kill off this pest. She isn't a sacrifice so I guess it's legit. Plus, I always wanted to take down a champion."

"No!" Lightning cried.

"Iris..!" Alphinia croaked hoarsely.

"DIE!" Ares barked and pulled her trigger, sending a crackling bullet whizzing towards Iris whose look mirrored that of a Deerling caught in the headlights of a speeding car.

There was a boom.

There was a scream.

And the last thing Alphinia saw before slipping into null consciousness was Lightning's still body standing before Iris with a gaping hole in his heart region.

And just when all hope was lost, a miracle happened.

Lentimas Town, Unova Region.

"Apparently, Reversal Mountain's closed off due to some hazards," a man in construction uniform said and tipped his helmet. "Sorry kids but you'll just have to take the long route and with the big storm coming up, I suggest you find some place to bunk in for the night."

"Awww..." White pouted and turned to Scarlet, eyes downcast. "What're we gonna do now, Scarly? The Pokemon Center's filled and I wouldn't feel comfortable intruding on people to stay in their homes."

Scarlet scratched at his dyed hair before looking to the house a good distance away from the town. "I guess we could try there. I heard people saying it was abandoned and I doubt people would mind."

"Hmm...looks creepy," she remarked, gazing at the house. On cue, there was a thunder clap and Jolteon's fur began to give off some tiny sparks as a light drizzle spread over the desert town.

"Well I'm not catching a cold in the rain," Scarlet scoffed and revved his cycle before steering it towards the hill where the house sat. "Ghosts or not, I need a place to sleep."

Sighing, White wrapped her arms round his chest and rested her tired head on his back as they started moving towards the house. In minutes, the trio were at the empty porch and the rain had intensified, leaving Scarlet to ditch manners and barge in with a loud "Excuse Me!" though he was met with no reply. Relieved, he nodded to White and Jolteon and they dragged their soggy selves into the large hall.

"This place sure is big," White remarked tiredly as she dropped her bag and proceeded to wring the water out of her hair.

"And it looks fairly used. Hey, there's a living room here with a fire place."

Thanks to Emboar's help, the fire place was now letting off gentle waves of heat and coated the room in a gentle, orange hue. Sighing tiredly, Scarlet plopped himself down on the old couch and let Jolteon hop onto his chest to sleep. White, on the other hand, chose to stay on the comfy rug and was already fast asleep with her pokemon snoozing around her.

"G'night I guess," he murmured and closed his eyes before going off into slumberland.

As expected of sleeping in a spooky house, Scarlet got racked with vicious nightmares that had him nearly falling off the couch and waking Jolteon. Each time he tried to go back to sleep, another horrid nightmare would come over him and he would be thrown back to full consciousness again until seven consecutive nightmares later, he was left with the sorry option of keeping his eyes open throughout the night. He could still hear the rain pounding on the roof and he wished its soothing sounds could put him back to sleep without experiencing any frightening nightmares. Hell, he didn't even want to dream at all. Just sleep. Deep, peaceful sleep-

"You can't sleep, Scarly?"

Scarlet cast her a half-curious and half-tired glance before nodding. "Nightmares."

"Again? Jeez, Scarly. You really need to think more positive thoughts in the day. A happy mind in the morn will be a happier mind in the night."

"Who gave you that idea?" Scarlet scoffed and faced the ceiling. "Go back to sleep. I'll be fine."

"...No you won't. This isn't the first time your nightmares are keeping you up and if you don't get enough rest, things are gonna get troublesome."

"That's my line," he remarked and arched a brow as she crawled over and sat at the foot of the couch. "What're you doing?" he asked when he saw her taking out her bag.

"Hold on, there's something Black gave me to cure nightmares. It's not for good but as long as you hold it when you sleep then you won't have any nightmares- Oh, there it is."

In the dim light of the fire, Scarlet could make out some sort of golden feather that gave off a wispy yellow hue like the moon. "A lunar wing? Where's he get that?"

"From Cresselia silly. Here, take it."

Hesitantly, he took the feather out of her fingers and inspected it. "So...how do I use it."

"All you need to do is go back to sleep. You'll have some really cool dreams!" White replied and stretched. "So what're you waiting for? Dive in and have some sweet dreams."

"...I can't," he muttered lowly. "Whenever I get like this, it's kinda hard for me to go back to sleep again."

"Cos you're too afraid of your nightmares?" she asked, genuinely curious. "It's not like they're real."

'When it involves your past, that's a different story,' he inwardly deadpanned and flinched as the snow-haired trainer gently took Jolteon off his chest and laid the pokemon down with her own team without so much as making him stir. "Hm?"

"Scooch over, will ya?" she asked and Scarlet sat up before moving over to the left, making some space for her to sit next to him. "Now put your head on my laps."

"...the hell?"

"It's something my mom used to do whenever we had nightmares. She'd sit and rest my head on her lap while telling me a story to help me sleep. I can still remember how soft and comfy they felt."

Scarlet felt an awkward moment creeping up as his eyes somehow found themselves staring at White's thighs. "Well, I'm not your kid so you can't expect me to comply so easily and-"

White's hands wrapped around his head as he listed the 1001 reasons why he wouldn't comply and before he knew it, he was pulled down sharply and found himself staring up at her giggling face from the her thighs, a situation that made his entire face flush. Struggling was absolutely useless as, though he wouldn't readily admit it, White's right hand holding his chest down was far stronger than him in general. In seconds, he gave up and settled for scowling at her.

"This sucks," he complained. "I'm not some baby."

"You know, you're quite frail for all your toughness," she pointed out.

"Frail?" he echoed, confused. "Last time I checked, I wasn't some sickly little ditz who chewed on my finger last week-"

"I didn't mean the physical one. I meant your heart," she cut-in and was met with a thoughtful stare. "You always look so alone whenever I see you spacing out. Even though you've got Jolteon, you still have this loner attitude every single time. Like it's just you against the world."

"Can't blame me. Losing your family does that to you." That certainly came out of nowhere and Scarlet's eyes widened upon realising that he had just given a good snippet of his past. "Forget I said that."

"So that's it..." she remarked and gently stroked the scar on his face. "I'm sure your nightmares revolve around them, right?"

"..."

"And you feel guilty for not being able to do a thing..." Scarlet hated it when people started reading him, more so that it was this ditzy trainer who's sense of perception could be quite scary. "I won't press but could you tell me what they were like. I'll understand if you don't wanna but I'm sure clearing your mind would help you go to sleep."

So after a minute of hesitant silence, the boy told her everything about Jade and Jillian, leaving out only the day when they were killed.

"Your family sounded really nice. I'd have loved to meet Jade," she commented once he was done.

"He'd be too energetic for even you. Makes me wonder what he'd be like if he had the chance to grow up," Scarlet remarked and found his heart a bit lighter. "Don't give me that smirk, ditz. It's not like I feel completely better."

"I know," she replied and brushed his bangs out of his eyes. "Now I know what story to tell you."

Scarlet narrowed his eyes. "Story? White, I'm 17. I don't need a bedtime story to help me-"

"There was once a lonely, young man who dreamed of reaching the sky," she began, cutting-him off. "Every morning, he would get up and head out to the fields to view the beautiful blue and pink dawn, wishing and wishing that he would someday rise from this cruel world and touch the sky, bathed in its brilliant colors. But he knew his earthly body wouldn't just grow wings and lift him. So he settled for staring...and staring...and dreaming. Until one day, while he was out again, a bright morning star suddenly fell out of the sky and crashed not too far away from him. At first he was scared but his fright dissolved into curiosity and he ran towards the site were a crater had formed. Looking into it, he was surprised to see a young woman cloaked in complete white and sporting brilliant wings. An angel, was the first word that came to his mind for he had never seen such a beautiful creature in his life. And slowly, her brilliant blue eyes opened to stare at the strange being walking slowly towards her.

It was obvious that this was the first time she had seen a human as she scooted back quickly and pressed herself to the side of the deep hole, watching him cautiously and frightfully. But he reassured her that he meant no harm and inquired of her name. She said something but to his dismay, it was an entirely different language and as such he couldn't understand her. She seemed to notice this and looked down sadly before brightening up and pointing to herself.

Niveus, was what she said in Latin, the word of scholars at that time and possibly the closest thing to human language. It stood for the color White, that much he knew and he was only happy to reply Vermiculo. Latin for Scarlet. Now that some form of communication had been established, he asked as to what an angel was doing on earth and she herself had no idea, stating that some force had simply drawn her to the world. She couldn't return, they observed, as her wings had broken and she stated that they would take quite some time to heal. So he took her to his house, not minding the new company as he had always wished for a friend. And so, the two took to living with each other and in the course of time, discovered new things about their races. Niveus was quite a cheerful being who often impacted and astonished Vermiculo with her infinite wisdom and playful attitude. Though he couldn't understand Latin very much, he still enjoyed the little talks they could manage (with Niveus being on the more talkative side) and even took her out to see the towns and fields.

Her biggest impact on him though, was the amount of friends she somehow drew towards them. With her personality, she blended well with the townsfolk and everyone gathered far and wide to Vermiculo's little house on the hill to hear her sing or show off her beautiful wings. It was thanks to her that Vermiculo somehow made friends with some of his peers and he was quite grateful for this new found happiness she bestowed on him. Among the friends he had though, she was his closest and always revelled in her company, even going as far as to tell her about his dreams of touching the radiant dawn some day. With a bright smile, Niveus took his hands and told him (in the simplest english she could manage) that one day, when her wings had healed, he would have his wish granted and he was never as happy as that day she had made such a statement. She was the best friend he could ever have and he even thanked Arceus for bringing such a light into his dark world.

And so their friendship grew and grew and grew until one day, Vermiculo saw Niveus differently. He knew not what it was but he was sure his heart would pound every time she touched him or so much as spoke to him. She too had felt the same thing though hers had been on for quite some time and the young man hadn't known any better, he'd have called it love. His new friends often told him about how they would some day fall into such a state and marry but he was too much of a prude to give it any thought. Now that he was experiencing it, his mind was greatly confused. But one thing he found out was that he wanted to be much closer to Niveus now. She brought peace to his heart every time he was troubled or saddened and he was eternally grateful to her for that. Perhaps he would even follow her beyond the sky when her time to return came. Yes...he would surely do that.

However, the wicked king of the land had heard about the fallen star and in his greed, resolved to take such a light for his own. And that was why one day, Vermiculo returned from the market and found his house silent. Sobbing witnesses reported that the king's troops had seized and taken her to his impenetrable fortress and Vermiculo was heartbroken. He mourned her loss greatly and secluded himself from anyone who tried to comfort him. What was the point of being happy when his only light was gone?

Niveus fared no better, having fallen into depression at her forceful separation and many a time was she mistreated for her refusal to sing or even smile. So a year of emotional torture passed and the two friends were left as empty shadows of their old selves. As expected, the king had had enough of the bad luck now brought up as a result and announced far and wide that Niveus would be executed, a cruel decree that made the people of Vermiculo's town wail and cry in anger and sadness. Having secluded himself from society, Vermiculo hadn't heard of the news until the day when one of his old friends somehow tracked him down and broke the sad news to him. To say Vermiculo's heart rent asunder would've been an understatement as he slowly processed the news but what made him feel worse was the cruel reality that he wouldn't be able to save her.

Vermiculo had given up hope and he would've resigned himself to fate had it not been for the self-discovery he made the next day when he stared down at the crater where it had all begun. The sunrise that day was different from the others. It was more colourful than the rest and Vermiculo spotted a familiar morning star hanging in the midst of the colours. Then he realised something. He still hadn't touched the sky yet. Niveus had promised him that she would take him up and help him fulfil his dream and yet, here he was, still grounded and not doing anything to aid her. He had to move. He had to walk. He had to run to her side and rescue her so he could follow her past this sky and perhaps catch a glimpse of true radiance. And he wouldn't do it alone. He had friends. Friends who treasured Niveus as much as he did. Yes, he wasn't alone. He would fight together with them. He would rescue Niveus and head towards radiance with her. And he would be finally complete.

And with that resolve, he returned to his town and, with renewed confidence and the help of his friends, mobilised the able fighters to lead an uprising. Along the way to the King's fortress, more and more people gathered behind Vermiculo and in no time at all, the once-lonely and shy-of-heart man had countless allies willing to lay down their lives for Niveus's sake. Upon hearing of this resistance, the king sent army after army at them but Vermiculo's army prevailed as they had not only recruited men of great skill but noble legendary Pokemon who took pity on his cause and resolved to bring justice upon the wicked king. And that was why, in no less than three days, Vermiculo's army had now reached the fortress and the king used every force in his arsenal both natural and supernatural to stop them. But Vermiculo had promised himself that he would keep moving forward and so had his army. They fought and fought and finally conquered most of the king's forces until he was now left with one option and one option only.

The king's personal Dragon, Kyurem, was dispatched against Vermiculo and then the real fight began. People and pokemon fell to its powerful attacks and Vermiculo himself had even sustained plentiful injuries. However, he refused to fall. He refused to let his fears rule over him and make him run. He refused to lose! His determination even revitalised the last of his friends and with joint cries, they took the dragon down by running its heart through with Vermiculo's own spear, encrusting the monster in its own ice formed by its freezing blood. The king was now left defenceless and he could only watch in fright as Vermiculo and his band staggered past him and raided his castle.

When Vermiculo eventually found Niveus, their joy knew no bounds and a moment of eternal bliss flooded their healing hearts. Their friends rejoiced at this victory and left them be to inform the citizens of the king's downfall. Now that they were together again, Vermiculo held her tightly for all his worth and uttered the three words that he had spent an entire year practising over and over.

I love you.

Niveus was happy and sad at the same time for a bloodied cough followed after those words and with a sad sigh, she realised that her most precious human was dying. He had sustained far too many injuries and his time had finally come. However, she had good news for him. Her wings had been healed at long last and she could take him to the sky now if he so wished. Vermiculo smiled and kissed her before stating that he would wish to thank the very friends who had aided him before he left.

The ensuing goodbye was tearful but they all knew that this was Vermiculo's chance to fulfil his destiny and they were happy for him. Vermiculo and Niveus would lift off and finally be together again for all eternity. But before Vermiculo left his earthly body to go with Niveus, he left them some parting words.

If you stagger and fall, simply get up again.

If all hope seems lost then simply look to the blue sky.

Keep walking, keep running and keep focusing on that morning star.

And then one day without a doubt, you shall touch that radiant sunrise where we will meet again."

...

"The end," White whispered and smiled at the drowsy head on her laps. "You're not alone, Scarly. You have friends to help you and pull you up whenever you fall. Me, Jolteon, Lightning, Violet, Camille, Omni, Vann, Bianca and the gym leaders. We're all here with you in that frail heart of yours. So keep your head high, Scarly and keep walking tall. I'm sure your family's also watching you from above too and they'd hate it if you kept being sad and acting lonely all the time."

"Hmph...whatever..." he whispered and yawned. "I guess the story was okay...except that you used our names."

"Well, those were the real names in the storybook my mom read to us," White replied softly. "Hey, don't sleep yet! It comes with a lullaby!"

"And that's my cue to snooze," he cut-in, pressing a finger to her lips. "Hey, thanks for the story. I think I'm okay enough to sleep now."

"Meanie," she whispered and watched him close his eyes and fall asleep on her lap. "Oh well. Your sleeping face is cute to look at anyway."

Right before Scarlet fell into sweet dreams, something soft pressed against his forehead and he knew without needing a second guess that White had kissed his forehead. But being to tired to care, he simply shifted his face away and went back into slumber-land.

"Keep walking forward" he heard her say. "Scarlet."

S block.

"Jeez. This is why I hate kids."

Kyurem's personified essence froze and slowly turned to see light streaming from the cracks forming in the ice that had completely covered Scarlet. "Impossible..."

"Sneaky, conniving little buggers with sour attitudes, that's what they are to me," the snarky voice remarked and a fist burst out of the ice and grabbed Kyurem's hair before smashing his head against the ice itself, shattering it completely and thus freeing a glowing Scarlet from his icy prison. "But I guess I wouldn't mind having one with White, so long as he or she doesn't grow up to look like you, Merkyu."

"Impossible! How did you gain your consciousness back?!" the personified demon cried, holding his badly-cracked forehead.

"I don't know actually. All I remember is thinking about how much I wanted to meet White and presto, I'm here." Scarlet cracked his knuckles and smirked. "Now then, about facing my fears."

"Brat! Get him Jell!" Kyurem cried and the three-headed Jolteon lumbered towards Scarlet with its fangs bared.

"Seriously, you're not as scary as my Jolteon when he get's woken up on a bad day!" Scarlet sneered, making a high leap into the air and coming down with a sharp kick on Jell's central head, smashing its faces down into the glassy floor and making the beast burst into several icy pieces. "Come to think of it, this is MY mind so I think driving you out should be as simple as catching Magikarp."

"Don't think you can beat me, boy!" the personified demon cried and charged at him with a massive ice-sword in his hands. "I should've rotted your mind to the core. Now I'll just have to destroy your consciousness by myself!"

Scarlet watched for Kyurem to take a stab at him before drawing his fists and punching the sharp weapon right at the tip. Ordinarily, his hand would've been split in half but surprisingly, his fist not only scattered the blade from tip to base but broke the hilt and smashed into Kyurem's face, eliciting another loud crack and knocking Kyurem some distance away.

"I'll always wanted to punch myself just once," Scarlet mocked and followed after him before bunching his fists again and giving Kyurem a blow in the eye. "To punch out all that loneliness!"

BAM!

"All that suffering!"

BAM!

"All that pain!"

BAM!

"All that weakness!"

BAM!

"All that hatred!"

BAM!

"And every other thing holding my will back!"

BAM!

Kyurem flew into the air before landing back hard on the ground and hissing painfully. "No way...I'm actually losing to a human weakling like you-OOF!"

Scarlet stepped on his head and smashed it into the floor thus cutting him off. "Listen, Kyurem. I'm human alright but I ain't weak. So long as I've got my friends waiting for me and helping me, there's nothing that will stand in my way to save White. I'll beat Ghetsis and destroy you once and for all so that no one will have to be sacrificed to wake you up ever again. Count on it, asshole."

"Wait! Don't do this!" the demon cried as the redhead raised a fist. "We can work together, Scarly-nii! We can rule the world!"

"I don't want the world," Scarlet replied calmly and grinned as he remembered the people and pokemon he had met with the one person he wanted to spend his life with. "Screw cheesiness! All I need is White, Jolteon and my friends!"

And with that, Scarlet sent his fist right through the parasite's head and shattered all his fears, nightmares and restraints with that one, decisive punch. Kyurem screamed loudly before bloating up and bursting into several pieces and Scarlet wiped his chin before turning to Black who had chosen to appear at that exact moment.

"Congratulations, buddy!" Black cheered, looping an arm round his neck and throwing White's victory pose. "You just beat your fears!"

"Yeah, yeah," Scarlet replied, peeling Black's arm off his shoulders and arching a brow as they were back in the school building. "So I guess that's it."

"Yep! That hole in you has been completely filled up, Scarly!" Black declared with a broad grin. "Also, I spoke with Arceus while you faced Merkyu so don't be surprised if you get back to earth and find some new adjustments to your body."

"Right," Scarlet replied and took a duster before turning to the sketch of the real Kyurem's head on the board. "I finally understand that there's nothing to be scared of this guy. He's just a cowardly dragon whose hides behind regeneration and soul-devouring. I'll beat him in no time."

"He's still a force to be reckoned with so you'd better be careful," Black piped up and Scarlet nodded before slamming the duster on the board and making a clean swipe over Kyurem's face, ruining it's features like a crossed out word. "Your friends down below are in danger at the moment so it's a good thing you chose now to man up."

"I see. How exactly am I going back again?" he asked as a golden light began flooding the room.

"Simple," Black chirped and gave a goofy grin. "I'm throwing you back to earth, buddy. Literally."

Scarlet blinked. "Huh?"

"I said, you'll be thrown back into your body," Black stated and thumbed the floor which had mysteriously turned to space and revealed the blue earth below.

Sweatdropping, Scarlet said "How conventional," and turned to Black again as the brunette's hands glowed blue. "I'd thought Arceus would be the one doing this 'grand' ceremony."

"He let me do the honours," he replied and extended a hand to Scarlet. "Save my sister, okay? And tell everyone I said hi. Also, if you ever meet him, tell my best friend N that I'm proud of him."

Scarlet nodded and grasped the hand. "Hey...thanks. For everything."

Black smiled, nodded and suddenly began to spin Scarlet round before hurling him into the deep space below with the force of a comet. "Best wishes, Scarly! And don't grope my sister or else I'll haunt you!"

"Whatever!" Scarlet screamed back as he felt himself gather speeding and become enveloped in light. "Heh. Scarly's back, guys. And man, is Team Plasma in for a hell of a ride!"

Underground HQ.

BOOM!

The hospital section behind the dragon knights exploded in debris and smoke and Ares arched an eyebrow before hissing.

"Great. First I accidentally kill the sacrifice and now more troublesome people are coming? Dammit!"

Iris meanwhile was holding the still Lightning in her arms and crying loudly with Axew patting his face in an effort to wake him up.

"Thanatos, go check it out. I'll take Alphinia. I suppose we've had enough for today," Ares stated and her brother, face completely healed now, darted towards the site while she started walking towards Iris and Alphinia. "I guess we'll leave you for now. Alphy carries much more importance."

"You bitch!" Iris snapped and Axew charged up an angry Dragon Rage before sending it at Ares who simply raised a gun and absorbed the attack. With a cold smile, she shot it back at Axew, blowing the pokemon away and thus leaving her path to Alphinia free. Before she could touch her though, a large bolt of electricity tore across the ground and struck her mercilessly. Ares staggered back with steam pouring out of her mouth before looking to the side and seeing...a Jolteon growling dangerously at her.

"What the-"

"Scarlet's Jolteon?!" Iris exclaimed as the pokemon stamped his feet into the ground and generated a Volt Tackle. Barking, he rocketed off the ground and slammed into Ares, knocking her into a building and far away from Alphinia. "What're you doing here?"

"That's what I'd like to know," a voice called and she turned to see a man with chestnut-brown hair and glasses strolling onto the scene with a lit cigarette dangling from his lips and a Toxicroak at his side. "That Jolteon dragged us all the way to some troublesome scenery, that's for sure."

"Who're you?" Iris asked as Jolteon ran up to Lightning and nuzzled his face before barking at Vann.

"A humble scientist, beautiful," he replied, crouching beside her and taking out a cube, one she recognised as the same one Scarlet had dangling from his belt. "Don't know who this kid is or what exactly is going on but since Jolteon wanted me here, I guess I'd better be of some use and give Version 2.0 a test run."

"Huh?" was all the girl replied as a soft light shot out of the cube and sealed Lightning's hole completely, leaving only a large scar.

"Regeneration complete," the device beeped. "Activating cardiac massage."

Vann pressed the cube to Lightning's chest and Iris jumped as his body was given a sharp jolt. Instantly, Lightning's green eyes flew open and he quickly sat up while gasping for breath and clutching his heart.

"Ow-de arimasu..." he groaned and Iris immediately flung herself at him, wrapping his neck and sobbing in relief. "Hey! You're choking me and what happened-de arimasu?"

"You were just about going off to heaven, cowboy," Vann replied and got up as Ares clambered out of the debris with murder in her eyes.

"I'll kill you, pests!" she cried and was about charging her guns with aura again when a loud bang was heard and a badly injured Thanatos came flying into her. Both collided and were sent sprawling against the ground and Vann smirked before taking out his cigarette to blow out some smoke.

"Took you long enough, man. I hope you enjoyed your nap."

A shape came out from the building's smoky entrance and Jolteon barked hysterically before running towards it with tears in his eyes. Said shape crouched and grabbed the pokemon, spun it round and laughed in a tone that made Lightning's cat-ears stand on end and Iris's eyes widen.

"Man, just when I wake up, some half-naked creep comes in and tries to kill me. Show the dead some respect, will ya?"

Vann huffed and raised the cube. "Quit rambling and take care of these guys already. Also, here's the cube, just like you wanted. I had to bust my ass and pull a lot of all-nighters so be grateful. I hope we're even now, Scarlet."

He tossed the object and a hand shot out of the smoke and grabbed it. "Thanks, Lech. You could've done it sooner though."

Slowly, the shape stepped out of the smoke and for some reason, Lightning couldn't help but grin at the sight.

A tall, red-haired teen with that signature troll-face on stared down at them and smirked. "Are you gonna sleep there or are you gonna help me beat these pokemorph-rip-offs, Gilbert?"

"It's Hilbert-de arimasu!" the boy barked and caught the broken off Haxorus tusk thrown at him by Scarlet's new left arm.

"Found that while I was coming here," he remarked and wiggled the fingers of his left arm which now resembled a leaner, more humanoid version of Ghetsis's blue arm. "I know. Not the best replacement but I guess I'll manage."

"You're alive?" one of the shadow triad members asked from the roof above them. "How is that possible?"

"Who knows," Scarlet replied, stroking his scar-less face. "Heh. Looks like Black wasn't kidding when he said I'd be surprised. However-"

BANG! He stopped Thanatos's incoming blade with his icy blue left arm and raised it to his face.

"I at least have to keep my face original." And with that, he used the weapon to re-carve the injury into his face before snapping the blade in half and roundhouse-kicking Thanatos away. "Much better."

"You're creepy-de arimasu," Lightning stated, ripping off his shredded shirt and taking a stance beside Scarlet as Thanatos, Ares and the Shadow Triad got into fighting position again.

"Says the half-naked catboy who can't beat a single Dragon knight."

"At least I didn't get slaughtered like a pig when I faced Joid, my equally shirtless friend-de arimasu!"

"He's shirtless, you're shirtless and Thanatos is shirtless! We get it already! Now shut up and beat those guys!" Iris snapped and with joint sweatdrops, Scarlet and Lightning, accompanied by Jolteon and Toxicroak began their counterattack.

Author's Corner.

Draco: Oh dear.

Terra: Curses!

Aqua: Damn.

Ghetsis: I know...He's back.