This is the one hundred forty-fifth chapter in Pokemon Heroes. This will conclude this arc, and remember that the author's note at the end of this chapter is important to read. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or any of the songs.

(Opening song)

Larxene felt the atmosphere get colder. Demyx felt it as well.

The kids didn't feel it, but they did feel something weird.

Larxene quickly turned to the cave entrance, and out of it came Dawn.

She wasn't wearing her coat. She was in her normal clothes, even though the air around them was definitely below zero degrees.

Larxene noticed ice covering her leg wound.

She snickered.

"You came back out?" she asked. "You should've just found an exit and gotten the hell out of here."

Dawn glared at her.

Her only response was placing her right foot in front of the other, and then placed her fist on her palm.

A blue light formed between her fist and palm.

Larxene watched in observation, seeing her next move.

And then, like out of thin air, large, ice like lances appeared out of her extended palm and they all headed for Larxene.

Everyone was wide eyed.

"What the hell?!"

Knowing that she didn't have time to just be amazed at what was happening, she quickly back-flipped to get away. The ice lances barely missed Brendan's face as he tried pushing his body deeper into the snow.

Larxene landed away, but the ice lances were still coming at her. She used her Knives to break them into pieces.

Brendan tried getting up to go at her, but then he saw Dawn's feet land beside him.

He slowly looked up at her, to make sure she was the real thing.

"Dawn..."

"Don't worry," said Dawn as she placed her fist on her palm again. "I'll hold them off for a little while until you guys recover a little bit."

"How did you-"

"I'll explain later!"

Larxene glared at them, and then her glare then was immediately replaced with a smug look.

"This was your choice," she said, "and this was a wrong one."

Ice Princess

Larxene rushed toward Dawn immediately. Dawn, acting quickly, created the light in her hand, and separated them, having a blue light on both of her hands.

She then placed them on the ground, and large, ice spikes rose up from the ground, heading toward Larxene.

Larxene stopped and jumped up before the spikes hit her. She aimed the Knives in her hands toward Dawn, but then, out of nowhere, Dawn created a gigantic ice lance from the ground, going up toward Larxene.

She barely dodged the attack, and then she tossed the Knives at Dawn.

Dawn extended her hands, and a large wall of ice blocked the Knives from coming at her.

Larxene smirked, and snapped her fingers, making the Knives release electrical currents that destroyed the wall that it was against.

Right as the ice wall exploded, she threw another few, but they were all countered by ice arrows that struck them and the rest headed for Larxene.

"What?!"

She tried dodging, but the sharp ice cut her jacket and gave her two cuts on her face.

She immediately jumped out of the way before another hit her, but then she was rammed right into the ground by a large ice hammer that appeared above her.

The snow was blow away, and the ground beneath the snow had large cracks on it.

Ash sat up, his mouth wide open. He turned to Brendan, whose eyes were just fixated at his girlfriend. May smiled.

"Are you freaking kidding me?!" said Ash. "What does this mean if I bother her now?!"

"It means you die," said May.

Demyx stopped playing with his Sitar and watched casually. Larxene was down, and Dawn was just standing there, and then she turned to him.

"Are you gonna come at me, too?"

"No ma'am," he said as he turned around.

Larxene used her arms as support to get back up. Dawn placed her fist in her palm.

"Y-You are trying to get yourself killed, aren't you, HUH?! Did you really think that could kill me?!"

"Not really," said Dawn. "I'm just holding you off, letting the others get a break before they start fighting you again. Even with this power, I don't expect to actually beat you, though. By the end of this, I might have a broken arm. I'm amazed that a dumb bitch like you got hit by such an avoidable attack."

Larxene's glare stabbed at Dawn.

She swiftly stood and ran at the girl. She took the Knives in her hand and swung them at Dawn when she got close enough, but Dawn ducked. She swung downwards, but Dawn quickly moved back. Larxene saw this opportunity to kick her on her side, sending her through the air.

"Dawn!" yelled Brendan as he got to his knees, ready to help her.

"No need to worry!"

Dawn then created an ice platform in midair that stopped her after she placed her feet on it.

"I'll tell you when I'm done!"

She placed her fist on her palm, and then released large, icy fists toward Larxene. There were so many of them coming in fast that Larxene knew she'd be hit by one. She crossed her arms and took the impact of one of them, moving backward. She saw two others coming at her, and she released an electric current that destroyed the ice in front of her, and threw one of her Knives on each ice fist that sent electrical currents to destroy them.

"Ha! That's-"

She was then hit by a large ice ball that was shot out of a large long-barreled cannon on Dawn's shoulder. She was launched away, skidding on the snow.

"How are you able to hold onto that?" asked Brendan. "You have NO upper body strength!"

Dawn wanted to aim her cannon at him, but in this situation, she decided to focus instead.

"It feels light to me," said Dawn as the cannon broke into many icy pieces. "I feel like it's connected to me after I create them."

She saw Larxene getting back up, holding onto her gut.

"How?! She was just standing there doing nothing a while ago! How...how can she suddenly do this?! How is it possible to—"

She then saw a red liquid fall onto the snow.

Her hand slowly went for her mouth, she felt her own blood falling from it.

"Did I hurt you too bad?" asked Dawn. "That's the same pain that you inflicted on many others. How does it feel now?"

Larxene slowly stood. Dawn then noticed the Knives in Larxene's hands transforming into daggers.

Then, at lightning fast speed, Larxene ran toward Dawn. She quickly created an ice shield, and Larxene cut it, breaking it in pieces. Dawn tried creating another, but Larxene had already kicked her in her gut, sending her back.

She skidded across the snow. She quickly stopped, and then placed her hands on the ground, turning the ground into ice while Larxene ran toward her.

Larxene smirked and lightly jumped up, and then her whole body got covered in electricity as she soared toward Dawn without even touching the floor.

Dawn created an ice hammer, swinging it at Larxene before she got any closer, but the weapon struck Larxene's arm, and she was glaring at Dawn.

"You don't stand a chance."

Immediately afterward, bolts of electricity struck Dawn all at once, shocking her as she screamed in pain. While getting shocked, she quickly created a large wall that separated the bolts of electricity from her. She landed on the ground, but then she saw a large crack form on the wall, and then it all fell to the ground in pieces.

Larxene smirked, and proceeded to swing her daggers at Dawn. Dawn quickly moved back to dodge them.

Larxene swung her daggers at Dawn again, but the girl created an ice shield to block them, but it broke as soon as the daggers struck it. She created one after another to block them as Larxene swung again and again, and they all broke. Dawn was moving backward to get away from her, but Larxene kept coming.

Then, before Dawn could create another, Larxene cut her arm with her dagger. Blood came out, but then Dawn was electrocuted immediately after.

She screamed in pain until Larxene kicked her head, bringing it down to the snow. She lifted the dagger in her hand to strike.

"Get the fuck off her!"

Brendan, from behind, threw his Aggron-powered punch at Larxene. Larxene ducked and elbowed him. Brendan fell back on the snow. Larxene was about to throw a dagger at him, but then she realized something was weird.

She looked down and saw her leg covered in ice, with Dawn's hand holding onto it.

The ice was growing.

A strong electric current escaped Larxene's body, destroying the ice that was growing.

Dawn quickly created an ice cocoon around her with sharp icicles coming from the top. Larxene jumped out of the way quickly to dodge them. The ice had covered Brendan as well as he held his stomach. Dawn went over to him.

"You alright?"

"I've experienced more pain than this."

Dawn smiled a little, and then she looked to see Larxene ready to strike again.

"Just heal up for a while," said Dawn. "I'll hold her off."

"She's too strong," Brendan said in grumbles. "You'll get hurt."

"I won't die," said Dawn, and she noticed a thunderbolt coming down at the ice cocoon.

"I promise."

The thunderbolt struck it, destroying their defense immediately. From the destruction though, Dawn quickly came running at her with her fist on her palm.

"You just don't learn, do ya?" asked Larxene, and she tossed three daggers at Dawn.

With a yell, she placed her hands on the ground, causing a gigantic, ice pillar below them both to bring them up to the sky. Larxene tried steadying herself from falling off the slippery ice as the pillar continued to ascend, but Dawn seemed to magnetically connect to the ice.

She then stood and placed her fist on her palm once again, creating two molded swords. She then ran at Larxene. She swung one blade, but Larxene just dodged it. She swung the other, and Larxene broke it with her fist, without receiving a scratch. Dawn took the other sword and swung it, but Larxene destroyed it with her elbow. She then directed a hard fist toward Dawn's face, sending her down with her fist to the large ice pillar below them. The impact was so strong that it destroyed the pillar completely, sending them and large pieces of ice to the ground.

Dawn, now with a bruise on her cheek, landed on one of these chunks of ice. She placed her fist on her palm, and a large, even brighter light appeared. Out from it molded an extremely large broadsword, possibly larger than her, that had a large resemblance to the sword Excalibur.

She jumped off the ice and swung the blade at the Dark Signer. She tried breaking it, but it was made of hard ice, so her fist was pushed back, and the blade cut at her side, but instead of blood flowing out, it was a large chunk of ice that came out.

Larxene's expression was shocked, but it was immediately replaced with anger as she turned to Dawn.

"YOU...BITCH!"

Dawn's broadsword broke into pieces, and she looked down to the ground.

"Ash! Brendan!"

Confused at first, Ash smirked.

"Hell yeah!"

He launched an Aura Breath toward Larxene, who was heading for Dawn. She saw the attack and crossed her arms, but still took the full attack. She groaned in pain as she was launched further into the sky, giving Dawn a safe enough distance from her. Dawn headed for the ground, where May was trying to position herself to catch her. She fell on her, and they both fell to the ground.

"I'm done!" yelled Larxene. "No more playing games!"

Electricity covered her, and she dashed toward Ash. The boy got his Aura Blade ready, but before she could strike him, a hard fist collided with her face. She was pushed away into the snow. She got up and saw Brendan standing over there.

She was about to hit him with a thunderbolt, but then an Aura Sphere attached to the Aura Guardian's hand hit her back, knocking her further into the ground after a large explosion.

Ash jumped out of the way, but before he hit the ground, Larxene came and grabbed him face. She surrounded herself with electricity, and went for Brendan at an alarming speed. He couldn't even move before she took his face, and then she flew up toward the large ice structure, and rammed their faces against it as she kept soaring.

She laughed maniacally as Ash and Brendan's faces were scraped against the ice, with blood escaping their foreheads and falling on the ice.

They acted quickly and they each took Larxene's arms, used it to spin around her to get out of her grip, and then they each delivered an aura covered and an Aggron-powered punch to her back, slamming her into the ice structure, creating large cracks.

She placed her feet on the ice and jumped off. As she fell to the ground, she created a large ball of electricity and tossed it at them.

"You're not going anywhere!" said Brendan, and he used Marshstomp's power to steady himself on the ice structure, and then used Pelipper's to soar up into the sky, jumping over the electrical ball.

Ash took care of it and hit it with an Aura Breath, causing an explosion that sent snow up, blinding them all.

When it disappeared, Larxene found Brendan under her, preparing his right, iron hard fist, and launched it at her chin. The force of the punch sent her to the sky.

She materialized three daggers and threw them at Brendan, but this distracted her from seeing Ash, who was engulfed in aura against the ice structure.

"This is it!" yelled Ash, and he jumped off, propelling himself at the woman. She blocked his head-butt, but his fist punched her on her face, sending her backward while they were in midair.

Brendan jumped out of the way before the daggers hit him, and then he turned around.

"Dawn, now!"

Larxene looked at Dawn, and her eyes widened as she saw the girl, by May, holding onto a large ice bow, with an intricate ice arrow pulled back. The arrow was glowing with blue light.

She released the arrow, and as it went for Larxene. Winds picked up behind it, causing a shockwave that pushed Dawn to the ground.

Larxene only saw a blue light heading for her, and she yelled as the arrow struck her, releasing a great ball of light that blinded them all. When that ball of light dispersed, it created an explosion so large that snow was tossed up high into the air.

The battle was over.

Dawn was wrapping a bandage around her wrist and leg.

They were all now within the cave room where Articuno rested.

It had already passed half an hour after their battle with Larxene.

Immediately after the battle, they had searched around the area, hopefully looking for Larxene's disappearing body.

Sadly, they didn't find anything, and even the Dark Signer that was with her wasn't there.

That means they had escaped, even after Larxene was hit with such a powerful blow, she was still alive.

But they didn't lament on it for too long.

They were just lucky to have survived it. They were all injured, and bandages covered their bodies. Now that Larxene's plan had been thwarted, she had lost the chance to capture Articuno. But since the area was dangerous, Articuno may leave and never return here. Now that meant The Dark Signers would have an even harder time finding it since it flies around Ransei, settling into different mountains to rest in.

And that was what made their victory sweeter.

"Just be careful from now on," said May as she checked for any more injuries on the Pokemon's body. "Those people might come after you again, but you'll be more cautious this time, so you don't have to worry about getting hurt anytime soon."

Articuno nodded in agreement.

"I still think I would've beaten that bitch by myself," said Ash. "Now she's gone off, running like a baby. That counts as my win then."

"But you got your ass beaten brutally, though," said Brendan.

Ash started saying things to him that would've started a long argument, but Brendan's attention went to Dawn, who was sitting on an ice rock, looking exhausted and keeping her eyes closed.

"Are you cold?" Brendan asked her as he came closer, making her open her eyes.

"No."

"But we're in a cave of ice? How are you not?"

"I don't know, but I just don't feel cold anymore."

"ARE WE JUST GONNA IGNORE THE FACT THAT SHE'S GOT SOME BEASTLY POWER?!" yelled Ash as he went by Brendan's shoulder. "THINK ABOUT IT! SHE NOW HAS THE CHANCE TO KILL US IN OUR SLEEP! MAY, DO SOMETHING!"

"I don't want to get myself killed."

"SEE?!"

"I won't hurt you as long as you don't piss me off," said Dawn.

Brendan continued to stare at her.

"How'd you get it?" he asked. Dawn smiled and looked at her hands.

"Articuno gave it to me," she said. "I find it beautiful. I can create whatever I want out of thin air. It's amazing."

"Articuno's now giving away free powers?!" yelled Ash as he went by the Pokemon and extended his hand. "Give me some of that shit!"

Articuno looked at him with pitiful eyes, and then placed its beak on his hand, creating blue light.

"Ha, ha, ha!"

He then froze within a thick block of ice.

Everyone sweat-dropped.

His spirit must've not been pure enough to handle that type of power.

Dawn looked at Brendan with a sweet smile on her face as she leaned forward.

"Now that I have this, I'll be protecting you now. I won't let anyone hurt you anymore, Brendan. I promise."

Hearing her last words reminded Brendan of the time he learned of his power, and he told Dawn that same sentence in the clearing within the forest after they beat those bounty hunters. The memory made him slightly blush, and he scratched his cheek while trying to look away.

"Um...just remember not to get yourself too crazy with it, though."

"You don't have to worry about me."

"No, I mean that I promised your mom that I'd bring you back WITHOUT any freakish accident. She's gonna kill me!"

"You might be my first victim."

A small giggle escaped Dawn's mouth. Brendan's blush got brighter.

"Hey, can you guys help me out here?" asked May while holding onto a hammer and a nail. "Ash might freeze to death."

Brendan and Dawn sighed.

She walked on the grassy plains, where Snowtop Mountain could be seen from a distance.

Her jacket was torn in many places. Blood fell from her side, her face, and her mouth. It was evident that she was beaten up, and she held The Melodious Nocturne under her arm. He was unconscious.

She was limping. She had a blank, grim expression on her face. She didn't care about anything that came in her path.

Then, she saw a black portal open up farther from her, and out stepped a Dark Signer. He pulled his hood down, and it was revealed to be Saix.

"You had been gone for a while, Larxene," he said as she limped on closer. "Roman hadn't sensed if you had died, so we were prepared to send a search party to bring you back to the castle. Where have you been all this time?"

Larxene seemed to be ignoring him.

"I asked where you have been."

Larxene stopped, and looked Saix dead in the eyes.

"I was on Snowtop Mountain, trying to retrieve Articuno."

"Were you given that mission?"

"No. This was on my own terms."

Saix noticed Demyx under her arm.

"Was he a part of this?"

"No. I forced him to go. He had no idea what was happening."

They stayed quiet, but then Saix broke the ice.

"So you were a part of Marluxia's plans."

Larxene didn't respond. She only limped on to the portal behind Saix.

Before she got in, Saix placed his hand on her shoulder, stopping her movements.

Dangerous sparks started flying everywhere from Larxene's body. Saix wasn't flinching at all. He stared at her blankly, ready to fight if she was.

Then, her glare turned to him.

"No, this is not Marluxia's plan. This is my own, and this one will certainly succeed."

She pushed Saix's hand off of her and proceeded to walk.

"I will report this to Roman," Saix said.

"Do it. I don't care."

Larxene now walked in. She was in the void of darkness.

Her blank expression remained on her face.

She could only think about one thing as memories flashed in and out of her head:

She was going to kill Ash and his friends.

And she was going to do it brutally.

(Ending song)

Next Time on Pokemon Heroes: Gary is sent to strike Ash and his friends once again, and Misty is determined to intervene this time. Fueled with the determination to return Gary to the way he was, Misty will even defy her uncle's orders to make everything right. How will she get through to Gary, and what does her uncle think of her defiance? Next Time: Gary Strikes Again.

Okay, some important words.

Let me just point out how Larxene was able to survive such a brutal beatdown. The only Dark Signers who were defeated so far are Drew, Vexen, and Marluxia. Drew and Marluxia had planned to fight to the death, and Vexen was the weakest of all The Dark Signers, so just a few hits from Ash was able to kill him. Larxene, however, wasn't fighting to the death. She just wanted to get rid of these kids, and if it wasn't successful, she would leave. She's also one of the most powerful Dark Signers, even fearlessly going against Saix, so Ash and the others are lucky to have injured her. That shows some character development. They are certainly getting stronger. From this season onward, the Dark Signers will start to become the most important, so it'll speed up the battles between Ash and them.

Another important thing I want to point out is Dawn's power, which has a big backstory to it. I never thought about it when I wrote the first FOUR seasons. I wanted her to be powerless. It is not until the exact end of season 4 that I got a suggestion from darkboy18 to return Sora (this was all the way back in April), and let Ash rip out his powers, giving May's stolen power to her and giving the Lugia part to Dawn. I rejected it, mostly because I didn't want Dawn to have powers, BUT I did find it interesting. I started to think of scenarios about Dawn actually having these powers. I found it cool, but I couldn't let LUGIA give it to her.

It is during season 5 that I realized that it would actually be fine to give her powers, and I wanted her to have powers similar to Lugia, and I associate Lugia with ice and water most of the time, so I wanted to give her some kind of ice or water power. Until the end of the fifth season, I decided what she'd have, and who'd give it to her. Since she was the only member then having no powers, I wanted to make sure it was okay to give her some with a poll, and the majority seemed to agree.

But, if you have noticed, her powers are very similar to a certain anime character's power. If you had seen it, then you are right, for she has the same power as Gray Fullbuster from Fairy Tail. You see, Ice-Make is my most favorite power in FT, wishing that if magic really did exist, that'd be the first power I'd learn. I wanted Ash to evolve his aura into having it work the same as ice-make, but I just didn't see it happening. When I decided to give her water or ice powers, I immediately thought of ice make, and THAT was what evolved into making Dawn have her power. It all started thanks to darkboy18 for giving me that suggestion, so thanks!

Now, another thing to talk about is my updates. I've been giving in so many late updates, and every time I say it's gonna be fixed, it's not. After a while, I'm learning what's causing it. It is my double updates. It's hard writing two chapters when I'm busy. So for now until changed, I will be giving out single updates once again. Just until everything I have is cleared for me. Next chapter, a single chapter, SHOULD be coming out by tomorrow, Thursday, or Friday. After that, there will be normal updates on Monday with one chapter. See you next chapter!

Read and Review please :-)

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