[Part 1]

Only when the sun was long past its zenith, had Inabayama finally awakened, met with an indignant strain in her neck, an unfamiliar feeling of something warm against her chest, and some sort of a low, soft, rumbling sound. Was she sleeping while sitting down again? Cause she really needed to stop doing that, her entire spine was gonna be a bastard for the rest of the day now.

Creaking her eyes open, she took in her surroundings. Oh, right, she was in that building near the base of the mountain. Still as pleasantly leaky as always. And there's her improvised bedding made out of leaves in that other corner. Why didn't she sleep there, cuz it's so soft and nicely crunchy after she spent several days adding loose foliage to it?

At roughly that thought, the soft rumbling sound stopped, though the feeling at her chest still was there. Still unsure, she looked down to identify it.

And was met with a pair of ponderous crimson eyes.

THAT'S when the recollections of the last night flooded her brain with a large chunk of, you know, rather significant information.

"Oh, uh…"

"You're awake," stated Hiei, seemingly completely calm and collected now, "Do you mind letting me go?"

"Ah, s-sorry!" the dragon managed, lifting her arms, after which the Gardevoir sluggishly rose into the air. Wait, was that rumbling sound-?

Yeah, she better pretend she didn't hear it.

Also, was it just Goodra's imagination, or did the King of the Mountain look even more emaciated than usual?.. Hm… No, it wasn't. The thin, wiry muscles running under the dull green were gone, replaced with what practically were just bones. Half of the spikes were also missing for some reason, adding to the emaciated look and making one wonder how that figure was even holding upright in the first place. Did that abomination from yesterday cause more damage than the dragon remembered, or-

Suddenly, with a low hum of crackling red energy, the muscles on Hiei's arms and legs bulged, with all the missing spikes protruding under skin, returning Gardevoir to her usual looks. Honestly, the process was sending waves of both admiration and confusion through Inabayama's mind.

"W-what just happened?" she squeaked.

"Psychokinetic enhancement," Hiei deadpanned. Though it seems like the Gardevoir realised that these words meant nothing to the dragon, as she then elaborated, "I'm allocating some of the pure energy my mind produces to strengthen my body. Takes less energy and concentration than compensating for the entire day"

Oh. That made sense. And it also somewhat explained how Hiei's thin, malnourished frame was able to easily squash opponents even Inabayama had issues dealing with. Or how she was able to bite through bone so easily. The revelation might have had diminished the mysteriousness of the incomprehensible strength wielded by the King of the Mountain, yet made it easier to appreciate said strength all the better for some reason.

"Do… Do you want to talk? About anything?" the dragon suggested, half-expecting the Gardevoir to just disappear for several days again.

"… Yes. Let's talk"

[Part 2]

When the King of the Mountain woke up, she felt calm. Not 'calm because she came to terms with what happened last night', of course not. She'd probably need another hundred years to come to terms with THAT. Not that she planned to.

The quietly snoring Goodra was still holding her, carefully and gently, as if afraid of letting any kind of harm to come to her by accident. And from what the Gardevoir could tell, the calm emanated exactly from the sleeping dragon and her embrace.

Which was probably why Hiei decided against waking her up. Especially since it was the first time she saw Inabayama sleeping.

Hm… Why did she think that the sleeping dragon looked endearing?.. Was it something about how peaceful Inabayama looked? Or something less concrete, like some aspect of her personality, highlighted or contrasted by her current look? Or maybe something more complex, like the exact time and space they were in, combined with other factors?

Either way, she spent some time on pondering important matters, even if it was partially just her mind sometimes returning to the mystery of the strangely endearing-looking Goodra.

Until finally, Inabayama woke up, releasing the Gardevoir from her embrace without much prompting.

At this point, Hiei could finally go through her morning routine of psychokinetic reinforcement, even if she had to explain in simple terms what she did to the still drowsy dragon. Who then suggested that they talked. Because of course she did. Probably too afraid that Hiei would disappear for days or weeks, to just stew in misery or something to that effect. Well, the King of the Mountain couldn't exactly blame her for that after the previous few days. In fact, she was already planning to have a talk, so might as well do so now.

"I am going to leave the mountain soon," Hiei immediately stated, sitting on the floor across the room and looking closely at the dragon. The dragon that shuddered and looked at her in shock.

"B-but I thought-"

"Normally, that would've been unthinkable yes. Yet, things have changed yesterday. I can no longer afford to waste away, letting the humans do whatever they want with the rest of the world. Even if I was too late to save my own kin, I will not allow any other to suffer that same fate"

"And the mountain?"

"It may be the resting place of my last sister, but I'll be damned if I allow humans to lay a hand on her remains. Which is why, I'll have to find her a new resting place, in a way that will make it impossible to disturb her peace anymore," the Gardevoir then looked directly into the dragon's emerald eyes, "Once I do, you are free to go wherever you want."

"Can I… Can I go with you?.." this question gave Hiei a pause, some sort of a complex feeling stirring in her heart. Making her want to agree. To grab this dragon's hand, and not let it go.

However, she knew better than to just follow blind, unidentified feelings. No, she needed something more concrete.

"I am still not going to hunt down humans, if that's what you're thinking"

"I know, you don't want to 'play endless pest control'", Inabayama smiled, "But you're smart, and you are powerful. I know that, whatever plan you've got, is going to be amazing. And I want to help, whatever it is."

The King of the Mountain faltered for a second, the desire to accept Goodra's help growing stronger with each passing moment. Still, she could not ask for that help without explaining enough for the dragon to form her own, fully informed decision.

"Before that, I want you to listen closely to everything I'll say." she narrowed her eyes "Do you know the real reason humans have decided that you are a threat? Before you even killed anyone?" the dragon seemed to think about it for a few long seconds, but couldn't really narrow it down, "The humans have a system for measuring the power of a Pokemon, ranging from 'level 1' to 'level 100', with the former being a newborn, and the latter indicating the maximum potential of a Pokemon. And that 'level 100' is generally on the similar, if not the same, plane of power across all living species, regardless of how little sense it makes. Do you know why?"

The Goodra shook her head, though her eyes contained that ever growing worry in lieu of even more potentially life-altering information. The Gardevoir continued.

"It's because every Pokemon is born with a hard limiter on their physical and mental capabilities. The physical limiter keeps everyone at roughly the same level of power, while the mental limiter makes them more mentally pliable. More susceptible to mental conditioning. Yet, once in a while, a Pokemon is born without such limiters, or manages to disable them somehow. The latter is how you reached your current state."

"And the former… You?.."

"Exactly," Hiei nodded, "Not that the lack of limiter meant I was any stronger than others of my kin. Not until I made myself stronger."

"So… The human system doesn't even mean shit, huh?" the shadow of horrifying understanding downing on Inabayama's face.

"Indeed. Yet for the ones such as the two of us, just being outside of it means being perceived as monsters. The humans fear ones like us. Because we can't be as easily subjugated. Because we can fight back. Because we have similar, if not greater, mental capacity. Because we, by all accounts, should be at the very least equal to them. And they can't have that. They were the de facto rulers of the entire world for hundreds, if not thousands of years. They are used to rule over us, use us, hiding behind false sentiments of friendship and cooperation. And when these same 'rulers of the world' see others rising to their level, they can't help but be afraid of retribution. Of justice. Of the roles being reversed."

This information seemingly sent Inabayama into some kind of a downward mental spiral. And while, for some reason, it pained the Gardevoir to see her like that, all of this had to be said. She needed to know this, if she was to decide if she wanted to join Hiei on her quest.

Finally, the Goodra levelled her breathing, and looked up at the King of the Mountain, almost mortified to ask that question that fell off her lips.

"So… They wanted to kill me… Just because I finally got even stronger… By breaking through my limiters?.."

"Oh, I am certain that if they could manage to capture you, they would've done so in a heartbeat. The easiest way to capture the likes of us, is to send one, or several Pokemon that also broke their limiters. So they capture those they can. And just so we're clear, just because those poor souls are more difficult to mentally condition doesn't mean they CAN'T be conditioned. Or threatened. Or rendered unable to resist a command," Hiei looked at the dragon grimly, "Either they didn't have any suitable countermeasures at hand, or you broke through them without even noticing. The fact that it was a big human gathering might have also played a role"

The Goodra nodded weakly, seemingly nearly done with processing this particular revelation, though she was just at a precipice of the next one.

"So, I could'a been like one of those Pokemon sent after me… But wait, what does all of this have to do with…" Inabayama blinked, "You… You wouldn't explain all of this just to go after humans in the end… So you're going to… Do something about the system?.. Or about the limiters?.. Like… Disabling them?.. But how?.."

Hiei couldn't help the slowly growing smile. The dragon was definitely smart enough to deduce what she wanted to do, and what would follow it. She was just missing one final piece of the puzzle.

"These limiters might benefit humans, yet they were not put in place by any of them. Even now, the human technology is not powerful enough for something of this scale. Rather, they were set in place by someone who was responsible for keeping Pokemon thriving, and who abandoned the notion in lieu of us being subservient to humans," she could feel the disdain seeping into her voice, but did nothing to combat it, "Our 'glorious God' Arceus is the one behind it"

Ahh, there are the final pieces of realisation in Goodra's eyes as everything fell into place. She finally understood the implications behind Hiei's plan, looking at the Gardevoir almost… Reverently?..

"Our foolish god is the one to blame. And I am going to hunt him down, tear his body and soul asunder with my own two hands, and take over the reigns over this entire world. Now, Inabayama… Do you want to help?"