THE POKENINJA, ADVENTURES OF THE MAELSTROM POKEMON

"Normal speech"

"Tailed Beast speech"

Pokémon attack names

"Inner thoughts"

"Translated Pokémon speech"

"Translated Pokémon thoughts"

[Pokédex Entry]

Chapter 26: A Clash between Truth and Ideals for Victory Pt.3

Over at the castle, Damon along with Carlita and Juanita watching and supporting him as he strode to the center and call out his Pokémon Sigilyph from its Pokéball to fly to the pedestal of the castle's internal mechanisms before walking towards what seems to be an ancient control panel and held his hands over it.

"From this day forward, the People of the Vale will be reunited with the land! Sigilyph!" Damon proclaimed as the Pokémon began glowing with psychic energy causing four smaller pillars similar to the ones around the castle to activate and hover in the air which in turn activated the control panel for Damon to begin manipulating it to summon the Pillars of Protection.

Back with Ash and the group, they heard a sound and turned to see that the runes on the pillars suddenly light up and begin rising from the ground into the air much to their confusion. Naruto and Ash took note of Victini flying close to them in fear of them.

"What's going on with them?" asked Ash confusedly.

"I have no idea, this is most strange," said Cilan.

"I'm getting the feeling that someone's controlling them," said Naruto with narrowed eyes at what's going on, he's picking up large amounts of psychic energy being used at the castle.

"There's something going on at the castle, Naruto. Best we head over there and find out," said Kurama, getting a nod of agreement from his partner.

"Victini, wait!" Naruto snapped back to attention upon hearing Ash's voice and looked to see Victini fly away from them in fear to get away from the force field "Come on guys, we gotta go after him!"

"He'll be heading for the castle, so let's go there quickly!" said Naruto, he took the lead with the others following after him as fast as they could.

"So it's begun," Mannes along with the tribal leaders were watching the Pillars hover in the air and converge towards the castle from his home, he looked down and saw Ash and the group following Victini with a bit of curiosity "I guess they want to see what's going to happen over at the castle too,"

Meanwhile the pillars have reached the gathering point which is at the top with Victini doing his best to stay ahead of them and went inside with Juanita and Carlita taking notice and wondered why while the group finally made their way inside as well before climbing up the stairs to get to the top where hopefully they would finally get some answers to the many questions in their minds. Victini looked around for a place to get away from the pillars when he heard a voice call at to him.

"Victini!" the Pokémon looked at the figure and saw it to be none other than his dear friend the King and so flew over to give him a hug "I ask that you grant me your power," however when he drew closer, Victini saw that it wasn't the king but Damon instead.

"You're not the king!" however the four smaller pillars quickly surrounded Victini and tried to break out of it but the force field held him in place then moved him towards the topmost pedestal, the Sigilyph above triggered the mechanism and Victini felt his power being forcefully drained out of him "S-Stop it!" but Damon didn't seem to listen, the energy transfers through the structure and awakening the many Solosis to use their psychic power.

"Damon?" Juanita called out in concern of what's currently happening, it was at that moment that Ash and the gang had finally showed up to stand next to her and Carlita.

"Victini's power is increasing the psychic type Pokémon's strength in the castle, take a look!" Damon responded before manning the control panel once more.

"Carlita, where's Vi-" Ash was about to ask when the castle suddenly shook and for some strange reason seems to be moving "What was that!?"

"The castle!" Iris pointed out for the others to see, they all looked down and were surprised to see the castle actually lifting up from the ground and flying into the air. Naruto took note of a green aura leaking out from where the castle once was and felt a sense of serenity from it then he heard Damon call out to them again.

"I'm using the castle to change the flow of the Dragon Force," said Damon.

"Dragon Force? But I thought that energy had turned chaotic and that it was sealed away by the king," thought Naruto confusedly.

"My thoughts exactly, but it doesn't seem to be doing any harm from the looks of it," said Kurama. They watched as the energy from the Dragon Force flowed through the land and continued to spread, making water flow and nature quickly grow in the barren lands. So far everything seems to be going according to Damon's plan but the white fox can't help but feel uneasy about all this though.

"We're on our way!" Damon gazed on the land with eyes of determination "The Kingdom of the Vale will be renewed when the castle is returned!"

"Stop it!" Victini cried out in pain, something that Naruto and Ash quickly caught onto and ran over to where their friend is only to be filled with worry as the sight of his current state.

"Damon, what's going on here?" Naruto demanded sensing Victini's power being forcefully taken and could sense his pain.

"Victini is lending its power to me," Damon replied.

"You're hurting Victini by taking his power by force! You gotta let him go!" Ash protested against this with the others agreeing with him.

"Stop this!" Pikachu was in agreement.

Damon refused however "I won't, not while I still need its power,"

Naruto growled in anger at his response "So you're willing to hurt Victini because of this, then we're just going to have to break Victini out of there ourselves!" he ran towards the pedestal with Ash and Pikachu being quick to follow him as they began to climb up to where Victini is being held. Damon threw a Pokéball to call on his Gothitelle who used Confusion to grab Ash and the others then restrained in midair, Juanita and Carlita appeared and were shocked at what was happening and immediately understood the circumstance of the situation before calling out to Damon.

"Brother please stop this or Victini will die," Carlita pleaded.

"Please stop this now," said Juanita.

"But mother…," Damon was surprised to hear her say that as he was doing all this to honor the promise he made to her.

"Now Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash grunted out, Pikachu immediately complied and launched a blast of electricity to hit Gothitelle which caused the Pokémon to cancel its psychic attack and release them "Now use Electro Ball and Tokala you use Return to destroy those pillars!"

"Got it!" Naruto emitted a white aura from his body before opening his mouth to fire a large white energy beam while Pikachu launched a yellow sphere of electricity. Both projectiles were about to collide with the pillars when a blast of purple flames intercepted to prevent them from striking much to their surprise "What the…" they heard a roar and turned to see a large black bipedal Pokémon flying outside before moving to land next to Damon and oppose the group "Who's that Pokémon?"

Pikachu's eyes widened in recognition and trepidation with the same going for Ash and the others with Carlita being audible about it "It's Zekrom!"

"You mean the one you and Ash meet when you first arrived to Unova?" asked Naruto.

"The very same one…," said Pikachu.

Zekrom's tail lit up with blue light as it gazed intently with blue bolts of electricity coming off it "I shall not allow you to impede his ideals!" it let out a roar with such power that the shockwave from it pushed them back.

"I definitely wasn't expecting to battle a legendary when I woke up this morning," said Naruto.

"Me too," said Pikachu.

Juanita threw a Pokéball to call on her shiny Golurk before her "Golurk, stop Zekrom!" Golurk retracted its hands into its arms then the legs and feet into its body before expelling blue energy to propel itself like rocket to tackle Zekrom and driving it out of the castle into the sky. Zekrom raised its head and gathered purple energy to form a ball of light blue energy on its forehead before bringing it down to knock Golurk back, the Pokémon attempted to recover but Zekrom rammed into it and unleashed a point blank Dragon Pulse to send in plummeting through the cloudbank.

"That's no good, Zekrom's too strong," said Cilan.

"Guys watch out!" Naruto called out in alert, they turned round to see Gothitelle hovering before them.

"Gothitelle, use Confusion!" Damon commanded, Gothitelle immediately restrained them with psychic energy once more.

"Pikachu quick, use Thunderbolt!" Ash called out, Pikachu was about to do so but Gothitelle wasn't going to allow that to happen for the second as she tighten her hold on Ash, Pikachu and Naruto, making them slowly lose conscious.

"Gotta…break…free!" Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke to reveal a wooden log in his place, Gothitelle was slammed to the side courtesy of Naruto having used Extremespeed to attack then glanced to the side to see that Ash and Pikachu were knocked out much to his anger before facing Damon "If you're not going to stop this nonsense, then I'll just have to make you stop!" he dashed towards Damon when he leapt away to avoid a Dragon Pulse from Zekrom who had returned "Oh well, guess I have no choice but to go through you. Shadow Clone!" Naruto created copies of himself and they all charged at Zekrom while using Crush Claw, the Deep Black Pokémon opened its mouth to launch a Dragon Pulse to take out a majority of the clones but Naruto triggered Extremespeed to dodge and was soon before Zekrom and used Return in the form of an energy beam to damage it. Zekrom retaliated with a Zen Headbutt to knock him away but Naruto had avoided it with Substitution before switching of Combo Mode "Not done yet!" he studied Zekrom closely and saw that he was about to use an attack then countered by using Mach Punch to strike first before following it up with Sky Uppercut however it left him open to being struck by Zen Headbutt which was powerful enough to forcefully revert him to his Polymorph form and skidding to the ground.

"Bad news, you can't use that form anymore in this battle since you had been hit with its opposite typing," said Kurama with a frown.

"Darn it, was planning on using Work Up a couple times to match up. My other forms won't do much here either," Naruto snapped back into focus and saw Zekrom about to use Dragon Pulse once more and so quickly formed a Rasengan on his paw then used Extremespeed for quick acceleration. Zekrom launched a powerful of dragon energy while Naruto thrust his attack to hit back and was gradually pushing through before hitting the legendary to knocking it back a few feet.

"Naruto, look out behind you!" Iris called out, but the warning came too late as Naruto got hit from behind and sent flying forward to tumble to the floor. He raised his head to look behind and saw that it was Gothitelle who had attacked him.

"Sorry but I cannot allow you to get in my way of fulfilling my mother's dream, Gothitelle use Energy Ball!" Damon commanded, Gothitelle launched a green energy sphere to strike Naruto which was enough to make him faint.

Unknown to many below the cloudbank on the ground, the Dragon Force changed color from green to purple and began draining life from nature with plantlike shriveling away which caused the Pokémon to flee in distress. Victini was able to sense this despite being in pain and knew that he had to do something to stop it but what? It was then he had an idea and swung into action with hope that his friends would help.


Ash opened his eyes and found himself floating in the air "Where am I?" he looked around and saw that the castle was descending towards the mountain where the corrupted Dragon Force was flowing sealed it away, he found himself inside the castle where he saw the king weakly leaning against the wall with Victini before "Could this be another of Victini's memories?" Ash noticed the king speaking and listened closely.

"…the Sword of the Vale must not be moved. If the Sword of the Vale is moved once more, the Dragon Force will be disturbed and that could destroy our entire world…which means that the castle must never be moved again…" the king caressed Victini's cheek for the last time before breathing his last and passing away.

Upon hearing those words, Ash realized that this part of history was unknown to the People of the Vale and that Damon has made a big mistake in moving the castle! He needs to alert the others so that they can stop him before it's too late!


Ash opened his eyes to himself awake and the others were relieved to see that he was doing okay, he glanced to the side to see Naruto also waking up after having been treated by Cilan from the damage of his earlier battle.

"We're so glad that you two are okay," said Iris.

"W-Where are we?" asked Ash confusedly.

"In the castle storeroom," Cilan replied.

"Ash…please forgive me," Juanita bowed her head in apology with Carlita doing the same.

"Forgive my brother," said Carlita.

Ash then recalled the vision he had while asleep and got to his feet "He shouldn't have moved the castle! If the castle's moved, the Dragon Force will be disturbed and will destroy the world!" Everyone was in shock at what he just told them sans Naruto.

"What did you say!?" asked Juanita.

"Victini just told me so in a dream, the castle was moved to the top of the mountain to keep the disturbance of the Dragon Force from getting out of control,"

"That explains why I'm feeling so much chaos from the land below us and I'm not even in my Natura Mode to sense it," said Naruto spoke up.

"This is more serious that we thought," said Kurama.

"But it can't be," Carlita was finding it hard to believe but Juanita looked rather thoughtful.

"According to legend…the Dragon Force became disturbed after Zekrom turned to stone which means Zekrom doesn't know," said Juanita.

"So what should we do?" asked Cilan.

"Yeah, Zekrom's too strong," said Iris worriedly.

"Understatement of the day," Naruto grumbled, still feeling a bit of pain from the battle.

Juanita thought deeply again "…Reshiram,"

"Reshiram, you mean the other legendary dragon Pokémon?" asked Ash and got a nod of affirmation.

"Reshiram has the power to match up against Zekrom," Carlita pointed out.

"So where's Reshiram then?" asked Ash.

"Zekrom was beneath the castle, that's where Damon found it. Then that means Reshiram must be nearby as well," said Juanita.

"Beneath the castle you say, Ash do you think that it's where we were before after rescuing the Deerling?" asked Naruto thoughtfully.

"That's gotta be it!" Ash approached the wall and pushed it to rotate sideways and reveal an underground passageway much to the surprise of the others "Come on, we gotta go find Reshiram,"

The group began making their way through the passage at reach where the area with giant crystalline rocks is located and proceeded to move downwards to the bottom of the cave, but it seems like they weren't getting any closer like they thought they would.

"Just how far does this path go?" asked Iris confusedly.

"It feels like we keep going around in circles," said Cilan.

"Hold on…where's Ash and Tokala?" like Carlita said, the two were nowhere to be seen which confused the group as they were just in front of them.

"Hey you guys!" they heard Ash's voice and looked only to be surprised that he, Naruto and Pikachu were below them "Come down here!"

"But how did you three get down there?" asked Cilan.

"Beats us, we just found our way down here,"

"Hold on, I remember Mannes telling us how the path chooses the one it allows to pass, and it chose Damon before. Now it's choosing Ash," said Carlita.

"In that case, we'll be going on ahead!" said Naruto, before running down the path with Ash and Pikachu following after him.

"Be sure to find Reshiram!" Iris called after them.

"We will!" Ash replied.

"You can count on us!" said Pikachu.

"Ash we gotta hurry, Victini doesn't have much time left!" said Naruto urgently.

"I know, we need to help him," the trio continued running down the path when suddenly a ripple of energy which rose from the bottom of the cave to the top whilst illuminating the area like before then they heard a voice in their minds.

"Do you possess…the courage to seek the truth?"

"What was that?" Ash asked in confusion, suddenly the path around them began to crumble "Pikachu! Naruto! We need to keep moving!"

"No need to tell us twice, let's go!" Naruto picked Pikachu up with his tail and placed him on his back before they began running down the crumbling path and leaping over gaps in their hastening descent, they had a few close calls along the way but were able to finally arrive at the bottom of the castle "We made here in one piece, now to find Reshiram and get its help,"

"But where is Reshiram?" Ash looked around for said Pokémon, suddenly the was a surge of fiery energy nearby and the trio turned to see a floating stone scorched red with flames radiating before them and the same voice from before spoke once more.

"What is your wish? Your truth?" asked the voice.

"That must be Reshiram in its dormant state," said Kurama with Naruto nodding in agreement.

Ash thought back to the fun times he and the others had along with Victini "My truth…I really want to help Victini, I've got to help! Victini lived here all alone for a thousand years…lonely, he must have been so lonely. I promised that I would take Victini to the ocean,"

"And Ash isn't the only one who wishes for that, we do as well because Victini is our friend and one doesn't even need a reason to help out a friend," said Naruto with eyes full of determination.

"Yeah, we all want to help Victini!" said Pikachu.

The stone began to shine more brightly than before which caused Ash and the others to shield their eyes from the brightness to avoid getting blinded until the brightness dimmed enough for them to look.

Before the trio is a white-colored, bipedal Pokémon with draconic, avian and mammalian traits. A long, voluminous wispy mane streams out from the upper side of the snout and outwards from its head. The top of this mane is adorned with two protrusions which resemble ears, its face is fringed with spiky features, and it has a small pointed extension below the chin. Its eyes have blue irises and black pupils. Reshiram has a long and slender neck with a fluffy collar-like protrusion jutting out of two grey, glass-like neck-bands. Its arms begin slender and arm-like, but then flare out into a more wing-like appearance, sporting four claws which resemble hands on the leading edge. There are plates at the back of Reshiram's "hands" that sport a similar color to its neck rings. It has a feathered or furry feature on its chest, with the lower portion protruding outwards to a point, long feather-like protrusions jut out of its thighs. On its feet are large gray claws, three at the front and one positioned at the back, resembling high heels. Reshiram's tail is a mass of plume and ribbon-like extensions, surrounded by two large bands, similar to the ones around its neck.

The draconic Pokémon gazed at them before speaking once more "It is your courage that shall become your truth and I shall aid you in your affirmation of the truth," said Reshiram. Ash was momentarily surprised but regained his determination once more.


Meanwhile, the others found their way to the upper courtyard and tried look out for Ash with hopes that he was successful in finding Reshiram but they also saw Zekrom flying nearby as well. Cilan looked down below and noticed something disturbing before calling out to the others.

"Juanita, look through the clouds!" said Cilan, they peered through a gap in the cloudbanks to see the Dragon Force ravaging the lands just like what Ash alerted them about.

"Oh no, we need to stop Damon before it gets any worse," said Carlita, then they heard a sound of rotors spinning as a red helicopter ascended from below to hover before them and piloting it was Mannes.

"Things are looking really bad down there!" said Mannes.

"The Dragon Force has gone out of control!" said Juanita.

"How did you know?"

"It was what Ash told us about from Victini," Carlita explained further, at that moment Juanita's Golurk reappeared after recovering from its brief battle with Zekrom.

"Golurk, you need to stop the castle!" said Juanita, the Pokémon nodded in affirmation and quickly flew up to where Damon was controlling the castle then prepared to launch a Hyper Beam.

"Zekrom, don't let it get in my way!" said Damon, Zekrom swooped down from above to intercept with Zen Headbutt to knock Golurk away from the castle.

"Golurk, I know you can do this!" Juanita called out.

Mannes had the helicopter land on the courtyard "Everyone, get on!" he waited until they were onboard before taking to the skies once more.

Golurk recovered in midair before propelling itself towards Zekrom and clashing in the middle but the black dragon Pokémon used Zen Headbutt once again to attack it, Golurk attacked once more with Gyro Ball and landed a hit but it wasn't effective enough before being blasted by Zekrom's Dragon Pulse to be sent crashing into the castle's courtyard and laid there in a weakened state, Zekrom prepared another Dragon Pulse to knock it out.

"Golurk get out of there!" Juanita called out in worry.

"It's too late!" said Mannes.

Zekrom launched its attack which drew close to the motionless Pokémon with everyone watching helplessly when suddenly a large fireball surrounded by two rings of flames intercepted the attack and exploded, saving Golurk much to the surprise of everyone. The black smoke cleared away to reveal a Pokémon whom they immediately recognized along with the ones riding on its back.

"It's Ash!" Iris called out happily.

"And he found Reshiram too," Cilan was just as relieved.

"Reshiram…," Damon was surprised to see the second Pokémon of legend.

Zekrom let out a roar as the electric generator within its tail start to spin and glow light blue then clenches its fists and its body emits yellow electricity with lightning bolts coming off it before flying straight at Reshiram and Ash in an attempt to ram them with Bolt Strike. Reshiram was quick to avoid the attack and flew away from Zekrom to come around and launch an attack by firing a powerful stream of light blue flames from its mouth to strike its counterpart.

"Reshiram, we need you to drop us off at the castle so we can save Victini!" said Ash.

"Heads up, Zekrom's on our tail!" Naruto called out in alert.

Reshiram quickly ascended to evade a Dragon Pulse from behind before diving into the cloudbank to make Zekrom lose sight of it before rising up to the castle and closed in on it. Reshiram made it inside for Ash and the others to drop off but Zekrom came swooping in and tackling it out of the castle to resume the battle.

"Hang on Victini, we're coming!" Ash began to approach where Victini is being held but were intercepted by Gothitelle, Naruto glared at the sight of it.

"You again? I've been wanting to pay you back for that cheap shot earlier!" said Naruto with a growl.

"Tokala, use Extremespeed!" Ash commanded, Naruto's body became surrounded by a white and clear aura as he took off at high-speed and slammed into Gothitelle before using Substitution to avoid the Confusion attack "Now use Crush Claw!" Naruto unsheathed his claws which glowed white before lunging forward and striking Gothitelle once more for greater damage.

Outside, Reshiram was battling Zekrom as it used Dragon Breath to attack it. Zekrom retaliated with its signature move Fusion Bolt as its tail glowed light blue once more with energy then its body became surrounded in a sphere of violet electricity before slamming into Reshiram to trigger an electrical explosion upon collision, Reshiram retaliated with its own signature move Fusion Flare as it opened its mouth to form a large sphere of fire with two rings of flames surrounding it before launching the fiery projectile to strike Zekrom which also triggered a violent explosion. Zekrom was sent plummeting to the ground below in a barely conscious state with Reshiram diving after it and quickly saved Zekrom which it fell into the Dragon Force.

"What is this? How come the Dragon Force is full of chaos?" asked Zekrom in shock as it watches the trees and plants being drained of life.

"The aftermath of the battle years ago was the cause of this, which was why the belated king sealed it away to prevent further destruction," Reshiram explained.

"Then we must cease this fight and help stop this chaos from occurring further,"

Back at the castle Ash and Naruto were still battling Gothitelle and were gaining an edge over it with Damon witnessing all this with a frown.

"Tokala, use Quick Attack!" said Ash, Naruto in his Raiden Mode dashed at Gothitelle at high-speed with white energy trailing behind him and slammed into the psychic Pokémon then quickly jumped back to avoid an Energy Ball fired in retaliation "Hang tough!"

"Sometimes in the search for ideals, sacrifices must be made!" said Damon.

"My ideals don't need sacrifice!" Ash replied in refusal to his views.

"I highly doubt that your future generations would be proud of such a legacy left behind, an ideal which involves purposeful sacrifice is an ideal never to be acknowledged!" said Naruto with a frown, he had encountered many with such ideals and stopped them before they accomplished it so he's going to do the same here!

"Tokala, dodge and then use Lightning Arrow!" Ash commanded, Naruto jumped sideways to avoid a Psybeam attack from Gothitelle. Naruto roared as his stripes glowed with yellow electricity concentrated on his back and took on the shape of a bow, he then used his prehensile tail to pull back on the bowstring to conjure a lightning bolt "Fire!" he let it loose as the projectile shot forward and struck Gothitelle, making it faint for Damon to have no choice but to recall it with his Pokéball.

"Now let's go save Victini!" Ash climbed up to the pedestal with Naruto and Pikachu following until they reached the top. Naruto immediately used Metal Claw and Pikachu used Iron Tail at the pillars but the barrier defended against both attacks "Keep trying, we gotta break through!"

"Naruto, we've got company!" said Kurama in alert, they looked to see Zekrom arrived before them.

"Zekrom, stop those three!" Damon commanded, they tensed for an attack but Zekrom didn't make a move much to their surprise "What's the matter?" Naruto seized the opportunity to revert to his polymorph form and strike at the barrier once more with a Rasengan with the spiraling sphere grinding against the barrier. It was then that Zekrom used Dragon Pulse at the barrier as well with both attacks shattering it and stopping the energy drain too, Ash rushed forward to catch Victini before he fell to the ground.

"Victini, are you okay?" asked Ash worriedly.

Victini turned to smile tiredly at them "…I'm okay…thank you,"

"No need for thanks, just helping a friend out," said Naruto with a foxy grin.

"Thank goodness!" said Pikachu in relief, soon Reshiram appeared in the castle chamber with Mannes landing the helicopter nearby for the others to disembark.

"Why Zekrom? Why didn't you stop them!?" Damon demanded, everything was going according to plan so why do all this?

"I can hear the land's anger," Zekrom replied.

Damon was rather confused at the answer "Anger?" then he turned to see Mannes and the others run up to him in a panic.

"Damon, the Vale is in deep trouble!" said Juanita.

"The Dragon Force is out of control!" Mannes added.

"What?" Damon ran to the edge of the castle with everyone following while Zekrom and Reshiram flew out then they used Dragon Pulse and Dragon Breath respectively to make and clouds part and reveal the Dragon Force ravaging the land and killing all plant life. Damon looked at the scenery in horror…this wasn't what he wanted! Not at all! "How could this have happened…all I wanted to do was fulfil my mother's dream. How could it be so wrong?"

"Damon, isn't there any way to calm the Dragon Force?" asked Carlita.

Damon gritted his teeth in frustration "I don't know…I just don't know!"

"We need to come up with a solution and fast!" said Naruto, then the two dragon Pokémon flew up to them.

"You must soothe the anger of the land," said Zekrom.

Reshiram spoke next "Use the sword,"

Damon's eyes widened in realization at what they're implying "That's it! The Sword of the Vale will once again restrain the Dragon Force!" he looked up to the dragon Pokémon "Zekrom! Reshiram! Please lend me your power!" both roared in affirmation of his request.

Suddenly the Dragon Force surged and shot up towards the castle, Zekrom and Reshiram attempted to intercept it but were knocked out of the way as it wound around the castle ad spread its corrupted energy through it.

"What's going on?" asked Ash.

"The Dragon Force seemed to have reversed on itself," said Mannes.

"It's almost as if it knew what we were planning to do and is trying to stop us," said Naruto with a frown.

"Mannes, you need to get everyone out of here as the castle's starting to crumble!" said Damon.

"Right, everyone, let's head back to the helicopter!" said Mannes before leading the way with everyone following him to the courtyard, Carlita called of her Hydreigon for her and Iris to ride on while the rest sat in the helicopter, however Damon remained behind much to their confusion.

"Damon, come on!" said Juanita.

"You go on ahead," said Damon.

"Are you planning on staying on the castle?" asked Naruto.

"You all need to get off while I take care of the rest,"

Ash protested against this "But Damon…,"

"This is something I need to do on my own…so go now,"

"Ash! Naruto! Hurry up!" Cilan called out as the helicopter began to take off, Ash and Naruto began climbing the stairs and approach the helicopter when the former suddenly got knocked away by the barrier "Oh no, the barrier is still active!"

"Darn it, completely forgotten about those pillars," Naruto growled as he looked up to see the pillars begin to gather closely and reduce the space within the barrier to knock Ash away again and they went to check up on him "You okay buddy?"

"Yeah, but Victini can't get past the barrier," Ash replied.

"The barrier is closing in!" said Damon.

"Do you have any idea for us to get Victini past the barrier?" asked Naruto, Damon was about to answer when the entire castle tilted to the side and they were sliding towards the edge. Naruto channeled chakra to his feet and ran over to grab Ash and Pikachu with his tails to hold them in place but couldn't reach Damon in time as he fell off the castle "Damon!"

Things got worse from there as the castle began rising to the sky with great speed and was ascending to the atmosphere, the Sigilyph and the Solosis flew out of the castle in a great panic while Ash and others were beginning to find it very hard to breath and the temperature was dropping quickly for frost to appear from their body.

"I-I-I-It's s-s-so cold, p-p-pretty soon…w-we're gonna r-r-run out o-o-of air," Ash shivered as he spoke.

"We gotta do something…but what?" Naruto was also feeling the cold as well with his mind racing for a solution. They heard the familiar cries of Reshiram and Zekrom, looking up to see the dragon Pokémon along with Golurk and Damon whom they're relieved to see "D-Damon, are we g-glad to s-see you!"

"Hang in there! Alright destroy the Pillars of Protection so we can release all of the energy!" said Damon.

Zekrom used Fusion Bolt to strike the pillars and Reshiram followed it up with Fusion Flare but both attacks weren't having as much effect as they should, Ash and Naruto backed away from the approaching barrier and pushed to the courtyard with the pillars closing in on them. Naruto and Pikachu used Return and Thunderbolt at the pillars but they continued to approach and soon enough were boxed in with no way out.

"We gotta get out of here, Rasengan!" Naruto rammed the spiraling sphere into one of the pillars but was knocked back and zapped by the barrier "It's getting…really hard to breathe," he heard a thump and turned to see Ash on his knees and panting heavily "Hang in there, we'll get through this!"

"Please Ash," Pikachu and Victini were just as worried about him.

"He's right Ash, you can't give up! Because you've been chosen by the great dragon Pokémon! So hang on, we'll get you out!" said Damon, Reshiram and Zekrom were using all of their attacks on the pillars to get them out as fast as they could.

"No way…am I giving up here!" Ash grunted out as he struggled back to his feet.

"We're not giving up either!" Naruto created shadow clones and had them attack the pillars from within with Pikachu joining in with Thunderbolt.

"Naruto, I'm preparing my chakra at a certain amount that your body can currently handle so that you can destroy this barrier in one go!" said Kurama.

"Please hurry, we running on borrowed time now!" thought Naruto as he watched Ash collapsed to the ground and ran over to check on him "Ash, please hold on for a bit longer!"

"I can't move…my body won't let me…," Ash barely muttered out.

"Stay with me Ash, don't go to sleep. It's all over if you do!"

"I'm sorry…I know we promised you…that we would take you to the ocean…I'm really sorry…"

Naruto's eyes in realization of what's going on "Those better not be your last words Ash…cause I won't be happy with you if they are!"

"Please stay awake Ash!" Pikachu pleaded, having seen his trainer in many situations like this. His 'death' at the Tree of Life really broke the lightning mouse and doesn't want to experience something like that ever again.

"I'm sending the chakra now!" Kurama called out, Naruto's body began emitting a vermillion red aura with such force and heat that it warmed Ash up to prevent freezing then he looked up at the pillars with anger in his eyes.

"You have outlived your usefulness a long time ago and became shackles to hold down a good friend. Putting the lives of my friends in danger is the final straw, it's time for you to go and stay gone!" Naruto began channeling the chakra to form a Rasengan as it grew to the size of a beach ball, he was about to attack when he felt a paw on his and looked down to see Victini stare back with eyes of determination "Victini?"

"I'm helping too so we can save Ash!" Victini began channeling his energy into Naruto, increasing his power to the point of influencing the Rasengan which changed color to orange with a red letter 'V' inside of it, Victini clung to Naruto's back "Let's do it Naruto!"

Naruto nodded in affirmation "Right!" he crouched low then leapt towards the upper part of the pillars "Get out of our sight! Victorious Rasengan!" he rammed the collaboration technique into the pillars, the barrier attempted to deflect the attack but was quickly losing to its overwhelming power as Naruto and Victini yelled out while unleashing their full power to the maximum in a massive burst of energy to shatter the barrier and destroy the pillars which spread far and wide in the atmosphere with the corrupted Dragon Force being expelled into space. Damon watched in awe at the sight of the power displayed while Zekrom and Reshiram looked on with eyes of interest, Naruto and Victini landed back on the ground next to Ash and Pikachu looking severely fatigued but smiled wearily.

"We…did it," said Naruto.

Victini nodded in agreement "Yeah…" they both collapsed to the floor and lose conscious though they barely heard Ash and Pikachu calling out to them before completely blacking out.


Sometime later, Damon had gotten back on the castle to retake control of it with the help of Reshiram, Zekrom and Golurk pushing it back down to earth as the Solosis and Sigilyph returning to assist in the movement. Ash and Pikachu were currently tending to Naruto and Victini who were wrapped up in a blanket and currently asleep, then Iris and Carlita came flying in on Hydreigon.

"Ash, are you all okay?" asked Iris worriedly.

"We're okay, Naruto and Victini are just tired," said Ash.

Carlita went to check on her brother "Damon, are you alright?" she received a nod of affirmation in response.

"The leading edge of the Dragon Force is just up ahead," said Mannes while piloting the helicopter to serve as a navigator for Damon.

"Is that where the castle goes?" asked Carlita.

"Yes exactly, it's the only way to calm down the chaotic Dragon Force," said Damon.

"You got one shot at this Damon!" said Juanita from the helicopter.

Damon carefully guided the castle towards the top of the cliff close to the seaside where the edge of the Dragon Force currently, then with the right timing had the castle land upon the corrupted energy and embedded deep into the ground. Everyone could have sworn that they heard the Dragon Force roar before the chaotic purple color changed to a soothing green then faded away.

"You did it Damon!" Ash cheered happily with Pikachu following suit.

"Now the land of the will be safe," said Carlita.

They heard a groan and looked back to see Naruto getting up to his feet and looked around in confusion before turning towards the group "Did I miss something interesting?"

"Naruto, you're okay!" Ash and Pikachu went to give Naruto a hug with Naruto returning it with a smile "You had us so worried when you and Victini collapsed,"

"You really had us worried," said Pikachu.

"Sorry about that, we just wanted to get rid of those pillars and save you two," said Naruto sheepishly.

"But what about Victini, is it okay?" asked Carlita, looking at said Pokémon with concern.

"Victini's okay and will be waking up soon," Naruto heard sounds of water and then got an idea "This also gives us the chance to keep our promise too…right Ash?"

Ash caught on to what Naruto's saying and smiled as well "Yeah, let's do it?"

"What's he talking about?" asked Carlita.

"Naruto and Ash promised to take Victini to the ocean," Iris explained.

"And now that the Pillars of Protection are gone, they can do just that," Cilan added, getting nods of understanding from the others.

Victini opened his eyes and looked up to noticed that he was wrapped in something fuzzy before recognizing them to be Naruto's tails with the fox looking back at him with a foxy grin and spoke up.

"It's about time you woke up sleepyhead," said Naruto.

"Yeah, we got a surprise for you," Ash chimed in.

"Naruto, Ash? What do you mean surprise?" Victini's ears picked up the sounds of waves crashing against the shore and looked past the duo to see the ocean right in front of him "It's the ocean…but how?" It dawned upon him that he helped Naruto destroy the pillars which means that he's now free to go wherever he wants now.

"Just like we promised, we brought you to the ocean and you can come here anytime you want," said Ash and he was hugged by a happy Victini who also went to hug Naruto too. Then they saw a vision of Victini restoring life to the barren lands with both people and Pokémon living together peacefully on them "I get it, you're going head back to the Vale aren't you?"

"To make the place beautiful and peaceful just like when you were with the king right?" asked Naruto with a sad smile, Victini had really grown him as he felt the same attachment with Konohamaru.

Victini nodded in affirmation and gave them a victory sign "That's right!"

"Then go and make everyone happy," said Ash.

Everyone watched happily at all this except for Damon who felt guilty for everything that had happened, he almost destroyed the world in his attempt to fulfil the promise made to his mother, falling to his knees with feelings of regret.

"Damon, what's wrong?" asked Carlita in concern.

"Everyone…please forgive me," said Damon, he heard footsteps and looked up to see Naruto staring back at him.

"We can't really be made at you, your reasons are noble but you just went about it the wrong way. Hopefully next time, you would turn to others to help you restore the land of the Vale just like you wanted but in the right way," said Naruto with a look of understanding, he remembered how Nagato tried to bring peace to the Elemental Nations which involved the loss of many innocent lives including Jiraiya until he put a stop to it and convinced to do otherwise.

"He's right," Juanita helped Damon back to his feet and patted his back with a motherly smile "Let's work together to restore the connection with the land and the People of the Vale, and we'll do it the right way,"

"Yes mother," Damon responded with a small smile.

A few days later, Ash and the group began to depart for Nimbasa city in hopes for the bridge to be fully repaired. Zekrom and Reshiram had long since departed for destinations unknown to the others though Naruto noticed that they had been staring at him a couple of times and even heard them whisper something about being a bearer of both ideals and truth before they left. Victini was sad to see that his new friends would be going soon but then had an idea and called Naruto over to talk about it, the white fox was at first surprised but then wholeheartedly agreed to it, soon the group were well on their way after saying goodbye to Damon and the others and gave their best wishes before finally leaving.

"That was quite the detour we had, eh Kurama?" asked Naruto.

"Indeed, makes me look forward to what else we would encounter in the near future as well. I'll love to see how we would contend with legendaries in the future after some training…I'm getting shivers at the thought of it," said Kurama with a smirk.

"Me too buddy, me too,"


This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, I've finally completed the movie arc and hope that it's to your satisfaction and will now get back to the main series. For those wondering about Victini, he won't be joining the group…yet but I won't tell when as a surprise for you to play the guessing game.

Be sure to Read and Review as always.

This is Hussbek from Ghana

Signing out.