Location: A forest near New Bark Town in the Johto Region.

  The night was nearly pitch black. Three large, deer-like figures darted through the dark forest, with a smaller equine figure following closely behind. These were the grey Cobalion, the brown Terrakion, the green Verizion, and the smaller blue Keldeo. Together, they were known as the Swords of Justice, and they had a mission that had taken them very far from their home in the far-off Unova Region.

  “Tell me,” Terrakion spoke to his comrade Cobalion, “Do you really believe Necrozma could be nearby?”

  Cobalion nodded, “Indeed. Not dangerously so, but close. He has appeared in the Johto Region last, so he must still be within it.”

  The emerald green Verizion asked him, “We certainly won’t be engaging him, I assume?”

  “Of course not,” Cobalion replied, “Arceus himself dueled Necrozma for a time and couldn’t defeat him. If not even he can, then we have no chance. No, we will simply be scouting throughout the Region and, should we spot Necrozma, report back to Arceus immediately.”

  Hearing this, Keldeo, the youngest member of the Sword of Justice, sighed in relief. “That’s a load off…”

  “But,” Cobalion continued, “I am also fully prepared for the possibility that we cannot run away. If we have no other choice than to engage, then I will-”

  “Do what exactly?”

  Cobalion’s eyes shot open in shock, and he whipped around to the source of the voice. Amongst the darkness of the cloudy night, an ominous, prismatic black figure floated above the quadrio of Unovan Legends. Two glowing, white crystals protruded from its’ arms, which were the only sources of light that could identify the being’s presence. To the Swords of Justice, he looked nearly invisible, but his presence alone sent terror ringing through them.

  “...Oh,” Necrozma started, seeing that he’d cut off Cobalion’s train of thinking and placed his hand to chest with a bow, “My apologies. Don’t mind me. I was pondering whether or not I should eradicate that settlement behind me...I believe the sign said ‘New Bark Town’? ...When I happened to overhear someone talking about me.”

  He let out a chilling, metallic-sounding chuckle. “But please, by all means, continue. I’ll just be over here.”

  Cobalion snarled at him, and the two Swords of Justice at his side positioned themselves into crouches for battle. “You…! You’re Necrozma, are you not?!”

  “Ding, ding, ding!” Necrozma exclaimed mockingly, pointing his finger in the air for emphasis, “Right you are! You must be quite the detective. Now, what do you plan to do with such information? Oh, wait, my bad. I happened to interrupt you. Go on, you were saying?”

  “Keldeo, run!” Cobalion ordered, “Tell Arceus that Necrozma is in Johto and that we are combatting him as we speak!”

  “No way!” Retorted Keldo, “I’m an official Sword of Justice now, not just a trainee! If you’re fighting, I’m-”

  “DO IT, YOU FOOL!” Cobalion bellowed at him with a ferocity and urgency Keldeo had never seen from his master before, “WE WILL NOT WIN THIS FIGHT WITHOUT HIM!”

  “You won’t win this fight either way.”

  Cobalion was struck from behind suddenly, sending him careening somewhere into the forest. Terrakion and Verizion stared in shock at where their friend and leader was sent hurtling, then turned and bared their fangs furiously at the dark demon.

  “BASTARD!” Roared Terrakion, “YOU’LL PAY FOR THAT!”

  “Keldeo, go!” Verizion told the young equine, “This is more than just a battle for victory! It’s a battle for survival! You need to inform Arceus no matter what, or everything is lost!”

  Keldeo looked at where the master of the Swords of Justice was launched into with in distress. “But what about-”

  “He’ll be fine!” Verizion assured him, “He’s the strongest out of any of us! Now go!”

  Keldeo furrowed his brow, unsure of what to do. He looked back to where Cobalion was launched into, then back to Terrakion and Verizion who were facing down the black menace Necrozma. He agonized over the decision. He knew his orders were important, but running away from a fight, especially after training so hard and even fighting Kyurem to a standstill, couldn’t sit right with him. It felt wrong, but…

  “...Alright.” Keldeo replied at last and turning to run away, “I’ll go, but none of you better die on me!”

  Terrakion chuckled at him, “Have faith in us, kid!”

  “And we’ll have faith in you!” Verizion called out to him.

  “And so the youngest one flees to find help, all while his friends stay behind to sacrifice themselves!” Necrozma announced mockingly, “I’m touched. It’s such a shame that it’s meaningless.”

  “The hell’re you thinkin’?!” Bellowed Terrakion, stamping his front feet into the ground, “The Swords of Justice ain’t gonna fall to some alien!”

  Verizion nodded resolutely, “Indeed. You will never take this planet, demon! Lord Arceus will stop you!”

  “Surely,” Mocked Necrozma with a dark cackle, “Yes, that would be a nice story to tell the little rambunctious grandchildren of the future. It’s quite unfortunate that a future is something both you and the rest of this backwater planet lack.”

  “Why don’t ya put your money where your mouth is?!” Challenged Terrakion, “Take this! Rock Slide!” Upon the Unovan Legend’s command, a hail of stones materialized from thin air above the black monster’s head.

  Verizion followed suit. “And this as well! Leaf Storm!” With her order, a miniature storm of wind carrying innumerable amounts of razor-sharp leaves appeared around the emerald Sword of Justice.

  The leaves rocketed at Necrozma, who simply crossed his arms and, if he had a mouth, would have certainly been smirking at the thought of these pathetic insects before him having the capacity to harm him, and began tearing at him relentlessly. Terrakion’s hail of rocks followed suit, burying the black demon and kicking up a large cloud of dust with a resounding series of thuds.

  “Yeah, how’s that?!” Terrakion cheered, but Verizion knew better.

  “He’s not dead. Far from it.”

  “I know that!” Retorted Terrakion, “Arceus himself couldn’t take him down, so there’s no way we will, but we still landed a clean blow on him!”

  To the Rock-type Sword of Justice’s horror, a deep, metallic-sounding chuckle seeped from the mound of rocks. The stones cracked suddenly, and then shattered into a hail of dust and pebbles that swarmed around the near-invisible figure inside. With the wave of his prismatic finger, the debris around him suddenly stopped, then disappeared. They weren’t destroyed. They weren’t crushed into a powder so small that it couldn’t be identified, no...upon the black demon’s command, the remainder of Terrakion’s and Verizion’s attack ceased to exist.

  The two Swords of Justice stepped back with a fear they couldn’t suppress, no matter how much they tried, as Necrozma bellowed out a maniacal laugh that clouded out the entire area surrounding their battle. Still, they remained defiant. The Swords of Justice never surrendered.

  With a challenging roar, Terrakion opened his mouth and fired a massive orange laser from his mouth in the form of a Hyper Beam. Necrozma scoffed at him and simply held out his index finger, stopping the attack from even making contact with him. From behind, Verizion appeared and fired a Hyper Beam of her own, to which Necrozma turned and held out his other hand’s index finger to stop the attack as well. Unflinching, the two Swords of Justice held fast and kept their attacks going.

  “Hmph. I honestly don’t know why you ants continue to fight against me. It would be so much quicker for you if you just stood still and awaited your end, you know.”

  “The Swords of Justice never surrender!” Cried out another voice. Cobalion stepped out from the brush, sporting a large reddish-brown bruise on his side, but otherwise unwavering from his duty. Glaring at Necrozma, the leader of the Swords of Justice held his head high and summoned a single white and red glowing blade above himself. “THIS,” He announced, “IS THE CULMINATION OF JUSTICE! THIS IS THE COMBINED WILL OF EVERY CREATURE THAT DWELLS ON OUR PLANET AND CRIES OUT FOR JUSTICE TO BE SERVED! IN THEIR NAME, I WILL FIGHT! SACRED SWORD!”

  Cobalion roared with pride and hurled the blade forward at Necrozma’s exposed back and exploded violently in a blaze of crimson red and blinding white. Verizion and Terrakion quickly let their Hyper Beams go and jumped away in time to avoid the explosion, and what’s more, Necrozma was struck with the attack perfectly. There wasn’t a chance of him avoiding it. The black demon Necrozma had no other option but to take the attack head-on. The emerald and brown Swords reunited with their leader from beyond the ensuing cloud of smoke.

  “...You didn’t get him, right?” Terrakion Asked.

  Cobalion, between the deep panting for air, replied, “Of course not. I have doubts that my attack even damaged him, and I would be a fool to believe that anything I could possibly throw against him would be enough to defeat him. Were it that simple, Lugia and the three elemental birds would have long-since defeated them on their own.”

  “Well, then I must congratulate you,” The all-too familiar voice of the black demon spoke from inside the blanket of smoke, clapping, “One of my favorite things to do when I’m slaughtering peons like you is to intentionally let an attack they think is impressive hit me dead on, wait a few moments from inside the smoke cloud and then listen for those delicious words “Did I/we get him/it?” and then pop out and either kill one of them or just mortally injure one of them and then finish them afterward.”

  He couldn’t help but let out a maniacal cackle that chilled the Swords of Justice to their cores, even when they glared and scowled at the monster before him in some kind of act of useless defiance.

  “Somehow, it never gets old. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve done it, yet it still entertains me immensely every time...but you!” He pointed at the trio before him, causing them to flinch, then mentally curse at themselves for it immediately afterward, “You were the first to see through it, and so I congratulate you! I get you “Justice” types all the time when I’m conquering worlds, and they always say the same thing:” He coughed to clear his voice, then began speaking in a mocking, higher-pitched and whiny voice while making crude gestures to get his point across. “Oh my (insert deity figure here), our (insert attack name here) didn’t work! I-Impossible! Nobody’ survived that attack before! We’re supposed to be invincible- blah blah blah, you get my point. They kept rambling on and on about their powers and morals or whatever, and then they either gave up or kept fighting until their bodies collapsed with exhaustion. Oh yeah, and then I killed them too.”

  “You monster…” Verizion spat at him, “Just how many worlds have you destroyed?! How many innocent lives have you thoughtlessly cut down?!”

  “Dunno, I stopped counting a few millennia ago,” Nonchalantly replied Necrozma with the lazy wave of his hand, “Anyways, my point is this: I must applaud you. You are the first to acknowledge that you don’t have the slightest chance of victory against me! Thus, you are easily the smartest individuals I have ever met.”

  “What, do we earn a medal?” Terrakion asked sarcastically.

  “INDEED!”

  Necrozma suddenly held his arm out at the Rock-Type Sword of Justice and, before any of them could blink, the Unovan Legend was crushed into the shape of a star by Necrozma’s Psychic power. He never even had the time to scream.

  “Feel free to wear it with pride on your way down to hell.”

  “W-what in the-” Verizion stammered, stepping back from the star-shaped remains of her comrade.

  “What just-?!” Cobalion exclaimed with eyes as wide as dinner plates, stepping away from Terrakion’s corpse.

  Necrozma leaned his head back and laughed cruelly as Cobalion and Virizion stared back and forth near-cluelessly between the remains of their friend and the dark demon that ended him. They couldn’t deduce what had happened, though one idea that they couldn’t bear to acknowledge collectively plagued their minds.

  “What did you do?!” Verizion demanded of the Emperor of the Ultra Beasts with fury plastered over her face, “What did you do to Terrakion?!”

  Necrozma motioned over to the now-reddening star-shaped object at the Unovan Legends’ side. “Isn’t it obvious? And here, I pegged you two as being smart. He asked me for a medal and I...well...I guess you could say I made him one.”

  “YOU HEARTLESS MONSTER!” Bellowed Cobalion as he summoned another Sacred Sword, “IS THIS NOTHING BUT A GAME TO YOU?”

  “No. A game incites challenge. Were it a game, the other “players” would stand a chance at victory. What “this” is, is my birthright. The universe and everything in it belongs to me, and thus I decide the fates of every living thing; whether they live beneath my feet or whether they die like the insects they are. There is no other option.”

  “That is not for you to decide!” Verizion spat back at him.

  Necrozma crossed his arms, unimpressed. “Hah! Who is there to decide such a thing if not for me? Your precious ‘Lord Arceus’? Why is that, then? Because you believe him to be more powerful than I? If power is the deciding factor, then you are only proving me right. Those with power decide what is wrong and what is right, and thus, I am right. I stand at the pinnacle of power.”

  “You’re wrong!” Cobalion countered, “Lord Arceus, our creator and the creator of our world itself, has more power than you could ever comprehend! He is as kind as he is powerful, and with the help of the other Legends uniting against you, we will scour your existence from the world and the universe like the stain it is!”

  Necrozma simply groaned at the Steel Sword of Justice. “And there it is. The faith in their so-called deity every race I’ve exterminated always ends up spouting at me. Let me tell you this, worm.”

  Uncrossing his arms, Necrozma released an ounce of his energy around him, uprooting pieces of the ground with the pressure of his energy alone. From between the flying rocks obscuring the dark demon’s face, Cobalion and Verizion could still make out that the black demon’s eyes were now glowing a deep, crimson hue.

  “Each and every time one of you worthless insects sings praise about how your precious deities will appear and “smite me for my wicked ways”, they either end up being crushed beneath my heel or never showing up at all. I’ve slain literal millions of your so-called gods, and I will slaughter millions more.”

  Cobalion fired his Sacred Sword, and so Verizion summoned another and followed suit. The twin crimson blades whirled violently as they sliced through the air, causing a menacing sound akin to a whirring whistle as they cleaved through everything in their path. It was, of course, for naught. Without Necrozma even moving a muscle, the twin Sacred Swords, the essences of everything the Swords of Justice fought for and believed in, exploded into harmless red dust and disappeared into nothing more than a dim fizzle of light before ever even coming in contact with the invader.

  Necrozma let out a dark, chilling chuckle that practically oozed with malice. “Very well then. Let us see if your God will protect you.”

  Necrozma disappeared from sight, and Verizion was struck suddenly by a blow to the side that sent her careening through a row of trees. “Verizion!” Cobalion called out to her. He tried to rush to her aid, but the dark demon appeared in front of him to block his way, then backhanded him with the edge of the crystal protruding from his arm. The Steel Sword of Justice was helpless to prevent himself from skidding face-down through the dirt.

  Cobalion forced himself to his feet and spit the dirt from his mouth, furiously whipping back around to meet the monster that had dared to insult their Justice. As much as he wanted to run to Verizion’s aid, Cobalion knew that Necrozma would give him no such chance. He could only hope that she was alright.

  “I personally think that you should be more worried for yourself than your friend,” The dark, metallic voice of Necrozma chided from behind the Leader of the Swords of Justice.

  Cobalion leapt away from Necrozma with a terror that he refused to admit to himself and faced the dark demon, but he was nowhere to be seen. He was struck in the back from above with such force that Cobalion now tasted blood in his mouth. Agony tore through the nerves of literal steel of Cobalion, but still, he refused to let the pain escape. He refused to let this monster get any more satisfaction than he could help.

  “As sickeningly noble as that prospect is,” Necrozma said, continuing to dig his fists into Cobalion’s back, “As I’ve just demonstrated, I can read your mind. I can see and hear your thoughts. If I wanted to…”

  Cobalion hissed in agony suddenly. A pain unlike Cobalion had ever fathomed began worming its’ way into the Legend’s head like a burning knife. Visions of instances he’d never seen before began filling his mind. He saw himself looking up from an island crackling with lightning as a streak of light suddenly ripped down from the heavens and tore both him and the island apart. He felt himself being flung through the air above a seabed without any water, then being punched with a force so great that the world around him was torn apart as well. He felt a piece of his body being torn off with a great snap. He felt himself being blasted with a wave of crimson energy that spanned what seemed to him as all of existence, then being dragged across the rocky ground with speeds faster than he could process. Then, he felt yet another piece of his body he couldn’t identify being ripped off of him as well. Still, he refused to cry out in pain.

  “These,” Spoke Necrozma, “Are the memories of the other so-called ‘Legends’ of your planet that I crushed beneath my heel. Fortunately for you, I don’t have the luxury of putting you through that physically, as such destruction would likely spread to that ‘New Bark Town’ nearby that I plan on destroying later. But, I can still force you to relive the suffering of your kin.”

  “Bas...tard…” Cobalion sputtered weakly, blood clotting up his mouth, “You’ll...never...get away...with this…! You...may break...my body...but you will...never...break the spirit...of Justice!” Even amongst the agony that wreaked havoc on every last inch of his body, he still refused to break. He even laughed, albeit weakly, at the black demon. “Even...if you...kill me here...I can...at least...take solace...knowing you couldn’t...break me! The spirit...of justice...and all...the hope of...all living things...still flares within me...like a fire...a fire that...you can...never...put out! Even...if you...kill me!”

  “Well, it’s true that even through the torment of multiple others, you still refuse to cry out in the agony I know you’re feeling,” Necrozma conceded, “But...you say you’ll never break? That ‘justice’ will still live on even if you die? I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard those exact same words. There’s always something that you will hold dear enough to cry out in agony over, even if pain can’t get through…”

  Necrozma grabbed hold of Cobalion’s head and forced it to look up. Cobalion blinked the dust and stone out of his eyes and saw that, as if on cue, Verizion came storming out from the bush, scouring the land around her with her eyes until they finally landed on Necrozma and Cobalion. Then, she charged, shouting, “Let him go, you monster!” It was then that Cobalion realized what Necrozma meant. His eyes shot open, bloodshot, and he screamed at her not to come any closer.

  “No! Get away, Verizion! Get out of-”

  His pleas were for naught. With the simple outstretching of Necrozma’s jagged finger, an explosion consumed Verzion faster than she could know she was already dead.

  “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

  Cobalion gaped helplessly at his friend’s demise. Tears now dotted the normally-cold, silent, proud legend’s eyes for the first time he could ever remember, yet he did not care. He had failed them. His comrades and, more importantly, friends that had been at his side for thousands of years were now gone. The Swords of Justice were no more. He had failed as both a leader and a friend.

  “Ah, there we are,” Necrozma mocked arrogantly, “That wonderful cry of pain. I told you there were other...hm…?”

  To the Leader of the Ultra Beasts’ confusion, he heard a chuckle from the former Leader of the Swords of Justice. Then it grew into a fit of laughter. Finally, Cobalion was now helplessly cackling like a madman, throwing his head back.

  “Perhaps he has gone mad,” Necrozma surmised.

  “You...fool…” The Steel Legend mocked between laughs, “You think...you’ve taken everything from me…?” Ha! Hahahahaaha- no! No, there’s something you can never pry from me as long as I live and after! You have taken my friends, my title, and even my pride, but you will never take away my hope! I have no doubt in my mind...Arceus and the Legends will unite together and defeat you!”

  Necrozma was silent for a few seconds, then let out an odd mix between a short laugh and a scoff. “I believe that’s the third time you said I couldn’t take something from you, yes? Two times I’ve proved you wrong. Let’s go for strike three.”

  Cobalion’s mad laughter only continued. “You utter fool! Kill me, then, demon. I’ll be laughing from on high as Arceus smites you from this world! There’s nothing left for you to take from me! Why? My hope is not just my own, that’s why! The hope of-”

  “All living creatures, yadda yadda yadda, I’ve heard it millions of times before...and that’s not what I was referring to.”

  Cobalion scoffed at him. “Pah! Go on then! Show me your worst!”

  Had Necrozma a mouth, he would have certainly had a devilish grin accommodating it. “You keep saying ‘Arceus this, Arceus that’, but...who exactly will be telling your precious Arceus about your failure?”

  Cobalion’s laughter died, becoming choked in his throat as he realized what Necrozma was talking about.

  “No...NO, YOU CAN’T!”

  “Oh, but I can and will. Let’s not keep the young one waiting now.”

  Necrozma grappled onto Cobalion’s horns, hoisted him into the air, and disappeared into the night with a chilling laugh amongst Cobalion’s screams for mercy. Not for himself...but for another…

  …

  The youngest of the Swords of Justice, Keldeo was sprinting as fast as the deep-blue equine Pokemon’s hooves could bear. Thoughts of his elders’ fates kept worming at his mind, but he did everything in his power to rid himself of them.

  “They’re strong,” He reassured himself, “But they’re relying on me! The longer I take, the more they’ll have to…”

  The youngest Unovan Legend’s train of process was cut off when something large and cyan-colored whirled past him into a row of trees, knocking Keldeo off of his feet. He lurched back up to right himself quickly, though, as one singular thought now haunted him.

  “That couldn’t have been...no, it couldn’t have…” Rushing over to the crash site of whatever was hurled past him, Keldeo tore through the cloud of dust and saw, much to his horror, that his thoughts were confirmed. Cobalion, with a deep gaping hole in his side, was now collapsed on the ground at the base of several collapsed trees.

  “Cobalion!” Keldeo shouted, “Arceus, no…!”

  Cobalion tried to force himself to his feet, hacking out an agonized cough and staring up at the youngest of the Swords of Justice with, for the first time Keldeo had ever seen, tears and panicked terror in his eyes. “G-go…!” The once-prideful Unovan Legend pleaded, “P-please! Necrozma, he-” He hacked out another cough and collapsed again, “He...h-he killed...Terrakion and...Verizion...Y-you can’t..l-let him...c-catch you! G-get Arceus! B-before it’s…”

  “Too late?”

  A white beam of energy appeared out of seemingly nowhere and enveloped Cobalion, causing a blast that sent Keldeo flying away. The young equine let out a grunt of pain upon impact, but that was the least of his worries. “Cobalion!”

  He scanned every last inch of the now-burning forest before him, but could find nothing. No hint of where his leader could be, nor any sign whatsoever. Not a trace was left of the Leader of the Swords of Justice. What was once a proud, noble Legendary Pokemon is now nothing more than ashes scattered to the wind.

  “No!” The last of the Swords of Justice cried, “NOOOO!”

  Tears fell freely from Keldeo’s eyes. He couldn’t help it. He was taught otherwise; taught by his three comrades and friends to remain strong and fierce in the face of evil. To uphold Justice, unwavering to any malicious force that might oppose them...but...the look on Cobalion’s face...if not even his leader, who had never once shown weakness even as he battled to the last of his strength before...had now been crying in terror...where did that leave him?

  “Cobalion!” He cried out again, “Where are you! We’ll get out of this together! We’ll get to Arceus, and he can heal you! We’ll tell Arceus everything, then-”

  “Oh, really?”

  Keldeo’s heart stopped for a second. He whipped around, and surely enough, the black terror Necrozma was there, floating in place with his arms crossed. Somehow, the light from the flames didn’t illuminate him in the slightest. Only the light emanating from the crystals jutting out from his arms gave Keldeo any clue of the appearance of the monster he was faced with.

  Keldeo tried to force himself to glare at the demon before him—tried to remain defiant in the face of the pure, overwhelming evil before him, but his fear betrayed him, contorting his face into a pathetic mix of anger and terror.

  “N-Necrozma…!” He stammered, trembling, “W-where’s Cobalion?! What did you do to him?!”

  “You know full well what happened to your precious leader, boy.”

  “Y-you’re wrong!” Keldeo shook his head rapidly, forcing himself to deny what he was hearing, “Cobalion’s strong! Stronger than anyone I’ve ever known! There’s no way he could fall to the likes of you!”

  Necrozma let out a horrific, chilling chuckle that seemed to come from every direction. “Oh really? If so, would you like to find out exactly what happened to them?”

  Before Keldeo could blink, Necrozma grabbed Keldeo by the back of his head and hoisted him off the ground. The young Legend tried to fight back, squirming futilely in Necrozma’s grasp, but was stopped by a sudden feeling of a knife being plunged into his brain. Then, he saw visions. Visions of Terrakion, Verizion, and Cobalion, mounting a combined attack against the black menace, only for it to do nothing. He saw...and felt...Terrakion’s fate...he saw Verizion disappear in a blaze of fire...and he saw Cobalion’s brutalization. He, too, was forced to undergo the agony he did...the memories of those who, too, fought against Necrozma and failed...and finally, he saw Cobalion be obliterated by a singular, white laser.

  He screamed in agony, desperately tearing at Necrozma’s hand as tears flowed freely. He no longer had the slightest chance of preventing it. Keldeo eventually went limp after what seemed like hours, and so Necrozma, finished with his broken toy, let him fall to the ground.

  The dark demon crossed his arms. “Now do you see? You can no longer refute it. Your friends have fallen.”

  Keldeo whimpered something that Necrozma couldn’t quite catch. “..ou…...stard…”

  “I’m sorry, what was that?”

  “YOU BASTAAAAAAARD!”

  A brilliant flash of glowing light encumbered the blue equine Pokemon. He rose off the ground, sending waves of energy crashing against the surrounding forest. Necrozma, unimpressed, simply floated in place, unbothered by what to him was nothing more than a light display. Keldeo grew slightly larger, along with a blazing red mane to accompany it. Finally, a blue horn even with an even deeper coloring than his fur emerged from his forehead. The light died down, and Keldeo fell to the floor where he stood proudly—his chin held high with pride as his comrades taught him.

  “My form is resolute!” Bellowed Keldeo, “My form is the embodiment of Justice! It is the form of the collective will of my friends to destroy evil like you! Mark my words, Necrozma, this planet you dared to invade will be your grave!”

  Necrozma uncrossed his arms and beckoned with his index finger for Keldeo to try. “By all means.”

  Keldeo stamped his front hooves into the ground and held his head high, summoning a brilliant white blade far larger than Cobalion’s from his new horn. The energy that radiated from it glistened like sunlight reflecting off a lake beautifully. “This is the true collective will of Justice, evolved to the point of perfection! Eat this! Secret Sword!” With a roar and the downward jetting of Keldeo’s head, the massive white blade was loosed, though not at Necrozma. At the last moment, Keldeo shifted the trajectory of the attack down beneath Necrozma, kicking up a cloud of dust and debris. Necrozma scoffed in annoyance and waved his arm, dispelling the smoke. Keldeo had disappeared, fleeing into the forest.

  “I can’t waste this chance…!” Keldeo said aloud as he used his newfound strength to blitz through the forest, “This form is strong, but...there’s no way it can beat him. I need to get to Arceus! To finish what my masters started!”

  A black mass appeared before him suddenly. It was, of course, Necrozma, who wasn’t about to let his next victim escape. Necrozma held out his index finger and, with a simple flick, sent Keldeo hurtling backward. Though, to Necrozma’s genuine amazement, Keldeo managed to plant his hooves into the ground and stop himself, and turned back the other way without so much as glancing at the dark demon.

  Necrozma appeared in front of Keldeo’s path again with his arms crossed and a would-be smirk if his face could allow such a thing. Keldeo whipped around to his left, entering a much-thicker part of the woods to try and lose his pursuer. Necrozma, yet again, simply teleported in front of the equine legend, and so Keldeo turned to his right and kept on sprinting.

  “I’ll find an exit eventually…” Keldeo reassured himself, “It’s only a matter of time…”

  “Time is something you do not possess.”

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  Keldeo was struck in the side, eliciting a pained groan from him and sending him crashing through a myriad of trees. Gritting his teeth, Keldeo forced himself onto his feet and sprinted away again. Somewhere. Anywhere. Anywhere other than here. Anywhere than these damned woods! The chilling, all-encompassing laughter of Necrozma filled the dark forest. Now, it was a game.

  Necrozma appeared in Keldeo’s way again, and so again, Keldeo whipped around, only this time, he summoned a wave of water and kicked it at Necrozma with his back hooves and hopped on top of it, sailing right over the invader’s head.

  Necrozma chuckled and disappeared once more. He appeared beside Keldeo’s wave and raced alongside it, dragging his hands through the water as he raced up at the equine Pokemon and rammed his fast into Keldeo’s underside, forcing the young Legend to cry out in pain and shut his eyes, but he still remained defiant against all odds and used the momentum from Necrozma’s punch to let himself sail away through the air, up and above the dark forest, and summon another wave of water beneath his feet to aid in his escape.

  Keldeo dared to look back and saw that, of course, Necrozma was racing behind him with speeds that bent the forest trees underneath. Keldeo leapt off of the wave just in time for Necrozma’s fist to not only splatter the water in every direction, but the sheer force of the punch ripped a portion of the forest underneath off of its’ hinges. Keldeo, in the brief moments available, stared in disbelief at the immense destructive power Necrozma possessed. He had, of course, knew that his adversary possessed otherworldly power, but seeing it in full display was a whole other level of terrifying.

  Keldeo turned his head downward and hurtled himself down into the forest...or at least tried to. Necrozma, faster than Keldeo could hope to perceive, rocketed down at the forest. With but a single punch, the entirety of the forest was blown into complete and utter chaos. A colossal cloud of debris shot up from Necrozma’s impact. The very ground itself split away into colossal chunks and blowing apart into the sky. Keldeo was sent hurtling away by the immense force of the punch, followed by a literal wave of earth debris so large that the equine could no longer even see the sky. He looked around desperately, trying to find a way to avoid being crushed by the wave of moving earth. His blood ran cold when he realized he had no hope of avoiding it.

  In that moment, Necrozma appeared once more, cackling like a madman, and gripped Keldeo by the neck. Keldeo hacked for air desperately, but Necrozma rocketed the two of them upward towards the roof of the wave and held Keldeo above his head. As they crashed into it, Keldeo was crushed, battered, and beaten by the rocks and debris caught in the massive wave until after literal minutes, they emerged out from the top where Necrozma hoisted the young Sword of Justice up by his throat, far above the ground below.

  “There is no escape,” Necrozma boomed, “Your only hope is to submit and pray that I decide to take pity on you and end your life quickly.”

  The terrifying thing to Keldeo was not Necrozma nor his power. It was that Keldeo was beginning to believe him. It was that Keldeo was beginning to lose faith and hope...it was that Keldeo now truly believed that he had already lost to this monster of pure, overwhelming power, and that he had failed his mentors and friends. He had failed the world.

  If Necrozma had a mouth, he’d have been grinning like a maniac. “You know I’m right, don’t you? I can see it in your mind and feel it in your heart. That once-great determination has given way to fear, and now to acceptance. I’ve won, and you know it.”

  Keldeo tried—he tried with every last fiber of his quickly-fleeting will to deny it. To cry something out in the name of Justice. How he’d avenge his friends and protect the world he loved. How he would defend every last person and Pokemon alike from this nightmare...but he couldn’t. His will to fight was gone.

  Necrozma chuckled and pointed a finger at the disaster below him. In an instant, the wave of earth stopped, sending the airborne chunks of debris falling back to the ground in a hail of stone and trees. “Very well then. I’m a monster of my word. I’ll let you die without further delay. I have business with that town anyways…” Necrozma brought his hand to Keldeo’s face and summoned a ball of white energy. The last of the Swords of Justice grimaced and closed his eyes. Then, a devious idea struck the dark demon. “...Actually...I might have another use for you…”

  With the wave of Necrozma’s finger, a platform rushed up beneath the two from the now-decimated forest. Necrozma dropped the young equine and, before Keldeo could ask what Necrozma’s intentions were, the demon gripped the young Legend’s horn and wrended it from his body, eliciting another agonized cry of pain from the poor young Legend, who then collapsed and reverted to his original form. Oddly enough, the horn didn’t disappear after he reverted.

  “Ah, since the connection was severed, the horn didn’t disappear with your form. That is fortunate indeed...but that’s not all I had in mind for you.”

  Necrozma gripped the helpless young Legend by the throat and hoisted him upward once more. Keldeo winced, but no longer had the strength to move, and simply went limp in Necrozma’s grasp.

  “You are to deliver a message to Arceus. Tell him to rally every force he can muster and meet me at...hold on one moment. Xurkitree!”

  From the crystal on Necrozma’s arm, a holographic image of the wire-like Ultra Beast, Necrozma’s right hand man, appeared with a bow.

  “Yes, milord?”

  “What is the largest city on this planet?”

  Xurkitree disappeared for a moment, then reappeared a few seconds later. “According to my data I’ve accumulated from your visits across that world, the largest city is a tie between Goldenrod and Lumiose.”

  “Well, which one is closest?”

  “Goldenrod City, milo-”

  Necrozma cut the transmission and turned back towards Keldeo once more. “Tell Arceus to amass the largest army he can muster and meet me in Goldenrod City in five days. I will announce my own message to the world after making my entrance with the destruction of New Bark Town. Your life is spared until then.”

  With a chilling cackle, Necrozma, with Keldeo’s horn, disappeared from sight, and Keldeo faded into unconsciousness.

  …

  “...eo…”

  “...eldeo…!”

  “KELDEO!”

  Keldeo suddenly awoke with a gasp. He bolted to his feet and found that he was now in the Hall of Origins. Turning around, he was met with the concerned face of Arceus, the father of all Pokemon. Keldeo shrieked and bowed to him.

  “There’s no need for that,” Arceus said, shaking his head, “But what happened to you?”

  Keldeo’s eyes widened, and memories of the previous night flashed in his vision, retelling the tale of Necrozma’s latest slaughter. The young Legend grimaced and he fell to his knees, tears dotting the pure white floor beneath.

  “Keldeo?!” Arceus exclaimed with concern, kneeling down to the youngest of the naturally-born Legends’ aid. “Please, it’s all right now. Please, tell me what ha-”

  Then it dawned on the Alpha Pokemon, and his face furrowed with rage. “It was him, wasn’t it? It was Necrozma…”

  Keldeo, amidst the tears, managed to nod shakily. “...I-It w-was…he…” His face fell into an even deeper grimace, and the young Legend stamped his hoof furiously. “He...that monster, he…” Choking on his own grief, Keldeo couldn’t bring himself to finish.

  Arceus nodded understandingly. “It’s fine. I understand. Though, I must ask, why were you in Johto? Unova is as far away from Johto as you could get? Were you pursuing Necrozma? I have to say, that was a foolish thing to do. It’s unlike you to leave Cobalion’s side.”

  Keldeo winced at the name, and Arceus raised an eyebrow in confusion until another terrible thought dawned on him once more.

  “...No…You...by chance, you weren’t with Cobalion, right?”

  Keldeo shuddered, and his weeping only worsened. “I...I came with them...they wanted...to scout for him...and tell you his location but...he…!” Keldeo stamped his hoof down with anguish. “They’re all...all of them...they told me to run...to get you...but...I wasn’t fast enough...and because of me, they…!” He let out an agonized cry of grief. “THEY’RE GONE! BECAUSE OF ME...BECAUSE I WAS TOO WEAK...TO SLOW...HE KILLED THEM!”

  A fury and sadness Arceus had not known for thousands of years burst forward once more. Rage practically emanated from the Alpha Pokemon’s crimson red eyes.

  “...I am deeply sorry for your loss. I can assure you...THAT MONSTER WILL PAY FOR WHAT HE’S DONE…”

  Keldeo was taken aback when Arceus failed to suppress his energy, resulting in a golden-white aura of energy pouring forth from his divine body. Such rage and power erupted from the Lord of all Pokemon that it shook even he divine dimension of the Hall of Origin. Though as quickly as it came, Arceus forced his eyes shut and exhaled, allowing the flow of energy to cease and the Hall to remain stable again.

  “I apologize for that, young Keldeo,” Arceus spoke, bowing his head, “Please, continue, Tell me everything. I will relay it to the other Legends during the next meeting, and after this is over, we will have a proper burial for them. They will be avenged. That, I can promise.”

  Still shaken, Keldeo cleared his throat and nodded. “Yes, Lord Arceus, but...this is to say I don’t mean to sway the conversation, but...may I ask what happened? I passed out after my...encounter with Necrozma, then woke up here.”

  Arceus nodded. “I’d be happy to explain. It’s the least I can do after all you’ve been through. You see, Suicune had said she felt a disturbance and went to the site of it. She said she saw you falling from the sky and saved you, then she travelled here and left you in my care. I would have asked her what happened, but then you awoke, so she left immediately after. I didn’t stop her because I figured you would give a better account of what occured.”

  Keldeo nodded, “I see...well, I’ll have to thank her later then, if I meet her again. Anyways...about what happened…”

  Ash and the others, after having given the young Eevee that was robbed of a happy life a proper burial, decided to stay at that site for the night. While the training didn’t go as intended, Serena and Ash’s Pokemon were able to become stronger at the very least, and Ash gained a handle on how to properly utilize his Aura. Of course, Zero learned many things too, though there were some she’d rather not have. After that, she decided to keep her eyes closed from now on. It would be quite disturbing for others to see a little girl without eyes.

  As the gang woke from their slumber and readied themselves, Serena asked what their next course of actions should be, to which Ash, of course, replied, “Isn’t it obvious? We’re heading off for our next Gym Battle! I may not fully get what exactly happened yesterday, but it shouldn’t keep us from making tomorrow-er-today better!”

  “Of course you would say that,” Serena said with a shrug.

  “I do agree that moving on from this mess would definitely be for the best, yes,” Riley remarked, “But, there’s something that I need to ask.” He turned down to Zero. “You never did tell us what happened. After the whole Eevee...incident, I thought it would be best to drop it for the time being. I would have dropped it entirely, but…” His face hardened with seriousness, “Whatever you were fighting, it caused you to use an immense amount of power, judging by all of that destruction...tell us, what was that?”

  “Oh yeah,” Ash followed up with a nod, “I remember firing an Aura Sphere at something, but I couldn’t quite see it, and it ran off after.”

  Zero frowned deeply. “Yes, I had forgotten to mention it like I said I would. Sorry about that.”

  Serena waved it off and smiled at the young girl. “It’s no problem, Zero. It’s not like we would have interrogated you or anything, especially not after…” Her smile faded at the memory of the burnt young Pokemon, “...You know…”

  Zero nodded. “...It’s over now, at least. ...I fought a man yesterday. That man wore some kind of armor and mask that obscured his face...but he was no ordinary human. He told me his name was ‘Ryder’, and his power nearly matched mine, but his speed and skill far exceeded me. I may be no stranger to violence, that is true, but...Ryder...was beyond that.” She clenched her fists at the memory of their battle and how he had aimed at every vulnerable spot on her body when he had the chance. “Whereas I mindlessly killed, he reveled in killing. He came very close to killing me two or three times in our battle, whereas I only hit him once, dead on.”

  She looked over to Riley with a small smile. “It was only due to you that I survived, Riley. Had you not taught me Heal Pulse, I would have died without question.”

  Riley meant to reply, but whatever he wanted to say was caught in his throat. ‘Two killing blows?’ He thought to himself, enraged. ‘She’s just a child! But still, to have managed that...what kind of monster of a man are we dealing with?’

  Zero continued, her frown deepening still “By the end of our battle, he had me beaten. Although my power was vastly greater, his sheer skill and speed had completely beaten me. He had stood over me while I was unable to move, then…”

  She turned to Ash with a grateful smile, one that she had never worn before. “...Once again, Ash...you saved me...I think that makes three times now?”

  Ash chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head at her praise. “Eh, it was nothing.”

  “By the way,” Riley said, “Was there anything you could identify about him? I know you said his face was obscured, but was there anything about his armor that might have given him away?”

  Zero paused for a few seconds and then nodded. “...There was a patch he wore over his heart. It looked like some kind of blueish-white explosion in the night sky. It was the same one that...Charon wore.” She hissed at the mention of her creator.

  “An explosion in the night sky…” Mused Riley, “Hmm...come to think of it...Hey, Ash.”

  Ash perked up at the mention of his name. “Yeah?”

  “Remember on the night that I found you? With those men in the trucks?”

  Ash furled his brow deep in thought, then snapped his finger after a few seconds. “Oh yeah, I remember now!”

  ‘You forgot something like that?’ Asked Serena mentally.

  Ash’s memory flashed back to that night. Roughly four men in black suits that obscured their faces chased him through the night for some reason he didn’t know. They carried odd devices like metal rods that sparked with electricity and some weird object that fired some kind of projectile. What’s more, they had a sigil placed over their hearts that painted out some kind of explosion surrounded by stars.

  “Yeah,” Said Ash, “I remember them. I remember having some kind of feeling that something was wrong, and wandered off, then they started chasing me through the forest. My Aura activated on its’ own, and that allowed me to run. For a while at least. After they cornered me, you got here and fought them off.”

  Riley nodded. “So those men, Dr. Charon and this ‘Ryder’ character are all involved, and working together at that...but what could their sigil mean?”

  “Hang on,” Serena piped up, “They also had all those Team Rocket guys with them down in the lab where we found Zero! Could they be some kind of division of Team Rocket, or an ally to them?”

  Zero clenched her teeth in rage at the memory of the black-suited team. The large Red ‘R’ was burned into her memory, as was the torture they had put her through. “So, that’s what they’re called…”

  Serena snapped her fingers as an idea struck her suddenly. “Hey, what about those three Team Rocket guys who are always following us around? What if we ask them next time they show up?”

  “Wait,” Riley said, “You mean those guys in the white versions of the suits? They’re still following you?”

  Ash nodded, “Yeah, they just don’t give up. Speaking of which, we haven’t seen them in a while, have we, Serena?”

  “Oh yeah, you’re right!” Replied Serena, “Usually, they’re hounding us nonstop, but they’ve been gone since that weird schoolyard incident.”

  “I take it this is before I arrived?” Asked Riley, to which Ash nodded.

  “Yeah. They’ve been gone awfully long now.” Ash shrugged. “Ah, well, they’ll probably show up before long.”

  Riley asked him, “So what are we going off of, then?”

  “Not much, I guess,” Ash replied, “I wouldn’t expect those three to have any useful information anyways, so I guess all we can do is move on to the next city and keep an eye out for those patches.”

  With a sigh, Riley shrugged and conceded, “I suppose so, then. It’s unfortunate we don’t have any leads, but I guess there isn’t much left we can do.”

  “So,” Serena piped in, “That means we’re off to the next Gym, right? Where would that be?”

  “Well, I think the nearest city is Saffron, but…” Ash trailed off.

  “But what, Ash?” Asked Zero, “I saw your Gym battles through your memories, but I’m curious about seeing them up close for myself.”

  “That’s great and all,” Ash said, “But this Gym Leader is...an odd one to put it lightly. We’re probably better off going down to the Fuchsia City Gym instead.”

  Riley shook his head. “I don’t think that’s possible, sadly. We’d have to go back to Celadon, and there’s still much commotion regarding the whole Lab incident, and going back there might draw unwanted attention from any Team Rocket members that might still be nearby.”

  “By, the way, how come you want to avoid the Saffron Gym so much?” Asked Serena.

  Ash shuddered at the memory of that place. The last time he’d went there, the Psychic Gym Leader, Sabrina, had practically taken over most of the city. For whatever reason, Sabrina’s Psychic Powers drove her insane, and she’d taken some kind of doll to use as an apostle, controlling the inhabitants of the town and turning anyone she didn’t like into living toys. And of course, the worst part...she’d made him drop his pants and dance in his underwear in public!

  “It’s...a long story…” Ash responded.

  Serena huffed. “Well whatever happened there didn’t stop you from getting the badge last time, did it?”

  “Well, that’s because I didn’t beat the Gym Leader,” Ash retorted, “I just got her to laugh, and she gave me the badge.”

  Riley deadpanned. “Wait...she gave you the badge...for making The Gym Leader laugh?”

  Ash nodded. “Yeah, it was probably the only way I’d beat her, in hindsight.”

  “Was she strong?” Zero asked, to which Ash, again, nodded.

  “Yeah. She’s the Psychic Type Gym Leader, and Psychic Types can be trouble to deal with. If you don’t have a countermeasure to them, they can just immobilize you and beat you without the chance of a fight.”

  Zero’s eyes narrowed. She was familiar with Psychic Types, as a few of them ended up becoming a part of her during her creation, but not enough to actually give her any benefits, so their deaths were meaningless. Though to her, all the deaths that led to her life were meaningless, and shouldn’t have happened. She also remembered Damian and his Alakazam that was able to restrain her. If the other Psychic Types were like that, then no wonder Ash had trouble.

  “Well,” Said Serena, “It isn’t like you to cower out of a fight. Plus, I’ve heard that Saffron City is the largest city in Kanto! I don’t wanna miss that, so we should go!”

  Ash cringed. If history were to repeat itself in front of Serena, Riley, and...good Arceus, Zero! If they were to behold such a sight, then he would certainly die of humiliation, if the exposure laws didn’t place him in jail first. As Ash was about to protest once more, Serena grabbed hold of his hand and began walking off.

  “H-hey, wait!” Cried Ash, “What are you doing?!”

  “Going to Saffron City, of course,” Replied Serena, “What else?”

  Ash immediately tried to pull his hand away from her, and found that, somehow, her grip was like iron. Even as he pleaded and dug his heels into the dirt, she kept dragging him along with a grin planted on her face. Pikachu quickly sprinted over and tried to pull on Ash’s pant leg, as he too remembered the horrors that Sabrina had subjected them too during their first trip through Kanto and didn’t want Ash to potentially have to relive that...particular moment.

  Zero and Riley simply stared at each other in confusion, shrugged, and started following the other two, while Lucario, who had been silent up to this point sighed in exasperation and followed suit.

  …

  Roughly two hours later, an all-too familiar trio clad in white were trudging exhaustedly through a forest completely unknown to them. This trio, of course, were the rejects of Team Rocket, and they were far from happy. For about a week now, they’ve been lost. They were tailing the twerps after that schoolyard incident, but ended up losing them a short while afterward and, since they hadn’t been able to ask HQ for another balloon, ended up spending a very unfortunate week walking around in forests.

  “Jessie?” James asked, “Do you have any idea-”

  The aforementioned Jessie whirled around and howled angrily in James’ face, “YES, I KNOW WHERE WE’RE GOING, NOW STOP ASKING ME!” Nearly every Flying-Type Pokemon in the surrounding area fled at the volume of her voice.

  Brushing off his now-messed up fur, Meowth asked, “Well, then where are we going?”

  “The same place we always go,” Jessie replied, pointing her finger in the air, “We’re going to go steal the twerps’ Pikachu!”

  “Yes, we know,” James said, “But I was referring to an actual place. You know, like a city or a town or ANYWHERE THAT ISN’T A FOREST?!”

  Jessie hissed at him, “The twerps are always in a forest, James! When was the last time you saw them anywhere else?!”

  “At that school,” Replied James.

  Jessie nodded. “Yes, and where exactly was that school?”

  “...In a forest.”

  Jessie hummed in satisfaction. “Precisely. Now, do me a favor and stop asking.”

  The trio continued walking throughout the seemingly-endless forest in silence, staring at the infinitely-repeating trees and only managing to retain their sanity via the occasional flower or Bug-Type Pokemon that they passed by.

  “...You think it’s ‘er time ‘a the month?” Meowth whispered to James.

  “When is it not?” James whispered back.

  “Say,” Jessie started, making her two cohorts jump, “What are you two whispering to each other about?”

  “Nothing, Jessie!” They collectively shouted in fear.

  “I thought so,” Replied Jessie smugly.

  James’ stomach growled for the umpteenth time, making the member of Team Rocket sigh and hunch over in exhaustion. “Jessie?” He asked. “Can we stop to eat?”

  “If you two can find anything, sure,” Jessie replied with the apathetic wave of her hand.

  “Wait,” Meowth started, “Why don’t we just use some of our rations?”

  “Oh, those? I finished them a while back-”

  James and Meowth, suddenly renewed with energy and rage, rushed up to her and grabbed her by the shoulders. “YOU WHAT?!”

  “Hey, what’s the big deal?” Asked Jessie, “They were starting to get heavy.”

  “You witch!” Cried the starving, enraged, James, “Meowth and I were saving them for when we were starving, but you ate them?!”

  Meowth hissed furiously. The thought of his beloved food being snatched out from under his nose was too much to bear. “I should have known the moment you offered to carry them that you’d pull something like this! You never offer to carry our stuff!”

  The two let go of Jessie suddenly, falling onto their faces due to their exaggerated starvation setting in.

  “To think,” James, quite literally, cried, “We would end up being betrayed by our closest ally!”

  “It’s a tragedy!” Meowth blubbered through tears, “Because of the thoughtless actions of Jessie, we would end up starving in the middle of nowhere!”

  They hugged each other, letting their tears flow like waterfalls behind their backs. “IT WAS NICE KNOWING YOU, MEOWTH!” “I KNOW! IT WAS NICE MEETING ME TOO!”

  “Shut up!” Hissed Jessie, looking the other way suddenly.

  “HOW CRUEL!” James cried, “THE WITCH THAT KILLED US WON’T EVEN LET US SAY OUR GOODBYES!”

  “HAVE YOU NO MERCY?!” Meowth howled.

  Uncaring for their antics, Jessie hissed at them to be quiet once more. “Shush! I hear something up ahead!”

  James and Meowth immediately took off ahead of her, shouting, “FOOOOOOD!” and leaving her, quite literally, in the dust.

  “H-hey!” Jessie exclaimed, coughing from the dust cloud they’d kicked up in their wake, “Don’t you dare leave me behind!”

  As the trio raced through the forest, they saw a light up ahead that made their mouths begin to water. There it was: their freedom. A light that shone on the path to survival and, more importantly, a meal. This light held the key to everything: their lives, their escape from the forest, and most importantly of all, a means to acquire food.

  “There it is!” Cried James, watering at the mouth, “Freedom at last!”

  “Sayonara, forest!” Meowth hollered, “I hope to never see you again! Food, here we come!”

  “Wait for me!” Jessie yelled at them from behind, “The first meal is mine!”

  “NO WAY, YOU WITCH!” James and Meowth bellowed in sync.

  Finally, the light was upon them. The trio simultaneously leapt forward and grasped it, filling them with a happiness they’d never known before. Their worries, struggles, and starvation were gone, and in its place was a heavenly land of freedom. A look of peace came across their faces collectively as they, finally, passed into the light...and collapsed in a heap on their faces.

  “Huh?” A voice from above the trio said, “Oh hey, it’s Team Rocket.”

  The trio of white-suited Rocket Grunts groaned, rubbing their heads. They, still piled onto each other, looked up and found-

  “THE TWERPS!” The trio of Rockets jumped up onto their feet, grabbing the Pokeballs on their belts.

  “It may not be a meal,” Started Meowth, summoning his sharp claws, “But Pikachu works too!”

  “You have no idea what we’ve gone through to get here, twerps,” Jessie hissed, “And we’ll be taking Pikachu off your hands for the trouble!”

  Fuming, James cried, “You couldn’t imagine what that forest was like! I spent hours without any decent food! Hand over that Pikachu on the double!”

  Something struck the Trio of Team Rocket Grunts as odd, though. Where there had last only been two twerps, now there were four.

  “Say,” James whispered to Jessie, “Is it just me or has their group gotten larger?”

  “It’s not just you,” Jessie whispered back, “The twerps have doubled since we last saw them.”

  “Who cares?!” Hissed Meowth, “The more questions you dunderheads keep asking, the longer until we get food! After nabbin’ their Pikachu of course.”

  Ash’s group, meanwhile, simply stared at the trio of annoyance with deadpanned expressions.

  “Huh,” Said Serena, “Guess they ended up appearing after all. Should we ask them about that Ryder guy and the weird patches?”

  Ash shrugged. “Knowing these guys, I doubt they know much, if anything at all. It’s probably best if we just ignore them and keep going.”

  Zero stared silently at the trio. Though they wore different attire from the other Rockets, that giant red ‘R’ infuriated her to no end. Her vision flashed back to the lab, where a group of black-suited Team Rocket grunts had bound her to a table. One of them grinned cruelly and pumped back his fist, ready to strike. As he shot it forward at her, her vision flashed back to the real world. She furiously shook her head to rid herself of the memory, and then scowled at the trio before her. Noticing this, Riley put a hand on her shoulder and let his Aura soothe her until she calmed down again.

  “Easy there,” Riley said to her, “I don’t think these three are like the others.”

  “...I can’t help it,” Replied Zero after a moment of thought, “I can’t believe that these three, who wear the suits like the ones down in the lab...could be anything more than those monsters…”

  Ash smiled down to her, “Come on, you know these ones aren’t like them. You saw it in my memory right? These guys can be annoying, but sometimes they can also be genuinely helpful too. They’re not cruel like the others.”

  Serena pitched in too, “Yeah, these guys are annoying at worst. I haven’t known them as long as Ash has, but they were usually harmless.”

  Zero furled her mouth into a deep frown, but ultimately conceded with a sigh. “...You’re right. I know these ones aren’t as bad as the others...but that hatred I feel...it just won’t go away…”

  Riley ruffled her hair and chuckled. “That’s fine. It would be weird if it did just suddenly go away. So long as you can look past it, it should be okay.”

  The trio of Rockets whipped around, ruining the twerps’ touching moment.

  “All right, bub!” Meowth said to Ash, “Time to hand over that Pikachu!”

  “Not happening.”

  Pikachu nodded with a “Chu!”, sparking his cheeks at the trio.

  “Oh ho ho!” Meowth exclaimed, waggling his finger, “You seem t’ be under the impression that you have a choice! Hand over the Pikachu or else!”

  “...You know how this always goes, right?” Ash asked them nonchalantly, “You appear out of nowhere, say you’re gonna take Pikachu or some other Pokemon, and then we beat you and you “blast off agaaain”, and again and again.”

  “Seriously,” Serena pitched in, placing a hand on her hip, “Don’t you guys get sick of this?”

  “Of course not!” James immediately replied, “Chasing you twerps and your Pikachu is our lives’ purpose!”

  “What would we do if not chase you?” Jessie followed up, “We’ve been chasing that Pikachu for years now! If we give up, then who will bring the comedic relief?!”

  Meowth went next, “Yeah, and if we gave up, then what would the boss say?”

  Riley sighed, “As far as I know, Team Rocket is a very powerful group. I don’t mean to downplay Pikachu here, but I feel like if they wanted a Pikachu, they’d have hundreds by now.”

  “You don’t know nothin’!” Exclaimed Meowth, baring his gleaming claws.

  Jessie and James readied their Pokeballs. “We’ll get that Pikachu no matter what!” “This time, you’ll be the ones blasting off!”

  Serena sighed, “It’s like talking to a brick wall.”

  Zero stared up at Ash, who was talking to Pikachu; asking him if his partner was ready to fight. An urge suddenly came over her, like an annoying itch in a hard place to reach. She wanted to ask him something, even if she knew it was wrong. “Ash…?” She asked, “Would it be alright if...I fought them?”

  A look of concern immediately came over Riley’s face. This could get out of hand very quickly if Zero lost her temper. “Zero, what are you doing?”

  “I won’t kill them,” Zero said without looking at him. Her eyes were dead set on the trio of rockets. “If that’s what you’re worried about. It’s just to...relieve some stress…”

  Zero walked past the group, up to the three Rockets, and went into a battle stance.

  “Should we...be letting her do this?” Ash asked to Riley.

  He shrugged, shaking his head. “I dunno. I don’t think she means to cause any real harm, but should things get out of hand, we can use our Aura to stop her.”

  “I don’t know what Aura or whatever is,” Meowth said, “But if you’re sending a kid to fight, you gotta be more messed up than us!”

  “Seriously,” James added, “Have you no human decency? We’re supposed to be the villains!”

  Jessie huffed. “Well, if she wants to play grown-up, then by all means. We’ll just move onto the twerps after. Go, Seviper!”

  James shook his head. “I was raised as a gentleman! I would never hurt a woman, much less a child, but if it’s for the sake of Team Rocket, I have no choice! Go, Chimecho!”

  Out from the two Team Rocket Grunts’ Pokeballs came Seviper, a massive snake with long-curved fangs and a bladed tail. It had gold plating on its’ head. Then came Chimecho, an odd, cyan blue Pokemon that resembled a bell with some kind of flag draping from the bottom.

  Zero, unflinching, merely kept her stance stilled, awaiting the Team Rockets’ orders. Jessie and James grinned somewhat cruelly, and then after a few moments, confusion took its’ place.

  “Um, say, Little girl?” James said, “You know you’re supposed to use your own Pokemon too, right?

  “Yeah, Jessie followed with an annoyed look, “We don’t have all day, you know. Hurry up and release your Pokemon!”

  Zero merely sighed and looked down, causing her face to become shadowed. Once again, the memories of her old Pokemon friends bludgeoned by her hand entered her mind. “...Release them? If only that were possible…”

  Before Team Rocket could question what she meant, Zero bolted forward, sending James’ Chimecho into a tree with a Blaze Kick, where it laid unconscious. The trio of rocketed, bewildered, whipped their gazes around to their Chimecho.

  “...What...just happened?” They said in unison.

  Tentatively, they turned back around to the little girl that had, apparently, just one-shotted one of their Pokemon by herself. They simply stared at her, dumbfounded, until an idea struck them.

  “One moment please!” They simultaneously called to her, then whipped around and huddled together. “Did you see that?!” Meowth exclaimed, “That lil girlie can use Pokemon Attacks!” James nodded, saying, “Y’know, it’s kind of like the opposite of you, Meowth! You learned to talk like a person, and she learned to attack like a Pokemon!” Jessie chimed in, saying, “Who cares about that?! We should capture her!”

  Nodding in approval, Meowth said with starry, dreamy eyes, “If we give her t’ the boss, we’ll be rolling around in dough! Check it.”

  Meowth huddled his two comrades closer together and, somehow, made a thought bubble appear that they could all see. Within that bubble, there was a man in a brown business suit with brown, well-oiled hair. He, or rather Meowth said,

  “Gee! Bein’ the Leader of Team Rocket sure is the best!” In the bubble, as Meowth’s interpretation of Giovanni said this, the group envisioned their leader sitting atop a throne as thousands of Team Rocket Grunts saluted to him. Giovanni suddenly slouched over, looking depressed.

  “But, it’s lonely at the top...I’m so lonely!”

  An idea struck the imaginary version of Giovanni suddenly, making him perk up and leap off of his throne. He ran over to a phone on the wall of his room and dialed a number. “I should call up the family for a little reunion! That should cheer me up!” Though, no one answered the phone. He tried another number, and still, no one picked up. Again and again, he dialed more and more numbers, becoming more and more depressed with each failed call. He gave up eventually and collapsed on the floor, sobbing.

  “That’s right...” He exclaimed through his exaggerated tears, “I don’t have any family…”

  Then, someone tugged on Giovanni’s shirt. The boss looked over to who did this, and found a little, silver-haired girl smiling brightly at her. “You still have me, Father!” The imaginary Giovanni picked up the little girl, who had begun laughing happily. “That’s right!” Giovanni exclaimed, “Meowth and his sidekicks gave me a daughter! I’ll never have to be alone again!”

  “That’s right, father!” The girl cried, “You’ll have me forever and ever!”

  An evil laugh burst from the Team Rocket Boss, as the scene changed to the little girl firing a Hyper Beam from her hands while breathing flames upon a city, while Giovanni laughed, towering over the flaming city. “And what’s more, she’s extremely powerful!” Bellowed Giovanni, “With her, no one can match up to me! World domination is all but assured! I’ll have to pay Meowth and his sidekicks royally for this! WAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

  The imaginary scenario ended with Giovanni and his “daughter” laughing maniacally over the burning city, with the three giggling like gossiping school children at Meowth’s devious plan. “That’s genius, Meowth!” Cried James ecstatically. “We’ll be buried in cash in no time!” Jessie said too.

  With a satisfied grin, Meowth replied, “Of course! It’s a foolproof plan!”

  “Foolproof?” A voice spoke from above the three, “I don’t think so.”

  “Oh yeah?!” Roared Jessie, turning around to the source of the voice, “And what would you know?!”

  Zero, having overheard the Rocket Trio’s plan, stared down at them darkly, flames burning in her hands. “You forgot the part where you actually caught me. How do you plan on doing that?”

  “Easy!” Retorted Jessie, “Seviper, use-” Zero tossed the unconscious body of her Pokemon down to her feet.

  “I beat it while you guys were talking.”

  James jumped to his feet, pointing wildly at Zero. “Hey, that’s not fair! What, did your parents never teach you common decency, kid?!”

  Jessie, fuming, followed up by shouting, “Yeah! Attacking our backs when we’re distracted is cheating, you brat!”

  Meowth simply shook his head, saying, “Kids these days…”

  Zero raised an eyebrow and looked back to the rest of her group. “Are they always this dumb?”

  Ash nodded. “More or less.”

  Jessie grit her teeth, seething with frustration. She pulled up the sleeve of her right arm and marched over to Zero “All right, kid, if you wanna play dirty, we can play dirty!” James and Meowth quickly grabbed hold of their female friend, desperately trying to hold her back.

  “Wait, Jessie, you can’t just hit a child!” Cried James, using every muscle in his body to keep Jessie at bay. “Yeah!” Said Meowth, “We may be a buncha creeps, but we can’t stoop to beating up a lil kid!”

  “Well, how do you expect us to capture her, then?!” Jessie roared.

  The two stopped suddenly. “...Oh, that’s right.” They jumped into pouncing positions, ready to catch their next target with their bare hands. “Sorry, ‘bout this, kiddo, but you left us outta options!” Meowth said to her.

  Zero rolled her neck and summoned fire to her hands. “By all means.”

  Jessie growled. “Rrrrgh- she’s looking down on us!”

  “Don’t think we’re tough, huh?!” James followed, “I’ll have you know we survived several hundred falls out of the sky!”

  “Don’t tell her that!” Meowth hissed.

  Collectively, they chanted, “One...two...THREE!” and leapt at Zero to pin her down underneath them, but their target disappeared in the blink of an eye, making them crash face-first into the ground. Zero reappeared in front of them, holding an orange ball of energy and grinning coldly, chilling the Rockets to the bone.

  “Um...uncle?”

  Zero promptly unleashed the attack, resulting in a colossal explosion of smoke and the Trio of Rockets being blasted into the sky.

  “Ooooh!” Jessie fumed, “Next time we see that brat, I’ll make her cry!”

  “Somethin’ tells me she’ll just make us fry…” Meowth said.

  “Are our plans always doomed to go awry?” James said with a sigh.

  “We’re blasting off agaiiiiiin!”