“Now then...let the games begin…”

  In the mothership’s helm, Xurkitree leaned back into his seat, letting out a dejected sigh. “I should have known this would happen. Lord Necrozma would never change so suddenly.” The wirey, tree-like Ultra Beast leaned forward, looking at the monitor toward the trainers huddled together. Their faces were etched with terror, but what could he do? He had no power to deny his master. All he could do was serve Necrozma’s destructive whim, just as he had done for millions of years before. “All right,” Said Xurkitree, “Let’s just get this over with.”

  An explosion of energy burst out from Deoxys. “YOU BASTAAAAARD!” He roared, charging at Necrozma with his signature Psycho Boost attack. With a single finger, the dark demon stopped the incoming attack in its tracks and froze Deoxys in place.

  “Ah, it’s you,” He said, leering into Deoxys eyes, “I wasn’t planning on killing you so soon after the main dish, but…” Deoxys’s let out a choked scream as Necrozma plunged his index finger straight through his chest. What’s more, he began twisting his finger around to further the agony he was putting Deoxys through. “If you insist.” Necrozma’s crystal began glowing brightly, as did his index finger. Deoxys was helpless to do anything against Necrozma’s might, and he could only stare on in horror at his own demise.

  ‘Is this it?’ He asked himself. ‘Can I truly do nothing against him?! My family...I can’t meet them just yet! Not until I’ve avenged them!’

  “Get off of him, you freak!!” Roared Rayquaza, rocketing toward Necrozma with a Dragon Ascent. Necrozma merely chuckled at the serpentine Legend and, with his free hand, blasted him out of the sky. Deoxys watched on in horror as Rayquaza fell to the ground amidst a cloud of fiery smoke.

  “Personally,” Spoke Necrozma, forcing Deoxys to look at him by pulling his head with a Psychic grip, “I don’t think you have the time to be worrying about anyone other than yourself at the moment.” The glow inside Deoxys’s chest from Necrozma’s finger intensified, and his eyes became blank and lifeless as another laser burst out from Deoxys’s back. He was blown completely in half, and his lower body was completely obliterated. Necrozma grabbed Deoxys’s head before it fell, leaned in toward his ear, and whispered, “Say hi to the family, would you?” Then, he tossed it behind him like trash.

  Necrozma clapped his hands together as if he were getting rid of dust, then turned toward his Ultra Beasts, who cowered at his glare. “What do you think you’re doing?” He demanded. “I don’t recall giving any of you permission not to fight.” Not needing to be told twice, the Ultra Beasts turned their sights down at the horde of trainers, descending upon them once more.

  Ash tapped on the arm of the nearest person to him, then began running toward the larger group of trainers. “Crowd together!” He shouted. “Our best bet is if we stick toge-” His instructions were cut short as the Ultra Beasts crashed on top of them. One of them, a small, purple one that looked similar to an insect larva, flew down by his face and attempted to stab him with a stinger on top of its head, but a Thunderbolt from Pikachu sent it sprawling on the ground before it could do so.

  “Thanks, buddy!” Cried Ash appreciatively, “Now let’s get back to the oth-”

  He heard a sudden scream behind him. “Ash!”

  Ash’s face paled. It was the voice of Serena. “Serena!” He shouted, whipping around to where he heard the voice. He saw her a ways away and attempted to run to her aid, only for more of the Ultra Beasts to crash down in front of him and block his path. Ash turned his heels, digging into the ground to stop his forward movement, and glared at them. “Outta my way!” He roared, flaring his Aura. The show of force made their eyes widen in shock, but they still refused to move.

  Pikachu hopped onto Ash’s shoulder, sparking his cheeks at them menacingly. Greninja, still in his Ash form, landed at his side. Soon enough, all of Ash’s Pokemon crowded around him, but their numbers were nothing in comparison to the Ultra Beasts. They were completely surrounded on all sides. It was only Ash and his Pokemon against this army.

  Ash grabbed his signature cap by its front and twisted around until it faced backwards. “All right,” He said, “If you creeps want a fight, I’ll give you one.” He looked around at all his Pokemon, each one of them giving him a resolute nod to tell him they were ready. Ash looked back at them and bellowed, “Everyone, let’s go!”

  Serena stumbled backward as a particularly large Ultra Beast confronted her. The other ones had separated her from Ash as well as everyone else, which left her with one choice: To defend herself with what she had. “Alright!” She cried, taking out four of her Pokeballs. “Let’s see how well our training paid off!” Throwing the Pokeballs into the air, Braixen, Clefable, Pangoro, and Sylveon appeared from their Pokeballs, growling menacingly at the Ultra Beast before them.

  The beast in question looked similar to a mosquito, yet vaguely human-like. Apart from its four feetless legs, it had the upper body of an incredibly-muscular male human. Its body was so filled with liquid, she could only imagine was blood that she could see it moving around within the beast. The beast also had large wings that buzzed loudly as it floated in place. Its head was the defining feature, giving away that it was a mosquito of some kind, having a large, thin beak Serena assumed was used for sucking in blood. It had more abs than she could count, and upon noticing her staring, flexed them. She didn’t know if it was some kind of intimidation method or another option she would rather not explore.

  She cringed at the beast’s flexing, which evidently offended it as it seemed to recoil at her expression. It stomped its feet into the ground repeatedly, and the buzzing from its wings became louder. The mosquito beast then charged toward her, but was intercepted by Pangoro, who grabbed its fists with his own.

  “Great job, Pangoro!” Cheered Serena, earning a blush and a dumb grin from the panda Pokemon. “Now, use Bullet Punch!”

  Pangoro nodded and turned back toward the mosquito beast with his fist pumped backward. His fists began glowing a shiny, silvery sheen, and he made a move to crash them into the beast’s face, only to suddenly double over in pain. The beast had managed to outspeed Pangoro and delivered a savage punch to his gut. Pushing past the pain, Pangoro leapt back up toward it with both of its fists outstretched. However, the mosquito beast swerved its head out of the way at the last second and wrapped one of its arms around both of Pangoro’s, then brought him closer to him with its pointed beak, inching closer to its neck.

  “Pangoro, no!” Shrieked Serena. She turned toward Sylveon next, and said, “Silveon, use Moonblast to get Pangoro out of there!”

  The Fairy-Type Evolution of Eevee nodded to her trainer and opened her mouth, pointing her head toward the beast keeping her friend held hostage. In her mouth, a bright white ball of energy formed, which Sylveon then proceeded to fire at the mosquito. Seeing this, the beast in question abandoned its movement toward Pangoro’s neck. With its free hand, it slapped the Moonblast back toward Serena.

  Serena next looked toward Clefable for aid. It could potentially use Double Slap to bounce the attack right back at the mosquito beast, but there was no telling if it could do so. None of its other attacks could stop it as well, except… “Clefable, use Metronome!” Nodding in response, Clefable hopped in front of the incoming Moonblast and began twirling its fingers back and forth. Serena watched on anxiously, looking back and forth between the Moonblast and Clefairy. If there was any hope in stopping it, it was with luck.

  Right before the Moonblast struck Clefable, it suddenly raised its fingers into the air, signifying Metronome had been completed. A blue, rectangular screen appeared around Serena and her Pokemon, which stopped most of the damage from Moonblast. Serena, Sylveon, and Braixen were forced to shield themselves with their arms, or in Sylveon’s case, just crouching down, but they were all relatively unharmed.

  “Nice job!” Cheered Serena. “You managed to use Light Screen!”

  “Fabe! Fable!!” Chirped Clefable happily. However, this happy moment was soon interrupted by the mosquito beast rushing toward them. Sylveon attempted to use Moonblast once more, but the mosquito hurled Pangoro at her before she had the chance to fire it off, knocking both of Serena’s Pokemon away.

  “Pangoro, Sylveon, no!” Cried Serena as she watched the two of them fly past her.

  The beast then crashed down in front of the Light Screen, forcing Serena to snap her attention back on it. It raised its arm high into the air with its hand and smashed through the barrier. It looked toward Serena hungrily and rocketed toward her, but Braixen intercepted it with a Flamethrower that forced it to stop its assault and shield its face from the searing flames.

  Serena clapped her hands together. “Nice work, Braixen! This thing seems to be weak to Fire-Type attacks, so use Fire Blast!”

  “Brai!” Chirped Braixen in response, acknowledging her trainer’s orders. The fox Pokemon puffed out her cheeks to build up flames within her mouth, then spat out a large, star-shaped blast of fire. The mosquito beast looked up at it angrily after recuperating from the surprise Flamethrower, only to get hit square in the face with the Fire Blast and disappear in a cloud of smoke.

  “Nice!” Commended Serena, pumping her fist in the air in cheer. “That one hit it square on!”

  Braixen turned around toward her and grinned. Behind her, the mosquito beast burst out from the smoke and rocketed toward Braixen with its fist pumped backward. The blood circulating around in its body was violently shaking.

  Serena’s face immediately fell seeing this. “BRAIXEN, LOOK OUT!”

  The fox Pokemon immediately whipped around, but by the time she did, the mosquito beast’s fist was mere inches away from colliding with her face. From behind Serena, a Moonblast rocketed past, eliciting a gasp from her.

  “Wait, that’s-!”

  The Moonblast crashed into the mosquito’s side, making it miss its mark and swerve out past Braixen. Now that its flight path had been unbalanced, the beast fell face-first into the ground and slid to a stop. Upon stopping, the beast leapt back up toward where the Moonblast came from, ready to pound it into the ground with its fist. That was, until it saw another fist.

  Pangoro delivered a savage punch directly into the mosquito beast’s face. The punch possessed so much force that the beast’s pointed beak crumpled and bent under the force, and the beast itself was sent sprawling onto its back. Now utterly furious, the mosquito beast burst up from the ground and rocketed toward Pangoro.

  “Pangoro!” Serena cried. “Use Bullet Punch!”

  An eager grin appeared on the panda Pokemon’s face, and he nodded, pumping both of his fists back. “Goro.”

  The mosquito beast crashed into Pangoro, its fists punching outward rapidly. However, Pangoro was ready. Coating its fists in a silver sheen, he returned the beast’s rapid punches with ones of his own. Their fists crashed together one after another with such power behind them that each collision of their punches sounded almost akin to a thunderclap. Seeing that they were equally matched, the mosquito beast increased its punching rate, and to its surprise, Pangoro matched it.

  The beast then increased the force of its punches, which the panda Pokemon met as well. Its fury increasing with every punch, the mosquito’s body began darkening, becoming redder and redder by the second. It lifted itself off the ground with its wings, now releasing its fists downward into Pangoro, who kept on punching upward at it. Though Pangoro was able to match the beast’s powers, the ground beneath it was not. It crumbled underneath the beast’s powers, burying Pangoro’s legs.

  Serena clenched her hand into a fist, letting out an anxious breath as she watched the duel between her Pokemon and the alien beast. It was becoming more evident that her Pokemon was beginning to lose the fight as he was pushed further and further into the ground. She couldn’t watch any longer. Though it might hurt Pangoro’s pride, she couldn’t let him die, and there were no rules about playing fair during war.

  “Braixen!” She yelled, getting the attention of her partner Pokemon. Serena knelt down next to the fox Pokemon and brought it close to her. Squinting her eyes, she pointed at the mosquito beast as if she were about to take a picture. “I’m going to need you to use Fire Blast, but only clip it! If you hit that thing head-on, Pangoro will get hit too.”

  Braixen squinted her eyes as well, leaning closer to her trainer to see what she saw. Upon doing so, she nodded to Serena and began forming another Fire Blast within her mouth. The mosquito continued his endless barrage of punches, which had now pushed Pangoro into the ground up to his waist. With the lack of being able to maneuver his legs, the panda Pokemon was finding it ever more difficult to continue matching the beast’s punches.

  Serena and Braixen continued looking for an opening. Every punch the beast threw tilted its body in a way that exposed at least one part of it, but which part to aim for, Serena couldn’t decide. If she aimed for its legs, she could risk hitting Pangoro. If she aimed for its back, she might accidentally make the beast push Pangoro even further downward. Of course, aiming for its arms was out of the question, so therein lied the looming question that perpetually echoed throughout her mind: Where to strike?

  Then, she noticed something. The mosquito was flying above Pangoro, meaning it had to have wings of some kind. She couldn’t see any, but that only meant that they were so thin that they were invisible, and being thin as they were, they could be clipped without pushing the beast further down upon Pangoro. “There,” She said to Braixen, “Use Fire Blast right above its back!”

  Nodding, Braixen opened her mouth and unleashed another Fire Blast. The beast was too preoccupied with its onslaught that it didn’t realize the oncoming attack, and before it could look, its wings were completely seared off. It let out a pained shriek and fell directly into the now-enraged Pangoro’s fists.

  Pangoro erupted from the ground, rearing back its fists and then launching them forward with all the force of a missile. “GORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORO!” One after another, Pangoro’s fists crashed into the beast’s body, making it flail helplessly as every inch of its body was battered. With his foe nothing more than a crumpled pile of shattered bones, Pangoro crouched over, winding back his right fist. “GOROOOOO!” The panda Pokemon launched his arm straight into the beast, making it fold like a lawn chair and sending it sailing into the sky.

  “It’s not over yet!” Declared Serena. “Braixen, use Flamethrower! Clefable, use Dazzling Gleam! Sylveon, use Moonblast!” Nodding to their trainer, the three of them collectively fired their attacks toward the now-falling mosquito, resulting in a fiery explosion that rained down upon the battlefield. The beast, now burnt black, crashed down a ways away from Serena. “All right!” She cheered, bringing her Pokemon in for a hug. Pangoro bounded toward her, picking all of them up in a squeezing hug of his own, earning a pained laugh from the trainer.

  However, Serena and her team’s victory was cut short when two more Ultra Beasts crashed down behind her. Upon being put back down, Serena let out an annoyed sigh. She took off her bright red hat, looking at it for a moment before throwing it behind her. “It was probably going to get destroyed at some point anyway,” she said, letting her short hair loose, “So, let’s get back to business.”

  “All right, let’s go everyone!” Shouted Brock and Misty. From Brock came Steelix, Geodude, Crobat, Sudowoodo, Forretress, Ludicolo, Marshtomp, Croagunk, and Chansey. Misty sent out Starmie, Gyarados, Psyduck, Corsola, and Politoed. The two of them stood back to back with their Pokemon surrounding them.

  On both of the Kanto Gym Leaders sides, were two Ultra Beasts. On Misty’s side was what appeared to be a literal moving fortress. It was cube-shaped and a greyish-blue color. It appeared to be made out of bricks of some kind, which it used to literally re-form its own body into different shapes, evidenced by it taking out some of the bricks to stack on one another, using them as makeshift legs.

  The Ultra Beast on Brock’s side was mostly grey in color, with green at its bottom. It resembled, oddly enough, a bamboo shoot. Its neck and head were as thin as a twig, with what appeared to be a drill covering half of its head. The rest of its body was anything but tiny. It had thick layers of rounded armor that jutted out downward in multiple layers. On its underside was what appeared to be a rocket’s jet engine. Floating at its side were two gargantuan pipes that looked, much like its neck, like bamboo shoots, only these ones appeared to be diagonally sliced at their top.

  Brock and Misty smirked at them. “They only sent one each?” Asked Brock.

  “Let’s teach ‘em not to underestimate us!” Roared Misty, grabbing the Mega Stone she used as an earring… “Let’s Mega Evolve right off the bat and teach these creeps not to mess with Kanto Gym Leaders!”

  Brock chuckled, grabbing the necklace around his neck that held a Mega Stone of his own. “Wouldn’t have it any other way!”

  “Steelix!”

  “Gyarados!”

  “Mega Evolve!”

  The two Pokemon were surrounded by a brilliant white glow, and upon that glow fading, had transformed into entirely new forms. Steelix’s body had become segmented with each piece floating in place, and its head became larger. Around its neck appeared to be incredibly sharp diamonds that floated around in a circle. Gyarados’s body had become thicker, with two large twin fins erupting out of its back.

  “Let’s finish this in one shot, Steelix!” Roared Brock. “Use Flash Cannon!”

  The colossal steel snake Pokemon snorted out a puff of steam and nodded to its trainer. It opened its mouth and fired a silvery-white laser toward the bamboo beast. In response, the beast held, pointed the underside of one of its pillars at Steelix, firing a jet of flame from it that collided with the Flash Cannon. The two attacks resulted in a stalemate, with neither one being able to overpower the other.

  Seeing this, Brock tried to offer motivation to his Pokemon. “Don’t give in! We can’t show weakness to these things!”

  Steelix nodded and furthered its assault on the bamboo beast.

  Seeing Brock’s fiery nature showing in full force caused Misty to grin. She turned back toward her own Pokemon and said, “We can’t let Brock show us up! Gyarados, use Waterfall!”

  Necrozma watched over the chaos with glee. “My, how wonderful,” He said, “How I do love a good show.”

  From beneath him, Rayquaza re-emerged from the ground and shot up toward him. “Your madness ends here, Necrozma!” He roared. “In the name of Lord Arceus, we will defeat you!” He fired a Hyper Beam from his mouth, which Necrozma swatted away with the back of his hand. The attack was merely a ploy, allowing Rayquaza to shroud himself with Dragon Ascent and rush toward Necrozma.

  The dark demon slammed his fist down upon Rayquaza’s head, but before the serpentine Legend could fall back to the ground, Necrozma grabbed him by the tail and swung him toward Groudon, who had no means of escaping the incoming Legend. Rayquaza’s body crashed into the red Legend, knocking both of them onto their backs.

  “You know,” Said Necrozma as he floated down toward the two, “I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure of meeting most of you.”

  Groudon’s response was firing a red-hot Flamethrower at him, which was stopped by the simple flick of Necrozma’s finger. “Oh come now, that’s just rude.” Necrozma disappeared suddenly, making Groudon look around in every direction to try and locate the demon. It was too late when he realized the demon was directly beneath him. Balling his hand into a fist, Necrozma shot up and delivered an excruciating uppercut to Groudon’s chin, which sent the colossal Pokemon skyward.

  Warping up to meet the land creator, Necrozma swatted him back to the ground with the back of his hand, making Groudon crash down directly on top of Rayquaza. Seeing this, Kyogre leapt up to Necrozma and launched a Hydro Pump. “Really? Your main weapon is water?” Necrozma rocketed downward, burying his fist into the water deity’s face. His hand began glowing white, and Kyogre was blasted down with the other two members of the Weather Trio by a large white ball that exploded upon impact with the ground. “How utterly pathetic.”

  He turned around and saw none other than Mewtwo and Lugia. “I do hope,” He said, “That you offer more of a challenge, but…” He briefly eyed the two of them from top to bottom and chuckled. “Considering how you performed against me last time, I’m not expecting much.”

  May and Max were confronted with only one Ultra Beast, which worked out well for them, considering only one of them could fight. It was tiny and thin, looking to be made of nothing more than paper. It was star-shaped, looking like a child’s first attempt at creating origami. It had three yellow growths on what May believed to be its shoulders, and they were so thin they looked like twigs. In spite of its size, it was actually giving May a lot of trouble.

  “Blaziken, use Blaze Kick!” She ordered for the umpteenth time. Upon following the order and attempting to attack the Ultra Beast with its flame-coated foot, it disappeared and reappeared behind Blaziken. The paper beast grinded its arms together, kicking up sparks and alerting May to the fact that this thing was not paper.

  The tiny beast zoomed toward Blaziken suddenly. With no other clear option, May quickly shouted, “Use Flamethrower!” to try and stop whatever oncoming attack this thing was trying to do. May’s partner Pokemon quickly whipped around and shot a jet of flame from its mouth, which caused the tiny Ultra Beast to back off immediately to dodge it. It made some kind of muffled chirping sound at Blaziken, which May believed to be in anger, and brought its arms up to guard itself

  May gave it an odd look. “Why did it back off suddenly? Could it be that…?” She snapped her fingers as an idea struck her. “This thing’s weak to Fire!”

  Max crossed his arms and hummed. “That’s great, but...we still can’t hit it. If you’re not careful, this could just end up as a battle of stamina.”

  May nodded to him. “You’re right, but we don’t really have any other option than to keep attacking.”

  Max sighed, replying, “I guess so.”

  “Flamethrower!” Ordered May once more. Blaziken nodded in response, then fired another jet of fire from its mouth. Once again, the paper-like Ultra Beast dodged the attack. However, it did not retaliate and simply went back to holding up its arms to protect itself. May ordered another Flamethrower, which once again missed its target. This went on for quite some time until May became frustrated.

  “Come on, May, think!” She said, scruffing her hair to try and come up with a solution. Meanwhile, the paper beast had stopped looking at Blaziken. Its head trailed past it toward May then toward Max. Once again, it grinded its arms together, then shot off like a rocket toward him. Max yelped in fright and vainly attempted to shield himself with his arms, shutting his eyes to prepare for the worst.

  But the worst never came. Slowly, he dared to open his eyes and let out another yelp, falling onto his backside. The tiny beast had been right beneath his feet, only now, it was twitching on the ground spastically. “Max!” Cried May, rushing to his side. “Hey, are you alright?!” Before Max could question what had happened, he noticed a faint glow above him. He could scarcely believe his eyes when he looked up and saw what it was.

  “Hey, Max,” Said Jirachi, “How have you been?”

  Max gaped up at the Wish Pokemon. His eyes began to well up, and he jumped up to embrace it. “Jirachi!” He cried happily. “I never thought I’d see you again!”

  “I thought...you were supposed to be asleep?” May asked. Realizing the rudeness of her question, she immediately tried to remedy the awkwardness she’d caused by adding, “I-I mean, I’m totally glad you’re here, I’m just surprised, is all!”

  Jirachi giggled at her and responded, “Well, sometimes emergencies happen, and I wake up a bit earlier.” They looked up toward where Necrozma was battling the other Legends, her smile disappearing. “The end of the world is one such scenario.”

  Dawn was having a bit of a rough streak of luck. She currently had four of the same type of Ultra Beasts surrounding her. They looked almost like jellyfish, with a translucent, bulbous “head” that had several six-edged star shapes on it. Its tentacles looked to be gelatinous, and its entire body was white. They had two nearly invisible tendrils that looked similar to legs, and they danced in the air around her.

  “Mamoswine, Ice Shard!” Commanded Dawn. In response, the woolly mammoth Pokemon spat out a sharp shard of broken ice up at one of the jellyfish beasts. The jellyfish stopped in midair for a second, seemingly phasing out and back into existence right next to where the Ice Shard was supposed to hit. In retaliation, it seemed to materialize a glob of purple liquid. To Dawn, that liquid looked like the inside of a kaleidoscope, which was unsettling enough to let her know not to get anywhere near it.

  “Mamoswine, dodge it!” Hearing that order, Mamoswine crouched down and prepared to leap out of the way. However, the jellyfish beast lobbed the substance toward Dawn instead. Piplup jumped up to protect his trainer, using Water Gun in an attempt to stop the attack. However, much like what the jellyfish did to evade Mamoswine’s Ice Shard, the attack blinked past the water gun toward Dawn, and when it hit her, her eyes went white, and she hit the ground with a thud.

  “Pip?!” Cried a distressed Piplup. The little penguin Pokemon knelt down at his trainer’s side, vigorously shaking her to try and stir her. “Pip, Piplup!”

  Mamoswine and Dawn’s other Pokemon quickly rushed back toward Dawn, concerned for their trainer’s well-being. They crowded around her, helplessly prodding her in an attempt to wake her like Piplup, but to no avail. They stopped suddenly as they heard an odd humming noise above them, and found the jellyfish beast that had splashed Dawn with the odd substance dancing around in a circle above her. It seemed to be humming, though the tune it was doing so made no sense, like the sound a broken radio might make.

  Furious at it for what it had done to their friend, Dawn’s Pokemon collectively fired up at it with a colorful array of attacks, only for it to once again disappear from sight. The Pokemon looked around in confusion, but were unable to locate it. Scratching his head, Piplup turned back down to Dawn and alerted his teammates with a scream when he found that she had disappeared. Something caught Buneary’s attention out of the corner of her eye, and when she looked toward it, she found that Dawn had been picked up by the jellyfish beast and was floating away.

  “Bun, Buneary!” Cried the bunny Pokemon. She pointed toward the beast that held their trainer, and the group of Pokemon began sprinting after it until they were directly below it. However, attacking the beast now would harm Dawn or make it drop her. They clenched their teeth angrily, cursing themselves for their helplessness. Above them, the jellyfish beast stopped in midair suddenly. Its tendrils wrapped around the unconscious girl and touched her fingertips. To the horror of Dawn’s Pokemon, Dawn’s hand began seeping into the tentacle. It looked as if it were absorbing her.

  The jellyfish beast’s advances upon Dawn were halted suddenly. A purple glow had surrounded it, paralyzing it. Its song-like humming became louder and more shrill as it attempted to fend off this invisible attack, which caused the other three jellyfish to snap their attention to the one carrying Dawn. They attempted to aid it, but upon coming closer, they were surrounded by the same glow, smashed together, then hurtled away into the far distance.

  Dawn’s Pokemon were baffled by what was happening, but to them, it looked like Dawn was being rescued, and they weren’t complaining. Above the jellyfish beast holding Dawn, three beings appeared. They were small and had relatively the same body structure. They each had twin tails with fan-shaped ends. Their bodies were all grey, except for their heads. One was triangular-shaped and cyan blue. The other was pink, looking like it had feminine hair. The last was yellow, with its head curved in a round shape. For whatever reason, the yellow one had its eyes closed. They were Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie. The Psychic Guardians of Sinnoh’s three great lakes.

  They reached down toward the jellyfish beast and pried it off of Dawn before hurling it at the bottom of the ship. A barrier appeared underneath the ship as the beast approached, and when it collided, the barrier acted like a bug zapper, completely eradicating the jellyfish. Gently, the trio of Legends lowered Dawn’s body back to the ground, where her Pokemon once again crowded around her in concern. They let out a sigh of relief when they found she was still breathing, and waved up at the three Legends in thanks.

  Azelf and Uxie eyed a particularly large swarm of Ultra Beasts that were crowding around a group of trainers and their Pokemon. From the looks of it, they weren’t going to last long, evidenced by the scream of one of the trainers as they were grabbed by the leg and pulled into the swarm. The two Legends were about to rush to their aid when they noticed that Mesprit was still hovering over Dawn with worry. The pink-haired Legend waved up to its two partners, telling them she would catch up soon. Seeing that the group of trainers was quickly dwindling in size, the other two waved back and rocketed toward the swarm.

  A multitude of other Ultra Beasts crashed down in front of Dawn’s Pokemon, surrounding them. In response, Dawn’s Pokemon formed a defensive circle around their trainer, with Mesprit, still hovering over the unconscious girl, glowering at them. Unfazed by the Legend’s attempt at intimidation, the Ultra Beasts let out a savage hiss before closing in.

  Necrozma nonchalantly leaned his head sideways, letting Mewtwo’s Shadow Ball hurl past him and into the ship. Lugia dove underneath him, firing off an Aeroblast that caused an intense cyclone of wind to encapsulate the demon. The fierce winds would have torn just about anyone to pieces, but to one such as Necrozma, they were nothing. He dispelled the attack with nothing more than the whip of his arm, then hurtled himself toward Mewtwo.

  The clone Pokemon narrowed his eyes and deftly managed to evade the attack by flipping his body upside down at the last second, but Necrozma swiftly turned back around and rocketed toward him once more. Mewtwo summoned a purple barrier around himself, but Necrozma tore through it as if it were paper, catching Mewtwo in a brutal clothesline and throwing him into the distance.

  A Hyper Beam approached Necrozma from behind, which he casually knocked away with a backhand. Looking at where it had come from, he found Lugia. “That was Hyper Beam, right?” He asked. “Between you and that green worm, it seems this technique is common amongst you lot.”

  Lugia’s response was to fire off another. Rolling his head, Necrozma rocketed toward Lugia and tore straight through the attack. Seeing this, the Beast of the Seas shut off the attack and attempted to dodge, but ended up a step late. Necrozma grabbed Lugia by the throat and dragged him back down to the earth below. Necrozma threw Lugia into the ground as they approached, resulting in a large eruption of dirt and debris. He was about to follow this attack up with another punch when he saw another approaching attack.

  Warping out of the way of a Flamethrower, Necrozma turned to its source and found none other than the three Elemental Birds. Chuckling at the sight of them, he said, “Well, now. It seems the ones I’ve faced previously are quite eager for vengeance.”

  “You bet we are!” Necrozma turned toward the source of the new voice. Keldeo had arrived, alongside Kyurem, Zekrom, and Reshiram. Hopping off of Kyurem, Keldeo glared up at Necrozma, baring his teeth in fury. “You’re going to pay!” Declared the equine Legend, shifting into his Resolute Form. “I’ll make you regret what you did to my family!” Keldeo stamped his front two hooves into the ground, summoning energy to where his horn used to be. To his elation, he was still able to use Secret Sword. “Now, let’s see if you can take us all on!”

  Behind Necrozma, Lugia re-emerged from the hole he’d been planted in. He was covered in scrapes and dust, but was otherwise fine. The fury that burned in his glare showed he was far from done. Necrozma also noticed that the Weather Trio had also managed to get back up, and Rayquaza was already flying his way. The invader attempted to sense for Mewtwo, but couldn’t find anything and decided it wasn’t worth looking into.

  Necrozma let out a chilling laugh and spread his arms outward, accepting the Legends’ challenge. “Very well. I’ll issue my own challenge then.” Crimson-colored energy burst from Necrozma in all directions, blasting the ground itself off its hinges. In spite of this display of power, the Legends pushed forward against it. Necrozma disappeared and reappeared behind Articuno in an instant with his hand held up behind the Ice Bird’s head. A ball of energy formed in Necrozma’s hand, and he said, “Let’s see if you all can survive what I’m about to do.”

  Articuno was blasted away and disappeared far into the distance. Zapdos and Moltres attempted to attack, but Necrozma warped in between the two of them and grabbed their wings. He slammed the two of them together, then blasted them away as well. The jet black dragon Zekrom cloaked itself in blue lightning with Fusion Bolt and rushed Necrozma, earning only a faceful of fist for its efforts before being sent hurtling away by a white ball of energy that promptly exploded.

  Lugia sent yet another Hyper Beam toward Necrozma, which was caught in Necrozma’s hand. He made sure to close his fingers to avoid the beam hitting his eyes. “Why is it that you like this attack so?” Necrozma asked Lugia. “You use it over and over, yet it yields no results. Though come to think of it, I recall saying I’d imitate it one day.” In Necrozma’s free hand, orange energy began forming into an orb. He whipped that hand forward, and when he went loose, the land itself seemed to uproot. Necrozma’s Hyper Beam sailed toward Lugia, reducing the ground below it to ashes, all the while Lugia’s rage quickly turned to terror as he began to realize escape from it was not an option.

  A purple stream of light descended from above, landing in front of Lugia. The dust settled, revealing Mewtwo, who held his hands outward and stopped the massive Hyper Beam in its place. However, it quickly became apparent he would not be able to do it for long. “Lugia, go!” He cried, snapping the Sea Beast out of his stupor. Nodding to Mewtwo in thanks, he leapt out of the way of the beam, and Mewtwo warped next to him. They watched in a mixture of awe and horror at the destruction that ensued.

  When Necrozma cut the attack off, all of the ground that had been in its wake was completely annihilated, leaving a long chasm with no apparent bottom. Necrozma’s chuckling made the Legends snap their attention back toward him. “My, my,” He spoke, marveling at the destruction he’d caused, “Now I see why you like using this. It’s quite the handy technique.”

  “Dragonite, Fire Punch!”

  Nodding back to Iris, the large orange dragon swatted away a small, purple Ultra Beast with a fist covered in flames. The beast was sent flying and disappeared behind the ever-growing swarm of other beasts, but these ones in particular were an annoyance due to their sheer numbers. They were easy to strike down, but another one always took its place. They were imp-like, purple with blue insectoid eyes, had bulbous ringed heads with a needle at its top, and for some reason, always carried a grin as if it were having fun creating as much chaos as they were.

  Cilan commanded his Crustle to use Rock Wrecker, resulting in one of the imp beasts having a colossal rock explode in their faces. However, two more of them appeared from the resulting dust cloud and attempted to close in on Cilan. The partner Pokemon of Cilan, Simisage, leapt up and caught the two of them, then sent them both flying with a Focus Blast. Cilan doubled over, letting out an exasperated sigh. “Just how many of these things are there?!”

  “Try to hang in there!” Said Iris, deftly hopping over one of the imp beasts. It turned back toward her with a malicious grin and flew toward her again, but Iris’s Excadrill stepped in, batting it away with its sharp metal claws. She thanked the mole Pokemon, then said to Cilan, “We just have to hold out until the Legendary Pokemon beat Necrozma!”

  Cilan stumbled backwards as an imp crashed down in front of him face-first, missing him by only an inch. “Easier said than done! There’s no telling how long it’ll take for them to do that!” Cilan’s stunfisk leapt above him, firing off a Discharge to ward off a few of the imp beasts that had tried to get a hit on its trainer from overhead.

  Axew hopped out from Iris’s hair, clobbering an imp beast that decided to get close with an Outrage. Letting out as much of a roar as the small dragon could muster, Axew leapt into the frey, to do the same to others. “H-Hey, Axew, don’t go off on your own!” She looked down at another small dragon by her side, Gible, and told it to go after Axew. Now that she had the time to address Cilan once more, she replied to him, “Well, we don’t exactly have much of a choice, so there’s no point whining about it!”

  A noise from underneath Iris caught her attention. The ground beneath her feet cracked upward, and another imp beast launched up from the ground with its stinger pointed toward her. With no way to evade the attack, Iris let out an uncharacteristic scream, which alerted her Dragonite. It rushed to her aid, knocking the beast away with a backhanded Thunder Punch.

  Iris let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Dragonite. If it wasn’t for you, I would’ve…” She trailed off as she noticed something on Dragonite’s arm. “Hold on, is that…” She attempted to grab hold of the arm, but Dragonite pulled it away from her. “Hey!” She cried. “Lemme see it! If you’re hurt, I wanna help!” Begrudgingly, Dragonite allowed her to see the arm, and Iris gasped at what she saw. The imp beast Dragonite had smacked away, managed to puncture Dragonite’s arm, leaving a ghastly hole that dripped some kind of purple substance. “Is that...poison?”

  Iris quickly took out a bag from her large hair and began rummaging through it. “Don’t worry,” She told Dragonite reassuringly, “I’ve got some Pecha Berries! With one of those, you should be-” Another imp beast snatched the bag from her hands. “Wha- hey!” Iris scarcely had the time to protest before more of the imb beasts swarmed the bag and tore it to pieces, leaving the girl hopeless.

  “Oh no…” She turned back toward Dragonite. “H-hey, it’s alright. It’ll probably just go away with some rest so…” Dragonite stumbled forward, and Iris jumped to its side and grabbed hold of his arm once more. “Just take it easy, Dragonite,” She cooed, “Just lay down. Don’t worry about me, I’ll-” Suddenly, Dragonite fell forward and landed with a resounding thud. “Hey, Dragonite!” Iris yelled with worry, crouching by its side, attempting to rouse it with a light shove. “Dragonite...hey, Dragonite! Wake up, this isn’t funny!”

  She turned around toward her remaining Pokemon. “Emolga! Excradrill! Come help me! Dragonite’s-!” Another gasp escaped Iris’s mouth as she saw the state her Pokemon were in. Emolga let out a volley of electricity, out at the imps, but was quickly losing steam. One wrong step was all it took for the flying squirrel Pokemon to cease its attack, leaving it wide open for an imp to pounce down on her with three others following closely behind.

  Exradrill was desperately fending off a dozen of the imps on its own. It swiped at them with his metal claws, but the imps were deftly dodging its wild swings. They occasionally got in a strike with their needles, which didn’t do much due to Excadrill’s Steel typing. One of the imps crashed into the mole Pokemon’s foot, making its leg collapse. The other imps used this chance to grab hold of it and pull it into the main horde.

  “N-no!” Cried Iris. She ran toward Excadrill in a desperate attempt to rescue it, but more imps flew down to stop her. She looked back toward Dragonite and was horrified to see that the imps had already covered him. “Hey, get off him!” She ran back to Dragonite and punched one of the imps with the back of her hand, but only succeeded in angering it. It hissed at her, turning its attention away from Dragonite.

  Iris backed away from it slowly, trembling in fear. She looked around for anything she could use as a weapon and found a metal rod poking out of the ground beside her. With some effort, she managed to pull it out and positioned herself to swing. “Get away from me!” She cried, swinging it at the imp’s head. “AND GET AWAY FROM MY FRIENDS!” The rod connected with the imps head, resulting in a loud crunching noise and a pained shriek from it.

  Purple liquid began oozing from the stricken imp beast’s head, but it wasn’t out just yet. It glared up at Iris and hissed angrily. Iris’s heart thumped spastically out of her chest. Her eyes began to swell at the thought of what happened to her Pokemon, but she forced herself to push it out of her mind. Raising the bar behind her once more, she screamed and swung again. Or at least, she tried to. The bar wouldn’t budge.

  It was yanked out of her hands suddenly, and when she turned around to see what had happened, she saw that the horde had closed in on her. The imp that had yanked it out of her hand giggled at Iris until two more appeared and fought over the bar. Eventually, they ended up snapping it and half, losing interest in it, and dropped it at the terrified Iris’s feet. Iris looked behind her for Cilan, but couldn’t find anything. Desperation quickly set in, and as a last-ditch effort, she cried, “Axew! Gible! Where are you?!” There was no response but the imp’s giggling. “Please! I need you! Please, anyone!” No response. Cilan had disappeared. Her Pokemon had as well. She was alone, and the only thing she could hear or see was the swarm.

  Clemont’s Luxray let a Discharge loose, but the Ultra Beast they were fighting proved to be slippery. Despite electricity being flung in every direction, it weaved through it with ease. It twirled about like a ballerina, and when the attack faded, and the beast was left unharmed, it bowed as if it were done putting on a show.

  “Stay behind me, Bonnie,” Warned Clemont. “This one might be more dangerous than the others.”

  Clemont’s younger sister nodded and crouched behind Luxray, trying to make sure she wasn’t spotted. The Ultra Beast they were battling looked like a jester, having a thin body that was decorated to the brim with colorful objects. It had white “shoes” with high heels and curved tips with large colored rubber balls at their front. Its waist and thin spine had red, yellow, and blue stripes that spiraled up until the neck. Its head consisted of a large frill that balanced a ball, which appeared to be its head even though it wasn’t attached to the rest of the body. Its arms were blue and purple, and the wrists had smaller versions of its neck frill. Its hands, if they could be called that, looked like white paintbrush tips.

  Clemont pointed at it and commanded, “Helioptile, use Volt Switch! Luxray, use Thunder Fang!” Clemont’s Heliolisk summoned a ring of lightning and hurled it toward the jester beast. In response, the beast bent backward at a seemingly impossible angle and let the attack hurtle past it. However, when Volt Switch impacted the ground and exploded, Luxray appeared in its place and ran toward the beast from behind with its fangs coated in lightning.

  The electric wolf Pokemon chomped down on the ball and landed in front of its body. Clemont pumped his fist in the air. “It worked! Nice job, Lux-wait, what?!” The beast, in spite of losing its head, appeared to be completely fine. It danced around the confused Luxray, twirling about like nothing had happened at all. “That’s not possible!” Cried Clemont. “How can it survive without its head?!”

  “Maybe it learned from Ash,” Remarked Bonnie with a snicker.

  The jester-beast leaned forward, clapped its hands in Luxray’s face, then began sprinting away. Clemont quickly caught on to what it was doing. “Luxray, throw it!” Luxray hurled the ball skyward, where it began glowing orange before promptly exploding. Clemont gaped up at the blast, then sent a glare the jester beast’s way. From the center of the frill on the beast's neck, a new, smaller ball appeared and nearly instantaneously grew back to its old size.

  It put a hand to the front of its neck frill and moved in an odd way that suggested it was laughing, though it made no noise at all. Reaching up, it plucked the ball from its frill once more and hurled it at Luxray. Clemont quickly countered with, “Thunderbolt!” Nodding, Luxray fired off a bolt of lightning at the incoming ball, making it explode before it could make contact.

  The jester-beast erupted from the smoke, holding another of its “heads” high in the air, and sprinted toward Luxray. “Quick, use Discharge!” Clemont’s line of thinking was that even if the attack wouldn’t connect, it might hit the ball or at least make the beast drop the ball and subsequently detonate it before it got too close. However, the jester beast swerved through the descending bolts of lightning with ease, even going so far as to throw the ball and catch it while doing so.

  It suddenly jumped high above Luxray and looked as if it were about to dunk its head like a basketball when a Flamethrower suddenly appeared, striking the ball and causing it to explode overhead. “What the-” Exclaimed a surprised Clemont. “What the heck was that?!” The jester flew from the debris with some scratches, but otherwise was unharmed. Slowly, it turned its head toward where the Flamethrower had come from.

  “You kids shouldn’t be fighting these things by yourself,” Said a mysterious voice.

  Recognizing it, Clemont and Bonnie turned toward it. “That voice, it’s-!” From the debris, a large man clad in a red suit resembling a Blaziken appeared. He also wore a bright red cape and a greyish-black undersuit. Next to him was an actual Blaziken that had powered up into its Mega Form. “It is I,” Spoke the mysterious figure, “The one who strikes down evil in the name of justice! Defender of the Kalos Region, I am Blaziken Ma-”

  “Hey, dad!” Said Bonnie, waving to the man and making him trip over himself. “What are you doing here?”

  The figure fumbled and fell over after tripping on his cape. Quickly erupting from the ground, he cried, “Can’t you just let me do my motto?!” He shook his head dejectedly. “Well, whatever. The moment’s ruined. As for what I’m doing here, well, how could I call myself a hero if I didn’t help save the world?” In the blink of an eye, he grabbed Bonnie and Clemont, lifting them into a crushing hug. “And of course, what kind of parent would I be if I just let my kids fight by themselves?”

  “P-please let go,” Begged Clemont, “You’re ch-choking us!”

  “Oh!” Clemont and Bonnie were quickly dropped back on their feet, with their father rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. “Sorry about that.”

  Clemont took in a sharp inhale for the air he’d been starved of, then replied, “It’s no big deal. Honestly, the help is appreciated.”

  Blaziken Mask resumed his usual posture, crossing his arms and raising his head high. “Not a problem at all, my boy! Now…” He clapped a hand on Clemont’s shoulder, looking down at him with a bright grin. “Let’s say we teach these alien punks a lesson, eh? Father and son against the universe? Sounds like a nice story to tell my grandkids one day.”

  Bonnie shrugged. “I think girls are beyond Clemont dad. Trust me, I’ve tried.”

  Clemont laughed in embarrassment, but ignored his younger sister’s remark. “I don’t know about kids or anything like that,” He said, standing back to his full height. Luxray jumped back to his side, and the two of them glared fiercely at the jester beast. “But ‘father and son against the universe’ does sound nice.”

  Blaziken Mask let out a hearty laugh and crouched into a battle position with his trusty partner, Blaziken, mirroring the pose by his side. “Atta boy! But before we do that…” He turned his gaze up to the sky, with Clemont and Bonnie following suit. A black dragon descended towards them, slashing at any Ultra Beast in its way with its glowing green claws. On its back was a trainer who wore black from head to toe, save for a fluffy blue scarf around his neck. “I brought some extra help.”

  Clemont let out a small gasp as he recognized who the trainer was. “Hold on! That’s…” The black dragon Pokemon stopped its descent, gliding just above the ground and rocketing toward the jester beast. It barely had a moment to register what was happening before the beast was sent flying by a Dragon Claw. The dragon, whom, Clemont could now identify as a Mega Charizard, came to a stop and let its trainer off its back. He turned toward them with a smile and waved at them. “That’s Alain!”

  “Hey!” Called Alain as he made his way toward the group. “You guys need any help!”

  Clemont laughed. “Boy, do we! It’s a relief having a trainer as strong as you around!”

  Blaziken Mask grinned down at Clemont and chuckled, but his smile faded once he thought about what Clemont said. ‘Wait, does he not think I’m strong?!’

  Keldeo leapt high into the air above Necrozma. “EAT THIS!” He roared. “SECRET SWORD!” From the remnants of Keldeo’s horn, he unleashed a brilliant white beam that tore through the air. In response, Necrozma casually caught the attack and crushed it in his hand.

  The invader scoffed. “Perhaps I damaged your memory, or perhaps your mental capacity is simply so dull you don’t remember, but the last time you used the attack, it did nothing. Why would you think it would end any differently?”

  To Necrozma’s confusion, Keldeo smirked down at him and answered, “This time, I’ve got help.”

  Taking it upon himself to act, Kyurem fired off an Ice Beam that managed to strike Necrozma point-blank, resulting in the dark demon being frozen solid. Keldeo cheered, standing up on his hind legs. “Yes, it worked!”

  The ice glowed brightly, then exploded outward. Necrozma locked his gaze upon Kyurem and rushed at the ice dragon, but was forced to stop as a Hyper Beam appeared in his way. “Not going to happen!” Declared Rayquaza. “Your end has come!”

  Crossing his arms, Necrozma let out a chuckle. “Funny…” Seemingly blinking out of existence, Necrozma disappeared and reappeared beneath Rayquaza with a ball of energy formed in his hand. “I was going to say the same thing to you.” Before anyone could react, Rayquaza was sent careening into the sky by the ball. The sky guardian managed to push himself off of it before it sailed away into the mothership’s barrier.

  The second Rayquaza looked back down Necrozma was upon him with his fist drawn back. Mewtwo appeared in Necrozma’s way with his hands coated in Psychic energy. Necrozma collided with Mewtwo with enough force to blow Rayquaza backward, but Mewtwo managed to hold steady. “My, haven’t you improved?” Necrozma remarked. “To be able to match my power like this...it’s a far cry from the sorry fight you gave me last time.”

  Mewtwo grinned at him. “I’ve improved, huh? Heh…” Necrozma caught a glint in Mewtwo’s amethyst eyes. “Trust me, Necrozma. You haven’t seen anything yet!” With a mighty bellow, Mewtwo knocked Necrozma back slightly and threw two Shadow Balls toward him. The invader, in response, caught both of them and threw them back at their creator. Mewtwo brought up a barrier to protect himself, but oddly enough, both of the attacks missed. He craned his head up to look at the ghostly globs, expecting them to turn back around toward him, but instead was met with Necrozma’s fist slamming straight through the barrier and into his face, sending him back to the ground with a resounding crash.

  “Mewtwo!” Cried a wide-eyed Rayquaza. He quickly descended to try and aid his friend, but Necrozma warped in his path and forced him to stop. He growled furiously at the demon. “Get out of my way!”

  “Not likely.” Necrozma grabbed hold of Rayquaza’s throat and dragged him toward the ground. “You and that Mewtwo fellow seem quite close. I simply thought that you two should be closer!” He then hurled Rayquaza down, aiming to make him crash into Mewtwo, but Lugia stopped Rayquaza’s descent with Psychic.

  Looking down at the collapsed Mewtwo, he said, “Now we’re even.” The sea beast was unable to foresee Necrozma rocketing down toward him with his hands clasped together, and was thus smashed into the ground. Keldeo attempted to use Secret Sword once more, but Necrozma picked Mewtwo up by the tail and hurled him into the young Legend, sending both of them flying away.

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  He then turned his sights back on Kyurem and asked, “Now that the interruptions are out of the way, where were we?” Kyurem’s response was another Ice Beam. It looked to have caught Necrozma once more, until the dark demon warped in front of the ice dragon, grabbed him by the throat, and created another ball of energy in his other hand. Kyurem attempted to use Ice Beam for a third time, but had his mouth forcefully shut. “Now, now,” Chided Necrozma mockingly, as if he were addressing a child, “Accept your end with dignity.”

  Reshiram crashed down beside the two, forming a colossal ball of red-hot flames above her head. “Release him!” She demanded. “Else I will unleash upon you-” Necrozma stopped paying attention to what the white dragon was talking about, instead eyeing the ball of flames above her head with interest. Then, a devious idea struck him. “Hmm…”

  “So, you won’t respond, hmm?” Inquired Reshiram. “I thought as much. Very well then. I suppose someone like you would never-” Necrozma turned around toward her and hurled Kyurem into the flame orb, sending a small blast after him for good measure. Reshiram had no time to react before her own attack exploded in her face, catching both her and Kyurem inside it. Necrozma rushed into the flames, clutching Reshiram by the throat and dragging her across the ground. He then threw her up into the air and followed with a beam of light.

  Reshiram was saved by Zekrom, who zoomed in just in time to carry her away from the laser. “Are you alright?” He asked, earning a nod from his counterpart.

  “I received some scrapes,” She responded, “But it’s nothing in comparison to what might have happened had you not arrived when you did.”

  Zekrom smiled down at her. “I see. Then I suppose that-”

  Reshiram’s eyes suddenly shot open in fear. Looking past Zekrom, she cried, “WATCH OUT!”

  Zekrom whipped around and attempted to come to a halt, but Necrozma crashed into him and delivered a devastating punch to the black dragon’s gut. Zekrom was left completely stunned by the sudden attack. His jaw gaped open, his eyes were widened and bloodshot, and despite the immense pain he was in, he was unable to make any other noise but a choked squeal. Grabbing hold of Zekrom’s head, Necrozma hurled him into the mothership’s barrier.

  Upon making contact, the barrier subjected Zekrom to all manner of shocks. Lightning with power Zekrom had never known, coursed through him, attacking every nerve. Unable to free himself, the only thing he could do was scream in agony. “Zekrom, No!” Cried Reshiram. Surrounding herself in flames, she attempted to aid Zekrom, but was stopped by Necrozma’s Psychic hold.

  “Not so fast,” Said the invader, “Are you really leaving so soon?”

  Necrozma released her from the hold, and she immediately turned back to him with fury in her eyes. “What do you think this is?!” She demanded. “Some kind of game?!”

  Necrozma shook his head. “I’ve already given Arceus and some humans a whole speech on that topic, and frankly, I don’t like repeating myself.” In an instant, Necrozma disappeared, and Reshiram doubled over as his fist met with her chest. “So let me give you an abridged version.” The fist he’d planted in her chest began glowing, and Reshiram could have sworn Necrozma was grinning even though he had no mouth. “It’s a hobby.” A crimson laser erupted from his hand, sending her up toward Zekrom to meet his same fate.

  Reshiram looked back at the approaching barrier with horror, especially as she saw Zekrom’s torture up close. She closed her eyes, preparing for the worst. However, it never came. Tentatively, she opened her eyes and found that both she and Zekrom, who was panting heavily on his hands and knees, had been returned to the ground. Before she could ask what had happened, a voice answered for her.

  “I warped space to save you,” Palkia told the two of them, “So you two take a little rest. Dialga and I will take it from here.” True to the space deity’s word, the ruler of time, Dialga, descended from above and landed next to him.

  Reshiram had never really thought about it before, but looking at Dialga and Palkia now, she was astounded by their sheer size. Realizing she was staring, she quickly bowed to the two of them. “I-I thank you both for the assistance.”

  “Think nothing of it,” Responded Dialga, looking up toward Necrozma and narrowing his eyes. The blue gem on his chest began glowing, and the large spine on his back stretched outward. “Now, brother, let’s see if we can do what father could not.”

  Palkia crouched down, stretching out his wings. “Indeed,” He replied. On Palkia’s arms, a red spherical gem glowed as well, surrounding him in a fiery red Aura. “In the name of Lord Arceus, let us strike him down!”

  Necrozma gazed upon the two of them with interest. “You...I sense that the two of you are very powerful indeed. You are much more powerful than anyone else here, but…” Crossing his arms, Necrozma let out a chuckle. “Your power doesn’t even begin to compare to that of Arceus...and speaking of that, where is he?”

  “That is not your concern!” Hissed Dialga. “Your battle is with us! The machinations of Lord Arceus are beyond you!”

  Necrozma scoffed at them. “So in other words, he’s just preparing to make a dramatic last-minute entrance? I didn’t think he was the type to let his children die if he could prevent it, but,” The dark demon shrugged, stretching himself out before crashing his fists together, “Oh well. So then, to whom do I owe the pleasure of my next beatdown?”

  Palkia stamped his right foot into the ground and bellowed, “I AM PALKIA, RULER OF SPACE! YOU WILL CLAIM NO LIVES ON THIS DAY, MONSTER!”

  Dialga stomped into the ground with his front left leg. “I AM DIALGA, RULER OF TIME! OUR COMBINED MIGHT CAN ERASE REALITY ITSELF, AND THUS WE SHALL ERASE YOU FROM EXISTENCE!”

  The invader clapped his hands together, letting out a chilling laugh. “Bravo! I didn’t realize I came to a stage play! Had I known, I would have brought along some popcorn and some tea!”

  “Mock us as you will, Necrozma, we will smite you all the same!” Palkia declared. The space deity raised his fist in the air, flattening his fingers against one another. A trail of pink energy trailed up from the gem in his arm to his fingertips, which he launched toward Necrozma. “SPACIAL REND!”

  Necrozma casually held up his arm and caught the attack. Its power sparked viciously, threatening to tear apart reality itself. “Such incredible power!” Marveled the demon. A crimson glint appeared in his eyes. “However…” He crushed the attack in his hand. “Against me, it is meaningless.”

  Palkia closed his eyes and hummed in thought. “I see. So, you can repel power like that as well.”

  Necrozma gave him an odd look. “You don’t seem surprised.”

  Palkia replied, “Arceus openly admitted to being defeated by you. It stands to reason that an attack such as that would have no effect...however…” Pink light began seeping into both of his arms. “I wonder just how long you can keep up.” One after another, Palkia hurled Spacial Rends toward Necrozma. Batting one aside, Necrozma raced toward Palkia, weaving around each one before aiming a punch at his face. He pulled back his fist, ready to strike, but Palkia disappeared just before he could make contact. Quickly whipping around, the invader brought up his arm to block a close-quarters Spacial Rend, then sent the space deity away with a backhand.

  “Impressive,” Commended Necrozma. “Using the old warp-around-to-the-back trick. One of my personal favorites.” He disappeared and reappeared behind Palkia, who whipped around to block a chop from Necrozma with his arm. “And such reflexes as well. I suppose the trick won’t work on someone who knows it.”

  Beside Necrozma, deep blue energy began spiraling together in front of Dialga’s mouth and was released into a colossal laser that tore through reality itself like a drill. “TAKE THIS, NECROZMA!” Bellowed the time deity. “ROAR OF TIME!” Necrozma took his attention away from Palkia to block the incoming attack, allowing the aforementioned Legend to pivot around to Necrozma’s back and raise his hand skyward, surrounding it in pink energy once more. “NOW, LET US SEE IF YOU CAN WITHSTAND THE FULL MIGHT OF BOTH TIME AND SPACE! SPATIAL REND!”

  Necrozma’s eyes shifted back toward Palkia, and he raised his other hand to shield himself from the attack as well. The powers of time and space crashed together, trapping Necrozma in between. “You’re done for!” Declared Dialga. “When time and space collide, anything in between is erased from existence!”

  Palkia nodded. “Nothing can survive such a collision! Your reign is through, Necrozma!”

  Necrozma held the two forces back with his bare hands, but for a moment, it looked as if his arms were beginning to buckle under the sheer force of their power. “S-such power, indeed,” Admitted the dark demon, “B-but...it means…! Krgh!” Necrozma’s eyes widened as his arms folded in toward him further. Labored grunts flew from the invader as he tried and failed to push the attacks back, with no success. What appeared to be purple dust appeared on his armored body, and he stared in horror as he began to disappear.

  Rayquaza gaped up at the scene before him. “Are those two truly winning?”

  “They are!” Cheered Keldeo. He grinned up at Necrozma and declared, “It’s over for you, monster! Now it’s time for you to experience what you did to the Swords of Justice!”

  Reshiram smiled and let out a sigh of relief. “Perhaps this war may draw to a close faster than I anticipated.”

  In spite of the other Legends’ cheerfulness, Mewtwo was not convinced. Eyeing Necrozma oddly, he said, “No...this is all too easy. Something isn’t right here.”

  As the purple dust began coating Necrozma’s body, he let out a pained scream. “I can’t believe…” Dialga’s Roar of Time and Palkia’s Spacial Rend pushed his arms further in, practically crushing Necrozma himself between them as the dust ate away at his body even further. “I can’t believe…!” Necrozma chuckled. “...That you’re all so naive.”

  Necrozma’s crystals glowed crimson and, with a roar, he held the attacks outward and crushed them in his fists. Looking down at the dust still eating away at him, he brushed it off with his fingers, returning his body to normal. Turning back to the Legends, he said, “Honestly, this is the second time now. For some of you, it’s the third. How do you all keep falling for this?”

  Riley ducked as a leg swept over his head. He attempted to grab at it, but it retracted as fast as it struck out at him. “This thing’s crazy fast!” He said. The Ultra Beast he was battling was white from head to toe, and absurdly thin, like it could be snapped like a twig. It looked feminine, possessing large, bushy eyebrows, and its feet even looked like high heels. It also possessed roach-like qualities, having long antennas that stretched down to its knees and long hair that resembled a roach’s shell.

  It zoomed toward Riley once again, so he summoned a barrier around himself. The roach beast stopped just before reaching the barrier, turned on its heel, and delivered an onslaught of lightning-fast quicks that tore through Riley’s shield in a matter of seconds. Riley let out a gasp due to his shield breaking, as it resulted in his concentration breaking as well. In the blink of an eye, it blitzed toward the Aura Guardian with its leg pumped back, but just before it could unleash the devastating kick, Lucario used Extreme Speed to come to his aid and block the blow.

  ‘Don’t lose focus!’ Lucario told him. ‘Being caught off guard against something as fast as this will cost you your life!’

  Riley exhaled and laughed. “Thanks, Lucario. Where would I be without you?”

  ‘We both know that answer.’ Helping his partner back to his feet, the two of them looked back at the roach beast, cracking their knuckles together. The action resulted in puffs of Aura erupting from their fists. ‘Now, how about we crush this thing and be done with it?’

  The two of them flared their Auras, making the beast step back. Grinning, Riley replied, “Wouldn’t have it any other way.” He stepped past Lucario and taunted the beast, ushering it to approach with a hand gesture. “Come on, let’s do this!”

  The roach beast hissed at them. It crouched down, then rocketed forward with such speed that the ground it was standing on was uprooted. It aimed a sweeping high kick to take both of them out, but to its surprise, they ducked, and it was sent flying past. Whirling back around and plucking a large stone from the ground, it hurled the stone toward them. Lucario and Riley sent a grin its way and leaned their heads back, allowing the projectile to fly past them harmlessly.

  ‘You won’t get anywhere fighting like that,’ Taunted Lucario, ‘With Aura, we can predict your intentions and dodge your next attack before you even make it.’

  Riley put his hands to his side, forming an Aura Sphere. “All we had to do was stop focusing on defense, and instead try and match your speed. All that power of yours won’t mean a thing if you can’t hit your target.”

  Furious, the roach beast took off toward them with a jabbing kick, which the two Aura Guardians were able to sidestep with ease by foreseeing the attack. Lucario made a grab for its leg, but it pulled the limb away with lightning-quick speed. However, in doing so, it accidentally pulled its leg right into Riley’s hand. The two of them had sensed its intention to pull away its leg, so Riley had positioned himself right underneath it in a way that made it impossible for it to move any other way that wasn’t right into his hand.

  “Alone, you were a challenge,” Admitted Riley. “Even if I sensed your next attack and dodged it, you were so fast that you could attack again before I could dodge again.” His grin increased in size, and his eyes darkened beneath the shadow of his hat. “But…” He held the Aura Sphere he created earlier with his free hand up to her face. “When Lucario and I fight together, we won’t lose.”

  The roach beast shrieked in fear and attempted to strike Riley to free itself, but Lucario caught its other leg and formed an Aura Sphere of his own that merged with Riley’s, making it increase in size to enormous proportions. The beast in their grasp desperately struggled to escape, flailing every inch of its body to do so, but Riley and Lucario didn’t budge. They planted the Aura Sphere in its abdomen and fired, letting the beast sail helplessly into a horde of other Ultra Beasts before the attack promptly exploded.

  With their work complete, the two Aura Guardians bumped fists, but their celebration was cut short when more beasts showed up, surrounding the two of them. Their Aura Sphere’s explosion had caught their attention. The two of them merely grinned at the newcomers and faced them with their backs turned on one another.

  “You ready?” Riley asked.

  Lucario chuckled. ‘Do you even need to ask?’

  Riley snickered. “I suppose not. Now, how about we send these things packing?”

  The two partners flared their Auras together, sending up a brilliant blue pillar of flames as the Ultra Beasts charged toward them.

  “Electivire, shock ‘em with a Thunder!” Ordered Gary. The Electric Type nodded and crashed its two tails underground. From underneath the Ultra Beast Gary was battling, a colossal bolt of lightning erupted outward, but the beast deftly dodged the attack.

  “Dang,” Cursed Gary, snapping his fingers in annoyance, “So close!”

  The Ultra Beast Gary was battling was mostly purple and looked like a mixture between a wasp and a dragon. Its wings were sharp and edged, looking draconian in structure, but its entire lower body consisted of a large, bulging abdomen with a metal-looking stinger underneath it. Its eyes were blue and segmented like an insect’s. Its arms were thin and bony, but its hands possessed three sharp claws.

  The draconian beast roared down at Gary and shot a glob of poison toward him. In response, Gary ordered, “Thunderbolt!” and his Electivire shot up another, smaller bolt of electricity that destroyed the glob in an explosion. Bursting from the smoke, the beast rocketed toward Gary with its stinger pointed toward him. In spite of this, Gary chuckled arrogantly. “Come on, you think I would fall for something like that? Electivire, wrap it up in your tails and use Thunder, but make sure not to let that stinger hit you!”

  Electivire planted its feet firmly in the ground and sent its twin tails up toward the beast, wrapping around its thin abdomen. The beast’s momentum proved troublesome, nearly ripping Electivire from the ground. Gary actually had to leap out of the way to avoid getting stung. Buzzing angrily, the beast attempted to fly toward Electivire, but was stopped by an enormous electric current that tore through its body. It shrieked in agony, but couldn’t move due to the lightning’s paralysis. When all was said and done, the beast was left as nothing more than a burnt corpse that Electivire promptly tossed away.

  “Heh,” Chortled a shrugging Gary, “I expected more from something like that, but I guess I’m better than I thought.” Still smirking, he mused to himself. “Maybe I should come out of retirement after this…?” His thought process was interrupted when two more Ultra Beasts crashed down before him. Eyeing them, he said, “I’ll think about that more later. For now, I’ll deal with you.” Taking out five more Pokeballs, he threw them out in front of them, summoning his signature Blastoise as well as an Arcanine, a Scizor, a Dodrio, and a Nidoking.

  The Ultra Beasts before him were one of the tiny paper-like beasts, while the other was a living fortress. “So, offense and defense, eh?” Asked Gary. “Well, this might be a challenge, but then again, maybe not.” Next, addressing his Pokemon, he told them, “These guys look like chumps. You guys just try to have fun with small fry like these.” Arrogant grins mirroring that of their trainer’s crept up their faces, while the beasts fumed to themselves, like they understood that they’d just been insulted.

  The small one zipped toward Gary, aiming to slice him to bits, until it was intercepted by Arcanine’s Flamethrower. It turned toward it in surprise, but the distraction soon proved fatal as Nidoking snuck up behind the tiny beast and bashed it into the ground with a double-handed Hammer Arm. A few moments after, it shakily attempted to push itself back off the ground, but Nidoking stepped on the small beast to stop it. The horned Pokemon leered down at it, but its eyes suddenly went wide as it felt pain from the bottom of its foot. It lifted itself off the small beast, hobbling and wailing on one foot and carrying the injured one. A large gash had been ripped open on the underside of its foot.

  Gary reached into his bag and took out a Hyper Potion, which he threw over to Nidoking. “Think fast!” Realizing what it was, Nidoking caught the potion and sprayed it on his foot. After draining the entire thing, the gash had completely disappeared. Nidoking threw the empty bottle away and glared at the tiny beast.

  The beast grinded its arms together and sped toward Nidoking, aiming to slice at its neck with the intention of revenge for the Hammer Arm, but was once again intercepted by Arcanine’s Flamethrower. Scizor then lunged at it with its claws, which the beast easily dodged. Dodrio leapt up at it with a Drill Peck, but that, too, was avoided.

  While the rest of Gary’s team focused on the smaller beast, Blastoise took more interest in the large, fortress-like one. For whatever reason, it had neglected to move so far. Blastoise decided to test it, firing a Hydro Pump from one of its cannons. The powerful water shot impacted the beast with full force, but upon the dust around it settling, there was no apparent damage. Blastoise always loved a challenge. This time, the powerful tortoise Pokemon fired a Hydro Pump from both of its cannons and managed to push the beast back slightly. However, there was still no damage.

  “Hit ‘em with a Seismic Toss!” Gary said from afar.

  Nodding back to Gary, Blastoise rushed up to the beast and grabbed it with its powerful arms. Planting its feet firmly into the ground, Gary’s partner attempted to lift it, but was unable to. No worries, Blastoise told itself, it was simply a fluke. It gripped the beast tighter and lifted with all the might Blastoise could muster, only to meet the same result. Blastoise refused to give up, pulling the fortress until its face went red, then plopped onto its back in failure.

  Gary hummed in thought. “No luck, eh?” He reached back into his bag and pulled out a metal bracelet along with two multicolored stones. Putting the smaller of the two stones into an inlet on the bracelet, he tied it around his wrist. “Yo, Blastoise!” He called, making the tortoise Pokemon look up at him. “Here, catch this!” Gary tossed the larger of the two stones at Blastoise, who jumped back up from the ground just in time to catch it. “It’s a good thing Misty gave me this a while back,” Mused Gary as he fiddled with the bracelet, “Now, let’s see if we can do some real damage.”

  Gary stood back up and placed two fingers to the stone on his bracelet. “Now, Mega Stone, hear my call! Resonate Blastoise’s power with mine so we can kick some butt with Mega Evolution!”

  At Gary’s call, a brilliant white light erupted from his stone and raced toward Blastoise, enveloping it. Blastoise let out a fearsome roar, dispelling the light and revealing that it had achieved a new form. Its shell increased in size, as well as, gaining two smaller shells around its arms. Two small cannons emerged from pockets on the arms’ shells, and on Blastoise’s main shell, its two cannons had disappeared to make way for a new, massive one that completely dwarfed their previous size.

  “BLASTOISE!”

  Gary’s ever-present smirk somehow grew larger as he witnessed his partner’s transformation. “Yeah-heah! I wasn’t gonna take part at first, but this whole Mega Evolution thing’s got me all pumped up now!” The light of the Mega Stone seemed to reflect off of Gary’s eyes. Pumping his fist into the air, he cried, “Blastoise, show this punk wall who’s boss and use Hydro Cannon!”

  “TOISE!” Roared Blastoise in response. From the Mega Pokemon’s cannons, three pressurized jets of water shot out and joined together to create one massive, singular water blast that shot out toward the fortress beast with all the force of a hundred raging rivers. One of the bricks on the beast floated out to the side, revealing a singular eye that widened in terror at the approaching water jet. All of its bricks exploded outward suddenly, allowing the Hydro Cannon to fly through it without sustaining damage.

  The beast reformed itself and glared Gary and Blastoise’s way, earning a chuckle from them both. “When it exploded like that, I thought we nailed em, but it turns out this thing’s got some tricks up its sleeves.” In unison, Gary and Blastoise pointed toward the fortress. “But that just means we’ll get to beat the crap out of it some more!”

  Hundreds of Ultra Beasts swarmed around six trainers and their Pokemon. Some of the beasts hissed, while others giggled to themselves, probably imagining how they would tear those trainers to pieces. As they closed in, the ones with arms cracked their fists together. Others stamped their feet, smashing the ground beneath them. The paper-like ones spastically grinded their arms together, sharpening them in anticipation of the slaughter of the trainers that was about to occur. However, these were no ordinary trainers.

  “My, aren’t they noisy?” Remarked the Champion of Kalos, Diantha.

  The Champion of both Johto and Kanto, Lance, smirked at the incoming beasts. “I don’t think these things quite know what they’re walking into.”

  “Perhaps we should show them,” Suggested one of the Hoenn Champions, Wallace, as he procured a Pokeball from his belt.

  The Champion of Unova, Alder, chuckled, placing a hand to his chin as he grinned at the Ultra Beasts. “I couldn’t agree more. My Pokemon are practically itching to tear these things apart.” The redheaded Champion slapped his knee and laughed. “I can’t wait to see their faces when we let loose!”

  Steven placed a small archaeology book he’d been reading into his suit and looked toward the oncomers. “Well then,” He said, “Is there no reason to further delay?”

  The Sinnoh Champion, Cynthia’s, eyes glinted. Though she was masking it, she could barely contain her own excitement. “All the Champions united together, defending the world against alien invaders? Sounds quite glorious if you ask me.” A grin silently crept up her face as she pulled out a Pokeball. “You’re right, Steven. Let us delay no longer.”

  The next thing the beasts nearest to the six Champions knew, they were sent flying. Cynthia’s Garchomp crashed straight through the horde, tearing many of them to pieces with a savage Dragon Rush. One of the mosquito beasts attempted to strike the Pokemon with a punch to its backside, but in the blink of an eye, it found that its arm had been sliced off, and had only a split second to stare at the missing limb in horror before Garchomp caved its face in.

  “Fight to your heart’s content!” Shouted Cynthia as she let the rest of her team loose. Appearing in a brilliant flash of light, a Gastrodon, Spiritomb, Roserade, Togekiss, and, surprisingly enough, a Lucario were summoned. As one, they joined with Garchomp to rampage among the Ultra Beasts. “Let nothing stand in your way!”

  Cynthia’s Garchomp crashed into a bamboo beast with Dragon Rush. Her Lucario jumped up over the two of them, landing behind the beast with an Aura Sphere that blasted into its back and crushed it to a pulp between the force of their combined might. Only when it stopped flailing did Garchomp step to the side, allowing the Aura Sphere to carry the beast up to the mothership’s barrier, which subsequently reduced it to dust.

  A draconian beast chased after Togekiss in the air. It shot off a myriad of poison globs, but couldn’t seem to hit a single shot. Ironically, the missed shots only ended up hitting other Ultra Beasts and exploding in their faces. Growing impatient with the chase, the beast’s wings began buzzing loudly, and it tilted its body so that its stinger was pointed at Togekiss. It raced toward the flying Pokemon, but Togekiss suddenly swerved to the side. Togekiss had lured the draconian beast to Spiritomb, who fired off a powerful Dark Pulse. Due to its speed, the beast had no way to avoid the attack and was hit head-on. Togekiss looped back around and held the beast in place with Psychic while Spiritomb continued hitting it with Dark Pulse until it went limp.

  A jellyfish beast danced around Gastrodon, humming a warped song as it did so. Seeing that Gastrodon didn’t make any move to attack or run, the beast descended upon it in an attempt to merge with it, but was suddenly assaulted by a Muddy Water attack that formed from underneath the slug Pokemon. The attack was so large that it couldn’t possibly phase through, and it was swept away alongside dozens of other beasts.

  Roserade hopped onto Gastrodon, using it as a bouncepad to leap high in the air. From the twin roses on its fists, the rose Pokemon summoned two Solarbeams that swept across the battlefield, reducing many of the beasts that were caught up in the attacks to dust.

  Cynthia’s eyes sparkled as she watched her Pokemon tearing through the hordes, which did not go unnoticed by Steven. “You’re awfully terrible at concealing your battle frenzy,” He commented, to which Cynthia merely shrugged.

  “What can I say?” Asked the Sinnoh Champion, the glint in her eyes only shimmering brighter. “For years, I’ve been starved of a proper challenge. Now that the opportunity for one has finally arisen, to be honest, my heart is pounding right out of my chest.”

  Steven chuckled. “Well, perhaps I should try to fit into the mood, then.” Taking out his own set of Pokeballs, he unleashed a Metagross, Aggron, Claydol, Skarmory, Armaldo, and Craydily. Leaping onto the top of the Metagross, he held out his arm toward the beasts and said, “Come, my partners! Let us join the fray!”

  Steven’s Metagross took off like a bullet, with its rider unveiling a black ring around his wrist. The Hoenn Champion crouched down and patted Metagross’s head, and asked, “Shall we start off with a bang, old friend?”

  “ME-TA!” Metagross replied with a nod, eliciting a smile from its trainer.

  “Very well then.” Steven said, standing back to his full height. He touched two fingers to the ring and cried, “MEGA EVOLUTION, LEND US YOUR POWER!” Metagross and Steven were both shrouded in a brilliant light that exploded outward to reveal Metagross’s form had changed. Its legs had disappeared, but in their place were four large, clawed arms that floated in front of it. It also had four smaller ones floating behind it.

  “Now, use Bullet Punch!”

  “MEEEE-TA!” Metagross’s front arms began glowing. Soon enough, they were jabbing at everything in sight. The force of its punches, along with its metal claws tore any beast that had gotten in Metagross’s way to shreds as it raced across the battlefield.

  Alder unleashed his own team, which consisted of a Volcarona, Braviary, Bouffalant, Accelgor, Escavalier, and Conkeldurr. The Unova Champion leapt up onto Braviary’s back and declared, “Cynthia’s got the right idea! Let’s show these creepy aliens that our world isn’t for their taking!” With that, he rocketed into the fray with the rest of his team in tow.

  Lance soon followed atop his Dragonite wordlessly, though the remaining Champions could see a hint of a smirk on his face as he went. Behind him, a Salamence, Flygon, and Aerodactyl flew out in opposite directions, and a Haxorus simply tore into the closest beast and disappeared into the horde. To the other Champion's surprise, one of Lance’s Pokemon was a Red Gyarados that was also colossal for its kind. With a thunderous roar, it began firing off Hyper Beams en masse at the beasts randomly.

  “My,” Said a wide-eyed Diantha, “I never knew Lance had a shiny Gyarados.” She reached into her purse, taking out six Pokeballs. “I may not have any Shiny Pokemon, but I still won’t be shown up! It’s time that we joined the battle!” Diantha’s team appeared, revealing a Gardevoir, Hawlucha, Tyrantrum, Aurorus, Goodra, and Gourgeist. “Unlike everyone else, I don’t think we’ll be joining the fray, so to speak. Form up,” She ordered, “Make a defensive circle!”

  Diantha’s team nodded, surrounding the remaining three Champions and facing the Ultra Beasts. Next, turning to the remaining Champion who had yet to unveil their Pokemon, Diantha asked, “Will you be joining the others?”

  “That I will,” Answered Wallace with a nod as he walked toward the edge. The secondary Champion of Hoenn unveiled his team, which consisted of Milotic, Walrein, Whiscash, Huntail, Kingdra, and an utterly colossal Wailord. He chuckled as he saw some of the beasts’ faces fall at Wailord’s size. “Now, all of you, use Hydro Pump!”

  Wallace’s team of Water-Type Pokemon crowded together and, from their mouths, unleashed volleys of jet-propelled water that formed into one singular volley that tore a path clean through all of the beasts, giving the Champions a slim view of what was past them. He waved back to Cynthia and Diantha and said, “Well, I’m heading off, then. You two take care of yourself now.”

  Diantha sighed. “Boys will be boys, I suppose.”

  Cynthia simply giggled.

  “Now, Braviary, use Air Slash!”

  At Alder’s command, the giant bird Pokemon flapped its wings with such force that the air curved into a blade. It hurtled down toward a roach beast, which zipped out of the way and attempted to deliver a kick to Braviary when Alder’s Accelgor, to the roach beast’s shock, appeared in its way and struck it down with an X-Scissor before it could react.

  “Nice going!” Alder commended. Accelgor nodded up to its trainer, then disappeared in a blur once more. Below, Alder’s Excavalier blocked a strike from a paper beast with its spears. The strike was quick, faster than the eye could blink. The sparks that came from the blow caused its spear to alight, and though fire was its greatest weakness, it was able to use it to its advantage.

  The armored Pokemon swiftly turned around, managing to strike the paper beast with the tip of its flaming lance and sending it careening into the sky with a high-pitched shriek. With its work complete, Excavalier blew out the flame on its lance and turned back around to face another foe.

  Steven’s Craydily stood in place, waiting for a beast to approach. Eventually, a fortress beast approached, roaring at Cradily challengingly. From beneath the beast, several large brown fines erupted and wrapped around it, to which it formed into a complete wall. It must have been confident in its defense to allow itself to be captured, but Cradyily’s Giga Drain sapped the beast of all its strength in mere seconds. After Cradly retracted its vines, the beast collapsed and fell apart.

  Lance, still atop his trusty Dragonite, confronted a mosquito beast that had been flying above the area. Though “confronted” was a loose term for what Lance did. In actuality, the Dragon Master had blitzed toward it and ordered Dragonite to hit it with Thunder Punch before it could react. Managing to stop mid-flight, the mosquito beast narrowed its eyes at Lance and buzzed its wings furiously.

  “Sorry about that,” Lance said sarcastically, “With how big and red you are, you were practically a living target.”

  The mosquito puffed out its chest and flew at Lance with the intent to snap his spine with a single punch. Lance’s response was simply, “Outrage,” and before the beast could blink, every inch of its body was being pummeled. Dragonite’s eyes had turned a blistering red. Letting out a savage roar, it began delivering bone-shattering punches to the mosquito blindly, though it hit its mark every time. When the powerful dragon was done, the beast was a broken mess with most of its body caving inward and crumpled.

  “Now,” Said Lance, “Finish this with Hyper Beam!”

  Shaking off the dizziness that came with using Outrage, Dragonite fired a powerful orange laser from its mouth. The beam pierced straight through the broken beast, who could barely let out a shriek before caving inward and being carried away, eradicated by the attack.

  A jester-beast approached Diantha and Cynthia. It took off its head and bounced it up into the air. Growing three more, it began juggling them while dancing around in a circle, like it was trying to put on a show for the two of them.

  Diantha giggled. “This one’s quite different from the others.”

  Cynthia nodded, failing to suppress a smile that was caused by the beast’s show. “It’s...almost cute, admittedly.”

  “I know what you’re talking about,” Replied Diantha, “It’s quite hard to take my eyes off of it.”

  The jester beast continued its little show for a few more minutes, changing what it did along the way like balancing on one of its heads while juggling the others. At one point, it rolled on two of them and summoned three more to juggle. When it finished, it leapt back to the ground and bowed, its heads falling back to the ground around its feet.

  The two Champions gave it a round of applause. “Bravo!” Cried Diantha. “That was a wonderful show indeed!”

  The beast perked its head up and clapped its own hands, jumping for joy at the compliment. However, one of its jumps ended up making it fall down onto one of the heads, slipping on it, and causing it to fly at Diantha. Just before it hit her, it glowed orange and exploded violently. The beast leapt back up and continued jumping for joy now that its plan had worked. Or at least, it seemed to.

  The jester stopped jumping as the smoke from the explosion was suddenly pulled to a singular source, revealing both Diantha and Cynthia to be completely unharmed. A blue orb-shaped glow held the explosion and its smoke in place before shrinking and disappearing entirely.

  “Well, that was certainly rude,” Remarked Cynthia.

  Diantha smiled at the beast, but it was a cold one that chilled the jester to its core. “If you wanted to trick someone with your acting, you picked the wrong person to try it on.” The Kalos Champion chuckled, her gaze piercing the beast like needles. “I’m quite the actor myself, you see, so I know when someone else is acting, and well, you’re not all that good at it.”

  Furious, the jester attempted to kick another one of its heads at her, only to trip due to the ball not moving from its spot. It looked down at the ball, scratching the one currently on its neck frill until all of the heads, including its current one, began floating suddenly, surrounding the jester.

  Diantha laughed as the jester only became more and more befuddled. “They say a magician is never supposed to reveal their secrets, but because you gave us such a good show, I’ll enlighten you as to why you never stood a chance against me.” She pointed over to her Gardevoir, directing the jester to look toward it as well. “You see, I’ve spent nearly all my life with Gardevoir, so we have quite the bond. What’s more, she’s a Psychic-Type, so she can read minds as well as sense all movement within quite a large radius. All I have to do is look at an opponent, and Gardevoir can read my mind to decipher exactly what to attack as well as the perfect way to do it.”

  She then motioned toward the other members of her team, who were busy fighting off other Ultra Beasts. “And since she can read my mind, I can simply relay orders to her for my entire team, and Gardevoir will tell them how they should fight as well. Of course, since she can sense all movement in a given area with her Psychic powers, she can also relay that information to the other Pokemon as well.” Diantha then pointed over to her Aurorus and said, “Take a look at that.”

  From behind the large Pokemon’s head, a mosquito beast attempted to strike at it with what would have been a devastating punch, but despite it being in Aurorus’s blind spot, Aurorus ducked its head and successfully avoided the attack, countering immediately with an Ice Beam that froze it solid. It then smashed the ice, as well as the beast itself, to pieces.

  The jester beast recoiled in fright, which earned another laugh from Diantha. “Do you see?” Asked the Champion. “If that had been any other trainer’s Pokemon, it would have certainly taken that blow. My bond with Gardevoir allows her to notify me of any possible danger before it’s an immediate threat, and I can come up with a multitude of countermeasures to those threats in seconds, then relay them through Gardevoir, who subsequently does the same to the rest of my team.”

  Her gaze flicked to one of the balls floating around the jester, and it only took a split second afterward before they closed in on it, trapping the beast in between. It flailed desperately in an attempt to free itself to no avail. Diantha held up her index finger. “Oh, one more thing. If Gardevoir tries hard enough, she can read the minds of enemies as well.” She then held up her wrist, revealing a Mega Ring. “And if she has enough power, she can control them too.”

  Diantha tapped on the Mega Stone in her ring, causing Gardevoir to be shrouded in light, and when it faded, Gardevoir had changed into a new form. The dress she wore extended outward, giving her a regal look. The large red spike on her chest, divided into two that shaped a heart. On Gardevoir’s head, two flat, horn-like structures stretched out on either side of its face, with three spikes jutting out on each. She had evolved into Mega Gardevoir.

  The jester stared at the Pokemon’s beauty in dumbfounded awe. That was, until she turned toward it, and its vision went white. The jester’s body began twitching spastically as Gardevoir infiltrated its mind, like it was trying to retain control over itself even without the mind to do so, but it stopped moving in mere seconds.

  Diantha put her hand on her hip. “From what Gardevoir tells me, you have specific attributes about you that make you resemble a Poison-Type Pokemon, and since Poison is weak to Psychic, it was all the more easy to take control over your body, but…” The jester’s body hung limply, only held up by its floating myriad of heads that were squeezing it. “...I don’t think you’re listening anymore.” She flicked her eyes toward Gardevoir and back to the jester. With a nod, Gardevoir forced the jester to activate the detonation of its heads, eradicating it in its own explosion. “Perhaps it was Ghost, not Poison.”

  Necrozma smashed his fists into Palkia and Dialga, rushing across the sky and dragging them along with him. His hands alight with energy, he hurled the two Legends away, alongside a white ball of energy for each that blinded the sky itself with its force and light for a moment. He then warped back to the other Legends, causing them to jump with fright.

  “Were those two your aces outside of Arceus?” He asked them, crossing his arms. “Because if so, I find it hard to believe any of you will survive before daddy dearest actually gets here.”

  Keldeo lunged at Necrozma and was promptly batted away with the back of his hand. The demon attempted to fly after the young Legend, but Reshiram stood in his way. “Not this time!” A dance of brilliant, dark blue flames spiraled around the white Legend, gathering above her head. “You won’t find it so easy to blindside me a second ti-”

  She was cut off when Necrozma, who hadn’t even slowed down after she stood in his way, smashed a ball of energy in her face and rocketed past the resulting smoke cloud after Keldeo. The poor young Pokemon barely had the time to even see Necrozma before the remainder of his horn had been grabbed by him. Keldeo quickly used Hydro Pump from his hooves to try and escape from Necrozma, but was smashed into the ground the moment he tried.

  “Not so fast,” Said Necrozma, hoisting Keldeo up to meet his eyes, “Why do you run? Do you not wish to meet your family once more?”

  “Screw off!” Roared Keldeo, using Secret Sword once more. The energy sparked violently against Necrozma’s hand, rushing past his fingers and pointing skyward. “Not until I send you there first!”

  Staring up at the small pillar of light Keldeo created, Necrozma chuckled. “Well…” Necrozma pulled Keldeo up slightly so that he was grabbing onto his head, which he then proceeded to crush slightly. Keldeo screamed in pain, desperately flailing in an attempt to free himself, but to no avail. “The offer still stands.”

  Reeling back his arm, Necrozma hurled Keldeo across the ravaged landscape and rocketed after him. He aimed to deliver a punch to Keldeo’s head, but another Secret Sword shot out from his horn. The invader, after dispelling the attack, shot a ball of energy at Keldeo, but to Necrozma’s surprise, the young Legend managed to avoid the attack by propelling himself back to the ground with Hydro Pump and allowing it to fly past harmlessly.

  Once again, he summoned Secret Sword. “Damn you, Necrozma! Eat this!” He flicked his head down, sending the attack at Necrozma. The demon chuckled and crossed his arms, allowing it to strike him head-on. Of course, it did nothing.

  “Honestly, did you really believe that would work?”

  Keldeo let out an almost bestial-sounding growl and fired another. “JUST DIE!”

  The attack struck Necrozma with even greater force than the last, but to the dark demon, it was nothing. Necrozma brushed away the smoke, revealing his unharmed self to the seething Keldeo and said, “You’ve changed since the last time I crushed you. What happened to doing everything in the name of justice?”

  “This is justice!” Keldeo shot back. The light of Secret Sword spiraled around his shattered horn to form the attack once more. “You’ve killed innumerable living things across the universe!” He launched the attack, impacting Necrozma with another powerful explosion that unfortunately had the same result as the last. Unfazed, Keldeo summoned another. “You killed so many innocent people and Pokemon here, too!” Once more, Keldeo unleashed the Secret Sword upon Necrozma. “Including my family! If I strike you down, I will avenge everything you destroyed!”

  One after another, he unleashed a multitude of Secret Swords at Necrozma, with each one being more powerful and destructive than the last. “SO JUST…” His signature attack struck Necrozma over and over with the rapidity of rainfall, whipping at the ground beneath the demon and slicing holes in the battlefield around the two. Keldeo let out a sudden gasp as his knees buckled. He’d neglected to consider his own stamina in his own rage.

  Keldeo heard Necrozma’s chilling laughter from inside the smoke cloud he created. “You say you act out of justice, yet you lash out in rage. You speak of avenging the fallen, yet you lack the strength and resolve to carry it out.” A chuckle echoed from within the smoke. “No, you have a fire in your eyes I’ve seen many times. It is not simply determination and will. It is a lust for vengeance.”

  The smoke cloud suddenly split, and Necrozma appeared before Keldeo. The remaining Sword of Justice’s eyes widened, but, was able to react swiftly. He sliced up at Necrozma with Secret Sword, but the energy blade was caught in the demon’s prismatic hand and crushed, making Keldeo cry out in pain. Necrozma then bashed him with the underside of his fist, and Keldeo’s vision went white.

  “Come. Perhaps this will rekindle your ‘justice.’”

  When Keldeo next awoke, he saw something he never thought he’d see again: The Swords of Justice, Cobalion, Terrakion, and Verizion. They were staring at a cloud of dust, but that wasn’t of any concern to Keldeo.

  “N-no way!” Cried Keldeo. A bright smile came to his face. “You guys! I never thought I’d get the chance to-” He attempted to run to them, but found that he couldn’t move a muscle, save for his head. “What the...why can’t I…?!” Turning his head back up to the trio, he cried, “I need your help, guys! I can’t move!”

  “They cannot hear you.”

  “Gya!” Keldeo whipped his head to the side and found none other than Necrozma himself floating by his side, staring out at the others. “You! What are you doing here?!” His eyes widened, and he turned his head back toward the Swords of Justice. “GET OUT OF HERE! RUN!”

  “Were you not paying attention, or are you too much of a simpleton to understand?” Necrozma turned his head down to Keldeo, his glowing crimson eyes piercing into the young Legend’s soul. “They. Cannot. Hear. You.” The tip of Necrozma’s finger lit red, and he shot a small red beam at the three, only for it to phase right through them and the ground, disappearing. “What’s more, this is merely a vision. They’re already dead, so as much as I wish I could kill them before your eyes once more, I cannot. However, I have the next best thing.”

  The dust cloud the three were looking at faded, revealing none other than Necrozma. Keldeo’s jaw dropped. He looked back and forth between the two, utterly baffled. “T-there’s two of you?!”

  Necrozma sighed, shaking his head. “Like I said, this is but a vision. A retelling of the past, one that you never got the chance to see since you were attempting to contact Arceus at the time.”

  Keldeo’s eyes widened. “Wait, so this is-?! Why are you showing me this?!”

  Necrozma chuckled. “To bring out your true nature, of course. The one that was born the moment the ones you cared about more than anything died. Now be silent and watch.”

  Keldeo shut his eyes tightly. There was no way he was going to relive the pain of his closest friends dying. Necrozma, however, had a different plan. Prying open Keldeo’s eyelids with his Psychic Powers, Necrozma chortled in amusement. “That’s not going to happen. Watch your friends die, and you will find what you lack.”

  Before Keldeo’s very eyes, Terrakion’s entire body was crushed into the shape of a star. The young Legend let out a choked squeal, desperately trying to turn his head away from the scene. Of course, the Necrozma by his side stopped it. Cobalion and Verizion lunged at Necrozma with Sacred Sword, but both attacks were reduced to dust before they could even make contact with the demon.

  The vision’s Necrozma struck Verizion’s side with a sickening crunch that sent her flying away into the forest. Cobalion attempted to run to her, but Necrozma sent him skidding across the ground with a savage punch. When the Steel Sword of Justice got back up, he was immediately blown away by another punch, then, was grabbed by his head. Keldeo didn’t know what Necrozma was doing to him, but by his facial expression, it was causing him immense pain.

  “What did you do to him?!” He demanded.

  “You’ll find out in due time.”

  Verizion sprinted out from the forest at Necrozma in an attempt to free Cobalion, and Keldeo let out a small gasp in horror, knowing what was about to come next. Necrozma whipped around and blasted Verizion, reducing her to ashes. Cobalion’s agonized scream rang through Keldeo’s ears endlessly. As tears began flowing from the young Legend’s eyes, he tried desperately to hold back a scream of his own unsuccessfully.

  Necrozma chuckled at Keldeo’s suffering. “Now then...you know what happens next, so there’s no need to delay any further.” With the snap of the demon’s finger, the world around them faded into white once more.

  The second Keldeo’s eyes next opened, he lunged up at Necrozma with another Secret Sword, roaring in fury. “YOU BASTARD! I’LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID!”

  Necrozma caught the blade of energy in his hands, sending up sparks as it crackled against his armored skin. Leering down into the younger Legend’s eyes, he replied, “There it is! Your true nature!”

  “JUST SHUT UP AND DIE!”

  He slashed at Necrozma, but the attack was blocked with the back of the demon’s hand. “Subconsciously, you finally gave up on those pathetic ideals your friends taught you and are now finally following through with your full potential!”

  Keldeo leapt to Necrozma’s side, aiming to thrust his blade straight through the eyes. “DON’T TALK ABOUT ME LIKE YOU KNOW ME! THE ONLY THING YOU’VE EVER KNOWN IS MINDLESS DESTRUCTION!”

  Necrozma grabbed the blade nonchalantly and laughed. “I know hatred when I see it, boy.” The mad demon pulled back his fist and slammed it straight into the young Legend’s face.

  Keldeo’s vision went white once more, though it was only for a split second. In that split second, the remaining Sword of Justice saw his friends’ smiling faces once more.

  “I wonder what they would think of you now, so violent and enraged.” Keldeo was struck once more, and the vision of his smiling friends now appeared to be farther away, surrounded by a bright veil of light. “Everything that one who serves this supposed ‘justice’ should not be.”

  Keldeo let out a blood-curdling scream of rage. When he next glared at Necrozma, his eyes were bloodshot and red from tears. Blindly, he lunged at Necrozma and was promptly slammed back into the ground.

  As Keldeo’s vision flashed white for a third time, his friends were walking away into a blindingly bright void of some kind, no longer turning back to face him. He tried calling out to them, tried to beg for them not to leave him behind, but no noise came from his mouth. In a matter of seconds, the Swords of Justice were gone, and Keldeo was alone.

  The young Legend dug his hooves into the ground and sprinted at his best friends’ killers. He no longer spoke, now only being able to scream in blind rage. His only thought was for vengeance.

  Keldeo leapt into the air and slashed at Necrozma with Secret Sword over and over again. With every strike, the ground around them received a new hole. Even as the young Legend felt his throat tearing, he did not stop screaming.

  Necrozma rushed out from the smoke and grappled Keldeo by his head, dragging him through the rocky ground. “There it is! That rage is your true nature: The one that was born as your friends died! You have abandoned justice and become stronger for it!”

  Another Secret Sword burst up from underneath the ground, managing to catch the dark demon’s eye. Necrozma let go of Keldeo to swat away the annoying attack, allowing the young Legend to burst up from the ground.

  From head to toe, Keldeo was afflicted with cuts, gashes, and wounds of all kinds. He panted for air, but in spite of all this, he did not fall. His eyes had gone pure red from rage, and that rage was the only thing keeping him going.

  “The fact that you can still stand after everything I’ve put you through only proves my point.” Keldeo’s response was a shrill, scratchy roar. He sprinted toward Necrozma with the intent to plant a Secret Sword straight through his eyes once more, but was snatched up by the demon’s hand the moment he jumped up at him.

  “Were it not for your failure, maybe your friends would still be here fighting by your side.” He increased his grip on Keldeo’s head, eliciting a cry of pain. “Maybe you would still have your precious ‘justice’ dragging you along…” The demon threw Keldeo to the ground, crashing down beside him and holding a glowing ball of energy above him. “But instead, you failed in your mission, and thus, they are nothing more than ashes in the wind.”

  As Keldeo looked up at Necrozma, he could have sworn the demon wore a grin. “Who would have thought a Sword of Justice would end up abandoning justice altogether? It’s quite ironic, is it not?” Necrozma pointed the ball of energy down at Keldeo. “What’s more, you became stronger for it, though I can only imagine how horrified your friends must be seeing you now.”

  Necrozma shrugged, then crouched down to point the ball at Keldeo’s face. “Well, there’s no use thinking about it. Why don’t you see for yourself, then tell me all about it?”

  “You...first…”

  “Excuse me?”

  Necrozma’s eyes widened in genuine surprise as Keldeo, slowly but surely, forced himself back to his feet. “You...heard me!” From the remainder of his horn, a small Secret Sword inched its way up. “I’m not going to die! Not until I see you go first!”

  Keldeo stamped his hooves into the ground, laboriously raising his head. “It doesn’t have to be me,” Spoke the young Legend, “I know I don’t have the power to kill you...but Lord Arceus does! I know he’ll strike you down, and I won’t die until I see it happen!”

  At first, Necrozma didn’t respond. To Keldeo, it looked like he was contemplating something, but after a few moments, the demon’s usual demeanor returned. “You have such blind faith in Arceus, it’s almost pitiable. Come, let me show you exactly why you shouldn’t.”

  Keldeo’s vision went white once again, but instead of seeing his friends this time, he saw Arceus sitting in the Hall of Origins.

  Keldeo turned his head around in confusion and asked, “What is this? Why are you showing me this?”

  Necrozma forced his gaze back up to Arceus. “Watch, and you’ll see.”

  Keldeo obeyed and watched while Arceus seemed to be contemplating to himself in deep thought when suddenly a portal opened up, and Kyurem walked in.

  Arceus’s expression quickly turned to one of annoyance and asked, “What is it Kyurem? Can’t you see that I’m very busy trying to locate Necrozma?! This had better be good for you to interrupt my train of thought!”

  Kyurem rolled his eyes, though so slightly Arceus could not see it, and replied, “I’m sorry to bother you, mi-lord, but I thought you would be interested in hearing that the Swords of Justice seemed to have disappeared. I tried going to their home earlier today to discuss the situation on Necrozma but they were nowhere to be found.”

  Arceus scoffed at Kyurem and replied, “That was it?! You interrupted my train of thought because the Swords of Justice aren’t home?!”

  The Alpha Pokemon turned away from Kyurem, huffing indignantly. “I’ll tell you something, the reason they’re probably not home is because they’re most likely trying to search for that good for nothing trainee who constantly makes a habit of getting himself and his friends in trouble over and over again. I swear, if Necrozma wasn’t a threat right now, I would personally revoke his status as a Legend and kick him out of the Swords of Justice, all together. They were much more effective when it was just the three of them anyway.”

  Arceus quickly closed his eyes and told Kyurem, “Now leave me and don’t bother me at all unless it has something to do with Necrozma.”

  Kyurem sat there for a moment, giving his father a glare, not that he could see it, but ultimately sighed in acceptance. “Very well, Lord Arceus. I am sorry for bothering you.” Kyurem quickly turned around and walked back through his portal.

  Arceus sat in silence before saying to himself, “Next time I see Cobalion, we will have to have a chat on what to do about that annoying boy.”

  “Now you know the truth,” Hissed Necrozma as the world around them returned to normal. “Your precious god never gave a damn about you. He was so focused on what I was doing that he didn’t care to give a single thought that you or your friends might be in danger.” The demon raised his head, cackling. “Hell, if it weren’t for me, he most likely would have kicked you out of the Swords of Justice and revoked your status as a legend much sooner.”

  Keldeo stared at where the vision of Arceus stood for a long time before tears started forming in his eyes, and he frantically shook his head in denial.

  Pointing his finger down at Keldeo, Necrozma replied, “To think that Arceus would simply leave his children to die. Well, I’ll be sure to send him to Hell right after you, so-“

  He stopped his monologue when he heard the sound of wheezing. He leaned down and found that Keldeo’s tears were not those of hopelessness or betrayal. They were from laughter.

  Craning his head back up to the demon, Keldeo asked, “Just how much of a fool do you take me for? Perhaps your illusionism is lacking in comparison to your acting!”

  “Oh?”

  Keldeo snickered. “Your portrayal of Arceus really sucks, you know that?” The young Legend’s grin fell, and he glared up at Necrozma once more. “Arceus...has some faults, but I know he still genuinely cares for us! When I told him about what you did to my family, his fury rocked the entire Hall of Origins!”

  “Pah,” Scoffed Necrozma, “If he truly cared, then where is he now?”

  “Gathering power to strike you down!” Retorted Keldeo. “What’s more, he’s watching us as we speak! He would never willingly let us die!

  “Hmm…” Necrozma looked up at the mothership, scratching his chin in thought. “You say he’s gathering power to defeat me, but would abandon that to save you all?” He laughed, pointing over to where the Ultra Beasts were battling against the trainers and Pokemon. “How many of those people have already perished, I wonder? I suppose that sentiment does not extend to them, then.”

  Keldeo’s face fell. The young Legend followed Necrozma’s gaze. The trainers were quickly being overwhelmed, and he could faintly hear screaming. He wrecked his brain, attempting to find something he could say to counter what Necrozma said, with no luck.

  “I…he doesn’t…”

  Necrozma then asked, “What of the ones you call Solgaleo and Lunala? Were they not worth saving to him simply because they weren’t his creations? Deoxys, too?”

  Keldeo frantically shook his head. “No, he-“

  “What is it, then?!” Demanded Necrozma, turning back to Keldeo. “Would he intervene for you or the other Legends? If so, then he favors some of his creations over others. It’s like a father admitting to having a favorite son.”

  Necrozma suddenly grabbed Keldeo and hoisted him up by the neck, eliciting a choked cry from him. “If he wouldn’t, then he favors victory over me more than your lives.” His hand began glowing red against Keldeo’s neck. “He only has those options! Let’s see what his choice will be, then!”

  Necrozma soared high into the air, howling with laughter as the energy in his hand grew. Keldeo shut his eyes tightly, awaiting the worst. An Ice Beam shot up from below, striking Necrozma’s back and freezing every part of him except for his hand.

  Keldeo let out a scream in fear, but stopped when he realized he wasn’t falling. Tentatively, he dared to open his eyes, and found that he’d been rescued by none other than, “Kyurem?! You saved me?!”

  The Ice Dragon chuckled. “But of course. I owe it to the Swords of Justice to help carry on their legacy.” He winked up to Keldeo. “And I couldn’t let that freak fill your head with nonsense either. I may have clashed with Arceus back in the Hall, but I know he’s more stressed and afraid than anyone else. Oh, and one more thing.”

  Keldeo gasped. Between bowing to Mew and what he has just now done, Kyurem had now done two things the young Legend thought he’d never do: Smile.

  “Don’t ever stop believing in Justice, kid. So long as you believe in Justice, Cobalion, Terrakion, and Verizion still live.”

  Keldeo gaped down at Kyurem for a few moments, then returned the smile and wiped away a tear from his eye. “Thanks, Kyurem.”

  “Don’t mention it, Keldeo.”

  The moment Kyurem and Keldeo landed back with the other Legends, they were swarmed with questions. To Keldeo’s shock, they were all for him. They asked if he was okay and if he needed rest or help of any kind. The remaining Sword of Justice never considered himself a Legend at all. It seemed like a title out of his grasp, one that could only be held by the strongest and greatest of all Pokemon, so for these true Legends to be concerned about him…

  “...Thanks, guys,” He said with a bright smile, “But I assure you, I’m okay now.”

  A loud noise in the sky forced the Legends’ attention away from Keldeo. Necrozma erupted from the ice, sending a cascade of raging energy across the skies. Rushing down toward the Legends, he roared, “We’re not finished yet! Come, entertain me as long as you can before I reduce you all to dust!”