Author's Note: Finally writing the second chapter to this monstrosity, sorry it took so long, been doing a lot of stuff for school, excuses and stuff. As always, criticism is welcome.

. . . . . . . . .

Ghetsis reached into his cloak, pulling out a Poke ball with rage-filled eyes.

"Everything I have worked for has built up to now! I'll be dead before I let you stop me!" Ghetsis threw the Poke ball onto the damaged battlefield, a Cofagrigus emerging from the ball. The Cofagrigus looked back at its master with a hiss, making its displeasure clear.

"You will do as I say, or I will return you back to your prison!" Ghetsis said, rage barely contained. The Cofagrigus turned back around with a scowl on its face.

"Use Toxic!" Ghetsis commanded. A stream of purple sludge spewed from Cofagrigus' mouth towards Darkrai, but was quickly intercepted by Lucario, flowing over the jackal harmlessly.

Darkrai gave a nod of thanks to Lucario which was quickly returned with a grunt, then floated off to spectate next to Zekrom.

"You won't even face me yourself? With all the power of Legendary Pokémon you still let your underlings handle your dirty work?" Ghetsis chuckled softly. "Then were not so different you and I. You claim to want to keep humans and Pokémon together on the basis of companionship, but you're like me, and you recognize when somebody is beneath you." Ghetsis scoffed. "The difference is you're in denial about it."

"You sure jump to conclusions quickly." Darkrai said, sounding almost amused. "We were like N, we despised humans for how we thought they treated Pokémon, but then we went out into the world, and by watching others, we understood," Darkrai glared at Ghetsis. "The bonds we and humans have are ones based upon trust, and a desire to form a connection with each other, not ones of a slave and a master."

"Yet there are still trainers who would exploit a Pokémon's trust, using them as a means to an end." Ghetsis said with a smirk.

"Like you?"

Ghetsis' smirk grew into a grin and he narrowed his gaze at Darkrai. "Precisely!" Ghetsis shot his arm out in a reaching motion. "Cofagrigus, use Shadow Ball!" He commanded.

A wispy ball of shadowy aura formed in front of Cofagrigus' head, and he shot the Shadow Ball at Lucario, who took the attack head on with a grunt. Lucario quickly brought his hands together, forming a cluster of black rings in between his paws, and then releasing the dark pulse at Cofagrigus.

Cofagrigus narrowly dodged the attack, the rings grazing the side of his head. The coffin's face twisted further in rage, releasing another, larger Shadow Ball at Lucario without waiting for an order from his master. Lucario managed to dodge this time, immediately dashing at the Cofagrigus, before leaping into the air while his foot ignited in flames. Lucario twisted in midair, delivering a devastating blaze kick with the back of his foot to Cofagrigus.

The coffin was sent flying backwards, engulfed in scorching flames and creating a small crater upon his landing. The Cofagrigus struggled to get up, Ghetsis giving him a tense stare. "Get up." Cofagrigus struggled to right himself, but fell back to the ground, too exhausted to continue, "I said, Get. Up." Cofagrigus didn't move, and Ghetsis returned the coffin to his Poke ball silently.

Lucario was exhausted, he had overexerted himself. Taking a flamethrower to the face was…less than enjoyable to say the least, and then battling Cofagrigus after had put him past the edge of exhaustion. The jackal walked back to Darkrai's side to spectate the rest of the battle.

N noticed, finally shaken out of his stupor, and walked over to Lucario.

"Here," N said, handing Lucario a Full Restore. He turned to Darkrai. "You'll need these if you don't plan on battling yourself." N said as he handed several healing items to the dream eater. Darkrai nodded his thanks, calling out his wounded Pokémon, and healing them back to their uninjured states.

Ghetsis clenched another Poke ball in his hand, throwing it onto the field. From the bright emergence light of the Poke ball, a Bisharp was released. "Do not fail me." Ghetsis commanded coldly.

Bisharp looked back impassively at Ghetsis, then turning his head back around, focusing his attention on his opponent once more. Darkrai motioned with his head for somebody to take charge on the field, Sceptile being the one to heed the call.

Sceptile quickly brought his hands together, forming a green sphere of energy in between his talons, then quickly shooting the Energy Ball at Bisharp.

"Use Metal Burst!" Ghetsis swiftly ordered. A greyish silver screen of light appeared in front of Bisharp. The Energy Ball was absorbed into the screen, causing it to grow a more brilliant silver. Bisharp punched the wall of light, sending the glowing shards of light flying at Sceptile. The lizard managed to narrowly dodge the fragments of light, but one nipped his shoulder, causing him to stagger back in pain.

Sceptile narrowed a glare at Bisharp, and buried his clawed hands in the ground. Sceptile let out a primal roar, before the ground shook violently due to the grass-type's Earthquake attack. Bisharp let out a screech that sounded like metal grinding on metal, collapsing to the ground in pain from the super-effective move

Bisharp struggled to his feet, just barely managing to stand. Sceptile was worn out as well, panting from the effort the Earthquake took.

"Use X-Scissor!" Ghetsis commanded. Bisharp brought his arms together in an X pattern. The blades on his arms began to glow a brilliant, greenish-white light, and Bisharp thrust his arms out, sending the glowing X hurtling at Sceptile, who was far too exhausted to dodge.

The attack sent Sceptile airborne before he landed roughly, bouncing upon his contact with the ground until he skidded to a halt. Darkrai hastily floated over to the Sceptile, sprouting his legs so he could kneel down to Sceptile. The lizard opened his eyes to see Darkrai kneeling next to him, worry evident on the dark-type's face.

Sceptile braced his arms in an attempt to stand, but Darkrai quickly tried to stop him. "Don't get up, you've done all you can." Darkrai said in a soft tone. Sceptile shook his head, and attempted to stand again. "I'll be damned before I lose to this pawn!" Said Sceptile in his native tongue. Darkrai slowly nodded in understanding, floating back off to where he and Lucario had been watching the battle unfold.

"Again!" Shouted Ghetsis. Bisharp brought his arms together in a cross formation again, shooting it at Sceptile, who made no move to dodge. Instead, he held his arms in front of him as if he was getting ready to catch the attack… which he did. Sceptile crushed the X-shaped energy and reformed it into a sphere, hurling the ball at Bisharp at blinding speeds.

With no time to dodge, Bisharp tanked the attack, causing a large cloud of smoke to billow up. When the smoke cleared, Bisharp was still standing, but appeared unresponsive. After a few long seconds, Bisharp began to shake, and promptly fell over, completely unconscious.

Ghetsis growled in frustration as he returned Bisharp to his Poke ball. Ghetsis reached into cloak again, pulling out a minimized Poke ball. Ghetsis enlarged the Poke ball and threw it out on to the field, a Bouffalant emerging from the ball.

"Use Poison Jab!" Ghetsis yelled vehemently. Bouffalant complied quickly, his left hoof beginning to glow purple as he sprinted towards Sceptile. The buffalo leapt into the air, using his momentum to land a powerful Poison Jab to the worn out Sceptile's face.

Sceptile immediately collapsed under the pressure, he had pushed himself too far, and was too exhausted to continue. Darkrai floated over to the lizard, and picked him up from the ground, hovering back to the spectating area so Sceptile could rest.

Darkrai again motioned with his head for someone to step on to the battlefield, this time Toxicroak obliged, hopping on the field ecstatically. Bouffalant huffed in determination, Toxicroak giggled in response, his gullet rumbling.

"Wild Charge!" Ghetsis ordered. Bouffalant head began sparking with electricity, causing the buffalo's afro to appear even frizzier. Bouffalant charged full force, roaring in rage as he did so. Toxicroak easily leapt out of the way, giggling as he did so. This only seemed to make Bouffalant angrier, his face tensing up as his head sparked again and he charged at Toxicroak once more.

Instead of leaping out of the way like last time, Toxicroak side-stepped the attack and Low Swept Bouffalant as he ran by, flipping the buffalo on his head. Bouffalant was woozy from smashing his skull on to the hard ground, unable to register Toxicroak's fist until after it had already hit him in the snout, and by then it was too late, he was out cold.

Toxicroak gleefully hopped around, reveling in his victory. Darkrai shook his head at the behavior, a small smile on his face.

Ghetsis looked to be on the verge of exploding as he recalled Bouffalant to his Poke ball. He stiffly reached back into his cloak, pulling out another Poke ball and throwing it onto the battlefield. The ball opened up, and from it, a Sesmitoad appeared.

Upon spotting one another, Sesmitoad and Toxicroak both tilted their heads to the side in questioning motion.

"Use Rain Dance, Sesmitoad." Ghetsis said, lacking the fervor he had had before. Sesmitoad gave a deep, bassy croak as he leaned over, rumbling as he summoned several rain clouds. Water droplets began to fall from the indoor clouds. As the rain touched Sesmitoad skin he began to hop from one foot to another, as if he was preparing to sprint a marathon.

A pleasured rumbling sound came from Toxicroak's gullet as the rain made contact with his skin, the water replenishing his health thanks to his Dry Skin ability. Ghetsis' narrowed his gaze at Toxicroak.

"Use Earthquake!" Ghetsis commanded. Sesmitoad quickly obliged, letting out another bassy croak as the ground started to shake. Toxicroak nearly lost his footing from the unsteady ground but managed to right himself. However, Sesmitoad had used this distraction to launch himself at Toxicroak, who had no time to dodge.

Toxicroak screeched in pain as he was tackled to the ground, struggling under the full weight of the larger amphibian's body. In a panic, a yellow energy began forming in Toxicroak's gullet. Sesmitoad grinned at Toxicroak's feverish squirming, until the yellow energy made its way up Toxicroak's throat and a Focus Blast released itself from Toxicroak's mouth. Sesmitoad's face fell, and his eyes widened at he took the attack at point blank range, directly to his face.

A large explosion prevented the spectators from seeing the result, but Toxicroak quickly hopped out of the smoke, an expression of fear on its face.

The smoke cleared, revealing an unconscious Sesmitoad lying face down on the battlefield.

"Agghh!" Ghetsis yelled in rage. "Why? Why!?" He yelled. "Why is this happening?! I planned a contingence for every feasible scenario! Yet here you are trying to crush the fruits of my labor!" Ghetsis angrily recalled Sesmitoad back to his Poke ball.

"No matter how much you challenge me, I will not lose! I can't lose! Not after everything I've sacrificed to make my ambition reality!"

Ghetsis reached into his cloak once more, and practically tore out another Poke ball. He threw the ball onto the field, an Eelektross emerging from the ball's white light.

"Eelektross!" Ghetsis yelled sharply, causing the eel to quickly look back at its master. "Do not fail like the others did, or so help me, you will find yourself in a pain worse than any I have made you endure before!" Ghetsis threatened.

Eelektross quickly nodded, fearfully turning his attention to his opponent.

"Despicable." Said Darkrai. "It's obvious your Pokémon hate you, but I knew it was more than that. I couldn't tell why at first, but now I can see it clear as night. They don't just hate you, they fear you, and what you will do to them if they ever do anything you even remotely consider failure." Darkrai snorted. "I expected nothing less from you."

Ghetsis withdrew his anger, and wore a knowing smile as he listened to Darkrai's lecture.

"While it is true that I had to cow some of these beasts into submission, that claim doesn't hold up for all of them." Ghetsis said. "Some of them revel in the suffering of others, they enjoy the sport, and they're every bit as dastardly as you believe me to be!"

Darkrai shook his head. "Then they are just as guilty for their crimes as you are."

Toxicroak, having gotten over his panic, croaked in agreement.

"It hardly matters, because legendary or not, you won't stop me! Eelektross, use Acrobatics!" Ghetsis commanded. Eelektross quickly complied and began bouncing from foot to foot, building his momentum, then springing forwards towards Toxicroak.

Toxicroak tanked the attack head on, getting tossed head over heel, flying backwards from the force of the impact. The toad landed face first into the ground, skidding to a stop, carving a hole in the ground with face as he did so.

Toxicroak shot back up into a standing position, but instead of rushing to counterattack, he scampered off the field behind Zekrom, shaking silently in fear of the Eelektross. Zekrom looked at the toad's quivering figure and shook its head in pity.

Ghetsis watched Toxicroak flee with mild interest, after taking one attack, the Toxicroak was too scared to continue. "Perhaps I could exploit that after I crush this miserable husk." Ghetsis thought to himself.

Darkrai looked to Greninja, who had been silently watching the battle up until that point. "Greninja, would you care to finish this one up?" Darkrai asked.

"Gre-," Muttered Greninja in confirmation. He jumped from his spectating position, onto the battlefield, facing the electric eel.

"Eelektross, use Wild Charge!" Ghetsis demanded. Eelektross became covered in a shroud of electricity, his entire body sparking with energy, and he darted forward at Greninja. The ninja side stepped out of the path of the Wild charge, Eelektross passing him and veering back around to try and make another pass.

Greninja's arms became enveloped in a dark misty cloud of energy. He braced himself as Eelektross raced towards him, and blocked his opponent's attack with his Night Slash, staggering back a few steps as he did so, but minimizing damage in the process.

Greninja quickly retaliated, pushing back at Eelektross and breaking the eel's guard. Greninja dashed at the stunned Eelektross with a Power-Up Punch, connecting solidly with the eel's head.

Eelektross reared its head back in pain, screeching and bringing its fins to its head, trying to covet the stinging pain. He screeched again, this time in rage, and came at Greninja with another Wild Charge. The ninja fell back, melting into his shadow, effectively dodging the attack with a Shadow sneak.

Eelektross watched the shadow quickly dart around the battlefield, trying to follow its movements, until the shadow broke off into two. The shadows began dividing even more, until they completely encircled Eelektross.

Ghetsis was familiar with Double Team strategies, he had seen this trick before, but not applied with Shadow Sneak so effectively.

"Only one of the shadows holds the real Greninja, Eelektross! Attack them as they come up!" Ghetsis warned.

Eelektross looked around at the shadows as they crawled closer to him. Then suddenly, a Greninja leapt out of each shadow at the same time, all shooting Water Shurikens at him before he even had time to react.

Of course, none of the Shurikens did any damage, for they were just mirages from the Double Team. When Eelektross found his body wasn't stinging in pain, he looked up, only to find a lone Greninja ready to fire a Hydro Pump right above him.

Greninja released the Hydro Pump without hesitation, drowning his opponent in water completely.

Eelektross' trashing could be seen from under the torrent of water that enveloped the eel entirely, and when it stopped, his unconscious body was revealed lying on the floor.

Ghetsis didn't say a word, he knew how hopeless the rest of this fight would be, but he would be dead before he let go of his dream. Ghetsis recalled Eelektross to its Poke ball, looking at the ball with clear disdain before stuffing it back inside his cloak.

Ghetsis pulled out one last Poke ball from the depths of his cloak, staring at the ball before bringing the Poke ball to full size and casually tossing it onto the field.

The white emergence light came from the Poke ball like usual, revealing a monstrous beast. From the light rose Ghetsis' Hydreigon, an anomaly of Mother Nature, who at this stage in its life, should have still been a Zweilous. The massive three headed dragon looked back at its master with scorn glowing in its eyes.

Ghetsis returned the look without hesitation, with an expression that said "Do what I say or you will regret your decision." The Hydreigon turned its head back around and huffed, choosing to follow orders for the time being.

Greninja's fist became coated in a light-blue icy sheen, and he charged towards Hydreigon to try and land the super effective Ice Punch. Greninja leapt into the air as he drew near, using the momentum to propel himself forward. As he came into the vicinity of Hydreigon, the dragon shot a large ball of yellow energy into Greninja, sending the frog flying backwards into the dirt.

"The same trick used by your Toxicroak, except this time is executed by design instead of panic!" Ghetsis gloated.

Hydreigon grunted, shooting another glare full of malice at his master. Ghetsis' smile fell at this, he grew sick of the dragon's constant disobedience, but he would deal with that soon enough.

Darkrai floated over to the unconscious form of Greninja, gently lifting his companion and placing him next to the still unconscious Sceptile, so that he could rest.

Darkrai turned to look at Lucario. "You up for one more round?" He asked. Lucario nodded and walked onto to the battlefield, and began studying his opponent. Three heads, many ways to use them, he would have to be careful around those, assuming he was able to get in close.

"Use Surf!" Commanded Ghetsis. A whirlpool of water began forming around Hydreigon, who roared with the effort. Hydreigon motioned with his whole body, and the whirlpool became a single wave that came crashing down on the entire battlefield, leaving Lucario with no time or room to dodge.

Lucario became swept in the undercurrent of the wave, and landed tumbling, coughing for air. He looked up at the dragon with determination in his eyes, bringing his paws together and forming a large Aura Sphere in between them. He growled with the effort and shot the gargantuan Aura Sphere at his opponent who, like Lucario earlier, had no hope of dodging, tanking the attack. The contact caused dust to billow up, leaving the results unknown.

Hydreigon came racing out of the cloud at Lucario. Using the smaller heads on its arms, it latched onto Lucario's arms locking them to his sides, leaving him defenseless to anything Hydreigon would throw at him.

Fire started forming at all three of Hydreigon's mouths, causing Lucario to howl in pain as the fire burned into his arms from the heads holding him in place. The Fire Blast reached its apex of power, and Hydreigon reared his head back, ready to sear the skin off his prey, but found himself flying backwards and crashing into the ground before he got a chance.

Darkrai shook his hand in pain, surprised out how hard Hydreigon's skull was, but quickly turned his attention to Lucario.

"That's too far, Zoroark's flames you can handle, but fire torture? None of that!" Darkrai said as he helped Lucario to his feet. "Take a break Lucario, I'll handle the rest." Lucario was about to protest, but was cut off by Darkrai's hand.

"I would let you finish it, but this is personal now."

Lucario sighed, then nodded in understanding and went to stand by the others.

Hydreigon flew back up to his levitating position, and growled dangerously at Darkrai.

"Hydreigon, use Dragon Pulse!" Shouted Ghetsis. A purple ball of energy began to form at Hydreigon's center head, shooting at Darkrai in a zig-zag pattern, the beam of energy, at its climax, resembling a dragon. Darkrai quickly sunk into the floor too dodge, much like Greninja had done with his Shadow Sneak. Unlike Greninja, Darkrai's shadows conformed to the ones around him, rendering him practically invisible to Hydreigon.

The dragon's darted his three pairs of eyes around the battlefield trying to track down any slight inconsistencies in the ground, spotting one as Darkrai swiftly emerged from the shadows, and landed a Focus Punch to Hydreigon's center head.

The dragon clenched its eyes tight in pain, opening them back up to meet Darkrai charging another attack, this one a black ball of energy, giving off an ominous purple glow. Hydreigon's eyes widened as he recognized the attack, and then calmly shut them as the effects of the Dark Void set in.

Darkrai watched as Hydreigon gently floated down to the floor to nap, and then as the dragon squirmed and shook from the nightmares that followed. Darkrai floated closer to Hydreigon's sleeping form and he hovered his hand over the dragon.

Hydreigon quivered even more as his sleep as Darkrai fed off of his dreams, relishing in the sweet taste of another being's nightmares. Darkrai cut off of his attack, satisfied with the results, and floated off towards Ghetsis, leaving the sleeping dragon behind.

Ghetsis took a step back in fear, prepared to run, even though he knew it wouldn't do him any good. Darkrai slowly inched towards Ghetsis, feeling the man's anxiety grow with every inch he got closer, stopping until he was only a foot from Ghetsis.

Darkrai brought up his arm, Ghetsis flinching back at the motion. Darkrai fingers crackled with a small amount of purple energy.

"Sleep." Darkrai whispered, and Ghetsis obeyed, falling to the ground from the effects of the Dark Void. Ghetsis' began sweating profusely from his nightmares, his breathing growing heavy, and occasional panicked whisper coming from his lips.

Darkrai roughly picked up his body, and slung him over his shoulder. He began to travel back to his side of the field, but stopped when he saw the Hydreigon still squirming from his nightmare, whimpering occasionally. Darkrai floated down to the dragon, and tapped him with a small amount of the purple energy, waking Hydreigon up.

Hydreigon shot up into a battle stance, ready to defend himself if need be. Darkrai held his hands up in a placating manner.

"Relax, the battle's over and Ghetsis lost, there's no need to keep fighting." Darkrai said. Hydreigon noticed that Darkrai had Ghetsis draped over one shoulder in a fireman's carry. He snorted at his master's unconscious form.

Hydreigon relaxed slightly, and Darkrai lowered his hands slowly.

"Good, to know were no longer enemies." Darkrai said. "The rest of your friends need your leadership." Darkrai reached into Ghetsis' cloak, pulling out the rest of the man's team. "They won't be seeing Ghetsis again, and they'll need someone to look too. That responsibility falls to you my friend." Darkrai handed the Poke balls to Hydreigon, who awkwardly scooped them into his arms.

Hydreigon stared down at the capture devices in his hands, lost in thought.

Darkrai began floating back over towards the other side of the battlefield, and landed in front of N, unceremoniously dropping Ghetsis onto the floor.

"I've given Hydreigon the responsibility of looking after Ghetsis' Pokémon, but they'll likely need more guidance than that." He gestured towards N. "You are as far as I know, the only person they have to turn to. Will you let them?"

N already knew what his answer would be. He raised his head to meet Darkrai's gaze, ready to answer, but was cut off by the sounds of footsteps entering into the room.

Darkrai and N turned to look at the noise, just in time to see Alder and Cheren run into the room.

. . . . . . . . .

Cheren was expecting the worst, Alder had said that Hilbert had immediately given chase to N into this labyrinth of a castle. Wasting no time, they followed the two heroes into the building.

After about an hour of backtracking and asking surprisingly willing grunts for directions, they arrived at the throne room the grunts had said 'N's clash of philosophy.' would take place.

They frantically rushed into the throne room, to be greeted with an unexpected sight. The two legendary dragons were standing off to the side, as well a sizable chunk of Hilbert's team. Hilbert's Sceptile and a Greninja he didn't recognize were lying down, injured, and being tended to by Hilbert's Lucario.

To top off the bizarre scene, was N, and a… he wasn't sure what, staring at him and Alder. The most worrying thing to Cheren, was the lack of Hilbert in the room.

Alder seemed to have better luck identifying the scrawling black cloud thing, as his skin had paled slightly upon seeing the creature.

"A Darkrai?!" Alder said in half shock, half confusion. Said Darkrai looked at Cheren, studying him, then floated closer.

Cheren's first instinct was to step back out of fear, but the Darkrai put his hands up in a pacifying gesture, trying to get Cheren to relax. While Cheren didn't bolt like he originally wanted too, he remained on edge.

Then the Darkrai began changing form. The plumes of smoke-like fur that drifted off of it receded into its body, and its body began taking on a more human appearance, until he took the shape of… Hilbert.

"Hi, Cheren." Said the Hilbert lookalike, sounding almost nervous. Cheren took another step back, all the fear from before returning to him at full force.

N could see the look of apprehension on Cheren's face, and decided to step in. "Perhaps I should explain, Darkrai." N suggested, laying a hand on Darkrai's (Hilbert's?) shoulder.

The Hilbert lookalike nodded, though he still looked a bit anxious at Cheren's initial reaction.

"Where's Hilbert?" Cheren asked, some venom creeping into his voice. N gestured towards Darkrai. "This is him, Cheren."

And then, the pieces clicked together in Cheren's head, his posture falling at the revelation.

"You mean this entire time?" He looked at Darkrai with pleading eyes. He didn't meet Cheren's gaze, but gave a subtle nod.

"How long have you known?" Cheren asked, refocusing his attention on N.

"I found out in the middle of our battle, he finished the fight himself."

Cheren turned to Darkrai once more. "Why?"

Darkrai let out a long sigh, then shifted back to his original form. "A lot of things. But mainly… curiosity. Please, let me explain." Darkrai sounded almost pleading. Cheren nodded, giving him permission.

Darkrai's thanks showed in his eyes.

"Me, and all the Pokémon I travel with hated humans. Some of us were abused, others had things… taken from us." Darkrai shuddered as he spoke. "But we were all like-minded. That is, until we met a tamed Pokémon who had been separated from its trainer. We thought it was being held captive, so we tried to convince him to stay with us." Darkrai smiled at the memory. "But it immediately went running back to its trainer, we didn't understand why, we thought all humans were the same, evil and abusive. So we followed him to his trainer, without his knowledge of course, and that was when we first saw how tamed Pokémon see humans."

"That wasn't enough to make us give up our hate completely, but we began questioning it. We wanted, no needed, to find if our contempt was misplaced."

"So we set out on a journey, me under the guise of trainer as our cover, to find out what type of world we really lived in."

"On our journey we met many people and Pokémon, we saw the many ways man interacted with Pokémon," Darkrai scowled. "The entire spectrum."

The dream eater's face lightened up back into a small smile. "But for every poacher or hunter, there were hundreds, if not thousands of people who saw Pokémon as more than just a tool or a prize to be collected." Darkrai's expression grew solemn. "Our experiences were eye opening."

"Among the people we met, was a boy named N." N tensed up at the mention of his name. "He claimed to want to liberate Pokémon from the abusive grasp of humans. We encountered him many times throughout our travels in Unova and we learned about his upbringing, how he had grown up around Pokémon that were abused by humans like we were."

"The one key thing that was different about him though, was that he planned to separate Pokémon and people entirely." Darkrai became solemn once more. "He had a plan for it all, become the chosen hero of one of the legendary dragons, become the reigning champion of the Pokémon league, and use his position of influence to isolate man and Pokémon from each other completely."

"But after everything I and my friends had seen, we couldn't sit idly by, and it was clear you didn't want us to N."

"The one thing I didn't expect though, was being Zekrom's chosen hero against N." Darkrai looked over at Zekrom. "Funny."

It took Cheren a few moments to process the information. He straightened his glasses and regained his composure. He was about to reply before Alder interjected.

"As interested as I am in this whole scenario." He looked towards Ghetsis. "We should deal with him, Cheren come with me."

"Right!" Cheren wasn't happy about being cut off, but realized he should probably at least let N and Darkrai finish the talk they had interrupted.

Alder picked up Ghetsis in a fire-man's carry, and left the room. Cheren, not far behind, looked back one last time at Darkrai before turning to exit the throne room as well.

N met Darkrai's gaze once more. "Will you walk with me for a minute?" N asked.

Darkrai nodde, and the pair began walking down the path to N's destroyed throne.

"N, like I was asking before, will you take care of Hydreigon and his bunch?" Darkrai said, gesturing over to the Hydreigon whose middle head was still staring down.

"Absolutely." N said. Hydreigon finally looked up at N and clumsily tossed his own Poke ball to N. N caught it and returned Hydreigon to the ball, attaching the device to his belt, then heading over to pick up the other ones Hydreigon had dropped.

N returned to the path and continued walking with Darkrai. "So," Darkrai tilted his head towards N. "What will you do now?"

N stopped walking and stayed silent for a moment.

"I don't know." He answered honestly. "I think… I think I need some time to think, away from others…" N walked to the destroyed window behind his throne, and stared out of it, lost in thought.

"Thank you, Darkrai." He said.

"For what?"

"For helping me see beyond myself." N turned around and motioned at Reshiram, who flew out the window.

"Until next time." N fell back, falling through the broken window.

Darkrai stared at the space N had just occupied for a moment. Five Poke balls seemed to appear out of thin air, and he activated them all at once, recalling his companions to their capsules.

"Until next time." Darkrai said, fading into the shadows.

. . . . . . . . .

Author's Note: Happy 20th Pokémon Anniversary everyone! I would do a whole spiel on how much Pokémon means to me and all that and how it has shaped me into the person I have become today and continues to do so. I would talk about how the first real loss I felt was in a PMD game. I would talk about how much Pokémon has given me. I would talk about how I've connected with people on the internet and in real life through Pokémon, and made some of my best friends through the franchise. And I would talk about how my Pokémon in game were my first real friends, and kept me company when I had no one else, but I don't think I need to, because that's an experience we, the Pokémon community all share, between each other.

Regardless I wanted to get this last chapter of the two-shot out before the actual anniversary was out, so I grinded five thousand words in a week.

Until next time.