Thousands of Ultra Beasts swarmed one area of the battlefield. In the center of that area was one single man. His hair was black and hung over one eye, and he wore a confident smirk despite the overwhelming odds against him. His name was Tobias, the man who commanded the Legends themselves.

  “Oh?” He asked. “Do you all really believe you stand a chance against me?”

  His response from the beasts was an excited mix of buzzing and what Tobias believed to be jeering from the Legends.

  “Heh. If only you were smart enough to realize how outmatched you really are.” Tobias shrugged and pointed towards one of the jellyfish beasts and said, “Well, let’s get this party started then! Darkrai, use Dark Pulse!”

  Six Pokemon descended from the skies, rushing past Tobias toward the Ultra Beasts. They were Latios, Heatran, Cresselia, Meloetta, Volcanion, and the aforementioned Darkrai, who fired a swirling mass of dark energy down upon the Ultra Beasts, eradicating all that it struck.

  Latios swooped by, taking Tobias up upon his back. The black-haired trainer smirked down at the beasts and said simply, “Do as you will with these beasts, but show no mercy! This planet is ours, and it will not fall to them!”

  Darkrai clasped its hands together above its head, forming a ball of pure darkness between them until its size dwarfed itself. It then pointed down to the beasts below, and hundreds of smaller balls rushed out from the large one. Anything they touched was knocked unconscious, which was more than enough of a signal for the beasts to run from the attack.

  A mosquito beast rushed up from below to attack Darkrai and landed a savage punch to the Pokemon’s abdomen, but when the beast retracted its fist, it saw that the wound it inflicted, quickly disappearing. Unbeknownst to the mosquito, Darkrai had used Dream Eater on one of the beasts below, sapping its life energy to replenish its own.

  The mosquito attempted to punch Darkrai once more, but only met air. Darkrai ducked underneath the attack and shot an Ice Beam at it, freezing it solid. It followed with a Dark Pulse that shattered the frozen beast.

  Volcanion shot a powerful Flamethrower from its mouth, concentrated to the point it was more of a laser than fire. The attack tore a line straight through the horde and careened upward into the sky, where thousands of the beasts were flying. The last thing those beasts saw was a blinding flash of light before they were reduced to ashes.

  The grounded Ultra Beasts stared in wide-eyed horror as the blackened remains of their comrades fell from the sky. Furious, a bamboo beast raised its arms at Volcanion and fired off two jets of intense flames from their bases. In response, Volcanion simply smirked. The large ring-shaped object on its back split into two pipe-like structures and fired off a pressurized jet of superheated water from them both. The sheer power behind Volcanion’s attack punched straight through the flames and obliterated the beast’s arms. It screeched in pain, but its screams were silenced by the violent detonation of its own arms, killing it and many other beasts that happened to be nearby.

  Meloetta cheerfully danced around the attack of numerous Ultra Beasts, giggling as she did so. An infuriated roach beast blitzed toward the dancing Legend, aiming for a sweeping low kick, but Meloetta backflipped over the attack with ease. It whipped around with its fist pumped back, but Meloetta was faster. The roach beast rocketed its fist at Meloetta’s face, stopping just inches before hitting her due to one thing: Meloetta’s singing.

  The roach beast, as well as any other beast that could hear Meloetta’s song, suddenly found themselves drowsy. In a matter of seconds, all of them were dropped to the ground and rendered unconscious by her song. Meloetta’s eyes sparkled suddenly, and her entire body went white. The dress Meloetta wore extended and stretched outward, becoming akin to a black ballerina skirt. Her long, wavy hair curled up around the top of her head and became a bright shade of fiery red. Between her hands, a crackling ball of white energy in the form of Focus Blast formed, and she threw it down upon the sleeping beasts. In a single second, they were all reduced to ashes as a violent explosion ensued.

  Heatran’s body bubbled. No beast dared to get near due to the heat that radiated off the volcanic Pokemon. Any who tried had their bodies lit aflame immediately, so they backed away and waited. Though their patience amounted to nothing, only serving to give Heatran time to charge a massive Lava Plume that, upon being released, sent a fiery ring of energy outward in all directions, severing the beasts in two and lighting their remains on fire. The areas on the beasts that were severed had a white-hot glare left over.

  The volcanic Legend next turned its attention toward the skyward beasts, who screeched in terror as it looked at them. Opening its metallic mouth, Heatran’s body began heating up once more, only now it was far greater than the previous time. It became so hot that the air surrounding it became red with flame, and the ground beneath its feet melted.

  The beasts looked at one another, unsure how to approach the fiery Legend or if they should at all. A few looked over toward Necrozma, who was dueling with the Legends. The Ultra Beasts’ master apparently noticed their staring and sent a paralyzing glare their way before returning to his own battle. The beasts paled with fear, for they heard their master’s orders within their minds: “Keep fighting. If you will die, kill as many as you can beforehand. Your choice is to die to them or die to me, and I don’t take deserters lightly.”

  Deciding that their fear of Necrozma was far greater than Heatran, they rushed down in an attempt to swarm it, screaming battle cries as they descended. Though perhaps they were not battle cries, but rather one last attempt at some kind of imprint on the world before they left it. They didn’t make it halfway to Heatran before the volcanic Legend unleashed Inferno, a colossal tornado made entirely of flame. The second they were sucked inside of it, the beasts were reduced to blackened ashes. The remains of the beasts that were sliced in half were also sucked in, along with the ground.

  A fortress beast let out a high-pitched buzz. It was its equivalent of a scream. One of terror. As the sole survivor of the Inferno, it was forced to witness as its comrades were incinerated before its very eyes. It hissed in pain suddenly, looking down at itself to identify where it came from, and to its horror, it discovered that it was melting. The fortress beast let out a panicked wail and attempted to fly out from the flaming tornado, but was sucked right back in.

  Cresselia, meanwhile, held hundreds of the beasts in a bind with her Psychic. They screeched with either terror or rage, but were silenced when Cresselia dragged them together, crushing them into a single massive ball of tangled, bent limbs. Satisfied with her work, the dream Pokemon tossed the ball over to Heatran, and they too, were enveloped in the Inferno.

  Tobias looked on at the havoc his team was causing, a smirk quickly growing upon the seasoned trainer’s face. “It seems we’ve already nearly mopped this whole mess up.” He crouched down, patting Latios’s head and earning a smile from him. “Come,” Said Tobias, “Let us join the others, shall we?” Latios nodded eagerly, earning a chuckle from his trainer. “Very well, then.” He focused his sights upon a large group of flying Ultra Beasts that had been lucky enough to not get caught in Heatran’s Inferno. Their luck was about to run out.

  “Latios, use Giga Impact!” At Tobias’s command, Latios used Psychic to keep his Trainer from falling and cloaked himself in spiraling energy. It tore through many of the beasts before they could react, but the others immediately turned their attention toward Latios, closing in on him. Tobias outstretched his hand toward them and ordered, “Latios, use Thunder Wave and then sweep them up with Luster Purge!”

  As the beasts neared the two of them, Latios fired a yellow wave of electricity outward in all directions, paralyzing the ones nearest to the two of them. With the beasts helpless, twitching in midair as gravity slowly took control over them once more, Latios fired a large purple laser outward and spun in a circle. Anything touched by the beam was completely eradicated with no possible chance for escape, with their paralysis.

  The other beasts, which still numbered by the hundreds, backed away from the two of them. They sent savage glares their way, but did not dare to act for fear of what Latios’s counterattack would be. Tobias chuckled. “”He, who hesitates is lost,”” said Tobias. “I read that in a story once in Canalave’s library. Now, let’s see if that notion is correct. Latios, use Psychic to bind them together and burst straight through them with Giga Impact!”

  With a nod, Latios’s eyes began glowing a bright blue sheen, and the beasts found themselves confined by an invisible force. Much like the ones unfortunate enough to have battled Cresselia, they were forced together, crushing one another with their own bodies. Once again, Latios shrouded himself with spiraling energy and barreled a hole straight through them until he came out on the other side. “Now, finish it with Luster Purge!”

  From Latios’s mouth, purple sparkles began manifesting into the form of a brilliant orb, then it unleashed itself upon the mass of screaming Ultra Beasts. The beam tore right back into the beasts and detonated violently, eradicating them all in one fell swoop. Tobias smirked at the explosion, satisfied with Latios’s work, and turned around to the rest of the battlefield. Just as he expected, there was scarcely a beast left over, and the ones still left alive were fleeing to join with other larger groups. With their job complete, Tobias’s team returned to their trainer, who had now dismounted Latios and hopped to the ground.

  “Well done,” Commended Tobias with a smile, “You’ve made me proud. I’m glad to see that despite not having a proper challenge in quite a while, none of your skills were dulled.” His smile disappeared as he looked up at Necrozma. “We’ll need that when the time comes to deal with him.”

  A rustling from behind Tobias and his team caught their attention. They immediately whipped around, with the Legends readying themselves to attack. A large rock a few feet away was rumbling. Tobias raised his arm, about to give the order to fire, when the rock was suddenly overturned, revealing an imp beast. Darkrai prepared a Dark Pulse to end it before it could be a problem, but Tobias stopped him.

  “That one’s tiny,” Said the raven-haired trainer, “So let me take care of it. Those imp-looking beasts are already among the smallest of the bunch, but this one takes the cake. Should it attempt to attack, you have my permission to strike it down.”

  Darkrai and the rest of Tobias’s team nodded. As per their trainer’s order, they held their attacks at the ready to intercept any wrong move from the small beast. Tentatively, Tobias made his way toward it, making sure not to make any loud noise. From what he could see, the small beast was covered from head to toe in bruises. It was likely that it ended up getting caught in one of his team’s attacks.

  Tobias accidentally kicked a pebble, and he immediately mentally cursed himself for it. The tiny imp beast yelped and jumped up at the noise. Its eyes went wide as it found the trainer. Tobias flinched, expecting it to either fly to flee or attack, but instead, it simply made a pathetic attempt to crawl away on its back but only ended up, cornering itself.

  It trembled and whimpered, obviously terrified of Tobias. With Tobias’s destructive display of power, the size difference between the two of them and, the fact that they were enemies, he could hardly blame it. Upon closer look, Tobias noticed that the imp didn’t actually have any wings like the other members of its species did. Whether it was too young and would grow them later, or if they were singed or torn off at some point in the battle, Tobias didn’t know.

  He took a slight step toward it, only succeeding in earning a loud, terrified shriek from the beast. Tobias’s Legends intensified their attacks, preparing to strike when Tobias, without facing away from the tiny imp, held up his hand to stop them. Begrudgingly, they obeyed, but still held their attacks ready. Ignoring the beast’s terrified cries, Tobias took another small step toward it. Then another, and another after that, until he was right beside it.

  Ignoring the pain in his ears, Tobias sat down with his legs crossed, facing the beast with a smile. “Why, hello there,” He said to it, “Why is one as small as you down here in a battle like this? You look much too young to be participating in-”

  He reeled back and covered his ears as the screeching intensified. “By Arceus, what kind of lungs do you have?!” Pushing past the pain, he attempted to make contact. He slowly inched his index finger toward it until he lightly tapped it on its head. “Hey, easy,” Said the powerful trainer softly, “I’m not gonna hurt you so long as you don’t try to hurt me.”

  To emphasize his point, Tobias gently rubbed the tip of his finger on its forehead. He chuckled. “You don’t look all that old. Alien or not, I don’t think I’d sleep right knowing I killed a kid.” Eventually, the tiny beast stopped its wailing, though it still looked absolutely horrified at its predicament, and shook like a leaf. Tobias smiled softly at the small creature. “You know, it might end up getting ugly if you stick with a guy like that.” He pointed up at Necrozma. “So, how about you stick with me, little guy? I’m not sure how the world will react to you guys if any of you are...still alive after this, but it’s gotta be a fate better than dying.”

  The tiny imp tilted its head at Tobias curiously. Though it still trembled, it looked like, to Tobias anyway, that he was getting through to it. Unbeknownst to Tobias and his team, someone was currently staring down at them, or rather, just Latios. It was Latias, who was Latios’s sister in his former life. She stared down at him sadly. She wanted, more than anything, to go down and speak to him and embrace him but didn’t know what she would say. What would she tell him that he died? That she was a sister he never knew? She didn’t even know where to start, so she simply floated in place, stuck between the decision of whether to confront him or not.

  A lone Hydreigon tucked in its head, cowering before the crowd of Ultra Beasts surrounding it. The beasts, in turn, hissed at it. The mosquito’s cracked their fists, jeering at the cowardly Pokemon. This only furthered the Hydreigon’s fear. A small hand gently caressed the Hydreigon’s rough skin.

  “I wish I could say that I could handle this,” Admitted Zero, “But I can’t. I’ll need your help for this one, but…” She turned toward the beasts, glaring at them with a ferocity that chilled many of them. The young girl slowly took her hand off of Hydreigon and walked up to the Ultra Beasts. She flared her energy, sending up chaotic waves that radiated every color of the rainbow. “I can take the lead.”

  She rushed at a mosquito beast with a Flamethrower in her hand and slapped it directly in the face, incinerating its head and letting the body fall to the ground. ‘I just gotta keep the guilt on the back-burner for now,’ She told herself, ‘If I’m going to survive, I need to be ruthless!’

  Zero hopped off of the body like a bouncepad and, summoning two Leaf Blades on her hands, lunged at a jellyfish beast, slicing it in two. A fortress beast crashed down on top of her, crushing her beneath its weight. It appeared to look smug at its handiwork until it was slowly pushed off the ground. With one arm, Zero held the beast above herself and blew it to pieces with a Hyper Beam.

  A roach beast blitzed toward her with immense speed, Zero couldn’t react to in time, and she was sent flying away with a powerful kick. Hydreigon let out a panicked yelp seeing its new friend get hurt, which alerted some of the beasts. They turned their attention away from Zero and toward it, hissing at Hydreigon maliciously.

  Zero landed amidst the beasts and was swarmed in seconds. Hydreigon attempted to rush to her aid, but other beasts stood in its way. Now backed into a corner, Hydreigon was forced to enter the fray. It was different now, fighting living beings, than to simply attack a giant robot, but Zero’s words repeated in the dark dragon’s head.

  “I wish I could say that I could handle this, but I can’t. I’ll need your help for this one.”

  Hydreigon let out a roar as savage and fearsome as the timid dragon could muster, then tore into the horde with Outrage. It thrashed violently against everything that moved, caring not about where or what it hit, only that it was hitting something.

  A pillar of bright red flames burst up from Zero’s location, incinerating any beast that had crowded around her. Zero launched herself up into the sky and struck down a paper beast with a Fire Punch as she landed once more. “Now, let’s see what other moves I can use.” She leapt up into the air and slammed herself back onto the ground with force so great that the beasts were swept off their feet. “Earthquake!”

  Zero then dug her hands into the ground. Her arms lit aflame, and those flames shot down into the earth. The moment the beasts were able to regain their footing, the ground beneath them began to light up, and jets of intensified flames popped up like geysers across the battlefield. “Earth Power!”

  The roach beast from earlier rocketed toward her once more, and so Zero was forced to abandon the Earth Power and tear her arms back out of the ground. She was able to use Protect just in time to block a stomp from the beast, but when Zero let down the shield to counterattack with a Flamethrower, the beast hopped right over it and delivered a spinning kick to the young girl’s head.

  Zero was sent sprawling across the ground until she slammed into the remains of a collapsed skyscraper’s wall. She rubbed her now-aching head and glared at the beast, only to see that it was already speeding toward her again. Zero was barely able to avoid its next kick, which ended up destroying the wall, but when she attempted to get back to her feet, the beast slammed its other foot into her gut and sent her flying into the air.

  The silver-haired girl winced in pain. She pushed past the pain and fired a Thunderbolt down at the beast with the tip of her finger, yet once again, the attack was evaded. With speeds that made it seem nearly invisible, the roach flew up past Zero and slammed into her back with a double-handed blow that shot Zero back into the ground once more. What’s more, she was now stuck in a small crater.

  The roach beast smirked down at Zero, then rocketed down toward her with its leg outstretched, letting out a shrill cry as it descended. Apparently, it was now attempting to finish her off. Zero groaned in annoyance. “Why is it always the speedy ones or the Psychics? Why can’t it ever be easy?” She surrounded herself in bright red flames, and with a fearsome cry, Zero sent the flames bursting out in every direction. “Fine, then!” She roared. “I’ll just have to make an attack so big it can’t be dodged! OVERHEAT!”

  The roach beast was forced to stop its attack as a colossal dome of flames exploded outward from its intended prey. From inside it, the rocks encasing Zero were incinerated, allowing her to stand once more. She burst out from the explosion, still cloaked in flame, and rushed at the beast. It scowled at Zero, rushing toward her as well. Zero shot a Flamethrower from her hands, which the beast easily dodged. It hopped over the jet of flame and aimed another kick for Zero’s head, but stopped and retreated suddenly.

  It flew a ways away from Zero and crouched down to look at its knee, which had become red from a burn. “That’s weird,” Zero said, “It didn’t make contact with me, or the Flamethrower, so why is it…?” She held her hand up and launched a Fire Blast at it, forcing it to stop licking its wound and evade. It glared down at Zero, to which the girl smirked up at it.

  “Ah, I get it now,” Said Zero. “Judging by that thin body of yours, you probably can’t take too many attacks even though you can dish them out pretty well.” She pointed down at its burned leg and continued. “And that burn of yours leads me to believe you’re especially weak to Fire.”

  The beast growled and rocketed toward her. Zero intensified the flames surrounding her body to act as a barrier, but it stopped right before making contact with her and stomped the ground, causing the ground beneath Zero’s feet to shift upward and launch her into the air. The roach then dug its hand into the ground, pulling up a massive boulder, and rocketed up at Zero.

  The young girl’s eyes widened in shock. ‘I thought I finally cornered this thing, but it’s way smarter than I gave it credit for!’ She used Protect, managing to block the boulder being hurled her way just in time, but the roach flew straight through it and tore its claws into the barrier. With only a split second to think of what to do next, Zero forced the beast to jump away by using Overheat, though it was vastly smaller than the last time she used it.

  Zero let out a gasp of exhaustion after the attack was finished, which the beast took advantage of. She rocketed at Zero with a shrill cry and landed a swift kick straight to her face. The roach beast smirked, thinking she’d bested the girl. Zero’s body twisted under the pressure of the kick, and in the blink of an eye, her hand whipped around and smashed into the beast’s gut.

  Without even giving the roach time to breathe, Zero grabbed its throat. It attempted to shake her off, grabbing and clawing at her arm, but to no avail. Wiping off a smidge of blood from her lip, Zero said, “In a real fight, your enemy will never relent. That’s something a dear friend said to me once.” Raising the fist she’d stricken the beast with, Zero continued. “What I just did was Counter; a move that instantaneously reflects the damage I take back to the attacker.”

  The words of Ryder echoed in her mind. “Your power means nothing if you can’t even hit your opponent.”

  A deep frown appeared on her face, accentuating the scar Ryder had eternally left upon her cheek… “I had a friend of mine teach me this so that I could…” She could still see Ryder’s empty mask reflecting her own face back at her as she fought. Just the thought of him infuriated her to no end. Unbeknownst to Zero, her crackling crimson Aura began manifesting around her, and she crushed the beast’s thin throat.

  “Nevermind,” Hissed Zero. She opened her eyes, revealing the endless voids that were her eyes and eliciting a terrified, choked scream from the beast, “Telling this to you is a waste when you’re simply going to DIE ANYWAYS!”

  The hand choking the roach beast’s windpipe lit with flames. From that hand, a colossal blast of flame erupted, reducing the beast to ashes. She stared out into nothingness for a few moments blankly and descended back to the ground now that she’d won.

  Zero turned back toward the rest of the horde. Her body drooped, and her stance became wobbly. What’s more, she found it hard to keep her eyes open, and every time they closed, she saw the Pokemon from the lab instead of the Ultra Beasts.

  ‘It’s not the same!’ She told herself. ‘This is something I have to do! If I don’t kill them, how many more lives will be lost?!’ She clutched at her head, whimpering in pain as her destructive Aura manifested around her. Blood red bolts of lightning shot off her small body, tearing apart the ground closest to her. The voices in her head, the ones that never stopped howling at her day after day, taunted her.

  She didn’t know what to do. Killing that roach beast felt wrong to her, even though she knew it had to be done. Yet, the voices still clashed against one another in her mind, and with Zero’s voice in the center of it all, it was crushed, beaten, and scathed by them all.

  It’s a matter of life or death.

  I had to.

  “I…”

  It isn’t right.

  It’s the same as before.

  “It isn’t…!”

  Kill them all.

  If you don’t kill them, they will kill you.

  “Unnnngh!”

  Kill them all!

  “No!”

  If you don’t kill them, they will kill Hydreigon.

  Kill them all!

  “...”

  If you don’t kill them, they will kill Ash. They will kill Serena. They will kill Riley. They will kill everyone!

  KILL THEM ALL!

  “Shut up! Just shut up and let me think, please!”

  You are a weapon. You were created to kill. To destroy.

  Zero fell to her knees, violently shaking her head. “I’m not! I won’t become like that!”

  You are drawn to killing and destroying.

  “I won’t!”

  It will follow you wherever you go.

  “I can’t…!”

  You cannot escape it.

  “I…”

  Now kill! Kill everything! Destroy all in your path! It is your purpose!

  “...”

  That is why you were created! You are a weapon, one who needs no wielder! Now destroy your enemy!

  “AAAAAAUUUUGH!”

  Zero let out a cry, indistinguishable from one of agony or that of a beast’s roar. Her power erupted around her, fueled by her destructive Aura. The very ground beneath her feet was swept up and destroyed or hurtled far into the air, and she took off toward the beasts like a rocket. Coating her hands in crackling electricity, she barreled into the horde of beasts before they could react.

  With the swipe of one hand, a beast was reduced to dust. With the slash of her makeshift claws, another was reduced to mincemeat. The force of a single punch tore through dozens of beasts without even making contact with them. Zero was no longer a being, but rather, a force, mindless of the destruction it left in the wake of its movement alone.

  Each strike she delivered, she did so with a savage, bestial scream. The Ultra Beasts buzzed in confusion and fear. With Zero’s unleashed speed, she was practically invisible to the naked eye. It looked, to the beasts, like their comrades were suddenly being sliced to ribbons or reduced to ashes out of nowhere, all the while the air was filled with shrieks akin to a banshee’s.

  Hydreigon narrowly avoided an insect beast’s stinger and retaliated with a Flame Blast that made it disappear in a cloud of smoke. Behind the dragon, a mosquito beast crashed down and swung its massive fist toward its back. The blow connected, eliciting a pained roar from Hydreigon and sending it skidding across the floor.

  The dark dragon quickly whipped around and saw that the mosquito was inches away from its face with another punch at the ready. With a savage roar, Hydreigon lunged past its punch and delivered one of its own with Outrage, making the beast’s face cave in and its body collapse to the ground. Still under Outrage’s effects, Hydreigon charged at the nearest beast to him, a jellyfish, and reduced it to a stain.

  Two bamboo beasts parted the crowd of their comrades, charging up an attack from their arms. Hydreigon turned their way and growled furiously, to which they unleashed their attack in the form of four colossal, bright white lasers that combined together into a singular massive one. Puffing out its chest, Hydreigon let out a deafening roar and unleashed a Hyper Beam from its mouth.

  The two lasers crashed against one another, creating a shockwave that blew back the other beasts a few feet. It quickly became apparent that Hydreigon was no match for two of the bamboo beasts at once, and their beam inched its way toward him, overpowering his Hyper Beam. Hydreigon shut its eyes tightly and, with immense strain, managed to push itself and match the power of the beasts’ beam.

  The beast continued firing at a steady rate, apparently unperturbed by the constant use of their beam. Hydreigon, on the other hand, was losing stamina quickly, and the use of Hyper Beam wasn’t exactly making it easier to breathe. Before long, the bamboo beasts’ beams began to overpower Hydreigon’s once again and barreled into the dragon. Hydreigon let out a yelp, unable to dodge the beams, and crashed into the ground behind it.

  The day prior, Hydreigon managed to, for the most part, rid itself of its fear. Of course, it wasn’t entirely. Such a drastic change in so little time would be impossible. Zero, who could relate to the suffering Hydreigon had gone through, and Ash, who saved it from that suffering, managed to worm their way into Hydreigon’s heart. This enabled Hydreigon to push past its fear for their sake.

  However, there was an underlying aspect to the dark dragon that only Ash had been able to confront. Hydreigon’s hatred. It was a more recent aspect, so its fear, which had controlled Hydreigon since its birth, was able to take hold of it once more, the second Ash had calmed the dragon’s malice. However, just like fear could not be ridden of easily, neither could hatred.

  In the short week Hydreigon was under Damian’s control, it was subjected to all manner of abuses, physical, mental, and emotional by that demented boy. Like Zero with Charon and Ryder, Hydreigon’s hatred toward Damian would never leave, no matter what happened. Also like Zero, Hydreigon’s hatred was trained in a way that made it destructive toward anything, not just Damian. Ash had quelled its hatred, but not gotten rid of it, and so, faced with death, Hydreigon allowed hatred to take hold of it once more.

  Through the smoke cloud, the bamboo beasts could see that Hydreigon was still moving, and so they geared up to launch another attack in order to finish off the dark dragon. Hydreigon pushed itself off the ground laboriously, shuddering as it did so. Its body flared red, as it activated Frustration and dispelled the smoke with a deafening roar. The bamboo beasts quickly fired another laser, to which the now-berserked Hydreigon used the power of Frustration to unleash a far greater Hyper Beam than its last, easily tearing straight through the beasts’ beam and eradicating them.

  However, Hydreigon’s awoken rage would not dispel so easily. Turning its now-whitened eyes to the Ultra Beasts nearest to it, it activated Outrage, which only furthered, to increase its unending rage. It leapt at the nearest beast, a fortress, and reduced it to pebbles with a single strike. Then, it jumped into the main horde and began tearing everything apart. Whether it be Hyper Beams and Fire Blasts completely eradicating the beasts or the Frustration-boosted strikes from Outrage scattering the beasts’ remains into unrecognizable shapes, no beast was safe from its rampage.

  Any who tried to approach the raging dragon was immediately stopped with the swift swipe of its arm, reducing them to no more than scattered limbs. However, the ever-watchful eyes of Necrozma forced them to stay put, else his punishment would be far worse than the fate Hydreigon had in store for them. The shrill screeches of the Ultra Beasts rang out as the horde attempted to close in on the rampaging dragon Pokemon. Their collective train of thought was that, eventually, one would manage to get past its defenses and land a blow.

  Hydreigon was quick to prove them wrong. The dark dragon ripped open its jaw far past what it should have been able to, nearly tearing the ligaments of its mandible, and unleashed a colossal Hyper Beam. It spun around, sweeping dozens of the beasts up in one fell swoop. The ones that survived only did so because they were lucky enough to have had their compatriots be unwitting body shields.

  The beasts backed away from Hydreigon in terror, to which the dragon rushed at the nearest beast and continued its slaughter. Near the site of Hydreigon’s rampage, another was taking place. Zero, still driven to destroy by the constant, unending screaming in her mind, sliced a beast clean in half and quickly tore into the next with an X-Scissor. Another roach beast aimed a kick at her back, but only met thin air upon striking her.

  Confused, the beast turned back around to try and find out why it missed, and was instantaneously struck with a savage Dynamic Punch to its face. A mosquito beast tried its luck and tried to strike Zero with its massive fist, but was incinerated by a Flamethrower before even coming close. She stomped her foot into the ground, then surrounded herself in the energy of Giga Impact. With a shrill cry, she charged forward, obliterating everything in her path.

  Hydreigon ended the life of another beast by using the head on its arm to bite the beast’s face, then promptly fired a Hyper Beam from that face’s mouth. Its body flared with energy as it charged into the fray with Outrage once more. Zero canceled her Giga Impact and burst straight through a bamboo beast with Flare Blitz. She grit her teeth in pain from the attack’s recoil damage, but quickly shook it off. A paper beast blitzed toward her with the intent to slice her to ribbons. Summoning X-Scissor to her arm, she sliced it clean in half before it could get the chance.

  The two of them tore apart everything in their path, sending up severed body parts, incinerating their foes, and drenching themselves in the blood of their enemies. They spiraled closer and closer to one another, not even realizing that they were doing so until they came face to face. Without even realizing what they were doing, they launched a Hyper Beam at each other, creating a massive explosion that wiped out all the surrounding Ultra Beasts.

  As the explosion faded away, only two beings were left. Those, of course, being its creators. They glared bitterly at one another, heaving for air. Blinded by their rage, they saw everything only as an enemy. That extended to each other. Zero’s black, void-like eyes met with Hydreigon’s whitened ones. Then, their eyes widened. They both stumbled forward, as if they’d been struck, and clutched at their heads.

  Zero’s eyes closed, and Hydreigon’s regained their color. It was then, they saw the bodies. Countless of them, charred black and littered across the ash-coated battlefield. Many of them were unrecognizable from being torn apart. It was then, their rage-driven berserked state wore off, and they realized what they had done.

  Hydreigon let out a yelp and backed away from a body that was halfway buried beneath him. It looked all around itself from body to body, hyperventilating. It had never seen such wanton destruction. It had never known war. It didn’t know how to comprehend the gruesome sight left before it.

  Zero was stricken far worse by the sight than Hydreigon. Her vision flashed back and forth between the battlefield and Charon’s lab. When she opened her eyes, she saw the bodies of her victims and the ones of her former friends. When she closed them, she saw the same thing. There was no escape from what she had done. This was war. It had to be done. But Zero was a child. A young girl who had seen enough death to last a thousand lifetimes. She told herself that she had to do this, but now that she had, she wept for her enemies. She had filled the role of a weapon once more, and the voice that told her to do it was quiet at last.

  Hydreigon’s eyes widened even further at the sound of Zero’s crying. It instinctively thought to go to her, but stopped itself when it realized something. In its blinded rage, Hydreigon attacked Zero. The dark dragon bowed its head in shame and whimpered. Zero turned her head up at that sound, looking at Hydreigon. Her black, inky tears leaked down from her eyes in two single streams, dotting the ground beneath her feet.

  Her eyes widened as well, realizing she had attacked Hydreigon, and put a hand over her mouth. The tears streaming from her eyes increased in speed, and she violently shook her head. Just as always, she had hurt her friends. The ones who realized the beauty of this world. Her role as a weapon was truly inescapable, and Ryder’s harrowing warning seemed more real than ever.

  “I’m so sorry,” She whimpered, “I’m so, so sorry!”

  Hydreigon ducked its head low and slowly attempted to close the distance between them. Zero took a step back. “Please, don’t!” She cried. “I can’t...you’ll get hurt again!” Hydreigon felt the same way. It lost itself to anger and hurt the one person who knew its pain. However, Hydreigon knew subconsciously that Zero’s pain outweighed its own. It didn’t know how; it was almost instinctual, but it knew it needed to go to Zero’s side. They were both at fault.

  Zero stepped backward, holding out her hand warningly. “Don’t,” She pleaded. “Don’t come any closer! I’ll hurt you!”

  Hydreigon pressed on anyway. Even when Zero formed a Focus Blast in her hand warningly, the dragon approached her. Zero grit her teeth, finding it harder and harder to lift her hand at Hydreigon by the second. She couldn’t possibly fire that Focus Blast, and Hydreigon knew it. Thus, she lowered her arm, and Hydreigon roped her into an embrace.

  “I’m sorry,” She whimpered into the dragon’s shoulder, “I’m so, so sorry...I should have told you to run...you shouldn’t have gotten caught up in this, but because I said you had to fight, I…” A low, vibrating hum escaped from Hydreigon’s throat, which was essentially the dragon’s equivalent to a purr. Zero, amidst her tears, chuckled dryly. “I...guess we really are in the same boat, aren’t we?”

  Ash faced off against a colossal swarm of Ultra Beasts. There must have been thousands crowding around him, both in the skies and land. The wild Pokemon fought desperately against the beasts around him, but couldn’t get anywhere near their lord’s Chosen One, and so, he had to face them himself. However, Ash was far from alone. At all sides, the various Pokemon he’d accumulated throughout his journeys faced off against these overwhelming odds.

  Greater than simply Ash’s Pokemon, they were Ash’s friends. Ones who have proved time and time again that they would die for Ash if it meant saving him, and Ash happily returned that sentiment on many occasions. Through thick and thin, Ash and his Pokemon have made it through almost every challenge they’ve faced, and now they faced a challenge greater than any other.

  Despite this, they were not unnerved. The times they could not triumph over a challenge were due to the Pokemon League’s team restrictions being set to six. Now, they had no such restrictions. Just about every Pokemon Ash has had the pleasure of journeying with was here now at his side, like brothers in arms.

  Ash inhaled deeply, allowing his Aura to surface. With a mighty bellow, his Aura flared outward, completely encompassing the entirety of his team and creating a brilliant cyan blue pillar of light. Everyone, including the beasts, stopped what they were doing and faced that light. It was a beacon of hope, Ash’s way of telling the trainers not to give in, and as a warning for the Ultra Beasts.

  “My Aura’s been going crazy lately,” Ash noted, flexing his fingers to test his newfound strength, “And now more than ever, too. Not that I’m complaining.” The Aura he unleashed into the pillar curved back down and surrounded his team of Pokemon. They stared at the light in wonderment, which only furthered as they felt a sudden invigoration.

  Ash smirked at the beasts, crouching down into a battle position. “Now that that’s settled, how about we crush these guys and move on to Necrozma?” His team let out rallying cry in unison, nodding to their trainer and friend. “Alright then. Everyone, I choose you!” With that, Ash and his Pokemon rushed into battle.

  Ash’s Charizard, eager for battle after having been left out of them for so long, charged into the horde first. It blasted a mighty Flamethrower from its mouth that stunned a mosquito beast, and before that beast could recover, Charizard picked it up and flew high into the sky with it. It surrounded both of them in flames before hurling the beast down with Seismic Toss and making it crash into its comrades with a thunderous explosion. With a toothy smirk, Charizard quickly flew toward the next.

  The stag beetle-like Pokemon, Heracross, faced off against an insect beast. The beast hissed at the Pokemon, to which Heracross glared back. The beast rushed Heracross, pointing out its stinger. Heracross’s horn began glowing, and it sped toward the beast. Stinger and horn clashed together, sending up a wave of sparks before the two stopped, facing away from one another. The beast’s wings stopped moving suddenly, and it crashed to the ground. Heracross winced, noticing that its horn now sported an odd purple mark. It rubbed at the wound, then, thinking nothing of it, shrugged and moved on.

  The Rock-Type Pokemon, Boldore, was confronted with a fortress beast that easily dwarfed the Pokemon’ size. Boldore leapt up at it and used Rock Smash, but the attack bounced off the beasts’ solid exterior without making so much as a dent. It next used Flash Cannon, sending a whitish-grey beam of energy at the beast, but sadly met the same result. It huffed in annoyance, all the while the beast sat still, acting like it didn’t even know Boldore was there.

  Donphan suddenly came rolling in, crashing into the fortress beast with a Rollout. Though it did no apparent damage, the attack apparently annoyed it enough for it to reveal its eye and glare down at Donphan before turning some of its bricks into a makeshift arm and smashing into Donphan’s side. The elephant-like Pokemon let out a yelp of pain, but managed to right itself and skid to a halt. It snarled angrily at the beast and lifted up its front feet.

  Boldore’s eyes widened as it realized Donphan was about to use Earthquake, which would be bad for it, given its Rock typing, but it got an idea of how to evade the attack. It hopped up onto the fortress beast’s head, causing it to start making rapid beeping noises and look around in confusion. Its bricks split away from its body slightly and surrounded Boldore, pointing at it menacingly. It looked like it was about to close the bricks in when Donphan used Earthquake, shaking the fortress beast up and making it fall apart.

  Boldore leapt off the beast to Donphan’s side. They nodded to one another, then fired a Hyper Beam and Flash Cannon at the fallen bricks, respectively. The beast quickly reformed itself, but it couldn’t prevent the destruction of a few of its bricks. Its eye widened as it realized part of its body was now missing, then glared angrily at the two Pokemon.

  The fortress beast stomped its makeshift feet into the ground in anger, then charged at Boldore and Donphan. The two Pokemon crouched down and growled at the incoming beast, getting ready to collide with it when they heard the angry cry of another Pokemon. Or rather, several ones.

  The beast was suddenly tackled to the ground as Ash’s thirty Tauros stampeded straight into it, crushing it underneath their mighty hooves as they ran. The panicked, high-pitched beeping of the beast could be heard from underneath the Tauros until it let out a single, long-winded low beep that droned on for a few seconds until becoming silent. When the Tauros were gone, there was nothing left but pebbles. Boldore and Donphan stared at the beasts’ remains in disbelief.

  Unfezant, Swellow, and Noctowl took to the skies, and were quickly being pursued by dozens of imp beasts. The small beast giggled maliciously as they fired globs of poison from the stingers on their head which, the three bird Pokemon easily dodged by looping over them. Noctowl curved back around and created a Gust with its wings, sending a few of the imps flying backward.

  The other imps took advantage of Noctowl’s stillness, firing more poisonous globs at it, but the globs were deflected by Unfezant’s Air Slash. The imps cried out, confused why their attacks didn’t work when four of them were sent careening back down to earth by an Aerial Ace from Swellow. The remaining ones bared their teeth at the three bird Pokemon and growled. They charged at them, but were swiftly stopped by Noctowl’s Confusion stopped them clean in their tracks. Seeing their chance, Unfezant and Swellow blasted the small horde of imp beasts with Air Cutter, and they, too, were sent falling back to the ground.

  Another imp beast zipped in circles above Muk’s head, mocking it with giggles as it hurled glob after glob of poison at it. It stopped once it figured out that the poison wasn’t having any effect. It looked down at Muk curiously, tilting its head in confusion. The sludgy, gelatinous body of Muk folded in on itself, then sprang back out as it fired a Mud Bomb straight into the imp that detonated violently upon impact.

  A jellyfish beast hovered over to Muk, singing its normal broken-sounding song. An amorphous, pulsating ball of the kaleidoscope-colored substance it could create formed beneath its head, which was then hurled down at the sludge Pokemon. It collided with Muk’s body before slowly sinking in. Muk stared down at it oddly, then looked back up at the jellyfish.

  The beast in question began frantically dancing above Muk’s head, apparently believing the substance to have worked, and descended upon the Pokemon. It slowly laid itself down upon Muk’s head and stretched its tentacles out, only realizing its mistake too late to undo it. Its body, just like the substance it attempted to use against Muk, began sinking into the Pokemon’s body.

  Muk stretched out its arms and completely covered the jellyfish, smothering its panicked, shrill cries. It stayed still for a few seconds before eventually retracting its body and allowing the jellyfish to exit. The beast was now a pale grey and appeared to be wrinkled and shriveled, laying on the ground without moving. Muk had completely drained the jellyfish of its poisonous bodily fluids to use as its food.

  The rapid, frantic beeping of a fortress beast rang out. Snorlax had somehow managed to plant itself atop the beast’s head and threatened to crush it underneath as it slept. Snorlax drooped its arm over the side of the beast’s body, snoring lazily. The beast, in return, detached a multitude of its bricks and jabbed them into Snorlax with the intent to kill. However, the bricks only bounced off Snorlax’s thick, fat body harmlessly.

  The sleeping Pokemon itched at its belly, serving as the only sign of it being remotely affected by the beast’s onslaught. A crack ran down the beast’s body, causing it to let out a terrified shriek. It began rapidly jabbing its bricks into Snorlax in a last-ditch effort to push it off its body, but it was too slow. The beast let out one last pained cry that was immediately cut off as its body crumbled beneath Snorlax’s immense weight. The sleeping Pokemon yawned and turned onto its side.

  A jester-beast threw its head up at Glalie, who, realizing that it must have been some kind of attack on the beast’s part, froze it with Ice Beam. The frigid Pokemon moved out of the way as the frozen ball flew past it before falling back to the ground. The moment the ice shattered, the head exploded violently, proving Glalie’s intuition correct.

  It glared down at the jester and launched another Ice Beam, but the beast stopped it by sending up another head to take the attack, then kicked it up at Glalie. Or rather, it tried to. Apparently, it had never once encountered ice before, so when it kicked Glalie’s, it had no idea how hard it would be. It made an expression with its hands that it was screaming, though no actual sound came out from it, and hobbled around on one foot in pain.

  Glalie sweatdropped awkwardly and closed its eyes, not able to bear the awkwardness of the situation. It then decided to finish the job quickly, realizing that if it let the fight go on, then the jester could prove dangerous after learning of Glalie’s ice and froze it solid with another Ice Beam. It was still holding onto its aching foot.

  Gliscor was scarcely able to avoid the slice of a paper beast. Its eyes widened in horror as it witnessed the missed attack leave a massive gash in the ground. Had Gliscor been hit by the attack, it wouldn’t have been pretty. Deciding to end this quickly, the flying Pokemon materialized six jagged stones around itself to use Stone Edge and launched them at the beast.

  In the blink of an eye, the stones were sliced to nothing more than dust that fell past the beast harmlessly. Once again turning its ire upon Gliscor, it rushed up to the Pokemon, grinding its arms together. Gliscor yelped and quickly used Steel Wing defensively. The beast crashed into Gliscor violently, sending up a hail of sparks as it flew past.

  Gliscor winced, now sporting a nasty cut on its wing, but it luckily managed to minimize the damage with Steel Wing. It whipped around just in time to see the paper beast rushing back toward it, and so Gliscor, in a panic, used Screech. The attack apparently worked, and the beast immediately began shrieking in pain. Gliscor smirked. Now was its chance. It bit into the beast with Fire Fang, which coated the beast in flames. Gliscor then threw the beast down, where it sailed back into the ground before the flames reduced the tiny beast to dust.

  The Flying-Type Pokemon, Staraptor, swerved out of the way of a chop from a mosquito beast, swiftly countering with an Aerial Ace to its abdomen. The beast let out a shriek of pain and retaliated with a swift bash from the underside of its fist that sent Staraptor spiraling into the ground below. Staraptor let out a cry of pain upon impact. As the bird slowly struggled to get back onto its feet, the mosquito beast crashed down beside it. It crouched down, bringing its fist up to the underside of Staraptor’s head. The raptor bird Pokemon’s eyes widened, helpless to avoid the incoming strike.

  The mosquito beast’s fist crashed into Staraptor’s chin, sending it flying into the air. Immediately, the beast rocketed up past the bird Pokemon and double-hand slammed into its back, sending Staraptor right back down to the ground in a crumpled mess. Its arms crossed, the mosquito floated gently down to the ground next to Staraptor and picked it up by the wing. It smirked cruelly at the Pokemon, bringing it closer to the stinger it had for a mouth. Staraptor closed its eyes and winced, preparing for the worst.

  “TORRRRTERA!”

  At the sudden noise, the mosquito beast turned around with an odd expression, and was promptly sent flying as the ground beneath its feet shot upward. The large tortoise Pokemon, Torterra, had used Rock Climb, making the ground jut up with incredible force. Torterra walked up to Staraptor, asking if it was alright. Shakily, Staraptor managed to push itself onto its talons and nodded.

  Their attention snapped upward as they heard the loud, angry buzzing of the mosquito beast. It raced down at them with its fist pulled back, so Torterra, thinking quickly, used Leaf Storm. The tree on the large Pokemon’s shell shot up a flurry of razor-sharp leaves, as well as a small cyclone of wind that carried them.

  The beast brought up its arms to shield its face from the onslaught, but in turn, it blinded itself. Realizing this, Staraptor took to the skies, shrouding itself in intense flames. It flew to the point that it was nearing the mothership’s barrier, then craned its body back down and blitzed toward the beast with nearly invisible speeds. The flames coating Staraptor’s body had become blue and crackled with heat.

  The beast, now annoyed by the constant onslaught of Torterra’s leaves, swatted away the Leaf Storm with its arms and flexed, preparing to descend upon the Pokemon when Staraptor tore straight through it with Brave Bird, gliding across the ground and slowing to a stop. The beast scarcely had the time to react before it was consumed in an explosion

  Leavanny bent backward to the point its hand-leaves touched the ground, dodging a lightning-fast kick by only a hair. However, the moment it stood back up and turned to face its assailant, it was struck across the face with a supersonic punch and sent onto its back. It gasped in pain, but forced its eyes to stay open to hopefully get a glimpse at whatever was attacking it.

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  A white blur blitzed across Leavanny’s line of sight, and it quickly fired off an Energy Ball. The blur immediately kicked it back, resulting in the Bug-Type Pokemon being caught in the attack’s explosion. Leavanny let out a pained cry, but the beast gave it no quarter. With bullet-like speed, it stomped down upon the Pokemon’s abdomen, causing its eyes to go wide and letting out a choked cry.

  The beast, which Leavanny could now see was a roach, smirked down at the Pokemon and kicked it over onto its face. It raised its foot over Leavanny’s head, preparing to finish it off, when suddenly, the ground beneath it cracked. Another Pokemon erupted from underneath the ground, striking the roach beast’s chin with a savage clawed uppercut. The beast staggered backward and glared at the newcomer. Leavanny craned its head up to its savior, finding none other than Krookodile grinning down at it with its arms crossed.

  It turned its gaze back to the roach beast, glaring menacingly. Apparently, it had replaced its signature shades at some point with large, red ones that curved out into jagged, almost V-shaped ones on either side. Their size dwarfed even Krookodile’s head. The beast glared back and rocketed at Krookodile. In response, Krookodile simply smirked and used Stone Edge, making the beast crash straight into them unintentionally. It winced as one of the jagged stones punctured its leg, and soon enough, the others were sent flying into the beast’s body at point-blank range, making the beast fly backward as they exploded.

  The beast managed to right itself in the air and land gently back onto its feet, though in spite of that, it looked absolutely livid. The Stone Edges had caused various puncture wounds all across its body, as well as tearing holes through its hair. It roared at Krookodile and rocketed toward it, to which the crocodile Pokemon smirked once more and sank into the ground with Dig.

  The beast was sent flying over where Krookodile once was, and was caught off guard long enough for Leavanny to leap up and strike it with X-Scissor. The beast was sent back, but once again easily landed back on its feet and hissed at Leavanny. It crouched down, preparing to strike when Krookodile once again leapt up from underground, striking it in the abdomen with Aerial Ace.

  The roach was sent flying high into the air, letting out a high-pitched shriek as it flew. Krookodile took off its shades and hurled them at the roach. They split in two, slicing repeatedly into the beast with their jagged edges until they cut a hole in both of the beast’s arms and legs, becoming stuck in its limbs and preventing the roach from moving.

  Krookodile dove underground for a split second, and when it re-emerged, it held a colossal boulder in one hand. It used Sandstorm, which spiraled around Krookodile and the boulder violently. Leavanny was forced to cover its eyes due to the power of the wind it kicked up. When the sand disappeared, Leavanny gaped up at what had once been a boulder. The sandstorm carved it into the shape of a massive drill, allowing Krookodile to use Drill Run.

  The crocodile Pokemon leapt up from the ground, once again using Sandstorm around the drill to make it actually spin like one. The beast shrieked in terror, pulling at the sunglasses that protruded from its limbs to no avail. It could only stare on with wide-eyed horror as Krookodile’s drill barreled straight through its body. Krookodile landed behind the beast with its shades in hand. Returning them to their rightful place upon the Pokemon’s snout, Krookodile flicked its wrist and allowed its drill to return to rubble as the roach beast exploded behind it.

  Scraggy crashed into a bamboo beast with Headbutt. Of course, this only served to give the small Pokemon a headache and did no damage to the beast. A fortress beast appeared at the bamboo beast’s side, and the two of them jeered at the fallen Pokemon. Scraggy pushed itself back onto its stubby feet and snarled at the vastly larger beasts.

  The bamboo beast pointed its blasters at the small Pokemon threateningly, but Scraggy refused to back down. Craning its head to the sky, it called, “SCRRRRAGGY!” The ears of the Pokemon nearby perked at the call and rushed to its source. Snivy, Pignite, Oshawott, Bulbasaur, Gible, Buizel, Squirtle, Corphish, Totodile, Palpitoad, Kingler, Quilava, and Torkoal quickly arrived at the scene, save for the last one, who slowly inched his way into the group.

  With allies now at his side, Scraggy smirked at the beasts challengingly. In response, the bamboo beast fired its blasters at them. The Pokemon quickly scrambled out of the way, but Torkoal was not able to evade in time and was completely consumed by the blast. The Pokemon gasped, worried that one of their friends had fallen, but their worries were quickly proven to be for naught when they saw the fiery tortoise Pokemon slowly march straight through the flames toward its attacker.

  Surprised, the bamboo beast intensified its output, but it still had no effect. Torkoal opened its mouth and charged a Flamethrower. The beasts saw this, and the bamboo one quickly halted firing. Just as Torkoal unleashed its attack, the fortress beast leapt in the way and took the attack head-on. When Torkoal stopped its assault, there was no apparent marking on the fortress beast whatsoever.

  Torkoal huffed in annoyance, making steam erupt from its shell. It attempted to fire another Flamethrower, but the fortress beast assembled four of its bricks into a makeshift foot and stomped the ground with enough force to throw Torkoal onto its back. The other Pokemon quickly attempted to rush to its aid, but the bamboo beast intercepted them and forced them to jump backward to avoid the swing of the beast’s arm.

  Pignite coated itself in flames and charged at the beast with Flare Blitz, managing to knock it backward slightly. The pig Pokemon then hopped back onto the ground, smirking confidently until its recoil set in. Annoyed, the bamboo beast pointed its arm at Pignite and blasted at it, but Squirtle, Oshawott, and Corphish jumped in the way and countered it with Water Gun. The two attacks pushed against one another for dominance until, when neither could prove stronger than the other, exploded out into a cloud of steam.

  The beast swiped its arm to dispel the steam, only to find that all the Pokemon had disappeared. It looked around in confusion until it realized where they had gone. It whipped around and, just as it thought, the Pokemon crowded around Torkoal, defending it from the fortress beast. Most of them prepared attacks warningly, while the others managed to push Torkoal back onto its feet before joining the others.

  The bamboo beast scowled and pointed both of its arms at the group, blasting a massive jet of flame in their direction. The Pokemon immediately shifted their attention away from the fortress beast and to the rapidly approaching beam. Kingler leapt in front of it and raised its massive claw to the sky. Concentrated water spiraled around it, forming a bubble around the claw before the crab Pokemon slammed it down upon the incoming laser.

  The impact caused a large explosion that sent Kingler flying backward. Ash’s other Pokemon tried to go to its aid, but stopped when they saw that the beast was charging up once more. Buizel took it upon himself to curb the beast’s plan before it could even begin and lunged at it with Aqua Jet. The beast was forced to unleash its next blast before it could be completed, and since Buizel’s water protected it from the flames, they were forced to a standstill.

  Buizel looked back at the other Pokemon, cried, “Bui Bui!” and motioned to the beast. The Pokemon got the idea rather quickly, and Oshawott charged around to the beast’s side. The small Water Pokemon took off the shell on its belly, which formed a curved blade of concentrated water, and jumped up at the beast. The beast, backed into a corner, had no other option than to move one of its arms to stop Oshawatt, but in the process allowed Buizel to glide past its blast and crash straight into its face with Oshawott slicing at its hard exterior with Razor Shell.

  Upon landing back on the ground, Buizel crossed his arms and smirked at the beast. Oshawott planted his shell back on his chest and hopped off the ground, giddy at his apparent victory. The beast had other ideas. Infuriated, it pointed its blasters at the two Water Pokemon, only to be hit from the side once more by Quilava’s Flamethrower.

  The beast vainly attempted to cover its body with its arms, but due to its arms being so thin in comparison to its body, it failed. The fortress beast attempted to aid its comrade, but Snivy jumped in its way and used Leaf Tornado. The twister of swirling leaves didn’t harm the beast, but it did blind it and force it to stay put. Pignite hopped in and helped Snivy hold the large beast back by using Brick Break, repeatedly slamming its fist into the beast’s body in an endeavor to do the attack’s namesake.

  Frustrated, the fortress beast formed an arm with its bricks and brought it down upon Pignite’s head, but stopped when it felt a sudden pinch on its arm. Bringing the arm over to its eye, it found that Gible had bitten onto it. The beast immediately slammed the arm into the ground in a repeated attempt to sever the tiny dragon from its arm.

  However, the beast had no luck in doing so. Even with the sheer force of the fortress’s strikes, Gible refused to let go. It didn’t hurt the beast, only serving to annoy it. It eventually gave up on trying to rid itself of Gible that way, instead returning the bricks to the rest of its body to try and force the dragon off. Yet still, Gible held on, causing the beast to be unable to properly reform itself.

  Now the beast was really annoyed. Once again, forming an arm with the brick holding Gible on the arm’s tip, it furiously slammed it into the ground in repeated succession, making rapid, beeping noise in apparent distress as it did so. The beast then felt a tap and looked down to see Bulbasaur smiling up at it. The bulb on its back was glowing. The fortress’s eye curled down in confusion, then raised its arm up, threatening to slam it down upon Bulbasaur.

  A Mud Slap from Palpitoad found its way into the fortress’s eye, causing it to flail around in pain. Totodile, dancing around happily as it usually did, fired a Hydro Pump into its eye that caused the mud to harden and crust. At last, it managed to throw Gible from its arm after flinging it up in the air and wiped away the mud to reveal that the beast was now absolutely livid, if the shape of its eye was any indication. However, the moment it did so, Bulbasaur unleashed a Solar Beam straight into the eye.

  The fortress beast let out a high-pitched wail and brought up its arm to stop the beam with little success. The beam punched straight through the gaps in the arm and continued crashing against the eye, all the while the beast frantically stepped backward and shook its head, eventually being completely pushed over by Bulbasaur’s attack.

  The bamboo beast swiped at the Pokemon surrounding it, knocking them away in one fell swoop. Though they weren’t heavily damaged by the attack, it gave the beast some breathing room to call to its comrade. The fortress beast eyed its partner questioningly until it saw a grin upon its face. Knowing what it meant, the fortress beast exploded outward just in time to avoid a Bite from Gible, causing the small dragon to plummet back into the ground on its face.

  The fortress beast’s bricks flew toward the bamboo beast, surrounding it. As the bricks came near, intense plasma sparked between them and the other beast’s body, signifying an intense magnetic effect. The bricks suddenly crashed into the bamboo beast, creating an extra layer of armor that melded onto its skin. The bamboo beast’s arms were coated as well, save for their blasters. The brick containing the fortress beast’s eye stuck to the bamboo beast’s forehead, and the two beasts had now completely merged.

  The Pokemon grit their teeth and glared at their new foe. They stood by, not daring to make a move for fear of what this new beast was capable of. Palpitoad, deciding to make the first move, attempted to blind the beast with Mud Slap for a second time, but its attack was slapped away in the blink of an eye, and Palpitoad was blasted by an intense jet of flame that sent it flying.

  Quilava let loose a Flamethrower attack. The beast stood still, allowing the attack to hit it head-on. Just as the beast thought, it didn’t do a thing. It smirked from within the flames and dispelled them with the wave of its arm. Pointing its blaster at Quilava, it unleashed a bright orange beam at Quilava, whose eyes widened in terror like a deer in headlights.

  Snivy, being the fastest out of anyone in the group, used Vine Whip to pick Quilava up and bring it to safety, just in time to avoid the beast’s blast. However, this now brought the beast’s attention toward Snivy, and it fired up its blaster in her direction. Before it could unleash its next attack, Pignite barreled into it with Flare Blitz and quickly backed away, confident that it had damaged the beast.

  Its confidence was misplaced. The smoke from Pignite’s attack cleared, revealing the merged beast to be completely unharmed. It grinned, seeing Pignite’s dumbfounded expression, and swatted the pig Pokemon away with its arm. Gible craned its head to the sky and launched a Draco Meteor in the form of a small orange ball that flew into the sky before exploding and raining down toward the beast.

  However, the merged beast pointed one of its blasters at the incoming attacks and incinerated all of them in a single swoop. It turned toward Gible to blast the small dragon as well, but couldn’t find it anywhere. Shrugging, it raised its blaster toward the other Pokemon and grinned maliciously. That was, until it realized where Gible was.

  The small dragon Pokemon had once again bitten into the beast, now clamping down on the edge of its blaster, right before the curved end of its arm. The merged beast simply pointed its other blaster at Gible and found that Totodile had taken hold of that one as well. It violently attempted to shake the two of them off, having as much luck as the fortress beast did alone.

  Oshawott took advantage of the beast’s distraction and jumped to slice at the merged beast’s thin neck with Razor Shell, but ended up being unintentionally slapped away by the beast’s random flailing. Luckily for the otter Pokemon, it was caught by Snivy’s Vine Whip and sent gently to the ground. Oshawott let out a relieved sigh and thanked Snivy, who simply nodded and turned to face the beast.

  The merged beast slammed its arms together and unleashed its blasters, finally managing to rid itself of the two biting Pokemon. It then turned back to the other Pokemon, immediately receiving a combined Flamethrower from Torkoal and Quilava. This still only served as an annoyance to the merged beast, who unleashed another blast of flame in response.

  All of the Pokemon except Torkoal were able to evade, resulting in the same scenario from the beginning of the battle. Only this time, it played out differently. The intensity of the beast’s flames pushed Torkoal back, and despite the tortoise Pokemon digging its feet into the dirt, it was unable to get a good grip and was blasted away with a violent explosion.

  Quilava snarled at the merged beast and leapt at it with a Flame Wheel in spite of Snivy’s warning not to do so, resulting in the Fire-Type being easily swatted away and blasted into the ground. Totodile’s cheerful expression disappeared as it saw what the beast did to its close friend. Glaring darkly at the merged beast, it unleashed a powerful Hydro Pump.

  The beast tilted its body forward and used its blasters to propel itself to Totodile in the blink of an eye. The small crocodile Pokemon didn’t even have the time for its eyes to widen before it was knocked high into the air and burned black by the beast’s cannon. Totodile landed in a heap at the front of the group, serving as a warning from the beast. Or rather, an omen.

  Pointing its blasters skyward, the merged beast hurtled down upon the group, cut off its fire, then slammed its arms into the ground. The Pokemon were launched skyward, giving the beast the perfect opportunity for target practice. One by one, it blasted the Pokemon out of the sky. The first was Oshawott, with Gible following close behind. Snivy used Leaf Tornado in an attempt to deter the merged beast, but the attack was easily incinerated, and Snivy, too, was shot down.

  Buizel, deciding this couldn’t go on any longer, lunged down at the beast with Aqua Jet. The merged monster pointed its arm at the incoming Pokemon with a cruel grin and fired, but to its surprise, Buizel spun out of the way, causing a multitude of water jets to whip out in every direction. The beast was struck numerous times, but remained unaffected. It blasted at Buizel, who pulled out another surprise.

  The water jets suddenly froze solid, knocking the blasters off course and sending the rays flying into the sky, where other Ultra Beasts ended up getting caught up in the resulting explosion. Paying no heed to that, the beast rushed up to Buizel with its arm hovering menacingly over its head, to which Buizel froze itself solid, using an ice-covered Aqua Jet to ram straight into its eye.

  The merged beast screeched in pain, recoiling backward. Corphish summoned water around its two claws and used Crabhammer down upon the beast’s face. Baring its teeth in annoyance, the beast slammed Corphish to the side and sent a ball of flame flying after it that let loose a resounding explosion. Buizel rocketed down with another Ice Aqua Jet, only to meet the front of both of the beast’s blasters.

  In a flash of light, Buizel’s charred body was sent flying away, leaving Scraggy alone to face this monster. The small Pokemon, still defiant even against these odds, pulled up its sagging skin and glared at the beast. It summoned a Focus Blast within its hands, letting its skin fall back down, and threw it toward the beast.

  The small ball of energy soared across the ground before rushing into the merged beast’s armored chest and detonating violently. Scraggy dragged its foot across the ground, imitating a bull, and rushed at the beast with the intent to finish the job with a headbutt. The beast swept away the smoke cloud with its arm and pointed it at Scraggy with a cruel grin. It was time for it to finish off the last of these pests.

  Scraggy leapt off the ground, its thick head aimed at the beast’s face, and only realized its mistake too late as it saw the beast’s arm light up. Scraggy was blasted backward, being sent flying as a massive laser tore across the battlefield with Scraggy trapped at its helm. Then, the small Pokemon disappeared in a calamitous flash of light, while its vision went black.

  “...Tini?”

  Scraggy felt something small gently touch its forehead. Groggily, it opened its eyes, finding that it had been laying in a large crater. Then it remembered the blast it had just taken. It quickly sat up, seeing something translucent in its peripheral vision. Though the moment Scraggy looked at it, it disappeared from view. But Scraggy knew it had seen something.

  It felt another tap from behind and jumped up in surprise. It turned around and saw a familiar face. Victini, the Legendary Pokemon of Victory, was right behind Scraggy with a bright smile. It tapped Scraggy’s head playfully, then disappeared into thin air. Scraggy stared at where it had been with wide eyes, then suddenly, bright red, fiery energy swirled around Scraggy, making it cry out in surprise.

  The energy didn’t hurt, no, in fact, it was the absolute opposite. Scraggy felt invigorated to the brim. Power welled up within every last fiber of Scraggy’s being, and it only increased with every passing second. It stomped its foot into the ground, causing a massive web-like crack, and roared to the heavens.

  The merged beast hovered over Buizel’s body, grinning. Buizel attempted to glare up at the beast, but with its burns, moving in the slightest was unbearably painful. The beast chuckled and pointed its blaster down at the fallen Pokemon. Buizel winced, closing its eyes and preparing for the worst. The beast was about to fire when it was suddenly tackled from behind with immense force.

  It was sent sprawling across the ground, eventually coming to a stop on its face. It slammed its blasters onto the ground furiously and pushed itself back off. It was about to blast Scraggy when it felt a sudden sting. It looked down and, to its horror, a large portion of its front armor had been completely destroyed, and its chest was dented inward.

  Its mouth agape in shock, it looked up at Scraggy and was slammed from the side by Gible’s Rock Smash, snapping one of its arms in two. The broken arm fell to the ground, and its glow stopped. The beast shrieked at it in horror.

  Kingler winced in pain. It attempted to stand up, but its injuries made it collapse right back onto its face. It slammed its large claw into the ground in frustration. Then, suddenly, it no longer felt any pain. A rainbow glow, wormed its way across the ground, looking almost like a snake, and surrounded Kingler in a brilliant white light. When it faded, its injuries were completely gone.

  “Perhaps I could be of assistance?”

  Kingler turned around at the sudden voice, and its’ eyes went wide. The Legendary Pokemon of Life, Xerneas, stepped forward. She smiled down upon Kingler kindly and tapped her foot on the ground. Immediately, hundreds more of the rainbow lights appeared from where she stepped and stretched out across the entire battlefield. Injured trainers and Pokemon who were cornered and surrounded by Ultra Beasts suddenly found that their injuries had disappeared, and they quickly jumped back into battle.

  One by one, the invisible Victini tapped Ash’s Pokemon, and they, too, were given the immense strength Scraggy received. What’s more, Xerneas’s power undid any injury they’d sustained. The beast immediately fired its remaining blaster at the nearest Pokemon, which happened to be Totodile. The small crocodile Pokemon retaliated with a gargantuan Hydro Pump that easily overpowered the attack and reduced the beast’s remaining arm to bent, useless scrap metal.

  The beast shrieked in fear at its lost arm. The Pokemon grinned maliciously at the beast and surrounded it, eager to claim vengeance. Looking around at the surrounding Pokemon, the beast decided this battle was no longer favorable and rocketed up into the air. Kingler leapt up into the air while Buizel propelled it up with Water Gun. Soaring high above the escaping beast, Kingler slammed it back down to the ground with Crabhammer, and the Pokemon unleashed all their attacks at once to reduce it to dust as it fell. The beast let out one last scream before it disappeared for good.

  As the Pokemon cheered for their victory, Xerneas watched on with a smile. Victini reappeared beside the life Pokemon with a bright smile as well before disappearing to help others. Xerneas then turned her gaze up to Necrozma, and her smile disappeared. “Now, what to do about him?”

  A mosquito beast flew above a small group of six Pokemon with a raven-haired boy at their center. It lunged down, aiming a punch to the back of his head. To its surprise, the boy whirled around and caught the punch. The beast hurriedly pulled his arm back, but Ash held onto his fist tightly and wouldn’t let go.

  With a chuckle, Ash said, “So, I can even stop attacks like that now. The power of Aura is incredible.” He then turned toward his Pokemon and asked, “Hey, Goodra?” The gooey dragon perked its head up. With his free hand, Ash pointed at the beast he’d trapped. “Mind taking this for me?”

  Nodding eagerly, Goodra bounded toward the mosquito beast and sent it flying away with a Dragon Pulse to its large chest. The beast managed to escape the attack by grabbing it with its hands and pushing itself downward, allowing it to sail past into the sky. It looked back down at Goodra furiously, to which the dragon stomped its feet and roared up at it.

  Ash gave Goodra a thumbs up, then turned back to the rest of his team. “Now it’s our turn! Let’s show Necrozma’s forces a thing or two!”

  His Pokemon cheered in unison. “Alright then, let’s go!”

  Another Mosquito rocketed toward the group. Upon noticing it, Ash’s eyes shimmered blue. He summoned an Aura Sphere in each hand and leapt above the beast, planting one its’ back and the other into the face of an insect beast that had been flying right behind the mosquito. Their eyes widened, but they couldn’t move in time to avoid Ash’s attack, and they were consumed as the two Aura Spheres grew incredibly large and exploded.

  Ash’s team gasped with widened eyes, fearful that their trainer had been caught in the explosion as well, but their fears were put at ease when Ash erupted from the smoke with a large grin planted on his face. He had some minor burns, but no apparent injuries. “So, this is what it’s like to really battle?” He laughed. “I might have to do this more often once this is all over!”

  He suddenly whirled around, sensing another beast approaching with fierce killing intent. A roach beast rocketed toward him with its leg outstretched. Sceptile leapt past Ash, stopping the beast’s attack with Leaf Blade and causing him to skid backwards. The beast hissed at Sceptile and, deeming it as its new prey, lunged at him.

  Its attack was once again stopped when Infernape delivered a lightning-fast Mach Punch straight to the beast’s face, making it fall flat onto its face. It smashed its fist into the ground angrily, and with its other hand, caressed the wound Infernape had given it. It whirled around at Infernape, screeching at it in anger. It didn’t notice that Sceptile had already gotten behind it until it was too late, and the beast was struck with another Leaf Blade that knocked it right into Infernape’s line of fire. In other words, another Mach Punch.

  One after another, Infernape and Sceptile took turns attacking the beast and pushing it into each other’s attacks. The beast, having long-since lost any and all patience, managed to avoid Sceptile’s next Leaf Blade, took to the skies, and let out a loud roar in its fury. However, this ended up leaving the beast wide open.

  Infernape and Sceptile leapt up into the air after it, delivering a Mach Punch to its face and a Leaf Blade to its legs, making it spin in the air helplessly. The two Pokemon looked at one another with a matching grin and nodded, and so Sceptile rushed to the ground and unleashed a Solarbeam up at the beast while Infernape blasted a Flamethrower from its mouth. The two attacks collided, catching the beast in between.

  Infernape, upon landing on the ground next to Sceptile, whooped and cheered for their victory, whereas Sceptile kicked up a large rock to lean up against and smirked, twisting around the stick it carried in its mouth. The two looked back to Ash and the others, eager for his praise of their achievement, but saw only the faces of other Ultra Beasts. Apparently, they’d been separated.

  Ash noticed a white ball with odd dots flying toward him, so he prepared a barrier to stop it with a barrier. However, a Razor Leaf flew past him into the ball, slicing it and half and causing it to explode. Ash was consumed in the explosion and sent flying, but he managed to right himself in the air and fall safely back onto his feet.

  He looked himself over for injuries, and to his relief, found none. “Phew. That’s a relief. If it weren’t for that Razor Leaf, that could have gotten ugly.” He placed a hand to his chin in thought. “But where did that come from? Sceptile doesn’t know that move, so…”

  His train of thought was interrupted when he heard a familiar, joyous cry from behind him. “Bay, Bay!” He turned around and was promptly knocked onto his back by the ever-affectionate Bayleef, who rubbed her head against his as she happily chirped her name repeatedly.

  Ash laughed at the act, eagerly hugging the Grass-Type Pokemon. “Hey, Bayleef! It’s been a while!” He managed to get back onto his feet, though Bayleef still rubbed up against him. A jester beast stepped forward, interrupting the moment and forcing them to focus on it instead.

  Ash noticed that the beast had a ball on its head that looked exactly like the one that exploded, and narrowed his eyes. “So, you’re the one responsible for that explosion, huh?” The beast responded by taking off its head, causing another to immediately grow in its place, and throwing it at the two of them.

  Ash looked down at Bayleef and asked, “You up for a battle?” Bayleef nodded eagerly, giving him a determined stare. Ash smiled at her and pointed at the incoming ball. “Alright, then, use Vine Whip!”

  Two vines emerged from underneath Bayleef’s neck and smacked the ball right back at the beast. However, the jester kicked it right back. Quickly, Ash ordered, “Vine Whip once more!” Bayleef nodded, using the vines to send the ball flying back again. The beast lurched up and headbutted the ball at the two of them again.

  “Don’t let up! Vine Whip!” For a third time, Bayleef used her vines to smack the ball back at the beast, and for a third time, the beast sent it back. This dangerous game of tennis went on for some time, much to Ash’s chagrin. There wasn’t much in Bayleef’s move arsenal he could use to change the situation, as any contact moves could make the ball explode, and Razor Leaf would do the same if what happened earlier was any indication.

  Ash growled in frustration and exclaimed, “This is getting nowhere!” He looked down at the ground, pondering over his next course of action, when his eyes lit up as he got an idea. “Bayleef, knock it back and use Sweet Scent!” Bayleef nodded, once again slapping the ball back at the jester, only this time, she let loose a bright pink haze alongside it. Ash created an auric barrier to protect against Sweet Scent’s effect, but the jester had no such defense.

  The beast leapt up into the air to swat the ball back at Bayleef, almost imitating a volleyball player in its stance, but stopped as the pink haze made contact. Its stance relaxed, and it fell back to the ground, slumping down. It appeared not to even notice as the ball bounced off its head and fell at its feet.

  “We got it!” Cheered Ash. “Now, use Razor Leaf on its head!”

  Stamping her feet into the ground, Bayleef flicked the leaf on her head, causing razor-sharp, curved leaves to materialize from it and shoot out toward the jester. The beast lulled its head back and forth, still under Sweet Scent’s relaxing effects. It couldn’t bring itself to even care as Razor Leaf approached and sliced its head in two. The ball’s remains glowed white and promptly exploded.

  Ash pumped his fist victoriously. “Yes, we did it!” Bayleef happily leapt on her trainer, smothering him with affection once more as he laughed all the while. He stopped when he noticed another presence, whereas Bayleef kept going with her show of affection. It took her a few moments to realize Ash had stopped, and she gave him a questioning look.

  Slowly, Ash got back onto his feet, looking up into the sky in front of him. Bayleef looked back and forth between Ash and what he was staring at, but couldn’t see anything for the life of her. Ash held up his hand in front of her. “Be ready,” He said, “I can sense something approaching.”

  From seemingly thin air, a jellyfish beast manifested before them. It sang its odd tune, dancing about in the air. Something about it was entrancing to Bayleef, but Ash immediately snapped her back to reality with a small shock from his Aura. “Don’t fall for it,” He warned, “I can sense that this thing definitely means harm.

  Ash looked about, thinking, ‘Where did Pikachu run off to?’

  True to Ash’s word, the jellyfish created its kaleidoscope substance and hurled it at Ash. Or at least, it meant to. A loud, far-off screech rang out through the battlefield, and the jellyfish was suddenly knocked to the ground from the side by what appeared to be another Ultra Beast.

  “What the heck?!” Cried Ash.

  The jellyfish beast pushed the other beast off of itself, making a high-pitched sound, Ash sensed was made in annoyance. However, the other beast didn’t move, and the jellyfish visibly recoiled upon seeing its condition. It was a large insectoid beast, though there was an emphasis on was.

  Its body was absolutely torn to shreds. Large gashes were spread on every inch of its body, and it only had one wing. The leftover wing it had was hanging on by a thread… Its large stinger had been completely torn off by what appeared to be a bite. The spikes it normally had on its shoulders were chipped off, and its neck was bent at an impossible angle. What’s more, one of its eyes now sported a large hole in it.

  The screech from before rang out again, much louder than the last time. So much so that Ash and Bayleef were forced to cover their ears, wincing in pain. The jellyfish beast looked up at its side and was immediately tackled back to the ground by Ash’s Noivern. A panicked humming escaped from the beast, and it attempted to manifest its signature kaleidoscope substance, but Noivern dug its fangs into the beast’s head and tore it clean off. With its victory, it let out a savage, high-pitched roar to the skies.

  Ash sensed tremendous rage from Noivern, and it wasn’t hard to guess why. “Noivern!” He called out, running toward them. Bayleef’s eyes widened, and she debated with herself whether or not to follow him. The large bat-like Pokemon ceased its roar, craning its head Ash’s way. Ash could see the fury in Noivern’s eyes. Its pupils had become thin slits, and they’d become red from being bloodshot for too long.

  Upon making his way over to Noivern, Ash asked, “Are you all right?” Noivern quickly nodded, looking up to the skies and spotting another Ultra Beast. It was about to take off when Ash stopped him. “I’m glad you’re not hurt, but that’s not what I meant.” He put a hand to Noivern’s head, summoning his Aura around the two of them faintly.

  “...I know that you’re hurting,” Ash said. “I am too.” He allowed his Aura to spread over Noivern’s body in an attempt to calm him. “But...losing yourself to rage like this…” Ash shook his head and stared straight into Noivern’s eyes, an act that caught the dragon off guard. “It’s dangerous. If you lose yourself to anger like that...you might never come back. Hawlucha wouldn’t-”

  At the mention of his best friend’s name, Noivern jerked his head away from Ash’s touch and screeched with rage. Ash swallowed a pained yell, attempting to touch Noivern once more. “Noivern, please!” The dragon had no intention of listening. It hissed at Ash, causing the boy to retract his hand. Noivern had never hissed at him before. With that, Noivern turned around and soared back into the air to find another Ultra Beast.

  Ash looked up at him sorrowfully. Before he knew it, he disappeared. “Noivern…”

  Much to Ash’s chagrin, he was forced to push away his thoughts of Noivern for the moment as a paper beast that had been attracted by the dragon Pokemon’s screeching slashed at him with the intent to kill. He barely managed to create a barrier to deflect the blow in time, but that barrier was shattered in a single hit.

  Luckily for him, Greninja, still in his bond form, appeared with a kunai in its hand, courtesy of Cut, and crouched down to defend Ash. Pikachu hopped off the ninja Pokemon’s shoulder, sparking its cheeks menacingly. “Oh,” Said Ash, “So that’s where you were, Pikachu.”

  With Greninja’s Battle Bond and their shared Aura, Greninja could sense Ash’s feelings toward Noivern, and surmised what had happened between the two. He looked back at him with worry. Pikachu noticed it as well, needing no such connection. His bond with Ash was so deep-rooted that he immediately knew something was wrong.

  Ash chuckled, though Greninja and Pikachu knew it was empty. “Yeah, I’m fine,” He lied. Stepping past the two of them, he flared his Aura with such ferocity that it caused some nearby rocks to be flung backward. He glared at the paper beast and said, “In any case, I’m glad you’re both here. Now, let’s do this.”

  His Aura encased Pikachu and Greninja, causing his power to increase their own. The two of them decided to drop the subject of Noivern for now and turned back to face the paper beast.

  Talonflame barreled through another mosquito beast with Flame Charge, causing it to slump to the ground at last. That made about the tenth Ultra Beast it had slain. In place of the mosquito, a few giggling imp beasts appeared above it, taunting Talonflame. The bird Pokemon heaved out an exhausted breath, as its stamina was quickly being drained in this battle.

  One of the imps shot a poison glob from its stinger, forcing Talonflame to evade. The imps all shot more of the poison one after another towards Talonflame, who desperately swerved about to avoid making contact with it at all costs. Growing fed up with their onslaught, Talonflame used Steel Wing, causing its wings to be coated in metal, and shot down at the imps.

  Due to the Steel Typing’s innate immunity to Poison-Type attacks, Talonflame used its wings as a shield and successfully stopped the poison from having any effect as the bird soared down at them. Talonflame crashed down on top of them, but they managed to avoid the attack by a hair. Annoyed, the Pokemon swatted the poison off of its wings and shot a Flamethrower up after the imps and managed to catch one of them.

  The imp let out a wail as it was burned alive, only becoming silent once Talonflame ceased the attack and let the charred beast fall to the ground. The other imps looked down at their fallen comrade with wide eyes, then narrowed them at Talonflame in anger. They let out infuriated screeches and barrelled down toward Talonflame with their stingers pointed at them.

  The fiery bird Pokemon shot Flamethrower after Flamethrower at them as they descended toward her, but one managed to evade and clipped Talonflame’s wing with its needle, causing the Pokemon to wince in pain. Pushing past it, Talonflame looked at the last imp and burnt it with Flamethrower like the others. But there was no rest for the wicked, it seemed.

  Mere seconds after the last imp was disposed of, a jellyfish beast floated down behind Talonflame. It hummed its signature tune, but Talonflame was in no mood to listen to it. Coating itself in flames, it impacted the jellyfish with a powerful Flare Blitz with such force that it itself was blown out of the resulting explosion and impacted the ground with a thud.

  Talonflame hissed in pain from the recoil damage, but managed to push itself back off the ground in spite of that. It looked up at the smoke cloud, awaiting what remained of the jellyfish when a roach beast burst from it and sent Talonflame skidding across the ground with a kick to its beak. The bird Pokemon let out a cry of pain each time it impacted the ground, but eventually saved itself by pushing itself away from the ground with Flamethrower.

  It looked up to scowl at the beast, only for it to appear in the blink of an eye, grab Talonflame’s wings, and ram its knee straight into the bird’s ribs. As Talonflame wailed in pain, it heard the sickening crunch of bone from its wings and ribs. It quickly launched another Flamethrower at the beast’s face, causing it to drop Talonflame to evade and, almost immediately, appear directly above the bird and kick it into the ground.

  The beast immediately descended from the air and landed next to it, looking down upon Talonflame with disdain. It scoffed at the bird, kicking it onto its back. Talonflame lay there, unmoving. It grabbed the Pokemon by its throat and held it in the air, giving it a look of disgust. It pulled its fist back, aiming a punch to finish the weakened Pokemon off.

  Dozens of other Ultra Beasts crashed down from the skies, surrounding the roach beast and Talonflame. They watched, almost hungrily, for the bird Pokemon’s end, jeering at it mockingly. The beast holding Talonflame in its hand chuckled at them, then turned its savage gaze back upon it. It let out a screech and brought its fist forward, and then Talonflame’s body twitched.

  Just before the beast’s fist made contact, Talonflame’s body alit with the flames from Flare Blitz. The fire exploded outward, knocking the other beasts back and completely incinerating the roach. Talonflame fell to the ground in a heap, desperately panting for air. It tried to push itself onto its talons, but a sudden sting from its wing caused it to hiss in pain and fall back over.

  Talonflame looked at the wing and, to its horror, found that the scratch one of the imp beasts had given it had now become purple and appeared to be slowly spreading. Forcing itself back onto its feet, Talonflame attempted to fly away, but one of the surrounding Ultra Beasts knocked it back to the ground. The fiery bird unleashed a Flamethrower at its attacker, only for the back of its head to be grabbed by another beast resulting in its face being slammed into the ground.

  Letting out a shrill screech, Talonflame forced the beast to let go with another Flare Blitz and quickly made an attempt to get back into the sky. All it had to do was get back to Ash and the others. Then everything would be okay. That’s all it had to do.

  A bamboo beast had different ideas. Descending down from above Talonflame it pointed its blasters at it. Talonflame’s life flashed before its eyes, and then it was sent crashing right back to the ground by a fiery blast. It let out a choked cry upon impact, yet still, it immediately tried to get back up and flipped itself onto its front. The first thing it noticed upon re-opening its eyes was that the purple spit on its wing had already grown slightly larger. It didn’t want to think about what would happen if it grew too large.

  It was suddenly slammed from the side by the bricks of a fortress beast, sending it directly into the path of a Mosquito beast’s brutal punch. Talonflame didn’t even have the time to scream before the mosquito threw it high into the air towards a jester beast, which threw one of its heads directly in the bird’s path. The second Talonflame made contact with the ball, it was caught in a massive explosion.

  Talonflame’s limp body soon fell from the resulting smoke cloud, and so another roach beast appeared and delivered a swift flurry of kicks all across her body, then unleashed a single sweeping one that sent her flying back down toward the ground. An insect beast flew into Talonflame’s flight path with its stinger outstretched. It had enough sense still left to use Flamethrower to push itself away from the insect, but it was too slow, and its other wing had been sliced by the stinger.

  It crashed back into ground, on its back, slowly coming to a stop where it lay limp. A paper beast flew over Talonflame’s head with its arm raised. The Pokemon no longer had the strength to move. It closed its eyes, taking solace in the fact it had lasted so long against these odds. Its thoughts wandered to Ash and the others, remembering the first time they’d met back when Talonflame was nothing more than a mischievous little Fletchling. As the paper beast brought down its arm, Talonflame smiled, and its vision went white.

  ...Then, it heard a familiar voice.

  “ASH STILL NEEDS YOU, AS DOES THIS WORLD. I WILL NOT ALLOW NECROZMA TO HAVE HIS WAY!”

  The paper beast’s blade inched closer to Talonflames neck when suddenly she began glowing blue. Instantaneously, the paper beast was reduced to ashes by a colossal explosion of flame. Red-hot, plasmatic fire erupted from Talonflame in a massive pillar that stretched all the way up to the mothership’s barrier and crashed against it ferociously, sending waves of lightning sparked up by its sheer heat across nearly the entirety of the visible sky.

  Any and all Ultra Beasts that had been near Talonflame were immediately atomized by the flames, as well as the ground itself, leaving a massive, black crater that continuously stretched out and grew by the second. The impossibly loud bellow of the Pokemon’s screech rang throughout the entire battlefield, making everyone, man and beast alike, shift their attention toward it.

  Ash deflected the attack of the paper beast right before the pillar of flame appeared, and he immediately turned to it. His mouth went agape, and he immediately realized who it was. A smile crept up the boy’s face, and he simply said, “...Talonflame…” He turned back toward his Pokemon and saw that Pikachu had finished the beast off with a Thunderbolt. “C’mon,” He urged, motioning for them to follow him, “We gotta get to Talonflame!”

  The trainers stopped everything they were doing to look up at the pillar in awe.

  “Woah,” One of them uttered, “What the heck is that?!”

  “It’s incredible!” Remarked another, their eyes shimmering. “It must be a Legendary Pokemon!”

  They heard a chuckle from behind them, and upon turning around, they found none other than Riley, accompanied by his partner Lucario. “Not quite,” He said, “This is something entirely different.”

  One of the trainers, who appeared to be a young, brown-haired boy, gasped and pointed at the Aura Guardian. “Y-you’re Riley!” He exclaimed. “I heard you’re friends with the chosen one!”

  Riley tipped his hat forward to cover his face as he laughed. “Yeah, that’s right,” He said, pointing back up to the pillar, “And speaking of him, that huge pillar is actually the work of one of his Pokemon.”

  At once, the eyes of the trainers widened to the point Riley was worried that they might fall out. “No way!” One of them cried. “Are you serious?!”

  “That’s amazing!” One of them gushed. “His Pokemon are that powerful?!”

  Another trainer whistled, looking back up to the flame pillar. “I guess he’s the chosen one for a reason.”

  “Yeah, I suppose so,” Replied Riley, “But even a guy like that needs help from time to time.” He chuckled to himself inwardly. ‘More often than not.’ The Aura Guardian then pointed behind him with his thumb, and upon looking past him, the trainers saw the rest of Ash’s friends. “And so, it falls to us to keep him from doing anything dumb.”

  The pillar of flame slowly dissipated, allowing the nearest beasts to see what had caused it. At the base of a colossal black crater, Talonflame flew in place. Each flap of its wings caused debris to explode outward from beneath it. Surrounded in a red-hot haze that caused distortions of sight, Talonflame opened its eyes and glared up at the remaining beasts. Its pupils had become blue and seemed to radiate an entirely different kind of fire.

  Talonflame stretched its wings outward and roared, causing thousands of spiraling jets of flame to explode outward in all directions. The beasts realized the danger too late, and the closest ones to Talonflame were immediately incinerated. The ones that were lucky enough to be out of the way fled, but were unable to escape from the bird’s wrath.

  Most of the fire crashed into the underside of the ship, threatening to break through the barrier. The flames that didn’t hit the ship curved around and flew out at the other Ultra Beasts as if it were being directed. The beasts screeched in fear and attempted to fly away, but Talonflame would have none of it. One by one, its flames chased after the beasts and reduced them to dust upon contact. They spiraled and curved around across the sky, creating a beautiful, almost web-like light show for those who weren’t its victims.

  It soared up from the crater out into the open skies and roared, deafening the nearest of the Ultra Beasts. With the single flap of its wings, Talonflame created a colossal vortex of wind. The ground beneath it for hundreds of feet was uprooted and sucked within. The beasts found themselves being dragged toward it and quickly made an attempt to flee with no luck.

  Talonflame narrowed its eyes at the tornado’s base and spat a small, white ball of flame down at it. Upon contact, crimson red fire stretched up and surrounded the entirety of the vortex. The beasts that were trapped around the spinning winds were suddenly set ablaze and vaporized before they knew it, and the ones unfortunate, to know what was happening before they were sucked in screamed in terror as they, too, were dragged in.

  Necrozma leapt over a Spacial Rend from Palkia and caught an Energy Ball from another Legend before promptly crushing the attack in his hand. Lugia rushed up to Necrozma with a Hyper Beam in his mouth, but was sent flying back into the ground by a laser from the dark demon’s hand. From behind, Shaymin in its Sky Form rushed at Necrozma with a Leaf Blade in hand, preaching something about its strength. Necrozma, ignoring its speech, nonchalantly flicked the small Legend into the ground and received a call from Xurkitree directly after.

  Letting out an annoyed groan, Necrozma summoned a barrier around himself to ward off the numerous attacks from the other Legends and tapped his crystal to answer the call. “What is it, Xurkitree?” He demanded impatiently. “I’m kind of in the middle of something here.”

  The holographic image of Necrozma’s right-hand man appeared above the crystal and bowed. “I am terribly sorry for interrupting you, milord, but I thought it should be brought to your attention that something is striking the ship’s barrier, and is dangerously close to breaking through.”

  “Impossible!” Roared Necrozma. “The only one who could perform such a feat is Arceus, but I do not sense him!”

  Patiently, Xurkitree replied, “I wouldn’t be wasting your time if it wasn’t true. There seems to be a remarkable heat signature somewhere below the ship. It should be within sight of you.” With that, the wirey Ultra Beast bowed and shut off communications.”

  Necrozma pondered this, humming to himself in thought while the Legends mercilessly pounded away at his barrier. The dark demon looked around and eventually spotted a vertical red line far in the distance. “What is…?” Just as Xurkitree had said, whatever was attacking the ship was sending sparks of electricity running across the vast majority of the shield, indicating that it was penetrating it, or at least coming close to.

  A devious idea struck the universal warmonger. “That is quite interesting, indeed. To think Arceus was hiding away a secret weapon like this.” His eyes narrowed, and a dark chuckle rang out from him. “Let’s see what this is about, then.”

  Necrozma lowered the barrier, allowing Lugia to fire a Hyper Beam straight at him. However, he warped away right before the attack could hit him and ended up accidentally striking Rayquaza. Rayquaza was about to comment on it, but Lugia had already flown off in search of the demon.

  Talonflame confronted a small imp beast and was about to scour it from the Earth like the others, but a dark figure appeared behind it and grabbed hold of it. The imp screamed in fear, but its screams were cut off in its throat as it looked up and saw who it was. It was none other than Necrozma himself. Necrozma’s crystal flashed white brightly, and the small beast began to glow.

  It let out a terrified scream as its body withered away before its very eyes, falling apart into a bright red dust and then subsequently disappearing into nothingness. After it had completely faded away, Necrozma turned its gaze up to Talonflame next. His eyes sent chills down Talonflame’s spine, even with the new power it had achieved.

  “That’s quite some power you’ve got,” Commended the demon as he looked between Talonflame and the sparking barrier above. “To think you could damage the mothership’s shield. I had believed the only being on this planet who could perform a feat such as that to be Arceus. So for that, you have my respect.”

  He chuckled and outstretched his arms, welcoming Talonflame to attack. “I wonder if you could do the same to me? I’ll give you a free shot so we can find out.”

  Talonflame’s body suddenly convulsed, and to its surprise, it shot another colossal blast of flame at Necrozma on its own. It didn’t act or think to do so. It simply happened on its own. However, Talonflame wasn’t arguing. It surmised, that this was another power gifted to it by… and unleashed all of its power at the warmonger point-blank.

  The sheer heat from Talonflame’s attack caused ripples throughout the air, seemingly distorting reality itself. A storm of plasma created from the flames exploded outward, raging against the ground, sky, and anything in between. Many Ultra Beasts attempted to get as far from the battle as possible, knowing how their master was, but ended up getting caught by the endless stream of electricity and were atomized upon being struck.

  To Talonflame’s shock and horror, it heard laughter. The laughter of Necrozma. The evil emperor held out his hand, splitting the flames into two separate paths that weaved around him. “Your power is tremendous, but…” Talonflame’s eyes widened as Necrozma appeared, pushing his now-glowing hand directly into the bird’s face. “Ultimately disappointing.”

  Talonflame’s fire was cut off as a massive white explosion ripped through the air. The bird Pokemon’s body fell from the smoke, having lost its glow. Ash’s eyes widened as he saw his Pokemon fall and rushed toward it. However, a mass of Ultra Beasts swarmed around him to impede his path.

  Without missing a beat, Ash summoned two massive Aura Spheres in his hand. “Get out of my WAY!” He plunged them both into the beasts in front of him, creating an explosion that likely eradicated them and sent Ash himself backwards. Digging his heels into the ground, Ash managed to stay on his feet and looked up at the smoke anxiously. More Ultra Beasts had already filled the gap the explosion left.

  Cursing to himself, Ash summoned another, larger Aura Sphere above his head and prepared to throw it when a Pin Missile suddenly came in from behind, weaving around Ash and blowing up in the Ultra Beasts’ faces.

  “You should save your strength, Chosen One.”

  Ash turned around and gasped as he saw a familiar face, though it was one he certainly didn’t expect to see. “Paul?! What are you doing here?!”

  The purple-haired trainer walked past Ash, with his ever-powerful team in tow. It consisted of Torterra, showing that Paul had made amends with his starter Pokemon, Drapion, Ursarang, Aggron, Ninjask, and of course, his trusty Electivire.

  “Clearing you a path, moron,” He spat harshly, pointing at the Ultra Beasts in Ash’s way. “Now, everyone, use Hyper Beam!”

  Upon Paul’s command, his Pokemon opened their mouths, and each unleashed a Hyper Beam that combined into a singular massive one. The beam barreled straight through the beasts in its path, creating an opening for the time being.

  “Go!” Paul roared at Ash. “That path won’t last for long!”

  Ash tentatively looked at the opening, then did the same for the surrounding Ultra Beasts. There were far too many to count, and both of them were already surrounded. Though Paul was easily one of the strongest trainers he’d ever fought, these odds were less than favorable, even for him.

  “You sure about this?”

  Paul countered that with a question of his own. “I saw what happened to that Talonflame of yours. If it’s still alive, how long do you think it’ll last without you?” The purple-haired trainer sighed and shook his head. “Besides, Chosen One, there are plenty of other trainers that’ll need your help. Now don’t make me waste more of my Pokemon’s energy and go!”

  Ash paused for a moment, then smiled at Paul, said, “Thank you,” simply, and left. Paul lulled his head and groaned, then went in between his Pokemon, which formed a defensive line around him.

  “Everyone, stand by for battle!”

  Ash sprinted toward the fallen body of Talonflame, kneeling to the ground and scooping up his friend in his arms. “Talonflame!” He cried. When the bird Pokemon didn’t respond, Ash infused his own Aura into it in a desperate attempt to keep him alive. “I already lost Hawlucha! I’m not going to lose you too!”

  The cyan blue flames of Ash’s Aura swirled around Talonflame, seeping into the bird’s body. To Ash’s elation, it began moving. Its eyes twitched, then opened up to stare at Ash, earning a weak smile from Talonflame at seeing its beloved trainer. Ash let out a relieved sigh, putting his head down upon Talonflame’s lightly. “Thank Arceus, I-”

  Ash cut himself off with a gasp as he felt Talonflame’s Auric signature suddenly begun declining rapidly. He quickly went back to infusing his Pokemon with his Aura. To Ash’s horror, his Aura was only slowing the decline. Baring his teeth, Ash flared the full might of his Aura, surrounding him and Talonflame in a large pillar of blue light.

  Riley and the others spotted the pillar and pointed at it. “That must be where Ash is!” Gary exclaimed. “Come on, let’s get there quickly!” The others nodded, quickly making their way toward them, save for Riley himself and Lucario, who stared at it with wide eyes.

  “That feeling in his Aura...is that...grief…?”

  Lucario pointed out, ‘Whatever it is, it certainly isn’t good. Come, let’s not waste any time. He obviously needs our help.’

  Riley nodded. “Yeah, let’s go.”

  Ash’s Pokemon, who had all met back up after Talonflame dispelled most of the Ultra Beasts, also saw the pillar, and it didn’t take long for Greninja to realize what was happening thanks to their bond. Seeing Greninja’s expression of horror alerted Pikachu to the fact that something terrible was happening. The yellow mouse Pokemon turned back to the others and told them about it as well, and so they ran to Ash’s aid.

  Noivern tackled another beast to the ground, roaring into its face. It raised one of its wings, aiming to finish the beast off when it spotted Ash’s pillar of Aura. It looked back down at the beast, and back up at the pillar, debating with itself over which one took priority. It scowled to itself and threw the beast aside, taking to the skies to go to Ash. Whatever this was about, it had better be good.

  “This isn’t happening!” Ash declared, shaking his head in denial. He spotted the marks in Talonflame’s wings left by the poisonous beasts and cringed. Turning his hands toward them, he tried infusing Aura into those areas to rid Talonflame of the poison, but it had little effect.

  Ash wiped a tear from his eye with his shoulder, continuing to push against the poison despite the futility of doing so. “I WON’T LET IT HAPPEN!” Roared Ash, pushing himself to use more of his power. His body began aching, clearly in distress over the discharging of so much of his Aura, but Ash didn’t care so long as Talonflame survived. “I WON’T LOSE YOU!”

  Talonflame smiled up at Ash kindly and, with the last of its strength, reached up to Ash with its wing to wipe away his tears. The proud Pokemon then collapsed, closing its eyes for good. Ash recoiled backwards as he felt Talonflame’s Aura disappear completely. Balling his hands into fists, Ash grit his teeth.

  He did nothing, only kneeling over Talonflame’s body. What else could he do? There was nothing. Tears fell freely from his eyes, but he made no sound. His nails dug so far into his hands that droplets of blood fell from them. He did not speak, nor even breathe. All he could do was hang his head over his lost friend.

  Ash’s friends finally managed to fully push their way through the crowd, finding him kneeling. Though they couldn’t see why from their distance.

  “Ash!” Called Serena as the group sprinted towards him.

  Riley and Lucario emerged last and stopped dead in their tracks. They no longer sensed Talonflame’s life force, and judging by Ash’s posture… Well, it didn’t take a genius to guess what had happened.

  “You...you must be kidding,” Whispered Riley. “Again?! Why?! Hasn’t that boy suffered enough?!”

  Pikachu and the rest of Ash’s team emerged from the crowd as well, though from its side. Upon seeing Ash, Pikachu’s ears perked up and he, along with the others, began sprinting toward him, chirping, “Pika Pi-” The electric Pokemon stopped in his tracks suddenly, causing the rest to do so as well. They gave Pikachu an odd stare until they saw what he was staring at. From their angle, they could see it perfectly. Ash’s face was darkened, and he was on his knees. In front of him was the motionless body of Talonflame.

  An annoyed Noivern flew overhead. Upon finding Ash, he hissed to himself and swooped down, eager to give its trainer a piece of its mind for interrupting its battle. That was, until he saw Talonflame, and it felt its heart skip a beat. The wyvern Pokemon’s vision became fuzzy, forcing it to make a quick, shaky landing. It stared at the ground with wide eyes, breathing heavily but never seeming to get enough air. There was no way what it saw could be true...there was just no way!

  Just as Ash’s friends neared him, a crackling red barrier surrounded him and the fallen Pokemon, stopping them in their tracks.

  “What the-?!” Cried a surprised Clemont. “What’s this?!”

  “I believe there’s some kind of saying you lot have on this planet about killing two birds? It’s quite unfortunate I didn’t use any stones for either of them now that I think about it.”

  Ash’s bloodshot eyes shot open at the sound of that voice and his gaze snapped upward to see none other than Necrozma descending down toward him. “I hope you don’t mind the barrier,” Said the demon, “I simply wouldn’t want any of those pesky friends of yours getting in my way.” He motioned at the barrier and, true to Necrozma’s word, Ash saw his friends and Pokemon attacking the barrier with all they had. They appeared to be shouting, but Ash couldn’t hear them at all.

  Ash jumped to his feet and cried, “RUN! GET OUT OF HERE NOW!”

  This act elicited an amused laugh from Necrozma that made Ash’s blood boil over. “They cannot hear you, just as you cannot hear them. It is futile.”

  Zero and Hydreigon descended from the sky and struck the top of the barrier with all of their might, sending a shockwave outward from its top. However, the blow did no apparent damage. The expression on Zero’s face was not the one of mindless fury, like she typically adorned in battle. It was one of complete and utter terror.

  “I can’t think of a better scenario, come to think of it,” Said the demon, laughing at the terrified faces of Ash’s friends as they tried with all their might to push through the barrier. “Killing you in full view of all your friends while they helplessly watch.” He leaned down to Ash, smirking right in the boy’s face. “I wonder how many others are watching? I can imagine no better end to their precious ‘chosen one.’”

  Ash leapt up at him and blasted him, point-blank, with every last inch of his Aura. His fury could no longer be suppressed. With another friend lying dead at his feet and their killer’s taunting words, Ash lost himself. His Aura had changed color from cyan to yellow in an instant, and in his blind rage, the only thing he could say was,

  “I’LL KILL YOOOUUU!”

  Necrozma dispelled the Auric blast and in that moment Ash took a swing at Necrozma’s face. Unsurprisingly, the conqueror was able to catch it with ease. Necrozma then looked into Ash’s eyes and said, “So much hatred, so little time.” The dark demon held his hand in front of Ash, where a ball of red energy formed. “Allow me to reunite you with your dear lost friend.”

  Ash’s eyes widened, and he was blasted away by Necrozma’s power. Ash’s friends and Pokemon gaped up at him in horror, their blood running cold, before he was sent flying into a collapsed building. Necrozma then picked up the lifeless body of Talonflame and hurled it into the building as well, and with the single point of the emperor’s finger, the building disappeared in a blinding flash of light, leaving only a crater and a cloud of smoke in its wake.