The night sky was pitch black. Dark, looming clouds hung over a forest landscape that was teeming with life. In the midst of this forest a plateau stood tall, elevated over the surrounding lands. At the top of the plateau was a beautiful, shimmering lake that somehow shined even amongst the darkness of the night. A foreboding breeze began billowing, shaking the leaves and any foliage that happened to be in its way. A shadow could be seen moving in the dark clouds far above, slowly prowling until it hovered directly over the plateau.

  A ball of white shot down from the ominous clouds, dividing them and sending them scattering across the sky into oblivion and exposing the bright full moon above. The orb of energy careened downwards, aiming to erase the plateau below from existence but was stopped when a violet barrier appeared, surrounding the plateau. The orb barreled into the violet bubble, threatening to punch through. Lightning from the collision between the two energies darted outwards, sending sparks flying across the night sky until the bubble began to unravel from the ground, instead surrounding the ball of white. Once it had the orb surrounded, the two energies were blasted back into the sky where they detonated violently. The sky above was lit up as the explosion wreaked across the sky until finally, everything once again faded to black.

  A familiar being of pitch black descended from the dark skies slowly; its arms crossed as it smirked at the plateau below. In turn, a light purple, almost feline-looking creature floated up to meet with the dark creature with a scowl painted on its face.

  “So,” The feline creature spoke, looking their adversary dead in the eyes, “You must be Necrozma, I presume?”

  In turn, Necrozma let out a dark, almost mechanical-sounding chuckle dripping with malice, “My, my. Word really does travel fast around these parts. You presume correctly.”

  The feline creature narrowed their eyes, “Well? You have my attention. What do you want from me?”

  The feline could practically sense their dark adversary’s menacing grin, despite it not having a face, “What I want from you? Ha...If you’re offering, then…”

  Necrozma let out a wave of what Mewtwo could only describe as chaos. Waves of crimson red oozing from Necrozma’s body and shooting in every visible direction. Equally-colored lightning seeped from the dark monster’s body, streaking across the skies and raking into the ground below, save the plateau oddly enough. Mewtwo felt what could only be described as pure, all-encompassing dread as Necrozma wreaked his havoc. Mewtwo could hardly breathe; for this ungodly energy seemed to trap the air in the psychic feline’s throat. Mewtwo couldn’t look away from the dark demon’s eyes as the energy shooting from the demon practically described what it wanted to do to them. Mewtwo...felt fear…

  “I want you to scream when I break every bone in your body. I want you to scramble for your life on broken legs as I scatter your innards across the forest floor. I WANT YOU TO SCREAM. TO BEG. TO PLEAD FOR YOUR LIFE AS I TEAR YOU TO BLOODY PIECES AND OBLITERATE YOUR CRIMSON REMAINS. I WANT YOUR DEATH TO BE ONE OF PURE FEAR AND AGONY AS I SLOWLY TEAR YOU LIMB FROM LIMB IN THIS PURE, ALL ENCOMPASSING DARKNESS!”

  Mewtwo had no time to prepare as a dark fist struck him across the face. The very forest itself quaked from the ferocity of the punch. The psychic Pokémon found himself ripping through tree after tree uncontrollably, leaving a ravine in his path. Finally, Mewtwo reeled his senses back to him and outstretched his arms to finally halt his movement. Scowling, the Legend brought back his wits from the depths Necrozma’s display sent them to.

  “DAMN YOU, NECROZMA!” Mewtwo bellowed into the open night, “YOU WILL NEVER LEAVE THIS PLACE ALIVE!”

  “Funny…” A voice spoke into Mewtwo's ear, “I was going to say the same thing.”

  Mewtwo whipped around and hurled a Shadow Ball into the empty dread of night, watching it sail hopelessly into the darkened sky. A sweat broke from the legend’s temple. He scanned everywhere around him, as far as his eyes could see, but could detect nothing. Not even his innate ability to sense those around him with his Psychic powers could detect any life forms around him, save for the clone Pokemon under his protection.

  “The Clone Pokemon!” Mewtwo shouted in realization. He hadn’t sensed any abnormalities in their life forces, but with that monster Arceus-knows-where nearby, they were in grave danger.

  Mewtwo blitzed towards the plateau he and his underlings called home in a desperate frenzy, tearing some of the leaves off the trees far below him with his sheer speed. A black fist tore into the Psychic Legend’s flight path with a thunderous crash that blasted the nearby ground below in every possible direction.

  “And where do you think you’re going?”

  Mewtwo balked, for it was all his body could manage to do, hanging limply from the black demon’s wrist. At first, he couldn’t feel pain. Hell, he couldn’t even feel the impact. Mewtwo couldn’t feel a damn thing, let alone move to look up at the monster. As his senses returned to him, Mewtwo inwardly cursed at the situation. One punch...one punch was all it took to devastate the proud Psychic Legend and reduce him to a complete lack of mobility.

  “Well?” Demanded Necrozma, “Do not tell me that one strike has broken you already.”

  He received no reply, earning a dejected sigh from Necrozma.

  “Legends...you truly are nothing but scum.”

  Necrozma savagely whipped his arm to launch Mewtwo off of him and appeared, once again, in the Psychic Legend’s flight path to grab him by the back of his head. If Necrozma had a face, a cruel, wicked smile would be taking up a large sum of it.

  “Well as long as we’re not going anywhere...let’s have some fun, shall we?”

  Necrozma hurled Mewtwo into the ground below and pursued after him. Mewtwo wasn’t even given the luxury of letting out a gasp as he impacted the ground with enough force to turn a chunk of the forest into a crater by the time Necrozma plunged a fist into Mewtwo’s back. Mewtwo struggled to keep his eyes open at this point, much less be able to stand.

  Necrozma loomed over the beaten legend with as much of a scowl as his lack of facial features could muster. “...Get up.” He commanded. When he received no response, he pointed a glowing finger at the fallen Pokemon. “Do you have a death wish? I said GET UP!”

  The prismatic beast shot a small white beam into Mewtwo’s shoulder, eliciting a weak, agonized cry from the psychic feline. Despite that, however, the legend couldn’t find the strength to attempt to save himself.

  Necrozma scowled and fired another beam into Mewtwo’s back, “What, are you suicidal or something?”

  Mewtwo cursed internally as a brutal sting of pain rushed all throughout his body. His mind told him to scream in agony and make any attempt to flee, but his body was shattered and broken beyond the point of being able to move. What in the Distortion World did this damned monster want from him?!

  The black demon stared disdainfully down at his broken toy. His anger had since dissolved into disappointment and boredom, but then an idea struck him. Necrozma chuckled darkly and slowly raised a glowing finger to Mewtwo’s broken body once more and the legend prepared for the worst. But suddenly, Necrozma began to point his finger…right in the direction of the plateau that housed the clone Pokemon.

  “If you won’t continue to serve as my plaything for your own sake…then maybe you would for the sake of your underlings?”

  Mewtwo’s bloodshot eyes tore open in shock.

  “NO!”

  “THEN STAND ONCE MORE!”

  With a beastial roar, the psychic legend planted his hands onto the floor of the crater his body was planted in and pushed with all his might. Pushing up with broken arms, Mewtwo stood up on shattered legs to give the black demon before him a murderous, defiant glare. This defiance earned Mewtwo an amused, devilish chortle from Necrozma.

  “That’s it!” Necrozma cried with a bellowing laugh, “Come. Entertain me until your fragile little body crumbles into dust!”

  “HRRRRRAAAAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGHH!!”

  Firmly planting a foot forward, Mewtwo focused the last of his meager might into one punch aimed at Necrozma’s face…and proceeded to collapse once more at his feet.

  If Necrozma could frown, he would surely have one right now.

  “...You cannot be serious…” The prismatic demon spat, “Do you really not care about your underlings?!”

  Mewtwo failed to respond; his body not even having the strength to speak anymore.

  “Very well. Then before you die, your last thoughts will be of your people who you failed to protect.”

  Mewtwo lacked the strength to even raise his head, though not seeing the demise of his underlings could be considered a blessing at this point to him.

  A deafening explosion wreaked throughout the darkened forest. Hails of debris rained from the sky like rain. A small rock landed directly in front of Mewtwo’s face, to which he futilely attempted to reach out to. His agonized body, however, thought differently, and the beaten legend slowly began to shut his eyes to accept the fate that awaited him...that is, until he realized something odd. He could still sense the life forces of his underlings. Not only that, but he could sense all the plant life still intact as well.

  “Kept you waiting, huh?” A burly voice rang out.

  Rayquaza floated directly in front of the plateau in his Mega form, glaring at Necrozma.

  “Hang in there, Mewtwo,” The serpentine legend said, “I already failed once. I WILL NOT FAIL AGAIN!”

  Tearing his jaw open, Rayquaza charged a ball of energy in his mouth and shot out an orange laser that tore off the very ground below. Necrozma, however, was far from impressed. Raising a hand, the black demon caught the laser effortlessly and shot back with a white laser of his own that easily overpowered Rayquaza’s Hyper Beam. The draconic legend prepared to dodge until he remembered the trapped clone Pokémon behind him. Gritting his teeth, Rayquaza roared and coated himself in a green light before soaring directly through the white beam.

  “DRAGON ASCENT!”

  Rayquaza slowly pushed the beam backward until he impacted Necrozma’s hand, ending the laser’s flow at the source.

  “Get out of here!” Rayquaza shouted to the clone Pokemon, “And take Mewtwo to safety!”

  Rayquaza let out a yelp as he was sent hurtling into the ground below.

  “Safety?” Necrozma repeated mockingly, “I’m afraid to tell you, but such a thing does not exist with me here.”

  Pointing a finger at the plateau, Necrozma forcibly tore the geological structure from the earth and into the sky far above the dueling creatures.

  “The lives of those peons will be our reward,” Necrozma announced, “Whoever wins will decide their fate, so be sure to pray for forgiveness before you meet your creator. After all, their deaths will be on your head.”

  “What the hell kind of logic is that?!” Bellowed Rayquaza as he erupted from the dust below, “It almost sounds like you think you have a chance!”

  Necrozma looked genuinely shocked at Rayquaza’s response, then that shock turned to laughing and then madly cackling.

  “It almost sounds like your heart is ready to explode from all that beating. You can’t hide your terror from me, worm.”

  “Are you sure that isn’t yours you’re thinking of? No, wait, that can’t be. Something like you isn’t capable of having a heart!”

  Necrozma chuckled darkly, “Well, you’ve got me there. My heart has stopped beating long ago.”

  Rayquaza readied a purplish-blue ball of energy in his mouth, “Then I’ll send you straight to hell where you belong!”

  “...You’ll die trying.”

  Rayquaza let loose a bellow with such force that the rubble below that had once been a forest was torn from the ground once more and scattered in a shockwave of rubble. With a crazed glare, the dragon of the skies shot a ball of energy in his mouth towards the demon before him. In response, Necrozma effortlessly backhanded the ball of energy into the moonlit sky and disappeared from sight. When the mega-evolved Legend scoured the lands for his opponent, his vision was eventually met with a black fist that hurtled towards him.

  Unable to react in time, Rayquaza was sent helplessly spiraling into the rubble below. A cloud of dust erupted from the legend’s impact that obscured him from sight.

  “Is that all you have?” Necrozma mocked as he appeared over the cloud of smoke, “I shouldn’t be surprised at this point. This planet is filled with nothing but weak scum like you.”

  Necrozma extended his arm skyward and opened the palm of his hand. Sparks of white plasma jolted out between the black demon’s fingers to create a ball of white energy that drastically increased in size until it blotted out the sky itself.

  “Perhaps it would be best if I simply destroyed this worthless pebble of a planet and stopped wasting my time.”

  It was at that time when an orange laser tore through and dissipated the dust cloud, shooting past Necrozma into the colossal ball of white energy.

  Necrozma stared down at Rayquaza with an unamused look on his face, “Honestly, I was standing completely still. Were you even TRYING to hit me, or are your eyes just as bad as your fighting prowess?”

  Rayquaza rose from the ground to meet Necrozma and simply gave him a knowing grin. He motioned for Necrozma to look upwards with his eyes, to which the black demon raised a figurative eyebrow and turned to look up at his gargantuan attack. The leader of the Ultra Beasts’ eyes widened in shock as he witnessed his attack bubbling and sparking, looking ready to burst at any moment.

  “WHAT IN THE-?!”

  Rayquaza seized the opportunity laid out before him and shot at Necrozma with a coat of green surrounding him. Upon collision with the distracted demon, Necrozma was pushed into the center of his own attack. Rushing past Necrozma now that the first phase of Rayquaza’s plan had been set in motion, he bolted towards his home in the ozone layer and turned to look down on the planet.

  “NECROZMA!” The proud dragon bellowed, “IF YOU THINK YOU CAN COME TO OUR HOME AND SLAUGHTER OUR PEOPLE, YOU ARE SORELY MISTAKEN!”

  Tearing open his own jaw to the point where it would nearly snap, Rayquaza charged a Draco Meteor attack over his head. The attack grew to such enormous lengths that to those on the ground below, it almost looked as if daytime had come early.

  “IN THE NAME OF EVERY LIVING BEING ON EARTH, I WILL STRIKE YOU DOWN, NECROZMA! DRACOOOOO...METEOOOOOOORRRRRR!!!”

  Through sheer force and concentration, the serpentine legend heaved the miniature sun down at his currently-trapped opponent. With sheer force and will alone, Rayquaza kept the gargantuan orb in one piece as to focus the entirety of the attack on Necrozma alone. However, Rayquaza’s plan was far from finished. Now came phase three: a maximum power Dragon Ascent.

  Meanwhile, in the ruins of what was once a forest below, Necrozma was struggling to keep his own destabilized attack from exploding with him inside it.

  “That damn lizard…,” Seethed Necrozma, “How could I have let such worthless trash put me in this situation?!”

  The black demon was suddenly rocked as another tremendous force impacted the white ball of energy he was trapped in. He looked above to see an orange light shining down.

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  “Grah!” Necrozma exclaimed, “Annoying...WORM!”

  Rayquaza reared his head back and breathed out a bellowing roar, coating himself in a green light...but it wasn’t enough. Rayquaza had used up the majority of his energy in the Draco Meteor attack and now he could scarcely hold his Mega Form, much less unleash a maximum power Dragon Ascent.

  Rayquaza shook his head and turned to face the planet below. It doesn’t matter. Who cares if it’s not enough?! All that matters is that he uses every last drop of energy in his body. Even if he dies, another legend will take his place. If not by his hand, it would only be a matter of time until Arceus and the others arrived.

  “HEAR ME, NECROZMA! ON THIS DAY, YOU WILL KNOW THE FEAR AND PAIN YOU HAVE CAUSED COUNTLESS OTHERS! DO YOU REMEMBER THE ORANGE ISLANDS?! WELL I DO! I REMEMBER, THE LEGENDS YOU NEARLY KILLED REMEMBER, AND THE FAMILIES OF THOSE WHO PERISHED ON THOSE ISLANDS REMEMBER! I WILL LAY MY LIFE DOWN SO THAT YOUR REIGN OF TERROR ENDS AS WELL! DRAGOOOOOON...ASCEEEEEEEENNNNNNT!!!”

  It was at that moment Rayquaza was blinded by a piercing white light that seemed to cut through Rayquaza completely. He couldn’t feel anything. He had reverted to his regular form as well. The fatigue and pain from overexerting himself...the desperation and resolve he had felt seconds before...had ceased to exist. It was as if Rayquaza himself ceased to exist. Rayquaza could barely even form a proper thought amidst the surrounding light. Rayquaza considered, for a moment, that he had perished...until the light began to take form. Now surrounded in a pitch-black darkness, the light that had once surrounded Rayquaza began to shape itself into some colossal being. It’s form...was incomprehensible. The only thing he could fathom was an arm and hand from the creature slowly reaching out to Rayquaza as if it was offering to pick Rayquaza off the ground. A voice suddenly roared in Rayquaza’s ears.

  “IT IS NOT YOUR TIME, RAYQUAZA. YOU HAVE MUCH YET TO DO.”

  Rayquaza’s eyes suddenly tore open, and he found himself once again overlooking the Earth, poised to crash like an asteroid into the trapped demon down below...but the fatigue and pain he felt ceased to exist. In fact, he felt re-energized. A power he had never thought capable of being imagined coursed through his veins. The realization of Necrozma slowly getting free of his binds struck Rayquaza and he resolved to ask questions later.

  A grin crept up Rayquaza’s mouth and he let out a roar at the top of his lungs, transforming back into his Mega form, though the form now had an ethereal bluish-silver coat surrounding him. Without further delay, Rayquaza used his newfound power to accelerate himself straight at Necrozma along with the two orbs of energy. The descent was instantaneous. At incalculable speeds, Rayquaza barreled into Necrozma with a Dragon Ascent. The only thing that could be seen of Rayquaza was a single green streak; an afterimage that stretched from where Rayquaza was once positioned in the ozone layer...directly into Necrozma and the orbs of energy.

  Faster than the eye could blink, the entire surrounding area that had once been a forest teeming with life just an hour earlier had been reduced to nothing. The surrounding trees had been completely obliterated; destroyed entirely for miles on end the moment the draconic legend impacted the invading monstrosity. Not just that, the ground itself for miles down had seemingly ceased to exist. From a bird’s-eye view, what had just been a forest was now nothing more than a colossal void with no visible ground beneath.

  “Congratulations, worm,” A dark voice announced from within the void, “You have successfully achieved nothing. Actually, you have achieved less than nothing.”

  A streak of light shot out from the void skyward and Rayquaza, who had now been reduced to his primary form, had landed near the edge of the crater with a thud. The black demon appeared above the fallen legend completely unharmed. However, Necrozma’s usual confident, arrogant demeanor was nowhere to be found. In its place, Necrozma now wore a glare that paralyzed the once-proud Dragon of the Skies with sheer terror.

  “You should have stayed underneath the rock you came from, worm. If you had, you would have been able to die without knowing the agony you’re about to be drowning in.”

  Without moving a muscle, Necrozma released an all-encompassing crimson blast of energy in every conceivable direction. Rayquaza snapped his eyes shut and prepared for the worst. As the blast hit him, Rayquaza was shot backwards until he was suddenly jerked to a stop when Necrozma outstretched his index finger to keep the Legend in place. Rayquaza couldn’t even scream in agony as the blast wreaked through every inch of his body.

  “There will be no escape for you,” Necrozma hissed with an echoing voice that somehow drowned out the ear-shattering noise of the blast, “Not even from death. Not yet anyways.”

  Necrozma shut his eyes and a small chuckle emitted from the dark beast that slowly evolved into laughter, and then to mad cackling. His eyelids ripped open to reveal crazed, burning red eyes that glared, almost literally, holes in his prey.

  “I will show you pain, snake,” Hissed Necrozma sadistically. “Pain unending. Pain unrelenting! You shall feel your body shatter like glass, over and over until the release of death is something you yearn for! Until it is the only thing you can comprehend!”

  With that, Necrozma cut off the blast and rocketed at his quarry, madly cackling once more. He seized Rayquaza by the throat and bolted into the wasteland below. A large cloud of dust erupted from the impact of the two titans’ descent and soon after, Necrozma erupted from the cloud, dragging Rayquaza through the ground at blinding speeds. The black demon, still laughing like a maniac, then charged a white orb in the hand carrying Rayquaza. Turning his arm skyward, Necrozma shot Rayquaza like a rocket into the night sky with the white orb of energy and warped above the broken legend to deliver a bone-shattering punch to Rayquaza’s spine.

  “Why…?” Thought Rayquaza. “Why…how am I…”

  The punch detonated the white orb, releasing a blinding explosion. Rayquaza shot out from the resulting smoke and impacted the ground with enough force to create a crater.

  “How...am I…”

  “-Still alive?” Necrozma finished, glaring hatefully into Rayquaza’s eyes with his own glowing red ones, “It is as I told you before.”

  Necrozma grabbed Rayquaza by one of the spikes protruding from his cheekbones and hoisted him off the ground so that they saw eye-to-eye. A black and red aura shot out from Necrozma that made Rayquaza scream in agony upon contact and annihilated the ground beneath them.

  “THERE IS NO ESCAPE FOR YOU! NOT EVEN DEATH CAN SAVE YOU FROM MY WRATH!”

  SNAP!

  Rayquaza’s bloodshot eyes burst open in torment as one of the spikes on his chin was torn off like a twig. Rage finally overtook Rayquaza as he watched his green spike fall onto the shattered ground below. With a primal, mindless bellow, Rayquaza used his newfound freedom from Necrozma’s grip to unleash a Hyper Beam directly into the invading monster at point blank...but it was not to be…

  With a single finger, Necrozma stopped the laser completely in its tracks and then shot his hand through it to forcefully snap the emerald dragon’s mouth shut.

  “Now, now,” Chided Necrozma as if he was talking to a child, “Why are you so angry? Is it perhaps...you’re feeling guilty about failing to save your dear little friend? Mewtwo, was it?”

  Rayquaza’s anger immediately snapped to disbelief.

  “What?!” Rayquaza shouted, praying himself from Necrozma’s grasp once more, “No, that cannot be! You’re lying! How could you have killed him while we’ve been fighting this whole time?!”

  Necrozma simply chuckled darkly, “You misunderstand. It was not I who killed that worthless insect...but YOU!”

  “ME?!” Demanded Rayquaza, “YOU MUST BE MORE INSANE THAN I THOUGHT IF YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT!”

  Necrozma pointed to the colossal void that was once Mewtwo’s forest and spoke, “Look there and tell me that again.”

  Rayquaza incredulously turned his gaze until his eyes widened with realization once he set his gaze on what was once Mewtwo’s home.

  “N-no,” Stuttered Rayquaza in denial, “That...that cannot…”

  “And that’s not all!” Announced Necrozma, who would have had a devilish grin on his face if he had a mouth, “But the plateau carrying those worthless peons was completely annihilated as well! I could hear their screams of terror being cut off by the explosion resulting from YOUR attack! How does it feel, knowing you were responsible for the demises of the very beings you were trying to protect?!”

  Rayquaza shuddered uncontrollably. So many emotions wracked his body, mind, and soul as he realized what he had done; what he, who had been assigned to protect the world, had done. He was supposed to protect them! He had been solely chosen by Arceus himself to keep the world safe from Necrozma, yet he had ended up essentially doing Necrozma’s work for him! His carelessness had condemned a legend, unofficial or not, to death along with his underlings!

  “I...I…”

  Necrozma planted a hand on Rayquaza’s shoulder, who didn’t even bother to turn around at this point.

  “Don’t worry about it. I know what you want. You want to die, right? You want to follow your victims into oblivion to atone for your travesty, right? ...No, what you truly want death for is to escape your own guilt! You want to escape being haunted by your failure because you are too much of a COWARD to confront it!”

  Rayquaza looked downward, and his look of shock and horror slowly changed to an emotionless, glazed gaze.

  “Well, do not worry, friend.”

  Necrozma raised his glowing red hand above Rayquaza, preparing to finish off his prey.

  “I will forget that little incident regarding turning my own attack against me, and let you perish as you so desperately wish. I’m a nice guy like that, so be thankful that I’m so merciful. Farewell...worm…”

  Cackling like a madman, Necrozma shot his hand downward. The impact shook the very earth itself, bringing up a mushroom cloud of smoke. The deafening explosion brought a grin to the black demon’s face. He’d always loved this finishing touch. Demoralizing his prey after beating them to the point where they wished for death, and then granting them their wish...it just never got old...but something struck Necrozma as odd. Normally when he slaughtered his prey, he could feel their bodies shatter upon the final blow, but this worm felt...oddly solid…

  Necrozma’s eyes widened as he was blasted backward by a colossal golden ray of shining light. Despite his attempts, Necrozma couldn’t escape the attack. Enraged, the black demon summoned red energy that cost his body and let out a roar that blasted the golden attacks away.

  “WHAT THE HELL?!”

  Suddenly, an echoing voice rang out through the surrounding dust and debris.

  “So…you must be the infamous Necrozma who had the gall to invade my planet and attack my children.”

  The dust cloud was cleared by a bright golden light revealing the God of Pokemon himself: Arceus, the Alpha Pokemon...and he looked anything but pleased.

  Necrozma, now genuinely annoyed, scowled at the godly figure and replied, “And what if I am?”

  The Alpha Pokemon Arceus channeled the sparkling golden light encasing him into a ball of pulsating white light above his forehead.

  “Then as creator and guardian of this world, I promise that you will face judgement!”

  The creator of all Pokemon raised himself onto his hind legs and sent the ball soaring into the night sky with a mighty bellow. When the ball disappeared beyond view, it violently exploded and sent a nigh-uncountable number of golden arrows unto the ground beneath.

  Necrozma stared up at the display of power in an unimpressed manner and raised a finger to dispel the divine onslaught when he suddenly felt a presence behind him. The interstellar warlord snapped himself around with a wound-up punch ready to annihilate this newcomer, but the Alpha Pokemon was faster.

  From below, Arceus unleashed a golden-white beam that easily dwarfed the size of the average mountain. Necrozma hardly had the time to blink before he was sent hurtling into the storm of golden arrows raining down. Arceus’s eyes glowed white, making the arrows that didn’t hit Necrozma swerve back upward into the Ultra Beasts’ leader.

  “Do you feel that, Necrozma?!” Bellowed an enraged Arceus, “Do you feel that helplessness and agony?! Because I can assure you, that is nothing compared to what you have inflicted onto my children, and I intend to make you repay that debt in full!”

  A crimson red shockwave from within the storm of holy arrows eradicated the Alpha Pokémon’s Judgement and colored the night sky an ominous red. Glaring down murderously at Arceus from above with a blood red aura coating his jet black body stood Necrozma, completely unharmed.

  “If that is all that they felt, perhaps I am losing my touch.”

  Arceus glowered at the demon staring down at him, “What kind of monster are you?”

  “...The kind hell itself will not open its gates to.”

  Necrozma aimed his hand downward and prepared to fire a laser down at the Alpha Pokémon’s head, but stopped when he felt multiple new powerful presences in the vicinity.

  “...It seems this day is ever-filled with surprise. New challengers have joined the fray.”

  Arceus sensed the newcomers too and, contrary to his position, cursed and turned to address these newcomers.

  “...Palkia, Dialga, Yveltal, Kyogre, Groudon, Solgaleo, Lunala…why in my name have you come here?!”

  Palkia and Dialga bowed their heads unanimously and the former spoke up first, “We had sensed that you had begun to battle something and guessed that you had finally found Necrozma. It seems our fears were not without merit.”

  Dialga spoke up, “We apologize, father, but we wish to take part in this battle as well! We cannot sit idly by in a situation like this!”

  Arceus begrudgingly accepted their answer for the meantime and turned in expectation to Yveltal, Kyogre and Groudon.

  Yveltal bowed his head and answered, “I heard the state Mewtwo was in from my counterpart in the Hall of Origins. Sensing your presence in battle, father, I put two and two together and assumed you were finally about to put an end to Necrozma. So, I came to watch.”

  Arceus stared at the Pokemon of Destruction with a look of knowing doubt, eliciting Yveltal to pause and then sigh before continuing.

  “Very well. I was not comfortable saying this in front of the others,” He motioned to the other Legendary Pokemon who had come to Arceus’s aid with a wing, “But…when I sensed Necrozma, I sensed something wrong...it felt as if he wasn’t even alive.”

  “Is that right?”

  Necrozma appeared behind Yveltal and rammed the edge of the crystal protruding from his arm into his back, then blasted it away. The Wing of Destruction known as Yveltal was sent hurtling forward by a red sphere being plunged into his back and it caused him to sail violently into the horizon. The surrounding legends’ faces, including Arceus himself, contorted into horror as they watched their family member sail off into the distance before they could even blink.

  Necrozma scoffed, “Perhaps you yourself should cease living before you make accusations like that.”

  Arceus’s stared in shock at Yveltal, or what was left of him, for a moment before slowly turning back to Necrozma with a savage, enraged expression.

  “ENOUGH!” Roared the creator Pokemon with such malice that his surrounding children had become pale with terror, “YOU HAVE DESECRATED MY HOME AND MY CHILDREN ENOUGH! YOUR BATTLE IS WITH ME AND ME ALONE!”

  In response, Necrozma shot forward at Arceus and, in an instant, the Alpha Pokemon met the ground below in a heap of dust. When Arceus charged out from the dust to resume battle with the invader, he was met with the sight of a crimson ball of energy that obscured the sky itself with its sheer size from his point of view.

  “By the way,” Spoke the Leader of the Ultra Beasts, “I overheard that little bird of yours say something interesting. Well, before I blasted it into a mountain, but that’s neither here nor there.”

  When no one replied, Necrozma continued, “He mentioned a “Hall of Origins”, right? I also heard that peon mention someone else there.”

  Necrozma shot an eye-grin at his quarry beneath him, “And that means there are more of your so-called legends there too...correct?”

  Arceus neglected to reply.

  “In that case, I will give you, say, a week to mobilize every last one of your pathetic excuses for legends to my location...and just to warn you...when you next see me…”

  Necrozma disappeared from sight, but Arceus and the surrounding legends all heard a haunting voice from an invisible source that chilled them to the bone.

  “...I will not be alone…”

  The colossal red ball suddenly rocketed into the sky and exploded deafeningly, forcing everyone in the vicinity to avert their eyes for fear of being blinded.

  When Arceus was next able to open his eyes, his first vision was that of his children, paralyzed with fear, and he himself felt a panic that he had not felt since the incident with the Jewel of Life and that traitorous, red-haired human who tried to bury him in that silver liquid.

  “...My children...” Spoke the Alpha Pokemon finally, “Palkia, Dialga, you are to round up the legends for yet another meeting in the hall of origins.”

  The two dazed deities shook off their daze and hastily retreated through portals to carry out their orders, eliciting Arceus to turn to Kyogre and Groudon next with a look of disapproval.

  “I can guess why you two are here. I have told you time and time again not to fight amongst each other and the minute Rayquaza is rendered inert. You two arrive just to disobey my direct orders.”

  The masters of Land and Sea shrunk at their father’s chastisement, and neither dared speak up.

  Arceus sighed and relaxed his gaze somewhat, “You two are to search for Yveltal and bring him to the Hall of Origins. You are dismissed for now, but you will receive punishment after Necrozma has been dealt with.”

  The two legends bowed and hastily made their way towards the crash site of Yveltal.

  Next, Arceus stared pitifully down at Rayquaza, who still looked solemnly down at the ground beneath him in a daze of his own guilt.

  As Arceus landed next to the broken legend, Rayquaza spoke first with a shaken voice.

  “...Why…?” The broken legend started shakily, “Why did you come to my rescue? I failed you TWICE, father! I failed to stop Necrozma from entering our planet; I didn’t even sense that he had gone past me!”

  Arceus sighed a began softly, “You have failed no one, my son-”

  “I do not deserve your pity nor mercy,” Spat Rayquaza, disgusted with himself, “In my second failure, I couldn’t protect Mewtwo and his underlings...even worse, I, KILLED THEM MYSELF!”

  Rayquaza gritted his teeth and slammed his claws into the ground, “MY CARELESSNESS LED TO THE DEATHS OF THOSE I WAS MEANT TO PROTECT!”

  Arceus could watch this painful display no longer, “Rayquaza, I haven’t the slightest clue what you are talking about. It was Mewtwo himself that informed me of your duel with Necrozma.”

  Rayquaza snapped his head around in disbelief, “WHAT?! You mean, he isn’t dead?!”

  “Your doubts hurt me, Rayquaza.”

  Next to Arceus, Mewtwo appeared in a flash of pink looking no worse for wear.

  “I’m not so weak as to be taken down in one strike, you know.”

  Rayquaza’s mouth stood agape. A swirl of emotions wracked Rayquaza’s mind all at once, and the Dragon of the Skies was left in a stunned trance.

  “Wha...how…”

  Mewtwo chuckled with a smile and answered the Sky Dragon’s thoughts, “It’s simple, really. I faked it right down to my thoughts. The moment I sensed Necrozma, I immediately warped my underlings away from harm, but I left energy signatures there that mimicked that of a weak life force with my Psychic powers. I knew I stood no chance at beating Necrozma, so I pretended that my underlings were in harm's way, faked defeat and waited for a moment to warp to the Hall of Origins to ask if Mew could help me fend off Necrozma. Instead of Mew, however, I found Arceus, and you know the rest.”

  Rayquaza could only stare with an agaped mouth in a mixture of shock and relief. He eventually let out a fatigued sigh and replied simply with, “...I...need a moment,” Which earned laughter from the two other legends. Arceus then warped the two legends to the Hall of Origins to await further instructions.

  Finally, Arceus turned his gaze towards Solgaleo and Lunala, who looked even more pale than the other legends.

  “Now what puzzles me,” Started Arceus, “Is as to why the two of you are here. You two have been completely silent during our recent meetings in the hall, so why did you come here now?”

  Lunala found her voice first. “We...believe that we may have some sort of connection with Necrozma...or used to, at least.”