On the way to the castle, aftershocks kept occurring.

Rocks tumbled down the hillside—the “Kala” fragments shattering—and townspeople scattered in all directions, standing on higher ground to watch a column of white light soar upward.

That pillar of light rose from the cracked earth into the sky, churning the clouds into a spiraling whorl that spread outward.

At the same time, the light membrane barrier enveloping Ein Doach developed one fissure after another!

“This is—the Light Stone sealed by the Sword of the Land—it’s about to awaken!” the mayor said.

On the castle’s second floor, a woman dressed in traditional garb shouted toward Lu Ye and the others:

“You lot, come over here now!”

The central barrier in the castle was firmer, able to withstand the tremors more effectively.

Ash’s sharp eyes recognized the girl standing next to the woman: it was Kalita, who had just pulled out a Shiny Hydreigon. He turned and asked:

“Are we going over there?”

“Let’s go—stabilize Reshiram first!” Lu Ye’s expression grew serious as he stared up at the white column.

If I’m not mistaken, Reshiram has been affected by Zekrom.

As opposing forces, Reshiram wouldn’t tolerate Zekrom’s actions.

In other words, from the dragon’s roar a moment ago, Zekrom must be nearby too!

Kala! Kala!

The ground beneath Lu Ye and the others split and began to collapse. The woman ordered Golurk to carry out the rescue.

Flames of propulsion burst from Golurk’s feet as it flew up to the castle’s second floor, lifting Ash and the mayor on its shoulders, then hesitantly glanced at Lu Ye.

“You go up first.”

Lu Ye looked at the fractured ground beneath his feet and said, “Haunter, use Psychic to levitate me.”

“Gengarrr!” Haunter’s crimson eyes flashed with blue light.

Lu Ye’s feet left the ground as he scanned the pale blue membrane of light around them—and the earth suddenly gave way!

The entire slab of rock fell into a bottomless ravine. Golurk safely descended and set Ash and the mayor down on the castle’s second floor.

Lu Ye and Haunter floated together, looking down into the chasm, and breathed a little easier.

“Nimi~!” Victini placed its tiny hands on Lu Ye’s shoulder;

its eyes shone blue.

In an instant, a surge of intense energy flowed into Lu Ye’s chest. His limbs felt filled with strength, as if he could climb Prism Tower with his bare hands!

“Haunter.” Lu Ye swung his arms and licked his lips. “I’ll try to jump across… If I fall, catch me with Psychic!”

“Gengarrr…” Haunter nodded blankly.

He always feels like his trainer is asking to die…

Leaving the pale blue membrane, Lu Ye felt weight pull him down. He planted his foot on a protruding chunk of fractured rock and pushed off, easily vaulting four meters into the air.

Kalita and her mother Jiangta covered their mouths and gasped.

Lu Ye grabbed the balcony edge with one hand, his lower body suspended over the collapsing ravine. He flipped up onto the balcony and clapped his hands.

“Phew… I’m a little rusty.”

Everyone’s faces went blank.

Poor thing—you just can’t out-handsome the legend of Lu Ye!

Lu Ye was referring to the body conditioning granted by master-level fighting training.

Combined with Victini’s buff, that’s why he dared to do it.

At that moment it felt like the goddess of victory favored him;

Teacher Lu was confident he could single-handedly take on a bear! (Not really.)

“Do you do that often?” Kalita asked, stunned—people couldn’t believe a human could possess such physical ability;

probably even Pokémon weren’t Lu Ye’s match.

“It’s basic wild-fighting technique, I guess.” Ash said confidently. “Teacher Lu even once beat Regigigas with a single punch!”

Shata gaped. As someone of the earth folk, she had heard the legends of titans that drag continental plates.

But that sounded like Teacher Lu spinning fairy tales to impress Ash…

“It was Victini’s help.” Lu Ye said.

“Nimi~” Victini popped up behind Lu Ye, grinning and flashing a V sign.

Shata suddenly understood: from his movements, it was clear Teacher Lu excelled in the no-holds-barred style.

“Things happened suddenly—please allow me to explain.” Shata said. “Sir Lu Ye, I know of your heroic deeds. The Light Stone seems to have violently awakened for unknown reasons. If possible, our earth folk beg you to assist us!”

“That’s what I came here for.” Lu Ye replied.

Shata and the others relaxed slightly, then turned and led Lu Ye and company toward the subterranean passage that sealed the Light Stone.

Lu Ye stood at the balcony edge for a moment, peering down, his expression growing more complicated.

So this place is that high.

I almost lost sync just now!

Lu Ye felt a momentary chill and rubbed his chin.

Looks like when I get back I’ll have to seriously consider some kind of flying gear…

**

Several dozen miles from Ein Doach lay Lacunosa Town.

This town was about to host the World Championships’ Junior Cup and had invited Alder, Lu Ye, Cynthia and other Pokémon masters to the opening ceremony.

Lacunosa was snowbound year-round, with persistent scary rumors about children going missing and ghosts eating people, so nighttime travel was often forbidden.

Hosting such a major event could be a chance to revive the town.

The sky was still early;

thick snow drifted over Lacunosa Town. From the black distant mountains came a loud, piercing roar.

“Again?” a resident grumbled. “Which Pokémon living in the Giant Chasm is in heat this time?”

“No ordinary Pokémon would have such an aura.” Another resident said, then his face suddenly changed.

“Listen!”

A dull thunder cracked through the sky, followed by a roar that seemed to pierce the clouds.

Both men looked up to see surging electric light;

lightning tore through the cloud layer, and after a moment a deafening thunderclap fell.

Boom!

“Is that… even a Pokémon?” the resident’s legs trembled.

“It must be Thundurus—the cloud deity legend that causes storms…”

“But why does it sound… like a Dragon-type’s cry?”

Above the clouds, Zekrom streaked across the sky in black-gold armor;

its tail engine sent off intersecting bolts of electricity.

A green-haired young man wearing a baseball cap stood listening intently, his pendant and green hair swaying in the wind;

his gaze was deep as he focused on the sound.

He could hear Kyurem’s angry, inexpressible pain—and that pain cut to N’s core.

N inhaled deeply and turned his look toward the cave next to Lacunosa Town. Rumors said the cavern formed when a meteor fell—icy, snowbound, scarcely trodden.

A natural hiding place.

N murmured:

“Found you.”

**

Giant Chasm, Lacunosa Town.

Ghetsis, moody and grim, leaned on his staff wearing a red monocle, coldly watching Kyurem in front of him.

“Roar!!”

Kyurem looked like a gray-blue bipedal tyrannosaur: a powerful lower jaw emitting frost, two icy horns extending from its head like broken ice spikes.

Enormous slabs of ice formed wings on its back;

three icy spines extended from its tail. Its extreme cold seemed able to swallow both lightning and flame.

With Kyurem’s roar, frigid winds lashed at Ghetsis!

The “Kala” barrier in front of them frost-covered, but Ghetsis said nothing and calmly murmured:

“It’s beautiful, Kyurem.”

“Because it’s a Pokémon from the cosmos.” Acerola stood behind him, hand on her back, pushing up his glasses with a smile. “Compared to the legendary Pokémon of Earth, its research value is far higher.”

“Have you successfully controlled Kyurem?” Ghetsis asked coolly.

“In the face of my genius Acerola’s scientific achievements, failure is impossible.”

Acerola brought out an improved device and pressed the control button.

“Legendary Pokémon are no exception.”

Electric currents tortured Kyurem. The ice dragon stamped the ground in rage, roaring out blasts of icy air!

Ghetsis and Acerola watched silently.

Gradually Kyurem calmed, and a deep red light bloomed across its face.

“It’s still just a legendary Pokémon.” Acerola rubbed his forehead. “Ha! Only fools like Archie and Maxie would be rebuffed trying to control a legendary each!”

Ghetsis sneered. “Have you forgotten the failure of the Twinleaf City plan?”

Without the DNA Splicers, though Ghetsis escaped prison, he still didn’t have absolute certainty of ruling Unova.

“No… I haven’t forgotten.”

Acerola pushed up his plain lenses—beneath them a pair of cold eyes.

He remembered the black-haired youth in the snowy night.

Face-to-face on the surveillance screen, a shameful fear rose in Acerola’s heart.

“So.” Acerola said calmly, “I look forward to meeting him in battle again.”

“Roar!!!”

The cavern trembled and thundered;

both turned and looked back.

Against the light stood a tall, melancholic green-haired youth.

He lowered his eyelids—his green hair and pendant swayed—and then he lifted his gaze and stared straight at them.

“Tch…” Acerola took a step back.

Clad in black-gold armor, Zekrom stood beside N, its gaze crimson and disdainful, tail engine spinning and flashing electric light.

Ghetsis seemed to squeeze a sound from his throat. “Unova’s black dragon… Zekrom…”

“You actually became a hero? Earned Zekrom’s recognition?!”

Ghetsis asked in disbelief.

N didn’t answer.

Those unglossed, dim eyes flickered with disappointment and sorrow as he met Ghetsis’s gaze in silence.

Ghetsis composed his face.

Hands on his staff, he watched the son he’d raised—his black cloak fluttering—mockery curling at the corner of his mouth.

“I see… so you’ve come to find me after all.”

“Zekrom told me Kyurem is suffering.”

N’s eyes darted past Kyurem and narrowed toward Ghetsis;

his gaze sharpened:

“I will not allow selfish humans to make Pokémon suffer!”

“Fine words, N.” Ghetsis lightly clapped and snorted. “My education of you as a ‘king’ has not been in vain.”

“Then tell me—are you a human, a Pokémon, or neither—”

“You are,” Ghetsis narrowed his eyes and enunciated, “a heartless monster.”

N glanced away slightly.

“Roar!!”

Zekrom erupted with fury beside N.

This is what Zekrom accepts: the emblem of ideals, the black hero!

Ghetsis’s smile froze.

He saw his timid, gentle, obsessive adopted son—looking at him with an edge in his eyes that chilled him to the bone.

“Father.” N said, “this will be the last time I call you that.”

“Because I will atone for my past mistakes.”

N spread his arms;

his green hair fluttered in the airflow.

“I love the land of Unova. I love its people and Pokémon. They taught me how to coexist in harmony.”

“Hardworking citizens, the Timburr who help carry loads, the Golurk shaped from clay, the mourning masks that send off the dead—these are incomprehensible formulas, miracles of this world.”

“You will never understand any of that, because I hear no feelings or bonds in you—your numbers are a void.”

“Shut up!” Ghetsis slammed his staff in fury. “You are not human—don’t use that nauseating rhetoric!”

“Never mind.” N lifted his gray eyes and said:

“There will be a forest that will accept me and my companions—Zorua, Gardevoir, Gothitelle…”

“There will be a café—Haunter, Sylveon, Togepi… they believe I can change everything.”

“So I will continue pursuing my ideals.”

“Because there are people and Pokémon worth trusting, and people and Pokémon who trust and await me.” N said.

“Pokémon, humans, and even you—everything is merely tools for the strong to control the world!”

Ghetsis tightened his grip on his staff;

blue veins flared on his face and he ground out:

“I will re-educate you—teach you etiquette and reverence once more.”

The next instant.

Kyurem stepped across ice ridges and unleashed a blast of frigid air that swept toward Zekrom.

Zekrom’s black armor frosted over;

its tail spiral began to spin, interlacing currents of electricity.

The cavern erupted with dazzling light.

Violent tremors, clashing moves, dragons roaring.

Acerola watched and removed his plain lenses, wiping the corner of his eye.

“The deep bond between father and son moves even me a bit…”

“But,” Acerola put his glasses back on, “I am only interested in science.”

This might be the best opportunity to test a new method.

Even without the DNA Splicers,

I, Acerola, can still fuse legendary Pokémon!

Something Dr. Hiroshi couldn’t accomplish, feared by the elder Fuji, and unrecorded by Professor Oak!

“It is my genius invention!!”

Acerola produced a fusion device.

Years from now Sun &

Moon would develop devices that merge legendaries—but Acerola now, driven by fervent belief, hunger for science, and spurred by Teacher Lu’s push, breaks the limits!

If Teacher Lu were here, he’d be amazed by Acerola’s genius.

[Acerola Machine No. 1198: A device intended to fuse the originally single Kyurem with another Pokémon. Based on experimental results using artificial ovum cells and improved from the original machine. (Note: risk of explosion!)]

Acerola: “Only the power of science is limitless!”

Biting winds, intersecting lightning, and the father-son clash.

Ambitions to dominate Unova, ideals to save Pokémon.

Acerola watched and pressed the fusion device’s button.

“Roar!!”

Kyurem reared and roared, its tail ice spikes firing arrow-like red beams—several red threads shot toward Zekrom!

N sensed the danger.

“Zekrom!!”

“Roar!!!” Zekrom’s spiral tail overclocked, emitting a dazzling blue glow;

the black armor patterns began to shine blue.

Zekrom—Overdrive Mode!

Petavolt-level electricity spread outward, the surging field seeming to neutralize traits and pulverize the cavern’s ice ridges!

Still, the red threads Kyurem fired pierced through the high-voltage electric grid and relentlessly flew at Zekrom!

“Roar!!”

Zekrom arched its black mechanical wings and bellowed across the sky.

The Unova legends—the black and white dragons—were originally brothers. Though constantly at odds, in times of peril they would come to each other’s aid.

Big brother—save me!!

Outside the mountains, Ein Doach.

At the Sword of the Land castle, a white pillar of light surged upward as the ground split open!

Good brother, don’t rush!!

“Teacher Lu, what are you looking at?” Ash asked curiously.

Lu Ye turned his gaze from the white pillar, his face slightly complicated.

“Uh…”

Lu Ye’s spine tingled;

he rested his hand on his chin, thinking for a long beat. “I’m thinking…”

Teacher Lu rubbed his chin;

the premonition grew stronger and he sighed tiredly:

“I’m afraid there’s an insider… someone fed Kyurem dinner…”