*Voltflare's POV*

Ungh... My head... Where am I now?!

I open my eyes and stretch my body. Everything still works the way that it's supposed to, so I take a minute to look around. I paw at the ground nervously, hoping that I wouldn't be on another floating island again. However, when I really touch the ground, it feels incredibly familiar, almost like...

Home?! This is... This is Ilex Forest, where my village was! I... I've got to see it. Giratina wouldn't have brought me here without a purpose.

I hold my head high and sniff the air.

"Home is where your hearth is." At least, that's what Mother used to say...

I look down at my chest and touch it with a paw before sprinting towards the familiar scent of home.

After a few minutes of trekking through the forest, I come across a single thatched wooden hut that stands in the middle of a large grassy field.

I instantly recognize the structure as my own house.

This is all that's left of the village now. No more town square. No more school. No more anything.

I pace towards my former home, and I begin to hear a loud mumbling from inside the hut.

"Why am I still here?! I've failed in my one purpose as an Elder. Jake is probably dead because of my cowardice, or he's locked up in one of Team Rocket's labs as an experiment, or..."

The noise stops when I draw within five feet of my house.

"Halt! Who goes there! Don't move a muscle- I will not let you defile this last bastion!" a loud, yet compassionate voice calls from the inside.

Could that really be who I think it is?

My heart skips a beat in happiness.

"Markus?" I call out,

"Is that you?!"

Nothing but silence emanates from my home.

Finally, after what seems like an hour, a purple head pokes its way out of the house, followed by purple whiskers, lavender ears, and an entire purple feline body. Instantly, I know that the Pokemon standing in front of me is none other than the lost Elder, Markus. A large scar dashes its way across the old Espeon's left hazel eye, but he still hasn't lost his aura of power. As soon as Markus sees me, his fur stands on end in alarm.

"Who are you?!" he shouts,

"And how do you know my name?!"

I feel a Psychic barrier quickly closing around my neck, and it becomes hard to breathe. I come to the horrid realization that Markus could actually kill me, thinking that I'm actually someone else and not his precious Jake.

"Markus...!" I choke out,

"Don't... Don't kill me! It's... It's me, Jake!"

"I refuse to believe you, lying scum! I saw Jake get abducted by Team Rocket with my very own eyes! And I ran from it! I ran from Jake, and I failed my duty as an Elder!"

A single tear graces the Espeon's cheek, and the Psychic chokehold withdraws itself.

I crumple to the ground in agony, clutching at my neck and gulping in and gasping for as much precious air as my lungs could handle.

"Please, whatever you are, go back to wherever you came from and never bother me again. Jake is probably dead, and it's my fault!"

I pause, slowing my breathing to a normal pace, and I choose my words carefully, knowing that virtually anything could set off the distraught Markus again.

"You're right, Markus, at least in part," I tell the Espeon. Before he can close his Psychic around my neck again, however, I quickly explain myself.

"The Jake that you know did get taken by Team Rocket. He was experimented on, cut, maimed, and victimized. Even his appearance changed, and his own mother and father were forever lost to the same experiments. But, he met someone there that changed his life and spared him from the agony of Team Rocket."

"Yes, I know of him," Markus responds,

"Nathan is his name. That must mean that you are Voltflare..."

His eyes narrow.

"But that doesn't mean for a second that you're Jake!" he shouts, and his Psychic barrier begins to close around my neck again.

"Markus... Please... On that day, remember, I told you that I never thought that I was anyone special! Now, I'm all that and more- I have a purpose, a Trainer, and a different name- Voltflare- but I'll still always be the same Jake! Markus!" I call out in anguish, but the Psychic strength only increases, and my breathing grows more and more rapid.

"Markus!" I plead, but the pain only increases.

Spots dance along my vision as my brain tries to cope with the lack of oxygen.

"M.. Markus!" I choke out, and I let my body go slack.

Goodbye, Nathan. I wish I could tell you that I survived this... I begin to draft my own mental will, consisting of all the regrets that I've had- starting with the failure to defeat Cyrus and regroup with Nathan.

Then, Markus' telekinetic grip on my neck begins to lessen. Slowly, I am able to draw in air once again, and I fall to the ground, gasping for more.

"Is it really you, Jake? Jake, after all this time, is Voltflare?!" Markus asks me. I slowly nod, and the Espeon runs to me for an embrace. I refuse to resist, and he happily wraps his paws around me.

"Jake, I..." he begins to say, but I cut him off.

"Please, Markus, call me Voltflare. I'm not that timid little Eevee anymore," I tell him, and he blinks in surprise for a moment before finally agreeing.

"Fine... Hold on- get down!" Markus whispers, stifling me before I can make a sound and leaping for the hut with me in tow.

"They?" I whisper back once we're safely concealed behind some straw and grass.

"Look," Markus says, pointing out a large entourage of Galactic grunts who begin to ravage the forest. Leading them, coincidentally, is none other than Cyrus.

"Leave the hut to me," Cyrus tells his men,

"If they're there, I'll be sure to flush them out! Ahahaha!"

His men leave into the forest, saluting Cyrus as they leave. Meanwhile, Cyrus turns back to his job at hand and shouts,

"You can't hide from me forever! I won't allow you to interfere with the eclipse of my new world! Magnezone, come here!"

The Magnet Area Pokemon floats out of the surrounding foliage, clutching a struggling Eevee in one of its magnetic appendages.

"Y0U C@LL3D, B0S$?!" the Pokemon whirrs.

While its captive Eevee did not seem to be of our village, neither Markus nor myself is willing to let one of our species suffer like that in the hands of a madman.

Angrily, the two of us charge out of the hut to face Cyrus.

"Put him down right now!" Markus yells.

"Or what?" Cyrus laughs,

"You have no power now, old cad! Your days are through, and you and your lab rat are no longer needed for my utopia! I'd like to see you try to stop me, hero!"

Markus turns to me, a smile on his face.

"Shall we dance a few rounds?" he asks me. It takes me a few seconds to process the archaic language, but the meaning is clear- we have no choice but to fight Cyrus!

"You leave us no choice, Cyrus!" Markus yells,

"Prepare to face the wrath of our village's heritage!"

"Hmph! Insolent pest! I will make you regret those words with the entirety of your short-lived existence!" Cyrus laughs.

"Magnezone, Thunderbolt!" he commands,and his Pokemon responds instantly. Before I have time to react with a Thunderbolt of my own, Cyrus' Magnezone charges an electric pulse in one of its magnetic arms and fires its attack at Markus.

The Espeon closes his eyes in concentration, and he easily takes notice of the attack to retaliate.

"Bah! You'll have to do better than that!" he shouts, forming a clear prism barrier of Psychic energy all around himself. The incoming Thunderbolt bounces harmlessly off the barricade and discharges into the ground.

"Come on, Cyrus! You're definitely not all you're cracked up to be if you can't even best an ancient Espeon like myself!" Markus laughs in satire.

"And now," he stares directly at Cyrus' Pokemon and calmly states,

"It's my turn."

The Espeon's eyes begin to glow a bright blue, and the Magnezone is quickly surrounded by the same blue luminescence.

Cyrus, seeing this, angrily shouts,

"Magnezone, Rain Dance! Immediately!"

"3RR0R!" the Pokemon whirrs, attempting to execute the command, but failing each time it tries. The magnets on each side of it stops moving, and its yellow antenna ceases to pulsate. The scared Eevee shoves the Pokemon backwards into Cyrus and dashes into the forest. The stunned Magnezone slams into Cyrus and causes him to drop the Red Chain. For some reason, though, he doesn't seem to notice.

"L@CK 0F C0NTR0L! 3RR0R! @B0RT!" the machine screeches, and the Espeon's Psychic forcibly wrenches it away from Cyrus.

Markus turns to me expectantly.

"Jake... Voltflare, now! While I've got it pinned down! Finish it off once and for all!" he yells.

I immediately realize what it is that he wants me to do, and my body happily obliges. The fireball that I had so desperately swallowed earlier suddenly feels like lead in my gut, like it knows that it needs to come out.

I inhale deeply and mentally force my peristalsis to work in reverse, pushing the fiery bulge up the back of my throat until it rests in my waiting mouth, waiting for me to command it further.

I waste no time in attacking- opening my mouth with a start, I launch the fireball with as much force as I can muster at the Magnezone, which silently watches the blazing projectile with its emotionless blue eye. The fireball spirals in the air, expanding to form a star shape in the air before finally hitting its mark and engulfing the Magnezone.

What follows next is an indescribable noise that threatens to burst my eardrums. Markus releases the Magnezone from his Psychic grip, and the burning Steel-type writhes in pain on the earthen floor, whirring and clicking with an unparalleled intensity.

I stare at the immolating Pokemon in disbelief, pondering what, exactly, I had just done. Its magnets begin to melt and fall off the Pokemon's body altogether, followed by a yellow soup that formerly constituted as its antenna. Its blue eye flits back and forth, as if to glimpse the outside world one last time before it, too, falls prey to the advancing molten fireball. Once the entire Pokemon is nothing more than charred scrap, a look of horror becomes transfixed to my face.

That was my fireball... This was my doing! I... I killed this Pokemon. Machine or not, I did this!

Cyrus watches the destruction of his own Pokemon, focused only on the wasted potential, contrasting my remorse for what I just had to do.

"You were quite useful, Magnezone, for what I created you to be. But now, the weaker Pokemon must die off, to be replaced by the stronger one. And so the infinite cycle continues!"

Cyrus turns to me, a puddle of molten metal at my feet.

"Soon, it will be your turn, Voltflare. Mark my words, you will die by the end of the day!" he shouts. A large blue portal appears behind him, and he leaps into it, laughing.

"Oh, no you don't!" I instinctively shout, leaping for the portal, myself, but it had already disappeared into thin air.

My emotions take over, and I break down crying.

"Markus, look at me! I'm a murderer!" I sob into the Espeon's soft fur.

"You did everything that you needed to do to protect those you cared about, Jake," Markus consoles me,

"There is no greater joy for an Elder to see his student prosper..."

I cut him off sharply,

"So your definition of 'prosper' is 'murder?! Call it what you want, that was true suffering, and I caused it by my own volition! Even if it was a machine, I saw the pain in that Pokemon's eye when it died! I'm a murderer- no better than Cyrus!"

I bury my face in the dirt, intent on giving up and lying with the Magnezone's liquefied ashes- a haunting reminder of the foul deed for all eternity.

"No," Markus says, plainly,

"That's where you're wrong. You see, Cyrus' desire is to get rid of the very emotions that you now utilize- a conscience, a will, and a benevolent spirit. You saw his reaction to his partner's death! Was there remorse, sorrow even, in him?! At all?! No, Cyrus cares for the power of the sword, not the power of the heart. That is the difference between you and that madman!"

"But..." I stammer,

"I never want to do that again! I never want to have to torch another Pokemon ever again like I did. And, Cyrus..."

I turn my attention to the sky and shout,

"I'm going to end your perfect world for attempting to turn innocent Pokemon into heartless killers!"

"That's the spirit!" Markus smiles, resting his paw on my shoulder. I shake him off and begin to walk into the forest, but he holds me back with another Psychic.

"Wait a moment," he scolds me,

"Look over here!"

Markus points to a red metallic object, half-concealed behind the forest's green. I would never have noticed it, were it not for Markus.

"That's the..." I falter, not understanding how the article came to rest at our feet.

"That's the Red Chain! But how did..." I ponder. Markus replies, rather matter-of-factly,

"It must have been shaken loose when that Magnezone collided with its Trainer. Go on, pick it up!"

I take one last look at the remains of the molten Magnezone behind me, and I slowly fit the Red Chain around my neck and test my reflexes with it affixed to me.

For a hunk of metal, the Red Chain really doesn't weigh me down that much... Wait a second!

Touching the red object to my neck makes me remember something important.

Giratina needed this, didn't it?! And Nathan- how is he doing?!

"Markus, we have no time to waste- we need to get back to Nathan and the others!" I shout.

The Espeon simply laughs and nods.

"Impulsive as always," Markus chuckles,

"Here, let me see that Red Chain for a moment. I think I can decipher it."

I stand still, and Markus rests his paws on the metal. I feel tingly all over, but, before my very eyes, a portal appears in front of me. It bears a striking resemblance to the one Cyrus had just escaped from, so I guess that they will probably go to the same place.

"How did you...?" I turn to Markus, shocked. He laughs again.

"There isn't a thing in this world that can confound me anymore- especially after seeing my Jake return to me before my very eyes as Voltflare," he tells me,

"Now, come on- we have a madman to overthrow!"

I nod, and I leap into the waiting portal.

*Nathan's POV*

Riding on a speeding Giratina's back is surprisingly comfortable, considering for many spikes and other pointed objects dot the structure.

"We are almost there," the Renegade Pokemon tells me, speeding through the subspace of the Distortion World,

"Be ready for a fight unlike anything you have ever seen before. Dialga and Palkia are far stronger foes than any Giovanni or Cyrus ever could be. Yet we must defeat them to stop the progression of Cyrus' world!"

Far stronger than Giovanni?! I think back to the extreme difficulty with which Elijah and I brought down Team Rocket.

That certainly wasn't easy... If those two Pokemon surpass Giovanni's might, we could be in over our heads.

As if reading my mind, Giratina laughs, a low, throaty laugh.

"Fear not, Nathan! Our combined strengths will be more than enough for this task! If you have no faith, you will never accomplish anything! You should know that more than anyone, considering you disbanded Team Rocket and saved an experimental Hybrid from certain death at their hands."

"Speaking of Voltflare," I pipe up,

"How do you think he's doing?!"

"I sense the presence of Cyrus and another Pokemon near him. The Pokemon's identity, I have no idea, but it seems to be greatly threatened by Voltflare."

Threatened?... That doesn't seem like Voltflare to threaten something like that. I wonder what's really happening to him right now...

A large blue fireball interrupts my train of thought, and Giratina dodges to the left to avoid it.

"We will have time to understand Voltflare's circumstances later- the immediate fight is ours!" Giratina calls to me, spinning to avoid another fireball and almost knocking me off its back in the process. I struggle to hang on while Giratina nose-dives towards the fireballs' source, the feud between Dialga and Palkia.

Giratina's claws extend farther and farther the closer it draws to battle, and it rakes one pair across empty space to create a battlefield that pulls in everything around it.

Giratina harmlessly flies through this new portal, while Dialga and Palkia roar in defiance, continuing their battle outside of it.

"No, no, no... Not out there! If you're going to fight, do it where you cannot rip apart our reality!" Giratina roars, and a bright purple light envelops both fighting draconian Pokemon.

Giratina fashions a makeshift battlefield inside this Distortion World pocket that it has created, and Dialga and Palkia are whisked to the new area, directly in front of the two of us.

The two creatures look at each other awkwardly for a moment. Then, a large schism appears in the Distortion World behind them, and out of it steps the mastermind behind this all- Cyrus.

"That mangy little rat and his friend!" Cyrus curses,

"They destroyed my Magnezone- my creation! All of it! Melted into a pile of scrap metal! I'm going to grind their hearts into ash and paint it on my doorstep!"

I stare at Cyrus in disbelief.

He appears from a hole in the Distortion World, conveniently behind the strongest Pokemon in the world that I know, and he's showing emotion- real emotion! Something's not right...

Cyrus looks up from his verbal tirade and sees me. His fists curl in fury.

"You trained him to do that, you detestable Trainer!"

Yet, an odd smile crosses the man's face, and his fingers unravel to reveal a small machine, not much bigger than the Red Chain. With a smile, Cyrus eagerly pushes the button and shouts,

"I'm going to pave my own utopia over this world, and I'm starting with you and your lab rat!"

As if on cue, another hole appears I'm the Distortion World, and Voltflare and another Pokemon, an Espeon, spill out of it. The two of them land in front of Giratina, and the Espeon's fur stands on end. I quickly tell him a few phrases in Eevee to relax him to Giratina's presence, and he quickly turns his attention to Cyrus and his final bastion of Pokemon. Cyrus quickly pulls a red remote from his pocket, as well as a small earpiece that he fits to himself.

"I've had enough of you all! Now, cower in fear as I crush you with the combined power of time and space! Engage, Galactic Machine!" he screams.

I watch as a dark film appears over the eyes of both Dialga and Palkia, matching the one that had possessed Giratina earlier. I begin to put the pieces of Cyrus' master plan together.

So that's what your machinations have been leading up to?! To control the deities of the Sinnoh Region and reign as a god?! I refuse to let you! I will never let you get away with your crimes!

"Voltflare, Giratina, everyone! Are you ready to reclaim the world?!" I shout.

A loving nod from my Pokemon is the only signal that I need to pull out my Metagross' Pokeball and throw it to the ground. The ball explodes into light, and my familiar behemoth emerges. Although its size is not nearly as intimidating when compared to the titanic Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina, the Iron Leg Pokemon is ready for action, nonetheless.

"Metaaa!" it roars, and the battle for the world begins.