The siblings stood in silence, eyes fixed on their father as he stared back with slightly wide eyes. What they said obviously surprised him, but that didn't matter. Nor did the smirk threatening to form on his face, which was shown by the way the corner of his lip twitched.

Their friends stared at them, mouths agape, completely taken aback by their words. He's right? How can they say that?

"See?" The man spoke up, his grin showing his victory "Even they know; there's no escaping who they are--"

"We weren't finished, dad."

He paused, turning to his son who had spat the harshly spoken statement. Luke's expression remained unchanged, as he exchanged glances with his sisters before speaking up again.

"Yes, you're right; we have hurt people we care about. Who hasn't? We all make mistakes, it's part of being human. But, that's the difference between you and us. We try to make up for our mistakes; we change how we do things to make it right. Sometimes our mistakes even lead to something good." He smiled to himself "But you- you take pride in yours. You enjoy hurting others. You smiled through all the experiments you performed on others; including your own children. You bragged about leaving your children -who couldn't take care of themselves- by pretending you were killed. You laughed while people were suffering because of your twisted deeds. You took away your wife's ability to speak. You took away your daughter's child. And you did it all with pride."

Benjamin's smile faded, replaced with a scowl as Luke continued to shame him. By now they were having what seemed to be a hardcore staring contest, neither of them daring to blink.

"So you see, that's the difference between us, dad." Luke smirked "We hurt people unintentionally, because we are human. While you hurt people for entertainment- because you are a monster."

...

"Well played, boy..." Benjamin spoke darkly.

Everyone's eyes widened as his body began to shift, his eyes glowing red and his hands forming into heads.

"Too bad you won't be alive to eat those words..."

Luke stumbled backwards, landing on his butt as his father -who was now a voracious Hydreigon- lunged towards him. He brought his arms up, shielding his face from the creature as it brought it's jaws up to chomp down on him.

But, the pain never came.

He slowly opened his eyes, only to have his pupils shrink at the sight "M-Megan! Laura!"

His two sisters stood in front of him, each of them in their Pokemon forms as they continued to hold back Hydreigon. Megan had her horn in the creature's mouth, her teeth bared as she dug her claws into the ground. Laura blocked his hand-heads with her front paws, gripping down on them to stop them from opening and snapping.

"Now look who's the damsel in distress." Megan teased, as she and Laura pushed their father back "Better watch your back, Matthew."

Luke rolled his eyes, rising to his feet with help from Laura "Now it's just old, Meg."

"Well it ain't going away so quit complaining!"

"Meanie..."

"How dare you!" Benjamin roared, baring his fangs at the siblings "You will regret messing with your old man! I swear it!"

"No you won't," Green spoke up, reminding everyone he was still there "If you actually paid attention, instead of attempting to kill your kids, you would know you are surrounded."

"What...?" The Dragon trailed off, looking around to see many tranquilizer guns pointed at him from all directions. The police were here, in his secret lab. He glanced over to his scientists, only to realise they had already been cuffed and gagged by a few officers. Even his Dusknoir had been apprehended.

Red smirked, holding up a walkie talkie so everyone in the room could see it. "Game over..."

"Holy Mew, Red just talked!" Hau shrieked, pointing to the Kanto champion.

"Benjamin Artemus, you are under arrest for illegal experimenting on others, first degree murder and leading an illegal organisation." Officer Jenny announced "Change back into your human form and place your hands on your head, immediately!"

"Is no one gonna address the fact Red, Red just spoke?!"

"Hau," Green placed a hand on the boys shoulder, shaking his head "Let it go, buddy..."

Benjamin smirked, baring his teeth as he glared at officer Jenny "You seriously think that I'm going to give up that easily?! I will destroy every single one of you, and I will take great pride in doing it too! Do not mess with an Artemus--"

He was cut off as three moves crashed into him all at once, sending him flying backwards and knocking him out. He immediately changed back into a human, and four officers rushed over to take him into custody.

"He's right," Megan spoke up, sending the Fairy Type disk she used to release that Fairy type Multi Attack back to Gladion. Princess and Arcanine stood beside her, which the other attacks; Ice Beam and Dragon Pulse came from. Megan slowly transformed back into her human form, while Luke and Laura stood next to their Pokémon. They all smirked as they spoke in unison:

"Don't mess with an Artemus."

---

"I'm happy to report that the whole place has been cleared out," Officer Jenny announced, smiling at the young trainers in front of her as they all stood outside of Seaward cave "We have taken Mr. Artemus, and his eight accomplices into custody."

"That's great," Sun Smiled, "I doubt they'll be causing any more trouble--"

"Hold up," Ein cut him off, both him and Avory had looks of concern on their faces "Eight? There should be nine of them."

"Those were the only ones in there, sir." Jenny told him.

Avory thought for a moment, before facing the officer again "Do you know the names of the ones you captured?"

"Their fingerprints identify them as-" she looked at her clipboard "Shannon Willows, Dume Tsui, Janus Lovehoed, Marble Trix, Coral Reif, Katelyn Daiz, Keira Hardlink, and Pastel Davita."

'So that's Capricorn, Taurus, Gemini, Scorpio, Aquarius, Cancer, Libra and Virgo...' Avory thought to himself, placing a hand on his chin 'Who are we missing?'

Ein gasped next to him, turning to his friend with a scowl "Isaac."

'Oh fuck no!'

Avory groaned, hands covering his face as he craned his head back "Are you kidding me! Period brain?!"

"Um, pardon me?" Jenny raised an eyebrow, and the two boys turned to her.

"Sorry," Avory apologised "It just seems that one of the scientists got away... Isaac Raiden."

"I see..." Jenny took a pen out of her shirt pocket "Think you can describe him to me?"

They nodded.

"Okay, I swear," Laura spread her arms out, feeling the warm air against her face "I have never been so happy to see the sun since, well, ever!"

Luke laughed at her excitement "You can say that again, we kinda unappreciated it before now."

"Yeah well while you're appreciating the sun or whatever," Megan began walking down the path "I'm gonna go home and change out of this ugly ass jumpsuit!"

"Hold it."

She froze instantly at the voice, and very slowly turned her head to gaze at the owner from over her shoulder. Her heartbeat quickened instantly as they made eye contact, his piercing gaze making her breath catch in her throat.

"...Hi..." she whispered

Gladion's frown disappeared, and was replaced with a small smile "Hi."

...

Megan turned on her heels, and began unconsciously walking towards the male. His feet moved at almost the exact same time as hers. They maintained eye contact the entire time, their hearts reaching out to each other as the space between them lessened. All of the regret they felt. All the pain. The untamed beast of negativity inside of them moved them faster, the strong desire growing as they moved closer to each other... until it was tamed with a tight embrace.

Megan wrapped her arms securely around Gladion's neck, tears forming in her eyes as she felt his arms lock around her waist. She buried her face into his neck, recognising the scent of his cologne. Since when was she so addicted to that smell? She sobbed into his shoulder as he held her tightly, not letting go for anyone or anything as he peppered the side of her face with kisses. Cheek, jaw, neck, ear. Anywhere he could reach was not safe from his lips.

"It's over..." Megan whispered, her voice shaky from crying "It's finally over!"

"It's over..." Gladion agreed, and the cracking in his voice told Megan that he was crying too. He ran one hand up and down her back, enjoying the warmth he had missed far too much. He pulled away only slightly, still keeping ahold of her as he gazed into her watery eyes. He reached up and cupped her cheek, wiping away her happy tears "... I'm sorry, I was such a prick to you..."

Megan shook her head, placing her hand on top of his "It was my fault, I pushed you too hard, I was just..."

"Hurting." He finished, pressing his forehead against hers and closing his eyes "We both were, sweetie..."

She let out a sniffle, feeling his arm around her waist pull her closer into his chest "...We both said some things we regret, huh?"

She felt him nod his head "Been beating myself over it every single day..."

"So have I..."

"I'm so sorry..."

"...Me too... Arceus I'm sorry..."

They brought their lips forward, pressing them together into a long passionate, deeply wanted kiss. Megan reached up to run her fingers through his hair, remembering how good it felt against her skin once again. Gladion lifted her up by her waist until only her toes were on the ground, recalling how damn light she was. They remembered their first kiss in the Pokémon center those four years ago. They remembered every makeout session, every kiss, every embrace.

They remembered what it was like to love each other again.

But unfortunately... their moment came to an end far sooner than they hoped...

Megan grabbed Gladion's shoulders, pushing away from him and stumbling backwards. She clutched the fabric over her chest, eyes wide as pained gasps escaped her throat. The tears in her eyes were no longer happy; they were tears of agony as she fell to her knees.

Her chest... it was glowing again...

"Oh God!" Gladion cried, dropping down next to her and scooping her up into his arms. She had gone pale, ghostly pale.

"Oh my Arceus!" Lillie shrieked as she, Sun and Hau rushed over to them. This alerted the others, and soon everyone was crowded around her.

"Give her space!" Avory demanded, pushing them to the side before kneeling down before the teens. He placed two fingers on the wheezing girl's neck, feeling around for a pulse. It was dangerously weak. His pupils shrunk in horror "Shit."

Luke and Laura pushed past everyone, desperate to get to their sister. As soon as they saw her fighting to breathe in Gladion's arms, their hearts sank. They bent down, taking her hands in theirs, wincing at the feeling of her now ice cold skin.

"Don't die on us..." Luke whispered, as Laura sobbed into her sister's hand "Please... don't die on us..."

Lillie was shaking, her hands covering her mouth to muffle her sobs as Sun and Hau wrapped their arms around her and silently cried into her shoulders. Ein gripped his hair, not being able to bare the sight of someone dying; not again.

Megan stared up at Gladion, who clutched her cold body desperately while looking deep into her eyes.

"I love you..." she whispered weakly, her eyes suddenly growing heavy as she heard shouts from her friends and family fade.

"Megan!"

"No, you can't leave!"

"Don't close those eyes! Don't you dare close those eyes...!"

"...Megan...!"

.

.

.

"...I love you..."