Warning: This chapter contains themes such as violence, blood, and other dark themes. Please tread with caution.

"You're pathetic!" a random grunt chuckled as he grabbed part of my hair while another one punched me in the stomach.

Fighting. It was something I was never good at. I was good at dodging attacks, yes. Self defense, I knew enough to get me by. That was one of the many reasons Hilbert taught me how to fight. However, right now, I wished I had more training as I didn't seem to be faring well.

My goal was to get to Rudi and get him out of here before something bad happened. Shadow warned me that he'd kill him first, and I couldn't let that happen. That was why I was a superhero anyways: I couldn't let anyone die. Not on my watch at least.

Seeing that he could take Rudi away from me, well, that was the lowest anyone could ever go. I was going to do everything in my power to prevent that.

The members of Team Oblivion made it nearly impossible for me to do anything, especially since they were ganging up on me. I tried flinging my arms and legs everywhere, but it wasn't working as my tactics made the situation worse. I bit my lip as I felt the grunt who held me by the hair yanked down, while another one kicked me right in the side. Had I not been through such pain before, I would've cried.

To be honest, I just wanted the pain to stop.

The one grunt lowered his foot onto my head and stepped on me. It wasn't enough to crush my skull, but he made sure I could feel a bit of pain. My hands grabbed his ankle as I tried to get him off of me, but that only gave another member time to grab my hands and pull them painfully behind me.

"Ready to see the world burn?" I heard Lethe's voice ask.

I squeezed my eyes shut, not wanting to face my brother right now. He wasn't in his right mind. If he was, I was still confused on how I was supposed to feel about him. The weight on my head vanished, but I didn't try to get up as I felt my head pounding painfully.

Someone grabbed my arm and spun me around so that I could face him. The other members of Team Oblivion started to fight elsewhere as Lethe stood in front of me. His gray eyes replaced by a dark onyx color.

This wasn't Lethe.

My brother was about ready to slap me in the face, but I quickly dodged and punched him in the stomach. The boy stumbled back a bit, and as he did, Audino came running in front of me, quickly placing his hand on my arm before healing me as fast as he could.

As my Pokémon did that, I watched as Lethe looked back at me, appalled.

This wasn't my brother. This was the monster Team Oblivion created. My brother was trapped inside there. I'd seen what he could do outside of Team Oblivion, and while I was confused on who his alliance still was, I wanted to believe there was still some good in this young man.

Lethe looked up at me as his Stunky stood in front of him. His other two Pokémon had run away, fighting other members of Team Oblivion. Only his Stunky, looking unwilling to fight alongside him, remained.

"You're pathetic, you know that?" Lethe asked.

"How about we settle this like real Trainers then?" I shot back, as I touched the S on my suit. "Let's show him what we can do as a team with Mega Evolution."

The light shone brighter than ever as it escaped the Key Stone and connected the Audinite. When it disappeared and Audino stood there in his new form, I noticed Lethe give a mindless smile.

"Mega Evolution won't help you, as it's still weak," Lethe sneered.

Weak? I thought for a moment of typing, something Hilbert drilled into my mind during the last training session we had. Though, if I was being honest, a lot of those training sessions merged together as if I was going through the same motions over and over again.

Audino was a Normal-type, which wasn't strong against many Pokémon, but was weak against Fighting, I think. Stunky, on the other hand, was a Dark and Poison-type Pokémon. Okay, what was Poison effective against?

Merde.

"Stunky, use Acid Spray!" Lethe commanded.

"Deflect with Disarming Voice!" I yelled.

Of course, I wasn't thinking. Disarming Voice was a Fairy-type move, which wasn't very effective against Poison attacks. The spray of acid overpowered Audino's attack, pushing the attack back until it hit him and made him squeak in pain.

I looked back, looking to see how my friends were doing, and froze.

Rudi was missing.

"Audino, keep going," I urged on as I started to run from the battle.

Someone grabbed my wrist and turned me around. I looked right into Lethe's new onyx eyes, wondering how he got here so quickly.

"I thought we were settling this like Trainers," Lethe growled, "but I guess we shouldn't let the weak Pokémon settle it when we can do so ourselves."

"Lethe, I know you're in there," I begged. "You're stronger than you know. Please, just listen to me."

His face darkened. "The Lethe you know is dead."

"No, he's still in there, I know he is," I urged before looking over at Audino and Stunky, who both were looking at us, waiting for us to call the next attack.

Though, as I looked at Stunky, I noticed her pleading eyes to stop.

That was when N's special gift seemed to make sense. Sure, I couldn't talk to Pokémon, but I could read the expression on Stunky's face. The poor Pokémon didn't look like she wanted to fight. All that the Pokémon wanted to do was to make her Trainer happy.

Seeing as Lethe was mindless, that was nearly impossible.

"Lethe, look at your Pokémon. She needs you," I begged.

My brother turned before throwing me onto the ground. Instead of letting myself fall face first, I just stumbled.

"Pokémon are nothing but a tool to be used," Lethe sneered. "Stunky, use Poison Gas on them all."

Stunky didn't do what Lethe asked of her. Instead, she just used her Acid Spray on Audino once more, as if knowing that her Trainer wanted to fight, but wasn't on the right side.

I had to fight back, even if it felt wrong.

"Audino, dodge then use Double Slap!" I yelled.

My Pokémon swiftly dodged and ran towards Stunky, slapping the Pokémon over and over again. Stunky did nothing to try and dodge the attack. As this happened, I called for the next move.

"Now, use Take Down!" I yelled, seeing the close range the two Pokémon were in.

Lethe didn't call for another attack. As Audino rammed himself into Stunky, I looked back seeing Lethe's eyes flicker from their darkened state to the original gray hues.

"Lethe, we could really use you on our side," I begged, "Stunky needs you, Unova needs you, as your sister, I need you."

For a moment, the gray coloring cut through this eyes until the slowly started to darken again. The second the onyx colored eyes returned, the boy called out. "Use Fury Swipes."

I turned my head to look at Audino. "Deflect with Double Hit!" I warned.

Stunky and Audino started throwing their attacks at one another until a red and black beam of light shot from the sky, nearly hitting the Pokémon. We all froze, before I gathered the courage to look up.

My heart stopped as I forgot about the one thing I needed to do. I didn't care what happened. Lethe needed my help, but so did someone else.

Lethe, I hope one day you can forgive me.

I swung my arm around and shoved my brother out of the way before sprinting to where Rudi was. It was then that everything seemed to slowed down, as if time itself wanted to make sure I knew exactly what happened. The grunts and Pokémon who were fighting ignored me as I pushed past them to get to Rudi. My eyes locked on him as I saw him fighting a one on one battle with Shade's shiny Mega Medicham against his own Braviary.

For a moment, just for a split second, I thought I could get to him in time as I saw the shiny Pokémon fall to the ground, losing his Mega form. Instead of fainting like most Pokémon would've done, I watched as the Pokémon struggled to get up. As he did, I watched as his Trainer turned her head over towards me and smiled mischievously.

Shade didn't say a word. All she did was point at me. When I looked up, I noticed Yvelta flying towards me.

It didn't make sense. I thought Shadow said he wanted me to see the world burn, but I didn't care as I stood there in fear. Yveltal opened its mouth, shooting a beam of light while I did nothing to move. I was frozen, hearing two voices at once yelling my name.

But those voices came out like an echo as my eyes were fixed on the Pokémon, watching the light come closer and closer to me. As I watched the move come crashing down, only one thought came into my mind.

Was this how my Swanna felt when she took that attack the day we tried to defeat Team Miasma? I wasn't afraid. I was, but at the same time, I accepted what was about to happen. It was peaceful, yet scary. If I was the one to be sacrificed, at least my friends would be safe. They could continue on this battle without me. They would be the ones to continue on.

I never moved on from that day, living in the past of my regrets. Every day, when I woke up, I was reminded of every mistake I had made. It wasn't something I did on purpose, but the horrors were ingrained in my mind, not leaving my sight when I close my eyes. At least now I could do something that would've meant something.

The second the move should've hit, two things happened spontaneously. Someone grabbed my hands and pulled me back while a blonde haired hero ran right into the attack to push me out of the way.

No...

Whatever slowed down at that moment, stopped as everything started to regain speed, my eyes falling to what lay before me.

No, no, no!

I stared down at the body on the ground as blood spread everywhere. My heart twisted painfully, tears stinging my eyes.

No!

This wasn't supposed to happen. This was just another nightmare right? My eyes locked on Rudi, seeing the blood pouring steadily from his body as he looked up into the sky, too weak to do anything else.

Rudi...

My body jerked unexpectedly as I wanted to fall down right there, but my brother's grip was stronger. It then suddenly loosened. Once his grip was just a graze against my skin, I fell to my knees, tearing off my mask as I felt the tears pouring from my face. My entire body shook as I tried to breath, but everything just hurt: my stomach, my head, my arms...

...But it was my chest that ached the most as daggers stabbed deeper into me.

I tore off Rudi's Braviary mask, wanting to see those navy blue eyes that separated him from everybody else. Used to be, those eyes were filled with life, no matter what the situation was. Now, it seemed as if the color was draining away from them, as he could barely keep them open.

I touched Rudi's face, which was paler than I've ever seen a human's face ever be, probably because of how cold he was. Seeing how fast everything was going, I could already tell the blood in his body was starting to slow down. That only meant one thing.

No...No! I couldn't let someone else die for me. This wasn't happening. It couldn't be.

"Rudi?" I whispered, not wanting to believe this was true. "Rudi, don't you dare die on me," I begged as my sobs starting to get the best of me.

Rudi looked up at me, smiling. His navy blue eyes were losing color by the second. "Sylvia...I-I'm sorry."

"No," I whimpered. "You're not dying on me. I'm not letting you. I've lost my parents once before, and my best friend...I'm not losing you too."

His smile dropped as his voice shook. "Sylvia, please, don't cry over me. I'm not worth your tears. All I want you to be is happy, and see that beautiful smile of yours. Once this is over, I-I want you to live your life. You of all people deserve happiness. I-I love you. Don't for-forget it. Take care of Rena, my Pokémon..."

Rudi started to close his eyes.

"No, you're not dying!" I wiped away the tears from my face. "I can't lose you. Not again!"

"Sylvia...don't cry," Rudi begged. "You're...too pretty...to..."

That was when I noticed the life seeping away from Rudi's body. His face under my clammy hand was colder than ice.

"Rudi?" I whispered. "No. No! You can't die on me. Don't you dare die on me! You can't die on me now. Darn it, Rudi! Wake up! Wake up! Please, Rudi."

Not wanting to believe any of it was true, I placed my hand over his carotid artery, which was right on his neck. The pulse wasn't there. My mouth opened as I felt it becoming harder and harder to breathe.

"I thought you said you were Braviary Man," I whispered. "I thought you promised me you'd never leave me."

My vision blurred for a bit, as I realized I never got to forgive him in person. He died, probably blaming himself for the break-up, for his sudden disappearance, for every little mistake he'd made. He died not giving me a chance to forgive him. He was already forgiven. There wasn't one time I was ever mad at him, even when I seemed like it. It was hard to ever be mad at Rudi.

Then another thought came into my mind. He died knowing I didn't want this. It was a lie. There were so many lies I'd told him that should've never happened in the first place. I should've been honest with him. Rudi was always there for me. Even in that brief moment he realized Lethe was my brother, he wasn't mad.

He died knowing I had a brother who betrayed us.

You know whose fault this is? a voice echoed in my mind. This is all Lethe's fault. This could've been you. You could've taken his place, but your brother stopped you.

"I'm sorry," I heard a voice apologize, as if knowing what I was thinking.

I turned around, seeing the fire engulfing the city behind the one person that stood right in front of me. He stood there with all his Pokémon out in front of him: Umbreon to his right, Zoura to his left, and Stunky standing protectively in front.

Lethe is the real villain in this story, The voice persuaded, If it weren't for him, Rudi would still be here right now, fighting crime like he was meant to do.

"You, did this," I realized. "You killed Rudi."

The boy's gray eyes widened. "Sylvia, this isn't you. This is Shadow controlling you."

"Liar!" I screamed. "You're nothing more than a monster! He was trying to help, and you killed him. You killed Rudi!"

Lethe shook his head. "Sylvia, you need to snap out of it."

I could feel the tears streaming down my face. "No! You killed him! He was all I had left! Rudi wasn't just my boyfriend; he was the first friend I had! He was always there to pick up the pieces when everything was torn to shreds. He was the guy who knew how to put a smile on my face. Rudi means everything to me! First my parents, then Swanna, and now Rudi! Why? Why would you want me to suffer?"

"Sylvia," Lethe said as he took a step towards me, "please, listen, this—"

"No!" I screamed.

There's a way to feel better with all of this, The voice echoed once more, One more way to get payback for what he's done.

It took me a moment to realize what my conscious was telling me. I shook my head as I wiped away the tears from my face. Of all the things I could've done, violence in that sense was never the answer.

"No," I whispered. I tore my gaze away to look back at Rudi's lifeless body. "This isn't real. This isn't real. This is all just a nightmare. I'll wake up."

I bent down beside Rudi once more. Standing took too much energy. Sitting wasn't much better. My hand brushed against Rudi's pale face once more as I shook my head.

"Please wake up. This is just another bad nightmare. This will all go away," I cried. "I just need to wake up."

A menacing voice laughed behind me.

"Oh, Sylvia, you only wished this was a nightmare."

I looked up in front of me, seeing Shadow standing there with a knife in his hand. It was clean, showing no blood on it, but in the blade's reflection, I saw my face which was red and tired of everything that had happened.

In all my nightmares, one thing was for sure.

I never saw my face.

Author's Note:

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Please don't kill the author for what she wrote.

Rudi is dead. I'm not happy about it at all either. Again, don't kill me. I'm upset that this is where the story has to go, but atlas, Rudi needed to die for what I have planned. Your author is just going to stay in the corner and think about what she's done, cuz there's no going back.

Being that I don't want to leave you on a sour note, what has been your favorite moment so far? Because, you know, there's more to this story than just heartache and betrayal, though, I have enjoyed writing most of those parts. But I want to hear your favorite part of his story.

Hope you're all doing well. Meanwhile, I'm going to be hiding in hopes no one tries to hunt me down after what I wrote. Bye!