We left Lacunosa Town as soon as humanly possible and arrived in Opelucid City two days later. The one word to describe Opelucid would be... futuristic. The whole city was made out of gray stone, glimmering silver metal, and neon blue lights. Even the street performers played instruments like electric guitars and violins. There was not a blade of grass or natural earth anywhere. It looked like something out of a sci-fi movie.

"I-it looked nothing like this the last time I was here," Hilbert said in shock as he stared at the uniform buildings.

"Really? I'd never even been here until now," I said.

"Everything used to be rustic and old-fashioned. It used to be beautiful, not... this!" he said incredulously.

"Opelucid wanted to look towards the future, and not linger in the past," a man with white hair, a sharply cut beard, and dressy clothes said as he walked up to us. He crossed his muscular arms and sighed. "Believe me, I don't like it much either. It's all too flashy for my taste."

"You're... Drayden, right?" Hilbert asked. "Iris told me about you. We were actually meaning to have a meeting with you."

"Well, this is an incredible coincidence!" Nate said.

"Talk about good timing," Hugh added.

Bianca slowly raised her hand, smiling sheepishly. "Um... I actually called Drayden right before we got here and told him that we would be waiting by the Pokemon Center," she admitted. "Sorry if that ruined the mood or something."

Drayden acknowledged Bianca with a curt nod. "You did inform me of your arrival, and I'll consider having that meeting. But there's a catch, you'll have to wait until Gym hours are over. After all, I am the Leader of the Opelucid Gym, and I can't leave any Trainers waiting. Earning the Legend Badge is a very important event."

"Can I have a battle then?" Nate asked.

"Same here. Both of us are challenging the League, and we need our seventh badges," Hugh added.

"Both of you? Then how about a Double Battle?" Drayden offered.

"OhthankArceus!" Nate sighed, his words coming out as a jumbled mess of syllables. He looked as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

"Why do you look so relieved? It's not like you to be so worried over a Gym battle," Hugh said.

"One word. Dragons," Nate said. "That's what I'm worried about."

"Not to sound discouraging, but he's right. Dragon-types are the most formidable type out there, and they don't go down easily. That's why I proposed a Double Battle. You need all the help you can get," Drayden said.

"That's comforting to know," Hugh muttered. "I'm willing to do it if you are, Nate."

"Why wouldn't I want to? It'll be like when we battled Roxie! Hopefully I won't have to worry about any Poison Tails this time."

"No Poison, only Dragons," Drayden said.

"Can I watch you guys battle? I'm always looking for new tips and tricks when it comes to battling," I asked.

"That won't be a problem. Spectators are welcome," Drayden replied.

Bianca pulled out her tablet and an older looking Pokédex. "I have some research to do on Route 9. There's been an unexplained appearance of Muk there recently, so I guess I'll be busy with that. Do you want to come with me, Hilbert?"

He nodded. "Of course, why'd you even ask?"

"Then it's settled. Once the battle's over I'll call Bianca and we can meet up," I said, tapping my Xtransceiver. After that we parted ways, Bianca and Hilbert heading towards Route 9 and the rest of us following Drayden to his Gym.

        ~*~*~*~

"Saber, use Ice Beam on Druddigon!"

"Pandora, Night Slash on Flygon!"

"Counter with Charge Beam on Samurott and Dragon Rush on Absol!"

Drayden's Druddigon began charging a blast of electricity, only to be literally frozen mid-attack by Saber's Ice Beam. Flygon's tail glowed purple and it flew low to the ground, racing towards Hugh's Absol. Pandora crouched down and sprung into the air, flipping over Flygon and raking its wings with long black claws. Flygon's wings gave out and it crashed into the far wall where it didn't move. Saber and Pandora stood there, tensed and exhausted. Their Trainers looked as tired as their Pokemon, teeth gritted, fists clenched in frustration and anticipation.

I sat in the spectator's booth high above the arena, watching the battle intently. It was Drayden's full party of six against three Pokémon Nate and Hugh chose. Hugh chose to use his new Absol, Pandora, along with Flaris and Coral, who had previously belonged to Hilbert. I guess he had really meant it when he said that he wanted to reduce his team.

Nate had originally gone in with Saber, Soul, and August. And as expected, it didn't turn out so well. On the first turn, August sat down in the middle of the battlefield and began grooming her tails, purposefully oblivious to the battle going on around her. Nate recalled her and ended up only having a team of two for the whole battle. I understood that he wanted to earn her respect without having all eight badges, but he didn't need to stake an entire battle on the possibility of a single Pokémon listening to him for more than one turn in a row.

On top of the trouble August caused, the battle wasn't going so smoothly. Drayden's first pair of Dragon-types had knocked out Flaris and nearly wiped out Saber and Pandora. If both Pokémon hadn't known an Ice-type move, the battle would've been more than one-sided. The grueling battle had been going for over half an hour, and only two of Drayden's Pokémon had been knocked out.

"The party is just starting!" Drayden said tauntingly. "You'll need to fight a lot harder than that if you want those Legend Badges! Zweilous, Fraxure, let's go!" He sent out the same species of Pokémon Iris used back in Castelia along with a black and blue two-headed Pokemon. "Zweilous, Focus Energy! Fraxure, use Double Hit on Absol!"

"Saber, use Aqua Jet on Fraxure!"

"Detect, now!" Hugh ordered. Pandora threw up a wall of light and Fraxure's claws bounced off it harmlessly. As Fraxure went in for the second strike, a water cloaked Saber smashed into the Dragon-type, knocking it across the arena and into the far wall. Due to Saber's Torrent Ability, Fraxure went down in one hit.

"Zweilous, use Dragon Pulse!" Drayden commanded.

Zweilous' two heads opened their mouths and let loose a horizontal column of purple energy, completely engulfing Saber and draining the last of his HP.

"Saber, no!" Nate gasped. He seemed reluctant to return his starter, as if he didn't understand that Saber had fainted. He begrudgingly did so anyways and recalled Saber, tossing Soul out in Saber's place. "Soul, let's go! You're my only hope of doing some damage!"

Thanks, I feel so special! Soul said as he was sent out.

"Go Altaria!" Drayden's next Pokémon was a blue bird that looked like a fluffy cloud. It didn't look anything like a Dragon-type. The Pokémon that couldn't have been a Dragon then used a move I didn't expect in the slightest. "Use Fire Blast on Reuniclus!"

"Pandora, use Ice Beam!"

Just as Altaria fired a jet of fire at Soul, Pandora leapt in front of him and countered with a jet of ice. As the two beams fought to overpower the other, Nate told Soul to use Psychic on Altaria. It was frozen in place by the wave of psychic energy, and the Ice Beam turned it into a fluffy chunk of ice.

"You forgot about Zweilous!" I yelled even though the battlers couldn't hear me. I was completely engrossed in the battle and was on the edge of my seat, wondering what could happen next. "Status moves exist for a reason!" The critical hit Zweilous had gotten in wasn't an accident.

"Zweilous, Dragon Pulse on Absol!"

Pandora was hit with a full-force critical hit Dragon Pulse, knocking her out before she could even react. Hugh sighed in frustration and sent out Coral, his last Pokémon. "Use Ice Beam!" he ordered.

"Soul, use Energy Ball!"

Soul slung an orb of green light at Zweilous. While the attack didn't cause too much damage, it lowered the Dragon's Special Defense. Coral then hit it with an Ice Beam, the combination of the type advantage and the lowered stats finishing it off.

"Wow, what a turnabout this has been," Drayden said, sounding impressed. "But you still have my last Dragon to face. My perfectly trained Haxorus!" He threw his last Poké Ball, a huge armor clad Pokémon with scythe-shaped horns emerging from the tiny capsule. "Haxorus, start off with a Dragon Dance!" Drayden said. Haxorus roared, purple haze spewing from its mouth and swirling around it in a whirlwind.

"We need to stop it before it can attack!" Nate told Hugh urgently. "Soul, use Psychic!"

"Coral, Ice Beam again!"

The moves made contact with Haxorus but they didn't seem to faze it. It then unleashed a powered-up Outrage upon Coral. At the last second Soul shielded Coral and took the brunt of the move, fainting in the process. Nate recalled Soul and sent out August.

"Coral, use Blizzard!" Coral took a deep breath and blew a flurry of ice and snow at Haxorus. The Dragon Dance's Speed boost allowed it to dodge out of the way easily.

"August, use Flamethrower!" Nate pleaded. August lazily glanced at him, like she was obligated to acknowledge his presence. She sniffed loudly and spat a single purple ember at Haxorus; a Wil-o-wisp. It made contact with Haxorus, inflicting it with a burn.

At least she used a move, I thought. From Nate's expression, I could tell he wasn't as pleased with August's action.

Haxous was still locked in by Outrage. It ran crazily at August, who just sidestepped the raging Pokémon, sitting back down right afterwards. The next few turns played out the same way. Haxorus would try to attack either August or Coral, but August would always dodge. Coral, having quite a bit of HP, would take the damage. It quickly became evident that Coral was wearing down and had a harder time counterattacking. Haxorus became confused after the turns and began taking wild swings with Iron Tail at its opponents.

At one point, an Iron Tail connected with Coral, and she was knocked over, clinging to her remaining points of HP. Haxorus stood over the struggling Lapras, ready to deliver the Iron Tail that would deny Hugh his seventh badge.

"Coral, try to use Ice Beam!" Hugh was panicking and Nate looked at August desperately.

"August, use Facade! Please!!" Nate begged, his voice cracking pathetically as he did so. August squinted irritably at her Trainer. With a toss of her head and what sounded like a sigh, she got to her paws and dashed at Haxorus. She lashed her tails against its leg, distracting it. She gave it an innocent look before baring her teeth and leaping onto it in a frenzy of snapping teeth and dull-clawed slashes. Long story short, it fainted.

A shocked silence fell over the battlefield after Haxorus fainted, being broken my cheers. "That was amazing you guys!" I cried, eyes sparkling with excitement. I bolted up from my seat, ran out of the booth, and practically flew down the stairs to the arena. When I got there, Drayden was handing Nate and Hugh their badges which were gold-trimmed pieces of silver and obsidian with a circular ruby set in the badge's top half.

"I don't know how you managed to pull that last move off, but you did it well! You have my congratulations and my full permission to have that meeting," Drayden said. "Now you've got me curious. What do you need from me?"

"It's about Neo Team Plasma and these things called the DNA Splicers," I said, remembering what Hilbert called them.

"The Splicers? The only people who know about those other than myself are Iris, Professor Juniper, and..." He trailed off. "No wonder he looked so familiar," he said after pausing momentarily.

I was confused about he knew of Hilbert's Neo Plasma alias until I realized why and I mentally facepalmed. Drayden was a Gym Leader, of course he would know about Iris' plan! "Didn't you ever meet him before?"

"Yes I did. It was when I showed him the Splicers. He just looks so different now," Drayden said.

"Hilbert thinks Neo Plasma is after the DNA Splicers, that's why he wanted to talk to you," Nate said.

"There's no need to worry. The Splicers are kept here at all times, so there's little chance of those scoundrels finding them unless they know where to look."

"Um, what can the Splicers actually do?" I asked.

"The DNA Splicers were created to fuse together what had once been separated. They merge the black and white with the gray, meaning that they can fuse Zekrom and Reshiram with Kyurem. The result would be a so-called Black or White Kyurem, two-thirds of a whole. They're quite the dangerous little wedges of technology," Drayden said thoughtfully.

"When we were in Lacunosa Town, a Neo Plasma member named Zinzolin asked Hilbert to give up Zekrom, calling it 'the next piece of the puzzle.' They probably want to create Black Kyurem," Hugh said. "Drayden, we need to keep the Splicers away from Neo Plasma at all costs. They might need to be hidden in a separate city entirely."

Just then, my Xtransceiver went off. I checked it and saw that Bianca was calling. I tapped the green 'answer' icon. "Hello?"

"Rosa?! Don't say anything, just listen to me!" Bianca sounded panicked, and I could hear several people shouting in the background. "You need to tell Drayden to take the DNA Splicers and leave the city right away!"

"What? Why?" I gasped. Nate and the others overheard Bianca and were listening as well.

"Neo Team Plasma has ambushed the city, and they have Kyurem with them. It's under their control and it's attacking everything in sight. If you can, help us! Hilbert can only hold them off for so long and they've already overpowered most of his team! Hurry, please!!"

"Design, use Fusion Bolt!" I heard Hilbert yell from off-screen.

"Kyurem, Glaciate!" an eerily familiar voice countered. As that happened, the ground shook slightly and dust rained from the Gym ceiling. I saw the huge black Dragon that was Design come into the Xtransceiver's frame, his tail sparking with blue lightning. A gray and blue form entered the frame as well and summoned huge pointed shards of ice. Design's lightning and the ice collided in a blinding display of glimmering blue light and the call then abruptly cut out.

I stared at the black screen, mouth slightly agape. Though I was sure Drayden was trying to talk to us, I couldn't hear a thing he said. I could only stand there in shock as more tremors occurred and an unexplainable chill began seeping into the building. My mind refused to process what I had seen. The unknown person's command echoed within my mind, the words lingering like the cold from a freezing wind.