Since I had arrived in Icirrus City, I had worried about what might be happening at the Dragonspire Tower, but that was no excuse not to challenge the Gym here. Heading inside, I was greeted by a freezing blast of wind as the warm air rushed in from behind me and the coolness of the ice swept to meet it. The whole place was full of ice. It was colder even than the Cold Storage, and I was quickly shivering. The puzzles were pretty hard, too, and all involved sliding across the ice and around corners that rotated on switches. By the end, my knees were raw from falling over on the ice and my team was breathless from challenging the various gym trainers.
Finally, we reached Brycen. His team was strong and high-powered, but I managed to get a good few hits in, with Tardy Psyshock-ing at first and combinations of Comet's Fire Charge and Tempo's Mega Drain. We came through victorious and Brycen handed over the Freeze Badge, confirming my seventh gym victory!
As I left the gym, I found both Cheren and Bianca waiting for me outside. Cheren was still babbling about his purpose and Bianca was still whining about not being strong, so when Brycen came outside, I was half-expecting him to tell them both to shut up. However, he instead called out to someone else, even though I could see no one beside us three. I nearly had a heart attack when SUDDENLY, NINJAS, but it was the Shadow Triad! They had come to talk to me specifically... Ghetsis had requested I climb the Dragonspire Tower, for N was waiting for me. N! Waiting for me! I started running but Cheren stopped me, and he and Brycen agreed they should climb the tower too. I pointed out the message wasn't for
them, but they left anyway...
I had to get there first! I ran as fast as possible to the foot of the tower, only to be greeted by Klink-Man, the most useless professor this side of Castelia. He said Brycen and Cheren had already gone in, as well as a bunch of Plasma goons, then gave me some cake and sent me on my way. Wha? I don't see how cake's gonna help me, but... hey, free cake!
When I stepped in, I noticed the ground shaking. An earthquake?! No, it wasn't the ground... it was the Tower! The Dragon must have awakened... had N done this?! I ran upstairs only to see that Cheren and Brycen were fighting off a hoard of goons, so I ran past them only to be challenged by a bunch of them myself. They were all angry that I had hurt their Pokémon, but they were hurting mine at the same time, idiots! Plus, N had asked me to be here, so why were they stopping
me? Wouldn't that be going against their king's orders?
The shaking was getting worse and I started to worry. Was N in danger? Or had he succeeded in taming the Dragon?
After a couple of floors, I noticed there were no more goons stopping me - at least, until I ran into a bunch of them, and an old man who called himself Giallo. He set four of them on me at once, and I had to beat them up one by one, but I was determined and broke through them, sprinting across the room and up the stairs and--
N. He was stood in the center of a chamber, surrounded by four columns. Sunlight shone in from above, lighting him up ethereally and a breeze from outside tugged through his hair and clothes. And behind him... a beautiful white Dragon. He had done it. He had found the Light Stone and revived the Dragon of Legend. Was he truly the Hero?
He noticed me and asked me if I was amazed. I was, and he sounded as though he was too. He told me that he was going to use the power of the hero to command the Dragon, Reshiram, and make his dream of separation a reality. He would go to the Pokémon League and defeat the Champion in the last great battle of this era, and end the suffering of Pokémon once and for all.
I tried to argue with him, that making trainers release their Pokémon wasn't the way to end Pokémon cruelty, but he was too excited to listen. Here he was, facing such a great power that was willing to realise his dream... nothing could stop him now.
He turned to me and told me that if I wanted... I should find a Dragon too. I asked how that could be, when there was only one Dragon, and here it was. He laugh and told me, did I remember the end of the creation legend? The two brothers who had used the Dragon to create Unova argued and fought, and the original Dragon split in two, each one supporting one side of the battle. This was but one of two Dragons, and I should find the Dark Stone and revive the other dragon, Zekrom.
Then, perhaps, we could be Heroes together...♥
I was helpless as I watched him swing up onto Reshiram's back and fly away, through the open roof of the Tower. I don't know how long I stayed there, staring at the spot where he had been stood, but eventually Brycen and Cheren found me, and guided me back to the foot of the tower, where everyone else was waiting. As they tried to work out what had happened, I stayed silent, because I was confused.
Should I help them to stop N, or should I help N realise his dream, and maybe help him realise a new one that wouldn't be so devastating?
Stalker of the Century, Alder, arrived and pretty much filled everyone in, eliminating my first option. He said the Dark Stone was likely to be somewhere in the Relic Castle, and he would go look for it to make sure Team Plasma couldn't get it.
He wasn't going to get it, though. I made my mind up. I was going to revive Zekrom and use his powers to help N, but also to stop him. I would let Reshiram stop the pain and suffering of Pokémon, but I would make Zekrom pick out those who shared a true bond with their Pokémon and keeping them together. I would let friendships remain in tact while destroying cruelty once and for all.
That was my dream. It would be bigger and better than N's, and I would be the one to bring it about.
It was my turn to become a Hero.
