Kalos Quest Vol 3: Trapped

72. Z for Zygarde

Xerneas sighed as it stood in a desolate wasteland which was once an abundant forest.

Such destruction caused by our last awakening... Myself really went wild back there... must've been even worse if those two weren't here to maintain the balance.

Xerneas grumbled at the thought of the brothers. Such a pain to deal with, those two. But I guess it's for the best... without them to limit myself's power, things might get out of touch like it did last time.

The Blood Moon... it's around next year, I suppose. We'll need them to control the situation... guess there's no choice...

Xerneas followed the trail of destruction. From the looks of it, after the separation, Yveltal, went amok and caused quite the amount of damage.

That guy really has to chill out and hold back...

At the end of the trail stood two stone statues, one of which Xerneas recognized.

Zuko.

Of course, Xerneas would never directly refer to it as such. That identity of theirs was long thrown away, thousands of years ago.

The Zygarde in its 10% forme was frozen midroar. The two brothers looked so alike that it was impossible to tell them apart. Xerneas had only been able to tell them apart by the colour of their hexagonal marking: Zen's was blue, and Zuko's was pink. With Zygarde being encased in stone, Xerneus was only able to tell that this is Zuko because it had just met Zen, who was with the boy and the girl,what were their names again?).

Beside Zuko was a Greninja with its tongue outstretched (what's with Zygarde and Greninja?). Xerneas sighed as it was reminded of the Greninja (previously a Frogadier) the boy it saved had. It still couldn't get over the fact that the Pokémon actually managed to take it by surprise and land a hit.

The boy himself was pretty nice though, I guess.

Turning its focus back to the petrified Zygarde and Greninja, Xerneas closed its eyes, sending a pink pulse of energy through the area. A series of cracks appeared on the statues, before shattering the layer of rock completely. The two Pokémon collapsed onto the ground as they caught their breath, with Zuko reverting back into its core form right away.

"Thank you," Zuko went up to Xerneas as the Greninja stood beside it solemnly with a light bow.

Xerneas let out a scoff, "At least you have better manners than your brother."

"I must apologize for my brother's assertiveness, then." The Zygarde answered politely.

"I see the two of you gained... a loyal underling."

Greninja nodded again as it held its fist against its palm with a slight nod, "my pleasure to meet you."

"This is Greninja, a Pokémon we borrowed from a trainer friend of ours. It's really dependable."

"I see," Xerneas took a good long look at the Greninja, sensing an immensely powerful surge of aura from it. "Your brother is safe with a girl and a boy with a Greninja," Xerneas told Zuko before pausing to turn to Greninja, "maybe you can teach that kid's Greninja a thing or two."

"Is this your way of showing concern to humans?" The Zygarde core asked playfully as Xerneas turned to leave, "took interest in someone, I see."

"Do not take it wrongly," Xerneas dismissed the comment with a scoff. "I only care about the Pokémon."

That said, there might be more humans like those two out there... so maybe...