[ from your partner's pov. deliberately kept vague so you can insert your own chara and your own partner ]
"Come," Darkrai says, beckoning them forth with a long black finger. "Join me, and help me take down Cresselia."
There's a brief pause, and then my partner walks up to take a place beside him, movements stiff and unnatural. Their eyes are glazed and half-lidded. They won't even look at me.
Cresselia is poised to attack, the lunar blades on her body already spinning in preparation. She glares harshly at Darkrai and shoots a helpless expression at my partner.
I leap in front of her, arms spread out. "Don't hurt them! They don't know what they're doing!"
"Yes," Darkrai agrees. "Don't hurt your 'friend'."
Cresselia shakes her head. "I don't want to either, but we must! They're trapped in Darkrai's nightmare. They've already accepted it as their reality—there's nothing that you can do until we defeat them."
"B—but…"
"Do you wish for Darkrai to win or not?"
"We can't win! Not without my partner! They're the one who called the shots a—and—"
"Then join us." Darkrai's voice is flat and biting. "This fight is pointless."
"Don't listen to him!" retorts Cresselia. "Who was with them the whole way? We have to win this for their—no, the whole world's sake! But I cannot do this alone. Do I have your support?"
"Fine." My voice is firm despite the shaking in my limbs. I turn back around. "We will stop Dakrai."
He raises an eyebrow. "So you still fight? Very well. There is no place in my world of darkness for meddlers like you. You shall be destroyed by the very friend that you treasure the most."
As if jerked by puppet strings, my partner lurches forward, eyes hollow. They advance slowly towards me.
Darkrai laughs and flicks his wrist at Cresselia.
She fights it, but soon falls into a deep sleep, plagued with bad dreams. She flails wildly, twisting and wriggling as if to get away from some invisible monster.
Darkrai clicks his fingers. Cresselia's torment increases in intensity. Her flailing becomes wild, panicked thrashing. She gasps for air.
"Cresselia!" I turn to my partner. "Why…?"
An emotion flickers on their face, too fast for me to interpret.
Darkrai swoops in front of them, swiping a claw at me before I can react.
"Gh… You did something to them! Let them go!"
"You are only denying that they can see the truth…" Darkrai splits into at least a dozen copies, all circling me.
"I'm not! They're still in there, somewhere! I just have to free them from your illusion."
"You will not. I will fill this world with darkness, and your partner," he spits, "will remain my faithful servant." The copies stop spinning, looming over me in a dark circle. "Goodnight." His voice is mockingly sweet.
I feel waves of calm wash over my body, warmth and peace sweeping over my soul. It would be so easy to just drift off with them… But isn't there something important? What was it? The memory slips through the cracks in my mind like grains of sand.
"Sleep."
Yeah… that's a good idea. I can sleep and wake up next to… next to…
…my partner.
My partner!
No! I can't sleep now! My partner, Cresselia, Wigglytuff and his guild—they're all counting on me! I shake off his hypnosis and run at the darkrai in front of me. It vanishes into wispy tendrils of smoke. So do the others, save one.
He tsks, then snaps his fingers. Six more pokemon drop from the ceiling. They land with an earthshaking stomp.
I gulp. There's no chance of victory here. Maybe it would've been doable as three against seven, but one against eight? Exhaustion from the time we spent traversing rest of the dungeon already creeps into my bones. These other pokemon are probably at their max power. I could try fighting, but the chances of winning are one in a million.
Besides, it wouldn't do anyone any good to get captured or killed here. What if my brainwashed partner showed up in town, roping everyone into Darkrai's lies?
I fumble around in my pack for an escape orb.
When I grab it, my hands slip against its smooth surface, but that doesn't matter. I smash it against the floor.
The world turns white.
We're still in Dark Crater.
Heat from the lava blurs my vision, and the stones press sharply into my back. Sweat drips down my neck. The whole world is tinted bright orange. But at least we're away from him.
"Are you alright?" says Cresselia, breaking me out of my haze.
"I'm fine." I rub my head, slowly pushing myself back onto my feet. "I just hope my partner is too."
"They will be, as soon as we get them away from Darkrai. Who knows what he could be showing them by now?"
I shudder. "Should we go back down?"
A pause. Hesitation. Fear? "In the end, it is your choice. But I don't know if we'll be able to take on Darkrai alone."
"Maybe we could go back to town and come back with everyone else?"
"And what if he launches an attack while we're climbing down Dark Crater again?"
"Oh. Um. I…" This is so difficult. I feel like a cubone who's just lost its mother—loss and confusion swarm my thoughts. It always seemed so easy with my partner, but now they're not here. They're with Darkrai.
What are we supposed to do?
Cresselia seems to catch wind of the anxiety pressed into my face because she does her best to give a comforting smile. "I know it's difficult for you. It would be difficult for anybody. We can go back down if you want, but it's okay if you're not ready." She looks away. "I wouldn't want to fight my best friend either."
"I just hope that they're okay..."
"Them?" says a booming voice. It's deep and fills the whole room. "They're fine."
Like a liquid shadow, Darkrai looms up from beneath my feet, eyes glowing and claws poised to strike. "It's you two I'd be more worried about."
"You just don't give up!" I leer at him, doing my best to radiate aggression.
"Much like you and your partner, wouldn't you say?"
I hesitate for only a moment, but that's all it takes.
"But now that you're alone, you are paralyzed with indecision. And Cresselia is no help at all, is she?"
"No, but…" My voice is tiny and fleeting. Where is Cresselia? Where is everything else? It's all disappeared into an empty void. The only things that exist are me and Darkrai. Did she really abandon me?
"She must really hate you," he continues. "She did try to kill you, after all." Something about that is wrong, I think, but I'm not sure how or why. The memory is blurry at the back of my mind, but it's there nonetheless.
Ugh. Why can't I think straight? It's like my head's fogged up with thick clouds, soupy and lost in a confused mess. Thoughts and feelings are muffled beneath it all.
Suddenly, I hear a sharp cry.
The darkness recedes, and we're back in Dark Crater. The fog is gone too, my mind sharp as ever, and Cresselia is standing over a dishevelled Darkrai.
He snarls, shoving her back. Then he turns to me, fists shaking. "I doubt you'll fall for that a second time."
"That's right. You can't trick me anymore."
He tries another jab at my emotions. "Don't you want to stay with your partner? A world of darkness isn't all bad. Why, you can stay friends forever…!" He makes a sweeping motion to his side, revealing the tiny form of my partner. Their eyes are still flat and expressionless.
His words say that he wants to help, but his eyes are that of a predator studying its prey. They are condescending and calculating, as if trying to make sure the last stage of his plan doesn't go awry. And, that's true, isn't it? He doesn't care about us. He just cares about his land of darkness.
He wants me to give in. He wants to get rid of me and Cresselia and my partner all at once. Well, if he thinks we'll give in that easily, then he's wrong!
I step up in front of him.
"So you have finally come to your senses? Excellent."
"No!" cries Cresselia.
I close my eyes and let out a steely sigh to relieve the tension. Breathe. Don't let your anxiety control you. Just… breathe. Okay.
I fling a warp seed at Darkrai, faster than he can react. He vanishes in a pillar of light as soon as it makes contact. Then I grab my partner by the wrist. "I'm getting you out of here," I say, but they don't reply.
I press a finger to the badge on their chest, activating the emergency teleport. Forget the items we've gathered.
I just want to go home.