Master of Bad Dreams

The Last Front, The First Chapter of a Legend

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

"Pokémon" – Normal Speech

'Pokémon' – Thoughts

Pokémon – Flashback

Pokémon – Move Names

{Pokémon} – Pokédex

Ash was alone. Alone in the darkness that felt cold and vast. He was having a nightmare, one that he couldn't wake up from. He never wanted to. He just drifted like spare barrel in a stormy sea, discarded and forgotten.

"Why did you have to lose!? You should have won the Indigo Plateau Conference!"

"You are not smart enough to train Pokémon properly!"

"What kind of trainer refuses to control his Pokémon like we are supposed to?"

"I can't believe that I lost to a loser like you! You must be a cheater!"

"I think that Pikachu is wasted on a trainer who couldn't win a Pokémon League!"

"You are that boy who lost at the Silver Conference, I forget your name."

"I can't believe that I wanted to learn from a stupid boy who thinks of nothing but battles and food! No girl will ever love someone like you!"

"You are that boy who cheated at the Battle Frontier. I will show the world that you were not worthy of being a Frontier Brain."

"I wish that you will be a better person than you are now. The world will be a better place without someone like you."

"I can't believe that you have forgotten what I taught you! I thought you were my younger brother!"

Ash could only listen to his greatest fears come true. Not that he failed again, that he lost to rivals again. That his friends have gave up on him because that he never won a Pokémon Championship for his hometown or for all the hard work that his Pokémon put into or even the training and teachings that he received from his experience and friends. And all this was done by a Pokémon who causes nightmares with its powers over those who sleep at night; Darkrai. And Ash foolishly thought that he could buy his friend some time to get the only Pokémon who could counteract Darkrai's bad dreams with some good ones.

He could remember his friends telling him to come back and his best buddy trying to say the same before ultimately siding with him.

Flashback Begins!

It was after Ash and his friends had found out the cause of the nightmares that plagued Canalave City and all its inhabitants, preventing them from getting a good night's sleep in weeks. It was Team Rocket, a criminal group that worked for a greater organization but mostly independently for their own crimes and cons. I this case, they did make a con; they sold fake good dream charms to the citizens who will do anything for a good nine hours of sleep without nightmares. But it was Team Rocket using a nightmare machine to cause this whole mess in the first place.

The reason no one ever bothered to investigate was that Team Rocket made it look like a Pokémon did it. Canalave City was unfortunate to be visited by Darkrai, the Pitch-Black Pokémon once a year. But Team Rocket made one mistake, they got the timing wrong and the citizens became suspicious and when Ash and the gang arrived, they were finally got the horse power and the Pokémon trainers to check things out.

Even after Team Rocket's nightmare machine was destroyed, people were still having nightmares. Ash was having one that actually told him what was going on. While the nightmare machine was being used to con the citizens and made money, it also enraged Darkrai that some humans were doing what he loved the most. He was there for sure as he took in that nightmare machine in order to magnify his own powers over bad dreams. Now that Team Rocket's machine was destroyed, Darkrai's power boost was robbed from him but it was too late. Darkrai was now right on schedule and he was still angry, enough to make the nightmares he usually makes even worst.

Ash won't let Darkrai get away with this and with the help of the locals and his friends' Pokémon, they were able to find the trail that will lead them to Cresselia, the Lunar Pokémon and the only polar opposite to Darkrai. When the two combine, the balance of good and bad dreams is restored for another year. But not this year, Cresselia is needed even more than before; but Darkrai was still angry. Enough that he even showed Ash in that nightmare that if Cresselia tries to stop him, he will instead leave behind a spell of bad dreams that even Cresselia can't break; he was just too powerful after Team Rocket had enhanced his powers.

Ash realized that the time it will take to find Cresselia might take too long and Darkrai may have the entire city under the spell well before Cresselia will appear. Ash knew that if Darkrai was going to be stopped before he could complete his spell, it will die out before it take place on the city. Without telling anyone, he abandoned his friends on the hilltop where they were waiting for Cresselia and ran back to the Canalave City.

"Wait Ash!"

"I am going to stop Darkrai!"

"You can't!

"He is too strong!"

"Stop!

"Pika pi Pikachu!"

Ash heard all that until he was too far away to hear their voices. They just couldn't let another one leave the hill and get trapped in Canalave City under Darkrai's control. Ultimately, Ash fell into Darkrai's powers as soon as he entered the city. Darkrai knew he was coming and Ash had fallen into the trap the Pitch-Black Pokémon had laid for him.

Flashback Ends!

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Meanwhile, in the real world, a Pokémon was standing against Darkrai. He was a short, chubby rodent Pokémon. It is covered in yellow fur, and its ears are long and pointed with black tips. It has a small mouth, brown eyes, and two red circles on its cheeks. There are pouches inside its cheeks where it stores electricity. Its forearms are short, with five fingers on each paw, and its feet have three toes. It has two brown stripes on its back, and its tail is in the shape of a lightning bolt with a patch of brown fur at the base. All this made up an Electric Type Pokémon, Pikachu. A female will have a V-shaped notch at the end of its tail, which looks like the top of a heart. It is classified as a quadruped, but it has been known to stand and walk on its hind legs.

And this Pikachu was standing on his hind legs, next to Ash's down figure as they both were glazed down by Darkrai who, despite it being nighttime and all the lights were out, was visible for Pikachu to glare at. Darkrai was a black, shadow-like Pokémon. It has a small head with a white fog-like ghostly plume billowing from its head covering one of its bright blue eyes, with the portion on its face resembling hair. It also has a red spiky growth around its neck. It has skinny arms and long black tatters hanging from its shoulders. It also has black, claw-like hands. It has the slight appearance of an hourglass figure and appears to be wearing an old, ripped cloak.

Darkrai was confused and yet impressed that a lowly and non-legendary Pokémon was standing against him. It always saw its prey cringe in fear and run away hoping to save themselves but not this time. Darkrai couldn't even find any drive to attack Pikachu but that was going to be his undoing when a bright light cut through his darkness.

Pikachu looked up from Darkrai and saw something beautiful in the ball of warm light. It was a Pokémon with a blue, swan-like body with a yellow underside. It has pink eyes, a dark pink, round tuft on its head, and a pointed, beak-like snout. There are yellow, crescent-shaped ornaments on the sides of its head. Finally, it has glowing, pink, ring-like wings on its sides and back with paw like protrusions resting on its chest. That was Cresselia, the Lunar Pokémon and pretty much the only Pokémon that can reverse the damage Darkrai has created.

"Ash! Pikachu!" Voices were heard in the distance, Pikachu saw that Dawn and Brock were racing towards him and Ash. They were the two friends and traveling companions that Ash brought with to Canalave City.

"Croagunk, Poison Sting and then Brick Break!" Brock, who was a large and tanned skin man who had brown spiky hair and eyes that appear to be shut closed, shouted and release his Croagunk. The Pokémon was a dark blue, bipedal Pokémon that resembles a poison dart frog. It has yellow eyes, which are surrounded by black markings. There are orange, expandable pouches on its cheeks, and its teeth are wide and flat. A black marking encircles its upper arms and chest, and there are white bands around its chest. It has three fingers and toes, most of which are black. The only digits that are not black are its center fingers, which are orange instead.

Pikachu knew that Croagunk's cheek pouches and fingers contain a poisonous fluid. However, the fluid squeezed from its finger is also a significant ingredient in remedies for lower back pain. The cheek pouches can be used to create an unnerving sound. When its opponents are distracted, it tries to stab them with its fingers. Despite this, it is a mild Pokémon, fighting only to ensure its own survival. And now it was fighting for Ash and on orders of his trainer.

Croagunk had opened his mouth to unleash a swarm of tiny needles that were actually made of poison. But Darkrai was able to dodge them and Ominous Wind which was a gust of repulsive wind. It may also raise all the user's stats at once. It did and Darkrai was now even more enhanced, so much that he was able to take in Croagunk's Brick Break despite the type advantage Fighting has over a Dark type like Darkrai.

Brock was shocked that Darkrai had gotten the advantage over his Croagunk and watched with helplessness as Darkrai repelled Croagunk away with a claw attack from the shadows, that Shadow Claw was strong to knock Croagunk out like a light. Now it was Dawn's turn,

She was about Ash's age and she was a beautiful girl who sported mostly pink in her outfit, on her boots, on her white hat, on her ascot, and on the bottom edge of her skirt. The rest of her shirt was black and sleeveless, her socks were also black and almost reached her kneecaps. Her undershirt was barely able to cover her stomach and was white and showing from under her shirt. Her blue hair was knitted in a fashionable style, with two golden hair locks above both ears. Finally, her wrists had bracelets with the left one with some kind of watch.

"Piloswine, use Hidden Power and then use Dig!" Dawn released, from her Pokéball, a big, brown, furry Pokémon with an impressive hump on its back. It also has two tusks made of ice, which seem small but can be lethal. These tusks thicken when it snows. It has floppy ears that are sensitive to sound. Piloswine has two beady eyes in its head; however, these are usually covered up by tufts of fur. As it is usually unable to see, it checks surroundings with its sensitive pig-like nose instead. Its hair is so long that it usually covers its small, hoofed legs.

The Piloswine released a ball of sliver colored energy against Darkrai who managed to take it in anyways but then realized that he had lost the Ground and Ice type Pokémon until Piloswine emerged from the ground, hitting Darkrai and taking the Legendary Pokémon by surprise. And yet it was too good to be true and the Pitch-Black Pokémon soon faced Piloswine and caused it to glow which caused Brock to gasp; Dawn learned what it was the hard way when she tried to get somewhere by having Piloswine dig again but Darkrai used Disable on the Swine Pokémon and the latter couldn't use the same move again.

Then Darkrai created a bundle of rings all made of some kind of dark energy and unleashed them at Piloswine, powerful enough to finish the Swine Pokémon. It seemed that options are running out and Darkrai was not letting either Brock or Dawn use another Pokémon when he unleashed his Dark Pulse again and knocked out the two trainers. He then saw that Cresselia was trying to weaken him and Darkrai used his Dark Pulse on a wide spread range that attacked both the Lunar Pokémon and damage the ground beneath them all including Pikachu.

Cresselia realized that humans had caused Darkrai to grow too strong even for her so she decided to try and leave this in the hands of a human. It must take a human to clean up the mess made by humans. She then took to the moon shining through the darkness and shared what power she had left before fainting from using her signature move, Lunar Dance.

It helped Pikachu get back on his feet, even more powerful than he ever felt. But Darkrai was not going to let the Mouse Pokémon fight back and charged at Pikachu, ignoring both Cresselia and Ash which was going to be his undoing for the second time that very night. "Monferno, Mach Punch!" Darkrai couldn't stop a red blur from hitting him in the face since Mach Punch has the highest priority rate; meaning that it always goes first no matter how fast Darkrai maybe.

When Darkrai was hit away from Pikachu he saw that same Pokémon still on him. "Monferno use Close Combat with Mach Punch and then Will-o-Wisp!" As if two attacks have combined into one with all the attributes, Darkrai was hit by punches and kicks all moving before he could. The sheer force of that combined assault finally separated the Pitch-Black Pokémon from the red one that Ash summoned from his Pokéball. Darkrai was too busy shaking off the attacks that actually stunned him; he never noticed that the Pokémon had covered him in small fireballs that successfully burned him all over.

The burn actually hurt a lot and Darkrai even lost some of his speed and strength in the pain but he was not out yet. Instead he saw Ash, standing tall and ready for action again; with the plan to get even with Darkrai from that nightmare of a trap. Also Darkrai saw Pokémon in front of Ash along with Pikachu.

One of them was the one that Ash summoned to deal with the fast paced punches and the burn causing fireballs and he was a bipedal, primate-like Pokémon. Orange fur covers most of its body, except for its ears, muzzle, fingers, and circular areas on its palms, feet, and chest, which are tan. A small tuft of fur extends from the top of Monferno's head, and it has oval, brown eyes. Its eyes have a thick blue marking above and a small, red marking in-between. Its muzzle is short and blunt, with two small, pointed teeth it its upper jaw. There is a white ruff of fur around its neck and gold bands around its arms near its shoulders. It has five fingers on each hand, but only three toes on each foot. Its long tail has a red ring around the base and a flame burning at the tip.

Ash knew for a fact that the flame on Monferno's tail has several purposes. It can be controlled to keep opponents at an ideal distance or stretched in order to make Monferno appear larger. The size of its flame, in combination with brightness of its facial marking, indicates this Pokémon's position in its pack. The bigger the flame and the brighter the pattern, this higher the Pokémon's position. In addition to using its flaming tail as a weapon, Monferno can also leap from ceilings or walls to perform aerial attacks.

Ash sure kept this from his friends that his Monferno had evolved from Chimchar a few days ago when his training had finally hit the point of evolving. Dawn and Brock were just too busy and never listened to when Ash tried to show off his newly evolved Monferno to them. But they do know about the Pokémon currently standing next to Monferno.

It was a quadruped Pokémon with light green skin and a large shell covering its back. The shell is composed of hardened soil and conforms to the shape of its body, extending from its forehead to the tip of its short tail. The shell appears sectioned and is yellow with three long, brown ridges atop it. There are two bush-like trees growing around the outermost ridges. Its lower jaw is yellow and has triangular extensions on the cheeks, while its upper jaw has a hooked tip. Its feet are yellow and have three claws each. It was Ash's Grotle who evolved a few weeks before Chimchar did into Monferno.

Next to them both was an orange Pokémon resembling a weasel and a sea otter. The yellow collar that surrounds its neck can be inflated and used as a flotation device when it inhales. By inflating this sac, it can keep its face above water to watch for prey movement. It has two blue fins on its arms and a tail, which appears to be split, that resembles a fish's fin. Its tail acts as a boat propeller by spinning, though it was seen flying using its tail. There are parallel marks on their cheeks. Additionally, it has cream paw pads on its feet. It was Ash's Buizel, who was captured by Dawn but after some failed attempts to train him for contests he was traded to Ash for battling and not one of them ever regretted the trade.

In the air above them all were two Pokémon. One of them was a large, mainly blue-purple vampire bat-like Pokémon. Its legs have two toes and a slightly darker circular coloration on the underside, and its tail has two barbs, giving its tail the resemblance of a vampire's fangs. Its arms are red with thin striations, and are completely detached from its black wings, and each are ended with large pincers. Its ears have discernible, red, chambered ear insides, and its eyes are yellow. It has six visible fangs in its mouth, and its waist, like its arms, is red and striated. Its body resembles an open mouth, with the pointed protrusions coming from its upper torso resembling fangs, further illustrating its vampiric qualities. It was Ash's Gliscor and the first one that Ash had evolved under the conditions which involved holding an item and the time of day.

The other one was a grayish-brown, avian Pokémon with black and white markings. Its head and upper body are primarily black with an "M"-shaped pattern over its white chest. On its forehead is a grayish-brown spot, which is smaller on the female. On its face is a white, mask-like marking with a pattern of spikes along the lower edge. It has small, black eyes with white pupils and a long, orange beak with a black tip. On the back of its head is a long tuft of feathers, which curves forward. The lower halves of its wings are black, and it has black tail feathers with a single white feather in the center. Its orange, Anisodactyl feet have black talons. It was the very first Pokémon that Ash had caught here in Sinnoh, like the other common Flying and Normal type duel types that Ash always caught first in the other regions.

Darkrai looked at them all and not one of Ash's Pokémon are losing their focus or even stirring to his appearance. Normally he could feel afraid but instead he managed to make a smile that only he knew that he was making and readied himself for one heck of a fight. It was going to change both his and everyone's lives once the upcoming battle ends.

End of Chapter 1.

*I got this idea while working on Ash, the Iron Trainer so I thought that I will publish this story at the same time. It sure took a long time because I needed to think of the fight scenes unlike the first story I thought up. I am sure that there were stories about Ash owning a Darkrai but they always were near the end of his journey and I want to give Ash a lot more time with Darkrai and add a lot of firsthand experience with Legendary Pokémon. Tell me what you think and have a nice summer!*