Hello there.

This is the prologue to my Pokémon story, 'Age of Darkness'. Now to match my love of dark stories this will not be like the Pokémon cartoons, it will be dark, people will die and some other things will happen that I don't want to tell you about just now. So don't read it if you want a happy story.

This Prologue is set a hundreds of years before the modern day but the rest of the story will be in the modern day with Ash and the gang.

Finally, if you don't quite understand what's happening in this then doesn't worry. More will be discovered as the story goes on so you have to read and find out.

Battle of the Shadow Crystal

"We have hostiles coming in from the north"

"What? How many?"

"I don't know. It looks like their entire army"

"Damn"

General Haling smashed his fist into the table, sending large splinters flying into the air and spilling his freshly pored cup of tea. Many of the people in the room looked up at him. There was a mixture of fear and anticipation on there faces as they looked to him for orders.

But he didn't know what to say.

He sighed as he felt a small tug on his trouser leg and looked down at the Marill that was tugging on them. He gave a weak smile as he bent down and patted the Pokémon on its head. The usually cheerfull Pokémon gave a faint squeak as it looked at him, seeming to sense that the end was coming.

Because it was, and they all knew it. The Rebel army outnumbered them by at least a three to one margine, they had more powerful Pokémon and better men. It was suicide to stay here, and yet stay they must. The Rebels could not be allowed to get a hold of the Shadow crystal. If they did…then doom would surly fall upon the empire.

"How long do we have?"

"Two hours at maximum"

Haling cursed again as he looked back at the people surrounding him. He knew that they were praying for him to order them to retreat, for him to tell them that they didn't have to stay here and die. But they also knew that was an order he would never give, he couldn't. If there was even the sligtest hope that they could hold the crystal they had to take it, even if that hope was no existant.

"Get everything ready, today we fight for the crystal" he tried not to think about the faces of fear nad anger that starred at him as he turned and left the room.

"Marill"

Haling tried to smile again as he bent down and allowed Marill to climb onto his back, the little creatures hands grabbed onto his helmet as it wrapped its legs around his neck. Normally he didn't allow the Pokémon to do this but they both knew that this was there last day together, and he was going to make sure it was a good one. He owed his best friend that much.

As the two walked through there camp they found there eyes searching the area, taking in everyone that passed them. Moral was low, but at the same time high. Ever man and Pokémon there had come to realise that there time had come. Men were sat next to the freands and Pokémon. The riders were sat eating there last breakfast with their Dodria while infantry played a last game of catch with their Pokémon. To anyone else the camp would have seemed to be happy and content. But Haling knew that this would all end soon.

Marill shouted out and jumped down, running down towards a Sentret that was sat under a nearby tree. Haling smiled grimmly as he watched the two Pokémon embrace before Marill sat next to Sentret, their hands remaining conneted. He had always know that there was something going on between the two, but Marill had allways denied it. But now it seemed that they saw there was no point in hiding it. Afterall, they probably wont be alive in the morning.

………………………

"Slaves of the emperor" Haling growled as a lone rider appeared into view. He wore a long red cloak and a belt which held verious scrolls and papers. "I come to you now in the hope of peace; no blood has to be spilt this day. I come to give you the wonderfull option to join our allience. You will be welcomed as heros by our leaders and treated as one of our own. There will be no gruge against you or your family. Despite what ever your tyrant of an emperor has told you, we do not want death" The diplomate reached down and produced a large, gold scroll from within his cloak. He smiled as he raised it above his head as if it was somesort of trophy of holy relic. "All you have to do is sign this scroll and you will be heros, glorious men of the allience and brothers of peace. Do you want to die here for a emperor that dosent seem to care for human or Pokémon alike? Do you want your familys to pay the price for what you are doing here? Join us and I asure you we will have peace."A eerie silence fell after the diplomat finished his speech. He smiled as he held the parchment out, as if to hand it to them, even though there was at least half a mile between them.

Haling leaned forward and looked across his battle line. His Dodria squeaked under the shift in his amours weight and he patted its left head to reassure it. All across his battle line, people were muttering and arguing. Some were obviously considering taking the rebels up on there offer. Behind the cavelry line were the other Pokémon and the infantry. They had fallen silent but Haling could smell the stench of fear coming from them. He would have to do something or the battle line would fall apart here and now.

"Come on men!" he called, raising his sword above his own head in an act of mock glory. "Are we going to allow this rebel scum to threaten our loved ones and our Pokémon? They have come here to take our lives, that much we know. But now they tell us that we must surrender our honour if our familys are to live. I don't know about you but I'm not going to allow them to get away with that. So, are we going to fight with honour? Or are we going to run like Abra's?"

Haling couldn't help but smile as his men scremed that they would fight. They swung their swords, banged them against shields and screamed war crys. From behind the roars and screams of the Pokémon could be heard. The screams of dozens of different types of Pokémon mixed together, forming an allmighty scream of war.

The diplomat seemed to be frozen in place for a second, before he pulled on his reigns and retreated back behind the cannion walls. Haling's army continued to cheer for couple more minutes before the finnaly fell silent. The men looked down as they prepared themselves for what was about to come.

Then there was silence. The only noise was the faint blow of the find and the odd grunt from one of the Pokémon.

Then came the drums.

It was faint at first, but the sound was unmistakable. The Rebels army was on the move. Haling sighed as he patted his Doduo again. He heard a faint squeak behind him and turned to see Marill running up to him.

"Marill what are you doing here?"

"Marill?" The little blue mouse like creature looked up at him in confusion. Haling went silent as he read its face. The Pokémon seemed to believe that its place was next to him, no matter what was happening.

"Marill…listen. You have been a good friend to me since I was a child, and for that I thank you. But….I think that you have somewhere that you're needed more then you are with me. I think that Sentret will want you with her when they attack….and I do to. You place is with her"

"Mar….ill" Marill seemed to be frozen in shock.

"No….go to her. I want you to take her away from here and get back to the castle. There you will be safe. I want you to live a quiet life away from all the violence that I have forced you into. Now go"

Haling turned away, not wanting Marill to see the tears that had started to run down his face. He gasped as he heard a faint sob from behind him. Turning he found that Marill was itself crying, its long tail curling up to its body as it sobed. Haling slipped out of his saddle and crouched next to his life long friend. With a faint smile he wrapped his arms around the little blue creautre. Marill gave a little squeek before hugging him back, long tears falling from both.

Finally Haling let go. The drums were getting louder by the second and if Marill didn't leave now then it would be too late. He smiled as he stood up again, never takin his eyes from Marill. Then mouthing a finnaly 'godbye' he climbed back onto his Doduo and nodded. Marill released another sob before turning and running back behind the battle line.

Sighing Haling looked back at the mouth of the canyon. His eyes narrowed as long shilloettes appead on the dirt walls.

When the Rebel army turned the courner, the true horror of what they were facing came to light. There were Pokémon of all shapes and sizes in the force. Some he reqognised and some he had never seen before in his life. He treis to go through a list in his head of the different spices but gave up quickly. Inbetween the Pokémon marched heavily armored men; each carried a sword and shield and wore head-to-toe armour. Every piece of amour in the army was bathed in a deep red, the exact opposite from the light green the imperial army wore.

Without even stopping, the lead rebel raised his sword, screamed and charged forward. Within a second, the rest of the army took up the battle cry and charged at them.

Haling cursed and raised his own sword. With a great dry he pulled the reigns on his Doduo and charged, the cry and thudding of boots and claws on the dirt telling him that his army was following suit.

The only sound was the clash of feet against the ground as the two armies charged at each other. Over head the falp of giant wings could be heard as flying Pokémon took into the air, there talons opening in preparation.

Then with an allmighty crash, the two armys met.

………………..

"Damn, that dosent sound good"

"Just keep you're ears covered and try not to think of it."

Henry tightened the strapps on his helemt as he cursed. He looked around the large cave entrance in an attempt to find something to distract him, eventually coming across the wooden door that stood, bolted shut at the edge of the cave. Though he knew it was impossible, he sensed eyes watching him from behind the door, but the only thing behind the door was the shadow crystal. The only sound that he could here was the sound of clashing metal, rock and fire and the screams of diying men. His hand tighted around the hilt of his sword as he watched the smike rising from where the battle was being fought. From the smoke he could see the shapes of Pokémon flying around, breathing fire, shooting miniture tornadoes and the like. They were fighting to the death. He hated having to watch while his freands fought and died for the crystal. Biting back another curse he turned to his companion.

"We should be there Mike and you know it. We should be there fighting, not standing on the sideline."

"You know that our orders are to defend the crysatl for as long as possible. If we can hold it till reinforcements come…."

"But they will never come and you know it. We have been forsaken in this place, and why? To guard a stupid rock"

"You know that the shadow crystal has special powers….."

"Have you ever seen these powers? The only power I have seen are those infernal dreams"

Both men winched at the memorey. Since the two had come to the post three weeks before, they had had nothing but nightmares night after night. Each one showing a creature of darkness laughing against a burning city.

Then a massive explosion erupted next to them as a rebel Chairzard sored past them, fire spraying from its mouth. It turned as shot down to attack them again but was cut short by a bolt of lightning smashing into its head. The Chairzard screamed in pain as it fell and smashed into the ground nearby. The two gaurds cheered as a swarm of Magnemite flew over head, screeching and cheering they flew back to the battle.

"How long do you think they're going to be able to hold?"

"Not long….not long at all"

The pair fell into silence as they watched the fire spreading and convulsing as the battle raged. Every second felt like an age as they heard the screams and cries from the battle. The flying Pokémon eventually disappeared from view as they were shot down, leaving the sky's dominated by the columns of smoke.

Suddenly Mike's nose twitched and he began to sniff the air. He walked towards the edge of the cave and cursed. Backing away he grabbed Henry and pulled him behind cover, drawing his sword. Henry craned his neck in order to see what was happening that had scared Mike so much.

The air was slowly ripping apart by a giant purple vortex. Great strands of a lighter purple swam around like planets around a great, dark sun. Then dark shapes seemed to grow out of the vortex, marching out of the purple like an army of silhouettes. As they marched into the grass, the darkness melted away to revile the deep red of the rebel army's armor. They marched in two single-file rows, at the lead of the column stood a single shoulder carrying a large flag. The flag seemed to glow with psychic energies, the image of a bent spoon seeming to ripple as if they were looking at it through some unseen steam. On each side of the column a couple of Alakazams materialized, long spoons bending and reforming again and again in there long arms as they closed the vortex behind them.

"Damn" Henry cursed as he ducked back behind the rock "They've gone and teleported an entire battalion right next to us. That battle is nothing more than a distraction."

"Yer, and a pretty good one too. Haling won't be able to get the men back here in time."

"What do we do then?"

"Find a way to make them think the crystal is somewhere else and send a message to the commander"

…………………

Haling grunted as his Doduo jumped ontop of a dead Donphan. It then jumped on top of a nearby Bayleaf, its long claws digging into its neck, drawing a stream of blood as it jumped off again. He swung his sword, decapitating a rebel pike man that had been stood too close to where he landed.

Kicking the Doduo he ran into another cluster of archers. The men scattered as he charged them, throwing themselves to the floor cursing. He ran through the group, gutting a couple of men before turning and charging back into the fray.

He shouted and slammed into a rebel rider and swung his sword in a killing move. But the rider deflected the blow with his own sword and swung back. Haling parried the blow and the two began exchanging blow after blow. There mounts shook violently as the two Doduo's began, pecking and tearing at each other. The rebels Doduo screamed as Haling's clamped its beak around its left neck, a small treacle Po of blood slipping from its mouth. The Pokémon whimpered before one of its legs began to give way, throwing the rider off balance. Taking his chance, Haling screamed a battle cry before swinging his sword and decapitating the rider. The headless body toppled from the Doduo with a dull thud, crushed seconds later by the corpse of its mount.

Haling sighed as he used the moment's relief to look at the battle that was raging around him. They wouldn't hold for much longer, that was for sure. On all sides his men were dying, there Pokémon falling along with them. No matter how many of the rebels they killed, there were always two more to take their place and his lines were running thin. In just a hour or so, everyone of them would be dead.

Then a small explosion seemed to erupt to the west. Haling looked and cursed as he saw a small column of smoke rising from near where he had placed the crystal. They Rebels must have found a way around there line. He had to get everyone back there to make their stand.

"Retreat" he bellowed, not entirely sure if anyone could hear him over the clash of metal on metal and other surfaces. "Fall back to the crystal, we will make our stand there"

And with a final cry, he pulled his Doduo around and ran back towards the resting place of the shadow crystal.

…………….

"Damn…get going. Fall back to the crystal" Mike shouted as he ran from the burning gun powder. "The powder has accidently detonated; we must fall back to the shadow crystal" With a grunt he threw himself behind a large rock and gave Henry a cocky smile. "Do you think it worked?"

Henry crept forward and peeked behind the rock. A second later he threw himself back cursing, just in time to avoid a psychic ball that flew past him, blowing a tree in half. "Yep, it worked, there coming now. So should we….err….run?"

"Lets"

With a cry the two stood and began to run, screaming about how they were going to the crystal, but running the complete other way. They didn't stop to check that the rebels were following, relying on the sounds of shouting and cursing to tell them that their plan was working.

…………….

It took Haling six minutes to get to the Shadow Crystal.

By the time he got there the place was disserted. A small fire burned by the entrance where they had kept their gun powder. He dismounted and walked over to the door that sealed the crystal, great relief taking him as he saw that the door remained intact, with no sign of any forced entry.

So must have meant that the men he had placed here had found a way to distract the rebels, but for how long he didn't know so he would have to do what he came to do quickly.

When he had been tasked with the defence of the crystal he had been told that if ever he had no hope of stopping it from falling into enemy hands then he would have to seal it underground, were no one would dare to look.

Sighing he turned to the group of survivors that had followed him. A couple of them were a Steelix and a Rhydon; they should be enough to seal the cave.

………………

"Err…Mike, they aren't following us anymore"

"What!"

The two guards spun round to see a dark purple vortex caving in on itself as it disappeared.

"Great…they must have realised what we were doing and gone back to where the crystal really is"

Without another word, the two drew their swords and began to run back towards the crystal, praying that Haling had got there in time.

………………

"Incoming"

Haling spun and cursed again as a vortex opened up in front of him. Out of it came rebel soldiers, all armed and dangerous. With a cry, the last of his men charged them, hoping to buy the Pokémon some time.

It was a blood bath.

The tired men didn't stand a chance against the rebel elites. Their mad swings hit nothing but shields before they felt the sharp stings of swords being stabbed into their stomachs. An Alakazam materialized in fount of one man and struck him with a swirling, dark purple ball. The man screamed before being disintegrated, his skeleton becoming visible for a split second before he disappeared entirely.

The rebels looked up and cried their war cry as they saw what the Pokémon were doing and charged them.

The Steelix turned and smashed its way underground as the Alakazams began to fire upon them. The Rhydon wasn't so fast and a purple orb exploded in its face, the Pokémon stumbled back before falling to the ground with a dull thud, its brain having been ripped from its body and sent to the far corners of the warp.

As the soldiers began to advance the ground ripped open beneath them. The giant head of the Steelix erupted from the ground and took one of the Alakazams in its mouth. With a great roar it bit down and snapped the psychic Pokémon in half, it swung its head and sent the top half flying into the wall, crushing two soldiers beneath it. It then turned back to go underground again but was caught in the back by the remaining three Alakazams. The giant steel-type screamed in agony as it smashed to the floor. Its eyes seemed to be sucked into its head as the vortex opened inside of it, leaving nothing more than a crumbling pile of metal and rock.

The rebel soldiers cheered as they began to make their way back up to the door. Haling himself posed little oppression to them as one of the Alakazams used its powers to lift him into the air and smashing against the wall, leaving him unconscious.

………….

"Oh, great"

Mike and Henry stopped at the edge of the cave. The door had been blown off its hinges and now lay useless on the stone floor. Outside the cave it seemed that the survivors had made their final stand. About thirty men and Pokémon lay dead, with not a single rebel lying with them.

From inside the cave they could hear the rebels talking and laughing. They were joking about how easily they had taken the shadow crystal and what they were going to do with the power that they thought it would give them.

"Any more great ideas?" Henry asked

"No"

Then the pair heard a faint moan coming from near the cave entrance. Running over they found commander Haling lying on the floor, a small line of blood running down from the back of his head. He opened his eyes slightly and gave them a reassuring smile. "It looks worse than it is" he muttered as he used their shoulders as supports to pull himself back up to his feet.

"Sir…the rebels have taken the crystal. We have failed"

"No…not yet. We can still seal the crystal underground, but I must do it alone. I want you two to go back to the fortress and tell the queen that we have sealed the crystal and that the rebels will be going there next"

………………

"I'm telling you, with this baby we are going to take over the rest of the empire within the week."

"Yep, and then we will be the big heroes"

The Rebel men began to laugh as they looked up at three Alakazams. The Pokémon were stood with their eyes closed, mentally probing the crystal for a way around the dark shield that seemed to glow around it. It would have been a lot faster if they had still had the fourth Alakazam but they had lost it in there assault on the cave entrance. They could wait, it wouldn't be long before the last of the imperial soldiers were cut down by their army.

"Alaka…..ALAKAZAM"

The men turned as the nearest Pokémon began shout and wave its spoons around. Its large, yellow head nodded to the other two and together they began to summon large purple balls in front of them. Then with a roar they threw their arms forward and long beams of psychic energy erupted from the balls, smashing into the shadow crystal at three different points in an explosion of black and purple. After a few minutes the Pokémon stopped firing and collapsed to the floor with exhaustion.

The crystal seemed completely unaffected. It continued floating in mid-air, the exact same as it was when they had first found it. One of the men began shouting at the Pokémon to stop messing around and get the crystal open but they just ignored him, not taking their eyes from the crystal.

Suddenly there was a loud crack, and a large tear ripped through the side of the shadow crystal. There was a low hiss of air escaping and then a faint rumbling sound, almost like laughter.

"What have you done?"

The rebels turned to see an imperial soldier standing by the ruined door. the lone man bore a look of sheer terror on his face as he watched the thin strain of black smoke that had begun to seep from the crystal. The mist fell to the floor and seemed to build up, growing in strength and becoming sold as it fell. Haling cursed and began screaming for them to run but the rebels ignored him, seemingly mesmerized by the swirling blackness. After a couple of minutes the dark mist stopped and the puddle beneath the crystal seemed to be absorbed by the stone floor, leaving no trace of itself as it went.

"What the hell have you done?" Haling muttered as he began to walk forward. The rebels drew their swords and moved to block his path.

"We have released the thing that will aid us in this war; we have unleashed your doom"

"No you idiot. The thing that you have just released has no loyalty to anyone other than itself. We have to seal it again before it's too late"

"Wrong imperial scum. This Pokémon will lead us to victory after victory and to a new age of……"

Before the soldier could say anything else a column of darkness began to rise from the floor. It solidified and took the shape of a long dark arm. Then it swung in a long ark and sliced through the man's neck. There was a small spray of blood as the body hit the floor. The other rebels cried out and began to back away, looking frantically left and right, searching for the invisible attacker. Then a large pool of darkness spread around the dead body, large tendrils wrapping around it and pulling it into the darkness. It sank in with a low groan his armour bending and giving way under the pressure of the tendrils before the darkness disappeared again.

The men cursed and cried out as another two arms of darkness erupted from the stone floor and cut two more men apart, there broken body's being absorbed by the darkness the same as the last. Haling shouted for them to get across the room but the darkness seemed to hear it and a large pool opened in front of them. A deep laughter seeming to echo of the walls.

"You have to order the Pokémon to close the crystal; it's too weak to survive outside fully at the moment. That's why it's taking the bodies, it's trying to regain its power, you have to seal it now"

The surviving men nodded and relayed the orders as they tried to fend off the attacking arms of darkness, but the swords would just pass through the arms like mist. There seemed to be a pattern to how they were attacking, one man would die on the left then on the right a beat later, then the left would wait for a couple of seconds as the bodies were consumed by the spreading darkness before the pattern started again, there was no way the men could defend themselves.

With great cries the Alakazams raised their spoons and began to chant, large beams of psychic energy shooting out and smashing into the crystal. the darkness roared in fury and a arm wrapped around the leg of the Alakazam furthest from the door. The Pokémon screamed as it was dragged down, still alive, into the bottomless pool of nothingness. Upon seeing the fate of their companion the other Alakazams doubled their efforts to close the rip in the crystal, the crack closing painfully slowly.

"Defend the Pokémon" one of the soldiers shouted and the men ran to the aid of the Alakazams, two of them being cut down by the swinging arms. The screamed as the pool engulfed there bleeding bodies.

Finally the crack was nearly sealed.

The darkness screamed with rage as it swung its arms. Slashing a second Alakazam in half. Then it retracted, forming a single large puddle of blackness. The men screamed as a dark shape began to rise from it, a long white tip, seeming to flicker like fire on its head. The shape began to solidify as two large, pale blue eyes peered from its featureless face.

"You fools will suffer" a deep face rasped from it, seeming to not entirely come from the physical world. It raised its arms and laughed as large balls began to grow from them. "Dark Void" it screamed as it threw its arms forward, sending the balls flying at the last Alakazam. They exploded around its head and sent the Pokémon flying backwards, smashing into the wall. As the dust cleared the Pokémon was lying on the floor, thrashing around as if caught inside some terrible nightmare.

"Now we can't seal the crystal"

"Were all dead"

Haling sighed as he looked at the dark figure that had begun to hover a couple of feet above the ground.

Before the guards could say anything else, Haling burst into a run. He roared with rage as he slammed himself into the figure and forced it towards the crystal. Haling screamed as he threw his entire body weight against the creature until it's back was pressed against the crack.

"Alakazam fire!"

Haling managed to force a small smile as he felt the psychic blow smash into his back.

"You going back to your prison monster" he shouted as he looked into the pale eyes.

"Then you're going with me" The dark arms wrapped around Haling's chest and pulled him through the crack as the darkness once again turned into a mist disappeared into the crystal.

With an explosion of purple and black light the crack disappeared, sealing the captain and the monster inside. Then a great rumble could be heard as large chunks of rock began to fall from the roof sealing the entrance as the rebels tried to escape.

By the time the rest of the rebel army arrived at the cave, there was no sign of the cave.

………………….

"…and so the crystal is presently hidden from the enemy, far out of their reach. Were it will remain for years to come"

A long silence fell across the hall as Henry stood down from the stand, facing the. Royal jury as he awaited his fate. When he and Mike had arrived back at the castle they had been originally considered traitors and brought before the jury to tell their story.

The, to their great relief, the queen nodded. "It seems that the two of you did admirably during you're darkest hour and bought your commander the time he needed to save us all, for that I thank you. May I please see the letter that he gave you?"

Mike nodded and passed the rolled parchment that Haling had given him before going into the cave.

The queen sighed loudly as she read the letter.

You're highness.

It is with a heavy heart that I write to these words, knowing that they will be my last. Despite our best efforts the rebels have breached the tomb of the shadow crystal and are trying to release the Pokémon that resides it.

I will give my life in order to prevent it from rising and beg of you to destroy all mention of it from our history, lest some other tyrant should attempt to find it and use it for their own needs.

I will die today so that others may live. I will give my life in order to prevent Darkrai from rising and plunging the world into darkness. Don't forget what we have died for and you will not repeat it.

Goodbye.

P.S. My Marill should be arriving there soon, so please look after it.