Pokémon®
Darkrai Edition®

For
Friends, who kept me going.
Kian, a good reader and supporter.
Nintendo, for giving me the joy of Pokémon.

Chapter 1

I wake up for the start of your journey, run down stairs, past my mom, "See you later mom, I'm going to see Professor Linden!" I shout as you run by and out the door. As I approach the laboratory, I notice a shadow going the wrong way, against the sun, but I barely notice it. Why would a shadow be of importance to me?

I enter the lab and walk up to the Professor. "How are you Seth, are you ready to get your first Pokémon?" he asks. I nod. "All right now all we have to do is wait for Alan."

BANG! Alan slams the door open.

"Hey! Where's my Pokémon!?" he shouts.

"Calm down, you arrived second, so let Seth go first. Seth, you can pick your starter, one from any of the regions from around the world." I look carefully. I notice that one of the Pokéballs has a slightly darker shadow than the rest, along with a stronger pull.

"I'll take that one," I say.

"Are you sure?" asks the professor. I nod. "All right then, there you go." I activate the Pokéball's release button and out comes an Umbreon. "Will you nickname it?" I shake my head.

I leave the lab and head up Route 1. Before I can enter the tall grass, Alan challenges me to a battle. He chose Chimchar, so I win with ease. By the time I reach the next town, Premarea, I have 4 Pokémon: Pidgey, Zigzagoon, Umbreon, and Sentret.

The sun is behind me as I enter the Pokemart through its shadow. Odd. I get some potions and pokéballs, then head into the Pokémon Center to heal up and move out to Cennon Forest, darker than Ilex and more dangerous than midnight, or more like what lurks there. Unlike most forests, this one is full of ghost and dark types, waiting to give a scare to anybody who enters it. But I make it through, only encountering and catching a Ghastly and Absol. The next town, Senetal, has a gym.

I train and evolve Pidgey and Ghastly, to get a Pidgeotto and Haunter. I enter the gym. The leader, Veronica, uses fighting type. I pass through to her with an almost graceful ease, untouched with Haunter and Pidgeotto. As I approach her, she changes stance, preparing for battle. It is a harsh one, me losing Zigzagoon, Sentret, and Absol. She loses though, her Machop, Meditite, and Riolu were nothing next to Haunter and Umbreon. She pays and gives me the Cross (X) Badge. The next place I go is the Fringe Tunnel System, a pitch black maze that could rival the Labyrinth.

END CHAPTER 1

Chapter 2

As you enter Fringe Tunnel, someone stops me, "Since you have the Cross Badge, I guess you can use this, the Hidden Machine: Flash" I feel a disk put in my hand and hear a creepy laugh as whomever it was leaves me in the dark.

Well that was kinda weird. As I progress through the cave, I hear someone talking about taking control of a legendary Pokémon, Darkrai. I walk in to the cavern where he is talking to someone on the phone and ask who Darkrai is. He yells and screams at me for eavesdropping and says, "You are going to feel the wrath of Team Storm!" He sends out an Absol. I send out Umbreon. To me, it was as if he had never battled before, ever.

"How can you be so strong?" he asks. I glance at him and continue on my way.

I spend the better part of the day, 13 hours, in the cave, before I finally see the exit. I'm 10 feet from the light when Alan challenges me to a battle. I barely have to stop: he had only 3 Pokémon, and had none of them had evolved.

I leave the tunnel, having caught a Zubat, Geodude, and Yamask, ready to take on the next gym. Lineon City is one of the largest ones around, having 1 gym and 2 training dojos. The leader, Ellipse, the psychic type user, is absent. I ask where she is and am told she is in the library, dealing with those Team Storm members blockading the doors, so they can research in private.

I am on my way there to help when I see a member going in to a diner, so I decide to follow him. He goes to the kitchen and disappears behind the overly sized knife rack. I go behind it and find a board in the wall sticking slightly out. I pull on it and a secret door opens. I creep down the stairs, to the basement and see his boot disappearing up another set of stairs across a long hallway. I follow him up the stairs and in to a closet. I open the door and see…books. I'm in the library.

I hear paper and books being tossed around and riffled through, apparently they don't have any respect for books. I call out a challenge, and two guys come out of the main room. "Are you the runt who challenged us?" I nod. "Then prepare to go crying back to your mommy, pipsqueak!" They had pitiful Zubats, barely any energy was needed to take them down. They retreated and two girls came out,

"Those boys can't battle if their life depended on it." They took slightly more energy than the guys did.

"Wow, that was fast."

Then a voice comes out of the main room, saying, "I've got it, we can leave now." They leave the library and I unblock the doors. Ellipse is standing there.

"I could feel your power way out here, I can tell that I will have to try hard to win against you, Seth." I am confused by how she knows my name, but then remember that she is a psychic. I tell her that I will be at her gym momentarily.

I heal up my Pokémon and head to the gym. The gym was set up to be like the inside of a Pokéball, you had to get through the button and the maze inside to get to the leader. She welcomes me and manages to K.O. Pidgeotto and Zigzagoon, but lost to Umbreon and Haunter. "You are truly powerful, and deserve the Field (=) Badge." I get the badge and leave, ready to get to the next gym, across the Volt Plains, which are almost year-round plagued by vicious thunder and lightning storms. A worthy opponent of my skill.

END CHAPTER 2

Chapter 3

The first thing I notice about the plains is that it is dark, so I have to look carefully to find good footing in the wet and blackened grass. I travel about half an hour before any signs of animal life appeared. I look out across the fields, and see a bunch of Eevees fighting. I get my Pokéball ready and walk up to them. They notice me and one starts to evolve. The newly evolved Glacion starts to use Ice Shard to get me away from its fight with its brothers. I barely break stride as I release Umbreon and defeat it. I throw my Pokéball and catch one of the Eevees.

Then lightning starts falling everywhere. I run for cover into natural cave. Once I'm inside, I decide to wait out the storm. Then I start worrying about the other Eevees. I decide that there is a low enough amount of lightning to risk going out and trying to find and rescue them. I head out running as fast as I can, trying to avoid the lightning bolts as they rain down about me.

I see them up ahead and start to run faster, as I see an upcoming pitch-black section of clouds literally pouring with lightning. I reach them just as the super-storm hits.

BOOOOOOOM!

PTHTZZZZZZ!

FWOOOCHSH!

Lightning hits the ground with forces strong enough to make huge craters of glass and fire. I try to find a good route through the lightning to the cave. I see the opening. I go for it. I'm almost there. I toss the Eevees inside. A bright light. A loud noise. Searing pain.

AAARRGGHH!

… I awake right outside the cave, the Eevees and my Pokémon are standing all around my smoking body. I obviously got hit with lightning, But how did I survive? I look around and notice a patch of shadow in the cave slightly darker than the rest. I blink and it's gone. Just the effects of being hit with lightning. I shrug it off and get up. A searing pain streaks up my right arm. I risk a glance. It's not as bad as it should have been. The lightning scared a jagged streak down my arm, ending in a scar on the center of my palm, shaped almost like a crescent moon, but thicker at the middle and almost needle like at the ends, with them almost touching. What an odd scar. I look at my Pokémon, "Thank you for watching out for me and the Eevees." I decide to put them back in their Pokéballs, but what to do with the Eevees? I decide to take them with me to the next town, Montresser, and see if I could find a good shelter for them.

End Chapter 3

Chapter 4

I make it to the Pokémon Center and heal up my team and get treated for my burns, though the scars are permanently etched into my palm and arm. It turns out that there is a day-care couple in town, so I go there to see if they will take the Eevees to find good trainers to take care of them. I get there and see a group of people in a familiar uniform. Uhhgg, them. They wear the same uniform as the weirdo snoopers at the library and the one on the phone at the cave. They are apparently trying to force the day-care couple to work for them. The couple is refusing, but their will won't last much longer. I walk up and ask what the problem is.

"These dreadful people are trying to force us to breed incompatible Pokémon to create powerful hybrids that can't live for ver… Ouch! You little creep. You'll regr….Unnhh." They knock her out.

"Well, it's decided. I'll fight you for them." I say to the day-care man. The Team Storm members chuckle and confer amongst themselves and decide on two to fight for them.

"We don't want you wining. So no hard feelings, O.K." They have Poochyenas and Houndors. But when they send them out, they seem to shine with different colors. They have control of Shiny Pokémon! The Pokémon are far stronger than they should have been. They knock out Zigzagoon, Pidgeotto, and Eevee. They finally lose to Umbreon and Absol, but it is a close call. The Team Storm members threaten me and then, leaving you and the day-care lady's husband to help her come to.

"Is there anything we can do for you as a reward for your help today?" I tell them about the Eevees and they agree to take care of them and try to find good homes. "Oh, and one more thing. Those brutes dropped this in their retreat." They hand me a clear green stone with a yellow thunderbolt in the middle. "It appears to be a thunder stone, but it might be fake, seeing how they had it." I thank them for everything they have done and take my leave.

When I get to town I go to the Pokémart, buy supplies and ask if Montresser has a gym. They say that it doesn't, but it does have a safari. I decide that it would be a good place to go, since it has strong and rare Pokémon. I enter, pay your fee, and start running around, trying to find anything that I haven't seen yet. It takes about 2 hours, but I end up with a Dratini, Charmander, Beldum, Honedge, Magikarp, Feebass, Surskit, and a Raltz. Everything else either doesn't stay in their Safariball, or runs away. I feel satisfied and decide to retire for the night. I decide to go to Shenrall Town tomorrow.

End Chapter 4

Chapter 5

I arrive in Shenrall Town after dark. The people there regard me as a stranger and an outcast. They talk in short, terse sentences, and leave me alone or completely ignore me. After a little bit, I realize why they are like that: this town is the home of the Second Pokémon Tower, the other being in Kanto. I learn of the town's Gym, a Ghost type, with the leader temporarily at the top of the 2nd Pokémon Tower to visit his grandfather's Gengar's shrine, I decide to go there and ask him if he will accept my challenge.

I arrive at the entrance, surprised to see that there is a line. I listen to try to hear if the line is normal, or if it is for an occasion.

"Are you here to see the Ghosts?" I turn around to see a little kid with darkish brown hair, a plain t-shirt, and simple shorts, there looking at me with expecting eyes, waiting for an answer.

"What?" I ask. The kid looks at me, surprised.

"You haven't heard? There are Ghosts up in the Tower. They are trying to take revenge on humans for being murdered long ago in the war. It's pretty sad. The lines are for people who are going to pay respects, but we have to go with a trainer with at least 2 or more badges, for protection from the Ghosts. We only have 1 person with 2 badges, so only 2-3 people can go at a time. You look like a trainer, how many badges do you have?"

"Two," I say. The boy's eyes get big and light up.

"Really? Then you can take me to pay respects to Swellow. Will you take me, please?" I think it over and decide, why not?

"I'll take you."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Both of us walk up to the gate and get stopped by the guard.

"Sorry, you can't pass unless you have at least 2 badges or are with an escort." I show her my badges and explain that I am escorting the boy to pay respects to his Swellow. She agrees and lets us through.

"Oh, and one more thing," she catches up to us and gives me a pair of goggles. "This is the latest version of the Silph Scope, it will let you see some of the Ghosts as what they really are, Ghastly and Duskull, so be careful." I thank her and continue on our way.

I put on the Silph Scope and look around. Everything is normal and still. Well, except for the damage the Ghosts did, broken grave markers and shredded flowers and pictures. I look at the boy to make sure he is still there. He looks up at me and says,

"I'm really glad that you are taking me. By the way, I'm Nick. What's your name?"

"Seth."

"Cool name. My name is really Nickolas, but everyone just calls me Nick. Even though I prefer Nickolas, I'm okay with Nick. I'm seven years old, how old are you? Oh never mind, you don't have to tell me. Swellow died 3 years ago and got to be the first marker on the top floor. We all loved Swellow. And we all got to use him in battle. Well, except for me, I wasn't old enough yet." He sighs "I miss him, but he is in a better place now. Anywhere is better than here. This town is so sad and depressing, and the people are no better. When I grow up, I'm leaving this place and never coming back. Where do you come from?"

"Craymont Village, northeast from here."

"Really, you've travelled all the way from there! That's a long ways away. How did you get through the forest and the cave and the plains?"

"The forest and the cave were pretty easy, but the plains were a problem. They did give me a souvenir though, a scar on my right arm."

"Can I see the scar?"

"Sure." I roll up my sleeve and show him.

"Cool, that's really neat how it makes a crescent moon on your palm." By then we've gotten to the fourth floor. I look around and see a Duskull lurking behind a grave marker for somebody's Kirlia. I prepare a Great Ball and move towards it. It notices me and Teleports away from me. This could be a problem. I call out Umbreon.

"Next time it Teleports, stop it and put it right in front of me." I turn to face it and it Teleports as expected, and Umbreon does his thing. A second later, the Duskull is back and in the Great Ball. "Gotcha." The ball wiggles once, twice, three times, click. Well, I'm glad that stayed in, it could have gotten out and gone after Nickolas. I look over at him to make sure that he is okay.

"Whoa. That was awesome! How did you do that so easily?"

I shrug. "Just luck, I guess." We press on up to the fifth floor.

"We need to get to the top floor, that's where Swellow is."

"How many floors are there?"

"Seven, so two more to go." We get to the sixth floor and see shadows moving near the staircase on the far side. I think that they are the Ghosts, but as we get closer, I can make out human-shaped forms. What types of Pokémon did these used to be? I finally get close enough to hear them.

"Darkrai, he's here, on the top floor. The rumors of Ghosts worked really well, even though we had to break some markers and destroy some memorial flowers and pictures, it keeps people mostly off the top two floors. … Alright, if we don't get him this time, we can at least put a tracker on him. … Okay. … Alright. Over and out." I stumble over a stone as I try to hear better.

"Huh, what was that? Who's there? Show yourself!" I get up and step forward. "You! The brat from the Library! Oh, I'm going to enjoy destroying you and giving you a real reason to visit the Second Pokémon Tower! Go, Sharpedo, Cacturn!" Whoa, looks like these guys actually get stronger.

"Umbreon, Haunter. Deal with them." Umbreon's rings and eyes glow and an intense Dark Pulse is emitted from him. Cacturn never even feels it. Haunter uses Shadow Sneak and eliminates Sharpedo before it knows Cacturn is out of its Pokéball.

"H-h-how can you do this so easily? No one is that strong. Not even Arceus himself." He runs off down the stairs and leaves. I look over at Nickolas and see a slight shadow of fear flicker across his face, but it quickly is replaced by awe of what I did.

"Whoa."

I give myself a slight smile and proceed up to the top floor.

End Chapter 5

Chapter 6

As we come up to the top floor, I notice a bunch of the Team Storm members gathering around a large, dark Pokémon.

"Get him!"

"Someone put a tracker on this thing!"

"Why don't you!"

"Just do it!" They continue shouting about what to do with the Pokémon.

The Pokémon is tall, has a dark body, a red spiked neck guard, and what looks like smoke coming out of his head. That must be Darkrai! The one that they were talking about! At that point I hear in my head, Duck and take cover. Darkrai then focuses an orb of solid darkness and releases it outward at everyone in the room, including Nickolas and me.

"Watch out!" I yell as parts of it come toward the both of us. I duck behind a grave marker and pull Nickolas down beside me.

"That was close. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"That would be Darkrai's signature move, Dark Void. It puts anyone who gets hit with it into a deep nightmare filled sleep that almost no one can wake up from. It seems that he can shoot it at targets now. Interesting." I turn around and see a man walking toward us. "I'm Calvin, the Ghost Gym leader and Morty's grandson. I've been researching Darkrai for a very long time. I was getting ready to distract those horrid creeps when he attacked. What were you two doing up here?"

"I was escorting him," I nod to Nickolas, "to pay respects to his Swellow."

"Where are all those people who were around that Pokémon?" asks Nickolas.

"They should all be asleep on the floor right now. As for Darkrai, I suppose he Teleported somewhere safer and far away, for the time being." says Calvin, "I have some rope, we should tie up those people until the police and medics can get here."

"Alright, let's get it done." The three of us gather the members of Team storm and tie them up. As I brought the last one over something falls out of his pocket. I pick it up and examine it. It seems to be a card of some kind. I decide to keep it and look at it later. The police and medics arrive shortly after wards and take them to the hospital. As I go to leave Nickolas comes up to me,

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to the Gym, and then to the next town. Why?"

"I didn't tell you this, but I'm an orphan. I hate it at the orphanage and really want to go with you. Can you go to there and see if I can go with you? Pleeease?"

"Alright, I don't see why not. After I go to Calvin's Gym, I can go there and see if you can come with me."

"Yeah!"

I head over to the Gym and challenge Calvin. Since he has Ghost types, I can only really affect him with Umbreon and Absol.

"So, you have finally arrived. Good. How is Nickolas doing? Well, I hope."

"He's fine. Let's fight."

And fight we did. He uses a Haunter, Cofagrigus, and a Dusklops. He manages to knock out Pidgeotto, Zubat and Eevee before my Umbreon takes out Haunter and Dusklops, Cofagrigus gets knocked out by Absol.

"That was a good match. I see you have trained your Pokémon very well. You most definitely deserve the Night (V) Badge."

"Good match to you too. I hope I will meet you again."

I leave and head straight to the orphanage. When I get there I see Nickolas there at the door way.

"What took you so long? I've been waiting out here forever. Come on, the Boss is waiting inside. She makes us call her that because of her name. It's like Gertrude or something or other. Anyway, she hates it and has us call her Boss. She's right over here."

You enter a mediumish sized room with a woman at a desk on the far side.

"Welcome, you must be Seth. Nickolas has told me a lot about you. You have two badges, three now, and a very unusually strong starter. Umbreon, was it? No matter. Are you here to take Nickolas with you?"

"Yes."

"Alright then. You just have to fill out these forms and pay the amount and you can take him anywhere you can imagine."

Nickolas left at that point to go pack.

"What was that about the money?"

"Oh, that it's just a small payment to keep us in business, I hope you don't mind."

"…How much?"

"Let's see, it's the cost of 10 Potions, sooo, about 3,000."

"Fair enough, here it is." I give her the money and fill out the forms, then I go to collect Nickolas.

When I get to his room, I can hear him telling everyone about how I took him up to see Swellow's marker and how I took care of the team storm member and of how I saved him from being put into a never ending nightmare by Darkrai.

"Alright. Nickolas, time to go."

"Alright. Just give me a minute to finish packing, then we can go."

30 minutes later we were on the road, heading for the next city, Forrsess, and see if there was anything to do there but shop and watch sports.

The road there was fitting, a long road for a huge city. To express the size, take Saffron, Goldenrod, Slateport, Jublife, Castelia, Lumiose, put them together, and there you go. At Forrsess you can go to a stadium for any sport, a store for any product, and an arcade for any game. There, you got anything from hockey to Centipede, from chess to rare card collections and Galaga.

We were about half way there when it started to get dark. I look around for some shelter to spend the night in and prepare for the exploration of Forrsess tomorrow. As I look, I notice a cave off the path a little, so I point it out to Nickolas. The both of us head into the cave just as I begin to feel the first of many rain drops to come. While I am setting out the food and sleeping bags for the night, I have a flashback to when I saved the Eevees. As I remember it, I absentmindedly look at my scar, which has almost fully healed, except for the crescent mark on my palm, which still is slightly sore to the touch.

After everything is ready and set for bed, the storm is raging outside, so I decide to tell Nickolas the story.

"Hey, Nickolas, do you want to hear a story," I ask.

"Sure, but make it quick, 'cause I'm almost asleep."

"Alright then. It was an exceptionally stormy day on the Volt plains…"

I tell Nickolas the whole story from wandering to catching the Eevee to saving his siblings.

By the time I finish the story he's sound asleep, snoring softly. I smile to myself and lay down to go to sleep. As I close my eyes I notice a darker patch of shadows near the entrance of the cave. Where have I seen that before, is my last thought before I drift off to sleep.

End Chapter 6

Chapter 7

I wake up the next morning and see the dim light of the sun trying to break through the dark storm clouds. As I am packing everything up for the trip to Forrsess, I go to wake Nickolas up and see that he's not there. I start to panic, but see a light down one of the tunnels that lead farther into the cave. I follow the light and find Nickolas in a huge cavern.

"What are you doing here, Nickolas," I ask.

He jumps when he hears me. "I-I was just looking around, waiting for you to get up and the storm to pass. I'm sorry I wandered off, but this room is so cool. It's full of old drawings and paintings of Pokémon and people. There's a giant rectangle of just pictures of Pokémon, it starts with Bulbasaur as #1 and goes on down to Zygarde, the numbers continue as if there were more Pokémon than we have ever known about, but they are too faded to tell what they are. But what really gets me is this one." He points to a Pokémon up near the top, after Mew and Mewtwo. It was off to the side, just out of the rectangle. "It looks like a Pokémon, but I've never heard of it, or seen it in anybody's Pokédex. What is it?" I take a closer look at when you here a voice from behind me.

"That would be MissingNO. It was the only Pokémon to be hunted to extinction, by us and the other Pokémon. We hated it for its ability to warp the DNA and atom bonds of other living things, like a glitch or as if it was leaking radiation" Nickolas and I both turn around and see a girl of average height with short dark brown hair and glasses standing in the entrance to the cavern. "Hi, I'm Rachel, this region's youngest explorer. I was researching the lore and tales of this area, and I stumbled upon this cave when I was waiting out a really bad storm a couple of weeks ago and have been studying this cavern in every speck of free time I have. What brings you to this awesome place?"

"We were waiting out a storm, just like you were. I got up to get packed and Nickolas was gone. I followed the light from his flashlight and ended up in this room. How old is this place anyway? It looks like it could be hundreds," you say.

"It very well could be. I haven't done any carbon dating yet, but you're probably right. By the way, what's your name?"

"My name is Seth."

"Where are you headed, and how many gym badges do you have?"

"I'm headed to Forrsess and I have four badges… Why?"

"I would travel all over the region, but I have no Pokémon and with no Pokémon, it is hard getting from place to place safely. I've asked people before, but no one would travel with me. Will you let me come with you? Please?"

I think it over for a little while.

"Alright. You can come with us. Just one question. What do you know about that Pokémon?" I point to a Pokémon up in the Sinnoh area.

"Oh, Darkrai? I don't know a whole lot about him. He is a Dark type, can travel through shadows or as one, is qualified as a minor Legendary, and that his signature move is Dark Void. Why?"

"Because I've had an encounter with him. It was in the Second Pokémon Tower. I was taking Nickolas to pay respects to his Swellow. When we got to the top floor he was surrounded by Team Storm. Right before he used Dark Void, he told me to look out. I just wanted to see if there was anything that would make him warn me, and only me."

"Hey, guys. Sorry to interrupt your chat, but you gotta see this," Nickolas calls from the far wall. Rachel and I run to where he is and see a tunnel that wasn't there before.

"Where did this come from?" Rachel asks.

"I wanted to see the Pokémon from the Kanto region. I was jumping to see and I accidentally touched the Darkrai icon. It slid in a little like a button, and then I heard a low rumble and when I turned around, there was a hole over here. So I called you over."

"Well, let's go find out where it leads. Come on," Rachel says.

"Wait, shouldn't we see if it's safe first. I don't want anyone getting hurt," I say.

"Oh, come on. No one ever did anything worth knowing about without taking risks. Let's go," and with that, she went down the tunnel.

"Sigh… Well, she's right. Come on," Nickolas and I follow Rachel down the tunnel. At first, it was relatively strait, but after 10 minutes, it came to a three way branch in the path.

"Which path should we take? Left, right, or middle?" asks Rachel.

"Let's try the left to start," suggests Nikolas. All of us start down the left path. After a little ways down the tunnel, I start to see letter like symbols on the walls.

"Do you know what these symbols mean? They look really familiar."

"They should. They were the cause of the Entei incident back in 2000. The writing on the walls is completely in Unown. These tunnels remind me of the stories Gold wrote about the Ruins of Alph. He was the one who disbanded Team Rocket three years after Red did. It took me a while, but I've figured out how to read the Unown. Let's see. … … ... Okay, got it. It says:

'This is the path to the DNA storage cave. Access is restricted to Admins only. All others will be subjected to the high punishment. – Elder Rai.' … … … Whoa. A whole room full of the DNA of every Pokémon ever. Do you think that they have MissingNo.? Or even Arceus? This is the coolest thing ever!"

"Uh, guys. Sorry to kill the excitement, but there's a cave-in up here." says Nickolas.

"WHAT!? There's a cave-in? Do any of you have a Pokémon that can use Rock Smash or Bulldoze?" Rachel franticly asks.

"I'm seven, so I can't help you. Sorry," Nickolas says.

"I'm really sorry Rachel, but I haven't gotten the H.M. yet, or any Ground types," I say.

"Sigh, the greatest discovery ever, and we're stopped by some dirt and rocks. Well, we might as well go and look at the other two passages. Come on, let's go," Rachel walks away leaving Nickolas and I to catch up.

As we were walking, I felt a slight tremor, nothing big, but just enough to be noticed.

"Hey, did you feel that?"

"Feel what?" asks Nickolas.

"I didn't feel anything," Rachel says.

"I thought I felt a tremor, but I must have been mistaken." By that time, we're in the chamber where it branches off. "Okay, now which one do we take?"

"Let's go right this time," Rachel says.

We start down the tunnel, but about half way, I feel another tremor, slightly harder than last time.

"Whoa, what was that? Is there an earthquake somewhere?" Nickolas asks.

I turn as the first rock falls behind us. "Go, go, go, go, go!" I shout at them as we turn to run back out. The rocks are falling faster and more frequent. We are almost at the exit when the tunnel ahead of us collapses.

"Ah! Turn around go farther into the tunnels, come on, FASTER!" I shout as we race back down the tunnel, rocks falling all around us. We run down the tunnel as fast as we can, dodging the falling rocks as best we can.

As we almost make it to a turn in the tunnel when the shaking stops abruptly.

"…What the heck was that?" asks Rachel.

"I don't know, but we better keep moving. Try to find a way out."

We continue on through the tunnel. It gradually slopes down and levels off, ending in a huge chamber. We take a few steps in when an intensely bright light flares up.

"Well about time you guys got here. What took you so long?"

As our eyes adjust, we see a man with silver hair walking towards us. He walks up to a console and presses the button. The whole room starts shaking and it feels as though gravity increases for a moment. Our attention goes back to the silver haired man.

"I bet you have no idea who I am. My name is Cylus. As you know, Team Storm is trying to take control of the legendary Pokémon Darkrai. I'll let your imagination choose what we will do with him. It is probably correct. Now, why I am here. You, boy, with the green eyes. Have you ever noticed a shadow that doesn't seem right? Like it is going the wrong way, or is darker than the rest?"

I pause and remember all the weird instances where shadows seem slightly off. Like when I got my starter. Or when I woke up after being struck by lightning.

"Ah. I see you have. That was Darkrai, calling to you for help. By my count you are around the fifth person he has chosen. All those who tried to save him before you have failed. And your fate will be no different." His hand goes into his pocket and pulls out a gun. "Goodbye, boy." He pulls the trigger four times.

I feel all four go through my chest. I fall forward. I hear a scream as I do. I turn my head to the side. The walls of the cave behind us have vanished, leaving open sky. That must have been what the gravity feeling was, us rising into the sky. Rachel is screaming, and Nick is just standing there, eyes wide, mouth open just a little. I look back to Rachel, just in time to see her take a step backwards, and fall off the edge. As my vision starts turning black, shadows form on the edge of my line of sight. Darkrai climbs out of them. He looks at me and bows his head. He looks to Nickolas, nods, and his hands glow. He shoots a sphere at Nickolas. He vanishes into it. Gone.

I almost can't see now. Can't breathe. Can't feel anything but pain. Darkrai looks at me one last time. He turns to Cylus. His hands glow again.

"Ah. You think you can beat me? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You are mine at last. There is no escape."

I can't see anything but the white smoke like thing coming from Darkrai's head. One last thing I can do. Forgive me, Umbreon. I pull Umbreon's Pokéball from my belt and let him out.

My vision goes completely black. I feel my heart pump one more time then-