Movie Poster: art/Viktory-Movie-Poster-616253727


- Part one: The Final Mission -


It had been two days since Lugia died. They buried him at the island where Ho-oh and Lugia grew up, and told its location to no one. When Palkia contacted Arceus with the bad news, the divine legendary had specific instructions for them:

They are to report that Lugia had died of an unknown disease created by Cipher. They are not to mention what Lugia had nearly become, or of his relation to the destroyed Mossdeep. He was to be remembered as a hero, not the destroyer.

Everything for reputation after all.

It was, as Arceus put it, a necessary lie. Faith had to be in the Legendary Council to do good, and if anyone knew that one of their members had gone rogue or destroyed an entire city without mercy, that faith might be lost. In a time where Absolix was active and Kurades was revived, Arceus needed all the power she could get to stand a chance in the inevitable war.

Even Cresselia was to follow these orders. When she told the rest of Calestia, she lied about Lugia's affliction. She did not lie about him being a hero. She wept, and was comforted by her friends. Ho-oh and Palkia had vanished to hold a silent funeral for the black swan, who died still a monster.

Cresselia had been silent for twenty four hours, grieving over the loss of her idol and savior. During this time the other members of Calestia noticed some strange things going on. One, Darkrai never reported back on the status of the shadow crystal. Barlow, Elaine and Ollie were sent to investigate. The second was that Team Nova had disappeared completely. No one knew where they were. It was impossible to find out because of the third thing that was strange: there was no spatial network connecting them.

In other words, there was no way to communicate to Arceus. Worse, every phone call to there never went through. Mewtwo was off the map. In the span of twenty four hours, Calestia realized that they were alone.

But of course, that wasn't the end of it. No, there had to be one more piece of bad news: when Barlow and the others got back from their trip, they found that the entire Chroma Ruins had been destroyed by a great battle. The shadow crystal, as well as Darkrai and Victini, were nowhere in sight.

"How can that be!?" Gallade asked out loud when he heard the news "First Mewtwo, now Darkrai and Victini…!"

"And we can't contact Arceus…" said Malispite in a low voice "I don't like this…"

"Well it's clear what is happening." Mercifond provided some reason, "Someone is trying to isolate us and pick us off one by one."

"Well they've succeeded." Malispite grumbled "Question is, who and why?"

Silence. They all knew the answer to the first part: team Dim Sun. Despite being in Almia for over a month, they had yet to locate Dim Sun's base of operations or its leader. Sure, they had stopped a mission or two of theirs but it was painfully obvious that they were still out there, waiting to strike.

"So then…" Gallade brought up the elephant in the room "is it safe to assume that Darkrai's been captured, along with the other disappeared pokémon?"

"He would never-!" Gardevoir began, but stopped herself. Malispite shuffled his wings: he also thought that Darkrai wouldn't be captured. Even if he did, he'd spend all of his time trying to break out.

"But…" the white bat pointed out "what if… he was captured by mind control?"

Indeed, Mercifond had a point. Dim Sun had already been shown to wield advanced mind controlling technology; Gardevoir had been a subject of this. She remembered what it was like being under the influence: it was as if your mind was a blank slate, and any kind of command would make you move. Was it possible that Darkrai…?

"Cresselia's still out of it…" frowned Gallade, interrupting Gardevoir's train of thought. They weren't in a good position with their leader out of commission "Gliscor, why don't you go and cheer-"

Gallade stopped himself. He bowed his head in shame, for he was talking to empty air. With a depressed look in her eyes, Gardevoir realized that this was all they had left: just the four of them. Calestia had been reduced to half its size in the span of a month. Four members still on the team, one traumatized, one in another country, one missing and one gone rogue. The bleak emotion that was despair flickered in their eyes.

Then the video phone rang. There was a questioning look in Calestia's eyes because this was supposed to be a private room. Also, the phone was turned off; it was unplugged earlier to allow them complete silence.

There was a second pause as it rang again. Hesitantly, the chosen one walked over and answered it "H-Hello?" she asked hesitantly.

"Hey there hotstuff."

Mercifond slammed the phone on the receiver, then tore it from the wall and smashed it into smithereens with several light type attacks. Seeing her teammates looking at her in shock, the white bat clarified:

"It was him! You know, that annoying Anarch-whatever!" Mercifond growled, referring to the chaotic steel type. Malispite tensed up "did he hit on you again!?"

And then the phone rang again. Despite the phone being torn in half, the video screen into pieces and the various electronics smashed and crushed… it was still ringing.

This would have made for a nice horror plot had they not known who was calling.

"Well if he can do THAT…" Gallade pointed, "I suspect he'll keep calling us until we answer." Bravely, the fighting psychic picked up the phone and asked who it was.

"Hey there hotstuff." said Anarchaoss' voice on the other end.

"This is Gallade." the green psychic clarified.

"I know."

A pause.

"…um…"

"I come in peace." said the steely voice of Anarchaoss "I have good news! Kairi has done what is needed to be done! So now I'll give her back!"

A swirling portal opened up in space-time, and Kairi was flung out of it, landing with a thunk and yelling "Who's there, where am I!?" in a human language.

"Also it is very important that you remember what I say next, the fate of Almia will depend on it." Anarchaoss said in a serious voice to Gallade

"42."

He hung up.


Giga was afraid because last night while he was dreaming, Darkrai was not normal. Yes, the 10,000 year old deity could communicate with Darkrai while he slept, and what he saw wasn't good. Darkrai was dreaming, but that was it: there was nothing else, and the nothingness that had filled Darkrai's heart had scared him.

The great mountainous legendary stomped over to the rest of Neo Genesis and desperately tried to communicate his wishes.

"BRDRDRDRBDRDBDRDRDRDR!" spoke the white titan.

"Oh?" Salamantra frowned.

"BRDRDR. BRDRDRDRDRDRDR!"

"Is that right?" Brillareby asked.

"BRDRDRDRD RDRDRDRDBD RDRDR!"

"Uh, yeah, um, okay!" said Yumi.

"You all have no idea what he's saying do you?" the grey colored Inori pointed out. The others shook their head- Giga's strange language made no sense to them. Only Absolix was able to translate, and he was still in his room trying to perfect his 'ultimate move'. Giga began to get frustrated, when a spout of water came from one of the doors of the mansion. Mewthree clutched the bar of soap within her hands in a vicious manner.

"You will submit!" she slammed it on the ground furiously. The bar of soap did not get back up. Mewthree huffed, then regained her composure, dusting herself off "That's more like it."

"Did you do the toilet-sans yet?" Salamantra asked her at a distance.

"Yeah! We need those done asshole!" Yami yelled to Mewthree, while her brown partner apologized. The pink psycat narrowed her eyes "I'm about to. But that's beside the point- why do I even need to do the toilets!? Pokémon don't excrete waste!"

"Well that would obvious Mewthree-chan." replied the fire salamander, "Because Absolix needed something for you to clean."

Mewthree wanted to rip her own fur out, along with Absolix's skull "Are you seriously telling me… that the only reason he bought AND installed toilets into the mansion…"

"Was to train you, yes." Inori said in his wispy voice "Now unless you can understand this guy-" he pointed to Giga "- then get back to your training. We need all the members we can get."

"Or at the very least, shut up and be a good meat shield." snarked Yami.

"BRDRDRBRDRDRDRDR!" Giga was growing impatient, stomping on the ground and causing the whole ground to nearly collapse. Mewthree stared at him intently. Then, she smirked.

"He wants to get out of this city."

A pause. Slowly, many pairs of eyes turned to Mewthree. Yumi spoke first: "You can understand him?"

"BRDRDR!?"

"Yes." said Mewthree, realizing she had finally gained some leverage from the members of Neo Genesis. Finally, a shrivel of respect from the hardened crew of the world's most dangerous beings. She let the pride sink in.

"…Then please, translate." Inori left the floor to the psycat. Mewthree listened as the regigigas spoke to her in a booming voice filled with BR's and DR's and not much else. When he was done, Mewthree understood. She flicked her tail in enjoyment of the moment.

"He says that he thinks Darkrai is in danger." Mewthree relayed to the other members "He wants Inori to teleport him to Destiny City."

"Destiny…" Inori frowned. Salamantra, in his Japanese accent, told Giga that going to Destiny alone was far too dangerous. Especially since they would be risking their lives for an unimportant individual. With Mewthree as the translator, Giga explained that Darkrai was important to him. The dark type was one of the first pokémon to realize that Giga wasn't the monster everyone made him out to be- along with Absolix.

The rest of the members shuffled their feet. Truth be told, they were still a little afraid of Giga.

If Darkrai was in danger, explained Giga, then the ancient titan would do everything in his power to save him. They found this admirable, but raised an important question: how did Giga know where Darkrai was? He might still be in Almia for all they knew, and Almia was a large country. But before Giga could protest further, the main doors slammed open.

"What's all this about? A party without me?" it was Absolix, who was breathing heavily and covered bruises. He was shaking, and almost looked like he was about to collapse.

"Absolix-sama!" Salamantra rushed to his master's aid, catching him before he fell.

"What… happened to you!?" questioned the pink butterfly Brillareby. Absolix gave his usual mystifying smile. He told them all that he was perfecting his ultimate move. His grand design from many months of training would result in an attack so strong that it could take down Arceus in one hit. Unfortunately, he was failing at the execution.

"The tricky part is setting it up." added the fallen angel "But once it gets set up… then hypothetically, there will be no defense against it and it should take out literally any opponent, no matter who it may be. I'll get back to working on it in a moment, in the meantime I still need a name for it…"

"Ooh ooh me!" an excited blue cat popped out of nowhere and jumped up and down "Um, um! Ultimate, um, Light Attack! Of, of Destruction!"

"I'll think it over." smiled the fallen angel "Now then, what is all of this about?"

"BRDRDRDRDR!" Giga shouted. Absolix closed his mouth and contemplated. So, Darkrai was in danger was he?

"And you wish to help him?"

"BRDRDR."

"Then I refuse your request." Absolix smiled. Giga began to get angry, the other members could feel his power level rising and stepped back. Absolix remained as calm as ever. "Oh don't be like that, please hear me out.

Did I not tell you that I've made Darkrai my sworn enemy?"

The rest of Neo Genesis took this news with unfavorable reactions. Absolix was the strongest creature alive, so why on Earth would he take a no-named nobody as his sworn enemy?

"I have my reasons." shrugged the light type "Which brings me to my point: Giga, Darkrai is my sworn enemy. However if Darkrai can't sort out his petty problems by himself, then he has no right to be called as such."

Giga's power level started to drop down, a sign that he was less angry "I know that you care for him, but understand my wishes: whatever danger you believe him to be in, he must work it out himself. You too wish to fight him yes? How can he grow stronger if you save him time and time again?"

Giga's eyes flashed, signaling he was thinking "…BRDRDRDR. BRBRBRDRDRBR."

"I highly doubt the man I've chosen to be my sworn enemy would die so easily." answered Absolix. Mewthree gazed at the fallen angel- he was really taking this seriously. Then again, she partially knew why: The last time she saw Darkrai, he had resurrected himself from the dead and destroyed Xeno without even trying. Then, he even challenged Absolix to a battle and managed to not die somehow.

The man had admirable qualities, even if he was stupid and reckless. The rest of Neo Genesis silently believed that Absolix was mistaken, and when their 'climactic' final duel took place, their leader would be wallowing in disappointment. Mewthree… no longer knew what to think about the so called prince of darkness. Other than he was a role model for her own goal: to defeat Mewtwo.

Giga on the other hand, had finally made up his mind. He had decided that Absolix was correct, that his friend must grow stronger to stand a chance at beating Giga. Thus, the titan sat back down, he would stay in Neo Genesis. However, he wanted Inori to make a mini portal to Earth, locate Darkrai, and give Giga a visual just in case.

"That seems reasonable enough." smiled Absolix "Inori?"

"Give me some time to find him…" said the ghost type. Inori clasped his hands and began to work his interdimensional powers. Mewthree stood aside and was about to pick up the bar of soap but was stopped by Absolix.

"We need to talk. About… Xeno." said the fallen angel seriously, a fake smile plastered to fool the rest of Neo Genesis.

Mewthree viciously shook her hand away and levitated away with speed. She grabbed the bar of soap and flew into the quarters, stopping herself from vomiting. The pink psycat held it in and walked through the quarters. They had nothing to talk about- nothing!

Mewthree was fine. The sickness she felt in her stomach was just a painful memory. Xeno still loved her. He had to. He must.

He must.

If he didn't, then Mewthree knew she would break.

Absolix watched her trip a few times from a distance. Giovanni had done an incredibly good job at brainwashing his apprentice. Absolix sighed, and saw that he may have to do this the hard way.

"Absolix-sama, I am concerned with Mewthree-chan's mental state." Salamantra was next to him in a flash of red "I already know about Xeno-teme, and what he did… and what he means to her."

Absolix looked at him and the lizard continued "I believe she is unstable due to Giovanni-teme's actions. We should rectify this as soon as possible, or else Mewthree-san might never recover."

Absolix chuckled just a tiny bit, a new idea forming "Oh? That's strange, as I recall about four months ago you said she was just a useless pokémon who would be better off away."

Salamantra flinched at Absolix's teasing but he continued "No, no, I understand my friend: it isn't that you are concerned about her, it's just that you don't want unknown factors now that we are approaching the crucial moment… right?"

The fire lizard nodded his head a little too eagerly. Absolix thought for a bit.

"Well then perhaps you can do us both a favor." Absolix began to walk away "She needs to finish her training, and for psychic types the mind is everything. Perhaps you, the man who knows more than a thousand seals, could teach her patience and how to regain herself."

"Understood, Absolix-sama. I will do as you wish." bowed the fire type. Absolix waved his hand "Only if you wish." the fallen angel added. Salamantra followed Mewthree to her quarters. Absolix gave a smiled, wishing the best for the both of them. He went back to his own room, where all his other personalities were waiting for him.

"Let's continue."


"Kairi!" Mercifond hugged the human. The ranger was still dazed but she knew the embrace of relief, and so she held back. The rest of Calestia smiled warmly, Gallade and Gardevoir took their turns to hug their friend while Malispite hung back, simply smirking.

"Wait a minute-" Kairi became worried "Where's Ruby!?"

Another portal in space-time opened up and out fell Ruby the shiny gardevoir. A post-it note was taped to her head: 'Whoops, almost forgot about her! Excelsior!'- Anarchaoss

PS: At the edge of the universe there is a green slime thing. It wonders if it can have breakfast yet. Little does it no there IS NO edge to the universe!

More hugs to Ruby this time, although suspiciously when she got to Gallade the girl refused to let go. With some persuasion they pried her off of him and set down to work.

"What happened in Oblivia!?" was the first question. Kairi took a deep breath and relayed her story. They didn't understand a word she said. Then she got a new Styler because her broken one couldn't interpret human to pokémon and retold it in an abridged fashion.

"Basically, a bunch of lame guys were working for more lame guys who used a super weapon because they were old and forgot things, so I killed a demonic stunfisk and won. Then Mary Tzu got pissed because I did that and attacked me, but I defeated her with my and Ruby's mind." Kairi breathed out. They stared at her.

"Can you explain that in a way that makes more sense?" Gallade raised his hand "Also, good job. I knew humans had brain powers."

"We don't have time for a more details!" Gardevoir suddenly said "Darkrai is in danger! And others too!" she finished.

The four of them explained the situation in Almia: how Team Dim Sun also used mind control, how they powered their devices with dark shards and the effects of the devices. They told Kairi about how there were three luminous crystals and one shadow crystal, which could neutralize each other. They had two, Blake Hall, their trusted companion had the third. The shadow crystal had been taken by Team Dim Sun's mysterious leader.

That was only the start of the bad news: Darkrai, Victini, Team Nova and Mewtwo were missing. Celebi had betrayed them and they had nearly lost their lives to Xeno, an abomination created by Team Rocket. Cresselia was a wreck thanks to Lugia dying, and communications with the Hall of Origin and the outside world in general seemed to have ceased.

"That's why we didn't call you." Mercifond said "No phones work…"

"We're short on friends then…" Kairi was finally brought up to speed "….there might be another person we can call. But that all depends on whether or not he shows up…"

Mitsurashi Zero, the most feared human in the world. His strength was legendary, and thanks to his co-training with Darkrai he was even stronger than when they fought him last. It wasn't a bad guess to say that Zero was the strongest among them right now, save maybe Malispite.

The problem was, Zero was a villain. Even now they had an uneasy truce with him. He showed up and defeated the mind controlled Gardevoir and Regice just because he was bored. All of them knew Zero would not act for the greater good… but he might act for the greater fun.

"I might be able to find a way." said Kairi. If only she knew where Zero was. A knock on the door got their attention. To their surprise, it wasn't one of the Rangers, but rather, Cresselia. She slowly levitated in with her head held low.

All of them held their breaths for Cresselia. They didn't know what she would do at this point; she had lost Lugia and her brother. Latios came in behind her, following at a distance. He was concerned for his girlfriend but did not speak.

She looked hollow, as if a light tap would simply break her apart. Maybe it would. She levitated to the center of the room. All was quiet. Her friends gazed silently at her. They would give her all the time she needed, until she was ready to speak. After five minutes of peaceful silence, Cresselia drew her breath.

"He's dead." she spoke in a low voice "He isn't coming back to me. Ever."

They watched "Lugia was my greatest hero, more than even my mom. He saved me from death- twice- and taught me so much in the few years I had known him.

I… he died a hero. He died trying to save his brother." Cresselia breathed.

Silence. Then "I'm scared. Zoroark is still out there and Lugia isn't… I've lost him and I want to curl up into a ball and cry. My weakness is making me feel sick inside…"

Malispite was about to protest that what Cresselia had wasn't even close to weakness, but his sister held him back. There was more.

"Despite this I have to keep going. My own little brother is out there somewhere, probably captured by Dim Sun. Pokémon are missing and it was my original duty to keep them safe. I failed in doing so. So now I will do that which Lugia always told me:

Never give up.

I may not be suitable to lead now… or even at all…" the lunar swan paused, reflecting upon herself "but I'm getting Darkrai back. I'm going to save this country. I will… I will prove myself to my mother. To Lugia. His death will not be in vain, where he fell I will take his place!"

She shouted that last part, then quieted down "I understand if you don't want to follow me any longer. Just please…. remain by my side. That is all I ask."

She was embraced by many bodies in all directions. Latios, who came in with her, gave her a quick peck on the cheek and held her after that. Surrounded by the warmth of her friends was enough to make tears come from her eyes.

"We are here to serve, my liege." smiled Gallade.

"Tell us what we need to do." Gardevoir was determined.

"I'll be here until you leave, and when you get back." reassured Latios.

"That was a beautiful speech." a new voice said. It was Lucario, picked up by the bat twins and now in the ranger base. Originally he was just going to hang out with his secret girlfriend, but Cresselia had made him change his mind. He was moved "I too, will do what I can."

"Everyone…" sniveled the lunar swan at their support "We're going to get them all back okay!? Darkrai, Mewtwo, Gliscor… everyone!"

Cheers erupted from Calestia. The once small room was now packed to the brim with friends, all whom had their spirits lifted. As tears of joy and sadness were passed from one creature to the next, an invisible face carefully peered into the room. It was a grey ghost, with a yellow antennae and a single red eye, observing the group.

Though he did not have a mouth, he smiled. The man nodded once, then vanished.

Finally, it was time.


Crawford, Luana, their new companion Ollie and Elaine sat in the ranger base waiting for Calestia's next move. As much as they hated to admit it, the two of them couldn't handle this whole mess alone.

Team Dim Sun had to have captured the shadow crystal. They also probably had Darkrai, the guy who took down Zero single handedly. No one knew where their base was, no one knew what they would do with such a grossly huge power.

As such, precautions had to be taken. Next to them were the two luminous crystals; when all three got together the shadow crystals power could be cancelled. The dark haired Luana was on the phone trying to get in contact with their friend Blake Hall, the one who had the last.

She was not having luck, each urgent call went straight to his automatic voice messenger.

'We're sorry, but Mr. Hall is not available at the moment. Please hang up and try again later. Also, please note that Mr. Hall is definitely not a bad guy, and his newly constructed Altru Tower, opening soon, is most certainly not a giant mind control device. At all. Thank you'

That was the fifth time the message played. They needed that last crystal badly. Also… how come all the phones didn't work except when calling Altru Tower? It was odd.

Luana pondered this and had no answer. She stared at Ollie and Elaine, flirting with each other as usual while laying out plans for a new invention. Their lovey-dovey happy attitude was getting irksome.

"Now is not the time for making out! Or worse!" shouted Luana at them. No, they were in an emergency situation and needed to be on guard. Anything could happen now.

Anything.

SLAM!

"TROUBLE!"

"AAGGHH!"

Professor Hastings barged into their building unexpectedly waving around old papers. Luna and Crawford were so shocked they attacked the professor with their Stylers and had him tied up with energy ropes.

"What was that?" they heard Kairi say. Hastings dusted himself off and began raving again as the rest of Calestia walked in. Crawford quickly turned on his Styler's communicator function to let the pokémon in on the conversation.

When Professor Hastings finally calmed down enough to speak, he bore horrible news: "There's trouble! Major trouble!"

"What is it professor?" Crawford shook the man up.

"Do you all remember that diary you found at the Chroma Ruins!?"

No one ever remembered finding any diaries.

"Well I've finally deciphered it!" the professor continued, "And what it says may spell our doom!"

"Professor… uh…" Cresselia began "We… we never found anything like that at the Chroma ruins…"

The white haired man widened his eyes, looking at the torn diary in his hands "Then if you didn't find it… how did I get this…?" he questioned. There were a couple blinks before everyone realized the truth: the diary was horribly written plot device.

"…read it…" sighed most of Calestia, used to these by now. The professor flipped open the diary, where they saw the first piece of information: its author.

"It was written by Brighton Hall." frowned Hastings. Crawford and Luana realized that this was Blake Hall's father. Hasting's continued:

"July third, year 20XX. I hate using letters instead of numbers to write the dates. As previously written, the hole that my father found contains a path to a previously undiscovered ruins. I will investigate this.

July tenth, year 20XX. The immense cavern discovered was filled with dark shards- crystals that have absorbed negative emotions and now contain power. These glowing rocks may be key to unlocking humanities future.

July twelfth, year 20XX. After playing Final Fantasy and researching Green Lantern comics, I have concluded that these dark shards can be used for good. Therefore I am having my son, Blake, ingest twenty of the smaller rocks per day. From what I have gathered, he will one day become a superhero. Yay!

Everyone had their jaws open.

"January fifth, year 20XY. More good news, I have discovered that there is a gigantic dark shard in the cavern, named the shadow crystal. It was filled with ancient warnings not to go near it or else your soul would be corrupted. Naturally I sent Blake Hall down there in the dark alone with the crystal, since after a year he has shown no signs of superpowers. Maybe the shadow crystal will stir something in him. I'll let him out in a couple of days.

March twenty eighth, year 20XY. Shit! I forgot my son was still inside the cavern! I'M COMING!

March thirty first, year 20XY. Good news, Blake was fine. He seems to be a little emo and rants about world domination, but that just means he's developing superpowers, or at least superhuman abilities. Also my wife left me after leaving my son in there for a couple months. So tonight, I'm hiring some hookers. Peace out!"

"This man is a horrible father…!" Gallade finally blurted out. Everyone agreed with him. Hasting's continued:

"March thirty third year 20xxxxxxxx im so drinkrite now I had a beer and then a vokda and then another ber and then another and thernnnnn annnd then im happy gbye"

"Wait, what did that have to do this situation?" questioned Mercifond.

"Nothing, I just found that part funny." Hastings snickered, "HERE is the part you must pay attention to…"

"December 31, year 20XY. I think I have made a terrible mistake. It seems as though all of the dark shards and exposure to the shadow crystal has turned Blake evil. Who would have thought? He is now making plans to kill me in my sleep. He's already slashed two of my hookers. Don't know what to do.

January 9, year 20XYZ. I tried getting Blake into therapy. Didn't work.

February 18, year 20XYZ. I have a foolproof plan! I will turn Blake over to the company as its new CEO. With all of the responsibility on his shoulders, he should be able to wizen up and turn into a respectable authority figure, free from evil.

February 19, year 20XYZ. He kicked me out and now plans to use my Altru incorporated to rule the world! Who could have imagined!? Please, someone stop Blake Hall! And if anyone has a luminous crystal, never ever give it to him!"

"The diary stops there." Hastings closed his eyes "And now you see what we're up against…"

"Horrible parenting?" someone asked.

"Yes. But also Blake Hall. He has taken a luminous crystal and the shadow crystal. It is unknown what he'll do with it…"

"What if he had a giant mind control device?" suggested Elaine the mechanic, "Like the Gigaremo's™ we found, except bigger?"

"The shadow crystal's power is immense." Hastings frowned "In order to contain that much negative energy, it would have to be in a container approximately the size of a tall building."

There was a pause as his words sunk in. Tomorrow, Altru Inc. © would celebrate its fiftieth anniversary by finally completing Altru Tower, the symbol of peace and goodwill. Also it was a really tall building. Blueprints in it revealed a shadow crystal sized hole where one would normally put in a generator.

"He's going to use Altru Tower© as a giant conduit for his mind control technology!" screamed Hastings "Right under our noses too! With that thing, he could easily bring all of Almia under his spell!"

"And after that, he could take over the neighboring regions with ease!" said Anarchaoss, "He has to be stopped!"

A pause in the room.

"Wait… who are you?" asked the afro'd Crawford.

"I am Anarchaoss." explained the steel type "All yor base are belong to me probably.

"OH SH*T NOT THIS GUY!" the entirety of Calestia screamed. Quickly all available members tried to beat up the guy, but Anarchaoss dodged all their attacks with his multiple joined limbs, laughing and shouting random words.

"I just remembered how I got the diary." said the professor, "HE gave it to me."

"…HE gave that to you?" said Cresselia suspiciously. The steel type merely grinned. Cresselia looked at him again "What are you doing here? Why are you helping us?"

"PART SIX."

And then he teleported away.

"…what the hell!? Part six!? What does that even mean?" Mercifond, as well as the others, were continually frustrated at Anarchaoss's cryptic messages and general random demeanor. On the other hand, they hardly hide time to worry about what he was planning- they had a tower to invade.

Cresselia, wasting no time, told them that Calestia was going to storm the building immediately and catch them by surprise. However, Kairi pointed out that this would be a horrible idea: because if Blake Hall activated the tower, or even a couple Gigaremos™, then the members of Calestia would be helpless.

"We can't just send pokémon to fight a guy whose power is that he can control them…" Kairi had a point. Ruby agreed- it would be like if she decided to fight a water type in the ocean. The odds would be so stacked against her that there would be no way to win.

"Ruby you're not…" Gallade began, but stopped himself "Okay yes I see your point. But we can't stay here and do nothing! We need a way to fight!"

"Gallade has a point, the clock is ticking." Cresselia thought carefully "When should the tower become active?"

"If their flyer is of any indication…" said Crawford, reading that it would be activated at midnight "Then 12:00 tonight. Until then they'll probably need to wire it in or something."

With the deadline appearing to be midnight, they still had around 11 hours to stop Blake. Yet the question remained: how would Calestia, their most powerful unit, operate under conditions that would brainwash them?

As everyone thought of a solution, there was a sudden rumbling in the air. As if a mini earthquake had passed through, everyone and everything was shaken for a split second before it was over.

"What… was that?" asked Brighton Hall fearfully.

"I think that was a test run…!" Malispite deduced "Anyone else suddenly feel the need to not fight Blake anymore?"

All the pokémon in the room raised their hand. Hastings realized what was going on "They're mocking us… this test run was just to prove to us our utter helplessness! Dim Sun thinks we have no way to win!"


MEANWHILE IN ALTRU TOWER ©

"Dude, what are you doing!?" Ice asked Lavanna, who had accidentally turned on the Altru tower, which was still incomplete.

"Sorry!" the pink haired woman held her hands up. She pointed to a giant red button "I thought this was the button to make coffee!"

"No, THAT'S the button to make coffee!" said Ice, pointing to an identical giant red button right next to original. At this, Lavanna frowned.

"Seriously? Who made the buttons the exact same and put them next to each other!?"

"IT WAS MEEEEEEEEEEE!" said a new figure, Mr. Kincaid of team Dim Sun. He had survived the boat and barely managed to get away back to the base "I did that to be EVILLL!"

"We get it. You're evil. Go bug someone else." muttered the blue haired man.

"Okay then! Off to Blake Hall I go!"


"Those bastards are underestimating us!" growled Malispite. Gardevoir nodded her head- they would find a way to stop team Dim Sun no matter what. The question was: how?

"Aha!" said Hastings, "I can help somewhat!" the male professor produced a slightly glowing yellow crystal from his pocket "Look here! This is a luminous crystal shard, just like the dark shards used to power Gigaremo's™! Wear these, and you'll be immune to the shadow crystal's effects!"

"Awesome! How many of those do you have?" asked Kairi.

"I only have one…" cried Hastings, realizing "It took me weeks to store up enough happiness in this crystal to make it work…"

"That's… a problem…" Gardevoir said quietly "Now what do we do…?"

"You leave that… to us." said Elaine, holding her boyfriend Ollie's hand "We'll make more crystal shards for you all to wear."

"How?" questioned everyone. Ollie and Elaine explained that they had arrived at a conclusion: crystals that could absorb emotions could absorb any sort of emotion in their basal state. They figured that if they harvested enough dark shards and were extraordinarily happy around them, that they would turn into luminous shards instead.

Sure enough, their hypothesis was correct. They reached into their bedroom, and pulled out three sparkling luminous shards.

"Whoa!" Luana was mesmerized "But, how did you make that many in such a short time!?"

"We put the dark shards beside our bed and had sex a lot."

"YOU DID WHAT!?" Kairi and a few others flushed. The pokémon were confused.

"Hey, it's called 'making love' for a reason." Ollie was offended, squeezing his girlfriend's hand "…the point is, we now have three luminous shards, and we can make more before it's go time."

"Give or take." Elaine smiled lustfully.

Hastings felt a sweatdrop go down his face "Well… Erhem! I suppose that can work. Although I should warn you, Calestia, that though these emotions are positive, they will still convey the emotion most used when the crystal formed.

So if any of you feel super horny after wearing them, that would be the reason why."

"Alright…" Cresselia blushed "Well… okay then. Calestia! We wait some more time until we have enough shards for all of us… even you, Lucario." she nodded in his direction and he returned the gesture "The plan we have is simple: we invade the tower with everything we've got. We cause as much havoc as possible, damage the tower to make it unoperational, and search for Darkrai, wherever he may be…"

Cresselia cleared her throat "I have spoken to Deoxys already, but it is best for her to remain here and find Mewtwo, just in case. If she finds Mewtwo or cannot find him in a reasonable time, she'll go to the tower and assist us. Considering her vast shape shifting abilities, we could have an edge at infiltration.

I still don't know where Team Nova and Victini are, but they can handle themselves I'm sure. Lucario, please stay here and defend the base against a sneak attack. So on that note, we will raid Blake Hall's masterpiece soon enough!"

"We shall call it: Operation Brighton!" said Hastings enthusiastically. Everyone stared at him.

"Why should we name it after the guy who caused this horrible mess in the first place?"

"Uh… I was actually going for a pun of 'Brighten'… but good point. Well then what should the operation be called?" the professor wondered. Everyone began to think for a moment.

"Well since we're going with puns… how about 'Viktory'?" Lucario wondered.

TITLE DROP!

As much as they hated to use a phrase created by the author, they couldn't come up with anything better. So Viktory it was.

Cresselia spoke up "Then in a couple hours we shall execute Operation: Viktory! And nothing will stop us!"

The humans cheered, but the pokémon of Calestia sighed with annoyance and swayed their heads in disappointment. The mood turned sullen.

"What?" asked Hastings "What's wrong?"

"Wait for it." Mercifond simply mumbled.

Sure enough, the video screen pulled up beside them where a scene of carnage and a bloodied ranger met them: "THE RANGER HEADQUARTERS IS UNDER ATTACK!"

Everyone turned their gaze at Cresselia, who smiled sheepishly.