(Note: This is a fanfiction based on XD: Gale of Darkness. I guess I should tell you right now that it's highly spinned-off, yet includes the same characters and places from the game. Some characters are OCs, yet only a few are actually important. The plot pretty much twists the events and when they took place throughout the entire thing. Basically, this is the game that I've taken and created my own plot for. I've spent 2 years working on it, thus I hope you enjoy it. If you don't, er... don't read it. Especially if you don't like XD or Colosseum in the first place. Also, if you need more of a summary, check my profile. Actually, I suggest you do that.

I only own my OCs throughout this. Pokemon and related characters belong to Nintendo.)

Part One of Tainted: Reverse

Prologue

"September 15th, Ilex Forest, 7:45, evening..."

The forest was dark and humid, the sun having disappeared in the horizon just minutes ago. Birds fluttered from branch to branch, heading towards their nests for the night. In their place, the sorrowful cries of the bug Pokemon rang out, just now starting their own day in the late hour. The speaker listened to them drowsily, recalling her own words and glancing at the egg beside her. It rested peacefully in the tree's limbs, bending them back with its heavy weight. The egg shuttered lightly, yet enough so to get her moving from her own spot on the branch.

"At it again, eh, Celebi?"

Something plunged down beside her, talons scraping and wings flapping to get a better grip. She didn't even need to turn to realized who it was.

"Indeed," Celebi said. "I've been at it since this morning."

The bird nodded swiftly, drawing its wings against its fluffy body. "Every day, I must fly to search for food and shelter. But even I can find a break every once and awhile." It glanced down at its feet, reluctant to go any further. "You... you work yourself too hard sometimes, you know."

She only laughed, yet her light blue eyes flashed of concealed weariness. "If I were to take breaks, what would this world come to? I am a legend, and I must accomplish my tasks with haste."

"Y-yes!" the bird chirped uneasily. "But you'll wear yourself out one day if you continue on like this!"

"I'm fine," she assured him. "This is the last one for today, anyways. I'll rest afterwards."

Her friend nodded again, relief filling its eyes. "I'll never see how you do it, delivering eggs from future to present. You must be one of the hardest working legends alive."

Tell me about it. "Sometimes we must do things we don't necessarily feel like doing." Celebi began fluttering her tiny wings, and lifted off of the branch, picking up and clutching the egg against her. "It's almost time. I still need to find a place for it... and, thank you for your consideration for me, Claymore."

"Yeah, I guess." It fluffed its feathers proudly. "If you ever need anything, feel free to ask me. Really, don't force too much on yourself, world balance or not."

Celebi nodded her thanks, slowly hovering away into the darkness of the trees. "I'm off then."

"Good luck to you, time traveler."

The bird was out of sight behind the darkened brush in a matter of seconds.

Wind rushing against her, Celebi flew on through the Ilex Forest. The scenery matched perfectly with her skin, creating the perfect camouflage. But there was no worry of predators here. Every Pokemon greatly admired the tiny legend, and would not dare try to attack. Many times, a giant owl Pokemon– Noctowl– would dive in front of her path, carrying a struggling Rattata or Sentret in its piercing talons. And she barely glanced at them. For the world to prosper, one life must always be given up for the sake of another...

The hoots and cries continued to surround her, growing louder every minute. It stirred a new strength in her, pushing her to fly faster, until finally she entered a clearing and slowed. The moon shined directly overhead, casting the area in an eerie white.

Celebi closed her eyes, summoning the stored strength deep within herself. All the while, the Pokemon cries continued... crying out to the moon.

An orb of light suddenly appeared before her, a star in the forest sky. Altogether, the cries vanished. The sight was phenomenal. Around the orb, a water-like reflection glittered, casting around the clearing and up into the trees. Celebi opened her eyes and marveled at the sight. It was so warm and familiar to her, being the only thing that marked her as a legend. Time traveling.

"Control the time..." she murmured to herself. Then raising her voice, "August 20th, Mt. Ember, 12:30, noon!"

The orb blinked a few times, accepting the command, then whirled into a mass of light, blurring out the forest completely. Celebi took a breath, then plunged herself with the egg in hand into the portal of time.

The light disappeared as soon as she had left, leaving the Ilex Forest in darkness once more. The Pokemon slowly took up their cries once again into the night.

The portal was one huge tunnel. All she had to do was reach the end of it, and she was there. Traveling the dimensions in space, it was as simple as that. Celebi could already see the end of it now, a growing dot in the bright tunnel. This wasn't so bad after all. Her strength had seemed to return, and the egg felt lighter than ever before. She looked down at it.

It was a dark red, and warm. Obviously a fire type. Mt. Ember was a perfect place for it, already supporting a ton of the same breed. After she had delivered it, she would head straight for a nice, quiet area. Somewhere where no one would disturb her, and definitely a place with no trainers. The process of being shoved relentlessly into a small, dark capsule was too much to bare.

The end of the tunnel was approaching fast now. She would be through in only a few more minutes. That lovely warm area was sounding really good right now...

The lights suddenly flashed off, at least, that's what Celebi had thought. The bright tunnel had dimmed down into a dark purple, which swirled around her in the previous tunnel's place, out of control. She panicked. What was happening? Nothing like this had ever occurred before!

But the end of the tunnel was still there, shining even brighter in the now-darkened portal. She spend towards it, driven by her own fear. Until it flashed out as well.

Darkness. The warmth of the tunnel was gone, and she couldn't see anything. Where was up? Down?

"D... did I summon it wrong...?!" She shut her eyes and grasped the egg to her body, becoming disoriented from the blackness. If she were to fall while time traveling, she would be lost in the portal forever. Which wouldn't be good. At all.

She felt wind against her, and realized she was falling. Her inspirational strength had vanished, and the weight of the egg was increasing. But perhaps she wasn't falling down. Perhaps she was still flying forward.

This was immediately proved false as something suddenly grabbed her, an invisible hand yanking her undoubtedly downwards. The same darkness. That was all there was. The darkness was pulling her to hell.

"Portal! Why kill me now?!" Celebi struggled against the pull, fear the only thing driving her on. She had just been blissfully flying towards her destination! What was this? A nightmare?

Finally, her fatigue overpowered her fear, and she ceased flying against the dark hands. They yanked her down into the blackness with released strength, yet Celebi never loosened her grip on the egg. Down... down... down into the blackness. She closed her eyes and let her conscience slowly fade away.

A sudden beam of light. She managed to look down, eyes widening as it took her sight completely. Warmth and light returned. The tainted portal of time had vanished completely.

Moments later, the legend was met with a face full of fur. The speeding impact brought her forcefully on what she thought to be a body, and could of sworn she heard it whimper in pain beneath her. She screamed, and pushed it away.

It was indeed a body. A Pokemon's, in fact. It laid motionlessly on its side against the ground, as if never bothered, or maybe dead. Celebi took this chance to observe her new surroundings. It was a large, white room filled with nothing at all besides herself, the body, and...

The egg. It was on the floor, cracked. Celebi could hardly move. It would slowly die, never to hatch.

She had failed.

Taking a shaking breath, Celebi pulled herself up and flew to the ceiling of the white room (which could hardly be called a ceiling, but it was at a far enough distance for her comfort), and gazed down at the scene. The body was a dark spot in the white abyss, the cracked egg laying dully beside it.

This was an afterlife. A domain of a deceased Pokemon. There was no heaven nor hell for them. The afterlife took its place, and served as an eternal paradise filled with memories of the Pokemon's life, excluding the nightmares. But this one was completely empty. It wasn't possible for someone to have such a boring life, was it?

And there was another question on her mind: what happened inside the portal? She had not summoned one leading to an afterlife, nor did she remember something like this ever occurring in history. The portal of time suddenly blackening with darkness, then leading her to the deceased...

I guess I slipped up on the summoning, after all...

The body twitched, causing Celebi's stomach to lurch. Her energy was too low to re-summon the portal now. She knew she'd have to wait at least a few minutes before trying again.

The creature's eyes opened drowsily, blinking a few times. Then, bolting up, glanced widely around. It first examined its body, making a face as if it never knew it had ever possessed one before. Then it noticed the egg. It pressed its nose against the shell, feeling its warmth slowly vanish. So far so good. It hadn't noticed her.

As if to read her mind, the creature look up, and gasped. She could of smacked herself.

"C-Celebi?" it rasped, eyes widening. The legend painfully forced herself to smile.

"Um, yes?"

"You're... you're okay!" Its muzzle opened into a gaping grin, eyes sparkling. "I knew you were! I knew you weren't completely gone!"

Celebi could only blink at the words. "I'm sorry?"

"Yeah, you're right. Who cares!" Its face hardened, replacing the grin. "You have to help us! Just like you did five years ago, right?!"

Five years ago. She thought she'd never hear of it again. "Where did you–?"

"Everyone's given up! Thousands are dead, and–"

"Please, hang on a minute..."

"- ia was only the first! Who knew they'd all be captured? And the person running it isn't even–"

"Excuse me–"

"– You have to come, now! You're the only one that can–!"

This was getting ridiculous. "You're dead!" she shouted, clenching her tiny fists.

The creature froze. She knew it wasn't the best way to go about things, but what else could she do? She had no idea what this creature was talking about in the first place!

The Pokemon began shaking slightly, then in rapid jerks. "D-dead? How can I be...?

Regaining her courage, Celebi spoke once more. "Yes. You see, this is your afterlife. It's suppose to be filled with what you loved most when you were alive, which is why this confuses me..." She trailed off, silenced by the new emotion spreading across the Pokemon's face.

"Dead?!" the creature choked. It began pacing, never blinking once and staring straight through the ground. Celebi could tell it wasn't the kind to be frightened easily. "But I can't be dead!" it sobbed. "I was the only one left! Only one left to protect..." It broke off, looking pitifully back up at Celebi. "Please! Y-you can help! You must!"

"I'm sorry," she said sternly, "but I can't. I'm simply a time traveler. I'm sorry about your friend, but... I really have no idea what you're talking about in the first place." Her strength was back; she could feel it. It was time to finally get out of here.

Celebi took once last look at the egg below, and shuttered. "Now, I'm tired. I just lost something very dear to me. I'm leaving."

She began chanting the summoning, calling forth the orb once more. Hopefully, it wouldn't lead her back in the same place again. The other Pokemon cried out in horror.

"No! You have to help! You were there! You were–"

"No, I wasn't. Now please, leave me alone, and enjoy your home here." If you can even call this a home.

The portal appeared, the same tiny orb appearing and accepting Celebi's commands. It was finally time.

She turned her back towards the creature, pausing suddenly to ponder whether or not she had just heard it gasp in realization. But she pushed it away from her mind, and peered into the portal. Its light had magically returned, the exit sparkling at the end, giving off its familiar warmth... the warmth that promised to spirit her away from here.

"I know who you are!"

(Note: I never liked the prologue, but it must be done. A cliff hanger, sorry. Some people don't like them, but I on the other hand love them. Just push this one out of your mind for now. Reviews are greatly welcomed. Now on to the slow part... the beginning.)