PROLOGUE

The wind blew through the plain, as the red skies surrounded it. On the back, barely managing to hide the sun, was the brightest tonality, a scarlet tone that surpassed the previous sightings any of the people who were in the surroundings. At the front, similarly, shone a dark crimson, darker than even blood and that seemed to stain the skies with its darkness. On the ground, now a wasteland, one of the humans struggled to stand up, his clothes looking very worn and spent. There were several visible wounds in his body, but he ignored them, as he had to stand up. His black hair was messed up, as if a comb had decided to give way to several hands, and his green eyes were staring at their target with intensity, almost wishing they could stop this all from happening. The six Pokéballs he had were on the ground, wasted – not that it mattered, seeing as how his other Pokémon were knocked out and the two he had left were already released.

Oh, hi there. Fancy meeting you, I guess… but you got me in a bad time.

See, right now, I'm currently facing off against the world's most powerful criminal, with a true-to-form Shadow Legendary under his command, the kind that makes you scream and cry in fear because of the sheer horror it brings, I think. I don't know what I'm supposed to do, since I only found out that this kind of thing existed five seconds ago.

In front of him, staring down at him and, by default, his Pokémon, was a monstrosity, at least twice his size and looking particularly menacing, what with the multiple eyes, the pure white fur that seemed to move in abnormal ways, the golden eye in the center of its forehead and that looked even larger than the others, the four shining protuberances that looked so off, and even the tail, shaped so much like its head it wasn't funny… the only thing that made it worse, though he had no way of knowing it himself, was the dark aura that surrounded it; an aura that indicated it was a Shadow Pokémon… but this was far stronger than any other, enough to have corrupted even the ground itself and reaching far beyond the others.

I'm Chad, by the way. The guy with the black hair and wearing those 'bland' clothes, according to what the latest fashions probably state or what-not. The guy who is standing in front of the Shadow Legendary – or would that be 'Primal Legendary'? I don't know – and who is giving it the only opposition the world can muster right now.

Yeah, I know. I really wish it wasn't me, either. It's a long story.

Lying behind him was a girl, currently knocked down and with her eyes closed. She didn't seem to be seriously wounded, at least not as much as her companion, but she was still barely breathing and there were a few scars visible on her body; mostly on her arms and face, given how her white dress obscured the rest of it from sight. The position seemed to indicate that she had been flung back by the Pokémon's attack, to any observers.

That girl, who's lying over there? She's the Psychic who got me into this mess. Yeah, Psychic; she's not really fully human. You probably guessed it from her appearance, though. Unfortunately, as much as I want to blame her, I have no time to think of any complaints to make, because I'm more busy trying to keep myself from fainting on the spot like her. Guess so much Shadow Energy makes Psychics sick, or it's probably just her connection to a Legendary. I don't know.

Her name's Katherine. I think it could be worse.

Ahead of him, behind the Shadow Legendary, was a young man, looking the least out-of-place in this situation. He was clad in black armor, with spikes protruding from the shoulder pads, his right gauntlet, kneepads, and other locations, though now much of it was broken. His skin was blood red, as were his eyes, and it crackled violently and painfully; even his hair looked odd, being pure silver. He also wore a blue cape, somewhat tattered, and his left arm had a special armoring of its own, a golden and silver gauntlet that reached from his shoulder to his hand, with various cables connected to the rest of his outfit. He didn't have any Pokéballs with him, but he didn't seem to need them.

And finally, you're probably wondering who the guy behind the Shadow slash Primal Legendary is. Besides the aforementioned 'world's most powerful criminal' and all. He's 'Empty', a pretty stupid piece of work who decided that the name his parents gave him was nowhere fitting for a criminal and gave himself that. And the cape and armor and other impressive pieces of clothing he's wearing.

The red eyes, silver hair, and burning skin are the Shadow Energy's fault, though.

After a few seconds, the younger man had stood up fully, and he was glaring at the man in front of him. He didn't speak, because speaking wasn't going to help him out at all, and he just had to think of something he could do – if that was even possible; his mind simply couldn't think of enough ideas at the moment that didn't involve a painful ending as corpse plaster. The fact that this was made worse by the Shadow Legendary's continuously looming stare over him made him feel even more worried… but still, he couldn't bring himself to just walk away, right now. Nevermind the fact that there probably was nowhere he could go to; he still felt like he couldn't leave his opponent.

As for why I'm here, waiting for my imminent death, and only standing here for who-knows-what reason? Well, like I said, that's a long story. I could tell you all about it, but frankly, I don't have the mental powers to tell people the last fifteen years of my life, especially since I am kind of unsure how I managed to do this. Most likely I'm only telling you the basics; who I am, how I met Katherine and 'Empty' (okay, not really), why I found out about Shadow Energy, and how I got in this place.

The red-eyed man raised his left arm, pointing it at the younger man. Many more spikes had erupted from the gauntlet, and he had what essentially was a murder weapon without even breaking his stride. It wasn't enough, however; he was working something up, energy flowing down the cables all the way to his hand, powering up a separate piece of machinery, which eventually generated a sphere placed in his hands. This sphere was transparent like glass, at first completely empty and devoid of any contents, but it was soon filled with the energy being transferred by the gauntlet.

But well… you see that on his arm? That special thing that's full of spikes and that is probably the ugliest thing in the world, after the Shadow slash Primal Legendary?

As he reared back, the black-haired man stared at his hand, realizing what it was as it glistened in the scarlet light. It was dark, darker than anything else, and so thick even he could see it, right now. Still, he couldn't do anything to stop him, right now; the fact remained that he was unable to get past the Shadow Legendary on his own, much less with his few remaining Pokémon, and his chances had decreased even more than before. Fear gripped him treacherously, and he almost closed his eyes, giving up… but still, he refused to, consciously or not. All he did was stare at him, his mind racing, searching his countless strategies to find out something, anything, at all, that could help him out…

That's a Snag Machine.

The armored man threw the sphere at his Pokémon, the energy being transferred as soon as it made contact. After one second, the energy began to flicker and grow in intensity, before the several eyes turned pure red, becoming even more soulless than they originally had been. The golden eye gained a crimson iris, and the ground around him trembled as he readied himself to attack, the protuberances clenching and forming a single shape, before starting to spin.

He had no choice. It was winning or dying.

He had to fight.

I told you that it was a long story…