The dark halls of the Team Rocket HQ were everything but cheerful.

Shadows painted the heliotrope walls, its skin trailing down over the tiled floors, bleeding obsidian onto its white marble. Lacking windows where they were obviously needed the large ten-story building was shaded within the towering watch of the encompassing forest, which shrouded the structure in a collage of brown and dark green.

Within this building's pitch black rooms and deserted hallways sat a large office at the top of the structure, which, ironically, sported the only window installed into the brick walls, giving the beings inside a full view of the ebony night, spherical moon and all. And within this room were dozens of men covered in intimidating garments – mere grunts of the Rocket organization, or mainly just the minions of the boss himself, which they showed their loyalty to with no objection whatsoever as they scrambled around the dimly-lit room in the act of following the said man's orders.

The leader of the organization was also in the room, his built face contorted into a frowning mess, sending wrinkles across his pale skin. With his grimy hands stroking the elegant Persian that sat silently beside him, the man only eyed the contents outside via the window he was firmly standing by, not bothering to eye the rushing grunts behind him. It seemed the man was determined about something, his narrowed eyes producing a piercing glare.

Actually, the main reason why this person – the boss of Team Rocket – appeared mesmerized from something came from the fact that a thirty-year-old man stood behind him, arms crossed behind his back as if the said maroon-eyed scientist was the perfect gentleman. With clothes fit for some sort of inventor, this very appearance reflected across the scientist's whole body, making him seem that he didn't belong in such a disturbing place as the HQ for Team Rocket – an evil organization hell-bent on world domination through the powers of controlled Pokemon.

Despite this, though, the man, long silver-colored hair reaching down to his mid-back, slowly stated his plans to the boss of Team Rocket, his strong voice continuing with ease regardless that the boss wasn't shooting a glance at him of any sort. Somehow he knew that the boss was taking his words into mind, though.

"So, Giovanni," he began after his long speech, eyebrow quirked despite that his expression still kept its unimpressed look, "do we have a deal?"

The boss of Team Rocket stayed silent in his position, still not turning to face the man, or the countless number of Rocket grunts that were rushing around behind him, as he eyed the grounds outside with pondering eyes. Eventually, though, Giovanni turned to eye the silver-haired scientist with an emotionless frown. "Are you trying to say that you're supposed technology can help me capture the Legendaries?" His voice was casual and without feeling.

The man nodded, stern expression remaining tight.

Giovanni turned his head slightly so that he eyed the man out of the corner of his eye. "If this is true, and it really can help me, then what would you want in return for it, Mr. Horrifiance?"

The man shifted weight between his shoulders, although his hands still remained locked together behind his back. "The only thing I want is a fair share of the profits."

Giovanni smirked, a devious tone resting among his facial features. "If your said technologies can give me the Legendaries," he then stated, "and the Legendaries can give Team Rocket control of the planet, then I can assure you that the rewards in your favor will be quite worth it."

The scientist nodded, eyes furrowed. "Then, is it a deal?" As if on cue he silently held out his gloved hand, mentally requesting a handshake to seal the unprocessed trade.

Giovanni switched the glance of his dark eyes between the man and his request, obviously pondering on the possible benefits that would come from the man's contribution. Then again, the leader of Team Rocket was still quite antsy on sharing anything gained from the fulfillment of their dream, although, without the man's help, the dream would probably take a lot longer to become reality. Not to mention the man's possible trickery was accounted for as well, despite that Giovanni had only met him and therefore was mentally scolding himself for being too judgmental on the spot.

Eventually, in the end, it was a risk he was willing to take.

However, just to be safe he didn't shake hands with the man, but instead muttered, "I'm not making any deals until you can prove your worth among this mission."

The man narrowed his eyes again, obviously sensing that Giovanni wasn't ready to give him his trust. The man eventually nodded, though, agreeing that a small demonstration of his 'weapons' would help add more confidence to the situation.

With a flick of his hand, Giovanni motioned the man to leave the room and prepare the demo of his technologies, mumbling a goodbye in the wake. But right before 'Mr. Horrifiance' exited through the door he turned back around and muttered one last sentence almost arrogantly.

"Please, sir, call me Terotrey."

Raikou gasped once he had been teleported to the tree-covered isle of Newmoon Island – the home of Darkrai. With the fact that the full moon was high in the sky, seeming to be glued among the star-covered obsidian canvas of the night, the island was dubbed with an eerie glow of mist-like pearl. The trees swayed in the soft breezes of the calm ocean, the horizon seeming to serve as the fine line between land and sky; the thin gateway between the conquered and the unconquerable.

Meanwhile the thunder tiger only turned to look at Darkrai, as if he was too afraid to move and was asking the dark-type Pokemon on what he should do. Darkrai, who was floating silently behind him, his arms, which were scrawny like the dead branches of a dying tree, were folded against his chest, while a look of pure boredom covered his facial features. It seemed the dark-type Legendary was also contemplating on what to do next.

"Well," Darkrai eventually stated, sea-green eyes narrowed, "make yourself at home, I guess."

Raikou only turned his head to eye the dark encompassing trees and the lush, cold grass that his paws practically sank into, obviously pondering on how he would make such a gloomy, isolated place his new home for the rest of his life. In those few moments the thunder tiger found himself wondering how Darkrai could've possibly taken a way of life such as living among the said depressing foregrounds with ease.

Then again, this was Darkrai he was referring to.

"Where do I sleep?" Raikou turned his curious eyes over to Darkrai, whose sea-green orbs were closed as if he was in the act of pondering on something. Of course the thunder tiger could sleep just anywhere, but for some reason he speculated that Darkrai had a specific place for resting time.

Eventually the dark-type opened his eyes and shifted them towards a small mountain whose tip peaked over the sentinel-sized trees, although it was barely taller than them. Raikou, curious more than before, followed his gaze over to the small mountain, mouth contorting into a bewildered frown.

"That's where I go to rest…" Darkrai stated matter-of-factly, eyebrow quirked, although his ghastly voice lacked a confused tone. "There's a cave over there, and I'm sure it will fit both of us."

Raikou only nodded, allowing his eyes to wander over his surroundings since one problem had just been solved. His ruby orbs soon locked onto a large orange object that was hanging from the top of one of the palm trees, dangling slightly in the following breezes. As if on cue the thunder tiger's stomach began to moan, growling with hunger and making Raikou want to bellow over in cramping pain.

"You hungry?"

Raikou turned to the sound of Darkrai's distant tone, only to find out that he had floated over to one of the trees and picked off one of the exposed orange objects, which he now held delicately in his hand. All Raikou did, though, was stare bewilderedly at it.

"It's food," Darkrai grumbled, his accent deepening with annoyance, obviously finding Raikou's sudden uneasiness of eating the exposed food quite pointless. "It's fruit; it's good for you. You're gonna be living off this stuff for as long as you stay here, so you might as well get used to it."

Raikou eventually nodded once more before taking the orange fruit from Darkrai's hand and munching on it silently, chewing slowly as he allowed his taste buds to process the juicy flavor. In fact the thunder tiger soon smiled with glee, quickly finishing up the meal and licking his lips to savor the leftover fruit juice.

"That's pretty good," Raikou stated as he turned to eye Darkrai. "So what do you do around here for fun, anyway?"

Darkrai eyed him with narrowed eyes. "Fun?"

Raikou nodded, apparently finding the fact that Darkrai found the term unfamiliar not surprising. "I mean, I'm gonna live here for quite a while, and I'll get bored out of my mind if I have nothing to do…"

Darkrai turned his head the other way, narrowed eyes filled with curiosity. How would he know of any ways that would amuse the childish thunder tiger? His island wasn't a playground, nor was it a source for 'fun' of any kind. In fact the only thing Darkrai could think of that would equal to the terms of doing something active was the work he had placed in the back of his head for Raikou. Seeing as how he was now going to be sharing his island with the thunder tiger, Raikou was going to have to learn to pull his own weight for the matter.

Mentally coming to a conclusion, Darkrai crossed his arms once more. "Well, you got some work to do around here, kid."

Raikou pulled back, his face seeming to reflect that of pure appall. "What do you mean…'work'?"

"As in to do something that will serve as your…as your…" Darkrai's eyes turned downward as he searched his mind for the right word. "Rent. Yes, that's it; your rent for living on my island. I don't serve freeloaders, so if you're going to live here you're going to need to repay me for it."

Raikou frowned, eyes narrowing at the smirk that was beginning to form across Darkrai's lips. "What type of work would this isolated place need, anyway?" he then asked in a smug tone, obviously not too impressed with the idea.

Darkrai cocked his head, although his serious look showed that he wasn't pondering for a plausible answer to Raikou's question, but instead allowing his eyes to glare somewhat-angrily at a Wingull that was flying overhead, its silhouetted figure camouflaging amongst the night sky. He returned his eyes to Raikou, who hadn't take his piercing glare off of him the whole time. "Why, you see that Wingull up there?" He pointed his finger upwards, both his and Raikou's eyes following. "That's only one of the many Pokemon that seem to want to make my island their personal home. I don't support freeloading of any kind, and that's why I want you to keep those trespassing pests off my land."

Raikou only quirked his eyebrow, eyes still glued to the flying Wingull. "Why? They're not causing any trouble…"

Darkrai snorted. "They will soon. Don't you see? If one comes, then his buddies are going to start coming and before you know it this place is going to turn into a tourist attraction. It's bad enough that humans come here every now and then – I don't need space-taking Pokemon, either. You and I are the only ones that are allowed to occupy my island. Understand?"

Raikou remained silent, obviously pondering on Darkrai's words and somehow finding them random and barbaric, although he wasn't surprised that Darkrai wouldn't want to share his home. He wouldn't be much of a loner if passing Pokemon used his island as their new hotel.

"If you insist…" Raikou eventually agreed with a sigh, his eyes finally returning to Darkrai. He wasn't too happy of having to perform such a task as booting off Pokemon from their resting places, but nonetheless the thunder tiger was just happy that it wasn't anything worse than that (he had been expecting Darkrai to ask him in assisting him with his nightly nightmare granting among the human and Pokemon populations).

"Good," Darkrai replied, a hint of happiness gracing his usually dark voice. "Now, it is up to you to make rounds around the island every now and then, and if you see any Pokemon trying to make this place their rest stop for the night, or worse: their new home, shoo them off before they even think about it."

Raikou slowly nodded.

"Ah," a strong feminine voice then muttered from the shadows of the encompassing trees, "I see you are already making Raikou feel right at home." The tone was sarcastic, yet it almost sounded pitiful towards something.

Darkrai seemed to frown instantly, his facial features dragging downward with annoyance. It was obvious he had recognized the owner of the voice. "Hello, Cresselia," he then muttered, repugnance leaking from his tone.

As if on cue the said metallic swan Pokemon emerged from the bushes, her body floating a few inches off the ground as she slid over to Raikou, her eyes turning gentle. They both gave each other a friendly nuzzle before Cresselia turned to eye Darkrai, her lavender orbs now narrowed with what seemed like an unimpressed expression. "Darkrai, this young Pokemon just got here and you're already putting the poor child to work."

Raikou could only switch bewildered glances between Cresselia and Darkrai, somewhat feeling like an infant of two parents who were in the midst of a misunderstanding between one another.

Darkrai snorted again, arms crossed. "Hey, if the kid is bunking with me he needs to pull his own weight around here. If he can do that then I will gladly declare that my house is his house."

Cresselia shook her head in disappointment, eyes rolling up to heaven simultaneously.

"Besides," Darkrai added, "the kid got booted off the Legendary council because of his immature behavior. He needs to learn about responsibility and fulfilling his required routines."

"And keeping your island clean of poor Pokemon who are just trying to look for a place to stay for the night is contributing to this…how?"

Darkrai growled behind gritted teeth. "Responsibility training!" he then moaned. "Gees, did you not here me before, woman?"

Cresselia sighed, eyeing Raikou to the side of her with hopelessness. The thunder tiger chuckled, finding humor in the predicted bickering between the dreaming Legendaries. Cresselia was tempted to join his giggles; that is, if the risk of angering Darkrai even more wasn't at stake. Instead the psychic-type silently floated over to her counterpart, staring at him straight in the eye in a serious manner, which convinced Darkrai to back off slightly from intimidation.

"Listen here, my dear counterpart," Cresselia then cooed softly, although it was obvious that she was about to go off on him, "you better take good care of that boy or so help me Arceus I will beat you on the head so hard that your white hair will be coming out of your butt!"

All Darkrai could do was stare horrifically at his counterpart, his hand twitching to grab his albino head end just to assure himself of its safety.

Cresselia shot a gentle look towards Raikou, and he swore he saw her wink deviously at him, as if secretly signaling that she was following through on a mischevious plan. Furrowing her brows one more she returned her narrowed eyes to Darkrai. "Now you get that boy over to that cave and let him get some rest," she ordered harshly. "I will not allow you to force that boy to work all night for your own selfish deeds; he needs sleep."

Darkrai remained silent, eyes somewhat widened from the unexpected outburst of his usually calm counterpart.

Cresselia turned the opposite way, her serious frown now turning into a face ready to break out into laughter, which Raikou only caught and therefore was somewhat chuckling himself. She then shot a warm smile to the thunder tiger (in which he returned happily) before she took off into the sky, obviously heading towards her own island. As she flew out of sight Raikou mentally thanked her for her good acting skills, otherwise Darkrai probably would've had him working until dawn.

"That woman," he suddenly heard Darkrai hiss, his intimidated state dissipating quite quickly, "always scolding me for everything. Can't scratch my own damn ass without her lecturing me on it."

All Raikou could do was return to giggling. He ceased it almost instantly, though, when Darkrai suddenly turned to him.

"Well," the dark-type then began, "might as well follow through on her orders. That's mean it's time for bed, kid, you got a big day tomorrow."

And with that Darkrai slowly took off into the forest, obviously heading towards the mountain, although he didn't seem intent to wait on Raikou, who now began to follow him through the mesh of trees. The thunder tiger could hear the dark-type mumble more incoherent insults towards his counterpart along the way, and Raikou could only mentally agree to himself on one thing in the end.

Darkrai and Cresselia would definitely make a good couple.

"But Arceus!"

The God Pokemon paid no attention to Suicune during her entire time of pleading for him to return Raikou to the council. Because of her need to see him on her team again she had stayed behind in the Hall of Legends when all of the other Legendaries had left to continue with their duties among planet Earth, excluding Entei, who was waiting patiently by the door into the council room. With his own compassionate eyes, the old, yet wise, Pokemon watched his water counterpart's attempt to persuade Arceus to give Raikou back his place among the Legendaries, and although the fire lion wasn't proud of the thunder tiger's past acts, he too didn't like the idea of never seeing the young Pokemon again.

With the fact that the council room was free of most of the Legendaries, the halls were quiet and Suicune's hurt voice echoed throughout its boundaries with no possible barricades; instead for Arceus' grunts, in which he would express every now and then at the idea of letting Raikou back on the team after the vast amounts of trouble the thunder tiger had caused over time.

"I'm sorry, Suicune," Arceus softly mumbled for what seemed like the hundredth time. "I cannot allow him to return to us if he doesn't deserve his place among the council. He must serve punishment, even if it's permanent."

Suicune lowered her head, losing the last bit of confidence she had left. Arceus seemed pained by walking away from her and ignoring her pleas for help, but he simply couldn't allow her requests to be carried out, seeing as how they would go against the rules of the Legendary council. Even if he wanted to bring Raikou back, the Legendary jury would have to agree on it as well.

And he knew too well that that would never happen.

"What if Raikou was able to prove his loyalty to the council?" Suicune suddenly muttered, her voice gasp-like, as if she had just came up with the – quite cunning – idea. Her ruby eyes rose to Arceus, who had his back turned to her since he had been in the midst of walking away. However, he seemed to stop in his tracks when she emitted her new suggestion, his head lowering with obvious thoughts on the proposed solution.

A Legendary proving his worth amongst the council? Would Raikou pulling of a heroic act give Arceus the excuse to grant him his occupation as a Legendary again? But, more importantly, if Raikou was able to prove that he deserved his Legendary powers, then would it convince the jury to give him another chance? To tell you the truth Arceus had never thought about such an idea.

Meanwhile, behind Arceus, Suicune stood waiting, her muscles tense and expression nervous. It was almost as if her life depended on the God Pokemon's decision.

"I don't know," was all Arceus could mutter (alongside an incoherent "maybe"), his head turning so he could glance at Suicune out of the corner of his eye. With nothing else to say he silently walked off, leaving the room and therefore leaving the breathless Suicune and confused Entei behind.

All of sudden, without bothering to inform Entei of her plan, Suicune rushed out the door, course set on Newmoon Island. Despite the ban's rules of her not being allowed to see her thunder counterpart, she had to tell him of her new plan. She had to inform him that he still had the chance of being a Legendary.

She had to tell him that his life as a mortal was not permanent…

…yet.