(A/N: Okay, as we start chapter one I just want people to remember that the first "chapter" was kind of a prologue/preview sort of thing. And also, if I didn't mention it, this story is supposed to be slightly based on the thirteenth Pokemon movie coming out. Anyway, to start this off, the song being used in this part is "Strange Whispers" from Kingdom Hearts.)


Chapter 1: A Tainted Heart

"Your will is strong…but you have a fragile shell. Why do you fear and hate the darkness in your heart? It is only natural for it to be there and natural to let it flow in you."

"My heart is my own," Raiden said. "I choose the path I want to walk on. If I have to fight to stray away from the darkness, then I will."

"Heh, if I can recall, you weren't quite able to do that before. Your anger exposed the true side of you. Admit it, you are overwhelmed with the grief you experienced your entire life and would do anything to right the wrongs that have been committed against you. And besides, you know very well if you are in a life or death situation, you're going to need me…"

"No…my heart will never become tainted," Raiden said. "As long as I have those who I love, then my heart will always stay in the light."

"Hm… it seems this property dispute will have to be decided another time. No matter, I can wait as long as I need to, as I have many plans. Hehe… trust me on this…"

Raiden suddenly woke up, looking around only to see he was still in Matt's room. He was breathing hard and saw that he woke up in a cold sweat. Shaking his lingering thoughts out of his head, he got up quietly and slowly not to wake up Matt or Kari, who was sleeping next to him, or RiRi for that matter.

He got up on the chair that was at Matt's desk and looked out up towards the sky. Was it all a dream before? He doubted it. It wasn't the first time he heard that voice inside his head. But what did it all mean? What plans were in stake? Raiden didn't know and he knew he had to be careful. Lately, he had been feeling pain all throughout him, mostly in his chest area. It definitely wasn't age-related, he was still rather young. Perhaps it was a tell-tale sign of something. Even Matt had noticed and became worried, taking him to the Pokemon Center. But even they couldn't figure out was wrong.

"It may not even be real," Raiden thought. "For all I know, what I'm feeling could be non-existent, causing me to become afraid of what I could become." He remembered what he saw in Jubilife. To think he could become like that was almost bone-chilling.

"Raiden?" His heart almost jumped hearing the familiar voice. He looked behind him and saw that RiRi was now awake.

"Oh RiRi, I'm sorry," he said, jumping off the chair. "I didn't mean to wake you up."

RiRi smiled while shaking her head. "It's fine," she said. "But I'm the one who should be concerned. What's wrong?"

"…It's nothing," Raiden said, looking away from her. "I woke up and had trouble sleeping."

"You had one of those dreams again, didn't you?" When he didn't answer, she sighed sadly and hugged him tightly. "Oh Raiden, of all the people and Pokemon in the world, why do you deserve to experience all this pain?"

"RiRi…" Raiden said, kissing her forehead. "Don't feel sorry for me. I can't help what has happened to me."

RiRi looked down as she pulled away from him. "Are you still in pain… from before?"

"No, it's gone now," Raiden said. "I can't say what caused it. No one knows. But for all I know, it could just be my mind telling me that."

"…Aren't you scared?" RiRi asked.

"To be honest, yes," Raiden said. *"I'm worried what will become of me. I'm worried what I will do if…"

"Don't say that!" RiRi whispered loudly. "I know you would never try to hurt anyone."

"You didn't see me that night RiRi…" Raiden said. "I killed a Pokemon just like that. I don't care if he wanted to fight me. I went too far and downright killed him. How can I justify for my actions?"

RiRi sniffed, feeling a tear form in her eye. "If you feel that anger in you," she said. "Think of me… Not just me, but Matt, Kari, Jack and everyone else. We're on your side Raiden. Never forget that."

"Thanks RiRi," Raiden said, hugging her. "We should get back to bed."

RiRi smiled and nodded. As she went back, Raiden looked back outside one last time. "They say love conquers all…but would it be able to conquer the growing darkness in my heart?"


(A/N: Okay, for this next part here, the song being used is "Starship Mario" from Super Mario Galaxy 2. In my opinion, it sounds like a song that would be used in Pokemon.)


*The next day, as the sky was almost cloudless and the sun was shining brightly, Matt, Kari, and Jack were inside finishing breakfast and drinking coffee. Jack had come by early in the morning, somewhat unexpectedly, while Raiden, RiRi, and Shadow were outside.

"You see RiRi, you just need to practice centering your attacks," Raiden was telling her. "For example, if you just have one opponent, you have to focus all of that power on that opponent. Like this." Somehow they had put a large post, although somewhat lopsided, into the ground in front of them to practice. RiRi currently had trouble maintaining the power of her attacks. Raiden then used Thunderbolt on it, although not too powerfully, and it left a decent sized dent in the wood.

"See, that wasn't too hard," Raiden said. "Now you try."

"Okay," RiRi replied. She then used Discharge but once the attack went off, part of it went upwards towards the nearby try and caused a branch to fall down. She then sighed. "I don't know why all of a sudden this is happening…"

"Don't worry about it, let's keep trying," Raiden said. "Hey Shadow, why don't you show her?"

"Sure," Shadow said, coming forward. He then used Hyper Beam and then ended up blowing the post into pieces.

Raiden sighed and sweatdropped while looking down. "Was that really necessary?"

"Yep," Shadow said, walking away from them.

"I knew I should've gotten Houndoom instead," Raiden muttered, which caused RiRi to laugh.


Meanwhile, Matt, Kari, and Jack were still inside. "So Jack, why did you come over here anyway?" Matt asked.

"Oh…" Jack said, suddenly becoming nervous. "Well… you know how we had that big event coming up tomorrow?"

"Yeah, we were gonna go to the beach and then go to the Valor Lakefront for the weekend," Kari said. "You won't be able to make it?"

"It's not really that," Jack said. He then sighed. "You see, my mom gave me tickets to the Pokemon Baccer World Cup. And well, I thought even though we had this whole thing planned out, I thought maybe you wanted to come as well."

"Wait, where is Crown City exactly?" Matt asked.

"Supposedly its southeast from here," Jack said. "Close to where Johto borders us."

"I don't see why we can't," Kari said. "We can always plan for another weekend."

"That's a good point," Matt said. "I guess we could come along. I didn't even know you watched that."

"The family is really into it. But apparently Crown City was an area back then that was protected by the three legendary beasts," Jack explained. "."

"Wait a minute… the three legendary beasts, in Sinnoh?" Kari asked. "I thought they came from Johto?"

"They do, but perhaps since Crown City is close to Johto, perhaps then the regions were bordered differently," Jack replied.

"Well it does sound interesting," Matt said. "Alright, we'll tag along then. Can we get there by train?"

"Yeah but we gotta go this afternoon," Jack said. "Pretty much why I rushed over here."

"So in other words we'll need to get ready," Matt said to Kari.

Kari just shook her head. "Leave it to Jack to throw a wrench into our plans."

"It was just an idea…" Jack muttered, causing the other two to laugh.

Matt turned on the television and on the sports channel they were showing previews of the match. "Oh wait, I guess I did watch a little of this. I'll admit it looks interesting."

"Anyway, I brought most of my stuff to save time," Jack said. "Are you guys ready as well?"

"I guess, since we initially had other plans…" Matt said.

"Matt…" Kari said.

"Sorry," Matt replied. "So, what time is it at?"

"Well, the Cup isn't until the afternoon," Jack said. "And these tickets also include the train ride there."

"So what time do we have to be at the train station?" Kari asked.

"Um…" Jack looked at the tickets. "In thirty-five minutes."

"WHAT!" both Matt and Kari yelled.


After having to have everything packed along with a fast car trip going about sixty miles through town, they finally made it to the train station with ten minutes to spare. "Jack," Matt said, the look on his face telling that he was pissed off. "You ever put us through that again, and I swear I'm gonna kick the living crap out of you."

"Eheh… Sorry about that guys," Jack said. "I'll make sure to look at the times better from now on."

"At least we made it here on time," Kari said. That being said, they got all their things and quickly boarded the train, which to no surprise was filled to almost max capacity.

"Wow, these people must be die hard fans," Matt commented.

"The stadium there is huge," Jack said. "I heard it can hold up to over 106,000 people."

"That's a lot," Kari said. "And hopefully we'll get good seats."

Soon, the train departed from the station and was on its way to Crown City. Meanwhile, Raiden, RiRi, and Shadow were looking out the window. The train fortunately had an empty compartment right next to where Matt, Kari and Jack were, so they were allowed to stay there for the trip.

"This sounds really exciting," RiRi said. "I never knew there was such a sport for Pokemon like this. It looks really fun."

"It's not really that interesting," Shadow said, who was lying down and had his eyes closed. "Of course, it's been on constantly this entire summer at Jack's house so you can probably see why."

"Well, I'm looking forward to just being in that stadium!" Raiden said. "The roar of the crowd, the intensity as each second goes by. It's exhilarating!" He then laughed. "What's wrong Shadow? Is someone a bit jealous that he's not on the stage with those other Pokemon?"

"Hmph," Shadow said. "If I was on a team, I could score on those guys in my sleep. Trust me, I've seen all these teams that played already…"

"But since we're on the train now, what are we gonna do?" RiRi asked.

As soon as realization hit them, they all sighed sadly. "Yeah, I'm not a big fan of train rides anymore due to boredom," Raiden said.


(A/N: Well this turned out better than the other version I had. I'm gonna try to make this much more like the movie itself, but not exactly. I know I said I was gonna wait but decided otherwise, so here you all go folks! So then, hope you enjoyed the chapter and remember, it's the thought that counts.)

FoxMcCloud7921