A/N: Since the first second that I saw Darkrai in the trailer for 'Rise of Darkrai', I knew I had found my kind of Pokémon, one born of darkness…a villain Pokémon! Of course that was not how he ended up being in the film and as I have already stated, this is a story about how I first imagined Darkrai.
However, as I try to get over the sheer horror that I have felt after seeing some of the new Pokémon for the new game, one Pokémon stands out before me with much interest. There is now a Pokémon who is apparently the incarnation of darkness and destruction (making my beloved Darkrai is the incarnation of fear in my eyes) and his name is Zekrom…(needs better name)
I just wanted to say here that for all purposes of this story I will maintain the image of Darkrai being the Pokémon of darkness, putting it down to the fact that Zekrom had not been discovered at the of the stories events. However I will make a proposition, should you the public agree with it: If I can complete this story by spring when the game is released (Which I will not be happy with myself as it is if I don't) I will write a new story for Zekrom.
PM me to let me know what you think.
Anyway, I had a lot of trouble writing this chapter because I just couldn't get it right…and I'm still not happy with it as it is. No matter how many times I wrote it and re-wrote it I couldn't get it into a way that I like so I decided to just post it and move onto the next chapter which is when the fun begins if you know what I mean. So I've gotten this annoying chapter out of the way and now, let's begin with opening of the Shadow crystal…oops, spoilers :)
Chapter 6:
The dark Alliance
Star cursed as one of his grunts was hit square in the chest by enemy fire, watching helplessly as the man was hurled backwards and slammed against the metal pillar that stretched up behind them. Bolts of electricity ran across his body as he screamed before finally the man fell silent as he ceased movement, falling into only the odd twitch as the remaining electricity zapped across his muscles.
But Star had no time to think about him as he screamed for his remaining men to take cover, just catching glimpse of a couple of silhouettes moving through the smoke where he believed the enemy to be before he was himself forced to take cover as another sea of laser blasts cut through the air, leaving red dots on in their dozens across the wall around him as his brother grunts took whatever cover they could. He was again helpless to help as another was blasted in the shoulder by the incoming lasers blasts, sending his muscles into the agonizing dance of spasm before he too fell still.
He could hear the sounds of the enemy shouting out to one another as they spread out around his team, blasting the odd laser shot towards them as a warning to keep their heads down. He couldn't think of a plan on how to counter them, especially when he remembered that he had had all off his Pokémon taken from him earlier that day. He could hear his own men asking for orders but had none to give, only barely managing to repeat the order to stay in cover as he heard the enemy approach again. His team opened fire, but the enemy simply vanished into the smoke again, like they were shooting at ghosts rather than enemy grunts.
"All units fire at will, shoot anything that moves!" he heard someone shout out from nearby. No one had any idea which side the call came from however and suddenly both forces opened fire in a hail of violence, filling the air with a sea of laser shots that weren't even remotely aimed. There was an air of panic as another two of Stars grunts were hit, the twitching bodies falling down harshly as they were struck time and time again. People screamed as they returned fire into the white smoke that surrounded them, it was impossible to tell if they were hitting anything but it was panic that kept them firing at their invisible foes, shooting until the batteries of their weapons screamed out in protest and overheated, leaving them defenseless as the enemy grunts unleashed another, far more ferocious assault upon them.
And then, as suddenly as the chaos had come, it vanished.
Star blinked in confusion as he peeked over the edge of the wall he had taken cover behind, searching for his enemy but finding nothing. There had been a hail of shooting and then utter silence, no sign of hostility at all. His grunts murmured and whispered to each other as they looked towards him for advice, expecting him to have the answer to where the enemy had gone. There wasn't even the sound of voices to identify with their location anymore.
"Incoming!" Star cursed as he turned to see one of his grunts fall into a crouch and level his gun at a shape that seemed to be emerging from the smoke, spinning around as if it was dancing in the middle of the battle field. It swirled around like a snake in the mist before pausing as it seemed to notice them and hover in mid air, remaining silhouetted by the smoke as it seemed to tilt its head towards them, scrutinizing them. Then, after what felt like an age, the shape gave a final twirl in the air and glided towards them, emerging gracefully through the smoke as it zigzagged slowly through the air.
"You have got to be kidding me" Was all Star could bring himself to say as he recognized the thin body of the Pokémon as it glided towards him. He froze as he saw the soft tone of its pink skin and the kind nature that seemed to glisten from the large blue eyes that took up the bulk of its head beneath the two small cat like ears the stuck out from the top of its head. It's seemed to giggle softly as it spun around before them, catching its incredibly long tail in its tiny paw and playing with it innocently as if it was suddenly oblivious to the grunts presence. Then, with another giggle, it dropped its tail and flew gently into the air above their heads.
"Mew" it giggled as it smiled down at them, seeming to enjoy the fact that their attention was now entirely devoted towards it. The grunts themselves could only stair in amassment as one of the most legendary Pokémon hovered above them, a Pokémon that many claimed to not even exist, and in the middle of a battlefield of all places.
"Errrr….can someone explain to me what the hell is going on?"
Suddenly, the Mew's head snapped downward as it heard one of the grunts speak up. it gave another squeak of its name, only much more harsh than the last time as it seemed to grow angry with the grunts below as it suddenly lowered down till it was eye-level with the grunts. Then with an almost mechanical growl, its eyes began to expand.
"Mew" It whispered almost softly as its eyes spread out into a couple of funnel like appendages which it pointed towards them.
Star barely had time to realize what was happening before the two laser gun built into the Mew's head opened fire…
….
From a large platform above them Domino sighed as she saw the team of Team Rocket grunts get gunned down.
Cursing, she pulled her hat off and wiped the sweat from her brow, winching as her glove rubbed against a cut that she had sustained during her time in the forest the day before. She had spent the bulk of the night after the failed expedition into the tomb heading back towards the base, finding that for some reason her sense of direction was out of tune or something…it had taken her two hours to make a fifteen minute journey. At what had she found when she got back? A group of Team Rocket members being cut down by a robotic Mew!
(A/N: As a reward for getting a question right, I offered 'Twilight- The Moon Spirit' the chance to have anything he wanted to happen in this chapter, he said that he wanted a random Mew cameo and so there it is!)
"You got to give those Dim Sun guys credit, they can really use their machinery"
Domino only grunted as she turned to see a woman move to stand beside her, leaning across the balcony as she looked down at the testing ground. The sound of a siren filled the air as the testing round came to an end and the grunts seemed to come back from the dead, their raised voices betraying their lack of organization as the Rocket grunts blamed each other for the defeat and the Dim Sun's high-fived each other, one using a tri-pod mounted computer to call the robotic Mew back before the Rocket team could get their hands on it.
"Oh come on Domino" The woman chuckled as she turned back to face the Rocket elite, brushing a strand of red hair behind her ears as she grinned "you can't maintain this opposition against the alliance for long"
Domino was silent as she stared at the wall, folding her arms in irritation as she saw the woman straighten her sci-fi reject uniform from the corner of her eye. Struggled to think of what she should say in reply…she herself wasn't entirely sure how she felt now about the alliance. Then, with a sigh, she decided to resort to her usual failsafe whenever she felt pinned…attack.
"Easy for you to say Mars" she retorted finally, still avoiding eye contact "When Cyrus abandoned you in Shinnoh you didn't even try to keep Team Galactic going, you just started fighting and broke apart after a failed attempt on a damn Heatran"
For some reason, Domino took no satisfaction from the look of anger that filled Commander Mars' face as she took a step back, her eyes narrowing as she examined Domino for any trace of amusement or sarcasm. Finding none she fell silent as she again turned to look at the two trainee teams below as they began to leave the arena below. Her red eyes seemed to shimmer slightly as she looked down, a strange look of sorrow falling upon her as she seemed to fall deep in thought.
"Sorry"
"It's ok Domino" Mars sighed as she straightened her uniform around her, allowing her hand to hesitate for a moment over the golden G that she still sat proudly on the centre of her chest. "We both tend to get rather hostile when our past teams come into the topic"
Domino didn't need to say anything as she twirled an Orchid around her fingers as she always did whenever she felt uneasy.
It was strange really. She despised practically everything the alliance had done to Team Rocket and wouldn't give the time of day to any members of the coalition teams, yet here she was apologizing to one of the three Team Galactic leaders.
The truth was, though she would never admit it, Domino had rather grown to like Mars. They had met in the first week of the alliance and sat next to each other whenever they were called for at the alliance's council. Then, to top it all off, they had both been placed in charge of training the new recruits in the art of fighting for the alliance.
At first of course, they had both completely ignored each other wherever possible. They both hated the idea of their teams joining with others and took every opportunity they could to make that very clear to the other. But, after Mars had randomly decided to help Domino in scolding a failed recruit, they had both eventually been able to find a neutral ground upon which they both stood and that, over the course of the months that the alliance had been together, had evolved into a strange friendship between the two. Domino hadn't really noticed it, but she allowed Mars to speak to her in a much less formal way then she would allow even a fellow Team Rocket high level even think about talking to her and she talked to Mars in the same way, even managing to get a couple of laughs out of each other when they were alone.
A/N: I couldn't resist a partnership between my favorite Team Rocket member and my favorite Team Galactic member
"Who was the commander of that Rocket group?"
"Some new guy calling himself Star" Domino snouted as she tossed a notepad onto the desk behind her in annoyance "One arrogant sod who seems to have decided that he is the best the alliance has to offer. Under his job application for special skills he just put down the 'you name it…especially talking to the girls'"
"You're kidding me right? How the hell did someone like that get a placement here"
"From what we've seen in this training job, the alliance is taking just about anyone they can get their hands on now"
Mars cursed as she leaned against the railing that surrounded the viewing platform she could use to look out onto the training room. She seemed tired as she watched the last of the smoke from the exercise drift off into the air. The training protocol was not a must for all new recruits to the alliance as it was the perfect way of weeding out those that were too weak, such as this Star.
They recruits were split up into two teams depending on which of the old teams they suited most, further cementing the appearance that the old team name was now nothing more than a class in the overall body of the alliance, and had all of their Pokémon taken from them for the course of the exercise. They were then all fitted with laser sensitive jackets and provided with a harmless laser tag gun which would provide now bodily harm but would set of the sensors of the jacket should they be hit. The two teams were then let loose into the fake battlefield and tasked with the simple objective of defeating the other team by setting of their jackets, just like in one of those popular laser tag games. However, in order to assist in the idea of them fearing the prospect of getting shot, every jacket was equipped with electrodes that activated should the jackets sensors be activated, providing a very nasty shock to the victim which put them out of action for the rest of the exercise but left no permanent side effects beyond the obvious humiliation.
"So who have we got coming in next?"
"Some guys from Team Magma and Aqua having a rematch for something that one of them said about the other or whatever…I don't really care"
"ATTENTION" a heavily static filled female voice suddenly screamed out over the bases speakers, blasting out from every inch of the base. It was deafeningly loud as it screamed out, causing both team commanders to cover their ears with snarls "WILL COMMANDER MARS AND AGENT 009 PLEASE REPORT TO THE MAIN COUNCIL ROOM IMMEDIATELY"
"Oh boy"
….
"Hey watch it!"
Ash yelled out as he felt an arm wrap around his neck and pull him backwards in a rough gesture that caused him to stumble and fall harshly upon the ground. He looked up accusingly towards his aggressor but found him to be already stood and staring out towards the patch that Ash had only seconds before been walking on.
"You want to be watching where it is that you're walking out here mate" Jack grinned, raising his eyebrows towards the young trainer as he gestured towards where a Muk was clawing its way across the path that Ash had just been about to step in "You so much as touch that thing and you would be in bed with a fever for weeks"
The poison Pokémon hissed and gurgled as it looked towards them before dragging its body across towards the other side of the path, gurgling in annoyance as a group of Ninjask burst out of a hedge that it smashed through on its way. Its voice bubbled and hissed as its liquid tar-like throat caved in upon each itself and reformed from a mass of tar again and again. As it passed over, the hedge and any other vegetation unfortunate to get caught beneath it began to hiss and boil as the toxins that formed the Pokémon's body, every leaf and flower shriveling and dying in seconds. Again the Pokémon gave a gurgled cry before it vanished into the undergrowth, leaving a trail of rotten brown vegetation in its wake.
"Errrr…thanks"
"Don't mention it" Jack simply stated as he turned and jogged a couple of feet to catch up with JR who was searching through a large set of plants for something not entirely obvious, leaving his behind as Dawn reached him and gave him a mocking look.
"The day Ash thinks before acting is the day he stops being Ash" was all she said as she walked by, her arms folded behind her back in a strangely arrogant pose without so much as glancing towards him as she continued down the path.
"Keep it down will you. We are trying to keep a low profile out here" Officer Jenny whispered as she climbed on top of a fallen tree and began scanning her surroundings, writing a couple of notes down in her pocket notebook.
"Sorry"
The group of six had left their cars and bike by the main road that passed through the forest and continued through the undergrowth as discreetly as they could at Officer Jenny's request. They were not sure if they could trust this camp that they were heading too and thus had decided to make their arrival a secret, if these 'scientists' were responsible for the earthquakes then they were going to find out about it.
"So…we got any stories to pass the time?"
"What type of stories are you after?" Mike asked, raising an eyebrow slightly as he looked back down the path towards him.
"I don't know, anything. Tell me about you two. How did you become gym leaders?"
"Wasn't hard really. We just had to get a badge from every gym in the region, prove ourselves to the local Pokémon league, get the signed approval of at least three other gym leaders and even get approval from the geishas in the Johto region, just a lot of really annoying red tape that was more of a bother than a challenge"
"Put simple, I whole lot of red tape" Jack added briefly as he watched JR suddenly give up on what it was looking for and begin strolling happily down the forest path again, seeming to decided it would be more fun to scare the Riolu that was sniffing the air a few feet away "Still, after we had permission to form a gym we had to find an appropriate place to build it and so on. The league helped us to fund everything and obviously Officer Jenny here was a tremendous help during it all"
"My please, with two gym leaders around to do some of the work of keeping order in the city my job became a lot easier"
"Naw, its quiet fun being able to boss people around like we ca…"
Mike froze suddenly as he saw his own partner Pokémon give a snarl before abruptly changing it course and disappearing slowly through a set of bushes, leaving the Mime JR that had been about to jump it playfully from behind to crash to the ground with a confused yelp.
"What's got him so riled up?" Jack muttered as he knelt down and allowed the now sulking JR to climb up onto his shoulder before sighing as all Mike did was shrug before following. The lab-coat wearing Gym leader gave their companions an apologetic look before following.
…
Janise yawned loudly as she leaned her chair back and rested her feet crossed upon the top of the cars dashboard, twirling her hair around her finger absentmindedly as she stared out through the front window as a flock of bird Pokémon flew across the sky in their usual sunset dance, twirling and dancing around each other in a beautiful pattern. Spearow flew down and shot across upwards again, mere inches away from a couple of Starly that then seemed to scream out at each other as they flew high into the air, spinning faster and faster as they flew into the air, zigzagging with each other.
Janise could only sigh as she watched them fly up until they were blotted out by the blood red glare of the setting sun and then began plummeting down towards the ground at impossible speeds. She didn't even react or blink as their bodies were suddenly consumed with a blinding white glow that covered every inch of them, leaving nothing but a glowing silhouette that began to heave and expand as it seemed to cave in upon itself as reform into a shape altogether different, resembling its former shape in nothing more than its bird like appearance. They fell towards the ground until the very last second when their wings shrunk inwards and blasted outwards, dispelling the white glow with a single strong flex as their new bodies lunged into the air again and resumed their dance as another group of small birds flew into the air and began repeating the glowing fall.
"The dance of evolution…" Janise muttered as she yawned again. That was what people called it when a large group of Pokémon met up and joined each other in the process of evolution. It was not a common sight and many would go their entire lives without even seeing it, but Janise had seen it far too many times to actually care about it anymore. In fact the only time that she really paid attention to it was in the middle of spring when the entre forests worth of Metapod would hatch as one and unleash a seemingly never ending sea of Butterfree that danced against the full moon for hours on end before eventually spreading dispersing and going their own ways at sunrise.
Knock-knock
Janise paused for a second as her eyes flicked out the side window to find no one stood there, her eye brow rising slightly as another pair of knocks sounded out against the door with no obvious cause then a Pidgy that flew by a few feet away as it too was consumed by the blinding light that marked the dawn of its evolution.
Then a tiny purple head appeared at the bottom of the window, catching Janise with an almost scary Cheshire Cat grin as two wide eyes starred directly at her, the displaced wind from another passing bird type Pokémon flying by catching its purple fur in a storm of movement. Janise stared back as the Pokémon seemed to laugh at some secret joke before it raised its tail and used the strange hand like limb at the end to bang against the cars window again, its oversized head tilting slightly as it asked to be let in.
The two simply stared at each other for a time before Janise grinned slightly and pushed open the door, grunting in pain as the small Pokémon gave a cry of joy and leaped onto her, its legs pushing down on her stomach as it used her as a platform to leap up onto the cars dash board and sat down happily beside her crossed feet, looking out at the birds as it tried to mimic Janise's own bored expression as best it could.
"So…you have a good day out playing?"
"Aipom!"
"Ah, that's good"
Janise smiled again as she felt herself somehow relax as she watched the small monkey like Pokémon try to hide its happy expression as it watched a couple of Starly dance around each other. Aipom was the closest thing to a friend she had had for the longest time, it had been there for her when she was young and was still here for her now, even if it did like to go out a play in the forest for a day or two. She had never actually 'caught' it, there was no point as it had just sort of attached itself to her. It had been with her through a lot of hard times and thus she was proud to have it as what some trainers might call a 'Partner Pokémon'.
Content with each other's presence, the two fell silent as they watched the last of the bird Pokémon begin to evolves
….
Domino sighed as she looked around the table, taking in the various faces that seemed to glow against the unusual red glow that emitted from the various lights that hung from the ceiling in a strangely irregular pattern.
There were members from every Team in existence present at the council, Higher-ups from Team Rocket, Team Galactic, Team Aqua, Team Magma, Team Dim-Sun and, in the shadows to the back, a representative of the new organization, Team Plasma which was still trying to decide if it was going to join the alliance or not yet.
"This is ridiculous" she moaned as she allowed her head to fall into her gloved hands, keeping her voice as quite as possible so that only Mars could hear her.
"Just bare with it" She heard Mars whisper back to her from the chair next to her left, nudging her with her elbow in order to tell Domino to be more alert as someone important looked their way, a warning that domino deliberately ignored.
"Not one for these meetings are you?"
Domino sighed again as she heard a smooth voice come from the her right, lifting her head in order to cast whoever had dared speak to her like that with her best death glare, only to find herself coming face to face with a man whose face was barely visible behind a pair of sunglasses and a neck color that reached up all the way to the top of his nose.
"What's it to you?" she snarled as her eyes drifted down to the purple symbol that had been printed onto his chest, a strange symbol that resembled a winged shell like shape. "Team Dim-Sun Huh?" she remarked "Can't say that I'm going to be listening to any back talk from one of you anytime soon"
The man merely chuckled as he looked away, allowing his head to fall backwards against his chair as if he was falling asleep, his absurdly styled hair being held in place without so much as shaking at his head movement.
"The hell is that guy?" Domino whispered to Mars as she eyed him in annoyance.
"Oh he's one of the admen's for Team Dim-Sun from what I know. Names Kincaid or something like that" Mars simply retorted with a dismissive flick of her wrist as she turned to looked at the empty head of the table again "I'm more concerned about who in their right mind would call a meeting with the greatest criminals in the world and then be late to it"
That was a good point. The council had been called a full half hour ago and still there was no sign of the man who would call himself the leader of the alliance, even if there were very few people in the room who would agree with him in that claim. This was a gathering of some of the most feared men the world and they were all now voicing together their annoyance at the one man who seemed to refuse to come to his own calling. If he didn't get there soon then things were going to turn ugly.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me!"
A strange silence seemed to fall across the room as the gathered criminals suddenly fell silent and turned to look at the entrance where three figures were making their way into the room, trying to hide an obviously fear filled moment for them behind an act of arrogance as they simply strode in and took a set of seats that had been placed out along the back. There they sat in silence for a moment fighting in their seats as they tried to avoid the piercing eyes of the gathered crime lords before the slowly leaned in on each other and began to whisper.
"Errrr….sound we introduce ourselves?" One whispered, an incredibly small figure that didn't look quite human.
"But most of them already know who we are" whispered another, a man with short hair that seemed to flicker a deep blue whenever it caught the light.
"Oh who cars about that" the third snapped, her voice sounding quite aggressive as she patted her massive hair that stood completely erect on the back of her head and seemed to curl slightly at the back in an ridiculously impractical fashion that should have by all right made her head to heavy to move. "Let's do it for the benefit who haven't been graced by our presence yet"
A/N:What? Damned if I can make any realistic reason behind anime hair…especially hers
What happened next was confusing for the gathered criminals if nothing else…
The three figures suddenly cheered as they jumped up and struck what were supposed to look like dramatic poses and began to recite.
"Prepare for trouble!" the woman declared as she held her left arm up, pointing towards the star
"And make it double!" the blue haired man added, placing his hand against his chin and a clichéd 'cool' pose.
"To renounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"A rose by any other na…"
"Finish that sentence and I swear to god you are gonna have an orchid embedded in your skull before you can say your own damn name!"
The entire room burst out laughing as they saw the dumbfounded expressions that flashed across the faces of the three people, one of them dropping from the shoulders of the other two to reveal that it was actually a Meowth as it rolled into view. The two humans went through a barrage of emotions in the space of a few seconds as their fear slipped into anger at having their trademark speech interrupted and then into worry again as they caught a glance of Domino's expression again.
"Hey" someone shouted out from the table "why don't you three make yourselves useful and get us some drinks!"
"Yer" Another cried "bought all your good for here"
A/N: Sorry fans of those three Team Rocket members. I don't hate them but I have come to find them quite annoying after so many years of them failing at everything. I don't mean to be overly cruel to them in this
"Now, now. There is no call to be rude"
The entire room fell silent as a soft voice sounded out around them, speaking out the same as would be expected should the speaker have been talking to a bunch of children. Eyes flicked from each other as they searched for who had spoken before a figure emerged from the shadows at the far end of the room with a low chuckle.
The leader of the alliance had finally arrived.
