Storm: Chapter 10 is here!
Dialga: Disclaimer: Storm Aurastar does not own Pokémon, which belongs to Nintendo and Game Freak, Inc., and whatever other company I missed.
Palkia: Please enjoy.
Chapter 10: The Rise of Darkrai
A blanket of clouds. Then a burst of golden light. Ash shut his eyes to shield them from the bright flare.
When he reopened them, he didn't see the blackness. He didn't see wispy, gray clouds that swirled around in the air. He didn't see Dialga. He didn't see Palkia.
What he did see was sunshine. A blue sky. A huge, sparkling lake down below. Hundreds of houses. Even more green trees. A pond filled with water. And—could it be possible?—a town on a plateau.
He and his friends were back. Alamos Town was back!
They were back home!
"We're back!" exclaimed Dawn. She and Ash and their Pokémon were still on the ledge of the Space-Time Towers.
Pikachu hopped off Ash's shoulder to watch the view. Thank goodness! Palkia had returned them to their home dimension!
Piplup was overjoyed to be home safe and sound. "Piplup!"
"Pikachu!"
"Hahaha!" Ash and Dawn laughed together, side by side on the ledge high up in the air. Then they turned back to the beautiful scene.
Down below at the edge of the garden, Brock, Sudowoodo, Happiny, Alice, Chimchar, Tonio, Baron Alberto, Lickilicky, and Gallade laughed, feeling carefree. They were home again! They couldn't believe it, but it was true. Palkia had warped them home!
When they stopped chuckling, Brock held up his Happiny and cuddled it. "Hey!" he said cheerfully. Sudowoodo danced around, glad to be out of that black, lightning-filled dimension that Dialga and Palkia had just fought in.
Alice and Tonio turned to look at each other. They smiled and nodded.
Just then, Nurse Joy, Chansey, and all the townspeople flooded out of the garden.
"Chansey!" cried a happy Chansey.
"Oh!" breathed Nurse Joy, She couldn't believe her eyes.
Maury, Kai, and Allegra joined her. They joined the nurse and stared down, grinning hugely from ear to ear, relieved and grateful to be back home and out of the foreign dimension.
The townspeople, bursting with delight and joy, raced past her. All of them had the same thought in their minds: "We're back! We're home!"
Everybody rushed through the town, screaming, "We're back! Hey, we're home! Yep, it's true! Thank goodness! Hello, people! Home, sweet home! Yahoo!"
Ash and Dawn made their way back down the towers with their Pokémon—on foot. But who cared about that? After all, everybody was gushing with happiness, and who would care if their feet were exhausted after walking down the hundreds of steps of the towers that had just saved their lives when they were only inches away from a catastrophic finale? The answer was obvious—nobody!
Children rushed out onto the streets, shouting with happiness. Mothers laughed and chatted. Fathers had conversations with their friends. Pokémon flew, ran, and splashed around, happy and carefree. Like the townspeople and the Pokémon Trainers, they were all glad to be home—especially the wild Pokémon who lived in the Alamos Town garden.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the garden, Team Rocket was celebrating.
"We made it!" Jessie cheered.
"Yes, that's right!" James agreed.
"Talk 'bout gettin' saved at da las' minute!" Meowth added.
"No need to worry about stealing Pikachu now!"
"We can just be happy!"
"And enjoy being home!"
"An' save da Pokémon-snaggin' fo' later!"
Ash, Dawn, Pikachu, and Piplup (the two Trainers had put back their Pokémon into their Poké Balls for a nice, good rest) rushed over to Brock, Alice, and Tonio (who was still grasping onto his laptop even though there was nothing to research, much less anything to worry about).
"We're back!" shouted Ash. He shot his fist into the air. "Yeah!"
"Thank goodness!" cried Brock. He looked at the sky, cupped his mouth, and yelled, "Hey! Thanks, Palkia!"
He was certain that he could hear a bellowing roar from the sky, far in the distance.
Alice cuddled Chimchar. "This was all Godey's doing," she said. "Godey was the one who created the Oración disc in the first place! Thank you, Godey."
"Yeah," agreed Dawn. "If he hadn't made it, we would've all been goners!" She shuddered at the thought. "And since Dialga and Palkia are both such powerful Pokémon, their battle could've destroyed the entire universe!"
Brock nodded. "Wow, I never knew Oración was that powerful—so powerful that it could calm down two deities like Dialga and Palkia! Amazing!"
"It sounded so rejuvenating!" said Tonio. "Well, we're back, and everything's been restored by Palkia so we don't have to worry about a thing! I'm going to put back my laptop in the research lab… Alice? What's wrong?"
Alice had tears in her eyes. "We do have to worry about one thing…"
Misery suddenly engulfed the group. "Oh."
Ash swallowed and nodded with difficulty. "Yeah." He looked up into the clouds. "Darkrai is no longer with us…"
With that, the five people, Pikachu, and Piplup turned and walked to the garden to mourn with wild Pokémon that lived there.
-ooo-
That evening, as the sun went down and the sky faded into a yellowish-orange hue, Ash and his friends went to the front of the towers to face the cliff wall and watch the town from above. All of them were filled with sadness and grief at the loss of Darkrai.
Alice's eyes glistened with tears. "Thank you, Darkrai…" She slowly closed her eyes.
Darkrai rushed through the air and was blasted back by the bubble between the Space-Time Towers. He hurtled through the air and crashed into the ground, only to reappear five seconds later to attack…
Alice stared numbly at the falling Dialga and Palkia, petrified to the ground by her fear, when Darkrai suddenly arrived to blast the two Pokémon out of the way and back into the sky, saving Alice from the danger of being crushed…
A combination of Aura Sphere and Hyper Beam from Dialga and Palkia slammed into Darkrai. A cloud of smoke puffed out, and Darkrai shot out of the cloud and crash-landed into the garden pond where Brock pulled him out. Alice arrived and knelt by his side, concerned…
When Alice and Tonio, who were had managed to stay on the partially destroyed hot-air balloon, were about to get hit by Dialga's Roar of Time, Darkrai suddenly appeared and bravely took the blow, shielding most of the damage…
Alice and the others were helplessly watching Dialga and Palkia charge up their most destructive moves when Darkrai, who was unconscious just a moment ago, unexpectedly rushed into the air, created the strange sphere around himself, and blocked most of the damage by absorbing the moves…
Dialga and Palkia, angered even more by their interference, mercilessly attacked Darkrai with a Hyper Beam and an Aura Sphere, which slammed into him…and he floated into the air, disintegrating into dust…until he was no more.
"…for everything," finished Alice. Tears trickled down her cheeks.
"Piplup," said Piplup sadly. It stared at the trees below, thinking of the time when it met Darkrai face-to-face for the first time and realized his true nature at last.
Ash slowly lowered his head. "I'm sorry," he murmured sorrowfully. Dawn, Brock, Alice, and Tonio looked at him. "Darkrai… I should've known! You were just trying to do the right thing! Ugh!" He began to cry.
"Pika?" asked Pikachu quietly.
Dawn began to cry, too. She hugged her Piplup even tighter as she sobbed.
Tonio comfortingly placed his hand on Alice's shoulder. She looked at him for a moment, then turned and walked away.
"Chimchar…" Chimchar hopped off the railing and followed Alice, who was walking with Tonio, who had put his arm around her. Then Dawn and Brock went after them.
Ash was the last one to follow. He took one last look at the trees down below before walking after his friends with Pikachu perched on his shoulder.
A shadow appeared at the top of the towers' shadows on the cliff wall.
Pikachu was the first one to see it. "Pikachu?"
Ash stopped walking and looked at where Pikachu was goggling at—and gasped with shock. "What the—?"
At the sound of the shock in his voice, Dawn, Brock, Alice, and Tonio turned around, too.
Ash ran back to the railing and stared with awe at the cliff wall. The others came rushing over, and they all gaped at the sight.
On the wall, they saw a familiar, ominous-looking shadow standing on the top of the shadow of the dome between the two towers' shadows.
"Wha…?" They slowly turned around and let their eyes trail upward.
There, standing proudly on the dome, was him.
"Piplup!" cheered Piplup.
"Darkrai!" cried Dawn.
Ash felt positively overjoyed as he exclaimed, "Darkrai, you're okay!"
"Pika pika!" added Pikachu joyfully.
Brock continued to stare at Darkrai with a smile that stretched a mile.
Alice smiled at the sight of Alamos Town's hero. Then she did something to Tonio that was the last thing he would think of.
She cuddled lovingly next to him.
Tonio gave a start of surprise. Then he blushed, grinned sheepishly, and rolled his eyes up at the sky.
Ash grinned at Pikachu. The hero was back! Darkrai had risen again!
The hero of Alamos Town continued to stand motionlessly on top of the dome when he looked down and spotted Alice smiling at him. A flame of affection for her suddenly lit up within his heart.
Darkrai watched her for several moments before looking back to the town below him. He saw the townspeople happily strolling around, shopping, playing, chatting, and laughing with their Pokémon.
He turned his gaze to the garden. Watching him were Gallade, Shinx, Luxio, Azurill, Marill, Azumarill, and many other Pokémon who all smiled at each other at the return of their hero.
Darkrai looked out at the view, his eyes gleaming with a bright, blue light. He knew that if Dialga and Palkia ever came back and had another chaotic battle, he would be there to protect the people, the Pokémon, and all of Alamos Town.
He would be there to be the town's guardian.
He would be there to keep everybody safe.
And he would be there to remain as Alice's friend.
Forever and ever.
Storm: *shoots his fist into the air and starts dancing* YESSSSSS! DARKRAI'S BACK—THAT'S SO AWESOME—OH, YEAH—WOOHOO—AND THAT WAS THE LAST CHAPTER—OH, YEAH!
Darkrai: *stares at Storm* …Did you eat a sack of sugar or something?
Storm: …LIKE, SO AWESOMELY AWE—wait, what? Oh! Sorry. I'm just…uh…
Dialga: How about "celebrating"?
Storm: Yeah! I'm just celebrating your revival! *starts dancing again* OH, YEAH! SO GREAT!
Dialga, Palkia, and Darkrai: *sweatdrop* …Er…
Storm: *suddenly stops dancing* Hey, wait! Hey, people and Pokémon and whatever! Did you enjoy The Rise of Darkrai? If you did, please review! *grins sneakily* And by the way…if you want…there…will…be…some…bonus…chapters…
Dialga: …Bonus chapters…
A MESSAGE TO ALL READERS OF THE RISE OF DARKRAI FROM STORM AURASTAR:
All right, all right, I admit it. This story was practically exactly the same as the movie…
But to make things a little bit different, I could add some bonus chapters if you want…
So review me and tell me if you'd like them or not! Personally, I would!
See you,
~Storm Aurastar