(Luka's POV)

I stood on the stone rise where the Time Gear used to be, my head tilted towards the sky with my eyes closed. My energy flowed out even to the farthest reaches of the dungeon as I searched for others that weren't caught in the freezing.

"Nothing," I breathed, opening my eyes in frustration. The fixated stars offered no comfort and I slammed my fist into the stone, making it crumble and little pieces fly out around me.

"Don't take your anger out on places like this," Pal warned from behind me. "It'll never unfreeze if you do."

I took several deep breaths to calm myself, and then stood up. "I just hope none else are like this," I murmured, turning around and walking back towards the entrance. Pal walked along beside me, her fingers constantly twitching. I didn't wonder about it; I just kept going.

When we were out of the dungeon, Pal sighed and slumped against one of the trees. I didn't even look at her. "We have to get back," I announced, about to say more, until I heard her crying.

"What's wrong?" I asked, sitting down next to her. She didn't look up at me. "The world is . . . ending . . . and I can't stop it!" she wailed. I looked down at the ground, absentmindedly doodling a Time Gear in the soft earth. "It's okay," I murmured. "There are others trying. If we join together, we can stop it." I wiped away a tear on her cheek with my paw.

"Thank you," she breathed, a tiny smile on her lips. I grinned. "No problem."

I stood, extending my paw out to her, and as she linked her fingers in mine, I think she blushed when I wiped the rest of the tears from her cheek and pulled her up. "Can you run?" I asked, and she nodded, letting go of me and dashing away. I sprinted after her, easily keeping pace. It is to be hoped that we wouldn't have to come back here in a while.

(Soul's POV)

I now have three Time Gears. Nyra and I have been training for what I think would probably be the end of the world, but I can't be sure. I'm acting on a hunch.

Lately, Wave has been coming in to train periodically. He's really strong, but we can all see he needs to evolve if he wants to join us.

"C'mon Soul!" Wave called. I shook myself out of my daydream and jogged after him. We're headed through Mystifying Forest to Luminous Spring to let him evolve.

I caught up to him and slowed my pace to match his, linking my hands behind my head. "What does it feel like to evolve?" Wave asked. I thought about it for a bit before replying. "It kinda feels like a strange, tingling sensation running through your body." I paused. "It also feels warm and cold at the same time."

Nyra, who was walking beside me, frowned. "That's not what it felt like for me," she mentioned. I shrugged. "It's different for everyone."

We reached the place soon. The area glimmered with a faint white light. "Wow. . ." I breathed, looking around in awe.

"Welcome to the Luminous Spring," A voice called. The three of us looked around wildly. Who was speaking? "State your purpose."

"I wish to evolve!" Wave called. There was a pause. "Very well. Please step up."

A spotlight appeared over a watery area. Wave demurred, but walked over to the place and faced us. "Let us begin," the voice said.

He was enveloped in a bright white light and was lifted a little ways into the air. I could see his form shifting slowly. Suddenly the light got too bright for me to look and I shielded my eyes just as his scream of pain tore through the air. I wanted to help him, but something held me rooted to the spot.

Eventually, his scream died down and the light subsided. I opened my eyes and saw him kneeling on the ground, panting. But he had evolved. I ran to him and skidded to a halt beside him. There were no visible wounds on his body, but . . .

"What happened?" I asked, worried. "Surely the evolution couldn't have hurt that much?"

He looked up at me. "There . . . was someone . . . trying . . . to control . . . me . . ." he breathed, the pain in his voice clear. I blinked, narrowing my eyes. "What?"

His eyes suddenly turned red with black wisps and he smiled evilly, jumping up and pinning me down. "Die!" he hissed in those freaky multi-voices, his wing turning metal and stabbing me dangerously close to my heart. I screamed, throwing him off of me with my legs and standing up. Holding one hand over the wound, a glowing blue sword appeared in the other and my appearance started changing.

My fingers shifted into paws, but my arms had a white arm guard with one pink stripe going down them. Metal, shard-like wings expanded out of my back and my body shifted into a Lucario's. Leg guards clattered over my legs and a white protective armor covered my torso. A white helmet formed itself over my head, the spot around my eyes being covered with a screen with a lot of controls around it. Everything had a greenish tint to it.

Through the screen, I saw Wave stand up slowly, but now . . . he was a Zoroark.

"Heh . . ." he chuckled. "I guess everyone was right about you, Soul." I stayed silent, tightening my grip on my sword. He smiled darkly, turning his gaze skyward. "In your state, I know you wouldn't take my offer, so I have instructions to terminate. In layman's terms, I will have to kill you."

My right foot slid back and I held my sword in a defensive position. "You first," I growled, my voice layered again. Mine, Palkia's, and the Lucario's? I couldn't tell. Wave smirked, his hands becoming covered in a dark aura. He lept for me, aiming a punch for my chest. I blocked it with the flat of my sword and slashed downward, thrusting him back. He slid and then disappeared, reappearing behind me and hitting me with a shadow ball. I stumbled forward, quickly regaining balance and slashing in a circle. He was cut—not deeply, for he had jumped back—and growled, aiming a shadow claw attack down my back. I backflipped and landed on his shoulders, blasting an aura sphere to the back of his head. He fell forwards and I jumped back again, landing neatly.

Just because we are helping you doesn't mean we will do everything for you, the Lucario said in my head. I nodded once, understanding.

Wave raised his body a bit, swinging his leg out in a circle and tripping me. My sword flew out of my paw and landed in his. The blue energy faded to red.

"Nice sword," he chuckled, dashing up to me and hooking the tip under my armor and lifting me up in the air, clasping his fingers around my throat. I gasped and struggled, trying to pry them apart, but that only made his get tighter.

"Is your hostess getting tired already, Luka?" he sneered. "Or are you just weaker since we last met?"

"Go to Hell," I spat weakly.

"No thanks," he replied, then laughed madly.

I felt dizzy and the world started spinning, so I kicked wildly until my foot made contact with his gut. He let go and coughed up blood, the sword point ripping off a huge chunk of my armor. I landed and swiftly grabbed his head and pulled him down, wrapping one arm around his neck and the other on his chin. Boom. Headlock. "I could snap your neck right this instant," I snarled, grinning. My voice shifted, and now it sounded like the only one speaking was Palkia. "But I'd rather not. Nothing as merciful as that, no. Anyone for him should bleed to death on the paving stones of Hell."

I grabbed my sword back and stabbed him in the shoulder of his right arm. He screamed as I yanked it down his arm and out and jumped back. His body flickered and then burst out in a maroon aura, like the fanned embers of a dying fire. That is to say he was covered in bloodied darkness. He suddenly teleported and punched me in the cheek. I slid and nearly fell, but my wings snapped out and stopped me on the air, my paws covered in a light blue aura. I thrust them forward and a blue hyper beam shot out, hitting Wave. He screeched teleporting behind me and stealing my sword and stabbing him in the left arm. I growled and he roundhouse-kicked me in the side. Inevitably, I was sent flying, but caught myself on a tree. I looked for him, but couldn't see anything except a shadow headed on a jagged path to Nyra.

"Look out Nyra!" I yelled. "He's using Shadow Sneak!" Nyra jumped up just as Wave came out of the ground with an uppercut. She quickly used Magical Leaf, but it got absorbed into his aura and grabbed her arm, slamming her into the ground. My sword shifted into a bow and I took an arrow from a sheath that had appeared on my back and notched it quickly, shooting it at Wave's heart. He caught it without looking and stabbed it into Nyra's abdomen. She screamed, flailing in his grip. I gasped and teleported behind him, stabbing an arrow into his chest, but somehow he deflected it and tackled me again, his legs pinning down my arms and holding the arrow point teasingly over my heart. "I'll admit: this isn't how I wanted it to end, but . . . oh well."

Suddenly, he stumbled forward and disappeared, reappearing in a tree. The skin around his side had been shaved off. Nyra stood a little ways in front of me, panting. I couldn't say anything.

"You shouldn't have done that, girlie," Wave called, and then threw the arrow like a dagger. It sailed through the air at an incredible velocity, lodging itself in between her ribs, piercing her lungs. She coughed once, blood splattering onto the ground, and fell forward, her eyes glassy. Luka and I yelled her name. Wave chuckled evilly. "It's what she deserves for getting in my way."

I clenched my fists, standing up and becoming covered in a light blue aura. Wave teleported to the far edge of the clearing, standing completely still. His energy became wider and wider until—

Crash! It broke into thousands of razor-sharp shards, headed straight for me. I started running towards him, dodging every shard near me. His eyes widened when I'd reached him unscathed and took an arrow, digging it into his neck and dragging it down, leaving a long gash down his throat. A rush of air escaped his mouth as he fell back, morphing back into his own body. The Zoroark was out of sight, but I could hear him clearly. "You're only delaying the inevitable." His laughter rang through my ears. "I'd advise you to stop fighting."

The two others occupying my body left, reverting me back as I stared at Wave's in horror. "No . . ."

My whole form was trembling, and tears were streaming down my face as my eyes took it in. No. I couldn't believe it.

In my mind's eye, the Lucario—Luka, the Zoroark had called him—was kneeling beside Nyra's body, stiff and silent. Palkia was sitting in a tree a ways away.

I shook my head, snapping out of it, and gingerly taking Wave's wing in my hand. The wounds on my body soon overtook me and I surrendered to a petrifying darkness.

(Luka's POV)

I dried the tears from my eyes and gently lay Nyra and Wave to rest in the makeshift graves. One last tribute. We can't take their bodies with us.

Kicking the dirt over and patting it down, I turned to Pal. "Are you coming with me?" I asked. She shook her head. "I need to report back to Arceus. He'll want to know what had happened." I nodded once, standing. "What are you gonna do with her?" she questioned, jerking her thumb towards Soul. "Isn't she—"

"She's not," I assured, not wanting her to continue. "And I'm going to help her. Take her somewhere far away, somewhere safe, and get her to become stronger." I walked over to Soul and picked her up, holding her across my arms. He head rolled back where I wasn't holding her and I gently brushed the undried tears from her cheeks. "One last thing," Pal called. "You could've easily beat Zoro if you had gone super. Why didn't you?"

I growled lowly. "It would've made Soul's body disintegrate. Our standing order is to protect her, not kill her."

Pal nodded slowly, turning and walking away. I went in the opposing direction, breaking into a run and weaving throughout the trees and underbrush easily. I looked up at the sky. It was twilight, and the sun colored the clouds red. I turned my attention back to the path quickly, not wanting to see any more blood today.

(Soul's POV)

I awoke with the wind rushing past my face, making my eyes water even more so I shut them again. The feeling of the wind overtook me and brushed away my pain, leaving only a dull ache.

I heard someone grunt, and felt a slight rising and falling sensation before the jerk of hitting the ground and taking off again. So someone was carrying me . . .

My fingers twitched and shot up, grabbing another hand that wasn't mine. It felt like a paw. The silky fur rippled in the wind. "Luka," I breathed. Thank God.

"Hey kid," he greeted. "Finally awake, sleeping beauty?" I laughed weakly. "Not exactly."

He gave a non-committal shrug and kept running.

I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck for a better grip and buried my face into his chest fur. My body trembled with silent sobs. I think he sighed.

I'd fallen asleep again, because the next thing I knew, I was staring up into the face of a Mew. I blinked, sitting up and looking around quickly. I was sitting on a grassy flat land that ended a ways in front of me and there was a lot of Pokémon flying around everywhere . . . sorry, I've been through a lot so I can't think . . .

"Ah!" the Mew greeted in delight. "You're awake!" I just blinked.

"Where are we?" I asked, my voice almost inaudible.

"The Tree of Beginning," Luka replied behind me. "One of the last safe havens for Pokémon anywhere."

"I still don't understand."

He chuckled. "I don't expect you to."

Mew flew back over and helped me stand. I nearly fell back though and Luka chuckled again. Something finally clicked. "So. Are we gonna stay here for a while?"

"That's the idea," Luka answered. I looked at Mew. "I don't mind," she reassured, grinning.

I glanced over to my right and saw a grassy ramp-like piece of land leading up. I thought for a bit. "I'm gonna explore!" I declared, running along it and going up. Looking back, I saw Luka following me. I laughed.

After much climbing, I came out on the very top ledge. The wind was furious up here. The place was a grassy plateau that dropped suddenly a little ways ahead and bushes bordering the sides. Surprisingly, clouds were sparse, and I could see a castle in the distance. " . . . ?"

"Cameron Palace," Luka explained from behind me. His proximity made me jump. How had he followed me so quietly?

"Do Pokémon live there too?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Humans," he corrected. I flinched, horror in my gaze. He looked over and frowned. "What is it?"

I shook my head to clear it. "I have a bad experience with humans," I murmured.

"Ah," he mused, not pressing the matter.

Weeks passed. Luka and I are training. Getting stronger. The Pokémon here are growing restless, just like us. Just how long are we gonna stay here like sitting ducks, waiting for something to happen?

(! *SHOT*)