Intermission

"Ooh…" Gaia slowly opened his eyes to find himself staring at a white ceiling. He looked down and saw that he was a in a bed with white sheets and mattress. Am I in hospital? He wondered. He opened his lips. They were dry and parched. "Hello?" he rasped, "Is anyone there?"

"Oh, you're up!" He recognized that voice. It was Seth's mother, Victoria. She had the same healing abilities as her son and worked at the hospital as a nurse. She was always nice to him and let him stay over at Seth's house during holidays when he felt like it. The female Sableye came over with a relieved look on her face. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Just thirsty." Gaia replied.

"Only that?"

"Yeah,"

"Good. That means I did my job well. Here, drink. Your mouth must be feeling like the Arid Zone desert." Victoria took a glass of water from a nearby table and offered it to him. He drank it gratefully and slowly, letting the cool liquid fall down his throat. When he was finished, she asked him, "What were you doing back in the stadium? The whole town is talking about it. Rumours have been flying everywhere,"

"What, weren't you there?"

"No, I wasn't. I was at the hospital working."

"I fought a giant Aggron with a sword and won. I was also taking the first step in saving the world from darkness," Gaia said bluntly.

There was silence. Victoria stared at him.

"It's good to see that you have a large imagination, but seriously, what were you doing?"

Gaia rolled his eyes. This was exactly what he expected, "Look, you can ask Seth. He knows." Then he realized something, "My friends! Where are they?"

"They're outside," Victoria said and pointed to a door, "I told them not to enter until you woke. Shall I let them in?"

"Yeah, that would be nice,"

She walked over and the opened the door, then stood next to it. Instantly, Seth and Alice rushed in. Then came Raydir, Mitt and Janua. Fau, Leala, Shia, Alex and Zyphra were next and behind them trailed Riley, Garrett and Master Dusk. Gaia was shocked. He hadn't been expecting this much people. Still, it was rather touching that so many people cared about him. He was also surprised to see that Alex hadn't started going all fangirl on him.

"Great! You're awake!" Seth exclaimed happily.

Garrett smiled at the Grovyle, "My daughter was quite concerned about you, if you must know."

Alice scowled and nudged her father in the ribs, "Father! I told you not to say that!" He only smiled and gave her a wink.

Gaia gave her a small grin, "So were you worried about me or not?" he asked playfully.

She sighed, defeated, "Yes, I was." Then she walked over and smacked him on the cheek…hard.

"Ow!" Gaia cried, rubbing the place where he had been hit, "What was that for!"

"For making me worry myself sick!" Alice shouted, "Do you know how terrified I was when you fought that Aggron? I thought you would die! And when you started climbing up its arm and shoulder, I was scared that you fall off and get yourself killed! It was like the Tower of the Wind all over again!" She then went over and hugged him. "Please don't do that again," she whispered.

Mitt grinned at them, "I always knew you had feelings for him, Alice."

She turned around and gave him a glare, "Shut up."

"In all seriousness Gaia," Master Dusk began, "What exactly have you been doing for the past couple of weeks? You disappear for two days, and then you come back with a sword and save the town from a giant Aggron. And then there's the question of what the Aggron was made of. No ordinary Pokemon should collapse into black dust when killed."

"Well, that's because the Aggron was a Shadow Pokemon!" Seth chirped.

Everyone suddenly started paying attention to him, "A Shadow Pokemon?" Janua asked.

"Yep! Shadow Pokemon are born from the darkness in people's souls. They lurk in the most dangerous parts of the world and are capable of speech. All attacks do only half damage to them, except for the Spirit Sword, which does double damage. It's Gaia's duty to save the world from the Shadow Pokemon and everything." He really must have been paying attention to Kinesis.

There was a long silence as everyone processed this information. They all came to the exact same conclusion: Seth was making things up again. "Son," Riley said gently, "I know you have a huge imagination, but this is going too far. We can't joke about things like this."

"It's all true," Alice said seriously, "We met this Alakazam called Kinesis, and he explained everything. He said that the Shadow Pokemon existed a long time ago, and sixteen guardians sealed them away, but for some reason they're coming back again."

The group considered this. Alice was known for being serious. She wasn't known for joking around. That was Seth's job. Garrett walked over to his daughter and fiercely stared at her. "Alice, are you lying to me?" he asked calmly.

Alice stared back at her father with equal ferocity, "No father, I am not." She said with equal calmness. The two of them kept up their little staring contest for a minute, before Garrett pulled away and said, "She's not lying."

"How can you be sure, sir?" Zyphra asked sceptically.

"Her eyes do not lie." That was all the Garchomp said.

"I have a better solution," Riley piped up, "I work for the local autopsy, as some of you may know. One of my jobs is to search people's mind or information." He turned to Gaia, who was still in bed. "Gaia, will you allow me to access your mind for information?"

The Grovyle considered this for a moment, then said, "Okay, but no peeking into my private life. Just go back to yesterday."

"Very well." Riley placed on hand on top of Gaia's head and concentrated. His eyes closed and two of them fell into a deep trance.

XXXXXXXX

Riley found himself standing in a hallway filled with doors. "Good, no mind blocks," he said to himself. He hated it when people did this. They were annoying as hell and destroying them required a lot of effort and energy. Some of the doors were transparent; others were covered in intricate designs. "I must find the memory bank," he muttered to himself. He set off down the corridors. He passed the love, hate, joy and rage rooms. At the love room, which had a transparent door, he stopped to look inside. There was a medium-sized statue of Alice in the middle of the room. It was the only thing there. He smirked before carrying on. After walking past a few more, he found the right door and opened it.

Now he was standing in a round room with more doors. These doors were opaque and looked wooden. But Riley knew how to find the right memory. "Yesterday!" he shouted. The doors spun around and around on the walls until a red one stopped right in front of him. "This is it," He entered it.

He was facing a large glass sphere in front of him. It displayed all the memories from yesterday in Gaia's point of view. He saw Kinesis explain the situation to Gaia and was amazed. He saw Gaia fight the giant Aggron and was astounded by his bravery and the techniques he used. He made up his mind. None of Team Enforcers were lying. He focused and felt himself drifting back to the real world.

XXXXXXXX

Riley opened his eyes. A second later, so did Gaia. "So, what about it?" Zyphra asked, "Is he lying?"

He shook his head, "It's true. All of it. Gaia is the one who will save the world." Everyone gasped.

"Yeah!" Seth exclaimed, "I told you so!"

"Man, why does Gaia get all the good stuff?" Shia complained. First the four plates, now this! She really was jealous.

"Wow. That's cool…" Leala exclaimed. Her eyes were sparkling with admiration.

"Dear Arceus Gaia," Raydir said, "You had better not screw this up."

The Grovyle sweatdropped, "Stop it you guys, you're making me nervous." He muttered.

"So Gaia, what are planning to do?" Master Dusk asked.

He was thrown a bit by this question, "I'm not sure," he admitted, "I guess I'll go and find the plates with my friends."

"I don't think you should be doing that," Riley spoke up.

Gaia was confused, "Okay, why not?"

"I saw the battle. You're not very good at handling a sword, are you?"

The Grovyle flushed and looked a bit embarrassed, "Well, I've only just started using it," he said defensively.

"Riley is correct," Master Dusk said, "I'll have Sensei Bones train you for a while,"

Gaia groaned. Master Dusk frowned, "What the matter? Don't you like Sensei Bones?"

"I would like him more if he stopped shouting in my ear," he muttered. Sensei Bones was in charge of the harsh survival training the students took when they were fifteen. He was known for pushing them to their very limits and screaming abuse in their ear. It was true that he had good intentions, but that didn't stop the students hating him.

"You're the one who has to save the world," the old Dusknoir reminded, "I know that Bones isn't the most liked member of our staff, but I'm sure you can put up with him for a while."

"Yeah, you're right." Gaia sighed.

"So what about Alice and me?" Seth asked, "I mean, we're the ones who fight with Gaia all the time. Do we get special training too?"

"I will train you, if that is okay with your father," Master Dusk replied. Riley gave him a nod of approval.

"My daughter, how would you like to learn some of our clan's more advanced techniques?" Garret asked. Alice smiled and said, "That would be nice, father."

"Can I get out of bed now?" Gaia interrupted, "I want to show you all my new moves,"

"Yep, sure. But before we go, Alex has something to tell you," Seth said, "Isn't that right, Alex?"

"What?" the Grumpig said.

"You want to apologize, right? Go and do it,"

Alex hesitated, then broke into speech, "Gaia, I have realised that my attraction for you was stupid and I apologize for all the things I have done," She said this with a completely straight face.

Gaia stared at her for a moment, "Apology accepted," he said and extended his hand. The two of them shook hands. "Just don't go all fangirl on me, okay?"

"I promise I won't."

XXXXXXXX

Now everyone was at Academy Training Ground Number 14. It was now in the afternoon. Unfortunately for them, a swarm of people had gathered around the hospital and tried to ask Gaia questions. There even some fangirls. Eventually Garrett lost his temper and scared everyone away with his roaring and threatening. Alex and Alice 'helped' the somewhat stronger ones to leave. When they arrived, Gaia had requested for some logs to be placed on the flat surface. He then formed the sword in his hand and got into a guarding position.

"Flare Blitz!" He shouted. His blade of his sword extended to double its length and it became covered with fire. He swung it around and set fire to the log, cutting it to pieces in the process. He cringed with pain and the sword returned to its normal length. "Ow…that hurts," he groaned.

"Why?" Raydir asked.

"Flare Blitz is a recoil move, remember?" He then proceeded to show off his Waterfall and Aerial Ace moves, albeit awkwardly and in an unskilled fashion.

"You really need training," Master Dusk commented, "You're holding the sword in the wrong fashion and your swings are slow and awkward. Do you know how to guard or parry?"

Gaia shook his head, "When do I start?"

The Dusknoir smiled, "Tomorrow."

Omake (Bonus Scene)

Four years ago…

Seth was in hospital, asleep. He was in there because he had been badly beaten up by Alice for insulting her cooking (again). The female Gabite told herself she would apologize once he woke up. Riley and Victoria were visiting him. His other friends had already left.

Riley put his hand on Seth's head. Victoria noticed, "Darling, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to look into his mind. We agreed on it, remember?"

"Okay then, but if you crush our only son's mind I'm never forgiving you."

"I know."

Riley concentrated and soon he felt himself falling into Seth's mind. He looked around. No blocks here. He was going to have a word with his son when he left.

He looked around. The door closest to him was the love room. He went over to the transparent door and looked inside it. Inside it were two large statues of him and Victoria. He smiled. But there was also something else. There was a statue of a Sneasel, and she was smiling.

Riley smirked. "Well, it's about time already." He left to explore the other pits of Seth's mind.