The sun was slowly rising in Dawn village. When the sun passed through the window of Angel and Dusknoir residence, the little girl woke up. She grumbled as she looked at the well, wondering what would happen today. It had been uneventful for a few days since their previous mission and they had time to recover from the mission. She remembered they got a letter from Nidoran, thanking them again for saving her father and hopping that they would be better. That was warming her heart just to get a letter from a Pokémon just for thanking them again. Of course, it was her partner who read the letter.

When she fully awakened, she noticed that a large grab thing was passing over her body and trapped her there. She was confused about it, until she saw that the large hand at the end of it, I cannot be him. He wouldn't do something like that. She slowly turned around and saw the ghost Pokémon holding her against him, seemingly looking content. She didn't know what to think or do. He never did that before.

"Hum?" the ghost Pokémon woke up and felt something in his arms. He looked down and saw that he held the girl against him. The Pokémon quickly released her and floated in the air, turning his back at her, "What did I do… stupid human?"

"I don't know. I woke up and you were there," she replied.

"I guess," he pensively replied. He suddenly turned at her with a stern look and declared, "It never happen."

It's just like when he hugged me that time, the child realised, "Okay."

"Anyway-"

Alakazam suddenly opened the door. He had a panic expression on his face as he was lightly sweating and panting. He ordered, "You've got an urgent mission. Come right now to the base!"

The duo followed him.


Chapter 27: The Cursed City Of Mankind

The two rescue teams where present in the base with the mayor holding a letter with the mark of The Lord Of The Land on it. Angel and her partner were surprised when the seal of Arceus was also on it.

Scyther and Dusknoir frowned when their gaze crossed, but their attention was almost completely given to the psychic.

"What's the urgent mission?" Scyther asked.

"Something big is going on. Big at the point that Arceus himself also put the seal on it. I didn't read it right now, as Golerk told me to wait for everyone to be present," he opened the letter and gazed at them. Everyone offered their complete attention. The simple name of the legendary's asked for respect. He started reading it, "The Explorer Team from Ruby city found a mysterious city in the site of excavation a few days ago. They found out that the mysterious city could only have been made by humans. Grovyle forced the evacuation when he saw an ominous black spherical object floating in the sky. The site is currently unavailable. What is going on is that a large amount of spirits is concentrated in the lost city of the humans. The spirits were trapped there for so long that they are corrupted and tainted. They are extremely dangerous and could greatly hurt anyone who approached the city too close, for now. Which is why that we legendary's are telling you this. Angel, we summoned you here and offered you your blessing for this very moment. There is so many spirits in the city that there isn't enough Dusknoirs to deal with them."

"That many," the ghost type whispered, having little confidence in their mission. He also gazed at his partner, hearing what it was put in the letter.

"Yes Dusknoir. Arceus also personally gave a few information's on it: 'Angel, in the city, I found out that the part of you're spirt you've lost is currently in that city. Those who took it from you are storing it in the dark sphere. If you want to regain all of you, you must enter in the cavern and purify the spirits with my blessing. Also, once the mission is over, I will tell you everything about why I asked Palkia to bring you in this world. It is time to face your destiny.' That's all the letter said," the psychic concluded.

"So-" the girl couldn't say anything else.

"He said, this world?" Ariados asked as she gazed at the human.

"That doesn't make any sense," Scyther grumbled.

"Whatever it means is unimportant right now. This mission is one that Arceus wants Angel to accomplish, but given the situation, Team Salvation obviously won't go alone," the psychic declared as he sat in front of them, "Which is why Team Tempest will also join. The five of you must do everything to deal with those tainted spirits. If those remained unwatched, who knows what they could do."

They all knew what they could do, especially with the spirits Team Salvation dealt against.

Angel felt uneasy at the thought of dealing with them so soon, when the wispy tail of her partner tapped her back, "Stupid human. This will be like the first time. We just must remember it and deal like before. Of course, I won't be put down. I am the best," he proudly raised his chest.

"As if," his rival chuckled.

"Shut up!"

"Right fatso."

Both got a spoon in their eye and painfully whined, "It isn't the time for this. Get ready. You must go right now. You have to meet them at Ruby City," the mayor clapped his hands and the group quickly left.

It wasn't really a long march to Ruby City. It just felt longer than usual for the group. The reason was that they had to hear Dusknoir and Scyther argue and threw a few insults at each other's. It was getting old to hear them and that ended when Ariados forced her leader mouth to remain close. As for the ghost type, he avoided saying anything else since he still had some web stuck in his gut and on his eyeball.

They reached Ruby city and stopped. Just at the entrance was the Ruler Of The Land himself present, with many Pokémons surrounding him. Groudon was annoying by all the attention he got and lightly brighten up when he saw the Rescue Team, "Good. You're here. There is little time."

"We meet again," Grovyle said before noticing Scyther. He smiled, "Scyther! It's been years!"

"It has been since we last met," the bug Pokémon replied.

"Not now," the large red Pokémon ordered.

"Yes Groudon!" they replied.

"Follow me. I'll show you the cavern," the grass type took the lead.

As they traveled, Grovyle and Scyther still got some catch up, but they didn't slow the pace.

"So, you are now the leader of your own team. I'm sure Chesnaught will be proud of you Scyther. His spirit lives in you," he smiled at the other Pokémon.

The green bug nodded, "I'll make sure that his spirit never dies," I almost made that mistake, he thought back.

"Not worried about that," the grass type concluded as he tapped the back of the other Pokémon.

They reached the cavern and stood outside. Grovyle turned around and explained, "I'm sure Alakazam told you what happened in here?"

"Yes," the two teams replied.

"The large ball is surely the essence of all the spirits. We dealt with one before," the ghost type resumed, thinking back that it was how he met the girl.

"This one is large, and it is in a very big human city. It's as large as a really big island and very tall. I estimate that around a million of human could have live in that city," the leader of the Explorer Team resumed.

The Pokémons looked at the grass type with disbelief, except Groudon. None of them could see a city with that many people or Pokémons living in the same town. It was just so overwilling and could only see the chaos it will give birth if such a city existed.

"I am not joking about it," the Pokémon frowned at their faces, "Legends said that humans were very resourceful, they could probably pull off something like that long ago."

"But that many. It's just so crazy to even imagine about it," Ariados commented.

"So many! So many friends we could make in such a big place," Heracross joyfully commented.

Groudon grunted, "Back to the topic. It is an emergency."

"Yes. Everyone managed to get out when we saw this and came back to the city. So far, nothing happened," the Pokémon concluded.

"Wait. The big dark sphere was there, and you could get out?" Dusknoir asked.

"Yes."

"This is really bad. This isn't in a crack like our first time. It's not in a between place, but in here! No Pokémon knows what would happen in this situation," the ghost type was afraid of any possible consequence of such event, which was worrisome.

Groudon sighed, "I guess burying the city was a mistake on my part. The spirits couldn't get out and the concentration is now outside of the cracks."

"You've what?" everyone yelled.

"I buried it because it was dangerous! That place holds a history of violence when humans were gone! Every remaining's of humans are hidden to avoid such chaos! There were over five million Pokémon dead because of that! I think those spirits awoke the worse in them or the loss of humanity was destroying Pokémons in unexpectable way! No one knows what caused such impact, but humanity disappearance was the trigger. An entire way of life was just gone!" he resumed his reason for doing so, "Anyway. You have to enter in there and find a way to purify those spirits like you did before."

"We'll have to reach it first," the ghost type said.

"Then you have to go now. With a way to escape, who knows if the spirits influence might also go outside," Groudon concluded. He observed the cavern, "And I'm too big to enter anyway."

They nodded and went inside the cavern. The two teams were quiet as they could feel that the air changed, just being in the cavern felt like everything was cooler for some reason.

"Is the winter season in this cavern or what?" Heracross asked as he shivered.

"Of course not," Scyther replied as smoke came out of his mouth, "It's obviously the spirits."

"Agreed. This cold air might be what they have become. Cold and heartless. Time passed for so long that they changed, just like the air," the ghost answered as he took the lead.

The green bug type wasn't complaining, knowing that it was out of his field and was basically support for the other team. Not only that, but the mission was too dangerous for idle insult anymore, which he took it all out on their way.

"Dusknoir. Can we do it?" Angel nervously asked.

"Of course, we can. We know what to do and you know how to do it. Arceus has faith in us, which means that we can," the ghost Pokémon reassuringly answered her question, even if that faith in themselves wasn't that strong.

It made the human less nervous as they proceed further. The sound of their steps resonated in the quiet cavern. There was no trace of any Pokémon present right now. They only found a few abandoned equipment's and other items.

Eventually, they reached the end of the cavern. At the other side, they saw the remaining of a city that was once habited by humans, until they all disappeared for unknown reason. In the air, the black sphere was present.

The child gasped, founding it much bigger than the previous one they had seen when she came to their world. The sound of a heartbeat resonated in the empty devastated city.

"This place," Dusknoir whispered as his red eye observed it.

"What is it, fat ghost type?" Scyther asked with a small grin.

He never perceived the insult and whispered once again, "This place is…"

The green Pokémon grin was gone and asked, "Okay! What's going in you mind?"

"Dusknoir," his partner asked as she grabbed his hand.

The ghost Pokémon looked around and said, "This place… It's here. I know it's here," he searched for something. He stopped when he covered his head, "Why do I know this? What's going on with me?"

"Are the spirits-"

"No Heracross," the child quickly cut him.


Duskskull was watching the city from a small hill. Something or someone was by his side as they watched the beautiful down. Now that the moon was shining brightly in the sky, the city was covered with lights. From the Pokémon perspective, the city was covered with stars that amazed the Pokémon, no matter how many times he watched this.

"How can humans make such wonderful things?" He observed once more and noticed the red cross of what they called, hospital. It was like a Poké Center but made for humans only. He remembered it the most because of that big red cross, always attracting his attention.

"This is it Duskskull. It's time to begin our journey," a female voice told him.

He turned around and gazed at someone with long blond hair, floating with the wind.

"There is nothing better than saying farewell to home during the night, right?"

"Of course it is ******."

"Let's go," she excitedly said as they left the town.

"Bye home," Duskskull said. I'm already missing it. But now, I shall become strong, so you can be proud of me. He raised his head and confidently thought of his future.


"Home?" Dusknoir said as he snapped out of it, "Why did I say home?" The Pokémon felt like he came back home, and it was a weird sentiment when it wasn't his home.

That made his companions confused.

"Are you okay?" Angel asked her partner.

He gazed at her and the others. He sighed and admitted, "I feel as if I'm home right now. Somehow, for unknown reason."

They were about to go forward when the gray Pokémon added, "Angel. Did I ever tell you why I followed you to Dawn Village?"

"He called her by her name!" Heracross gasped loudly.

The girl turned around and replied, "Never."

He closed his eye and pensively thought about telling her out. Somehow, he really wanted to tell her the true. The moment he saw the blond hair in his memory, his mouth felt like talking more than usual, "The moment we met. Strange things happened in my mind," he hesitated to say more.

Scyther forced himself to hold back any snickering comment. It wasn't the time and focused on observing the city, just in case something happened, "Tell her now, because we won't have time later."

The gray Pokémon glared at his annoying rival, before turning back to her. He hated that the green bug type was right. He grumbled, just before sighing, "Since I've met you Angel-"

"He said it again!"

"Shut it blue bug/Heracross!" Dusknoir and Ariados yelled at him while the leader of Team Tempest rolled his eyes.

"As I was saying," he glared at the blue Pokémon, "Strange memories came back in my mind. Very old one that I never thought I had. I wanted to figure out more about it, so I joined you. Somehow, I really wanted to remember it. Like a treasure I've lost long ago," he gazed at her and added, "It was a selfish reason Angel. And this city is also causing more to come out."

The child took a while to answer. She walked forward and replied, "It's… what I was expecting Dusknoir," she turned around and lightly smiled, "But thanks for telling the true."

The ghost Pokémon saw that the child was upset. It was a long time since he joined her and told her the true. He saw behind her smile. For a second, she wanted to frown, but stopped it at the last second. He didn't miss that. The Pokémon didn't apology as they went forward.

I knew it was a selfish reason from the start. Why am I… feeling disappointed? The girl thought as they marched forward.

Team Tempest followed them as they reached the entrance of the city. The dark sphere above was beating loudly. The teams looked around, wondering if spirits were ready to target them. So far, everything was calm.

The ghost Pokémon flew a little higher and looked at the core where the energy of the spirits was assembling. He knew it would be too dangerous to fly right at it. He noticed a tall tower, one that looked in good enough condition to be used to reach it, "I think I found a way," he pointed forward.

The group looked at the tower. It was as if it was climbing its way to the ominous black sun floating in the sky, ready to cause any catastrophe possible and left to their imagination.

"It's the best way," Scyther agreed, despite finding the plan risky and the structure fragile.

They walked in the city. As the child looked down, it was clear that the street was completely broken and most of it was now the ground of the cavern. She looked around and saw little that reminded her of a city. There was no window anymore, the buildings were either destroyed by battles or time, while only few were still standing, leaving their purpose unknown.

"Feels like there was an old fight in here," Ariados commented.

"Like Pokémons fighting against each other's. We can barely see what remains of the chaos that once existed here," Dusknoir commented.

That made Team Tempest uneasy, as they couldn't believe there was an era where their ancestors were that violent, but since they knew the Legendries had to act, everything was possible.

The group stopped when a dark shadowy figure manifested in their way. It looked nothing like a human, but closer to a Pokémon.

Angel looked closer and found it looking a little like a Blaziken, but its body was completely black and shining red and blue eyes locked on them.

The group was ready for battle as the spirit said, you are the one who killed my trainer! You are the only one!

That left them confused, but they dodged a dark fire ball and knew they had to fight back.

To Be Continued


AC: This is the end of this chapter.

Next: Unforgotten Bonds.