A week after Elio and Lillie confronted XD-004 and XD-010
With in the most center point of a moon lit Alola, a shadowy orb was seen in the distance. BOOM! As a Shadow Void engulfed the entire region. There was faint screaming to be heard, then there was nothing. For one person caught in the blast; there was no sound, no one around, just a lonely dark void. Then there was a faint light to wake him up. Gladion came through as he saw a world engulfed in a purplish red void with only the moon to light the way. From the trailer park he saw people laying asleep and in pain. Not wanting to feel alone in the dark void, he sent out his Lucario and Silvally. The Lucario detected something in the distance and bolted. Gladion followed in pursuit.
As he followed, images of creatures resembling pokemon could be seen. Most are distorted to weird and twisted forms. Some are in the form of those not native to the region. Gladion caught up with his Lucario, they transverse the rocky hills of route 12. The creatures became hostile as they traveled, most if not all of them faded when struck. As they entered the bamboo forest of route 11, Gladion and his two pokemon found one image that the Lucario found most unsettling. A large yellow spider emerged from the forest known as Galvantula. The Galvantula glared at its potential victim as it prepared to attack.
Gladion noticed and asked. "What is that? You think something is wrong with this pokemon? You and Silvally, lets go!" As the Lucario warned him that this Galvantula was no mere illusion, Gladion took a red disc and tossed it to a case in Silvally. Changing its type from water to fire as it prepared for the approaching pokemon.
A Galvantula appeared
Gladion shouted. "Silvally, slice the Galvantula with your fiery talons. Lucario use psychic!"
As Silvally's claws glowed a fiery red glow, it slashed into the Galvantula. It did not do as much damage as it should have been against the Galvantula. The Lucario's psychic blast, did even less damage. The Galvantula growled as it shot a dark web at the Gladion, Silvally leaped in front of its trainer to take the web.
ZAP!
As dark lighting coursed through the webbing into Silvally, it grunted and tore the webbing off with its claws.
Gladion's eyes widened as he realized what he was fighting. "This is a shadow pokemon!"
His initial look of shock turned into a scowl as he posed. "Silvally! Lucario! Keep attacking!"
As the Lucario and Silvally attacked the Galvantula, it struggled before trying to shadow end the Silvally. It missed as the two pokemon knocked it back. Gladion saw it as his chance as he fed a net ball into the snag machine for the first time. "Go snag ball!"
Shake... shake... shake... click!
Gladion tended to the Silvally as he picked up the ball containing the shadow Galvantula.
The trio bolted toward Malie city. It was still wrecked by Wes's confrontation with Shadow Tornadus, but it still stood. Cars have crashed, anyone who was out doing things were seen asleep. It has been a couple week's since the curfew was placed, regarding Ciphers activities and it was a couple days away from being lifted. More distorted creatures made manifest, some of them taking the form of strange paper, others flying bamboo, most of dying sludge and collecting garbage being chased. As Gladion approached the docks, a strange creature loomed. A creature with a blue body, a crescent moon for a head and pink wings. Gladion stirred the nerve to ask asked. "What are you? You know anything about what is going on?"
The strange pokmon presented him with the image of a volcano.
Gladion wondered. "Wela? What does that have to do... that is where what ever is causing this is at. Right?"
The creature nodded as she offered him a ride to the next island. Gladion called back his two pokemon as he accepted the strange creatures assistance.
The lunar pokemon was able to guide Gladion to Panolia Ranch on Akala; it was about as far as she would go. As he got closer to the volcano, what was a full moon has faded into a half moon. Slowly becoming red. The distorted imagery became worse, as what was resembling pokemon now distorted into a mesh of ghastly creatures. Creatures with parts that should not be there or simply creatures behaving like that of Porygon-Z at times.
Before him was an faded image. A cloaked creature living in solitude, away from the world. Imagery of people falling victim to its mere presence as they fall asleep, never to wake up. Imagery of that crescent creature always being there to do something about it. Gladion recognized the crescent creature as the one who guided him to Akala and into the source of the nightmare; the legendary pokemon Cresselia. "So that was how I woke up? That po..."
Gladions eyes widened as he realized WHAT was going on. Everyone being asleep, the Cresselia, the images resembling that of a distorted nightmare and the shadow pokemon all came together. "Those bastards! Lucario could you get a reading what is ahead of us?"
Lucario grunted as he guided Gladion to the Royal Avenue, they find what was a festive location laid barren barring the people asleep. Distorted imagery of cotton candy, ice cream and maniacal dolls hover over the victims heads as they attacked Gladion. Fading when either Gladion or Lucario hit them. Out of the Masalda shop a large pink creature resembling the store logo emerged; a Slurpuff. Lucario growled as it recognized it as another shadow pokemon.
Gladion wasted no time as he pounded his fists for the Z-Move. "CORKSCREW CRASH!" The Slurpuff was significantly damaged by the drilling Lucario, but the shadowy effects of the void reduced the damage from a knock out to a being close to a knockout. The Slurpuff glowed a dark Aura as it breathed a shadow burn on the Lucario, leaving a burn. Gladion fed a dusk ball into the snag machine.
"Go snag ball!"
Shake... shake... shake... click!
Gladion placed the dusk ball into his pocket as he advanced toward the volcano park.
The imagery regarding the cloaked creature returned as Gladion reached toward the park. This time it was surrounded by a group of people. A howling scream was heard as the imagery faded to pitch black darkness. The very moon that guided Gladion, became more red as it faded into the void. The closer he got to the volcano, the more distorted the screams became, images involving dark light shined and distorted hands crawled.
Voices were heard. "Stubborn creature... You will break... they dared to defy us... Teach these two a lesson..."
Gladion gathered from the things he read during his adventure in Ciphers Lab as he let out Silvally. He has heard of this pokemon from old stories; a creature of myths, known, feared and hated for its power to put anything around it into a nightmare induced coma of which there is normally no escape. Darkrai as they called it, lived alone normally with Cresselia always near him. Cresselia has the power to dispel the nightmares inflicted by Darkrai.
As Gladion mentally pieced together why a Darkrai was in Alola, he reached to the summit of the volcano. The imagery became less distorted, but still horrific for a different reason. Ghost pokemon littered a desolate ground. Floating Duskulls, skittering gem eyed Sableye, even a Spiritomb aimlessly wandered these grounds. Oddly enough, the ghost did not attack, they were crying over something. Lucario detected a creature hovering down the summit. A large bulky cyclops creature with an antenna on its head and a face on its stomach, holding a strange claw. The Dusknoir was identified as a shadow pokemon by the Lucario. As Gladion swapped Lucario and Silvally out for Porygon-Z and Weavile, the Dusknoir was ready to attack.
Dusknoir appeared.
The claw glowed, giving an other wise slow pokemon the first move. Dusknoir used shadow sky, causing dark streams to rain down. Gladion shouted. "Porygon-Z use dark pulse, Weavile use night slash. Even this spectre is no match for either of you!"
As the Weavile slashed into the Dusknoir, the Porygon-Z unleashed a pulse of distorted thoughts. Despite the type advantage, less damage was dealt than expected.
The Dusknoir glowed a dark aura as it rammed into the Weavile for a shadow end k.o. "Weavile come back, Crobat take flight!"
As Gladion swapped pokemon, the Dusknoir roared as it used shadow half on the Crobat, reducing its vitality. Gladion shouted. "Crobat use acrobatics. Porygon-Z keep it up!"
As the Crobat struck, the Dusknoir slumped over for a recharge. The Porygon-Z pulsed into the Dusknoir, weakening it more. The Dusknoir roared as it lunged at the Porygon-Z to end its annoyance, it missed. The Crobat swooped down and knocked it on its stomach.
Gladion saw this as his chance as he fed another Dusk ball into the snag machine. "GO SNAG BALL!" "Shake... shake... shake... click!"
The surrounding ghost looked at Gladion for defeating the Dusknoir, then looked at each other. They cheered for an odd reason before fading away. "What was that a..." Gladion shook his head as he tried to understood some of the images and collect the third capture. "Forget it. Good work you two. Lucario, Silvally I need you out here!"
He had Silvally switched from a fire type to a pink fairy type with the Fairy memory before signalling both pokemon to follow him to the summit. The moon became pure blood red as it faded into a new moon, rising from the shadow a cloaked figure loomed.
The cloaked creature revealed itself exactly as Gladion feared. The Pitch Black pokemon, Darkrai. The edges of its body are blueish purple its visible eye is yellow and its face has what looked like a blue jaw, with what is considered hair to be ghostly white. It loomed over Gladion as it roared, ready to attack.
XD-003 Shadow Darkrai
The Lucario shook as it alerted Gladion about the Darkrai. Gladion asked "You sense something in that thi..."
The Lucario shook his head at the problem. Other than a black aura, it sensed absolutely nothing in that Darkrai. No thoughts, no will, just constant whispers and a desire to bring oblivion.
Gladion froze in horror as he shook it off. "So that is what Wes meant by empty? Lucario! Silvally! Let's take this thing down!"
As the Silvally and Lucario prepare to take on the shadow pokemon, Gladion shouted. "Silvally, Lucario pierce this darkness."
Much like the shadow pokemon before as the fairy embedded claws slashed into the Darkrai, it dealt less damage. The aura sphere fared little better as it slammed into the Darkrai. It shrugged it off and glowed in a dark aura as it let loose thousand maddening whispers on the three. The whispers are reactions of fear, sorrow, anger, pain coming from everywhere.
Gladion tried to keep his sanity from the shadow panic. "Lucario, same attack again! Silvally use x scissor!"
The two pokemon were disoriented from the order but they attacked again, the Silvally's attacks were enough to do critical damage as it slammed the Darkrai into a stone wall.
As the Darkrai emerged from the wall, a faint glimmer was felt. The blood red moon became a crescent moon. The Darkrai, looked toward the moonlight. The Lucario flinched as it sensed something stir in the void. The Darkrai twitched from shock as it returned from what looked a trance. The Lucario shot another sphere into the Darkrai; it glared back as it caused a void of hands to reach out and drag the Lucario into the abyss.
Gladion rushed in to pull the Lucario out. "Silvally use another multi attack!"
Silvally slashed into the Darkrai; Darkrai glared at Gladion. More hands emerged from the abyss, pulling Gladion into into the void with the Lucario. As whispers were heard, the Silvally rushed in to pull both Gladion and Lucario out of the abyss. As even more hands emerged to drag all three into the abyss, a faint cry is heard. The hands loosened as the Darkrai turned to where it came from. All three flung out of the dark void. Silvally slashed another multi attack into the Darkrai, it did not flinch as it was drawn closer to the sound.
Gladion pounded his fist's together as he ordered the Lucario to use its Z move. "Corkscrew Crasher!"
The Lucario drilled into the Darkrai, again and again slaming through the ground to drill a crater. As it risen from the impact, it roared as total darkness enveloped the surrounding area. The whispers return again as purple beams of light were being shot at the trio.
As the Silvally and Lucario shot back at them Gladion hears the very voices surrounding them. "Destroy, leave them in pain and afraid." The Lucario sensed these voices directed into Darkrai, the pitch black pokemon twitching more and more as the voices grew louder and more finally one voice boomed.
"Stop!" The Darkrai held its head as that one voice kept booming.
Gladion saw the opportunity to end the fight as he fed a dusk ball into the machine. "Go snag ball!"
Shake... Shake... pop!
As the Darkrai emerged from the broken ball, it roared as lunged toward Gladion. Silvally swatted the Darkrai back as the darkness faded; a glistering full moon radiated across the field. The Darkrai flinched again as it is bathed in the moon light.
"Go snag ball!"
Shake... POP!
Gladion glared. "Damn it! Come on Darkrai, let me help you!"
As Gladion tried to figure out what was happening to the Darkrai, it sent out a dark storm at the three in an attempt to hurl them off the cliff. The combined weight and Silvally holding Gladion, prevented even a budge. As the Darkrai glared in hate, something fell in front of it. A green crescent feather; the Darkrai moved its hands to grab the falling feather, it continued to remember as it kept twitching from shock. Unaware of Gladion's third attempt at a dusk ball. "Go snag ball!"
Shake... shake... shake... click!
Gladion sighed. "Finally!"
As Gladion and his two pokemon approach the dusk ball, the full moon and a crescent moon joined together in a glistering energy.
When Gladion came through, he was back at the trailer park where his adventure started with the sun slowly rising. His pokemon back in their balls. "Wha... what happened?"
As he thought of whether or not all his adventure was a dream, he found in his hand's four poke balls he remembered using. Three dusk balls and a net ball. As he tossed one of the dusk balls, the same Darkrai emerged. Rendered immobile, as if it is wanted something done.
Gladion flinched as he sent it back into its ball. "I think Miss Wicke may want to hear about this."
As Gladion returned to Aether, he noticed many of the employees were behaving like they woke up from a nightmare. He had no idea how many of the events the previous night actually happened nor how many were just a bad dream. What any of the images he seen really meant, nor the Darkrai's behavior as a shadow pokemon. It behaved much like a heartless monster, but something in it kept telling it to stop.
When Gladion arrived at Wicke's office, he found her gasping like the others; Like she woke up from a bad dream. "Ma... Master Gladion, I did not expect to see you here this early. I thought you would be training that Larvitar up more for your eventual trip to Orre."
Gladion nodded as he found out she was alright. "Something weird has happened. I don't know what happened last night, but you may want to look at these."
Gladion handed over the four balls to Wicke; she placed them in the scanner to check on what was inside. "Oh my, where did you..." Wicke gasp in shock as she scanned the ball containing the Darkrai. "This explained quite a bit. Master Gladion, do you know of this pokemon?"
Gladion nodded. "I read stories about this one. A pokemon of myths that is known for putting people in nightmare induced comas. Often it is feared and hated for its power. It also has a counter part Cresselia, a pokemon known to wake people up from these nightmares."
Wicke gave a false smile to hide the fear of what happened. "That is correct, a Darkrai often live's far away from people and pokemon alike. It is very territorial for the same reason it always lives close to Cresselia. It cannot control its power very well."
Gladion continued the tale. "It lives close to her because when ever Darkrai's power reaches a point where it cannot control it. She is always there to do something about it."
Gladion looked at the scanner containing the corrupted Darkrai. "This looked like one Cipher had their hands on for a while and unleashed it on all of Alola."
Wicke's face turned pale as Gladion finished speculating. "That explained why everyone else was under the effects of the nightmare. I don't know why but they intended to use this thing to kill everyone."
Gladion glared. "Considering that most who fall under Darkrai's nightmares tend to die... I can see how that would work." He looked at the snag machine he was wearing as he placed it back on the desk. "I was among those caught in the blast. I think the reason why Cresselia woke me up was to do something about Darkrai."
Wicke nodded back. "Correct, but Cresselia normally has the power to wake few people at a time. To wake everyone in the region up. I think she had help from somewhere."
Gladion shook his head. "Since I found a full moon during that battle, I can guess who. I doubt Cresselia would have been able to directly confront this Darkrai alone without some help."
Wicke pointed at Gladion. "Like you?"
Gladion grinned briefly before he frowned again. "I seen shadow pokemon before, but something was wrong in comparison to the others. Any ideas?"
Wicke looked over at the ball containing Darkrai. "Yes, this shadow pokemon is considered an XD class shadow pokemon. Those who's hearts are forever closed."
Gladion looked away at hearing those words again. "That explained why Lucario felt nothing in that pokemon, Anything that could be done about him? When me, Silvally and Lucario fought this thing. There was something still sparking back in him."
Wicke shook her head. "If the reports on the XD shadow pokemon is correct. This pokemon, through natural means is beyond saving."
Her frown turned into faint hope. "But there is one means to help this pokemon that is found on Orre. Elio and Lillie have been working on that machine for weeks."
Gladion glared in annoyance and rolled his eyes. "So you are saying that I am going to have to go to Orre for this one as well? Looks like you are going to have to keep an eye on Lusamine while I am away. Speaking of which, we should check on her. If Darkrai's nightmare affected..."
Both of the two widen their eyes when they realized what Lusamine might have seen in the nightmare as they rushed to check on her.
On her bed room at the manor, there was a note left behind. "Dear Gladion and or Wicke. If you are reading this, I am taking a flight to Orre. There is something I have to do to fix the mess I have made. Unless you have a large enough flying pokemon yourself, don't bother following. That Charizard is only good for this region and all other methods of getting in and out of Orre are not available at the time."
The two reading the note realized that Lusamine got up before nearly everyone else and had her Altaria directly fly her to Orre. Gladion's eyes widen on how insane it sounded. "Damn it. Wicke, try getting Elio on the phone! I will go call Lillie!"