I had doubts about this chapter's title... and I wanted to name it, "Who let the dogs out?". You'll know why later down the road. However, I didn't go forward with it because of the rather serious tone of this chapter. Things are going to get hectic from here on!

Chapter 36

So Begins Death

The spire started shaking violently, as a growl could be heard from underneath the rubble. A shout followed, as a smoke of darkness burst out of the top violently, shattering the rocks and launching them everywhere. Said smoke crashed into the top of the spire, the smoke dispersing to reveal Clades, a look of anger in his face. He had been tricked by whatever those things were, and had now lost sight of them. He roared out in anger and slammed his fist against the ground, cracks appearing for how hard he had hit it. He got up on his legs and pulled out his swords, determined to fly off and chase after those fools again.

However, he had barely lifted off when a huge ball of energy that flew past his head, missing him by inches. The creature didn't bother to turn around to face his attacker, as he knew who it was. He had been expecting the legendary Dialga after all. - Lord Dialga... What an unexpected surprise... - Clades said with a fake surprised tone. - Save your formalities for hell, you traitor. - The pokemon said. Clades smiled to himself, turning around to face Dialga. - But... my lord, what are you saying? - He asked. - I found you out. You are the one that's been traveling in time under my nose, aren't you? You're the one that's been causing disturbances. - Dialga said, exposing him. Clades humphed and faced the legendary pokemon completely. - Took you long enough to figure it out. - He said.

- You idiot... Don't you know that you could destroy time itself! Are you insane?! - He shouted. Clades however, only laughed. - Yes. I know I could destroy time, and with it the rest of this pathetic world as well. It seems however, that you haven't been able to figure it out completely though. - He said, a wicked smile in his face. - What are you saying? Speak, now! - He threatened. - Well, in reality, I want to destroy this world completely. - He explained to the pokemon. Dialga stared at him, his eyes widening. - What?! Are you out of your mind?! You will die as well! - He shouted. - Incorrect. One of the advantages to being a inter dimensional being, like me, is that even if I die in one world, I'll just appear on another. Besides, by the time I am destroyed, all worlds will be gone, and the nothing shall rule again! - Clades shouted, opening out his arms as if he were to be embracing something.

Dialga was horrified about what he was hearing. - You... you've gone mad! I can't let you do this! - He shouted, tensing up and ready to fight him. Clades laughed. - You think that you can defeat me? You may think you're powerful... but you're nothing! You think that you control time itself, and believe you're a deity... but you couldn't be further away from the truth! You're just a pathetic living creature who thinks it has an immense amount of power! - Clades shouted, anger building up inside of the legendary, who roared out before charging against him. The pokemon was about crash into him... but the creature simply rose a hand, the legendary's head crashing into it, stopping on the spot.

Clades didn't even flinch, smirking as he used his favorite spell. Dialga howled out as he experienced the most excruciatingly painful moment of his whole existence. Pain coursed down from his brain, sparked down and dispersed through all the nerves of his body and then came back, provoking an orchestra of screams that came out of his mouth. To his shame too, the pain was unbearable, and Clades was filled with a sickening joy as he saw tears coming out of the most feared being in that world. He buried the sharp end of his fingers into his head, the spell going directly into his brain, making the experience immensely painful. The pain in fact, became too much as the legendary completely blacked out, falling down, freeing himself from Clades' grip.

He backed away from Dialga's body, shaking the blood off his fingers, smirking. He then looked around, and noticed that Blake was standing at the edge of the spire, and had been watching the whole scene, another wicked smile on the umbreon's face. - You know... this is just another one of the reasons I prefer you as an ally. - He said. Clades smiled. - Were you afraid? - He asked. - No... but the amount of screaming he did... that was truly magnificent. You must teach me to use that spell. - Blake said, walking up to the unconscious legendary. - It's a magic that is far too complex... I can teach you a weaker version... although if you know how to use it... you can get results as good as this one. - He said, looking at Dialga.

- Now... enough with the spell... it is time that we start our plan. - Clades said. Blake nodded. - Of course... The gem is right here... - Blake said, the gem appearing out of thin air, thanks to a spell that he ha acquired long ago. He made the gem float over to the unconscious pokemon, and then forcefully encrusted it into it's body. The gem started glowing intensely, a blood red light coming off as it sucked the pokemon clean of it's powers. - I encountered that human before. He's far more rude than I imagined. - The pokemon said. - Don't worry about him. You'll be seeing the last of him and his friends shortly. Since our creation failed, I think it's time we jumped into the act. - Clades suggested. - Yes... it will be nice to get some revenge at last... - Blake said, chuckling evilly as he observed how their plan went along perfectly, nothing being able to stop them.

(Night of Fate – Kingdom Hearts 1.5)

Electro punched off the head of the last water morph, turning his attention back at the small charmander, who was trying to pull his mother, a charizard, from underneath some rubble. However, her tail, whose flame was gone was sticking out, a clear sign of the fact that she was dead. Electro quickly grabbed the small pokemon, who tried to free himself from the electric type's grasp, and quickly ran away into one of the few safe houses in town, were some pokemon were actually makign a stand. Without saying anything, he entered the house, earning a look from everyone, placed the cahrmander of the floor and quickly ran back out.

On his way, he saw destroyed houses, fired that were blazing intensely, pokemon of every shape and color crying or screaming in horror, either of sadness from having lost someone dear or pain of being murdered right in front of his very eyes. He couldn't save everyone. He already knew this. Even though he felt like hating himself from leaving to die all of those innocents, he couldn't do anything about them. It saddened him to think this way... but at that moment they weren't important. Almost at the verge of tears, he rushed ahead, trying to outrun the cries of help around him. He wasn't the only one running around helping others though. Many of the police force members were helping, as well as some other pokemon that were brave enough to risk their lives.

He was heading for the center of town, were the destruction was a lot more devastating. The only ones there were the only ones actually fighting against the menace, not just defending themselves. He noticed Marowak, swinging around his bone against anything that came even close to him. Electro jumped in just to prevent a water Tyranitar from biting his head off, the water creature falling into a puddle as it was shocked into oblivion. - Thanks... - Marowak said while panting heavily. - Just like old times, eh? - Electro cockily asked, the ground type rolling his eyes. - Aside from that, have you seen...? - He was interrupted by a female shout behind him. - Heads down! - They both heard. Electro ducked down just in time to avoid a large wood chunk flying over their heads, completely destroying the remaining water creatures. They both turned around to look at Kangaskhan, who was approaching them slowly.

- I see that you guys still need some saving after all. - She cockily said. - Some don't change too much after all. - Marowak said, smirking, happy to see that part of the team was back in shape. - Yeah, you could say that. Anyways, any of you seen Slew? - He asked. - I think I saw him charge into the plaza a few minutes ago, where the guild guys are fighting. - The ground type pokemon said. Electro nodded and prepared to head that way, but he was stopped by Kangaskhan shouting at him. - Hey! Were are you going?! - She asked. The electric type turned around. - I have to find him! You guys go back deeper into town and help all of those you can find! - He shouted. He heard more shouts from both of them, but the pokemon ignored them and kept going. Both of his friends looked at eachother and sighed, before they ran off deeper to do what the electrivire had told them.

It wasn't that long before he saw a huge stone pillar being risen up and down and slammed into the ground brutally, swinging and dissipating anything around it. That was Wigglytuff, who was using all his strength to help his guildmembers, who were fighting by his side. Chatot was flying around and pecking in the head anything in his way, whilst Groagunk was moving swiftly, jumping and dodging everything and stabbing all of his enemies with his poisonous fingers. Electro charged in to defend Loudred and Sunflora, who were surrounded by some of the morphing creatures, which didn't have defined shapes yet, although they were bipedal and had two arms. Electro jumped and threw his arms forward, launching a lighting bolt that spread from one of the creatures to the other. They were all hit by the chain lightning, clearing the way for the duo, who thanked him.

Wigglytuff let go of the pillar and took care of another group, not too far from them. He was panting heavily, looking at more of the incoming creatures. - I'm getting tired of this crap. - He muttered, anger in his voice. He faced Chatot. - Chatot, fall back and get the other members! The priority is to defend civilians! - He shouted. He was dead serious at tthat moment, and there was no trace of his usual cheerful behaviour. Chatot nodded. Electro, who had just appeared faced the guildmaster and ran up to him. - Have you seen Slew?! - He asked, as he had looked around but had found no trace of the slowpoke. - Slew? I saw him when the attack started, but haven't seen him after that. I think he was chasing after that Primplup with Lucario, although... - The pink pokemon didn't have time to finish his sentence as the electric type was already running the direction he had been pointing.

Wigglytuff was about to shout something, but he was interrupted by Loudred, whose voice boomed loudly, alerting him that another battalion was incoming. He swore under his breath and turned around, picking up another wooden beam with both of his paws, running back with his guildmembers. Electro ran as fast as his legs let him, screams around him heading blindly into the direction he had been told Slew was. What Wigglytuff had told him... was unsettling. A Primplup? It couldn't be her... could it?

(Stop the music)

Clades walked into the fortress through the main doors, all of the sableye inside of the hall turned to face him, eager to tell their new lord that they had gotten news about the location of the rebels. However, as soon as one of them approached Clades, he opened up his right claw and in the blink of an eye grabbed the sableye by it's head, lifting it off the ground. This earned him several muffled scraems and effortless attempts to break free from his grip, but to no avail. Clades rose him up high enough so everyone could see him, Blake walking up to his left, a smirk on his face. - Your lord is gone! - Clades announced. - He was nothing but a mere mortal creature with too much power in his hands! Now, he obeys me! True lord of destruction, Clades! - He shouted. He receieved several screams and shouts of disbelief from those standing in the hall.

He simply gave them a wicked smile as he clenched his fist, crushing the sableye's head in his claw, the insides splattering everywhere, coating his own body as well as the floor and any other pokemon around him. The room fell completely silent as the sableye's dead body fell to the ground with a thump. He shook his right claw, cleaning it of all blood. - Well? Someone want to say something else? - He asked. No more words came from the hall, as all the sableye got down to their knees, showing complete submission to their new lord. Clades humphed. - Cowards. You didn't even try to defend yourselves or your new lord. You simply submitted to the superior being, afraid as you saw one of your companions die... - He made both of his crowsbows appear in his hands, simply aiming at two random Sableye's and firing mercilessly. Two of the creatures howled out in pain as they fell down to he ground, dead.

The rest of the creatures shook in fear, as he slaughtered four more, shooting arrows mercilessly. - See? You are afraid of defending yourselves! - He shouted. He dismissed the crossbows and his swords appeared. - Come on. Raise from the ground. - He said, slashing at one of the sableye next to him, slicing him in half. - Defend yourselves. - He taunted, spinning around and chopping another of the creature's heads. - I am waiting for you response! Come on! - He shouted again, spinning around violently again and throwing his left sword, which was sent flying to one of the ends of the room, killing everything in it's way there, and then desolating all of those when it came back too.

- Come on! Do it! - He shouted, looking around, trying to find anything or anyone who would actually fight back his abuse. However no one did. - I see... you actually submit to anyone who is more powerful than you? - He made a tisk sound with his lips. - In that case... I cannot trust you to be loyal to me... In fact, you're so weak, that you're useless to me. I have much more loyal and powerful servants to my service... - He said. He then rose his right hand and snapped his fingers. It took them a couple of seconds, but suddenly, two small black puddles appeared on the ground, slowly raising up from the ground and creating two strange shapes. One of them was bipedal, about three meters high, with extremely sharp claws in each arm. This creature had bright red eyes, and when it opened it's mouth, small black drips appeared from it's mouth, sharp black teeth on each of the sides of it's maw. The other one had four legs, a long tail with a sharp end, and an extremely big maw, which almost was half of it's body. It didn't seem to have any kind of eyes, and the inside of it's mouth seemed to be glowing with a strange orange menacing glow.

All of the sableye stared at the creatures with horror, whilst Clades smiled and pointed at the mob. - Kill them all. - He simply muttered. The creatures rushed forward, howling out loudly as the whole mob dissolved, all of the sableye running for their lives. Clades turned around to face Blake, who was staring at the massacre behind him, amazed by Clades creations. - Unbelievable... those creatures have barely existed for two minutes and they are killing mercilessly... - Blake said in astonishment. - They are nothing but pure dark matter beings, lacking of any kind of feelings or the capability to think for themselves. They are creatures that serve their creator blindly. - He informed Blake. - However, creating them can be hard for a being like you, so forget about them for now. I do believe that now it's time we settle things with Eric and his friends. - Clades said, walking out of the fortress, Blake right beside him, while they both walked away from the screams of pain and pleading that came from inside, the shouts filling the air around the fort with a feeling of despair.

- Alright... So can you know please tell us what dark matter is, Eric? Or are we going to have to sit through another one of your stories? - Grovyle asked, quite annoyed that the human had kept them on hold for so long. They had been listening to one of his stories while sitting on dead trees. They had walked a long way from the spire of death in god knew how long, and Eric thought they were pretty close to the mountains where the base was located. They had decided to take a break at a small forest nearby, and he had entertained them for a while as he told them the story of how he got to that world and what happened at first, all the way from the moment he appeared to when him and Grovyle were separated.

(Trauma Team – Rosalia's Bloom)

- Alright, I'll explain to you. I'll start from basics. You know that there's a constant flow of energy going through everything in this world. This flow is an endless loop in the which the same energy is used over and over again. For example, energy or magic or however you want to call it eventually transformed by a greater being into matter. This then leads to simply structures like atomic particles and the such to be formed, and from there all things, inert and living creatures are created. When these things come to the end of their life spam or are destroyed, the energy is released back into the flow, to wait until it's reused to create new matter by this greater being that usually qualifies as a "god" but in reality is the action of one one the many essences. Are you understanding what I'm saying? - The human asked.

It was quite the chunk of information, but everyone understood it, at least the basics. - Alright, because it gets more complicated from here on. This energy is the one that is used by all living things to... well... live. However, this energy is also used to do magic. In the end, magic is just a conversion of raw energy into another manifestation like kinetic energy, or heat or electric energy. However, energy ca also be transformed into a shape of matter that... isn't really matter. I like to call this process "Forced Transformation". The result of this process, is what we know as dark matter. - He said. This is when the others understood that the human had only just begun explaining.

- Dark matter is an unstable manifestation of matter that has been created by another source other than an essence. These sources can only be extremely powerful magic users, and this phenomena will never happen under normal circumstances. Dark matter, is you haven't already guessed, is one of the most dangerous things there is in the multiverse, and it suits Clades pretty well. Dark matter, is the opposite of normal matter, and when opposites meet, they cancel eachother. If pure dark matter and normal matter enter in direct contact then the dark matter kind of spreads to the zone where it had entered in contact, thus converting it into "Corrupted Matter". Since corrupted matter is the combination of two completely opposite things, it cannot exist, and because of this it begins destroying itself. - He bluntly said.

- Destroying itself?! You mean that it ceases to exist? - Dusknoir asked, perplexed. - Yes. You can kind of say that dark matter is in fact poisonous to normal matter. However, for some reason which I've yet to look into, dark matter's area of effect greatly changes if you are an inert object or a living creature. - The human said, a grim tone in his voice. Iratus and Elly held eachother closely. - When dark matter directly touches you, it does nothing at first, although the skin that had contact with it will start dying or falling off. However, if it gets into your blood flow... you're done for. - He said. - What do you mean? - Jake asked with his monotone voice.

- Alright... imagine a virus. A virus is a foreign entity that goes inside of your body, reproduces inside your cells continuously, and then provokes the illness with the which it is related with. Dark matter works kind of the same way. Even if the smallest drop of dark matter gets into your body, it will still have the same fatal effect. Dark matter will travel along with the blood flow, going through your whole body and corrupting everything in it's way. Now, remember that everything that dark matter directly touches will begin destroying itself. Because blood flows through your whole body... including vital organs such as the heart of the brain... It will start destroying them, producing an immense amount of pain, until the body is completely destroyed. In other words, you die. - The human said with a serious tone.

- Sweet Arceus... - Grovyle muttered, while Dusknoir huffed, feeling pressure and realizing the danger both him and the human had been in the last battle, whilst Iratus and Elly held eachother closer, fearing for the other's safety. - There is no way to stop it once it's begun. Depending on different factors, it can kill you in hours, it can kill you in minutes... or even take days... or weeks. These are the worst ones, as all of those that have to deal with dark matter poisoning for the longer periods are the ones that experience the most pain. Their body is slowly being destroyed, and they can't do anything about it. - These words earned him a few mutters from the pokemon in front of him.

- And there's seriously no way to stop it? - Elly asked. - The only way to avoid it is to prevent it, in other words "Better safe than sorry". Dark matter is pretty hard to come by, as it usually starts degrading itself as it goes. Not only that, but if there's dark matter nearby there will be explicit markers of it's presence, such as weird marks on the ground and other objects, as well as a path of destruction leading to a direction. Just avoid going that direction and you'll be just fine. However, if you're cornered... run the hell away. Dark matter is not only extremely dangerous, but also a huge nuisance because it's almost as resilient as normal matter, which means that getting rid of a dark matter creature will be as hard as taking care of a normal matter one. At least with normal weapons. - He said. Those last words wakened curiosity in his companions.

- Normal weapons? What do you mean by that? - Iratus asked. - Well... there's two ways you can attack. Either you can fight physically, with a weapon or your fists, or you can use magic to attack your enemies as well. Either way, nothing will come even close to being effective against dark matter... unless it's a legendary weapon. Legendary weapons are... well... I actually don't have any on me right now... Wait! Yeah! - The human pulled out his staff from behind his back. - My staff is a legendary weapon. I am so used to using it I kind of forget. - He handed over his staff to Iratus, who held in his paws and examined it. - What sets this thing apart from other weapons? - He asked, giving Elly and better glimpse of the thing as he leaned the thing over to her. - Well, this staff is the one that the essence of light gave to it's descendants, the Luminants, so they could fight in the great war. The essences despise dark matter, but rather than destroying it themselves, they lend their elemental a weapon to destroy it. - He said.

- Elemental? What's that? - Grovyle asked, raising from the log and spinning around the staff in his hands, managing to hit himself in the head. - The essences created many races, through depending of what essence it was created by, each race will have different characteristics that set them appart. When one of the creatures from this race is selected by the essence that created them, that being becomes the elemental, the physical bearer of the essence itself. With this power, they can use unbelievably strong magic attacks, as well as having access to devastating weapons, and they most bow to destroy their enemies with them. These weapons differ from each essence, as well as each magic element. For example, the bearer of the essence of earth would receive a hammer, whilst the bearer of the essence of wind would get a sword. - He said.

This suddenly reminded Grovyle of something. - Oh yeah! I remember now! Back when we met, you used some really fancy bow and two swords that you could bring out of thing air! Are those the legendary weapons? - Grovyle asked. - Yes. Those are legendary weapons. However, I somehow lost all my powers, and I can't use any type of magic attacks or even summon the weapons. - Eric said. - Wait.. then why do you still have this? - Dusknoir asked, now giving the staff a closer look. - Well... because of... something that happened... well, let's just say that every so often... there's an exception to the main rule. Either way, the staff is not linked to me, which means that I can use it even when I don't have access to my powers... which is right at this moment. Not only that, but over my travels I've earned spells that I can use with the staff, giving me quite the upper edge in battle. These spells are ones like the kinetic shield, telekinesis and some devastating, yet extremely tiring light and darkness based attacks. - The human explained.

It was a lot of information to process, and the all couldn't understand some part of it. Dusknoir handed over the staff to Eric, who didn't put it away, but instead closed his eyes, focusing a lot of energy - Either way, legendary weapons are the only ones that can destroy... - The human opened his eyes and slammed the bottom end of the staff into the ground. A small puddle of darkness appeared in front of him, and it slowly rose to create a dark clone of himself. Everyone jumped back in surprise. Grovyle and Dusknoir were ready for it to attack them. However, Iratus and Elly instantly remembered something. Something that happened more than a year ago. - Wait... that's...! - Elly begun, but Iratus cut her off. - That's one of the things that attacked us a year ago! - He shouted. Eric looked at them, his eyes widening in surprise. - Wait, what?! - He asked.

Iratus and Elly looked at the dark clone closely. They hadn't seen a human dark matter clone back then, but... it certainly resembled the creatures. It resembled the shape, but didn't have any characteristics that set it apart from another creatures. Also, it's red glowing eyes... there was no mistaking it. - Yes, those things attacked us a year ago in a cave. We got jumped on while we were in our first expedition, right after we picked up this weird... golden thing, that looking like a piece of something. - He said. "Golden piece of something? Why does that sound so familiar..." The human wondered.

(Stop the music)

Then it hit him. It hit him really hard. - Holy shit! - He shouted out loud, the dark matter clone in front of them standing still. He buried his right hand inside of the pocked of his jacket and searched through. - Come on, where is it... - He then pulled out a rubber chicken, and stared at it in surprise. -What?! Not you again! - He shouted, putting it back in again, and then finally bringing out a golden piece of metal. - Is this it? - Eric asked. - Yeah! That's what we found! - The riolu shouted. Grovyle approached Eric, the noticed the familiar metal piece. - Wait, isn't that the watch piece? - The grass type asked. - Yeah. It seems that I was on the right track. - He muttered, a worried tone in his voice. He looked at the duo again. - You guys know where that piece is? - He asked.

- That piece? The one we found in the cave? - Elly asked. - Are you telling me you found more?! - He asked, hopeful. - Yeah. We found three. However, when we found the first one, I saw a vision that showed me to go to some kind of... sanctuary. However, to get in we had to give up a piece. In other words, we don't have them anymore. - Iratus explained. Eric's left eye twitched. - YOU WHAT?! - He asked, extremely mad. The dark clone shifted, reacting to Eric's mood. Out of the corner of his eye, the human split the thing in two with his staff, the creature then disappearing into thin air. - Well... yeah. We thought they went in there, as they fit exactly into the holes in the entrance! - The human sighed in defeat. - Crap... And what did you find in there? - He asked them.

- Well, the inside changed depending of when we entered. The first time we went in, it was just this long dark hallway, the second a mirror maze, and the last time I think it was a huge lava pit with flying rocks flying above. - Elly remembered. - And at the end, there was a this huge room, with a pedestal. As soon as we got on it, an intense light engulfed us, and the next thing we remembered was waking up in the guild, and we had a new power. - Iratus remembered, explaining the whole process to the human. - So wait... you say that you got your magic powers right after you visited this sanctuary? - He asked. Both of them nodded. - Then that means... that the place itself gave you the powers... which makes no sense whatsoever! - He shouted, extremely confused.

- Well... we don't know what to think about it either. It's a really confusing place... maybe once we go back to the present we can go to that sanctuary and use that piece. That way you can have a closer look. - Elly said, a smile on her face, thinking about going back home again. - Yeah... we'll do that... Either way, this whole talk has gone on for quite a while, so let me briefly explain everything about dark matter briefly: Dark matter is some serious stuff. Whenever you see dark matter creatures, let me at them, since I am the only one that can take care of them efficiently. Got it? - He asked everyone. The pokemon nodded, although Iratus and Elly felt uneasy for some reason. They looked at eachother, and without saying anything they both knew that they shared the same thoughts.

- Now... I think it's a good time you guys get that hard earned sleep you told me about. I want you all to fall asleep in ten minutes or I'll have you all get up from your asses and move up to those mounains over there. - He said, pointing at their goal. After that, almost everyone laid back down on the floor and tried to sleep. However, neither Iratus or Elly were able to calm down. They both looked at eachother, sensing the other's worry. The riolu was the one to break the mold. - What is it, Elly? Something keeping you up? - He asked. - Yeah... pretty much... I am worried about... you actually. - he smiled back at her. - Huh. I was worrying about you as well. From what Eric told us... - He said, muttering. - We were very lucky to get out of that one alive. - She said. - Well... not exactly. I remember getting a few cuts and bruises here and there from that battle. And same with you. Don't you remember that? - He asked her.

Of course. She couldn't forget one of the scariest moments of her life, ambushed by some kind of dark creatures. Not only that, but after that, Aipom had come into the scene... She looked at her loved one, and couldn't help remembering that anguish when he saw him getting stabbed in an arm. - Yeah, I remember all of that clearly, but... what does that have to do with anything? - She asked. - Don't you remember what he said? - Iratus answered, pointing at the human, who was humming softly whilst putting together some wood pieces, at the other side of the clearing. - He said the moment dark matter got into you, you were done for. In other words, we should be dead by now. - He said. - I still don't know where you're going with this, Eric... - She said, still confused. Then something in her mind clicked. - Ooooh! Now I get it. You're saying that we're immune to dark matter? - She asked. He nodded. -Yes, although it's only just theory. I have absolutely no idea if it's true, and I don't want to try it out either. - He said.

- Yeah... either way, we should be careful with those things and let Eric at them. - She answered. She then snuggled up to him. - I don't want to loose you, Eric... I mean, Iratus. - She said. - Neither do I want to lose you... - He answered, kissing her cheek. - Goodnight. - She curled up next to him, giving him a kiss on his left cheek. - Goodnight... - She answered, putting her tail around herself to retain some heat, the riolu next to her embracing the eevee in a hug, sharing his warmth with her. After this, they both fell asleep, whilst Eric watched over all of them. He had overheard the whole conversation, as well as watched the whole scene. It did make sense, since they had those marks, but he was doubtful.

How they had gotten those marks was still a mystery to him. Of course, he knew that they had woken up with them after their first visit to that... "sanctuary" they had told him about. A pretty interesting place from the look of it, considering that it changed with every visit... However, that was still the least of his worries. Right now, the impending menace of Clades and Blake's combined forces was looming over them, and they to get on track as soon as possible... He looked at Iratus and Elly. "And maybe drop some weight too..." It wasn't that he didn't appreciate their effort... in fact, they were both extremely good fighters, with their magic powers and all, but... still, he couldn't let them stay with them.

The main reason was that, obviously, Clades was his problem. He had been the one who had caused all that trouble, and he would fix it, all by himself. Another reason was that... they were in love. It wasn't a nuisance or anything of the sort, but... he knew those feelings all to well. Feelings that could push you to do questionable things... and end making a grave mistake... like he once did. He shook his head. That wasn't the time for that stuff. Not at all. Besides, they were pretty young. He had no idea how old they were, but they were obviously younger than he was. They had their whole lives ahead of them, whilst... whilst he had just thrown his away. His muscles weakened, as he got depressed, the almost finished guitar barely falling from his hands. Had he not reacted quickly enough, he would've woken everyone up.

He looked at the instrument. It was almost finished. He had carved the body perfectly, hollowing out the inside, which had taken him a fairly long time... but he still needed strings. He was thinking about spinarack web strings, as he had been told they were insanely strong. That way he probably wouldn't have to change the strings ever again. However, he wasn't about to go out looking for spider pokemon... so he just put the guitar back in his bottomless pocket and decided to finish it later, when he had the chance. He sighed as he looked around the "camp". He didn't know if it should be called that actually. It was just a clearing in the middle of a forest where they had decided to stay for a few moments.

- Man... nothing exciting going down... - He said. Suddenly, he got this strange feeling on his back. - Ain't that strange... - He muttered, referring to the fact that there were absolutely no signs of any activity around them. The silence... It was unsettling to say the least. He looked around, almost certain that something was wrong. That was when he heard a whistling sound, like a projectile soaring through the air. Instantly, he shouted at the top of his lungs, making everyone jump up from their spots, effectively moving. The arrow was aimed at Grovyle, which barely avoided it by a few inches.

- Shit! - Eric shouted, instantly getting behind a log to cover himself. - Get behind something before you are hit! QUICK! - He ordered. Everyone instantly ran off to any cover around them, another arrow being shot and barely missing Elly, who quickly scurried behind a tree. Eric leaned over the log to try and find their attackers... or rather Clades, because it was bluntly obvious it was him. No one in that world had a bow, as far the human knew that was. In the process of trying to find out where he was, he almost had his head pierced by another arrow flying through the air. He ducked before it got to him and avoided it. He cursed under his breath, as he hadn't been able to see anything.

- Eric! Did you see them?! - Elly asked. The human shook his head. - How do you want me to see him?! You pop your head up you die! - He shouted. Elly bit her lip and thought up of something. - Iratus, Eric! I'm going to make a run for it! - She shouted. - What?! - Iratus shouted from behind a rock, from where he could see the eevee... or rather two eevees. He smiled to himself. - Alright! I'm over here! Come quick! - He shouted. Elly's clone nodded as it ran out of cover. All of them expected an arrow to appear... but nothing happened. Elly's clone stood still in the middle of the clearing, trying to find the direction the arrows came from. A laugh was heard. - Idiots! You think we're going to fall to that trick twice?! - The voice resonated from a patch of trees. It was Blake's voice.

Iratus quickly rolled out of his cover, a bright red aura sphere in his paw. - Eat this! - He shouted, launching it towards that patch of trees. Both Elly and Eric knew what that sphere was. - Are you stupid or something?! That was...! - The human didn't have time to finish his line, as the sphere blew up, instantly combusting everything in the area. A shout was heard, as the fire spread insanely fast. The area they were in was surrounded by burning trees in seconds. - Oh you're gotta be kidding me! - He shouted. - Iratus what the hell did you just do?! - Grovyle asked, as he hadn't seen the riolu launch the fireball. The human Eric, who ran out of his cover and past them. - Don't think about it, just run for it! - He shouted.

They all began dashing away from the fire, but it was moving faster than they did, and soon the whole forest around them was on fire. The ran for a few seconds, the sound of trees burning around them being the only sound, aside from their nervous breathing and their steps on the ground. All of a sudden, a howl was heard. A really loud howl at that, echoing through the forest... no... repeating itself! Multiple howls! Suddenly, barks were heard, the intensity of these sounds increasing by the seconds. Eric turned around to confirm his fears. Behind them, a pack of houndooms was chasing them down through the fire. - HOUNDOOMS! - He shouted at the top of his lungs. The chase was on.

(Fear the Reaper – Beyond Good and Evil)

The group began dashing ahead, burning trees around them, some of them already falling down, the fire vividly eating away the wood. A huge log fell on top of them, and the group split into two, with Grovyle, Iratus and Jake going left whilst Eric, Dusknoir and Elly went right. The latter group turned left the very instant they could, but couldn't cross over to the other ones as the fire was cutting them off from doing so. Still running, they tried to find a way to reunite, but it seemed that it was impossible to do so, specially with the houndooms hot on their heels. Iratus couldn't help but feel panicked as the scene unfolded around them, but Grovyule was in fact more scared than he was. Being a grass type and getting yourself caught in a forest fire wasn't an enjoyable experience.

The riolu snapped back and launched an aura sphere at their chasers, hindering some of them, although they still had quite a bunch behind them. Then they all saw a shade running through the woods, far away from all of them. Then the arrows begun flying everywhere. They tried to make their movements as erratic and unpredictable as possible, yet this made the task of running away even more difficult. However, luck was somewhat on their side, as they all saw the end of the forest not too far ahead from them, to the right. However, this meant that the left group would have to run over to the other side. Without thinking about it twice, the riolu launched a sphere, knocking down some trees and allowing them to jump through the flames, reuniting themselves with the others.

Not really having a chance to chat, they all rushed ahead as fast as they could. It seemed that the pack that had been following the riolu's group hadn't been so lucky, as they were nowhere to be seen, although the still underwhelming number of around twenty houndooms were still tracking them down. The tables turned though, because as soon as they left the forest, which was now burning vividly, they found themselves at the entrance of a mine. More specifically, the entrance to the resistance's hideout. However, it was blocked by a pair of sturdy wooden doors, and didn't seem like it was going to budge. Either way, they weren't going to try at that moment.

(Stop the music)

Everyone turned around and faced the houndooms, the human Eric standing in the middle of the formation and pulling out his staff, spinning it around and holding it sideways in his right hand, before pulling it back behind himself and holding it almost vertically, his left hand free. To his right, Dusknoir and Grovyle were tensed up and ready to attack, whilst to his right, Iratus' paws were glowing bright blue, Elly's eyes were glowing and frost on Jake's claws. The houndooms in front of them grouped around, forming a semi-circle and preventing their escape. They weren't really thinking of escaping either. They were going to defend themselves.

- Alright! Don't even let one of those guys standing! - The human shouted. Iratus moved backwards, his paw doing as little as gracing his staff. All of a sudden, the riolu's head started hurting quite badly. He felt his vision blackening, like he was about to faint. Elly noticed this, and called his name, but her voice was too far. In fact, he wasn't hearing her, or seeing her. He was looking up, and saw Clades leaping down and bringing his swords down. "Eric behind you!" He shouted in the vision, the human turning around just in time to block the brutal hit. Then he went back to himself. He knew what that was. He instantly turned around, and saw the destroyer of worlds leaping down from darkness. - Eric behind you! - He shouted.

( Dark Impetus – Kingdom Hearts )

The human turned around instantly, blocking the blow, sending him sliding backwards, almost into the pokemon. The group dispersed, and the houndooms attacked. Eric looked up at Clades, who was wielding his double swords. - Fancy meeting you here. - Clades said. Eric smiled and stood up right, grabbing his staff with his right hand, taunting Clades with his left one. - You know, they should put your face next to word "backstabber" in a dictionary. - He said, raising his middle finger at his foe. They both instantly rushed into eachother. Clades swiping forward with his right sword but being blocked by Eric's staff. Iratus, who launched an aura sphere at a houndoom, launching him across the woods turned around when he heard the weapons clash. - Eric! - He shouted, about to go and help him.

- Don't worry about me! - He shouted, pushing back Clades, not loosing sight of him. The human then charged against his foe, delivering a series of really fast attacks that Clades blocked. - This one's all mine! - He shouted. Iratus was still doubting if he should help him or not, but the sudden appearance of Blake right in front of him certainly dismissed those thoughts. - Yes! You've got a lot in your paws with me! - The umbreon shouted, trying to bite the riolu's head off. Elly, who heard her father's voice, turned around and blasted a chunk of psychic energy at him. However, the umbreon teleported away, reappearing to her side. - Hello, Elly. - He whispered into her ear. She pulled out her claws and lashed out to the right, her attack still missing. Iratus reunited by Elly's side just when Blake reappeared in front of them, launching a dark sphere. Elly put up her psychic barrier and blocked it. Once the the barrier was gone, the duo charged into the villain.

- I see that you're still as suicidal and noble as ever Eric! May I ask why you put your life in such high risk!? - Clades taunted, gracefully dodging one of Eric's attempts to hit him with his staff. The human, who had tried to bash him with the thing quickly rose that tip from the ground and tried to get his foe with an upwards blow, but Clades still dodged the second hit. - Because you ruined it, you son of a bitch! - He angrily shouted, extending his left arm to grab the staff, spinning and delivering a roundhouse kick at Clades, who blocked it by crossing both of his swords. He pushed forwards and tried to slash the human into two, but he quickly put up his reflect spell, absorbing the strength of the attack. Knowing what was coming, Clades rolled out of the way just in time for the kinetic energy to be released.

The reflected energy launched some stones in front of the human, some flying close to where Iratus and Elly were fighting. Iratus released three of the small purple aura spheres, which trsacked down Blake. However, as soon as one was about to hit him, the bastard simply teleported away, the spheres blowing up as soon as they hit the ground. The last sphere blew up and Blake reappeared near him, unleashing what seemed to be a wave of dark energy, but that didn't actually fly into the riolu, but in fact stayed near him, like a sword that was floating close. He lashed out at the riolu, who dodged to the best of his capabilities. Just as the psychic sword was going to hit him, a sahdow ball flew right into it, making the attack disappear. The Elly jumped in, crashing into her father and then launching him further with a psychic pulse. Iratus followed up that attack with an aura sphere, but missed as the umbreon teleported away.

This sphere appeared in Eric's field of view, and the human decided to use it to his advantage. He put his shield again, absorbing the sphere's attack just as it was about to hit him. The projectile's force was absorbed, and then he redirected it against Clades. However, he had seen what he was doing and simply flew away. In mid flight, he made his crossbow appear in his right hand, and begun launching arrows at Eric once he touched the ground, not too far away from the human. The first bolt barely missed him, whilst the second he blocked with his left arm from pure reflex. It hurt when the arrow went through, but didn't stop him from rushing up to Clades and delivering a really strong hit with the staff. It made a "clunk" noise as the weapon connected with his skull, sending him flying into the darkness of the forest. Not expecting Clades to give up, Eric simply retreated back to his group.

Blake jumped into Elly, his psychic sword first, whilst the eevee barely blocked it with a barrier. Iratus came in and punched the umbreon in his side, earning a howl from him. Not letting up, he kicked his underside, this time sending him upwards. Blake then expected the riolu to jump up and hit him mid air. Expecting the riolu to come from his left, he spun around in midair, the sword slashing that direction, in a hope of cutting the riolu down the middle. However, the pokemon wasn't there. He was at the ground, aiming at him with an aura sphere. He cursed out loud as the projectile hit him too fast for him to even be able to teleport away, sending him crashing against the mountain and up into the darkness, disappearing from their view.

Iratus and Elly sighed in relief and went back with the group now that Blake seemed to be gone for a few seconds. Dusknoir, Grovyle and Jake, who had been fighting the Houndooms, were panting heavily, exhausted. A houndoom flew over their heads, a string of blood coming from his face as it flew away so far it disappeared in midair. - THAT'S A HOMERUN! - Eric shouted, swinging his staff like a baseball bat at another houndoom that lunged at him. The body of this pokemon fell near them, intimidating the remaining houndoom, which was still an overwhelming amount. - Jesus... how many of these guys are there? - Eric asked. Iratus came up to his side, smiling cockily. - Feeling tired? - He asked. - Nah, just bored. These guys are too easy. - He said.

(Stop the music)

All of a sudden, a loud noise filled their ears, like something really heavy sliding across the ground. Everyone turned around to see the huge wooden doors behind them slowly opening. However, no one was standing behind them, waiting for their return. Grovyle and Eric looked at eachother. The grass type was looking at him with a worried face. However, the human gave him a confident smile. - Balls to it, Grovs. We'll fight them off if we need to. - He told him. He turned to the rest of the group. - Guys, run for it! - He pointed at the entrance with his staff. - To the cave! - He shouted, running of, all his friends beside him, the houndooms chasing them as well. They crossed the frame, the human turning around and grabbing a houndoom by it's muzzle, before slamming it against the ground head first.

He saw a houndoom jump into him from the corner of his eye, and without having time to dodge it, he put his staff, the beast biting down on the rod and pushing him back, pinning the human to the ground. The beast moved wildly, letting go of the staff and then trying to bite the human's face off, saliva coating his face and his sharp fangs gracing his skin. He pushed the staff against it's neck forcefully, and then pulled his legs back, launching the houndoom back outside. It landed on it's feet and tried to come back in, but he slammed against the wooden doors, which shut the moment it was about to enter.

Eric turned around to smile at his friends, w¡but was met with a rock made punch to his face, slamming him against the wooden doors. He reacted instantly, getting back upon his feet and grabbing his staff... only to see he was completely surrounded by many pokemon. A graveler stood right in front of him, extending one of his arms, and pointing back with another. - Give me the staff... or we'll snap their necks like chickens. - He said. Eric saw Grovyle and Elly being held back, whilst Iratus was unconscious and Dusknoir and Jake were standing still, hands around their heads, ready to break their necks.

Eric hesitated, before smirking and dropping the staff, putting his hands up in the air. - Well, this is a warm welcome for a pair of heroes, isn't it? - He asked cockily. This only earned him another punch from the graveler, though still not enough to knock him out. The rock type noticed this. - Huh. Two punches and your skull is still holding that pea sized brain of yours? You might as well be the punching bag from now on. - He said, bending forward and grabbing the staff. - Now... get up! - He shouted, pointing at the human with his own weapon. Eric did so, putting his hands behind his head. - Walk! - He shouted.

Looking around and examining his enemies and his surroundings, the human did so and walked in front of him, the graveler pocking him in the back every so often with the staff as they walked into the darkness of what turned out to be a trap.

- Why do I have to content myself to seeing how they're carried away?! I could've taken the life out of those two if you could've let me! - Blake shouted, furious that Clades had interrupted his battle. - Patience, my friend. You will get your revenge soon. Had you kept on fighting, then you would've most likely lost right then and there. You have power, but you're still nowhere to touching their power. You've lost your influence on her, so you're out of moves, and they will expect you around every turn. And when you jump on them, they will fight back. - Clades simply explained. Blake tried to fight back his argument, but came out as gibberish that ended in him growling in anger.

- You mustn't let your emotions take the better of you either. Your one fault is that you experience emotions, which distract you from your goal. - He smiled to himself. - Maybe you aren't such a perfect creature after all... - Clades said. This earned him a violent reaction from the umbreon, turning to face him. - What did you just say?! - He shouted. - There. That is what I am referring to... the perfect creature has a simple objective that it must focus on... it mustn't be distracted by simple emotions. They belong to the creatures that are... imperfect. - He said. Blake was thrown back by his comment, looking away in anger. "Huh. Big talk for such a small creature. If you are such a perfect being, the start acting like one, fool." Clades thought to himself.

Meanwhile, Blake's anger was only increasing. He was right. Clades was right. His perfection was slowly falling apart. He was becoming impure... he was letting emotions carry him away... and all because of that blasted Elly! Every time he thought about her... he wanted to rip her apart! He wanted to cut off her eyelids, kill off that riolu in the most horrible of ways, and force her to see his bloated body until the end of time! He buried his claws in the soil beneath him. No, it was happening again... the anger was too much. Soon... he wouldn't be the chosen one! He wouldn't be the perfect holder for his lord! He wouldn't let that happen. He had been waiting for that moment his whole life... he had been born for it! He would become the vessel! It was destiny! His and his alone!

Welp, things are getting pretty out of hand for Blake... or should I say, off paw? Sorry I couldn't resist.

Anyways, aside from that, shit's about to start happening right about now, because there's not that much left for this part of this story, and after that... we're off to the third part. I'll explain more about this "third part" later on (when we actually get there) but for now let's just say that there's around... three or four chapters left of this part, maybe two, I don't know, depends.

As always, thanks for reading, and I'll see you on the next chapter!