Piplup was in shock.

Ever since he'd woken up on the beach a year ago with a bad case of amnesia, he'd relied on his partner Chimchar. Chimchar was the one who'd brought him into the guild, who'd given him purpose as an explorer. When Piplup was feeling depressed, he could always count on Chimchar to make him laugh.

Okay, maybe some of those times he'd been laughing at Chimchar, not with him, but overall, he'd been a great friend. Not to mention Chimchar's only friend.

So why was Chimchar standing next to Darkrai, smiling, saying the world of darkness would be wonderful?

"Why, Chimchar?" Piplup sobbed. "Why would you do this to me?"

Chimchar sighed. "It's nothing personal. I'm not doing this because of you. I'm doing this for a better world."

"But I thought a world of darkness was what we were fighting against!"

Chimchar shrugged. "Things change."

A tear trickled from Piplup's eye. "Chimchar…"

"Come on, Piplup," Darkrai said, extending his hand. "You can be with Chimchar. Just join us."

"Yeah!" Chimchar added. "Just because the world is going to become a dystopia doesn't mean Team Pokepals can't explore it."

Darkrai nodded. "Wouldn't you rather stay with Chimchar and help me rule the world than die a painful death?"

Piplup nodded, slowly.

Darkrai smiled. "Good. Our first order of business is killing Cre-"

"Objection!"

Darkrai turned to Piplup, a bemused look on his face. "What do you mean?"

Piplup shot him a glare. "Since when did Chimchar call us Team Pokepals? He always referred to us as Exploration Team Team Pokepals! Whoever is standing next to you, it isn't Chimchar!"

"W-what?" Chimchar stammered. "I'm me, I swear! Why don't you trust me?"

Piplup opened his beak, screaming, "Because none of this is real!"

Piplup's eyes snapped open.

"Piplup! You're awake!" Chimchar exclaimed, wrapping his friend in a tight hug. "Darkrai hit you with that Dark Void thing, and I was afraid you'd never wake up!"

Piplup stumbled to his feet. "Seriously, Darkrai? Did you really think I would be fooled by your little nightmare?"

Darkrai laughed. "Well? I had to try. It's April Fools' Day, after all! Now, who's ready for a dramatic final showdown?"

"An April Fools' prank? Now, of all times?" Cresselia snapped. "This is serious! You're supposed to be trying to murder us!"

"Eh, I don't really feel like it," Darkrai replied lazily. "I mean, it's not like this is a serious story or anything. It's just something Incognito Albatross typed up last minute. Yet another April Fools' story that starts out serious and then spirals into wacky shenanigans. Isn't that uncreative? And in the middle of a pandemic, no less. She should've had plenty of time to think of something more interesting."

"Darkrai!" Cresselia hissed. "Stop breaking the fourth wall!"

Darkrai rolled his eyes. "Who cares?"

"I do!"

"Cresselia, can you not irritate the psycho villain who has the power to kill us?" Piplup interrupted.

"Again, I'm not gonna try to kill you today," Darkrai said. "Maybe sometime next week? When are you available?"

Chimchar studied his schedule. "I'm free on Tuesday."

Piplup shook his head. "I have to meet my chiropractor that day. But I'm free Friday afternoon. Does that work?"

"Yeah," Darkrai said. "Same place?"

"That works."

Cresselia let out a loud groan. "Why are you guys rescheduling a murder attempt? You're not making sense!"

Darkrai smirked, despite not having a mouth. "Making sense? What fun is there in making sense?"

Cresselia gasped. "Did you just quote My Little Pony? Yeah, I'm outta here." She teleported away in a flash of light.

"I never liked her, anyway," Piplup muttered.

"So what should we do now?" Darkrai asked. "Do you guys want some Doritos? I've got a whole box of them in the back."

Chimchar gave Darkrai an intense look. "No, Darkrai. I want to help you."

"Huh?"

Chimchar leaned in. "I know you're not evil. You must have some tragic excuse for why you're being so awful."

Piplup frowned. "Chimchar, I think he's just a horrible person."

"Think about it, Piplup. In The Rise of Darkrai, Darkrai was just trying to save the town. In Pokepark 2, he wanted everyone to have fun forever. He's not evil, he's just misunderstood," Chimchar explained.

"I don't know 'bout that. This is a whole other continuity," Piplup said dubiously. "I think I'm just gonna go eat some Doritos. You talk to Darkrai."

Piplup walked off to the giant box of Doritos, while Chimchar pulled a leather couch out of his bag and pushed it over to Darkrai. Darkrai was unsure at first, due to not having legs, but eventually found a comfortable reclining position.

"You know, I do have a dark and tragic past," said Darkrai.

Chimchar took out a notepad and pen. "Tell me everything."

Darkrai opened his nonexistent mouth and began his story.

I didn't always want to take over the world. Years and years ago, my only dream was to be the world champion of Uno. I wanted to be the very best, like no one ever was. I trained hard, traveling all over the world with different companions, learning new tricks while having various misadventures. I went to tournament upon tournament, but I never won a single one. Every time, I told myself it didn't matter, and moved on to a different part of the world.

Eventually, my friends began to doubt me. They cornered me after a particularly bad loss at a huge tournament. They told me that I was a loser, I was horrible at Uno, and I should just give up and get a real job. The betrayal hurt so much I vowed to never trust anyone ever again.

I ran away from the traitors, away from my old life. I climbed a rugged mountain and lived at the top for years, honing my Uno skills. One day, I chanced upon a poster advertising the Uno world championship, so I entered. And guess who the other challengers were? The traitors!

They had grown strong, but they were no match for my skills. I defeated them all. They begged for my forgiveness, but I laughed in their faces.

I was finally the greatest Uno master.

Chimchar stared at Darkrai, enthralled. "And how did that make you feel?"

Darkrai shrugged. "Dunno. I just made that whole story up. Actually, I was born like this." Piplup shot Chimchar an I-told-you-so look.

"WHAT?!" Chimchar screeched, so shocked that he could only use capital letters.

Darkrai facepalmed. "Why are you surprised? I've been lying my butt off since we met. Why would I tell the truth now?"

"B-but you already did an April Fools' joke!" Chimchar squealed.

Darkrai let out an evil laugh. "Who says you can only play one trick on April Fools' Day? That first one was just to let your guard down." With another cackle, he pulled out a giant cheese grater from a place I'm not going to specify. "The real April Fools' trick was me saying I wasn't going to kill you today!"

Chimchar tried to run, but Darkrai grabbed him, pressing the cheese grater to his throat.

"Wait!" Chimchar screamed. "Aren't you going to gloat? Tell us your evil plan? Boast about how you were behind everything and we have no chance of stopping you?"

"Nope." Darkrai began to rake the cheese grater across Chimchar's throat, pressing hard. Bits of fur and skin and drops of blood began to fall to the ground. "I'm just going to kill y-"

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Piplup screamed, whacking Darkrai over the head with the oversized Dorito box. Darkrai flopped to the ground, unconscious.

Piplup grabbed Chimchar's hand with his wings. "Come on. Let's get out of here."

Hours later, Darkrai woke up. Pushing himself off the ground, he scanned the crater. There was no sign of Chimchar or Piplup. The Bittercold and Dark Matter appeared to be making out in a corner, but that wasn't his problem.

"Chimchar? Piplup?" Darkrai called out.

There was no response.

"Come back, guys! April Fools! I was just joking! I was only going to kill you a little bit!"

No answer.

Darkrai sighed, leaning back on the couch. "Some people have no sense of humor."