A/N: I hope I surprised all of you with this chapter that's not the finale! Please enjoy!

Chapter 74: Darkrai

Pachirisu and Luana's quick actions managed to save me from getting killed by Darkrai, though Darkrai had me in its clutches as I struggled to escape. Thankfully, Pachirisu's electricity made direct contact with Darkrai and I quickly managed to loosen my left arm from its grip, which I then used to begin charging up Luana's Styler.

Once Luana's Styler was charged up to its second stage, she then proceeded to make loops around Darkrai, with the paralysis still preventing it from doing anything. This continued on for some time and I had Pachirisu repeatedly paralyze Darkrai anytime it attempted to break free from paralysis. After a few minutes, Pachirisu became tired and went off to the side, so I decided to help Luana out and took over for her in making loops around Darkrai, whose Friendship Meter was now at forty two percent. It wasn't long before Darkrai became mobile again and it immediately teleported, soon appearing to Luana's left as it charged up an attack.

"Luana…no!" I exclaimed.

I moved quickly to get in front of Luana and shield her from the attack, as Darkrai was less than a few feet from her and our Pokémon may not have been able to move in time. Unfortunately for me, Darkrai's arm managed to slam into me, hitting me hard in the chest as I groaned in pain.

I fell backwards from Darkrai's strength, coughing up blood as Darkrai started to conjure up another Dark Void.

"Buneary, Hi Jump Kick, now!" Luana said as Buneary sprang forward, landing a direct hit on Darkrai as it got pushed back.

"L-Luana…y-you'll get hurt…" I said as I continued to cough up blood.

Luana stood in front of me and quickly made loops around Darkrai while also checking back at me every so often to make sure I was okay. I could see Darkrai still in pain from being struck, which Luana used to her advantage to continue increasing its Friendship Meter as much as possible since Pachirisu was still exhausted.

"Kellyn, stay with me, we'll get through this!" Luana said.

I checked Darkrai's Friendship Meter, which was now at fifty five percent and steadily increasing. Luana quickly got her Ranger jacket and cleaned up some of the blood pooling around my mouth, which was now beginning to cease flowing compared to when I first got hit.

"Thanks Luana, just watch out for any sudden attacks." I said.

Darkrai recovered from Buneary's attack and instantly vanished, causing us to be alarmed as we wondered where it was. Darkrai appeared in front of me this time and Eevee, who was trying to get Pachirisu's energy back up, noticed the Dark type Pokémon and gave it a Shadow Ball to the face. Pachirisu, while still recovering, managed to let out a Thunder Wave in order to cease Darkrai's movements, giving Luana and I some additional time to capture the aggressive Pokémon.

"Wait Luana, let me take over and help you." I said.

"Are you sure Kellyn?" Luana asked as I moved forward, the pain I once felt no longer being as prevalent as before.

"You bet I am!" I said as I made loops around the Darkrai.

Slowly but steadily Darkrai's Friendship Meter began to increase once more, though the Pokémon broke free from paralysis, as Pachirisu used up whatever energy he had stored up from when he was recovering. Darkrai released five purple flames, though it didn't launch them at us and instead, the purple flames danced around the Pokémon for a moment before the five of them created a barrier separating us from Darkrai, only for the flames to multiply in front of us. After that, the flames surrounded our Partner Pokémon, us and Darkrai so that we'd be trapped with it if we made any attempt to flee from the rooftop. The flames were unbearably hot as I continued to make loops around Darkrai, even though they were a good twenty feet away, the fact that they were around us as a makeshift cage was troubling given Darkrai's ferocity.

Darkrai let out a raspy whisper, completely unintelligible to Luana or me as it vanished once more.

"Buneary, use Foresight on Darkrai! Eevee, get ready to attack!" Luana said.

Buneary hopped in front of Luana and her eyes glowed bright yellow momentarily, revealing Darkrai's location as it became visible. Darkrai was a few feet away from us, hovering in the air as it launched Shadow Balls at us. The moves were too fast for Eevee to deflect back, so we had to quickly get on the ground as Shadow Balls impacted the rooftop, denting it as the small explosions made smoke cover the surrounding area.

Once the barrage of attacks was over with, the smoke soon cleared and we were able to see again. I was initially confused why Darkrai didn't attack us while we were on the ground, as it had the perfect opportunity to eliminate Luana and I since we couldn't see anything. However, Darkrai didn't hesitate once we got full visibility back again, and its arms glowed a bright purple. I glanced back at Pachirisu and saw that he was still exhausted, which made sense given how tough this fight was for us in general, turning my attention back to Darkrai, I could see that whatever attack it was going to use was about to be ready.

"Luana, get out of the way, quick!" I said as we bolted in opposite directions.

Doing such a tactic was smart since we were stationary during Darkrai's previous attack and it seems that the Pokemon anticipated Luana and I to do the same thing again, as a fierce purple Flamethrower shot out from Darkrai's arms, right where we were lying down for cover not too long ago.

Darkrai was exhausted after the attack, giving us a chance to increase its Friendship Meter.

"Now that was a close one, nice save Kellyn!" Luana said as she made loops around Darkrai while I charged up her Styler.

Determined to put an end to this before any of us got hurt further, I checked back on our Partner Pokémon, only to see Pachirisu right alongside me, full of energy.

"Alright Pachirisu, stun Darkrai, quick!" I said as Pachirisu let loose Thunder Wave, a powerful surge of sparks covering Darkrai as it ceased movement.

While Luana made good work with Darkrai's Friendship Meter, I checked on our friends who were having a lot of trouble earlier. Looking up, I saw that Sven, Keith and Wendy weren't struggling with their Staraptor anymore and were cheering us on as they circled around the rooftop, still high above us like before. Darkrai was still paralyzed, making me relieved, though still on the alert for whenever it ends up breaking free from paralysis. Pachirisu and I continued to paralyze Darkrai for a few minutes whenever it tried to get free and I felt good being able to be of some use to Luana. Pachirisu got exhausted afterwards and I quickly checked how much progress Luana made, seeing that it was at eighty three percent made me exhilarated, as neither of us could even imagine the pain Darkrai must be going through, given that it was losing itself due to the Shadow Crystal's intense power.

"Eevee, Buneary, we need your help for when Darkrai's mobile again!" Luana said as both Pokémon stepped forward to take on Darkrai.

I took over for Luana shortly afterwards and proceeded to make around three dozen loops around Darkrai, which was beginning to shrug off its paralysis. Thankfully, Eevee and Buneary were at the ready for when the Pokémon would launch its next attack.

A few seconds later, Darkrai was able to move, so Buneary hopped forward along with Eevee.

"Okay Eevee, use Headbutt! Buneary, Hi Jump Kick!" I said as both Pokémon raced into action.

Eevee's Headbutt made a direct hit with Darkrai, knocking it back a bit as Eevee quickly moved out of the way. Buneary's Hi Jump Kick connected and made a solid blow to Darkrai, knocking it hard to the ground.

Acting fast, I continued with making loops around Darkrai, though it ended up recovering from the attacks rather quickly as I observed the Shadow Crystal, which was still the clear blue it was before. I knew that Keith still had the remaining Gem and was hoping he'd get closer, perhaps the gems themselves would calm Darkrai down enough though I also knew that I wouldn't want any of our friends to risk getting hurt on a simple theory of mine.

Even if my theory was correct, Darkrai was nearly captured at this point, nearing ninety two percent. However, the Pokémon attempted to vanish, though Buneary's Foresight made Darkrai retain its visibility…for a few seconds.

"Buneary, use Foresight!" Luana said as Buneary's eyes glowed yellow once more.

Darkrai became visible again, though its body was cloaked in a dark aura as it rushed right at us with lightning speed, nearly knocking Luana and I off our feet.

"Gah…are you alright?" I asked.

"I am, let me help you and take over!" Luana said as Darkrai looked around for us.

Luana took over from where I left off and made loops around Darkrai, which the Pokémon instantly noticed as it turned around and launched a Dark Pulse at us. Luana and I had to stop the capture process as we soon found ourselves on the floor with the pitch black arrows getting dangerously close to hurting us. Even Keith, Sven and Wendy had to do some evasive maneuvers to avoid getting struck by Darkrai's attack and I knew that finishing this fight the quicker, then the better it would be.

After some time, Darkrai ceased its Dark Pulse and we got back on our feet, prepared to capture the Pokémon. Darkrai's expression, which was fierce the entire battle, softened a bit as Luana finished making loops around it, signifying that our feelings of concern and care were finally getting through to it.

Once Luana made a dozen more loops around Darkrai, it was successfully captured and its expression was instantly at peace once more as we approached it.

"Darkrai…looks like you've awoken from a nightmare of your own." I said as Darkrai summoned a Dark Void, startling us.

However, Darkrai had no intent to hurt us, instead, the Dark Void made Blake Hall reappear, with the man looking quite shocked and even a bit terrified at what occurred.

"W-w-what…where am I?" Blake asked as Wendy, Sven and Keith flew around the Shadow Crystal, which was now glowing brighter than before.

"You're on top of Altru Tower, don't you remember?" Sven asked as Blake still struggled to understand and shook his head.

"N-no...I...I don't. I guess...I guess for a long time, I've just been locked in a constant nightmare, unable to see the pain I've brought onto others. I'm turning myself in Rangers, you saved all of Almia...and myself, from absolute destruction." Blake said as we all observed Darkrai circling around the Shadow Crystal, with the Pokemon and the Crystal's aura no longer being one of malevolence.

"Since that's the case, we'll take you into the Ranger Union. You've done a lot of bad, but there are people who can help you." Luana said as Keith's Staraptor landed on the rooftop.

"Don't worry guys, I'll bring him back to the Union. You two just saved the entire world, let me handle something!" Keith said as the three Gems levitated out of our uniforms.

"Woah, now that's cool!" Wendy said as the Red, Yellow and Blue Gems moved over to the newly transformed Shadow Crystal.

Keith wasted no time in taking out zip ties to restrain Blake Hall, who made no effort to resist as Keith secured his arms, hands and legs. Once Keith was all finished, he and Blake got on Staraptor and began their descent down the tower. After Keith left, Wendy and Sven both flew over to us and landed, with Sven getting off of Staraptor and hopping onto Wendy's.

"Well now, it wouldn't be fair for Almia's heroes to walk all the way down this tower, now would it?" Sven joked.

"Yeah, especially after all you two have done! We'll be at the Ranger Union. Congratulations Kellyn and Luana, you two saved Almia!" Wendy said.

"Thanks guys, we couldn't have done it without the help of any of you! Everyone came through this tough challenge!" I said as Darkrai finished rejoicing and appeared in front of us, looking very grateful before vanishing shortly afterwards.

"Darkrai vanished…do you think it's happy now?" Sven asked.

"I certainly do, I could really see the peace on its face…now then let's back to the Ranger Union, wanna race?" I asked as we all grinned at our Partner Pokémon quickly hopping in our laps.

"You know we do! Now c'mon Sven, let's go and beat these two!" Wendy said as the duo took off.

"Oh no, we're going to lose!" Luana said as Staraptor quickly left the rooftop.

"Haha, no we're not, we're just getting started!" I said.

After a short while, we caught up to Wendy and Sven and even surpassed them as we were halfway to the Ranger Union. Even though the friendly race was a close one, Luana and I ultimately won as we got congratulations once more. The four of us laughed and joked as we headed inside, with both Staraptor going to their usual spot by the Ranger Union.

-A day later, Luana's POV-

Hard to believe, but just a few hours ago, Almia was saved from evil and things were at peace once more. Kellyn and I got a great welcome back party…after we got some rest of course. By the time we made it back to the Ranger Union after taking down Team Dim Sun, it was already three A.M. and all of us were exhausted. We brought our Partner Pokémon in our bedroom to sleep alongside us and after getting some sleep and waking up around ten o' clock, Kellyn and I got ready for our days as normal, though our Partner Pokémon were still asleep, so we tucked them in as we headed to Sven and Wendy's room.

Now that it was ten thirty A.M., we did a light knock on the duo's door since Kellyn and I are used to seeing how they're doing, of course, they could very well be asleep and after waiting for a few minutes, we realized that was definitely the case. Figuring our friends needed the rest, we headed to the second floor as our stomachs growled.

"Oh man…sorry about that, I'm starving, want to get some breakfast?" Kellyn asked.

"You're fine, breakfast would be good, let's go!" I said as we entered the cafeteria.

Kellyn and I got our breakfast with the cafeteria being its usual empty self as we sat down to eat. The two of us talked and joked the entire time and before we knew it, our breakfast had been devoured. Once we finished eating, Kellyn and I put our trays to be cleaned and left the cafeteria.

"That food was good…I'm stuffed, you?" Kellyn asked.

"Yeah those pancakes were awesome, just what you and I needed to get our energy!" I said.

Kellyn and I were making our way to the third floor, only for Chairperson Erma to come down from the escalator and happily wave to us. The two of us exchanged greetings as Chairperson Erma looked very worried and stressed about something, which we knew couldn't be good.

"Chairperson Erma, tell us what's wrong!" Kellyn said as Chairperson Erma took a deep breath.

"Dearies...the Temporal Time Pokémon…Dialga…it's causing disruptions all across Almia!" Chairperson Erma exclaimed.