A/N: My fanfic has an illustrated cover for each chapter, but since FFN doesn't allow inserting images nor does it accept links within the fanfic itself, please head over to my tumblr (carefreejules) if you'd like to see the covers!

Chapter 11 - Letting Go

Darkrai?"

No response.

"Come on, I know you're there."

No response.

"OK, if you're not going to come out, I'll just talk into the void by myself. You haven't showed up since that nightmare, but I won't stop until I get answers. I was upset about what I saw, but there must be more to it and I want you to tell me because this is far beyond 'curiosity' and 'observation'."

"Why do you seek the truth?"

He was nowhere to be seen, but that was undeniably his voice.

"Because living in ignorance is the same as running away. And I don't want to keep running away, even if it hurts. You're hurting too, aren't you? Isn't that why you're lonely?"

"Isn't the truth something you cannot forgive?"

"...Darkrai, did you intend to kill the girl?"

"No, but-"

"I've already seen what happened, but tell me what happened. Tell me what you felt, tell me what YOU saw."

Darkrai slowly appeared at a distance in front of her, but his teal eyes refused to look at her. From how far he was standing away, he probably felt scared and shameful. But, he made no attempts to disappear again.

"...That little girl was...my friend. I don't recall how we met, but she was a strange one, reaching out to something as horrifying as me. She was very ill and couldn't go outside, so perhaps she found solace in my company. Her parents didn't know about me, however. Whenever she would mention me, they assumed I was just an imaginary friend."

As his past was being told, the dark void surrounding them filled up with projections of his memories. Juliet watched the projections with a feeling of awe. Looking into someone else's memories made her feel...closer to them. She could feel his happiness, she could feel his sorrow - she could feel everything as if those memories were her own.

"But on the night of a new moon, they saw me. They screamed, they threw objects at me, and out of a fit of anger to protect myself, I...I unleashed an attack directed at them. But…" His voice wavered uneasily. "At the last moment, she cried out to me to stop and she threw herself into the attack."

"Darkrai, stop!" The girl screamed in the projection. Juliet couldn't help but tear her eyes away when the attack landed and the girl let out a scream that chilled her to the bone. She couldn't tell if she was feeling the little girl's pain, or Darkrai's anguish at what he had just done.

"Everyone thinks I'm a bad Pokemon because of how terrifying my powers are...I thought it was my destiny to play the role of the villain. But, that girl...She was delusional to think that she could see the good in a Pokemon like me - and look what happened. Her kindness stabbed her in the back! My very existence is only to bring pain and suffering."

"But, Darkrai-"

"I was falling into the same trap with you, Champion Juliet. It...felt pleasant to have some company again, but seeing you surrounded by people who love and care about you after all that you've been through, it was wrong to think that we were the same - two souls who have been wronged by the world. Between the two of us, I'm satisfied that it was you who got a second chance. But me? I don't deserve it." Darkrai slowly floated away, and phased out of her consciousness. Juliet jumped up frantically, trying to reach out to the Mythical Pokemon before he disappeared, but he was already gone.

The only thing he left behind in her heart were eyes full of despair and loneliness.

She couldn't help him.

"Darkrai!"

Waking up was supposed to be liberating now that the source of her nightmares was gone, but she couldn't find it in herself to feel that way. All this time of wanting the nightmares to go away and wanting to keep running from the past, Darkrai's presence...was actually helping her. His nightmares made her recognize her insecurities and come to terms with them, and allow the important people in her life to shoulder some of that burden.

Nightmares were terrifying, but only to prove that your resolve was far stronger.

But, now he was gone, and there was nothing that she could do.

She couldn't thank him for making her come to terms with her own pain.

She couldn't tell him that he wasn't a bad Pokemon.

She couldn't tell him...that she wanted to be his friend.

And that's what hurt the most.

"Darkrai…?" Juliet feebly called out.

Silence.

At the corner of her eye, she swore she saw a shadow slick past outside of her balcony, making her leap out of the bed and pull back the curtains.

The only thing she saw was the rising sun peaking over the horizon, welcoming a new dawn and a new day. The sight only made her heart ache even further, rubbing salt in an already stinging wound of who was gone.

Clutching the curtains as she sank to the floor, "Good bye, Darkrai."

Unknown to her, Darkrai was watching her from a distance, but not for long.

"Good bye, Champion Juliet."

"That Pincurchin you caught is really cute, Hop!" Gloria giggled, stirring their large pot of curry while their Pokemon roamed about in the snowy landscape. Hop was knelt down in front of the sea urchin Pokemon, trying to wrestle a Pokeball rubber ball from her mouth.

"She is, isn't she? I found her when I was training up my team before taking on Circhester gym. She's a feisty one." His Pincurchin finally let go of the ball, letting him toss it not too far and watched her shuffle after it.

The Gym Challenge was approaching the final stretch with only two more badges left, with only a handful of Challengers left in the competition, which was a stark contrast to the countless number of Challengers that were at the Opening Ceremonies. Hop felt...relieved that he could get this far.

Wait, relieved? He meant 'confident' because of course he could get this far! He was going to stay true to his goals of following his older brother's footsteps of becoming Champion. That's what he spent the Gym Challenge, and years prior, training for.

Still...there were plenty of things he was still doubtful of. One of them being that he had been so indecisive about who he should add to his final team, trying out different Pokemon and strategies that would bring out his strength the most. Sure it took him this long to finally settle on a team, but the important thing was that he found his team - it didn't matter how long it took. He took Juliet's words to heart, of battling his way, and he smiled fondly when her team showed their support after he got the Ice and Rock badge.

But, even then, he couldn't help but glance at Gloria, who was taste testing their curry, oblivious to his stare.

Gloria, his childhood friend and best friend...He still couldn't beat her even with the team he had full faith in. Even at the start, she went into battles so sure of herself, so sure of her Pokemon, that her victory was guaranteed before the battle was even over. How does she do it? What does she have that he didn't?

He couldn't figure it out, and he felt an impending dread knowing that she was going to be the hardest competitor in the Champion Cup.

He clenched his fist. No, he wasn't going to overthink it and crumble now! There were two badges left until the Champion Cup. There was still time to get stronger and hopefully surpass Gloria.

He'll think about his brother's words from before when it got to that point but, for now he needed to focus on himself.

"You look lost in thought, Hop. Is everything OK? Bede didn't say anything rubbish to you, did he?" Gloria asked.

Bede. The one who stomped all over his confidence and ideals, and made him second guess everything he had been doing. When Leon told him that Bede had been disqualified, it felt like a thorn was removed from his side, and he didn't have to be paranoid about future encounters with him. In the same regard, feeling that way made Hop question his own sportsmanship even if the consequences of what Bede did was justified. He couldn't bring himself to hate Bede - he had his own goals like him, even if he went about it the wrong way.

"No, I haven't seen him in awhile. Didn't you say something about him being dragged off by Opal?"

"It was pretty strange, but seeing as how Opal's mission is to find a successor to her Gym, maybe she saw potential in him?" Gloria whistled to all of their Pokemon that the curry was ready, and began to fill plates up with their lunch. "This is going to sound a little weird but, it's kind of thanks to him that Sonia is making great progress in her research about the Darkest Day. I still wonder why the mural was hiding something so important."

"Your guess is as good as mine, mate. But at this rate, Sonia will be a Professor in no time!" He pulled his winter jacket closer to himself and graciously accepted his plate of curry and stood close to the still-roaring fire, feeling the warmth of his body steadily returning to him in the cold of Route 9.

Was...Hop so cold that he was starting to see things? As he was about to take a bite out of his curry, at the corner of his eyes he saw Bea and Kabu jogging through the snowy path in nothing but their League uniforms, which made him drop his spoon straight into his curry from disbelief.

"Aren't you two cold?!" He gawked. Bea and Kabu whipped their heads in the midst of their training and jogged over to where they were camping, clearly unfazed by the frigid temperatures.

"Good afternoon, Gloria, Hop. How is your training for the Champion Cup coming along?"

"That's my line!"

"Aren't you two underdressed for this weather?" As if to remind them of where they were, Gloria exhaled hot air into her hands, and watched her breath puff and disappear into the air.

"Our training is keeping our body temperatures up. Besides, we both train out here when it's the final stretch of the Gym Challenge." Bea defended, despite rubbing her hands together to warm them.

"Indeed. Since this is our last opportunity to train up before we go head-to-head at the Champion Cup, we need to push our bodies to the limit." Kabu added.

Hop's face scrunched up. For a second, he entertained the idea of taking a page out of their book to see if he could get results from their way of training, but he shivered on their behalf despite sitting in front of a fire in a winter jacket.

"Is...Is it working?"

"We're only getting started but we were just about to settle down for lunch after a few more laps."

"Why don't you have lunch with us? We have a lot of leftover curry left!" Gloria invited, already scooping curry on two more plates.

"If that's ok, thank you for the food. We're just going to grab our warmer clothes. Even we'll get cold from not moving around." Bea chuckled.

When the two Gym Leaders returned, they all huddled against their warmest Pokemon while they sat around the campfire eating their curry while catching each other up on everything that happened from the mural collapsing, the explosion that shook Hammerlocke, and now their topic of conversation moved to the upcoming concert being held in Spikemuth to rev everyone up for the end of the Gym Challenge, and the start of the Champion Cup.

"Are you two going to the concert at Spikemuth next week?" Gloria asked. "Hop and I have never watched Piers perform live so we're really excited!"

"Hmmm...I think I'm past my prime to enjoy those kinds of concerts." Kabu admitted.

"Awww, what do you mean, Kabu? Piers' music can be enjoyed by anyone and it'd be great to see all of the Gym Leaders together like at Juliet's birthday party."

"Well, the nightlife in Spikemuth is pretty mature, isn't it? Allister and I are honestly a bit intimidated about going." Bea added hesitantly.

"Then, why don't you and Allister join us? I think it'll feel a lot less lonely if we stick together!" Gloria encouraged her.

"If that's OK, then alright! Though…" Bea looked down at her clothes. "Do we have to dress up for the occasion?"

"Oh. That's a good point." Hop crossed his arms. "Does that mean Lee is going to dress up?" He couldn't really imagine his hard working brother dressing up to blend in with the punk aesthetic of Spikemuth. Picturing him wearing leather jackets or accessories with spikes and chains was...unsettling. Then his mind wandered to what he would look like in punk clothing and that's when he realized he was thinking too hard about it.

"I don't think it's that serious, Hop." Gloria giggled. "But, it might be fun to do some shopping!"

"Ugh, can we not?"

"How about this, Leon? I think this would look good on you-"

"...I don't know. Seems kind of intense for someone like me."

"Stop being so wishy washy!" Raihan groaned, putting away the 10th jacket he picked out for Leon that he rejected without even trying it on.

He was not going to possibly let his best friend go to a concert underdressed, especially since this was the first time in a while that Leon could let himself loose for the night. Well, whatever that entailed. The Champion took his job so seriously and earnestly that Raihan couldn't imagine him being some sort of party animal.

Leon needed this, but he needed to do it in style.

"Are you guys still looking? Normally us girls take longer to shop, yet Nessa and I already got our outfits. She went off to take an important phone call. " Sonia sighed, strolling up to them with an armful of shopping bags, which was indicative that she had bought more than just one outfit.

Raihan snorted. "Got the whole accessory aisle in those bags?"

"Hey, at least I'm decisive!" Sonia turned to Leon, who was aimlessly going through the racks of jackets for who knows how many times already. His fashion sense wasn't terrible but he didn't really have the keen eye for aesthetics or what would look good on him. It didn't help that he had to wear his Champion gear so often too.

"Geez, make up your mind already, Leon! Here, let me help. I think having a woman's opinion will get the job done."

"And, somehow my opinion isn't good enough?" Raihan replied, raising a hand to his chest in mock disgust.

"I'll need your help too, Raihan, don't worry." Sonia put her hand on her hip and pointed at Leon, as if making a grand declaration. "Leon! We're going to get you spiffed up so at least try on the outfits this time! Clothes aren't just about how they look, it's also about how they feel."

And with that, Sonia grabbed his arm and practically dragged him around the store, picking out clothes for him to try on, and then shoving them into his chest for him to hang on to. Raihan trailed behind, very much amused by how his best friend was taking Sonia's assertiveness in dressing him up. He should probably keep an eye out for something for himself as well, though perhaps an accessory since he already had plenty of outfits at home for going out.

"Alright, in you go!" Sonia announced, shoving Leon into an empty changeroom with hangers of clothes piling precariously in his arms.

Maybe...this was one too many outfits to try on.

He didn't really want to protest, figuring that Sonia wasn't going to have any of it. He carefully pulled away each outfit and hung them up neatly so he could see all of the clothes at once and mix and match them up. He...didn't know where to start. What did Raihan do to get inspiration? He followed a lot of fashion accounts on both Pokegram and Chatoter so maybe that was a good starting point?

Leon probably spent, what would normally be too long, in the change room but after trying on different combinations of clothing and getting his friends' input, he put together an outfit that he felt complete confidence in. He stepped out of the change room one last time for his friends to give him one final look over. He decided on a maroon bomber jacket over a plain black t-shirt with ripped black jeans and black converse shoes. He had also picked out some aviator glasses for that extra 'cool' factor. Overall, nothing too over the top, but nothing too plain either. It was perfect for him. Raihan whistled immediately, pleased by what his best friend came up with and slapped him on the back.

"Looking good, mate. Everyone will be flying themselves at you for sure."

"I don't want to attract that much attention, Raihan." Leon chuckled.

"Kind of impossible when it's you, Leon." Sonia said, rolling her eyes.

"Are you going to do something with your hair? You should slick your bangs back or tie your hair up." Raihan suggested with a sly grin. "Might as well go all the way, right?"

Curiously, Leon brushed his bangs back. "Like this?"

"Obviously with hair gel but yeah, something like that! Wear some bling and you're practically a casanova."

Leon brushed his bangs back over his forehead and waved dismissively at the comment with a grimace. "You make me sound like a pimp."

"Good point - especially since you have your eyes set on someone already." Raihan mentioned smugly. Leon chose to ignore the comment, but he couldn't hide the light blush that crept on his cheeks.

"You think Juliet's into the bad boy look?" Sonia giggled.

"Leon? A bad boy? Good one, Sonia."

"OK, OK. I'm going to change back and buy these." Leon huffed, effectively ending the topic of conversation.

Watching Leon walk back into the change room, Raihan had an idea formulating in his mind and shot a side glance to Sonia. Seeing the mischievous intent in his eyes made her sigh exasperatedly. " Raihan. "

"Come on, all he needs is a little push."

"Darkrai's gone? What do you mean he's gone?!"

"I don't really know how to make it any clearer than that." Juliet grumbled, mindlessly pressing her feet against the pedal of the bass drum in a random rhythm to get her mind away from the feeling of loss. She was finally free, but she only felt heavier, feeling powerless knowing that she couldn't reach out to help someone like how other people in her life had reached out to help her during her darkest days.

Their first few days of practising for Piers' show came and went without any problems, aside from fumbling with the unfamiliar instruments assigned to them - their practice sessions grew in productivity as the date of the show came closer. They didn't need to practice too much because they were only required to play one song, but seeing as though they weren't trained as musicians, there was a lot of nuance to performing that they wanted to refine as much as possible.

Or as Piers explained it, they had to develop their stage presence or find their 'muse'.

It was hardly a time to slack off now because her heart wasn't into it.

"Isn't that...technically a good thing? He was giving you trouble, wasn't he?" Vanquil wondered, plucking at his guitar's strings with a guitar pick.

"He was at first, but I wanted to help him from the things he showed me. All his life he was labelled as a bad Pokemon when all he wanted was someone to see him as something other than that label..." Juliet didn't mean to hit the drum cymbal as hard as she did, and she let out something akin to a battle cry of frustration on top of it.

"Poor Darkrai...I guess it must be hard having the powers that he has." Mary trailed off sadly.

"I'm here, everyone! Hopefully we'll get another good day of behind-the-scenes foot-wait, what's wrong, Juliet?" Phil asked, entering the studio, holding a camcorder with a microphone attached. He held up the camcorder in her direction. "Stumped on a section?"

"No, it's not that…"

"What's with the gloomy atmosphere?" Piers asked as well with a tall water bottle in hand. He looked in Juliet's direction, likely because she was practically slumped over the drum set as if she was being physically weighed down by something. Though, he didn't seem surprised and pulled up a chair to sit by the drum set.

"What's got you all doom and gloom, Juliet?"

"Piers…" There was hardly any time to give him that long winded version of everything that happened, but he probably understood better than anyone of how conflicted feelings can hold you back from playing, or singing, your best. "I'll give you the short version. It feels like...I lost someone important, and it feels like it's my fault for not doing enough to make them stay."

Piers raised an eyebrow. "You get dumped by someone?"

She mentally facepalmed. Her fault for not choosing her words better. "No, nothing like that. What I meant to say is, I couldn't help someone who was hurting and now that they're gone, there's no way I can help them now."

"Ah, I got the picture now. To be honest, the best thing I can say is to let it go. Let them go. Even if you tell yourself that you could have done more, the fact of the matter is that you did somethin'." Piers gestured to her to lift up her head to look at him. "Look, each of us has issues we're dealin' with, and it'd be nice if we had answers to all of our problems. And while we can try to fix each other up, you can't fix everyone."

"Even if the person leaves, probably feeling worse than they did before?" Juliet retorted bitterly.

"Sometimes life is goin' to kick us when we're already down, but there's only so much hand holdin' you can do. They need to trust in their own strength to pick themselves back up and heal by their own means." Piers pointed at the various Spikemuth logos that were plastered all over the studio. "Remember how I told you how I blame myself for what my town became? All that time I spent mopin' about the past, could be used to move on and find solutions to bring glory back to Spikemuth."

Moping about the past...Yeah, that sounded about right. As much as she wished she could have done more for Darkrai, she had already spent so much time clinging to her past that she was barely moving forward. Maybe she had been convincing herself this whole time that helping Darkrai move on, would let her move on as well, when she should have been actively trying to move on for her own benefit, rather than rely on a scapegoat.

The only reason that she should move on, is for herself.

"Let it go, huh…"

"Easier said than done, I get it. As a singer, I run into walls all the time with my music because even I second-guess myself. Is what I'm doin' really helpin' Spikemuth? Questions like that. But, results don't come overnight, and healin' takes time. For now, cut yourself some slack and enjoy the music. Be free." Piers grabbed the remote sitting on one of the stereos and fired up a song that none of them recognized. It wasn't one of the songs that was in the set list, nor was it the song they were expected to play.

It had an upbeat tempo, which was notably different from his usual songs.

That didn't stop Piers from grabbing his mic and singing along with the track.

"Marmalade & sugar song, peanuts & bitter step, it's sweet and bitter and my head seems to be spinning around. Let's head for south-southwest and keep the party going on, it will be a night to amaze the whole world. I feel fantastic; form a chain and reflect~!"

When the chorus kicked in, all of them had their toes tapping to the beat, letting themselves get swept away by Piers' singing and carefree melody. Phil couldn't help but grin at their impromptu jam session and moved all around the studio, capturing each of them playing at their own leisure, regardless of how bad it really sounded.

"Someday, even if madness holds its breath. Someday, even if reasonings lose their meaning. Feeling song & step, the way our sound keeps on ringing out, is the proof that shows we are what we are, QED~!"

"Play along!" Piers sang. The team looked at each other, confusion written all over on their faces because they weren't exactly skilled enough to play along to a song they didn't even know-

"Let yourselves go and just have fun!"

They hesitantly picked up their assigned instruments and tried to play along. Emphasis on 'tried'. It was obvious to anyone that they weren't playing well at all, but it didn't really matter in the moment. Every wrong chord, note, and rhythm that strummed, pressed, and banged from their instruments was every worry, anxiety, and fear that they were letting go.

It was liberating.

When the song ended, Vanquil did a dramatic riff while sliding down on his knees across the floor, which made them all burst into fits of giggles and laughter at how much fun it was to just play without a care in the world.

"So, Juliet," Piers heaved. "How do you feel now?"

"I feel.. Really great, to be honest." Juliet huffed, setting down her drumsticks to shake off the adrenaline that was still buzzing in her veins. "Is that a new song you wrote? It sounds completely different from your usual stuff!"

"I wanted to try somethin' different. It doesn't hurt to shake things up every once in a while. I wrote this song a while back, but I've never played it live."

"How come? It's so fun, though! I think it'd be a great song to play if the crowd asks for an encore!" Tessu squealed excitedly.

"You think so? I guess I'm a bit worried by what people will think of it since it's not my usual style-"

"Hey, you said it yourself to 'let yourselves go and have fun'!" Vanquil chuckled. "I think it would be a nice surprise for everyone who comes."

"Are you lot OK with it? You'll have to learn how to play a new song in that case." Piers questioned worryingly.

"I-I want to learn how to play it! It's a fun song to play with everyone, even if we sounded kind of terrible there." Mary giggled.

"Let's do it, then!" Juliet cheered, raising her drumsticks up into the air. Piers looked at the enthusiastic band and sighed. He didn't know who was more troublesome - this band of Team Yell. He smiled at the thought.

He couldn't bring himself to ever hate either of them. They were good people, albeit tiring to deal with at times.

In the underground power plant, the creature that was stuck inside of it's chamber was now conscious, swimming about in the liquid it was contained in and occasionally letting out a deafening screech that for some reason would take out the power of the lab momentarily. It was quite a nuisance, which was why the scientists and researchers made every effort to calm the creature so it wouldn't disrupt their work.

Chairman Rose entered the lab, making everyone in the lab pause what they were doing to acknowledge his presence out of respect before diligently returning to their work. He stopped in front of the creature's chamber with growing interest as it moved about, displaying every inch of its skeletal like spikes and membranes for all to examine. For a moment, the creature even stopped to glance over in Rose's direction. That's what he gathered, anyway. It was hard to tell with how...inconclusive its anatomy was.

"Chairman Rose." A scientist greeted with a courtesy nod.

"Well?"

"It seems our hypothesis is correct. This creature is likely linked to the Darkest Day phenomenon that occurred 3000 years ago. On top of it having the highest power of Dynamax like nothing else, it's so powerful that its presence alone can cause electrical interference."

"Hm. That would explain some power outage reports in Hammerlocke." Chairman Rose hummed. "Do keep that in check. I don't want any workers outside of Macro Cosmos to snoop in here."

"Yes, sir. And...if I may?"

"You have something else to report?"

"To make things easier for us when talking about this creature, we've decided to call it Eternatus. Will that suffice?" The scientist asked. "The reasoning behind it is the fact that it has lived for so long that it's practically immortal."

"Eternatus...Eternal…" Chairman whispered to himself. "A suitable name. Good work."

"Thank you very much, sir. The experiments for next week are to move forward as planned?"

"Yes. I'll be sure to have Leon on standby so do not worry about the civilians."

The scientist nodded in acknowledgement before leaving to attend other business with his employees. Oleana approached Chairman Rose with her phone in hand, and she didn't look too pleased. "Chairman. It seems that Bede has been successfully transferred to Opal's custody."

"And? You don't look too happy about it."

"Well, pardon if this is out of line but, are you sure you're OK with this?"

"Yes. I think this will be good for him. Perhaps I was asking too much of him that he got too carried away with his duties." Chairman Rose smiled gently.

"I trust that Opal will shape him into a fine successor for the Fairy Gym."