Chapter 62


Light and Dark


Darkrai attacked first, rushing forward and blasting Blaze back before and grabbing Alex by the head. Even with all their training, Darkrai had managed to catch them off guard.

"I have wanted so long for my vengeance...your suffering will be so sweet!" Darkrai exclaimed before slamming Alex's skull into the ground repeatedly.

Blaze recovered and threw a ball of lava at Darkrai knocking back, along with releasing him from Darkrai's grasp.

"Brave but foolhardy" Darkrai scoffed before unleashing more of his black lightning, Alex got to his feet just as Blaze landed beside him smoking.

Alex helped his partner to his feet as Darkrai taunted "You have no chance of defeating me, I know everything you've been through and all your training, you emotions will be your undoing"

The former human closed his eyes to make sure he was focused as he said "Our emotions have failed us before, but we overcame everything to get where we are"

Blaze gave a smirk and said, "Let's not beat around the bush Alex, let's show him how strong we are!"

Alex nodded as Blaze drew his sword, then the duo rushed at Darkrai much faster than before. The pitch-black pokemon stopped them both with one hand each. He was holding Blaze by shoving in his hand holding a sword while blocking Alex's fist with the other.

"Well, this may actually be some fun.." Darkrai admitted.

Then Darkrai heard the sound of energy charging up, along with the signature shattering sound of mega evolution, he looked to his opponents and immediately gasped.

Alex's arms and tail were beefier, and two blades identical to the ones a normal Haxorus had on their jaw were now running along the side of his arm. Most intimidating though was the tusks around the Mega's Haxorus's jaw, which were longer and came to a sharper point behind his head, giving his tusks a much wider slashing area.

All of Blaze's reddish-brown fur was a charred black, his white patches of fur were slightly faded as well. The gold markings on his body were now a pale blue, and his blue fingers now matched the red crest on his head. The most noticeable change however was the fire on his head being a deep blue, and blue flames streaming from his wrist. Not only that but a fourth of his long tail was fire now as well.

"Let's teach him a lesson Blaze!" Alex grunted.

Blaze gave a smile and replied "Yea.."

'The duo jumped away from the deadlock and began moving so fast that they were nothing but a blue and grey blur. Both landed multiple slashes on Darkrai before he adjusted to the flurry of attacks.

Darkrai teleported back a few feet, his rarely seen legs planting him to the ground as he took a defensive stance and said "Bring it!"

Alex jumped up and smashed into Darkrai with a dragon rush, the blue cone of energy knocking him back across the lava flats. Before Darkrai could even breath Blaze appeared in front of him unleashing a volley of punches and kicks. Darkrai parried the attacks with his hands for a few seconds but Blaze found the opening and punched Darkrai squarely in the cheek.

Darkrai's eyes filled with hate as he said "How dare yo.."

The Pitch Black pokemon had no time to finish as Alex smashed into him with another dragon rush.

Darkrai struggled to regain his composure and summoned a staff of black energy, clashing with Blaze's sword repeatedly but not managing to land a single hit. Alex brought down his arm Blaze and broke the staff in half, dissolving it before punching Darkrai so hard it sent him flying to one of the massive, plateau-like areas the lava flats had created.

Before he could try to recover, a stream of purple fire tore across the ground in a straight line as Blaze slashed the air with his sword. Since his mega form country outputted blue fire, Blaze could use his sword to make it even hotter turning in a smoky purple. Ran and Shaw had specifically forged the blade to channel and enhance fire type attacks. The stream of fire left a rut of glass in the ground as it knocked Darkrai to the other end of the plateau.

Alex punched the palm of his hand in determination as Darkrai scowled at him.

Blaze then sheathed his sword and held it beside him, preparing for a quick slash directly from the sheath.

"Give me some covering fire" Blaze requested as he charged up energy within his sheath.

Alex nodded and fired a ball of orange energy out of his mouth skyward, Darkrai went wide-eyed as the sphere detonated and the Draco Meteors rained down.

Darkrai dodged the onslaught as best as he could but there were too many explosions around him, he was taking severe damage so he unleashed a massive shockwave of dark matter to stop the attack, but afterward, he was panting, clearly struggling to keep up.

Just then a massive geyser of lava erupted beneath him, blasting him up into the air and leaving him vulnerable for Blaze to jump up and slash him from multiple angles. He was moving so fast that Darkrai hadn't even finished falling halfway down when he came in for another slash.

Unfortunately, the Pitch Black pokemon had finally registered where the attacks were coming from and spawned a chain with the same energy he made his staff out of. The chain wrapped around Blaze as he was rushing towards Darkrai, completely restraining him.

Darkrai's success was short-lived as Blaze used flame port and teleported out the bindings, grabbing the chain he then wrapped in around Darkrai faster than he could see.

Darkrai gasped, but he didn't even have time to be surprised as Alex jumped up high and came straight down with a dragon rush, dropping like a hammer on Darkrai and smashing him through several layers of rock.

The pitch-black pokemon was laying in a hole in the ground only for another geyser of lava to launch him skyward, then Blaze held out his hand in a half-closed fist.

Dozens of half molten rocks flew up towards Darkrai, pelting him with stone and lava over and over until he was completely entombed by a sphere of rocks the size of a house.

The mega Infernape clenched his hand, compressing the rocks even further with a crushing sound.

Alex and Blaze stared at the floating sphere, still in a combat stance.

"There's no way he survived tha…" Blaze ate his words as a scream was heard from within, the orb exploded with black energy. Darkrai unleashed giant bolts of black lightning around him, larger than even his body

Blaze was stuck first and fell to the ground twitch as his mega evolution deactivated, Darkrai had used enough energy to knock him out in a single blow!

"DIE!" Darkrai screamed as he landed and fired a laser of massive black energy at Alex.

Alex activated his white matter form, with his mega evolution boosting his endurance even further, his control over the power was much more precise.

He held out his hands and blocked the beam, he was standing firm, but skidding back!

"YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME!" Darkrai yelled at the top of his lungs.

Alex scowed and said, "Yes I can!"

The former human slowly overcame the beam and crossed his arms, white matter swirled in front of him, finally erupting into a beam larger than his body. The beams were at a standstill for a moment, but Alex amped his attack up even more with a focused scream.

Darkrai was helpless to do anything but watch as Alex beat him in a raw power struggle, the white matter beam hit him causing a massive explosion that consumed Darkrai in a pillar of light so strong it split the sky above, parting the volcanic clouds in the area.

Alex fell to his knees completely spent, as his mega form deactivated Blaze came up behind him, having already used a reviver seed himself, he gave his partner one.

The duo walked up to where Darkrai was and saw a massive hole in the ground, they jumped down the opening and landed right in the circular platform where Cresselia had just finished off the last beta. As the creatures disintegrated into black smoke, the three looked to the other end of the platform and saw that their opponent was still, albeit barely alive.

Darkrai was laying on the ground in a pool of black liquid, too weak to move, as he spat his tar-like blood out of his mouth, it all sizzled like acid. He continued to cough, it was clear Alex had come within inches of killing him

"Tapping out?" Blaze questioned, Darkrai would have no sympathy from any of them.

Cresselia started to approach him saying "you're coming with me.."

Darkrai spat out more blood and chuckled saying "Oh Cresselia, you cannot catch me!"

His eyes flashed with light, there was a whooshing sound and a barrier of what looked like smoky black glass appeared around the trio, trapping them in a dome of dark matter.

"NO!" Alex screamed as he summoned white matter around his tusks and slashed at the barrier, he was making very small cracks in it, but it was clear he wouldn't break though anytime soon.

Darkrai held up his hand, summoning more dark matter into himself and healing his wounds enough to float again.

Blaze and Cresslia joined in at smashing the barrier, but it was hopeless.

"Struggle all you want! That barrier is what kept this place hidden from the watcher and Palkia, you have no chance of breaking it!" Darkrai taunted.

Darkrai summoned a dimensional hole behind him and said "AHAHAHA, this dimensional hole may take me to the past, or the future, I set no destination so even Dialga and the watcher cannot track it! Even I don't know where it will lead me! But..I've only failed in this time, I will simply plunge the world into darkness in another time!"

Team Outriders and Cresselia could only scowl as Darkrai snidely backed up towards the portal, savoring every moment of their anger and disappointment.

"NO! NOT LIKE THIS!" Alex screamed as he continued to hopelessly slashed at the barrier.

Darkrai laughed again and said "HA, how do you like that? Despite all your efforts, ultimately it ends in my victory!"

"WE WON'T ALLOW THAT!" Three booming voices said.

Darkrai's jaw dropped as Dialga and Palkia appeared to his left and right, then Professor Malcolm appeared directly in front of him.

"YOU WILL PAY A GRAVE PRICE FOR SABOTAGING TEMPORAL TOWER DARKRAI!" Dialga announced.

"AND DISTORTING SPACE!" Palkia added.

"Your evil ends here!" Malcolm finished.

The three-spoke with supreme authority saying "NOW YOU SHALL PAY THE ULTIMATE PRICE!"

Dialga fired a roar of time, Palkia launched a Spatial Rend and Malcolm fired a swirling laser of emerald energy larger than himself from his cane.

Darkrai was too stunned to even try and move as Malcolm's beam hit him, launching him into the dimensional hole just as Dialga and Palkia's attacks hit.

There was a horrifying mix of Spacial Rend's tearing sound and Roar of Time's shattering sound as the dimensional hole exploded in a flash of green, pink and blue light. All that could be heard was an agonized scream.

"GAHHHHHHHH" Was the last thing anyone heard before a deathly silence filled the cavern.

The buried shattered as Blaze and Alex stared towards the crater in the ground where the dimensional hole was.

Blaze spoke first with "I heard Dakrai scream…is he dead, for real?"

"Most likely, if the sheer power of our attacks alone didn't kill him, the dimensional hole destruction would wipe anything left of him from existence" Malcolm deduced.

"WE ARE DONE WITH HIM, THE DISTORTIONS HE CAUSED HAVE VANISHED...FAREWELL" Palkia confirmed before charging up and flying off in his signature orb of light.

Dialga sighed and said "I MUST APOLOGIZE FOR MY BROTHER'S BEHAVIOR, HE HAS ALWAYS BEEN RATHER TERRITORIAL AND RASH"

Alex gave a disappointed look and said "Would at least a "thank you for saving the world"kill him?"

Dialga gave a casual chuckle and replied "HIS PRIDE WON'T ALLOW IT, SO ON BEHALF OF THE ENTIRE WORLD, THANK YOU TWO SO MUCH"

Alex and Blaze smiled back as Dialga finished with "PLEASE VISIT THE HIDDEN LAND AGAIN, YOU ARE ALWAYS WELCOME AT TEMPORAL TOWER"

The former human nodded and said "we'll take you up on that sometime"

Dialga gave a genuine and noticeable smile before vanishing in a flash of blue light.

Malcolm came up to the duo and scratching the back of his head and asked "I know it's an awkward time to ask, but there are many other worlds that could use your help one day, should the need arise, could I count on your help?"

"We would be glad to" Blaze said without hesitation, earning a nod from his partner.

Malcolm smiled and said "thank you so much, for now though, Cresselia, get them back to treasure town for a well deserve rest"

As the watcher vanished in a green flash, Cresselia smiled and said "Let's get to the beach and I'll call for Oleanna"

Blaze looked at his partner with a huge smile and said "Guess there's only one thing left to do…"

Alex nodded and replied, "let's go home!"


Epilogue


A few weeks later everyone was at a party to celebrate Alex and Blaze's victory.

Lana, Tesla, Team Go-Getters had come out to join the festivities, more importantly, however, every guildmaster was there as Wallace upgraded Team Outriders to Guildmaster rank, they had more than exceeded the other three ranks in everyone's eyes

As Alex stared at the back badge with the blue gem in the center, he smiled at Blaze and said "we did it"

"Yea, we did it, and there's even more exploring to do! We never will run out of adventures!" Blaze added

Alex laughed at his partner's enthusiasm and replied "some things never change, and I wouldn't have it any other way!


Over 200 years in the past, Darkrai was laying on the ground in a damp cave on the verge of death, even with his existence reinforced, Dialga and Palkia had nearly ended him. The only reason he survived was due to entering the dimensional hole before their attacks hit, and even then his survival was by the most razor-thin of margins. A one in a trillion fluke that even Dialga and Palkia couldn't have foreseen.

As he prepared to breathe his last, black smoke appeared in the cave, in the shape of the being that Alex had met atop Temporal Tower. The entity held out its hand causing black smoke to emanate from it and heal Dakrai's wounds. He was effectively brain dead before, but his master healed his mind as well.

Darkrai looked around in a start as his mind came back online, but as he saw his master he fell to the ground and laid prostrate in fear.

"Forgive me, my lord….have mercy!" Darkrai pleaded.

The figure's eyes narrowed as he said "cease your groveling, you had no chance against Dialga and Palkia, you tried to avoid a confrontation but time ran out. I expect results, but I am not unrealistic"

Darkrai relaxed slightly but still stayed on the floor saying "thank you, master…."

The figure shook his head and replied "rise my disciple, there is more work to be done, everything will fall into place…in due time…"


The End


Author's note- Thus ends PMD: Outriders, you didn't really think Darkrai was my overall villain did you?

1. The mega evolutions were inspired by an amalgam of fanart I've seen, so I hope I described them well

2. The Final battle was modeled after my favorite fight in anime history...bonus points for anyone who guesses it without looking it up

3. I think Dialga should've been there too in the game, so I added him.

Leave a review on the finale!