The Sleeping City
Ash and his friends arrived in Canalave City where Ash would be challenging the Battle Factory for his next frontier symbol, however the streets were notably deserted despite them arriving in the middle of the day. There wasn't a soul to be found apart from those within the group, it was eerily quiet.
"I'm not usually a fan of crowds but I think I'd prefer one over this," Zach spoke before turning to face Lucario. "The people aren't in trouble are they? I'm not sure why else they'd be hiding."
Lucario's eyes glowed a bright blue as he looked around before shaking his head. He didn't sense any sinister aura within the city limits and as for the missing humans, they appeared to be sleeping?
"Car..."
"They're sleeping?! It's like three in the afternoon, how can the entire city be asleep?!"
Ash looked towards him upon him shouting out, this sounded like a previous encounter he had with a mythical Pokemon. One that both him and Marnie were currently trying to hunt down and capture!
"Darkrai! One must be in the area and causing everyone to have nightmares!" Ash was quick to exclaim.
"S-Shouldn't they have woken up by now?" Lillie asked with a light shudder, the idea of a Pokemon that could willingly and also accidentally cause people to have nightmares just creeped her out!
"Technically they should," Dawn spoke up. "It's odd that nobody's woken up and the entire town appears to be affected. Darkrai alone couldn't be doing this..."
"It's Team Rocket again, it has to be." Ash was quick to assume. Who else would be behind it? Nearly every other foe they encountered was either not among the living anymore, changed their ways and retired, or were in prison. "I say we split up and investigate, Dawn you take May and Zach to Full Moon Island to find Cresslia and see if she'll give us some of her feathers. Marnie and Lillie, you two and I will search the town to see if anyone is awake and knows anything about this or try and see if we can get a lead on Darkrai's location."
"Cresslia?" Zach blinked, knowing nothing about that Pokemon.
"Cresslia the Lunar Pokemon, those who sleep holding Cresselia's feather are assured of joyful dreams."
"Ah, no wonder we're going after her then." Zach gave a light nod of understanding.
"So are we taking Blastoise or Dragonite?" May asked.
"Dragonite would probably be faster, I say we go with her."
"Right, besides Dragonite loves to ferry us around!" Dawn said with a cheerful smile as Zach tossed forward the ball containing his trusty Dragon.
"Dragooo!" Dragonite cried out happily before lowering her position so that her trainer, Lucario and the girls could climb aboard.
"Before careful you three!" Lillie called out shortly before Dragonite took to the skies, Dawn sitting up front so that she could help guide Dragonite to where they needed to go.
Ash and his friends continued walking through town but unfortunately the entire town appeared to be asleep just as Lucario had said. They checked the Pokemon Center first and Nurse Joy along with her Chansey were fast asleep behind the register while several trainers were slumped along the floor or sleeping against the video phone screen. The Canalave City gym was closed and knocking brought no response, Byron was likely affected as well or simply not home. And a visit to the Battle Factory showcased Scott fast asleep on the side of the battlefield while Hugh and what Ash could only assume was the Frontier Brain laid fast asleep with Hugh's Flygon and the Frontier Brain's Alakazam sleeping mere inches away from one another.
Eventually they covered pretty much every corner of the city but had no clues to go on.
"Maybe Darkrai's hanging about outside the city? It's definitely not chilling on a rooftop or Dragonite would have seen it." Marnie suggested with a light shrug.
Ash looked thoughtful for a moment before releasing Charizard. "Charizard, you watched the Sinnoh League at the Charicific Valley right?"
"Char!" Charizard roared out as he shot a stream of fire into the air as confirmation.
"Perfect, remember that Dark type Pokemon that gave our friends so much trouble until Sceptile took it down? I want you to do a quick looksie around the city to see if you can find one, or report back if you see anything suspicious." He added on as it was just as likely that Team Rocket or somebody had taken Darkrai and decided to run off and leave the town to rot in a never ending nightmare, in which case it likely wasn't Jessie, James and Meowth like last time.
"Char!" Charizard roared out and stretched his wings before taking off into the sky, he began circling the area outside of town and it wasn't long before he spotted something that caught his attention. He let out an alarmed roar and quickly turned around to fly back to Ash before he was discovered. "Char, roar!" Charizard roared out as he quickly descended upon the ground before rapidly pointing in the direction from which he had come from.
"Something's wrong..." Ash clenched his fists before giving Marnie a look. "We should get going."
"Right, you stay here Lillie. It could get dangerous."
Lillie puffed her cheeks before giving Marnie a shove. "I might not be anywhere near as strong as the rest of you but I can still put up a fight, I proved myself in the Twinleaf Festival so I'm going rather you want me to or not!"
Marnie gave Ash a quick look to see his response only for the raven haired male to shrug.
"If she wants to go, I won't stop her. Just be careful, Lillie. I don't know what I'd do if you got hurt, especially if I could have stopped you from coming."
Lillie gave Ash an appreciative smile before kissing his cheek. "Don't worry about me Ash, I'll be fine. Now let's go find that Darkrai!
The three were quick to hop onto Charizard's back as he flew them back to where he had previously been, Ash's heart quickly sank upon recognizing the ship.
"I-Isn't that...? Charizard, land quickly!"
Charizard let out a roar as he made his descent, landing right in front of two Darkrai who were frozen in place much like his Gardevoir and Bonnie's Fennekin had been previously before being rescued.
"Two Darkrai? No wonder the entire city got affected!" Marnie growled lightly.
"Alright, I just received payment from my contact and now you two will-" Hunter R immediately froze upon exiting his ship, his eyes landed upon Ash and Charizard before quickly drawing his robotic arm and firing a blast at Charizard, freezing him in the golden prison. "Why is it that ever since that Lumiose Job you always show up at the most inconvenient time!?"
"Whose this guy?" Lillie asked in a hushed whisper.
"Pokemon Hunter R, he's a Pokemon Hunter that specializes in capturing shiny Pokemon and selling them to the highest bidder while also stealing some on occasion." Marnie filled Lillie in.
"I thought you drowned trying to foolishly grab your gold from the bottom of a frozen lake!"
"I nearly did, thankfully my cybernetic enhancements allow me to survive conditions that would kill a normal human. I was frozen in a block of ice and was lost at sea for weeks before she rescued me."
"She? Whose she?!" Ash exclaimed but his answer would soon be given as another pair of footsteps could be heard descending from the ship causing him to tense up as it was none other than the supposedly deceased Pokemon Hunter J!
"Hello kid, long time no see." J cast off a sinister smirk.
"I-I thought you died..." Ash stuttered out before backing up lightly.
"In this universe? Yes, but I escaped from a dying universe and managed to land in this one upon hitching a ride on a weird bat thing with two spacemen atop it. They were too busy looking for somebody else that they didn't notice that I'd grapple hooked onto the bat's feet!"
"So basically you did die but you're technically alive cause you're a different you... this multiverse stuff makes my head hurt!" Marnie groaned out as her hands touched the sides of her forehead.
"We're partners now, I owe her a life debt and she needs somebody to fill her in on how the world works!" Pokemon Hunter R smirked. "We're both getting paid for this job, two Darkrai and one is a shiny! Will bring in quite the heavy payout when we deliver it to our contact!"
"Yes and you kids won't stop us," J laughed. "In case you didn't know I killed the Ash from my world!"
"Eek!" Lillie gasped out as she began shaking.
"Lillie stay behind me." Ash growled out as he and Marnie tightly gripped on a pair of Pokeballs while the Salamence landed before both Pokemon Hunters.
Lillie nodded and stayed back while Marnie and Ash threw forward the Pokeballs.
"Houndoom, let's go!"
"Garchomp, I choose you!"
"Garrr!"
"Houndoom!"
"Sala!" Both Salamence roared out in a aggressive manner.
"Let's do this," Pokemon Hunter R tapped a gem attached to his artificial arm before raising his arm up while Hunter J revealed a Mega Ring that looked suspiciously like the one that Ash had. Both Salamence became encased in a bright pink light as they began transforming into their Mega forms!
"Houndoom, let's show them our bond!"
"You too Garchomp!" Ash called out as he and Marnie activated their own Mega Rings, encasing Houndoom and Garchomp in the familiar pink light.
"Sandstorm!"
Garchomp spread out his arms and let out a cry as a thick sandstorm surrounded the area, making it difficult to see.
"I don't need to see you to attack, blindly Flamethrower we're bound to hit one of those pests if not their Pokemon!" Hunter R laughed.
"Earthquake!" Hunter J commanded as her Salamence leaped up before slamming it's feet against the ground causing the area around them to begin shaking, Lillie lost her balance and fell over while Ash and Marnie struggled to keep their balance. Houndoom let out a yelp while Garchomp flew enough off the ground to avoid the attack.
"Dragon Rush, let's go!"
Garchomp's body became surrounded in a blue aura as he swiftly flew through the sandstorm before slamming his body against both Salamence's bodies, the two Dragons letting out a pained grunt.
"No way, this kid seems even stronger than last time!" Hunter R gasped out before quickly fiddling with his robotic arm. "I'm not losing my profits again, retreat!"
"Hell no, I killed one Ash not so hard to do so again."
"And what year was that?!" Hunter R shouted. "Surely not when he's at his prime? I'm out, forget the life debt. I need to get paid already!"
"Fine whatever, suit yourself." J waved him off as the Darkrai statues were lifted up and began hovering towards him. "I'm gonna make sure that he doesn't interfere with any future business of mine! Drapion, Ariados, Aggron all charge at once!" J threw forth her entire arsenal of Pokemon.
Ash let out a growl before whipping out his Z-Power ring and slapping it onto his wrist. "Pikachu, use 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt!"
J lowered her glasses in shock as she'd never heard of that move before. As her Pokemon charged at Ash and his friends, Pikachu caught his hat before the two shared a high five, the electric rat's cheeks sparked up as he absorbed the electricity from the sky above before shortly firing off multiple different colored streaks of electricity which flew through the air before giving J's entire team quite the powerful shock! Salamence, Drapion, Ariados and Aggron all hit the ground as swirls formed within their eyes. J let out a shocked gasp before quickly rushing after Pokemon Hunter R.
"Wait for me!"
The ship began lifting off the ground before Houndoom fired off a Dark Pulse upon Marnie's command, the Dark type attack made direct contact with an engine and caused the ship to crash into the ground!
"Let's get them!" Ash shouted out before he and Marnie made a quick dash for the door, Garchomp taking a bite before ripping it right off it's hinges as the two trainers made their way inside however the ship was entirely deserted save for the frozen Darkrai. Apparently Hunter R had teleported himself and his new partner out of there as they knew they were in a tight spot.
Ash and Marnie reached for the Darkrai before beginning to peel the golden liquid off the two Dark types. The two soon coming face to face with the mythical Pokemon as a Darkrai stared at Ash and gave him a familiar look, seeming to recognize him and Ash assumed that it must be the Darkrai he'd met on his previous visit to the city several years back. "Hey Darkrai, what's up?"
Darkrai began firing up a Dark Pulse only for Ash to raise his hands. "Whoa whoa, easy there we're here to help!"
Darkrai halted his attack and looked to the side to see Marnie helping out his alternate colored companion, Darkrai lowered his arms but remained cautious as the two freed the other.
"There you go, you two are free to go!" Ash grinned.
"Yeah but-Hey before you go, would either of you like to battle against me?" Marnie asked.
"Oooh, me too! I'd love to battle one of you as well!" Ash was quick to say.
The two Darkrai gave each other a look before nodding in agreement. The regular Darkrai still looked a bit on edge though as he was certain this was just a trap to capture them!
"Alright, time for a battle!"
"Hey there Cresslia, we don't mean to cause you any trouble. We're just here to help!" Two women who were similar in appearance stood in front of the Psychic legendary, they both had light skin tones and purple eyes, while their hair was black with multiple different colored highlights spread across while also wearing the familiar black uniform of Team Rocket.
"Cress!"
"Oh right, it a Psychic type!" One facepalmed while the other shook her head before firing off a dart gun at Cresslia, the Psychic type's eyes shot wide before glowing a sinister red as she let out a fierce cry. Her body turned from blue to black while the yellow parts of her body transitioned into a dark purple coloring, the purple and pink rings surrounding her body had also transformed and began glowing as if they were made of magma!
"Cresslia!"
"Welcome to Team Rocket, Cresslia! You serve us now!"
"Yung will be so pleased, sis! We're bound to move up in the organization now!"
"Quiet Andromeda, that thinking got us fired from Team Galactic. We're lucky to even have gotten this job in the first place!"
"Oh right, sorry Galaxy!" However unlike Lugia, Cresslia didn't seem willing to listen to the pair. A pink beam of energy fired from her mouth and exploded at their feet before sending them blasting off into the sky!
"Hey this isn't fair, aren't new villains supposed to get a time to show off before getting defeated?!" Andromeda shouted as the two disappeared into the distance shortly before Dragonite landed on the island.
"Whoa, what happened to Cresslia?!" Dawn leaped back in shock upon hopping off Dragonite's back.
"It looks like she's been transformed into a Shadow Pokemon or whatever the term is." Zach narrowed his eyes.
"What?" Dawn's eyes darted between the two.
"It's something sinister that Team Rocket has come up with, basically it greatly enhances a Pokemon's power and also corrupts them so that they lose any sense of morality and become pure evil." May explained.
"Ash managed to get through to Silver but that was the first time they utilized the technology so I'm sure they've ironed out that by now, it's been quite a few months since that incident." Zach spoke up. "None of us are close to Ash in strength and it took all that he had just to beat Lugia, granted Lugia is vastly stronger than Cresslia from my understanding but I still suggest that we attack all at once with our big guns, we can't afford to risk it getting away as the people back in Canalave need the feathers!"
"You're more powerful than you think, you do realize that right?" May asked, placing her hand atop his own before agreeing with him.
"Regardless he is right, if we let Cresslia fly off then the Canalave citizens could potentially starve by the time we get back!" Dawn exclaimed. "Mamoswine, let's go!"
"Mamo!" Mamoswine burst from his ball followed by Dawn's Lopunny as the bluenette activated her Mega Ring, Zach lowered his head in a moment of brief shame as both his girlfriends activated Mega Evolution. Lucario placed his paw on his trainer's shoulder and let out a comforting growl before stepping forward along with Cinderace and Dragonite as they stood alongside Mamoswine, Mega Lopunny, Mega Blaziken, Piplup, and Blastoise!
Cresslia's eyes darted about before glowing a bright red as a red glow surrounded all the Pokemon, lifting them up and levitating them off the ground!
"Electro Ball!"
"Whirlpool!"
"Hyper Beam!"
"Aura Sphere!" Both Zach and Dawn called out as he'd helped her teach Lopunny Aura Sphere with Lopunny growing quite close to Lucario during the process much to Cinderace's annoyance.
"Hydro Pump!"
"Blizzard!"
"Flamethrower!"
Cresslia's attempts to stop them were halted as she was assaulted by a barrage of ranged attacks, the various differently typed attacks met and created a massive explosion that engulfed Cresslia and created a large crater beneath her! Cresslia's eyes rolled up as her breath began returning to normal, the Psychic type soon collapsed to her side as she laid in defeat while purple and black energy flew off her as she returned to her normal coloring.
"So that's it? The threat is over?" Dawn asked cautiously as she peered down into the crater.
"It should be, Lugia didn't get back up... but just in case I'll go down and poke her."
"Wait-" May tried to grab Zach but he and Lucario had already hopped over the edge and began sliding down to Cresslia's defeated body. Lucario gave her a light tap with his foot as his eyes glowed bright blue, reading her aura over before giving his trainer a thumbs up.
"She's fine!" Zach called up as May and Dawn let out a sigh of relief. Zach quickly fished through his pocket for a Sitrus berry and a Hyper Potion, placing the berry in front of Cresslia's mouth as he began spraying her wounds. Cresslia flinched lightly as her eyes darted open, she took a quick sniff before emitting a happy cry as she chomped down on the berry placed in front of her. The Psychic type then shot up and gave Zach and Lucario affectionate nuzzles as she cried out with joy!
"Heh, you're welcome!" Zach laughed lightly before backing up. "Cresslia now that we've helped you out we were wondering if you'd help us out with what we came here to do."
"Cress?" Cresslia tilted her head as she began reading his mind. A smile crossed her face before she gave a confirming nod that stated she'd be more than happy to help out!
"Thank you Cresslia," Zach bowed his head as he smiled at the legendary.
Cresslia flew through the air, shedding her yellow feathers down upon the city and casting off a bright glow as the townspeople began waking up from their deep slumber. The others watched from Dragonite's back as she flew over the city, across the city everyone was waking up and looking around in a confused state. Some questioning how it happened and where that pesky Pokemon who had put them to sleep had gone off to!
Cresslia finished within a few minutes and flew back to the edge of Canalave before settling down, her eyes looked up towards Dragonite as if asking the others to land so she could talk. Zach glanced at the girls before directing Dragonite to land so that they could hear her out.
"Thank you kind travelers for rescuing me, I can sense that Darkrai won't be troubling this area anymore so with great sorrow I must leave my home and find a new purpose in life... I-I'd like to go with you!" Cresslia turned her focus towards Zach whose eyes widened upon hearing her say that.
"I-I can't! You're a legendary Pokemon! I-I've caught a few but that was only so I could make sure they were safe from Team Rocket's grasp, I'm not worthy enough to own a legendary." May frowned lightly at her fiancée's words, placing her hand on his shoulder in a comforting manner before a light bulb quickly went off in her head. She leaned over and whispered into his ear causing him to give her a look before glancing towards Dawn.
"Er-Cresslia? W-Would it be too much to ask of you to join Dawn instead? She's far more deserving than I am."
"Wait what? Really?!" Dawn felt a mixture of emotions flowing through.
"Dawn... I remember you. Yes, I think I will join her team. That is if she allows it?"
"O-Of course, I'd be happy to have you!" Dawn blushed lightly before holding out an empty Pokeball, Cresslia gave her a confirming nod before quickly flying forward and tapping it with her nose. The Psychic type disappeared in a beam of red light as the ball shook within Dawn's grasp before chiming out to confirm the capture!
Dawn had an ecstatic look across her face as she looked down at the Pokeball before quickly turning around to face Zach as an affectionate look crossed her face. "T-Thank you so much for doing that! I-I never imagined somebody would do that."
"Well I wasn't lying, you did deserve it Dawn." Zach blushed as he scratched the side of his cheek. "It'll definitely be a great Pokemon for you to have in Contests and it really suits you too, it's as beautiful as you are."
Dawn raced over and brought her lips up against his, meeting him in a kiss as she showed him how much that the act had meant to her. She bit her lip and cast a quick look around before grabbing Zach's hand as she led him towards some nearby bushes.
"Moonblast!" Gardevoir placed her hands together as she fired off a pink sphere of energy, the orb exploded upon impact and Darkrai let out a grunt before collapsing to his side. The battle had been hard fought but Ash had beaten him rather quickly and easier compared to his last encounter with one, all it took was for his Mega Gardevoir to fire off a few Fairy attacks while avoiding Darkrai's attacks and he eventually pulled off the win!
"Alright, my turn!" Marnie turned to the alternate colored Darkrai as she threw out her arm. "Play Rough!" A twinkle appeared in Grimmsnarl's eyes as he let out a roar before tackling Darkrai as a cloud of dust surrounded them. Loud strikes and slaps could be heard within the dust storm as Grimmsnarl viciously attacked Darkrai before throwing out his body!
"Now use Spirit Break!" Grimmsnarl let out an ear shattering roar as he charged forward and before Darkrai could recover, he'd find himself overwhelmed by a force so powerful enough to it broke his spirit as he was pinned down once more. Darkrai glared upwards before beginning to spark as he delivered a powerful shock to Grimmsnarl's body, forcing the demon Pokemon to let go!
"No way, it knows Thunder!" Marnie gasped, clenching her fist before throwing out her arm. "Well two can play this game, Burning Jealousy!"
Grimmsnarl's eyes flared up before a bright flame surrounded his body, the Pokemon let out a jealous roar before striking out with a punch, sending Darkrai flying before it landed in a defeated heap alongside it's friend as swirls filled both their eyes.
Ash's jaw dropped for a brief moment as Marnie had dispatched her Darkrai even quicker than he had done so, he was so used to being so significantly stronger than his companions that he hadn't noticed exactly how strong both Zach and Marnie had become!
"We did it!" Marnie pulled Ash into a tight hug before kissing him on the lips as Lillie cheered the two on.
"Way to go you two, you beat the Darkrai!"
The Darkrai began to stir and slowly arise, the alternate Darkrai began to approach Marnie before bowing his head as his gaze was focused upon her belt. "Y-Ya wanna join me?!" Marnie asked from shock. Darkrai gave a swift nod as Marnie gave an appreciative smile, bowing back before giving Darkrai a light tap as the Dark type mythical disappeared in a beam of red light followed by a chime that indicated the capture!
"Darkrai hold up!" Ash called after the other one. Darkrai halted and looked back to face him. "Darkrai, that battle was amazing! You're truly an awesome Pokemon, I'd like... I'd like to extend you an invitation to join us." Ash smirked as he held out his hand, Darkrai gave it a cautious look before looking back up at him.
"You don't have to say yes, if you like you can leave right now and we'll never see each other again. But if you join us, we'll become stronger together and also become great friends in the process! What do you say?" Darkrai stared at Ash's hand for a moment before eventually reaching out to touch it with his own as a smile crossed both Ash and Pikachu's faces.
"Welcome to the team, Darkrai!"
"Pika!"
"You caught Cresslia?! That's awesome!" Lillie exclaimed as Dawn let out a light laugh.
"Yeah, I did! Sounds like you all had some fun too?"
"Yep, Ash and I both caught ourselves a Darkrai!" Marnie exclaimed with a boastful expression.
"Hold up both?" May asked.
"Yeah, there were two of them and after saving them and defeating them in a battle they were both willing to join up!"
"We also saw a Shadow Pokemon again, Cresslia was one before we defeated and cured her." Zach added on.
"Shadow Pokemon...? Was Dr. Yung there?" Ash immediately questioned.
Zach shrugged before shaking his head. "Cresslia was the only one there other than us, Lucario read the area's aura just to confirm the fact." Lucario nodded at his words.
"Hm... well hopefully we find a way to stop this, if it enhances Pokemon's strength then Arceus only knows what it'd be like if they transformed Rayquaza, Groudon, Mew or Mewtwo!" The thought of the latter two terrified Ash, they were already the strongest in existence and rumored to be unbeatable. If either of them got turned it just might be over for them!
"Some partner you turned out to be, I'm gone." J growled out.
"Yeah well who needs you! I should have known working with a woman would end up badly, you lot are nothing but trouble!" R growled back as their Salamences growled murderously at each other.
"Shut up before of you!" Sasuke swiftly appeared in front of the two as he pushed them apart.
"Who the hell are you?!" R growled out. "Nobody gives me orders without promising a paycheck!"
"You'll have a massive paycheck soon," A hologram of Dr. Yung appeared from a device upon Sasuke's wrist. "Greetings Hunter R, we meet again. You too J, thought you died?"
"I got better."
"Right... well I got a proposition for you. My associate has a serum that will permanently transform your Pokemon into their Mega Evolved state, granting them a massive power boost and also allowing you to utilize more than one if you wish! There's but one catch."
"And that catch is...?" R raised an eyebrow.
"Steal the project that Rocket Executives Butch and Cassidy are working on, you don't have to work together if only one of you survives or gets the prize then I'll simply pay them! Fair warning though if you try and take the serum and run, I can end your Salamence right then and there!"
"Such power..." J's eyes brightened before she clenched her fists, imagining that annoying Ketchum brat beneath her boot once more!
"So much money..." R's eyes turned to dollar signs as he envisioned all the missions he could successfully pass with a fleet of Mega Evolved Pokemon ready to serve him.
"I'll do it!" Both hunters shouted before casting the other a light glare.
Sasuke handed them both a bag and gave them a salute before disappearing as quickly as he came.
Ash got Darkrai and Dawn got Cresslia! Hopefully that happens in the anime, fingers crossed!
