"At my house. I'm Karin. Tanya's sister. So…Ash is it?"

"Yeap."

"Cool name. So what brought you guys to Northbridge Valley?"

As soon as he heard she referred to him as "you guys" he immediately remembered Brock, Pikachu and the others and said. "You mean Brock and May are here?"

"Oh, yeah. They're right outside in the living room. You want to go…"

"Oh, God, no! Give me a few minutes to clear my head." Ash dropped back on the bed and put one of the pillows on his face and exhaled deeply. All was silent for a few minutes but then he spoke up again remembering her question.

"We heard some people talking about how they caught some really strong and rare Pokémon up in a valley somewhere. Of course to me it was like telling a 5 year old where to find candy. I asked and they said Northbridge Valley so…here we are. So what's your story?"

"Well, I have been trying for two years to get my father and sister and brother to let me go off on my own journey 'cept they think I'm "too young" and don't know how to handle my Pokémon well. That of course is nothing but pure BS!"

Ash chuckled under the pillow and remembered just how nervous and insecure his mom was when it was time to let him go so he pretty much understood Karin's frustration. Out of curiosity Ash put the pillow aside and said. "So what Pokémon do you have?"

Karin reached to the end of the bed and took a black backpack and took out six pokeballs and released a Seviper, an Ekans, an Arbock, a Crobat, a Sableye and a Togetic. The Pokémon chirped greetings, at least all except the Sableye who walked away. Karin sighed and said. "That little Sableye's name is Spellbound. She never listens to me. She's my most powerful Pokémon but she just won't listen. My dad says the day I get her to listen is the day I can go on my own journey."

The way Karin described Spellbound sounded much like how his Charizard acted before. He remembered all the embarrassing moments his Charizard put him through and all the battles they could have won if only it had listened to him but he still cared for his Charizard no matter what. "I have a Charizard who wouldn't listen to me either."

"It's a pain in the ass for sure. The Seviper's name is Cruxshadow, the Ekans is Qntal, the Arbock is Collide, the Crobat is Akasha and that little cutie is Symphony." She pointed out at the Togetic who smiled at Ash as she was being introduced. Karin had a bit of a pattern when it came to her Pokémon but Symphony seemed to have broken that chain. He also wondered about their names so he asked.

"You seem to have a pattern concerning your Pokémon. And how'd you come up with their names?"

"Yeah. I'm a bit of an oddball but most people say I'm "creepy". Guess you can tell. Symphony was the first Pokémon I had ever received; she was a birthday present for my 3rd birthday. And their names? Well, I name them after my favorite bands, songs or whatever sounds interesting."

Meanwhile in the living room Marco and Tanya had brought Brock, May, Max and Pikachu over to their house to wait for Ash to wake up. The living room was rather classy. The walls were painted a light gray color; there was a large wide screen TV set on a metal entertainment center at the end of the room, in between the sofas and the TV was a glass coffee table with a beautiful flower ornament. The ornament had white roses with a few candles in between the roses, to the left of the table was a huge window looking out at the park, the window itself had elegant brown and long curtains that reached the floor.

They all sat on the sofas and had been talking for a while. They explained why they had come to Northbridge Valley. Marco was going to explain what they had seen a few hours ago but he wanted to wait till Ash woke up so he wouldn't have to explain the same thing twice. Tanya was in the kitchen fixing up some tea and biscuits for the kids and for her father and her sister.

As Tanya was bringing over to the living room a wide metallic, yet elegant, tray filled with biscuits Max and Pikachu were drooling over them as the smell was drifted all over the room by the air conditioner. As she passed by the hallway that led to the bedrooms she heard some laughter coming from her sister's room. She assumed Ash had woken up and he and Karin were talking. She placed the tray on the coffee table and went to Karin's room.

She opened the door and a blast of cold air washed over her. Karin was always putting the air conditioner very cold. She looked in and saw Karin lowering her head on the computer's keyboard laughing loudly while Ash was on the floor laughing even louder. Tanya saw the monitor and saw some strange cartoons talking while the two kids laughed so hard tears were flowing from their eyes. Tanya sighed and said. "Okay guys I have some biscuits in the living room."

Both Karin and Ash looked at Tanya and laughed even harder as they kept listening to the cartoons on the computer. Karin wiped some tears from her eyes and began to turn off the computer as Ash tried to get up from the floor but fell back as he heard another comment from the cartoons and managed to say while laughing. "That was freakin' great! That was so funny!"

Karin had turned off the computer and said as she laughed and helped Ash get up on his feet. "I know! I can watch these for hours and still laugh!"

"All right you guys. Come on, the others are in the living room waiting for you to wake up Ash."

Tanya led the way towards the living room while Ash and Karin walked right behind her while laughing from the cartoons. Pikachu saw Ash up and well so it jumped right into his arms and hugged him. Ash returned the hug and said. "Hey buddy! You okay?"

"Pi pikachu! Pika pi!" Pikachu replied over flowed with joy to see Ash acting like him old self again. Karin saw Pikachu and petted him as she said. "Aw, he's adorable!" Pikachu blushed a little as it put one of its paws behind its head in a shy manner. They all laughed a little but then Marco cleared his throat and stood up in front of the group.

"Well, I'm sure you are all aware of what happened earlier today." As he said that Ash lowered his shoulders as he remembered the chaos he created. Marco smiled and went on. "I think I better start from the very beginning. In the year 927 B.C. what we know as Northbridge town was just a vast land waiting to be claimed by anyone. Remarkably two small civilizations came to the valley at the same time, after much debates they tried to settle things like civilized human beings but alas…war broke out between them. That war claimed many people and many Pokémon as well. Now in these two civilizations there were what you would call witchdoctors.

"These two met up one night and came up with a plan to stop the useless bloodshed and violence. Now both leaders from both civilizations had children of their own. One was a young man and the other was a young lady. The young man was what you would call weird. Weird in a sense…"

"Like Karin." Tanya couldn't help but interrupt her father at that moment just to annoy her sister. They all laughed and Karin said in a serious tone but joking of course. "Oh, I hate you."

"Now, now girls. Yes, if you want to put it that way. Now the young lady was cruel and spiteful and selfish. Out in public she would act like a kind and caring person but when alone she was anything but. The two heirs were unique. One was dark and kind the other beautiful and cruel. The spiritual guides saw this as an opportunity and took it."

"The young man was given powers of terrible destruction and darkening control over the shadows. The young lady was bestowed with the same powers. They figured her cruelty could only be stopped by something just as dark but with a touch of humanity. The son was the perfect candidate and so the real war was unfolded. These powers were amazing indeed. They allowed them to use any attack known to mankind and Pokémon alike but along with them they had a few attacks that were theirs alone. Like the one you saw earlier."

"But their plan did not go as they had planned. Both civilizations gathered together and then broke off into two groups. Group one was very populated and ruthless and that group was right along side with the daughter. Group two unfortunately consisted of very few people and led by it was the son. Why the outcome? The son as I said earlier was…well…not very trusted by all except for those who knew him well and knew he stood for what was right. Unfortunately people base their decisions on looks instead of what's in their hearts."

"Why do I get the feeling this has some sickening moral lesson to it?" Karin laughed as Ash said that but the rest did not find anything funny about it. Marco looked at him seriously and said. "Actually, yes, it does. Along with the knowledge of every attack they also had the ability to shape shift into any Pokémon they wanted to and they had a shape of their own."

Marco pointed out at a painting of two creatures standing under a full moon. One was a figure dressed in a black hooded cloak with huge devil like black wings and the other was dressed in a white hooded cloak with huge white and silver angel like wings. He then pointed out at another painting. It had the same background as the one they saw before but this one had the two creatures in their true form.

Where the white cloaked figure stood now stood a humanoid type of creature, at first it seemed lovely for it resembled an angel but a closer look at its eyes sent a shiver down one's spine. The eyes were blood red and if that wasn't enough it had fangs in its mouth. However it did have on a beautiful white and silver long dress that reached the floor, its wings were massive and lovely. Where the black-cloaked figure stood now stood a four-legged creature that sent even more chills down one's spine. It represented a gargoyle. It had huge transparent black wings, a long tail and massive claws. Its eyes were burning with a yellow color and it had three horns on its forehead. The creature was a true nightmare to behold but they knew that gargoyle was not what it seemed to be.

Ash stared into the painting and right into the gargoyle. He seemed a bit restless to think he could wield such power and darkness. Ash knew at some point that a face-off between Eriscordia and himself would be brought up. That was of no trouble for him for he remembered how Eriscordia tricked him into attacking innocent people to please her sickening scheme. He put the last pieces together and said.

"So why am I involved here?"

"The war was devastating and caused even more damage so both spiritual guides decided to trap the daughter. They told the son of an attack he knew that could do that. The attack is known as Shadow's Light. This attack of course is the one strongest attack he could pull off that could defeat her. She of course knew an attack that could beat him as well. Light's Shadow."

"I guess you could guess the outcome of the battle the son brought down the daughter and the guides managed to seal her inside a black sphere. Just like one would catch a Pokémon in a pokeball. Now before being trapped forever in the sphere she pulled off one last filthy trick. She somehow managed to kill him before being trapped, but somehow his essence had been kept alive through the very white sphere he was to be kept inside of and a curse was placed on both spheres."

Ash, Brock, May, Max and Pikachu gasped and as they waited for the doctor to explain his last statement and May asked. "What curse is that?" The doctor looked down and Tanya spoke out and said. "Any human to come in contact with the white sphere would be invaded by the son's essence and at the same time unleash the daughter out into the world"

Karin then mentioned another important detail about the history of the story that had been unfolded to them. "The daughter and son's names were never revealed but they were later given names to befit them well. She as you may know by now is called Eriscordia. The name broken in half is Eris and Discordia. Both are known as goddesses of destruction and chaos."

"Oh yeah, sounds like her all right." Ash said as he took a sip of the tea Tanya had made earlier for them and asked. "And what of the son?"

"He was named Thanades. Broken in half it consists of Thanatos, the god of the night and darkness. And Hades, god of the Underworld. Both names were split from different Roman and Greek entities."

Later that day they were told they could stay in the extra guest rooms they had. At night as Ash tried to sleep he couldn't get a single drop of sleep. If he closed his eyes he would open them again seconds later, there was far too much in his mind to just doze off to sleep. Finally around 2: 06 in the morning he fell asleep calmly. Pikachu had fallen asleep beside him as it always did for the past four years. The room was surprisingly big and roomy, not to mention the air conditioner worked wonderfully well. On one side of the room was one of the bunk beds, Max slept on the bottom bunk while May took the top bunk. On the opposite side of the room was a second bunk bed, Brock was at the top bunk and Ash was at the bottom bunk finally sleeping peacefully. Behind each bunk bed was a wide window which overlooked the huge backyard that faced the woods.

As Pikachu slept it was suddenly woken up by a tapping sound on the window. Its ears rose up and its eyes widened as it looked out the window to see what made that sound that woke it up. "Pika?" It said as it turned its head slightly to the right as it looked out the window. It jumped out of the bed and jumped up on the window's frame to get a better view of the backyard.

Pikachu saw nothing and as it turned to walk back to the bed it heard another sound. Pikachu turned its head quickly to see but there was nothing although it knew there was something out there indeed. It leapt off the frame and worked its way towards the door. There it leapt towards the top of a drawer that was right beside the door and managed to open the door with its paws. Once out in the hallway it looked left and right and walked to where the front door was.