Rex followed closely behind the others as Reesy led them forwards through the snow. There was a distant rumbling and crashing, as pieces of ice slid off the glacier into the frozen, northern sea.
"We are getting close now.", Reesy stated, as two of her golems marched alongside her, "The Ice Warden will soon show himself-"
"Ah, Reesy! A pleasure to see you!", came a cheerful voice, and the Legendborn looked up as a young woman glided down from the sky with an old, leather hang glider. She wore a warm blue parka and pants, as well as blue mittens. Her hair was white and styled back in a braid, and she seemed quite happy to see them.
"Hello, Elsana.", greeted Reesy, smiling, "It's been a while since I've come to see you."
"True, true.", replied Elsana, "It does get lonely up here sometimes, you know!"
"So you're friends?", commented Victor.
Reesy nodded. "That is correct."
Elsana said, "Now, that's a bit of an understatement, but I do not believe we have time to elaborate. You see, my Noble had a most...terrifying premonition. That tonight will be full of darkness. If you are not fast enough, I do not know what could occur."
She sighed. "As much as we need to hurry, though, my Noble says that failure is inevitable if you do not defeat her in combat. She said that she wishes to try her hand against Rex."
Rex stepped forward. "That would be me." Inside, he was absurdly excited. Finally, he'd be able to test his skills against a Noble and get his powers! Finally, he could actually do something for his friends, his Pokemon!
He refused to fail again...
Elsana nodded. "It is good to meet you Rex. Normally, you would have to battle me and my Pokemon first, but these are special circumstances. If you and the others will come with me, I will lead you to my Noble."
The Legendborn followed her as she traveled up a large rocky crag, leading towards a wide, flat icy expanse. At the edge of it, it dropped straight down to the churning, grayish blue waves. Dark clouds filled the sky, and there was an ominous sense of foreboding because of it.
As they walked up to the arena, Reesy said, "So, Elsana, we came up here for another reason. You know that one cave in the side of the cliff?"
Elsana frowned. "Yes. You seek to enter it?"
"I have reason to believe that there is something that can resist the Darkness there.", Reesy answered. She did not explain how she had obtained that knowledge, which the other Legendborn were about as knowledgeable about as the Warden.
Elsana shrugged. "Well, we can give it a look, although that cave has been sealed off for as long as anyone can remember. Whatever dangers lurk within it will not be easy to investigate."
"We must give it a shot.", Reesy replied.
At that moment, they reached the edge of the arena. Somehow, up here felt much colder than the surrounding glacier, and Rex had the uncomfortable feeling something was watching him.
"Step forward, Rex, so my Noble knows you seek to challenge her.", said Elsana calmly.
Rex nodded softly, and stepped into the arena, readying his fists.
Immediately a blizzard whipped up around him, obscuring his vision completely. Looking around, startled, a melodic voice began to speak in his head.
"Hail, chosen of the Dragon of Balance.", the voice greeted, "Shall we dance?"
A gust of wind whipped around Rex, nearly throwing him off his feet. But he stood his ground, his eyes scanning the storm for the source of the voice.
"You must learn to fight your foe without sight.", the voice said quietly, "The Darkness will not fight fair. You will need to learn how to defeat him at his own game."
Rex readied a few wires and gadgets, smiling to himself as he readied one of his favorite tricks. But as he set up the first tripwire, the voice spoke again.
"Those traps of yours are useful, but what if your foe has no solid form?"
Rex spotted movement at the corner of his eye, and spotted the silhouette of a woman-like figure, floating in the storm. She vanished almost instantly, but that told Rex everything he needed to know.
He was fighting a Ghost-type Pokemon. Which was not going to be easy in the slightest, seeing as he needed a special way to damage it.
If only he had his Pokemon...
A swirling orb of shadows hurtled towards him, and he quickly dodged. High, cold laughter echoed through the storm, and the voice said, "You certainly can do better than that, can't you?"
Rex felt worried, and the edges of his mind began slipping into an unfortunately familiar gray. His brain thought back through his memories, and for a moment his surroundings were nothing.
For although he acted strong and adventurous, full of energy and unstoppable, his mind was a slippery slope whenever he was full of doubt and failure. Too many nights he'd felt full of depression and the sheer weight of uselessness. He had gone through so many failures recently, lost so much...and now the gray rose up in a tide of sadness, threatening to drown him entirely.
It had only gotten worse when he'd seen that strange dragon in the misty cave, and he felt that it was tied to this somehow. But he was too weak, and the gray was too strong. He sank to his knees, as the snow rose up around him.
I am useless, he thought. I let the Darkness steal my Pokemon effortlessly. I could not protect Seth or Zoey from getting injured, and now one might lose the use of his leg forever and the other will become a bloodthirsty werewolf. I can't defeat this Noble, I can't even keep my feelings in check!
The voice of the Noble cut through his self-destructive thoughts with cold clarity. "Stay strong, Rex. The path to your power lies before you. Kyurem is the balance between truth and ideal, black and white, light and darkness. Gray is his color, and gray is his path. Without your lofty ambitions or the truth that you are not as strong as you believe, you must see the balanced path in-between them. Follow it."
Rex gasped, the world coming back into focus. A swirling storm of gray winds embraced him, and his eyes seemed full of a strange energy. Now he could see the Noble, floating in the storm, a smile dancing across her serene, icy face.
She was a Froslass, who seemed quite pleased that Rex had unlocked a portion of his power. She summoned another Shadow Ball, her eyes glittering coldly.
But Rex did not intend to let her fire that off.
Dashing with impossible speed, the winds whirling around him struck forward, dispersing the orb of shadows and blowing the ghost back. The Froslass narrowed her eyes, and the snow around her coalesced into several icy blades. She fired them off, but Rex's strange, empowered vision allowed him to see his ideal path, and predict the truth of the Froslass's next maneuvers.
He darted around them, even as the Froslass tried to feint with some of the spikes. He slammed into the Pokemon, his body temporarily gaining the strength and durability of an iceberg. The Froslass cried out, and drifted back, allowing Rex to press forward.
However, she quickly proved that she was no stranger to battling. The two parried blows, Rex effortlessly dodging and striking with ice-empowered blows, the Froslass countering him with her ghostly powers and control over frost. Both were taking blows now, but as the battle progressed, it became clear who was winning.
And sure enough, when Rex landed a critical hit against her face, the Noble held up her hands and said, "That is enough for now. I declare you the winner."
The blizzard cleared, and with it the magic around Rex. But he felt stronger now, more confident. Yet at the back of his mind, the gray lingered, and he still shuddered thinking about it.
His friends ran over, looking happy. "Well done, Rex!", cheered Seth.
"Don't worry, I'll catch up to you.", commented Victor.
"Now, we are stronger.", Kai declared.
Elsana strode to her Noble's side. "You certainly have promise, heroes. Now, let's see what we can do about that cave."
Reesy's golems appeared, holding several lengths of rope.
Reesy smiled. "Let's go cliff-climbing, then. The cave is directly below us."
The Froslass gave a soft bow. "I wish you luck. That cave...it has been sealed for a long time, for a good reason. But now, I suspect the time to open it has come at last. I will go rest now, but I will be sure to aid you when the time comes."
In a gust of cold wind, she was gone, and Elsana led them to the cliff's edge.
"This cliff is treacherous at the best of times, but a storm is brewing, and something stirs beneath the ice. I trust, however, that you will be able to reach it safely.", the Warden stated.
The Legendborn nodded, and the golems tossed the ropes over the side, allowing them to climb down.
What followed was an hour's worth of hard work, slippery, scary moments, and deep biting cold.
But Rex was not giving up now, and as he climbed down the treacherous, icy cliff, he did not fear.
Finally, everyone was gathered in the mouth of the cave, a thick wall of ice looming ahead of them. Deep cold emanated from it, as well as something...darker.
"Scary.", commented Kai, "Let's go. Blaze!"
He sent out his Charizard, who glared at the wall of ice before him.
"Oh, yeah, I can totally handle this.", he said, before breathing a powerful jet of flames against it.
But after a few moments, it became clear that was not working the way the Charizard intended.
"I suspect...we'll need something more magical.", Reesy stated.
Victor's hands lit up with power. "Well, that's just what I got!"
He thrust his hands forward, and a brilliant white jet of flames carved a hole right through the ice.
"...looks like I still need to get even stronger.", grumbled Blaze.
The Legendborn walked through the new tunnel, which was dripping water that froze before it touched the ground. Rex was thankful that their boots were watertight, for getting their feet soaked in the giant freezing puddle on the floor would not be good for any of them.
Once they crossed through the tunnel, they found themselves in a small room, which was mostly empty except for a few things at the end of it.
In front of them was a small, broken statue of some sort of Pokemon, as well as a pitch-black skull and bone. The skull was cracked and shaped like that of some sort of snouted Pokemon with horns, while the bone was the same size as Seth's staff.
Zoey stepped over to the skull and picked it up gingerly. "This is the sort of skull a Cubone would wear.", she said, "But I don't know why it's black..."
"How would this help us fight the Darkness?", asked Kai, "They don't look like they do anything!"
Cain walked over to the bone and picked it up. He focused, and suddenly green flames flared to life on the ends of it.
Reesy gasped. "It's an aura weapon!"
Cain gave it a few test spins. "It is...certainly strange.", he said, "But I feel a...kinship, with it."
Zoey tucked the skull into his backpack. "You should probably take that, too. I think they are connected."
"Smart idea.", agreed Victor.
Reesy sighed. "Well, let's head back-"
"Where do you think you're going?", came a horribly familiar voice. Suddenly, the path they'd come in from collapsed, ice and rocks crumbling from the ceiling and locking them in.
At the same time, a long tunnel peeled open behind them, leading into endless darkness.
"Our party's only just begun.", purred the Darkness, "Come, come. Welcome to my abode..." (-o-)
AN: Oh no, this certainly doesn't look good! What will happen to them down here? We'll have to find out another time!
I hope you all are still enjoying the story, for things are only just getting started!