Well I got another chapter for everyone. It's sad... Winter break ended and I was enjoying all the extra sleep I was getting :/ Although, I think sleeping past noon isn't good XD oh well, I get up at 5:50 every morning so I deserved it. Also, happy New Years to everyone, let's all try and make this a good year, because last one sucked for me :/

Guest Review Response

Frost: I wouldn't worry about me getting bored of writing this story. I have come to far to stop and I actually enjoy writing it a lot, otherwise I wouldn't dedicate to writing on a weekly routine. And thank you for reviewing again.

Book II: Impending Twilight

Chapter 85: I want answers

Point of View Black

"So, you're not going to tell me where we are going?" I questioned the bizarre charmander that was leading me down the streets of Cyllage.

"I told ya, you'll see when we get there," Aiden responded carelessly, what he didn't understand was that I didn't trust him.

"You know, usually when people try and lead me to unknown areas, hori-"

"Horrible things happen," Aiden finished for me.

"Yeah…" I awkwardly said.

"Funny. I said the exact same thing to a leafeon earlier, and horrible things did happen, but here I am now," Aiden said.

"Should I be worried?"

"Nah," Aiden said carelessly. "This way," Aiden suddenly said and led me into a plaza that was mostly vacant, excluding a few lone humans scattered throughout the plaza.

"Just take a seat, someone will be here shortly," Aiden told me as he hopped up on the table and lazily leaned back. Instead, I just chose to stand on the ground. I preferred to keep arm's length from that charmander, I still wasn't quite warmed up to him yet. I guess to an extent I didn't have a reason to dislike him, but that one day when I got nasty with him, I just haven't gotten over it, along with him knowing Vincent a bit. Perhaps to an extent I'm just acting to high and mighty to just let it go and suck up my pride and apologize. It's a strange feeling when you don't want things to be tense with someone, but you just can't bring yourself to let the minor things go.

"Black," A feminine voice called out from behind me. My ears flickered upon hearing this familiar sound. It couldn't be. It just couldn't. My head slowly turned to see who was behind me, but I just froze up upon seeing who I thought I did.

"N-Nia?!" I eventually managed shout in surprise as I looked at the umbreon behind me, along with a leafeon who remained a few steps behind her. It was her, no doubt, but how? I just remained in place as I tried to keep my emotions in check, but at the moment I was feeling very confused, yet overjoyed to see her after all that has happened.

"Heh, I suppose I got some explaining to do," Nia said with a nervous chuckle, but I couldn't bring myself to reply. Nia was dead, I came to terms with that, she killed herself and that was that. It wasn't possible, it's a fact, she is dead and this has to be a hallucination.

"But… You're dead," I managed to say as I continued to look at the phantom before me.

"Yeah, everyone thinks that, I guess Skull Face did a good job at putting up a convincing show," Nia said as she moved closer to me.

"Nia, how? I thought you…" I tried to speak, but words couldn't form due to the lump in my throat, at this point I was just making an idiot out of myself and I could feel something forming in my tear glands.

"I'm glad to see you're doing well, I was a bit worried about you, with all the stuff that has been going on lately," Nia spoke to me as she moved in closer to me and pulled me into a hug. I just remained limp as she hugged me, my mind wasn't able to process any of this and she wasn't answering me. As she held me tightly a tear managed to escape my eye, but this wasn't a tear of sorrow.

"I'm sorry I put you though that," Nia whispered into my ear. I remained frozen from what was going on, nothing could describe how surprised I was. After a moment Nia released me from the hug, and gave me some room. I was quick to wipe my tear.

"How are you alive?" I questioned yet again.

"Yes Nia, how are you alive?" another voice spoke, this voice was also familiar, yet more ominous considering the circumstances. All of us turned to see a jolteon walking towards us, but not just any jolteon, Kaz. A shiver ran down my spine as that imposter freak walked towards us.

"Who are you?" Nia questioned my imposter brother.

"Heh, I guess you don't recognize this form, It's me, Skull Face," the jolteon answered, "Now, why don't you all follow me, it's a bit crowded here after all, and I'm no fan of crowds," that thing ordered us, as he led us to an alley. For a moment we were all hesitant, but we followed him. Once we were halfway down the alley Skull Face stopped.

"So this is the Skull Face person you told me about," the leafeon stated as he protectively stood in front of Nia.

"Well, it seems Naomi told you all about me, I guess that'll save me some time," Skull Face said with a shrug.

'That's right, Nia's real name is Naomi,' I noted in my head as I glanced at Naomi.

"ughhh, what more do you want from me Skully? Can I just go if I'm not needed?" Aiden questioned as he nervously raised his shaking hand.

"I'm here to tell you all how things shall be carried out from here on out," Skull Face said as he glanced at all of us. I was half tempted to argue with him, but I would at least listen to him first, since he has helped me. But no matter how much that thing helped me, I could never accept him for wearing the face of Kaz and leading me on for so long to think it was some hallucination. He was sick and twisted; there was no doubt about that.

"Naomi," Skull Face began to say as his body turned pitch black and morphed into a vaporeon that made Nia and the leafeon freeze up.

"What are you doing mocking our mothers image!?" The leafeon raged as he lunged towards the vaporeon. In mid jump an unknown force knocked the leafeon back into the brick wall and pinned him against it.

"You're on thin ice Dante. I have no problem making an example of you," the vaporeon said in a condescending tone.

"Leave him alone," Naomi snapped at him and she ran towards Skull Face. I wasn't far behind her either at this point as we tried to team up against Skull Face.

"I'm not in a good mood today," the vaporeon stated with a dark tone. Before we knew it, we all found ourselves pinned to the ground with a crushing force that felt as if it was going to crush my bones. I tried to gasp for air, but the force was too much, at this rate I was going to die. Just as everything started to blur, the force let up and I began gasping for air.

The vaporeon walked towards Nia before it kicked her onto her back and forced her to make eye contact with itself, "Naomi, you're tasked with teaching Black how to unlock his capabilities with dark matter. This is so he can defend himself until the time comes." Skull Face soon made his way towards the leafeon who was hardly even conscious on the ground, "Dante, you are going to keep your sister in check, she's emotionally unstable and I don't need her killing herself when we have a de-"

"Don't you dare talk down about my family in any way, you-," the leafeon snapped at Skull Face, before another force hit him and sent him rolling along the concrete ground. The leafeon tried to stand back up, but he quickly fainted to the ground.

"Think of it how you want, just keep her alive and well, and we won't have any problems," Skull Face said before he moved towards Aiden who was paralyzed in fear this whole time. Skull Face's body soon turned into the ominous black before it morphed into something around Aiden's size that also stood on two legs, "Aiden," The now Snivy said in a feminine voice as she held Aiden's chin and forced him to make eye contact, "I have my own plans for you, so just keep doing what you're doing," the snivy stated with a smirk. Aiden just stood in place trembling before he fell to his knees.

"Stop it," Aiden whispered to himself as he grasped his head and fell over to the ground, "Please, go away!" Aiden screamed in complete terror as he clenched his eyes tightly shut. Skull Face looked down at Aiden as he condescendingly glared at him. Aiden just continued to tremble as he began to whisper something over and over to himself, but I couldn't make it out with his shaky voice.

"Hmph, as you wish." Skull Face's body turned pitch black again before he transformed back into Kaz's form. I hated it so much when he wore that form, I couldn't stand it. He's not my damn brother, yet he keeps mocking me with his appearance. He keeps all these secrets from me; he's just like Crimson, for all I know he could be with Crimson. I can't take him keeping me in the dark like this; I can't take him manipulating us like his pawns anymore.

"Just what the hell do you want from me," I snapped at him. "I'm happy that Nia is back and that you helped save her, but I'm not doing a damn thing you tell me to until I get some fucking answers! I am absolutely sick of you manipulating me, I'm sick of you wearing my brothers form like some mockery of my family, I want answers and I want all this bullshit to stop right here and now!" I screamed at Skull Face in absolute fury to the point that I felt like I was going to lose my voice.

The jolteon just frowned, it was obviously a fake frown, "You are better off left in the dark for now, if I was to give answers it would only cause mass confusion amongst everyone. Plus, I doubt you would accept the truth, so continue surviving for now," he answered me.

"If that's your answer then I'm not learning a thing from Nia, and besides, what if I just die and keep you and everyone from using me for whatever the Hell they have planned" I bitterly responded to his answer.

"Do as your told Black, I'm not negotiating with you," Skull Face replied with a venomous glare.

"As if I'd do what you tell me," I snapped back.

"You'll regret going against me Black, I promise you that."

"I could really care less," I replied.

"I have tried really hard this whole time to be kind with you, but this kindness won't last long if you're going to be insubordinate," Skull Face said with anger in his tone.

"And why would I care, you're just using me?"

"Let's just say it like this. Your fennekin friend, Flare was it? If you do anything to go against me I will take that fennekin and spread his entrails all over this city, and you can all try and identify which body piece is which. Defy me and the closest friend you have will suffer an unbearable death," Skull Face spoke venomously.

A chill instantly ran down my spine from the threat. I honestly had no clue what this guy was capable of, but he was far from normal. After all, he saved Gray, and altered his whole perception on me. I had no idea what to expect on how he'd fight, or if he would really do something like that to Flare.

"If you touch Flare or anyone, I'll kill you," I snarled.

"Tff, get in line," Skull Face responded as his body began to fade to black until it broke down into black particles, which then blew away. All of us watched in silence in the direction in which Skull Face escaped from.

"What the Hell is he?" the leafeon broke the silence.

"Dante, are you alright?" Nia urgently questioned him.

"Yeah, I just got a serious migraine, that guy hits hard."

The two swapped a few whispers between each other as I stood in place. I couldn't wrap my head around what he wants from me. Again, I'm sure it has to do with my evolution disorder thing, but what does it have to do with anything? Why are all these people so obsessed with me, can't I just live my life in peace?

"Aiden are you okay?" Nia questioned the charmander that was lying on the ground shaking, his tail flame burning faintly.

If this Skull Face person only wears the face of the dead, then who was that snivy he turned into? How does he know about something Aiden probably kept to himself mostly? How does he know about Kaz, does he know about the rest of my family, or just him?

"Black, we should probably take this somewhere else," Nia said, and broke my train of thought. I glanced back at her, before I gave a nod.

We all headed back towards the plaza we met in originally. We all sat on a table, but none of us said anything, except for Nia who kept whispering with her brother who was lying down with a serious headache. Aiden on the other hand just stared off into the sky with a blank stare; it was a completely different side from the odd charmander I saw most of the time. I on the other hand just remained quiet as I tried to understand this situation. I didn't like the fact that I knew nothing about this Skull Face, but he seems to know a lot about me, and from the looks of it, possibly everyone around me.

"Nia," I called out, and she adjusted her stare towards me, "Why does this Skull person have interest in me, and what is this deal you made with him?"

Nia remained silent for a moment as she thought of my answer, "Truthfully, I don't understand what he sees in you, I understand very little about this person as well."

"And this deal?" I questioned.

Nia's gaze lowered towards the ground as she remained silent, I on the other paw just peered at her, I wasn't letting her dodge my questioned. Well?" I pried.

Nia still remained hesitant, until she looked back up towards me, "About a week ago when I was in the pokecenter I nearly tried to kill myself. I was so close to attempting it, until suddenly everything faded to black for me. Next thing I know, I awoke in a forest only to discover that I wasn't dead. Soon Skull Face confronted me, and filled me in on how I escaped. After a bit of talking Skull Face made me an offer. In exchange for me teaching you to efficiently use dark matter, he'd kill Jack and Sam for me," Nia finished as she wore a hollow look on her face.

"I see," I said without a real idea on how to respond.

"Listen, I really don't mean any harm by this, I have no idea what he's capable of either, but I need Sam and Jack dead, I'd do anything for that," Nia defended herself.

"Right, because you're their dog, and you want them out of the picture," I bitterly replied to 'Naomi'.

"Black you don't understand what those two put me through. I need them dead to move on, so I can sleep at night without having nightmares of getting my throat slit in my sleep. I don't expect you to understand, but I know you know the disgusting feeling of being a murder, having blood that won't wash off your paws. They made me into a killer, they took every moral I had and took it from me, I can hardly tell who I am anymore!" Naomi offensively shouted at me.

Upon hearing Nia's reasoning behind all of this, I remembered who she was and what was keeping her going all along. I couldn't hold thing against her, I know her revenge was all she clung onto at the moment, she was just as ignorant as me right now. "Right, sorry… that was a bit uncalled for, I didn't mean it," I said honestly. "I'm just so lost right now, I don't even know what to do about all of this."

"It's fine, just remember that I'm on your side, if it comes down to it, I'll fight with you," Nia said with a small smile, one that she struggled to form.

"What do I do?" I questioned Nia.

"We just keep going one day at a time."

"But how am I supposed to deal with all of this? There is way too much happening around me; I got those Crimson Dawn freaks after me, Mercenaries, Genesis, and now whatever the Hell that thing is. This is just too much, I feel like I can't even tell who is on my side at this point. I don't even get how I'm going to win with all these numbers against me, I'm just one pokemon, and I can't expect my friends to stand by me through this, I don't want them to die for me," I vented in frustration as I tried to see some light in this dark situation.

"I don't know honestly, we'll just have to take it one day at a time. But I hate to say this, but Skull Face was looking out for you when he wanted me to teach you dark matter. He's trying as hard as he can to keep you safe, for what I don't know though."

"I don't really like using dark matter past shadow ball. It's past my comfort zone," I stated with some honesty. Naomi just stared at me in confusion, until I realized she was waiting for an explanation.

"When I fought that riolu a week back, I thought my frien-ur colleague died. I did manage to use dark matter with my right paw. But, I just remember being so full of hatred, almost as if that energy lusted for blood, like I needed that riolu's blood. But that's the thing, I wanted to kill him in the most brutal way possible, yet I'm usually terrified of blood. Just the sight of it sends tremors down my spine, it makes me sick to my stomach," I informed Nia.

"I see," Nia said with a nod, "I've been taught about that actually, and I remember it quite a bit. Dark matter is fueled by negative emotions as you know. Rage, hate, sorrow, and all of that can fuel dark matter like gasoline thrown into fire. Of course, it is possible for you to become lost in these emotions while using it, since you're drawing upon these negative emotions to battle. So, when you are in a fight for life or death, your mind subconsciously knew this, just like when you fight your body knows to increase blood flow and to do other things to ensure your survival. As an umbreon your mind is naturally wired to use these emotions of yours to benefit you in a fight, so we'll have to work on you keeping your emotions in check while fighting, because we don't want it to get out of paw at a bad time," Naomi enlightened me with a lot more info than I really understood.

"Rrrright," I said with a confused nod.

After a few hours of Nia and I both talking, we agreed to part ways for now. Nia told me that she'd be watching from a safe distance. We both agreed that her existence would have to be revealed very carefully to everyone else, if done at all. Nia didn't really have much interest in interacting with anyone else, but I reasoned with her on how they were in danger because of all of this. So, now I have to break it down to my team mates that the pokemon that died is magically alive. The hard part was going to be leaving Skull Face out of all this. I also told her how we would be on the move soon, and that I may not get the chance to tell her exactly when, but she's smart so I think she could track me down easily.

I walked down the hallway to our hotel room. I reached the hotel door and I knocked on it with my paw. A few seconds passed by until the door was opened by Alex.

"Hey Black, I was wondering where you went off to with that charmander, everything go alright?" Alex asked me.

"A lot happened Alex. A lot happened," I answered him as I entered the hotel room with little interest in trying to interact with Alex.

I walked into the main room of the hotel, and I joined all of my friends who were gathered around the TV as they watched some movie. I just took a seat next to Kana and Flare who were right next to each other.

"Oh, hey. So how was it?" Flare whispered to me.

"Interesting," I answered, unsure on the word that would describe my time with Aiden.

"Well you missed the news, but we're leaving tomorrow morning," Flare informed me.

"And where are we going next?"

"Geosenge," Flare answered with a lack of enthusiasm, compared to his usual self, "But then we will be in Shalour, which is a beautiful city, it has a beach like this one, but the sights on Shalour are glamorous, I've been there before, it's a stunning city and we're going to have a great time there," Flare said excitedly with a smile.

"And what about this Geosenge place?" I questioned him.

"Well… it's an older town surrounded by ruins. Really outdated place," Flare answered in a dull voice.

"Ah but you're missing the main thing Geosenge is known for," Kana butted in.

"And that would be?" I asked curiously.

"Well quite a few years back this terrorist organization known as Team Flare tried to destroy the world using some weird plant thingy, but I don't know the exact details. It's really scary stuff, of course most of Kalos didn't know what was going on until after the whole incident, luckily Team Flare didn't succeed, obviously," Kana answered me with a cheerful smile. "Actually it was shortly after this incident that Alex adopted Flare, kind of ironic actually," Kana said jokingly.

"Huh, Team Flare and Flare Coincidence?" I teased Flare.

"Heh, really funny," Flare replied uneasily.

"What?" I questioned him as I noticed how awkward he was acting.

"I just don't really find that funny, I actually got teased quite a bit for my name, so maybe go easy on those jokes," the fennekin said in a tone that lacked any form of joy that he was usually overflowing with. It took me a moment to reply at first, this wasn't the Flare I knew, he usually didn't care and I know for a fact that he had a good sense of humor, better than mine at least.

"Sure," I said with an understanding nod. With us leaving Cyllage I'd have to tell Nia so she can follow me.

Point of View Flare

After a few movies it didn't take everyone very long to end up asleep. I on the other hand was wide awake. It would only take us a half day to get to Geosenge, and that was the last place in the world I wanted to go to. I knew this day would come, but I really wish we would just go around it, or not stop a day in Geosenge. Since we have to get through a dangerous cave, Alex wants us to rest at Geosenge so we can be at full strength before we tackle this cave.

After what felt like an eternity, morning came. Excluding me, Alex was the first to awake out of our group. It didn't take long for him to get us all up and going. After about an hour we were all outside and ready to continue our journey to the next gym. Currently we were on a dirt road in a big grass field. If I remembered correctly this walk should be mostly open space, until we enter the ruins of Geosenge.

I really can't do this… It has been so long since I've returned to Geosenge. Everything I have done wrong in my life was because of Team Flare. My alternate life was my deepest darkest secret, no one knew about my days as a Team Flare member, not even Kana. If they were to find out, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. Most days I forget about my past life, and I wish it'd stay like that, but this half day is going to be nothing but a painful reminder of everything, including Annie. To be honest I mostly forgot about her, but then again I don't even act like myself anymore, I guess when I accepted my new life Annie died in a way. When I fought Hunter he was right about me, I have changed a lot over the years, and I'm not the same fennekin I was back then.

Chapter End

Author Note: Well Naomi is back in the picture now, or at least for the main group. Sorry if things seem a bit slower on the story than usual, these are transitional chapters and I guess we need them. Or we can have characters teleport to their objectives XD.

I got one question if it isn't to much trouble for anyone to answer.

1) Do you like the flashback chapters or do you prefer to have the character basically explain what happened in other ways? I ask this because I'm not sure if the background chapters are to long and people may just want the gist. So you can answer that as you please on your opinion on my flashback chapters. Of course I'm not forcing anyone though.

Also thank you to everyone who has reviewed. I know I don't reply to all my guest reviews (Mostly because some I can't reply to since I'd just be thanking you and I think multiple responses just saying thank you would take up a bit of space) but I do read all of them and I want to thank everyone who has supported this story! And another huge thank you to everyone who answers my questions when I ask them, it really does help me at times.

Thanks genericgamer207 for being a lazy sloth who does absolutely nothing but suck up space in my author notes... Err I mean thanks buddy for putting in all the hard work! No but seriously, genericgamer207 helps out big time with his editing, I still remember when I had the grammar of a third grader lol.