I'm back! Even with my work and internship, I'm gonna try to pump out some more chapters. This one is a bit weird. Mostly dialogue and magic logic, so if you can understand it, awesome. PM me with questions if you have any.

Review response:

I have to say Antonia is probably the most awesome Skarmory ever I just love her personality she's not like a Pokemon who can just fade into the background like some of Cody's other Pokemon do.

She's going to be one of his main players. Also, who has faded into the background? I figured Cortez (because he's a noob) and Mars (because he's lower tier at the moment) but anybody else?

And so the new status quo has formed itself. I really liked Jared's point of view. He makes an excellent devil's advocate.

It's hard for me to write him. He's meant to be a jerk at times, but he's also got a point at the end of the day. Gotta create a good balance for him.

Oh yes, thanks MagikarpMaster for the editing. You win fifty interwebz.

And now…

Chapter 31: Ballad of the Wraith

Entering the realm of Darkrai was not nearly as surprising when Cody saw it coming. Like always, he stood naked in that dark, foreign dimension without any apparent floor, wall or ceiling. The mist provided the only color he saw in the darkness, but no sign of the Dark One… yet. The two of them hadn't had a talk in a while. Rather than extended conversations, Darkrai would pop into his dreams for just a minute just to scare him and get in a bit of torture before Cody woke up in sweats. But tonight was going to be different. The young teenager could feel it in his bones.

"You don't look so nervous tonight," the great, yet empty voice commented. "I assume that that old witch told you I was coming?"

"Don't you already know the answer to that?" Cody challenged boldly. The eyes that had materialized in front of him narrowed in disgust.

"While I am used to Stella's body and mind to the point that I could see from her perspective at any time I wish, she is not a threat to me, so I have avoided her as of late. As for you… seeing from your eyes is so much easier now. So much less foggy. It won't be long until I'm can completely view your emotions, your desires, your fears… the human mind is quite chaotic at times. I love to observe from the perspective of my marked ones when I can. It's so intriguing."

"Are you unable to feel those things?" Cody asked, confused about this being's perception of reality.

"I feel them differently from humans," it answered blankly. "I am not human. Nor do I wish to be. Human emotion, while fascinating, is one of the things that makes your kind weak. But enough about that. Tonight is a night where I shall answer more of your questions. As a future vessel, I must educate you."

"Educate me?" Cody questioned. "Well… I figured you'd be telling me something on your own. Like your plans for me, or-"

"My exact plans for you are undefined as of yet," Darkrai answered, his eyes still creased. "The future has many outcomes, and when the path is narrow, I will tell you what you shall do for me."

"And if I refuse?"

"You won't refuse."

"How do you know that I'll-" Just then, multiple clawed hands on multiple extending arms formed from the oblivion and pushed Cody down onto the floor. The pressure of the pushing hurt, but he didn't utter a single grunt of pain. He refused to reward this being the pleasure.

"You won't refuse," it repeated, harsher this time, "for if you do, you will suffer beyond comprehension. You see that hag, Stella? How much she has deteriorated physically… that is only the tip of the iceberg. Her mind, while it may seem sharp, is in tatters. Really, she is only human in a genetic sense, for I've turned her into a monster."

Cody's eyes widened. "How… how did you do that?"

"This, more or less, but too much more of an extreme and not just in her dreams," Darkrai began to explain. Though Cody couldn't see the monster's face, something told him that he was smiling. "Over time, I managed to breach her waking conscious, whether it was day or night, twisting her very way of thought and surging pain through every nerve until-"

"But she didn't follow your orders in the end, did she?" Cody interrupted. It was a foolish action, for he was backhanded almost immediately.

"If you interrupt me again, you little bastard, I'll nail your dick to the floor. Understand?" There was a brief silence as the specter let Cody take in that image before he began again. "In the end, her will was stronger than I had predicted. It really is hard to find that right combination of traits in a human. So many variables… but you… you're an even better candidate than she was. And knowing you, like I do so far, I know that you'll put up a fight… you'll disagree with my motives, but you'll follow my lead. I see it written on the walls of fate… Now… this is a lot for you to take in, so I will give you another opportunity to ask me a question. Go ahead. Anything you could possibly want to know!"

Cody had wanted to know for some time what Darkrai's plan really was, and he was planning on asking just that when he got the chance. But now that he was aware that Darkrai did not even have an exact plan in place yet, he was a bit unsure of what to ask… but then he remembered the dark one saying that he was a good candidate. But he didn't understand why. That was what he wanted to know now.

"Well… why did you choose me? Out of the billions of people on the planet, why me?"

Another thick silence lasted several seconds before Darkrai responded… with laughter. Loud, bellowing amused laughter. But as his laughter continued, it took on a scornful quality. After the Dark One's fit of laughter ended, it finally gave a proper answer.

"Choose you? That's adorable. You think I would have chosen you over somebody else? There are millions of people who are stronger, smarter, and more controllable than you. In the grand scheme of things, other than being a somewhat talented trainer, there is nothing special about you at all."
Cody felt bewildered. "But you said I was-"

"A better candidate than Stella, but really, if I could choose anybody, I would have gotten the job done years ago. But no, you're simply the best of a bad situation, so if you were developing some feeling of uniqueness, it's unfounded."

"But… how does that even work?" he asked. "I just want to know why the hell I'm a piece of your evil scheme."

"Evil? You are so naïve," the Dark one sighed. "Someday, you'll learn that the good and evil aren't as black and white as you thought. However, in order for you to understand why things are the way they are, perhaps I'll give you the whole story. Would you appreciate that, Mr. Storm?"

Its question was obviously rhetorical, but Cody nodded anyway.

"Excellent. Now… let me take you to the beginning." The room began to grow darker and darker until finally, nothing was visible at all. But all the while, Cody felt the "feeling" of the dream shift.

When Cody could see again, the dark room he had grown accustomed to was long gone. Instead, he was standing in an ancient looking forest with tall trees and lush mosses covering the rocks and stumps. In the distance, he could hear the songs of birds, sweetly sung through the breezeless air. He also realized that he was wearing clothes again (the ones he had worn to bed), but that only took his attention for a second before he turned around and saw a large stone shrine of sorts. The blocks of stone seemed to have designs carved into them, but even those were only partly visible, due to the covering moss. In the center of the construction of carved stones was what looked to be an egg, but its shell was like that of a mirror, reflecting its surroundings back into view. One of the things reflected by the mirrored surface was the vast lake behind him, and the water itself reflected the sun, partially covered by clouds. The day the Dark One had taken him to was surprisingly pleasant.

Speaking of which, where is he-

"Behind you."

Cody turned and saw… himself. Looking back at him was a perfect replica of himself, smiling like a smug bastard back at him. The only thing that was different was that this version of him was that it was monochrome in color, like an old black and white movie. But instead of being shocked or scared, Cody just kept staring back at it.

"Uh… wow… what… why are you… where are we?" he questioned, trying to be polite to Darkrai for once in the hopes that he would receive a proper explanation.

"A memory: the earliest one I have," it answered while looking over at the egg. "Do you know what that is?"

"An egg?" Cody guessed, shrugging nervously.

"Not just any egg," the Dark One answered. "This day was many millennia ago. Man is forming nomadic tribes, and life is hard for both them, and for pokemon of similar intelligence. The world is a brutal, dangerous place and they wonder if they can find any sort of peace, but here, at Lake Vibrant, Arceus has given them an answer."

Cody's head whipped from the egg to his shadow self. "Wait, Arceus? Are you being-"

Darkrai interrupted this train of thought with more laughter. "Yes Cody; Ao, 'The Beginning,' also known as Arceus, exists. I'm sure this is blowing your mind right now, but I will grant you this: he's not like what the churches say. As for the one above him, he's a harder to read. I guess existing on an entirely different plane makes it a bit more difficult."

"Wait, the one above him? You mean like-"

"God, Allah, the flying spaghetti monster, whatever you want to call him, he exists, but not in the way you were taught. Just assume there's a silent, higher power. But this isn't about him. Look here." The two of them took steps closer to the egg, which was beginning to wiggle. "In this ancient shrine, the Egg of Dreams was placed here to hatch." The egg continued to wiggle, and cracks began to cut through the reflecting surface. When the force of the breaking caused chips of the shell to fall, a melodic voice sung out, sounding of a soft harp. When the maker of the noise poked its head out of the broken egg, Cody felt his face warm up in awe. A tiny, yellow colored head that seemed to break into two crescent shapes on the sides emerged, and sang again.

"That's… is that-"

"Layvaira Somnata," Darkrai finished, catching an odd look from Cody. "She has many names, but most humans know her as Cresselia."

"Yeah, right," Cody replied, looking back down at the wonderful little pokemon that had hatched. Unlike Darkrai, he had actually heard of Cresellia before, given that there had been occasional sightings of her throughout Sinnoh and Unova over the years. Still, seeing the pokemon in real life, or rather, a real memory… it was amazing. No, amazing was an understatement. But as he searched for a new word, he cut himself short when he remembered that this was a memory of Darkrai… but where was Darkrai? His question was answered for him.

"Thing about Ao, he loves his balance," Darkrai continued, his voice darkening. "The scales must always be balanced for him. So this egg, meant to give hope for humanity through Cresselia, through the dreams she gave to the weak… it also gave something else.

"CREAUGH!" The ugly noise sounded like a mix between a baby's squeal and a crow's caw. Suddenly, a black hand reached from inside the egg, clutched the part that had been broken open, and pulled the body connected to it out. The "thing" (for lack of a better descriptive word) looked like a black blob with arms. It had smoky, white hair that seemed to be tossed and turned by the light breeze, a jagged red growth surrounding what looked to be its head, and icy blue eyes. Unlike Cresselia, it crawled away from the egg, gasping for air rather than singing.

Cody could not even put together a good sentence in order to respond to what he was looking at, so Darkrai did it for him. "Yes, that poor wretch you see there; that is me."

"So… you're a…"

"A pokemon, yes. A legendary one at that. And I am the twin brother of Cresselia, though only in a biological sense. She and I don't have any sort of loving bond, and on top of that, I don't identify with any sort of gender. It's just a tool that lesser beings, such as yourself, use to organize their world. Do you have any questions so far? If you do, you had better ask them, because I'm not going to show you this again."

"Why… why is she floating around and singing while you're crawling and barely being able to do anything?" Almost immediately, Cody thought he was going to get slapped for such a question, but he was pleasantly surprised with the answer he got.

"Hm… out of all the people I've shown this to, nobody has ever asked that question until now. It's an interesting observation to make," Darkrai pondered, smiling some. "You see, though I was necessary for Arceus's balance, the egg was created for the existence of my sister. It was always about her. To put it in terms that you will understand, she's Abel and I'm Cain. So never forget what you learned here: Arceus is balanced in his ways, but he's hardly fair to his creations. It doesn't matter how good of a person you are, because you still have a chance of getting murdered in your sleep."

"Wow, that was… that was depressing," Cody admitted. Of course, that was how he felt about the workings of life as well, but the way Darkrai had said it…

"As long as you understand the truth, how it makes you feel is irrelevant," the ancient pokemon replied coldly. "It's time to go." Just like that, the scene went black. The last thing Cody saw was the tiny form of the baby Darkrai crawling away. From the beginning of what he saw of this being's origins, his hopes for the rest of this trip were not high.

When the darkness faded, Cody saw that he and Darkrai were standing in the midst of what looked to be a small village, made up of crudely built homes. A tribal, nomadic village like he mentioned earlier. Kneeling around a fire were several humans, huddling to keep warm. They wore animal skins, and they looked like something out of a pre-historic textbook. Nearby, a few proto-mightyena were tied to a stake. They looked a lot like the modern day pokemon, except they were a bit bigger, their fur was grayer, and their fangs were much larger.

"What are we looking for?" Cody asked, curious as to why they were there.

"Look in the skies," Darkrai ordered. They both looked up to see a ghostly being descending, its figure blocking the moonlight. It had long white, smoky hair, red growths on its shoulder, a dark, ghostly body… Obviously Darkrai in his prime. Silently, he floated to the village, his eyes glowing villainously. The first to respond were the Mightyena, who barked wildly at the newcomer. The humans took their spears and went to face the monster, grunting unknown words to each other in pure fear. Effortlessly, the Dark One lifted his hand, creating a dark aura that passed over the men's heads. They fell over instantly. Next, Darkrai looked over at the barking dogs. The look was enough to silence them before they broke out in fearful whining. Once that was over, Darkrai knelt down and touched the head of each man.

"What… what are you doing?" Cody asked, not sure what he was looking at now.

"Feeding on their dreams and giving them nightmares," Darkrai answered casually, his mirrored form of Cody grinning like a child. "I never needed to do it in person, but it was so much better this way. To taste a dream in person… it's delectable beyond compare. But also, I give them nightmares. It was my purpose after all. People don't need me to have nightmares, but while Cresselia's purpose was to give people hope through dreams, it was my duty to remind them that they were only human. The next morning, they would wake up and not remember that I was there."

"And you enjoyed causing this suffering?" Cody asked, as he began to follow his shadow self into a hut where the past Darkrai had floated inside. He was now poisoning the minds of a mother and her children.

"Enough with the weeping heart," Darkrai scoffed, "I didn't kill them… at least the ones who didn't cause problems. Besides, at this point, I didn't question my purpose. I just did what I was supposed to do. Even though I was smarter than these humans, I really was no better than their dogs. Not until…"

The scene went dark again before reopening on another ancient civilization. Cody instantly recognized the location as a Mesoamerican location, judging by the pyramids in sight. It was night, and down below, he could see people of ancient times dancing. He and Darkrai were standing on top of a pyramid, and a few steps lower, the younger Darkrai was sitting, observing them, not even fidgeting.

"You remember how I said that I love observing people?" the Dark One asked, though he didn't even wait for Cody to answer him. "You see, as I continued to grow more aware of the world, I began to make observations about the reality of things. Look at those people down there. Do you know why they are dancing?"

"Err… I… I was never one for history," Cody admitted, shrugging his shoulders sheepishly.

Darkrai sighed. "Of course you wouldn't. That's a war dance. Tomorrow, they will go into battle and three fourths of them will lose their lives. I've revisited this memory so many times that I could point out to you which ones will die."

That's kinda morbid. But the young teen just didn't understand the point of this exercise. "Why are we here?"

"It was here when I began to put the pieces together," Darkrai answered vaguely. "Look at this civilization. People try so hard to have law and order in their lives. To have control of their domain. It's an admirable goal for simple, short-lived beings, but at the end of the day, it all falls to chaos. Every civilization has fallen, and every one today will fall eventually. Even the societies that I can't see the end of in the future will fall, but it's bound to happen sooner or later. In the end, people try so desperately and fruitlessly to control the chaos, rather than embracing it for what it is: the law of the universe."

Cody blinked, his mouth hanging somewhat open. "I'm sorry, I don't quite get what you're driving at."

"It's like this," Darkrai groaned, wishing he had somebody brighter to talk to, "I have no problem with humanity having law and order. It's the only way that your kind can survive successfully. What bothers me is their desire to control everything. I assure you that you can't, and you never will, so you're type is not the problem. It's Arceus and the creation of his guardians that are the problem, which is what I began to see reflected in your kind." He paused to make sure Cody was still following, but he didn't bother making sure. He just assumed. "There was a time when things ran as they should. Time was unadulterated, as was space, physics, mysticism, and life itself. Everything would have been pure without the touch of Ao mucking it up. Life would have come, creatures and people would have thrived eventually… but then, he interfered."

"How do you mean?"

"Arceus did not want to become a tyrant," the Dark One continued. "That was good of him, but instead of fading into the background, he indulged in his obsessions. Like I said earlier, Arceus loves balance, but he also loves security. Wanting to give powers to lesser pokemon to act as guardians, he created a multitude of demigods. Most of them you would know as "legendary" pokemon, though not all "legendries," such as Moltres, Raikou, Registeel… basically, legendries that can reproduce or are created by a lesser deities, are not guardians. The pokemon that are guardians are the ones who have infused themselves with the very things they watch over."

Cody just kept staring, not even sure what to say. Here Darkrai was talking about myths and legends like it was a casual day occurrence, though after all he had been through with the nightmare bringer, he shouldn't have been surprised.

"Picture it like this," Darkrai began to explain. "Dialga is the guardian of time, but as time passed, in order to have control over time, rather than be controlled by it, he slowly merged himself with his domain to the point in which he is the essence of time itself. He has become one with time. Do you understand?"

"Sort of…" Cody said, pushing his index finger against his temple. "But… is that really a bad thing? Time seems to be flowing fine. If what you say is true, it's not as if he's causing any sort of problem, or we would have some sort of record of-"

Darkrai silenced him with a simple, bitter glare. "Your faith in your historians is not well placed. He has caused problems, but you wouldn't realize it, as those who do are usually destroyed. Nobody recognizes the rifts in time he causes as he travels forward and back. Nothing has happened recently, but about 400 years ago, his meddling caused the deaths of hundreds in central Africa. And he's not the only perpetrator. Palakia, guardian of space, has created dangerous rifts as well. Mew may have spawned a multitude of cellular life, but her creations pushed out many of what was naturally growing. Jirachi is the center of mysticism now, but his wish giving has caused more harm than good in the hands of humans. Regigigas's thirst for control was the doom of multiple civilizations, including Atlantis. And don't even get me started on Groudon and Kyogre. Their tireless feud almost destroyed the world before it began. What's even worse are the guardians who have immersed themselves in the emotional and the philosophical, such as the lake guardians, Reshiram and Zekrom. None of them are perfect in their own right, and the thought of them corrupting the unviewable concepts of life is a haunting thought. Even my sister is beginning to slip into these faults, as she continues to drift closer to controlling the dreams of all. As tempting as it is, I try to stay away from falling into the patterns. I don't want to be like Ao. After what he had done…"

"Can't be any worse than you," Cody muttered under his breath, knowing full well that he was going to get a slap for that. He was right. After he clutched his sore cheek, the specter continued his monologue.

"Someday, you will understand," Darkrai sulked. "Today, we shall continue." The scene went black again before reopening at a beautiful stone temple of sorts. It was night, and Cody could see that Darkrai was kneeling before a grand statue of what looked sort of like the depictions of Arceus in those old children's books.

"I begged Arceus for the answers as to why things were so corrupt by his hand. Of course, he answered me in a way that was both simple and stupid. 'Reality is not perfect, but if we can become perfect in our ways, others will follow.'" The Dark One's tone deepened in anger. "That doesn't excuse the destruction of reality that they threaten the universe with. It doesn't excuse their past and present perverse actions. Look!" He had turned around and pointed in the other direction.

Cody turned to see a new scene that made him go pale. In a large field at sunset, what looked to be thousands of people and pokemon were running in various directions, and their screams of panic and fear chilled him to the bone. Above them, there were large "holes" (for lack of a better word) that were opening, some as high as the sky, others lower. These holes acted as vacuums, sucking some of the beings inside of them as they writhed about frantically.

"What… what am I looking at now?" Cody stuttered, unsure of what tragedy he was witnessing.

"Palkia's handy work," Darkrai spat. "Due to his selfish actions, he had ripped holes in space, and what goes into those holes will not come out alive on the other side. What was once nature was made perverse, and now, Ao views it as nature as it is now. It's disgusting. This universe was pure once, but now…" The scene went black again. "It was then when my thirst for power grew. I knew that for reality to become pure once more, these meddling guardians and their overlord must be dethroned. But knowing their self-importance, they would never step down by my word. In short, they would have to be destroyed."

"Destroyed?" Cody probed inquisitively. "Aren't they demigods? Isn't Arceus himself immortal? How do you destroy something like that?"

"My dear Cody, nothing in the physical realm is truly indestructible, including the guardians. Though in theory, any of them can live forever, but it is possible to kill any one of them. You see, in order to kill a guardian, you need the joined power of two other guardians."

"That's… that doesn't… how does that work?"

"Arceus knew that he couldn't create anything indestructible, should its lust for power grow too strong. Thus, for us guardians, he made it necessary that two guardians must participate in the destruction of another. That's why Groudon and Kyogre fought for so long. Neither of them were capable of defeating the other, so uninterrupted, they would have literally fought each other forever if it wasn't for Rayquaza'a intervention. Therefore, in order to gain any sort of success in dethroning Arceus, I would need help." The darkness faded into a new scene, this one containing a large group of individuals, each one covered in black tribal tattoos and surrounding a flame, chanting together as one man walked among them, his hands raised. "Many people today will not acknowledge my existence, as physical proof of me existing at any point of time is all but inexistent. Those who have seen me would just write my presence off as a dream while others just simply are thought to have gone mad. Sometimes, they actually do. But when I had a physical body, I made my presence known to the elite few who called themselves the Perfect Dark. Their numbers spread throughout the world, and my influence continued to grow, as my humans acted as my eyes, ears, and tongue. Ao would not interfere with this as he had in the past with his judgment, though the other guardians began to grow weary of my growing power. But again, I needed a partner guardian to follow me, and I found a willing one quite easily."

Without a darkness fade, the scene changed to an old cemetery, whose graves were large and decorative, though they were covered in moss and vines. From what Cody could see, it looked to be the oldest graveyard ever. In the center of the yard, he could see Darkrai talking to another figure. This being was much greater in size, and had thick plating that covered its body. It had grand wings that spread out beyond its elongated body, six legs, and a head encased in golden armor. The monster, while silent and stoic in this scene, still seemed fearsome just by looks alone.

"I found a partner in Giratina," Darkrai continued his story. "Banished for her violence many eons before this moment, she was constrained to the Distortion World, only being able to look upon her old world from this site. However, her curse was easily broken, and I told her that if she were to side with me, I would give her half of the power of what we would gain after defeating Arceus and his guardians. Filled with avarice, she eagerly accepted. Together, we would be able to destroy guardians… though my intentions were only to destroy one at first. You see, if a guardian who has infused himself with the universe is to perish, there is a brief period of time in which another guardian can take control of the fallen guardian's power, should he be nearby at the death of the guardian in question. Not only would the living guardian receive the power of the fallen, but he also becomes like two guardians. With that sort of power I would be able to kill guardians on my own. My plan was to use Giratina to help me kill Dialga, but once I had harnessed Dialga's power, I would kill Giratina next. Her greed and lust for power was threat to my restoration of the universe."
Cody cocked his head as he stared at his shadow double. "That's… that's pretty dastardly of you."

"Hmph, you're biased," the Dark One scoffed. "She would have done the same to me, given the opportunity."

"Okay, fair enough, but what about you taking over Dialga's power? Doesn't that make you just as bad as the guardians that-"

"Yes, it does," Darkrai immediately agreed, "but sacrifices to my virtue needed to be made. As I said before, I'd need the power of two to defeat the guardians of time and space. Once defeating Dialga, I would turn on Giratina and take control of her strength as well. Then Palkia would fall next. After taking the strength of three of the strongest members of the physical realm, I would use their power to destroy Arceus. With his power, along with my own power and the power of those I defeated, no guardian would be able to defeat me. Once the world was rid of impurities, I would relinquish their powers back to the universe, only keeping my powers of darkness. There would be a period of chaos as the universe would adjust to the shift, but eventually, the dust would settle, and the universe would be pure once more. Assuming some life on this planet would survive, we would start anew with me as the ruler, allowing no other powers of the universe to be altered."

"You mean there's a possibility that everything would be killed in the process?" Cody asked, suddenly becoming very uncomfortable.

"It's possible," Darkrai mused, his shadow form of Cody frowning. "It would be a shame too. So many pokemon and people could die… ones who have simply been living in this grand dollhouse of the guardians. But if that is what the universe wills, so be it."

Oh lord, I can't even comment on that right now. To the young trainer, Darkrai was beginning to sound like a religious nut. "But… Arceus is a god or something," Cody stumbled in with another comment. "Wouldn't he'd be impossible to kill?"

"Under normal circumstances, yes," Darkrai answered flatly. "When Arceus is in his spirit form, he is untouchable. It is in his physical form that he is beatable by the power of two guardians like the rest of his minions. He gave himself this vulnerability, should the other guardians find him corrupt. However, except for when he comes to a physical form on his own, which is rare, it would not matter if he could just remain in spirit form where he could not be touched, even if it gave him less direct control. Therefore, the Azure Flute was forged by Ho-Oh, Rayquaza, and Regigigas, three of the favored servants of Arceus."

What looked like a holographic image of a blueish-purple object with various holes floated in front of Cody's eyes. The object looked like an ocarina from those old Zelda games, and he soon learned that he wasn't far off.

"The Azure flute," Darkrai clarified. "When the song of Arceus is played in one of his ancient temples, he will be summoned in his physical form for roughly an hour in human time, though this could not be done twice within a two hundred year period. This relic was made long ago for two reasons: to be used by humans to have council with Arceus and to be used by the guardians, should Arceus ever become too powerful. Of course, fearing that this power could be abused, human Arcean priests hid the flute deep within the earth. For years, it was lost, until…"

Darkrai pointed to the man who stood above a group of people dancing wildly near a fire. His bald head was decorated with black, intricate tattoos, and wearing a black cloak, lit up by the light of the bonfire. "That man's name is Josiah Bleak. At this time, he was the leader of the Perfect Dark, and I handpicked him for his mental strength, intelligence, charisma, and his ties to dark mysticism. After years of searching, he finally found the flute and then… our pilgrimage began.

The scene changed once more to a memory of a burning village. Cody felt a lurch in his stomach at the gruesome sight before him. The tribal people and their pokemon were burning down a village, amongst the scrambling, screaming villagers. Making their way through the slaughter were Darkrai and Giratina. While they were not participating in the destruction, they were not stopping it either, but just wading through the chaos. The Darkrai standing next to Cody continued his tale.

"As we made our trek to the nearest of his temples, many of my followers grew… 'restless.' Other than Josiah Bleak and a few of my more capable followers, most of my followers were… plagued with sicknesses of the mind. Psychopathy, sociopathy, and so forth. So on our pilgrimage, for every society we passed, we gave the people a choice: join us or we let the monsters tear them apart. Many disagreed, and so, I let my army destroy them, aiding them whenever they took on anything larger than the occasional hamlet. Casualties on our side were few, and so, our numbers grew. Eventually, my following was beyond my expectations. The defeat of Arceus was at hand as I led the most powerful army at the time to battle."

At hand, Cody repeated in his mind. "But… judging by the situation now… you failed, correct?" He expected to be hit again and it looked like Darkrai was going to for a moment, but he just sighed.

"Things did not go according to plan." The scene had changed again to that of an ancient, decrepit, yet still beautiful temple with pillars and blocks carved out of exquisite marble. The temple was of gargantuan proportions, big enough to fit an army of a thousand soldiers, their pokemon, and still enough room for Giratina and Darkrai that stood in the center without being crowded by their minions.

"You see, I also had in my possession the Sigil of Ages, a relic that could summon Dialga. As I've said before, the plan was for us to summon Dialga and destroy him with mine and Giratina's power to give us enough strength to face Arceus. However, I believed Dialga would be too busy with his time entwinement to notice my actions, which in the lengths of time, was a minor event. However, he had learned, and had brought his brother, Palkia with him to fight us." The scene played out as Darkrai spoke. After an interdimensional hole opened, revealing the two ancient pokemon of space and time, Darkrai and Giratina clashed with the two legends as the soldiers cheered their support for their leader. "Even so, we could have won this fight. We were evenly matched. However, Giratina was a coward. Fearing she would lose and be destroyed, she fled early, leaving me to fight Arceus's pets." As he said this, Giratina suddenly opened a dark portal and left the scene of the battle, leaving her comrade to face the duo of time and space all by himself. For some time, it appeared that Darkrai would be overwhelmed, but realizing what had happened, his followers sent their pokemon to swarm Dialga and Palkia. "Knowing I would fail, my followers helped me win the fight. However, while we managed to knock the two of them out, I could not destroy them without Giratina's help. I knew we would have to fall back, but then…" The scene flashed white as a figure, flowing so bright that Cody could not identify it, stepped into the temple.

"Is… is that…"

"Yes, Arceus," Darkrai answered grimly. "He returned to our realm at the pleading of Dialga and Palkia, a rare thing for him to do. I did not think he would return on his own, but I was wrong." The former Darkrai tried to attack the god pokemon with a shadow ball attack, but it was futile against the holy being. With a second flash of light, the glowing figure obliterated Darkrai in a bright explosion that was the result of a concentrated beam shot by the glowing beast. Once they had seen the destruction if their leader, the army of fiends went into panic, fleeing the great hall and the presence of the awesome Arceus. The scene went dark once more.

"But… you survived?" Cody asked, realizing that Darkrai could not be completely dead.

"In a sense, yes," the Dark One answered solemnly, looking downward. "My physical body was destroyed by Arceus, but for the sake of balancing both dreams and nightmares, he allowed me to exist within the spirit realm. From there, I can still send nightmares to people, though I cannot see who I am giving them to. But without my presence, the Perfect Dark began to crumble, as the leaders were unable to keep those inflicted with madness in line… however, Josiah Bleak remained."

Cody and Darkrai now looked on at a memory of Bleak in deep meditation, surrounded by candles. To Cody, the scene looked positively satanic in appearance, but Darkrai didn't seem to care about Cody's thoughts on this. "You see, Bleak still kept a connection with me, and we communicated each night, since as you have noticed, my connection is strongest with people when the sun is not out in their current location. For years, we worked to devise a new plan, but to little avail. Our first plan was for me to take Bleak's body as my new physical form, but I could not seem to pass into his body. Even if I could, he only had a few decades left in his natural life, making him an unsuitable host. But we figured out the problem: in order for me to pass into a physical form in your realm, the body in question needs a piece of my soul embedded in it. However, as a man or pokemon ages, his or her soul becomes more solidified and hardened to change. Therefore, the scattered pieces of my soul can only attach themselves to infants within the first year of life, though I cannot control who specifically these pieces attach to. I do choose humans over pokemon though. Humans seem to have that "it" factor for making them good vessels… or they would be if I could get the right ones…"

Cody had no response to what Darkrai had just told him at first. It was all so confusing, but as he began to piece the information together, he realized something that disturbed him. "A piece of your soul… is in me?"

"Oh, don't get all melodramatic and angsty over it," Darkrai groaned wearily, shaking his head, "it doesn't make you any different from other people in most respects. It just means that I can contact you in your dreams and eventually, after becoming accustomed to your form, use you as a vessel."

"It all seems so easy," Cody mumbled, more to himself than the Dark One. "Shouldn't you have been able to do what you want to do by now? Won't you eventually run out of soul to split?"

"My soul has plenty of substance for the time being," Darkrai answered. "I can continue doing this for another thousand years, give or take a century before I run out. I've been very careful, only releasing a hundred or so pieces each year, so I have time to spare. As for why I have not been successful, the main problem lies within the fact that I can't see who my pieces of soul attach to. The only way I can see who have been touched is through the eyes of one of my marked ones. Ever since the first time I spread my soul throughout the world, I had to search for the recipients through Josiah Bleak's eyes. From then on, I searched though their eyes, and so on…" He paused for a second, looking down at the ground in disgust. "And that was where things went wrong. You see, I haven't been successful because humans, while sometimes being malleable, are not always accepting of my presence."

"Golly, how could they?" Cody responded with heavy cynicism, though Darkrai seemed not to pay attention.

"You see," the Dark One continued, "not only must I become accustomed to a marked one's physical and mental self, but they must also willingly accept me into their body. This is where the issue is. Most people do not wish to give themselves up in any sense. So I must manipulate their minds. However, some individuals a strong enough to resist me, causing my efforts to fall short of the goal. Others are so weak, my very presence will drive them into a mad, making them incapable of accomplishing anything. Some members of both sides of the spectrum have killed themselves to escape me. You however, among a few others, have the perfect balance. You are strong enough to not fall into madness, but weak enough to not resist me completely. Also, I've seen your soul and your dreams. You are too driven, so I doubt you would kill yourself, and you have enough self-confidence to believe that you can overpower me. I like that. It will keep you alive long enough for me to do what I need to do. That is why you are a perfect specimen… or really, the best of a bad situation. In a perfect world, you would fit the individual aspects even better than you do right now, and you would also be a follower like some of the modern day cultists are. But I will work with what I have, so don't let it get to your head, Storm."

Everything went black now, returning to the dark dimension that the two normally visited in. "Now, I have other matters to attend to, so I hope you have learned something tonight. Maybe someday you will understand my-"

"This doesn't make sense," Cody interrupted, risking his captor's anger, though Darkrai ended his sentence politely to listen. Perhaps the entire night of stroking his ego had put him in a good humor. "You said you didn't want to take Bleak's body because it would die soon. Then why would you want to come into my body? You'd only get about 65 years or so out of me unless the average life expectancy makes a sudden jump. What would that even do for you? Wouldn't you want a more permanent form?"

A long silence overtook before Darkrai finally started again… this time, with a hearty chuckle. "Very good. You have been paying attention. The answer is one that I will explain on another night. I have given you enough to think about for tonight." The eyes of the beast grew to an extra-large size and slanted to intimidate the young trainer. "Just remember something and remember it well: I have made you my newest target, Mister Storm, and I am not going away. There is no force on this earth that is going to change that, so take my suggestion: continue to train your pokemon. Chase that dream of yours. Maybe you'll complete it before I'm ready for you, so you might as well try finding some happiness in that. But this all ends in one of two ways: either I win or you fail. So when your time comes, I recommend you give in to me easily. If you do, I'll give you an easy way out of what is to come. You have my word. And while you may believe me to be a treacherous monster, I can assure you that I do not break promises. Remember that when you reach the crossroads."

When his eyes opened, all Cody could do was stare into the darkness that was the dormitory at nothing in particular, letting the thoughts on what Darkrai had shown an told him race through his mind. Like the Dark One had told him, there was still a part of him that believed that he could overcome like others before him. Maybe he could. If others were able to, so could he. Still, his role in this cosmic battle that Darkrai was fighting seemed so large for being just one person. It was too much for him to comprehend. For the time being, all he could do was stare into the abyss for what seemed like hours and continually ask himself "why?"