Hey guys, I've been on a roll lately with updating these. It might help that this one is mostly dialogue. We're coming close to the end of Book One, so stay tuned!

Review Response:

Ezekiel is one smooth operator. He's set himself up to look so good to the point where I can't tell if he's really evil.

Maybe he isn't evil. Maybe he's the real hero of this story and Cody is just some wannabe badass? Either way, obviously evil villains are out of style. It's all about the Byronic Hero, friends.

We get to see what could be THE big bad of the fic, or at least one of them (Darkrai is still a thing).

Ezekiel actually made an appearance in Chapter 20, albeit briefly. Still, it is the first time Cody met him, so that's something.

Anyway, thanks to my new co-beta NicKenny for the editing of this chapter. What a bro.

And now…

Cody: Bastion (Wartortle), Mars (Diglett), Colossal (Pupitar), Antonia (Skarmory), Cortez (Litwick), Eevee

Heather: Somnos (Poliwhirl), Feathers (Pidgeotto), Nadine (Nidorina), Bella (Gloom), Smaug (Trapinch), Sasha (Eevee)

Jared: Charmeleon, Servine, Croconaw, Shelgon, Onix, Fearow

Chapter 36: Breaking a Soul

Another battle with Jared: by Cody's count, this was the twenty-sixth match that the two of them had together and he still couldn't pick up a win, though he did make a draw once, but only because Jared was using his three weakest pokémon at the time. It was easy to see why Cody was unsuccessful though, being that Jared was more experienced and his pokémon were older, but the more the younger trainer battled him, the closer he got to winning. It was all about dissecting the opponent's strategy at hand while adapting his own simultaneously while monitoring his pokémon. Multi-tasking all of that was difficult at first, but slowly, Cody was getting better at it. Still, while Jared was a challenge, he was growing weary with battling him. He needed somebody fresh who he hadn't analyzed yet. Unfortunately, the more badges he collected, the harder it was to find somebody on his level of experience.

"Colossal, Rock Throw!" The pupa pokémon bounced a large stone into the air before hurling it at the Fearow, missing by inches.

"Barrel roll into a Steel Wing!" Jared ordered, not focused on his pokémon's match-up but more concerned with her results. The two had started a four vs. four battle about ten minutes ago and it continued to rage on. Both Mars and Cortez had already lost to Jared's newly evolved Shelgon, but when Antonia entered the fray, she managed to defeat both Jared's Shelgon and his Onix before he brought in his Fearow. The older boy's bird was much more experienced as a flying type and was able to pick apart Antonia, who had taken a Rock Slide to the back of her neck earlier. However, Colossal was now in the fray, fighting the long-beaked bird pokémon with few problems.

"Harden!" Cody's pokémon briefly tightened his body, since there would be no escaping this Steel Wing attack. The bulky pokémon managed to absorb the attack, but it obviously hurt like a bitch when the Fearow struck his face with her flashing iron wing. Still, he had plenty left in the tank, allowing him the energy to blast himself into the other wing as the Fearow flew away. The crippling shot brought her to the earth, but she managed to get back in the air, despite her wing being slightly messed up. As a last ditch move, she spun into a Drill Peck, but right before she could hit the Pupitar, Colossal thumped the lower part of his shell against the ground, pulling up a big rock that smashed into the Fearow's underside. The combination of the rock hitting her belly with the impact of crashing into the ground was enough for Colossal to win the match-up.

"Good job, girl," Jared praised as he recalled his Fearow. "Alright, I'm going to end this now. Come out, Charmeleon!"

Cody clenched his fist at the sight of Jared's first and strongest pokémon. Charmeleon was even more of a powerhouse than the first time Cody fought it, having moves that allowed him to deal with multiple types foes. Even a rock and ground pokémon like his Pupitar would have a hard time facing a pokémon with the wisdom that Charmeleon had.

"Ember."

"Shift left and Rock Throw!" Colossal just barely dodged the light fire that flew from the Charmeleon's mouth, though even if it hit, the weak flames would have been an annoyance at most to the rock type pokémon. But that was probably Jared's game plan here, putting minor pressure on the enemy and looking for an opening. It was a wise strategy for facing a pokémon with an elemental advantage, but Cody knew how to handle it, or at least he thought he did. The pupa pokémon hurled a stone, but the fiery lizard smashed it with his claw, shattering the rock into tiny pieces. He followed this up with a Smoke Screen, filling the air with the black byproduct of his fire. Still, whether it was by luck or by instinct, Colossal managed to perform a Body Slam, carrying him and the Chameleon out of the smoke. The two of them were now wrestling and Charmeleon was trying to penetrate his shell with his Fire Fang. But strong as his jaw was, he was unsuccessful.

"Keep wearing him down! Thrash!"

"Knock him back and drum!" Jared shouted in response. With a solid smack, the Charmeleon knocked the Pupitar back with a Metal Claw before striking his belly with his long, burning tail, leaving a dull burn mark. An interesting maneuver on Charmeleon's part, given that the self-inflicted burn on that portion of the body activated a hormone that would act as an adrenaline rush, pumping him with extra strength but leaving him slightly vulnerable. It was a great technique for facing a defensive opponent, but not so great when having to face more than just that one opponent. Luckily for Jared, Colossal was his last obstacle.

"Don't let him touch you! Rock Slide!" Colossal still could not have the boulders roll on their own, but he had adapted the attack in a different way, bringing up more, much smaller stones that rolled with him in the form of a small wave, similar to how Mars used Bulldoze. This variant take on the move was faster than the large boulder form, but slightly less powerful. Luckily, the blue shelled behemoth was becoming better at figuring out which form of the Rock Slide he ought to use and when. The small form was effective, as he speedily smacked Charmeleon without taking damage from one of those sharp claws. After landing a second slide, Colossal bounced himself into the air and created a Magnitude upon landing. A small crack formed near the lizard, knocking him off balance as another part of the ground jutted upwards slightly, knocking him multiple ways.

"Great, while he's out of it, Dark Pulse!"

"Focus and use Flamethrower!" Jared ordered, and just like that, his Charmeleon snapped to attention and let a stream of fire fly from his mouth towards the pupa pokémon. The attack blazed through the Dark Pulse and engulfed Colossal, who let out a stress hum in his pain. When the flames subsided, the Pupitar was glowing white hot from the flames, and although they didn't hurt him so much, he was burned pretty badly. Hopefully, he would be able to shed the thin, first layer of his rocky hide, but before he could peel, he was smacked various times by the Charmeleon's strengthened slashes.

"Chip Away!" Cody yelled out frantically, but despite Colossal's best efforts, Charmeleon smacked him hard with his burning tail, and the pupa pokémon took critical damage. Before he even hit the ground, Cody could tell that his pokémon was out.

"Alright, Charmeleon!" Jared said to his pokémon who he had approached, patting him on the head and feeding him a piece of kibble. He looked over at Cody, who was tending to his fainted pokémon the best who could without getting burned. "You were doing well in the end, but you shouldn't have used Dark Pulse that early. Charmeleon's got the edge on long range attacks, and his Flamethrower easily swallowed up the pulse."

"Yeah, I thought I could get away with it," Cody sighed exasperatedly, petting Colossal on his head where he had cooled off. "How'd we do over all?"

"Well, your Skarmory and Pupitar were in top form, as always," Jared complimented, turning his eyes to the sky as he recalled the battle. "A few mistakes here and there, but good overall. It's your Litwick and Diglett that you need to worry about."

Cody already knew Jared's critique with Mars. Despite his reckless abandon, he was disciplined and intelligent in most scenarios. The big problem was that he was not evolved. The Diglett hunt was still fruitless, and while Cody knew that there were quite a few professional trainers that had non-fully evolved pokémon on their team, Mars needed this badly.

"What about Cortez?" Cody asked, curiously.

"Well, he's a smart pokémon, but he just doesn't seem to be taking most of his battles seriously," Jared answered earnestly. "I get that he's a happy pokémon, but he seems too unfocused. Maybe when he gets older and evolves, things…" He trailed off as the memories of that Chandelure returned to him. Shaking the feeling off, he looked back down to Cody, who had stood up again before returning Colossal. "Other than that, good fight. Maybe if you had used Bastion, this would have been closer.

"Yeah, maybe…" Cody looked down at the Eevee pup, who was looking up at him, wagging her tail. Day by day, she was getting less anxious and even seemed to enjoy watching Cody's battles, barking happily during the most intense actions. Perhaps someday she could battle again? It was still too early to tell. "You know… I may have also been at fault with Cortez not focusing. I can't focus at all these days. Ever since we were in Lockton-"

"Yeah, I feel you," Jared agreed, his voice sounding embittered. "I keep expecting to see that Venonat following us again." His face softened some as he tried to change the subject before it got underway. "But we can't worry about some shady brotherhood tailing us. The next badge is going to require all of our focus, being that it's a double battle badge. Coordination is key in those match ups."

"True," Cody agreed half-heartedly. "Who will you be teaming with, since you're in a higher tier and what not?"

"I don't know, they'll place me with somebody," Jared replied, pondering the question himself. "But it doesn't matter. We'll have a week to practice and coordinate before the fight, so I'm not worried." But after saying this, his frown grew very deep. "You'll be teaming with Heather, I presume?" The way he said it did not sound pleased at all.

That tone… something is up. But Cody answered genuinely as he could. "Yeah, we figured since we know each other and all. Heather doesn't like it though. She days I'm too domineering in double battles and stuff."

"Well, no offense, but you are kind of a glory hog," Jared said, chuckling lightly.

"It's not like I tell her pokémon what to do. I just have great ideas. People should just accept that," Cody complained, though he knew where Heather was coming from on this subject. The two of them began walking. "Speaking of Heather… what's up with you two?"

"Huh?" Jared grunted as the two of them began to head back to town. But Cody could tell the other teenager was hiding something.

"She says you've been distant lately. I kinda see it too. Like just then when you brought her up, you seemed to get pissed at something. And for once, I know I didn't do anything. I've been on my best behavior lately and-"

"It's that obvious, is it?" Jared interrupted with a question as he stopped in his tracks. Cody had to back up a few steps to face him.

"Yes," he answered bluntly. "If you two have a problem, you should talk it-"

"Cody," Jared interjected again, this time, his voice sounding much darker, "I am going to ask you a question, and as a man, I want you to answer me completely honestly. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, uh… sure." The younger boy was beginning to get anxious at where this conversation was headed. He had no idea why this had anything to do with him.

"Okay," Jared continued. Taking in a deep breath, he asked the million dollar question. "What is going on between you and Heather?"

The younger boy felt his face go a ghostly pale at this question. "Wha- what do you mean?"

"You know what I mean," Jared replied forcefully.

"Nothing then," Cody answered sincerely, still kind of flustered by the question. "I don't even know where you're getting this from. Really, this is-"

"Don't act like a moron," Jared cut in once more, now growing irritated. "Anybody with a pair of eyes can tell that you had a thing for her. Heck, I could tell when I first asked you about her back in Tempest. Maybe you don't anymore, but that's a slim chance in my book. You're a lot like your friend, Laurence, in that way, with nice guy exterior, but the womanizing player attitude undernea-"

"Shut up about Laurence," Cody shot back, now getting angry in return. "You only met the guy once and I've known him since I was five!"

"But am I right about him?"

For a moment, Cody was left defenseless, because while Laurence was a good guy, Jared was a little bit right about him. But it was time to state the facts. "Jared, how the hell am I a womanizer? I haven't had a date since I started last year, mostly because I'm too caught up in other shit as it is. In case you've forgot, while I've been trying to break out of the shadow that my brother cast as a trainer, I've also been stalked, attacked, and kidnapped by some weird organization. I can't call home half the time without my mother and I getting into a shouting match over something and I can practically see my parents' marriage crumbling in front of my eyes. And on top of THAT, I can't remember the last time I had a good night's sleep. So please, what the hell did I do to deserve this?"

Jared had been listening calmly while Cody ranted and while he did not always like what his traveling companion had to say, he could tell that Cody was being sincere. Suddenly, he felt bad about what he had accused Cody of. Even though it was strange to see Cody shift from a tactless moron to something more serious, he had to admit that the younger teenager had been a lot easier to deal with as of late. That being said, he wasn't about to apologize for his accusation. In his mind, a lot of the negative things he told the younger boy were true.

"Look…" Jared restarted, suddenly feeling a lot lower. "It's not you so much. It's Heather. I…" His eyes dropped and his cheeks turned slightly pink in embarrassment. "I saw Heather kiss you."

"Wha-…" Confusion, disbelief, and shock all passed through Cody's expression at once as his eyes widened and his mouth fell agape. Finally, he said, "we… we never kissed." He would have definitely remembered that if it had happened.

"I know, you didn't kiss her," Jared corrected him, only to confuse him even more. "The day we found her," he began, pointing at Cody's Eevee, who was sitting obediently by his side, "she kissed you on the cheek while you were asleep. I saw her do it, but she didn't see me."

She kissed me? But I was asleep, so it wasn't my fault… that's kinda creepy though. "Jared," he began to speak again, remembering to choose his words carefully. He didn't want to make the situation worse. "A kiss on the cheek. That's not necessarily romantic or anything. Why are you getting so upset?"

"Because it's the way she looked at you afterward." His voice was growing shaky and awkward as he was obviously uncomfortable talking about the subject. "Like… she wanted to do it but it was something that she wanted nobody to see it. A dirty little secret…"

"No secrets, right?" Cody asked. Of course Heather would break her own rule. Hell, by now, the rule was pretty much dead in the water among the three of them. "Look, I think you should talk to her about this. I don't think that what she did was supposed to be malicious or anything. But just say something. She's really worried about you."

"Yeah, I don't know about that," Jared replied, not looking at Cody anymore as the two started walking again. "You're right though, for once. If I wanted to fix things, talking would be the right thing to do. However… I think maybe it's time that I go."

"Go?" Cody asked, stopping in mid-stride. "You mean… what, go away?" Suddenly, he his concern jumped to a new level.

"Huh, I figured this is what you would have wanted. But you don't sound so excited," he commented, his tone uncaring.

"Hey now, I never said that I wanted you to leave," Cody cut in, though while it was something that he had wanted a few times, he never explicitly stated it. "But this isn't about me. This is… you can't just leave Heather without telling her what's wrong. That's not-"

"This isn't just about her," Jared cut in, his voice growing seriously. "This got me thinking about what the heck I'm doing with my life right now. I've been getting stronger, but I'm already a gym behind because I've been traveling with you two and we've been to a gym that I already beat. The way I see it, I'm falling behind and the slower I gather gym badges, the longer it will take me to get to Diamond Beach, get recognized, get sponsored by big name companies, and be able to gain custody of Dina."

Dina. It had been a long time since Cody had heard that name, and for good reason. Jared didn't like to talk about his life with Cody when he could help it. There were a few times in the past when he heard him talking with her on the phone, but other than that, she was a ghost to him. "How is she by the way?" he asked softly.

"Not well," Jared answered, still seeming to be distracted. "She got switched to another foster family. She's a good kid, but after all she's been through, she's been a hand full. While she's better off now than being with mother, she needs a family. A real one. If I can get to Diamond Beach and at least get into the Top 32, I'll get recognized for sure. After that, then comes tournament scenes around the world, and if I get lucky, I may be able to get a position in a country's pokémon league as a gym leader or something. I don't need to be a champion. I just need a steady income… She's only eight years old, and here I am, backtracking across Skitrex because I have a girlfriend now who may not even like me all that much. It's irresponsible. Hell, even you aren't dating by choice, and you don't have nearly as good a reason not to… No offense."

"None taken," Cody answered nonchalantly. Still, Jared's situation was a daunting one and he was not sure what the right answers would be. "Look, if you leave us because you want to get emancipated, I understand. Heather would understand too, even if it upsets her. But for the love of God, don't just leave her without an explanation. She does really like you… hell, I think you've been good for her. Kept her sane and what not."

"Kept her… what?" Jared asked, not understanding the point Cody was making.

"Dude, she ran away from home to travel because I inspired her or some shit. I had just met her. That's just a little bit insane. But seriously, don't talk to her because I told you to. Do it for her."

"Huh." Jared just stared ahead into blank space for a few seconds before speaking again. He seemed to be deep in thought over what he and Cody had spoken about, but he had not reached a conclusion yet. "I'll think about it. Thanks for being honest with me." He began walking again. "If you don't mind, I'd like to walk back alone. I need to think."

This just baffled the younger boy. "There's only one path back to town! How am I supposed to get back?"

"You'll think of something," Jared shot back, not even looking back in acknowledgement.

Ungrateful little… He sighed and released Antonia from her pokeball. She seemed to have recovered some from the battle, and in happiness to see her trainer, she affectionately nudged her head against his chest as he touched her neck. "You wanna go for a quick ride?" he asked.

She seemed to understand, spreading her wings so Cody could hop on her back. Once he got a hold of her neck, she got a running start and got up into the air with no difficulty. The process of Cody flying with her had become so much easier after all the practice the two of them had together.

Thanks for being honest with me. Jared's words buzzed through his head as he recalled that there was something he wasn't honest about when Jared asked him about if there was anything going on with him and Heather. He had asked a few weeks ago if she would run away with him to escape the lies that were told and the secrets that were hidden. She had never told Jared about it and he didn't suspect it, but now, the secret weighed on his conscience. Though he had been doing it for some time, he could no longer suppress the feelings he had for Heather, now that all of the awkwardness was up in the air between the trio, though everybody still had their own secrets. But he knew better than to say anything directly for the time being.

"I'm thinking too much," he said to himself as the wind crashed into his face during the Skarmory's flight. "I don't have time for this drama. I have a gym battle soon and some crazy radicals spying on me. I… damn it… I just need some sleep. It's been about a day since I last slept. Heather will kill me if I don't." As the town appeared in his field of vision, the idea of crashing into a nice, comfy bed was growing more appealing by the second.

"One night of sleep. That's all I wanted. One measly night of sleep. Why can't I even get that?" He was back in the Darkrai dream again and even though he knew it was futile, he was trying his hardest to wake up. "I'd rather be awake and cranky than stuck in this crap again."

"Oh, I'm sooo sorry. Did I come at a bad time? Should we reschedule to fit your oh so terrible life?" Darkrai's voice oozed with mockery as he emerged from the darkness. Rather than appear as the colorless eyes like he normally did, he appeared as the monochrome copy of Cody as he had when they had explored Darkrai's past.

"Just saying, I'm sick of all of this crap. All I want to do is train my pokémon and not have to put up with you or that organization or-"

"Oh yes, about that," Darkrai interrupted, posing as if he was leaning against a wall, although Cody could see nothing to lean against, "It was good of you that you did not align yourself with them. After all, a servant cannot have two masters."

"I am not your servant," Cody replied firmly. He expected to be slapped by the Dark One, but he was taken by surprise when his clone form punched him in the face, breaking his dream nose.

"You are," Darkrai answered simply. "You just haven't accepted it as your destiny… yet. You do not understand my noble goals to return the universe to its former-"

"By killing the guardians, causing rifts in our reality and possibly killing everybody?" Cody challenged, only to get punched again.

"Dear Cody," Darkrai scolded as he casually scanned his fist that he used to punch the teenager with. "Even after I showed you what had happened to reality; how it has been changed, perverted… and you still believe that things are better as you are? Who are you to say that reality should remain as it is? You have only been alive for fifteen years. I have seen the corruption first hand. While the past century has been relatively clean, it is only a matter of time before something else happens… in fact, I have seen glimpses of the possible futures lingering in the spirit world. Many of them show Arceus casting another "Flood of Justice" unto the Earth. If that were to happen…" He seemed to lose himself in his own thoughts as he stared into the darkness.

"Look, I'm trying to understand you here, but you're not selling me here. I have no idea what a "Flood of Justice" is, but it sounds bad. And maybe Arceus and the Guardians shouldn't have taken control by merging themselves with the constructs of the universe. But what you want to do… it could possibly destroy the world or even the universe in its entirety. And even if it doesn't destroy the world, do you honestly believe that you can rule better than Arceus?"

"Yes, because I will rid the world of the corruption once and for all, and never again will the universe be toyed with under my watchful eyes."

"You seem so sure of yourself, but how do you even plan to do all of that if you can't get a body to begin with? And again, what would you want with my body? I'm not immortal."

"You are correct," Darkrai answered. "But tell me, who among the physical realm is immortal?"

"Nobody, right?... Oh wait." He remembered what he had read about legendary pokémon on Father Ezekiel's bio. Something about how legendary pokémon could reverse the aging process in their cells somehow. If these pokémon weren't technically immortal, they could use this process to theoretically live forever, like Ezekiel had predicted. Whatever the case, perhaps this had to do with a guardian. "Do… you want to use a guardian as a vessel?"

"Good work," Darkrai laughed, clapping his hands. "In the form of a guardian, both my original power and the power of my new form would merge, birthing a being of two strengths!"

"But then why take my body?" Cody prodded, frustrated by the vagueness of it all. "Besides, you can't take the form of a guardian that has existed previously if it doesn't have a piece of your soul. Taking me doesn't get you closer to taking the form of a guardian."

"Oh ho, but it does!" Darkrai exclaimed, sounding positively giddy, despite the hollowness in his voice. "I'll let you in on a little secret." Suddenly, the entire room went so dark that the young teenager couldn't even see Darkrai or the white mist of the black void.

When he could see again, the two of them reappeared on a rocky floor. From what Cody could tell, they were now standing on the top of tall, decrepit tower, somewhere in the ocean, for all he could see in horizon was water. But when he turned around, what he saw made chills run through his body. Coiled on top of the tower was a long, emerald colored, scaly monster. From its snake-like head extended four horn-like growths, and the scaly plates that covered its body, it had a glowing yellow pattern that stretched down its body.

"Rayquaza…" he muttered in awe, remembering the pokémon that he had been on TV during the Groudon/Kyogre clash that had occurred in Hoenn all those years ago. But something was wrong. The pokémon seemed to be sleeping and its colors were slightly dulled. "What's wrong with it? I thought Rayquaza never landed."

"Correct," Darkrai answered walking up to the sleeping pokémon. "Normally, Rayquaza can sleep while flying far above the world. However, at the time this memory was made, Rayquaza was in a dormant state."

"Dormant?"

Darkrai answered the question with a lengthy explanation. "All pokémon who have physical forms have physical limitations, including the guardians. From time to time, though it seldom occurs, a guardian will need to enter a dormant state in order for it to regain its youth and prowess. When its body has regained its youthfulness, they will return to their duties, but until then, they are locked in this state, unable to move. Under normal circumstances, this state can last as little as one year, though it can last for much longer. During this time, the guardian is completely vulnerable."

"Huh…" Cody now approached the dormant Rayquaza, cautious; as if he were afraid it would wake up and attack, even though this was only a memory. "So, if this were real, what would you have me do?"

"Assuming that I have had a complete adjustment to your body and you allowed me into your form, I would have you walk up to this monster, touch it, and then allow me to pass from your body into his."

"Wait, what?" Cody gasped taking a step away from the nightmare version of himself, who was grinning widely. "You can do that? Don't you need his acceptance as well?"

"In this state?" Darkrai smirked. "He is completely vulnerable with absolutely no will of his own."

"And you can just go into his body without a piece of your soul in him?" Cody questioned.

"During the first few hours, my presence would not settle within your body, allowing me to transfer into another willing or dormant vessel before I became permanently… attached, so to speak."

"So you'd need to take my body right before…" Cody pondered. Suddenly, his attention peaked. "Then what would happen to me and my body?"

Darkrai's grin grew even sicker in appearance. "Dear boy… without a presence, your body would die."

For some reason, this led Cody to snap like a whip. "So you just want me to be your vessel for one minute before you leave my body for dead? Why the hell would I want to help you with that?"

"Isn't that cute, you think you have a choice!" Darkrai giggled gleefully. "By then, you'll be begging me to take your body! Besides, if you're a good little dog, I'll make sure that your soul gets its own little slice of heaven in the spirit world. You'll get to skip the apocalypse that I'll bring to this world to cleanse it of its corruption. And for eternity, you'll live with the satisfaction that you have made the universe a better place."

"And I'm supposed to believe that garbage?" Cody shot back, angrily. Before Darkrai could answer, he continued to rant. "Besides, how do I know that I'll beg for death? Maybe I'll overcome like all the others."

"The others?" Darkrai roared. Before Cody could react, his shadow-self grabbed him by the neck and held him up above the ground, choking him. "Nobody has overcome! Failures as they may be, they have all died or gone insane! And I have been getting closer to full control with every victim!" His rage simmered as quickly as it began, though his smile did not return. "Do you want to see what happens to those who disobey me?"

"I don't think I have much choice," Cody sputtered as he gasped for air, but Darkrai's choke was too tight for him to breathe properly. Upon being thrown down to the ground, the scene went black. When the light returned, Cody could see that the two of them had emerged in another memory, though he couldn't tell the time period of when the memory was made. The people shown were wearing strange clothing by his standards, and some of the women wore long dresses and shawls on their heads. The children looked incredibly dirty and poor, many of them having no shoes. Judging by the horse drawn wagons in the background, they were all probably nomadic Still, these folks looked happy enough, as some of the adults were playing foreign looking instruments and the children roughhoused with several small pokémon.

"Where are we? When are we?" Cody questioned as he started to guess the answers himself.

"The year is 1951, and this is the outskirts of Kirben Town in the south west of Skitrex. What you are looking at is a traveling community of French gypsies that immigrated here a little over a decade before this memory was made. But at large, none of these people you see truly amounted to anything. None except for her…" The monochrome copy of Cody pointed at a woman who stood idly by, watching the children as she leaned against a wagon. Most of the people looked incredibly forgettable, but this woman would have sparked his interest. Even if Darkrai hadn't singled her out, she stood out, namely because she was rather attractive with her long, wavy black hair, delicate face, and intriguing clothing, including her shawl and her shoulderless dress. The combination of those things was enough for her to be interesting to him. He guessed that she was about twenty or so.

"Who is she?" Cody asked, his voice fading in wonder.

Darkrai seemed amused by his question. "Her name is Stella Delacroix, but you know her as Ma-"

"Wait, what?" Cody cried, predicting what Darkrai was going to say. "That's Madame Stella?" He couldn't believe that the hideous, creepy, one-eyed gypsy was once this good looking woman that he saw in the flashback. What the hell happened?

"As you can see, she was once an attractive young woman. Despite being poor, she lived a good and honest life… well, as honest as a gypsy fortune teller can be at least," Darkrai explained, smirking evilly at his description. "Her family and her immigrated from France before World War II was well underway, stowing away on a cargo ship. Overall, she adjusted well, exploiting clients with her exotic charm. I believe she was engaged to be married at this point, but it's hard for me to care about that. What I do care about is him." Darkrai now directed Cody's attention to a man who was staggering into the gypsy encampment. He was middle aged, wore filthy clothing, and had a haggard face of one who had never seen anything but trouble and pain.

"Why? He looks like the town drunk," Cody commented, almost being able to smell the man, despite not receiving scent related sensations from the revisited memory.

"He is," Darkrai affirmed. "His name is Norman Mc… something or another. I don't remember, nor do I care. He's long dead anyway; died a few days after this memory to be exact, due to alcohol poisoning and starvation. At the time, he was one of my current marked humans, but when I began to integrate myself with his mind, he went completely insane at an alarmingly fast rate, making him a poor candidate for my goals. In the end, it probably didn't help that he was severely uneducated and an alcoholic when I found him." Darkrai paused, allowing Cody to observe the scene that transpired. The man from the nearby town wandered into the camp and collapsed in a heap near where the gypsies kept their Ponyta that they kept for pulling their wagons. Upon his collapse, the gypsies swarmed him, probably checking to see if he was carrying anything valuable. When they saw that he was not, they immediately returned to what they had been doing. Only Stella remained by the man's side, bringing him a cup of water to drink when he was conscious once more.

"It was because of Stella's compassion that I saw her through the man's eyes that day," Darkrai explained. "When I saw that she was marked, I immediately visited her dreams the first chance I had. Oh, how excited I was. She was so strong, confident, not too easily swayed but not completely unbreakable either. She was also much stronger in mind than Norman was, meaning that she would probably last longer under the mental stress I planned to put her through."

At that point, the scene went black before lightening again to a memory of Stella awakening in a sweat in the middle of the night, panting excessively out of terror.

"So, you're basically did to her what you've been doing to me now?" Cody questioned. The Dark One nodded.

"More or less. It always follows a pattern with the strong ones. At first, they think it's just a dream, but as my visits become recurrent, they grow fearful. Eventually, as I adjust to their psyche, I make my visits more frequent, slowly chipping away at their wills. Finally, when I can enter their consciousness at will, they usually break. This can lead to disastrous results, so I must be delicate yet firm."

"So why didn't it work with her?" Cody braced himself for another physical assault, but Darkrai didn't seem to be irritated by his victim's question. Maybe by now, he had accepted his past failure?

The Dark One continued his story when the scene flashed to a mountain grove. The location seemed to be untouched by humans, as there didn't even seem to be a trail leading to it and it was covered with flora and displaced stones. But even more fascinating than this undiscovered grove was the pokémon that resided in it. The creature that levitated in a small clearing had a light lavender colored body, three crescent shaped growths that were darker shades of purple, and a golden, crescent shaped horn that split into two parts on both sides of its face. Like Rayquaza in the earlier memory, this pokémon was completely still and its colors were slightly dulled, making Cody assume that it was in a dormant state as well.

"Cresselia," Cody breathed. It was easy to recognize the pokémon, given that she had been seen by people and that she had entire documentaries about her existence.

"Yes, Cresselia," Darkrai repeated, his voice sounding embittered now. "Two and a half years after I entered Stella's mind, the troop she lived with made camp about twenty miles from this location. As luck would have it, my sister had entered her dormant state in this very grove." Darkrai's eyes shone with greed as a small, sick grin spread across his face. "Just think, to be able control both nightmares and dreams if I had taken my sister's body. I could easily bend every human to my will with such psychological power at my fingertips."

During Darkrai's monologue, Stella had pushed her way into the clearing, finding the stagnant Cresselia. She approached it, eyeing it for a few minutes before she extended her hand, though not quite touching the pokémon. All the while, she looked intensely troubled.

Darkrai interrupted the silence indignantly. "I was so close that I could almost taste the sensation of having a physical body again. I thought that I had broken Stella, but I overestimated how malleable she would be. When she began to have doubt of what she was doing, I told her of the reward she would receive in that her soul would be given a paradise and that she would improve the world. However, she denied me that day. I told her that if she walked away that day, I would make her life a living hell and take everything that she held dear away from her. She then told me that she believed me to be wrong and that she would accept a harsh fate in return for humanity's safety…" By now, Stella had put her hand down in a rapid movement and was proceeding to leave the grove. Her face looked assertive, but underneath her fearless expression, Cody could see a tiny piece of anxiety in the way that her eyes twitched. Darkrai's words must have had that effect on her.

"She lost everything," Darkrai commented, his tone cold and uncaring. "Her family, her friends, her fiancé: I took it all from her and replaced it with madness. Never since has she slept soundly. Never since has she had a moment of comfort. Never since has she had one person give a damn about her pitiful existence." Throughout this monologue, multiple scenes were flashing by. Some contained Stella screaming in agony whilst pulling out her hair and tearing at her clothes. In others, she was begging in the streets of the cities in the rain, receiving nothing in return. In some, she was being mocked and jeered by people, some of them even going as far as to beating the shit out of her. And in every scene, she looked slightly more withered, slightly uglier, and slightly madder. And every scene Cody saw made him feel even worse on multiple levels. He had treated Stella as if she was a monster, but she was a victim among victims. Watching the process of how Darkrai systematically destroyed her left him with sorrow and bleakness.

"She did find Arceus, but Ao is hardly a good companion for any human, no matter how devout, as he has taken a less direct role in the world's influence these days. After raiding one of his ruined temples to sell artifacts on the street, she claims to have become a seer of his. While it is true that she has a slightly deeper connection with him than most, look at what she has become. Now tell me Mr. Storm, was her sacrifice worth the price of a broken soul?"

With a sudden flash, they were back in the Dark One's realm once more. Cody's mouth hung agape from what he had seen. It was a tragedy, plain and simple and it left him with nothing to say. Darkrai was just grinning at him, and from what Cody could gather, the dark spirit might as well have been saying "You have lost."

"What you did to her…" Cody began, his voice wavering in both astonishment and horror at what her had just saw, "that's just unfair, how you took everything-"

"Ahahaha!" The phantom's bellowing laughter filled the vast emptiness that was his domain. It was a full minute before his merriment subsided and he gave Cody a look of pure amusement at what he had stated. "You think there is any sort of fairness in life? Have you not looked outside and seen the inequality? If there is any sort of fairness, why are we all not born on even terms? Why are there people born to poverty or with severe physical or mental disabilities while others are healthy and in luxury's lap? Why are some trainers, such as yourself, talented, while others are doomed to squander away their savings at a game of sport? Why are there pokémon who are born, only to die at the hands of nature or a cruel trainer? Look at that Eevee that you adopted and tell me how her situation was fair, being fatally abused for no reason other than her weakness. If you can't see the unfairness of the universe in that, then you are a blind man who is beyond my help."

Cody was at a loss for words at this line of questioning, knowing that what Darkrai had just said was true. Nevertheless, destroying Madame Stella's psyche seemed like an evil thing to do, regardless of how unfair life could be, but he knew better than to argue this with the demon, believing that he would be unmoved.

"Cliché as it may sound, we all have a destiny to face, Cody Storm," Darkrai continued when the silence had grown too lengthy. "Mine is to destroy the besmirched status quo that Ao has constructed. People like you and Madame Stella, it is your destiny is to aide me in that endeavor. We have all been dealt an unfair hand, Mr. Storm: you, when a piece of my soul attached to yours, and I, when I was created for the sake of 'balance,' and that I am without equal in my crusade for purity. But it is what we have now and forever. So again, should you accept me, things will be so much less painful for you and I will promise you relief when your body has served its purpose." He paused to wait for Cody to say something, but the teen was speechless again, trying to think of something to say. Darkrai was not patient enough to wait for him, so he asked, "Questions?"

"Which guardian?" Cody finally asked, though he couldn't stop looking at the ground. He felt unbelievably hopeless at this situation that had been presented to him. "Which guardian are you using me to get to?"

"I have a few in mind, but I do not know yet," the Dark One answered, shrugging casually at the thought as if he were simply picking a flavor of ice cream. "The future is scattered, but when I see an opportunity, we will take it. And yes, I mean 'we.' By then, you will be on the same page as me. But for now…" Darkrai turned away from Cody and walked away from him in the foggy darkness. "I must leave you. I have found something else that has garnered my interest this evening. I'll keep in touch, but in a few months, I'll be close enough to you to come to you on a more regular basis. With any luck, for the sake of your sanity, you'll be willing. It would be a shame to break a young man's soul before he has reached his prime. Nevertheless, such is life. Goodbye Cody Storm. I hope that when the time comes, you will embrace who you are, rather than run from it."

For the last time, he waited for Cody to say something, but after a minute or so, he figured that there was little that could be said between them for the time being.

His eyes slowly opened and he stared at the ceiling for what seemed like ages. The only sounds he could hear were Jared's snores and Heather's tossing and turning in the other bunk bed in the pokémon center's lodge room.

How can I do this? How can I fight him at all? I feel so helpless. He's broken so many before me, so why would I be any different. Crap, I wish Heather actually believed me on this. I feel so alone. But then he remembered Madame Stella, the old crone who would understand his feelings. And for once, he did not dread the idea of her visiting him. After all she had been through, he couldn't help but pity her in the most extreme sense of the word. There was really nothing else he could say about that, other than how painful it must have been to have everything stripped away from her through Darkrai's maddening influence. Will that be what will happen to me? Will I end up alone and afraid, abandoned by those who love me? He looked at the Eevee pup that slept on his chest, but even her cute twitching couldn't make him smile. Would his pokémon abandon him too? For the chance to be a trainer, he had damaged his family's relationship that Derrick had already stomped on, and the thought of losing both them and his companions, both human and pokémon, was absolutely overwhelming.

Stella. I must find Madame Stella. She'll have something to say to me. Scooping the Eevee into his arms, Cody hopped down from the bunk bed, put on a shirt, and left the center's lodging space and then the center itself. Out in the warm, spring night, he waited for Madame Stella. Ten minutes. Twenty minutes. Thirty minutes... still no sign. It was at the hour mark that he retired once more to the comforts of the pokémon center, though even they could not comfort him in the absence of the old, tortured gypsy. Perhaps this was the first of the many abandonments that he was fated to face.