Seventeen Days past Christmas, January 11
Luke
I walked into the conference room with Gality and Selena to see the leaders of The Remnant drawing on a map of some base. They turned around to see us, and all but Steven sat down. We all sat down and waited for orders. "Thank you for being on time." Steven thanked as he was reviewed the red line on the map-looking thing. "We are going to complete one-fourth of our grand mission: A portal to the Distortion World. We have located one part of the portal in an ancient cave east of Jodims. Beware the city, since the citizens are hostile because of the attack of Arceus on some protestors there."
"Steven?" I interrupted.
"What, Luke?"
"Are you just sending us on this mission?"
"Yes. To my knowledge, Giratina doesn't know about us. If they did, we would all be dead. For this first part, you three should suffice. For future ones, they will be more fortified, since there are less to protect. Now, let's get back onto the plan. You guys will enter from a side entrance, and enter the vault. One person will have to carry it, but that person cannot fight while carrying it. Now move out!" We walked out of the base and through the doors, meeting Henry outside. We all mounted him, and we flew towards the base.
Henry landed about three hundred feet from the side entrance of the cave, and we all jumped off. "Henry, are you sure that you don't want to come?" I asked.
"Luke, you know that I don't like enclosed spaces. I'll pass!" Henry replied as we walked towards the side entrance of the base. We looked in, and then peeped back as we saw a Froslass guarding the entrance.
"Don't use you fighting moves." Gality stated. "It won't affect them at all." Selena and I nodded, and then we walked inside. Selena immediately downed the Froslass with a Dragon Pulse. We krept through the stalactites of the cave until we encountered another Pokemon, which was a Houndoom. Gality used Brick Break behind it, knocking it out. We arrived at a door, made out of some odd stone. Selena kicked the door, shattering it. Gality picked up some of the pieces as we walked through the shards. We stopped again after seeing a Crobat. I charged Meteor Mash and hit it directly in the face, knocking it out. We started to run towards what looked like a large metal door when Gality tripped and set off an alarm.
"Intruder alert in the portal sector!" The alarm system blared.
"Run!" Gality screamed as we opened the door, revealing a large black control module. "The portal piece!" Gality grabbed it, and then we ran into another hallway as a regiment of poison, dark, and ghost types came running towards the door. We ran up to a balcony overlooking the area, and hid behind a crate.
"Gality, is the way we came through all of those guards?" I asked. He nodded, and Selena opened fire on the pile with Dragon Pulse, knocking out three of the Pokemon. They all opened fire on us, and Gality set down the portal module to start firing Psycho Cuts, knocking down poison types, decently hitting ghost types. But virtually bouncing off dark types. I started to use Meteor Mash to help the other two clear out the hoard, but they just kept coming. Eventually, a large black ball came flying towards us. The last thing I remember before darkness was Gality screaming.
Two days after the failed retrieval of the Distortion World Portal device, January 13
Gality
I opened my eyes to see about twelve Pokemon typing on computers. I tried to move, but I could see that I was strapped to a wall by Darkstone shackles. I attempted to break them with telekinesis, but the shackle's dampening power was too strong. A Froslass floated over to where I was located. "I see that you have woken up! Now, let's get down to business. Who sent you?"
"Why would you want to know?" I spat back at him. The Froslass turned around, annoyed.
"Great. The usual response: nothing useful. Lieutenant!" The Froslass shouted at a Sableye. "Put the machine at 600 volts, and fire!" The Sableye clicked a button, and I felt electricity surging up my body, causing me to scream in pain. The electricity stopped, and I was able to flex my fingers again. "I like that sound!" The Froslass laughed. "Now, would you like to tell me the information?"
"Go hit yourself with a Shadow Ball!"
"Lieutenant, increase voltage to 8000 volts." I felt the electricity surging up through me, but much more powerful and painful. They stopped the machine, but I lost feeling in my arms. "Ready now?"
"Never… Never…"
"Lieutenant, he's useless. 30000 volts, one half second." Everything began to turn white, and then very light, then blackness.
Fifteen Days after the failed retrieval of the Distortion World Portal device, January 26
Selena
I opened my eyes to see Cynthia and Steven sitting in a chair over to my right, and a cast on my right leg and arm. Cynthia and Steven noticed me stirring, and walked over to the bed that I was sitting in. "Selena, are you awake?" Steven asked.
"Yes, Steven? But where am I?"
"You are in The Remnant's medical bay. You have been in a coma for fifteen days."
"What happened?"
"Henry says that he saw you flying out of the mountain where the cave was located, with a large Shadow Ball following you. He picked you up out of the snow, and brought you here."
"Where's Luke?" Cynthia and Steven looked at each other, concerned.
"Mrs. Stonewall, we don't know where Mr. Stonewall is." Cynthia replied sadly.
"What…?"
"Stay calm, Selena!" Steven said, trying to calm my rising anger, which was fruitless.
"You want me to calm down? You want me to calm down even through the man that redeemed me as a person, and who is also my greatest friend and husband, is missing?! You fools!" I destroyed the bed and started limping away. Cynthia started to catch up with me, but Steven stopped her.
"Just let her go." I turned around.
"Good decision. By the way, if I find him gone, don't expect for me or that mountain to return." I limped off into Gality's workshop, and found his machine that allowed for someone to move without usable legs. I then walked out of the base, and towards the mountain. I probably have to find Gality as well, I thought. Why wasn't I strong enough to stop it?
I walked into the cave again, which was still somewhat destroyed from our small siege.I walked through the main entrance, and slammed the first Houndoom that I found against the wall with my one usable hand. "Where is the Lucario?" The Houndoom said nothing, and kept trying to get out of my grip. However, he started running out of oxygen, so he stopped.
"He's on the second level!" The Houndoom squeaked. I charged a Dragon Pulse and ended him, then moved on. I encountered a couple of Pokemon on the way to the stairs, finishing them all easily. I walked up the stairs, then turned left to see Gality, strapped to a wall, unconscious. Why did I let this happen? I thought as I moved into the room.
"Intruder!" A Froslass shouted right before I ended him with Dragon Pulse. The others in the room tried to flee, but very unsuccessfully. I broke all of the cuffs holding him up, and caught him as he fell. He immediately seemed too limp for just being unconscious, and still being alive. Oh Grand Creator, he's paralayzed. What happened to Luke? I thought, setting Gality down in the corner of the room, hidden. I walked down about three rooms to see Luke floating in a pink colored forcefield. The side of his face was as black as the night. The color of unending nightmares. Please don't be under its effects! I thought as I entered the room. I immediately used Dragon Pulse, hitting everyone there at once. They all went flying back against the wall and stopped moving. I pushed a button labeled deactivate holding chamber and pushed it, causing it to drop Luke onto the floor. I picked him up, then rushed over to the room that Gality was in, picking him up as well. I walked out of the base, where Henry was waiting. I set them on his back, jumped on, then flew towards The Remnant base.
Thirty Hours since the retrieval of Gality and Luke, January 27
Blue
Steven walked over to where I was sitting, which was outside of Luke's hospital room. "Blue, what's the situation?"
"Selena's been in there for thirty hours, mostly crying. I didn't have the guts to ask her anything yet." Steven walked into the room, and I followed. We sat down on the opposite side of the bed, and Selena looked away from Luke and at us.
"What do you want?"
"We want to know what happened." I stated.
"They were both tortured. Gality is paralysed on both of his legs and right arm, and Luke is stuck in Nightmare."
"What is Nightmare do, exactly?" Steven asked.
"It makes the Pokemon live their five worst fears over and over… oh, it's all my fault! I wasn't powerful enough to save them!"
"Selena, it's not your fault!" I reassured.
"No, it is! I was more powerful than Gality and Luke, and you know that! I couldn't protect anything!" Selena sobbed. Steven motioned that we leave, and I did so. I followed him outside of the medical bay.
"Why didn't we send more Pokemon?" Steven asked.
"Steven, we didn't know."
"We should have waited. We put a group of fighting types against a group made up of one-third ghost types, for goodness sake!"
"Yes, we know that now, but we didn't before. Let's me more careful in the future to avoid more casualties."
"Agreed." I walked up towards my room, and Steven went over to Gality's workshop, most likely to look at some of the last things he had created.