Just a quick AN here. You can skip it if you want... Anyway, I'd just like to thank The Creator for your continued support of this story. I couldn't care less that you're a guest reviewer, but I do have a little secret for you. ALL of your reviews have come through. XD. But yeah! You know, I was going to go straight to Draco Island to capture some of them Dragon-Types. But hey! To thank The Creator- and anyone else who is on the Darkrai Hype Train- We're going STRAIGHT TO DARKNESS ISLE! So thanks again. You have no idea how much it means to me. Oh, and I decided that I'm not skipping the islands arc. That was stupid of me to consider.
Ash looked down, staring at the ten Pokeballs in his hands with a pang of guilt. He felt horrible that he had gone all out on Pokemon who were really just as strong as any other type. Yes, he still was a little scared of them, but he realized that every time he had fought a fairy, they were hopped up on some kind of power. The three that took down Mega Rayquaza were being boosted by Arceus' Pixie Plate, and the Swirlix he fought was being boosted by Xerneas' Fairy Aura. He felt another pang of guilt. He'd fucking scared a LEGENDARY into joining his team! He was about ready to swim back to Pixie Island and release the Pokemon he caught. But before he did, he felt that he needed to talk to them. Dropping his hands, ten flashes of scarlet light revealed ten Pokemon that looked... joyful?
Ash was gobsmacked. How could they look so happy when he had so ruthlessly crushed them? Voicing his concern to the fairies, he was shocked when their reply came.
"Silly, we just looked into your soul! We know that you were scared of us, and we forgive you." Ash nodded, but then paled a bit. Fairy-Types could look into people's souls?! Ah well. At least they forgave him. He was about to show the faries around the training area when a chilling laugh echoed throughout the clearing. Looking around, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary, other than all of his Pokemon looking towards the sky. Following their lead, he turned his head into the air and his jaw dropped. Covering the sky was a massive blanket of pitch black fog. Then, all of the sudden, two massive red eyes appeared in the sky. They seemed to pierce into his very soul, analyzing every aspect of him. Then, seemingly satisfied, they disappeared, taking the black haze with them. Nodding to himself, Ash decided then and there where he would be going next. But first, however, he wanted to see if training with Arceus had really done everything the Alpha Pokemon had said it would. Pikachu would be training everyone else into the dirt for three days.
Arceus POV (This won't happen much)
Overall, Arceus was pretty happy with the progress of the three Pokemon under his tutelage. Charizard, Pikachu, and Venusaur (he had evolved within a day of his training) could now stand toe-to-toe with the strongest legendaries and emerge victorious. Out of the three, though, Pikachu had trained the hardest. At the very beginning, Arceus had made it clear that they would not see Ash until they completed the training. A bit harsh, sure, but it gave them a drive. Sure, Charizard and Venusaur loved their trainer to no end, but it was Pikachu that strived the hardest out of sheer will to get back to Ash. It was because of this will that he completed the training early and was currently back with Ash. Snapping out of his thoughts, he turned to face his two charges. Nodding to them, he called out, "Heatran, Kyogre, I need your assistance." Upon his call, the two legendaries appeared in the training grounds. Already knowing what they were here for, the two assumed posistions on opposite sides of the field. Nodding at them, Arceus turned to face Charizard and Venusaur. "You two will be battling Heatran and Kyogre today. Venusaur, you're with Heatran. Charizard, you'll take Kyogre. Get to work. You may be done when you knock out your assigned legendary."
Regular POV
Ash was flabbergasted at the amount of power Pikachu had at his disposal. Over the course of the three days, Pikachu had managed to train every single Pokemon Ash had to Delta-Rank. There were few exceptions, however. Garchomp, Tyranitar, Metagross, Infernape, Sceptile, and a few others had managed to surpass even Delta-Rank and made it to Alpha-Rank. Still, however, Ash wouldn't challenge any Alpha-Rank legendaries until all of his Pokemon were Alpha-Ranked. He was broken out of his train of thought by a nervous Pikachu pulling lightly at his pants. The mouse had his ears dropped and his head down, making Ash wonder what the problem was. Crouching down to his level, Ash asked,
"Hey buddy, whats up?" "Chu-pika pikachu pichu-cha." Ash was stunned speechless. "Excuse me?" Ash managed to stutter out. "Pikachu. Pichu-cha" Ash couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You want to... evolve? Pikachu, you know that you have my full support, but is this really what you want?" Ash asked, concerned etching his features. Pikachu then explained that he felt that he wasn't going to get any stronger in his current form. Any more electricity and he would burn up. Ash nodded, getting where Pikachu was going. "But you want to stay in your current form, don't you." A positive 'Pika' confirmed his suspicion. Ash nodded.
"Alright buddy, follow me then." Ash led Pikachu out of the training grounds and up into his room. Looking at Pikachu for what could be the final time, he opened a drawer on his nightstand. In the drawer, wrapped up in silk, was the same Thunder Stone that Lt. Surge had given him all those years back. He had kept it in case he either caught a Pokemon who could use it or Pikachu had ever changed his mind. Judging by the look on Pikachu's face, he knew the mouse recgonized it. Steeling himself, he placed it on the floor in between the two of them. He backed away, letting Pikachu do this on his own. Slowly, Pikachu inched foward until his paw was a mere inch away from the stone. Pikachu looked up and made eye contact with Ash and saw nothing but unconditional love that steeled his resolve. Nodding to his trainer, the mouse thrust his paw onto the Thunder Stone and suddenly erupted in a blinding white light, forcing Ash to look away.
When the light faded and Ash could turn his head, he saw that standing in Pikachu's place was... A Pikachu? To say he was confused was an understatement. The trainer and Pokemon both stood there until they heard Arceus' voice. "You know, I figured that Pikachu would do that eventually. So I took the liberty of making a way that Pikachu could evolve without evolving, if that makes any sense. Basically, Pikachu is now a Raichu in every way except apperance. If you look closely, you should notice that Pikachu is now the same color as a Raichu, and his cheek pouches are bigger. Those are the only asthetic changes. Internally, however, he is a Raichu. You can now train him to hold unlimited power, just like all fully-evolved Pokemon. Enjoy! ...PALKIA GET AWAY FROM GIRATINA! Sorry Ash, but I need to go now. Charizard and Venusaur will be back soon!"
Both Pikachu and Ash stood there in awe until Ash started chuckling. Pikachu mirrored this until both parties were laughing hysterically. Wiping the tears out of his eyes, Ash said, "Well then, Mr. Not-a-Raichu, shall we head to Darkness Isle?" His response came to him as a light shock.
Ash went though his mental checklist. Pokeballs? Check. His team? Check. Pikachu? Check. List of Pokemon he wanted to capture? He looked down at his right hand, which held a rolled up piece of paper. Check. He had decided against using the Blastoise Armor on this island, for obvious reasons. Back to the paper that had the list of Pokemon he wanted on it, he realized that it would be a good idea to make a folder of them, so he could keep track of the ones he wanted to capture. He'd do that later though. Now was the time for him to go hunt down that mysterious face in the clouds. He had a nagging suspicion that the offending Pokemon would be on Darkness Isle. Calling for Hoopa to make a portal, cracked his knuckles. 'Darkness Island, here I come,' he thought.
'Well, now I know why they call this Darkness Island,' he mused. The island itself, from what he could tell, was made of plains, but he couldn't see more than two feet in front of his face due to the same black haze that had covered the sky three days ago. He couldn't be sure, but he thought that it was night, as he could see parts of what looked to be a giant circle- presumably a false moon- ahead of him. Suddenly, those two red eyes appeared in front of him, the same calculating look in their pupils. Seeming satisfied, the red eyes narrowed then disappeared, taking the black haze with them, just as before.
Now that the haze was gone, he could fully see the island in all of its glory. It was truly a home for dark-types, with a forest of dead and decaying trees, many ravines and holes dotting the surface, and cliffs that casted the surrounding areas in shadows. Ash looked closer at one of the cliffs only to see a black silhouette against the moon. (Picture the MegaMan SSB4 trailer) He squinted at the figure, but the moon was too bright, creating a stark contrast with the black figure. Suddenly, a blue ring lit up, and the figure turned its head to the moon and howled. Without warning, it jumped up and off of the cliff, landing right in front of Ash. Like the first ring, several more flickered into existence, revealing to Ash the form of a Shiny Umbreon
Ash wasted no time in releasing Primape, who beat his chest and snorted upon his arrival. Ash wasted no time in starting.
"Brick Break!" With the speed of a P1 Champion, Primape dashed forward with his fist raised, poised to strike. However, Umbreon was faster, dodging with the grace and agility of a contest Pokemon. Ash watched as Umbreon charged up a Dark Pulse in her mouth, but he wasn't going to let her hit Primeape that easily. "Stone Edge behind you!" Primeape complied, sending a barrage of jagged stones behind him, dealing heavy damage to Umbreon. Ash wasn't about to let up, though. "Primeape! Close Combat!" He had trained Primeape- along with the rest of his Pokemon- to not feel any recoil on attacks that usually had some. So using Close Combat to Primeape was about as easy as using Karate Chop. Ash saw Primeape explode into action, sending a flurry of punches and kicks into Umbreon's flank, knocking it out. Ash sweatdropped. He thought that this would be harder... Then again, Primeape was one of his Alpha-Ranks. Clipping Umbreon's Pokeball to his belt, he turned around and walked towards the cliff.
XXTIMESKIPXX
'Man. This would've been so much harder if I actually would've been dumb enough to try climbing this cliff.' Ash thought. He was currently rising up to the peak of the cliff on Metagross' back, who was all too happy to give him a ride. He had seen the red eyes twice more, once right after he defeated Umbreon and again when he released Metagross. Now they were constantly above him, seemingly leading him to the cliff. Ash was more than happy to oblige, especially if his hunch on who the eyes belonged to was correct. He thumbed the Pokeball that he would be using for the fight if he was correct on assuming that the mysterious Pokemon was Darkrai.
When Ash finally got to the peak, his jaw dropped at the sight before him. Like the one at Steel Island, there was a massive arena. However, unlike Dialga's arena, this battlefield was made of pitch-black dirt with charred, dead trees standing at random angles all over the battlefield. Again, the Pokeball emblem was there, but this time it was all made up of a striking red that seemed to glow in the moonlight. Ash looked for the red eyes only to find that they weren't there anymore. Recalling Metagross, he stood in the middle of the pokeball, staring at the moon, hoping to find answers on where the mysterious being- probably Darkrai- was at. Suddenly, Ash saw two small red lights appear on the giant moon. Squinting, he saw a figure block out some of the moon's light, casting a familliar shadow on the ground.
"Darkrai..." he whispered. Indeed, the Pitch-Black Pokemon was rapidly descending from the sky to the end of the battlefield. Taking his cue, Ash ran back to the ledge that he presumed was the Trainer's Box and grabbed his chosen Pokeball, waiting for Darkrai to fully descend. Once it did, Ash was met with those same calculating eyes as before. They bore into his head, making him want to turn away, but he couldn't make himself move. After about a minute, Darkrai seemed satisfied and nodded, breaking the trance on Ash. Ash wasted no time in throwing his Pokeball into the arena, releasing a proud green lizard who smugly chewed on a twig. In the darkness Ash could see the familliar glint of his Sceptilite hanging from his neck.
"Sceptile!" Ash called, getting the Forest Pokemon's attention. "I know you've defeated a Darkrai before, but this one's gonna be a lot harder! Understand?" A nod from Sceptile satisfied Ash who wasted no time in calling out, "Leaf Blade!"
Sceptile shot forwards towards Darkrai, who stood in one place charging some kind of attack. Recgonizing it from Alamos, Ash yelled, "Duck! Then fire a Bullet Seed while still charging!" Ducking under a Dark Void, Sceptile continued his charge on Darkrai while firing a barrage of green seeds. Darkrai winced under the powerful attack then flew upwards and behind Sceptile, forcing him to stop his attack. While Sceptile was still turning around, Darkrai fired multiple Dark Pulses, scoring direct hits on the reptillian before flying out of reach of Sceptile's retalliating Energy Ball. Ash frowned. That would be a problem. Sceptile relied mostly on close-ranged attacks, but he did have some powerful distanced ones. The only problem would be that Sceptile would be firing upwards, where Darkrai could dodge in virtually any direction. He either needed a way to bring Darkrai down or Sceptile up, or find an attack that would be sure to hit and slowly wear Darkrai down. Then he remembered. Sceptile had one attack in his arsenal that would greatly benefit him in this situation. But first, however,
"Sceptile! Mega Evolve!" Ash yelled, thrusting up his Mega Bracelet. Sceptile was enveloped in a bright pink light, until it died down and Mega Sceptile emerged with a roar. Before, Dark-Type attacks didn't do much to him, but now, with his added Dragon typing? They weren't going to do much at all. All he had to watch out for was...
"Shit! Sceptile! That's Ice Beam! Dodge then use Magical Leaf until Darkrai can't hover anymore!" Dodging the Ice Beam with a burst of speed, Sceptile fired Magical Leaf after Magical Leaf at Darkrai. Ash winced when he saw Sceptile get hit with an Ice Beam, until a plan slowly formulated in his mind.
"Scpetile! Go ahead and use many Grass Knots on the battlefield! Use a Safeguard while you're at it so that Darkrai can't put you to sleep!" Sceptile complied, not fully getting the plan but going with it anyway. Ash nodded to himself after about fourty Grass Knots were set up. "That's good Sceptile! Keep up with the Magical Leaves until he falls!" While Sceptile did that, Ash thought of the next phase of his plan. Suddenly, Darkrai meshed into the darkness. Ash almost panicked until he remembered: "Sunny Day!" Sceptile shot a basketball-sized red orb into the sky which expanded, creating an artificial sun, lighting everything up. Ash had to squint and cover up his eyes for a bit, but so did Darkrai. "Ugh... Fire Solar Beams at it while hes disorientated!" Seconds after he said that, he heard the telltale sound of a Solar Beam firing and then a low grunt before something hit the ground. Blinking the last of the disorientation off, Ash looked over and saw Darkrai was struggling to get out of one of the Grass Knots. Wasting no time, Ash initiated phase three.
"Rock Tomb! Then Earthquake, followed up by a Focus Blast to break the rocks! Then charge in there with a Dragon Rush-powered Brick Break!" Sceptile raised his arms, causing rocks to appear and trap Darkrai in them. Next, Sceptile jumped up and shot his tail into the ground, sending a massive shockwave towards Darkrai, who grunted in pain. After he landed, Scpetile charged up a Focus Blast and shot it at the rocks, both breaking the stones and causing super-effective damage to Darkrai. Then, Sceptile erupted in a bright blue light and started rocketing towards Darkrai. The front of the cone of light suddenly changed colors from the dark blue to a orangeish-brown, the telltale sign of a fighting attack. Ash almost wanted to laugh as he saw Sceptile smash into Darkrai. This had certainly been a lot more fun than his other battles. Waiting for the dust to settle, Ash casually tossed a Pokeball into the dust, knowing that that last combo had certainly knocked out Darkrai. After a few moments, the dust settled and both Sceptile and the Pokeball were nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, he was tapped in the shoulder from behind by an un-mega evolved Sceptile, who smugly grinned as he held up a Pokeball. A smile spread across Ash's features.
"Alright! I caught a... Darkrai!"
Pikachu poked his groggy head out of Ash's backpack, chirping, "Pika!"
"Sceptile, Lucario? Whoever hits that Absol over on that cliff with a Focus Blast first wins bragging rights for the week. Sceptile and Lucario looked at each other and grinned, loving the prospect of a challenge. Ash grinned as well, knowing that Sceptile and Lucario had come to be training partners with a fierce, but friendly, rivalry. Without warning, Sceptile shot a Focus Blast at the Absol, hitting the cliff right next to it. And then the two Pokemon were off, firing Focus Blast after Focus Blast. Ash was pretty sure he saw a Solar Beam and Dragon Pulse get mixed into the fray a couple times as well.
Ash tripped over a loose rock. "Agh!" He yelled, "My pinkie toe!" Suddenly, he heard maniacal laughted coming from below him, and he saw that the rock he tripped over was actually a slumering Spritiomb, who was taking great delight in watching Ash squirm. 'Oh, it's on.' Ash thought. "Diancie!" He called, throwing the Pokeball, "Mega Evolve!"
Ash was currently running from a pack of Mightyena, Pikachu sprinting at his side. "Pikachu, remind me again as to why in the world we let Gengar mess with some Mightyena?" The little mouse simply sweat-dropped.
Ash was in the process of trying to convince Pikachu that he was the real Ash in the middle of two Zoroarks who were having the time of their lives repeating everything Ash said and confusing Pikachu to no end. Finally, Ash got fed up with it and realeased Nidoking and Bastidon and went to town.
Ash was in paradise. Charizard was currently man-handling a Shiftry and a Pangoro, while Pikachu, Sylveon, and Samurrot were handling a Houndoom, Malamar, and Sableye. Every so often a Pokeball would be thrown back towards Ash who was leaning up against a rock relaxing.
Ash was flabbergasted. How had this untrained Hydregion taken down his Sceptile? Recalling his fallen lizard, Ash palmed four Pokeballs. "Goodra! Come on out! Charizard, Garchomp, Glalie: MEGA EVOLVE!" This battle was finished.
And so was the chapter! Do you guys want me to keep doing those little snippits at the end of the other 'battles' Ash has on each island? Or would you rather me skip them like I usually do? You guys know how to tell me :) Anyway, Darkrai! I tried to do better than I usually do with this battle, but battles are not my forte. Which kinda sucks, considering that battling is a pretty major part of Pokemon... Anyway, on to the reviews. I know I said it earlier, but The Creator, you have no idea how much your continued support means to me. Same goes for all of my reviewers. TheGamingPyro, AgitatedDog9288, and of course, The Creator; you guys all mean so much to me. Anyway, I'll stop being all mushy :P
TheGamingPyro... You do know that Ash already had a Quilava, whom I evolved- along with the rest of his team- to their final stages? You know, I'll just copy and paste from my master list of Pokemon all the Pokermans Ash has as of now. If they're marked by a *, they're legendary. If they're marked by a ~, they can mega evolve.
Pikachu, Charizard~~, Venusaur~, Blastoise~, Lapras, Snorlax, Pidgeot~, Butterfree (x2), Hawlucha, Avalugg, Ageislash, Talonflame, Kingler, Muk, Tauros (x30), Heracross~, Meganuim, Typhlosion, Feraligatr, Noctowl (Shiny), Donphan, Swellow, Sceptile~, Crawdaunt, Torkoal, Primeape, Glalie~, Staraptor, Torterra, Infernape, Floatzel, Gliscor, Garchomp~, Unfezant, Samurott, Emboar, Serperior, Scrafty, Leavanny, Seismatoad, Gigalith, Krookodile, Goodra, Tyranitar~.
Steel-Types: 1) Scizor~ 2) Mawile~ 3)Steelix~ 4)Metagross~ 5)Aggron~ 6) Bronzong 7)Empoleon 8)Bisharp 9)Magnezone 10)Probopass 11) Exadrill 12) Bastidon 13) Lucario 14)Registeel*
Poison-Types: 1)Arbok (Red) 2)Weezing (Sky-Blue) 3)Nidoking 4)Nidoqueen 5) Swalot 6)Seviper 7)Crobat 8)Drapion 9) Toxicroak 10)Dragalge 11) Beedrill 12)Victreebell 13) Vileplume 14) Gengar~ (x2) 15) Tentacruel 16) Scolipede
Fairy-Types: 1) Florges 2)Aromatisse 3)Sylveon 4)Togekiss 5)Gardevoir~ 6) Altaria 7)Audino~ 8)Azumarill 9)Diancie*~
Dark-Types: 1) Absol~ 2)Mightyena 3) Umbreon 4) Zoroark (x2) 5)Houndoom~ 6) Sableye~ 7) Hydreigon 8) Malamar 9)Shiftry 10)Pangoro 11) Spiritomb*
Oh, and one last thing. The trivia question is... Which of Red's team is on his Gold/Silver Team but not his Heartgold/Soulsilver team?