Chapter 7: Truths…

After Riolu gets to the village center, his eyes widen as he sees Maractus trying to help the knocked out Zorua. Riolu looks around at the surroundings of the village center and sees all of the blood that has been spilled. Riolu looks directly at Maractus and he asks her, "What the hell happened over here?"

As Riolu walks towards her, Maractus replies to Riolu, "I'm afraid we left Zorua by himself over here to do the battle. But," Maractus has tears of sadness flowing down her cheeks as she says, "I'm afraid we lost a teammate tonight… Audino died during the battle."

Riolu has a slowly rising shocked expression on his face and he says, "N-no way… what happened?" Maractus says to Riolu while calming herself down by wiping the tears away, "I'll explain the situation to you once we return home."

Riolu nods his head in agreement and they all head to the cabin through the snowy forest. As they ran through the forest, Riolu is looking right at Zorua and he thinks with a concerned look in his eyes, "Zorua… I can sense the Hell Spirit Blade inside your body. So it must be true then…"

Riolu pictures the battle he had with dark Riolu while Zorua was in the part of his battle to where he's about to transform into his demon form.

Riolu and dark Riolu are just standing there two feet away from each other in Riolu's memory. Riolu is asking dark Riolu with a serious expression in his eyes, "Why are there two Hell Spirit Blades?" Dark Riolu has a confused expression on his face as he asks, "Where'd you come up with that?"

Dark Riolu shows Riolu the Hell Spirit Blade in his hands and he says, "This here is the only Hell Spirit Blade. There isn't a second one, Riolu." Riolu has a concerned expression on his face as he says, "I thought so… then that explains everything."

Dark Riolu asks with a confused expression in his eyes, "What's gotten into you?" Riolu looks right at dark Riolu eye to eye and he replies, "I know that blade you have with you now is fake. It's not even the real Hell Spirit Blade…"

Dark Riolu points the tip of the sword at Riolu and he asks "What makes you say," dark Riolu's eyes widen with shock as he sees a huge tower of black aura coming from the location of the other village.

Riolu looks back at the village with a disappointed look on his face and he replies, "That's the reason over there. So it's true…" Riolu looks directly at dark Riolu and he says with a serious expression on his face, "Zorua has made the deal after all…"

Dark Riolu closes his eyes and looks away from Riolu, only to let Riolu know that what he is saying is the truth. The memory fades and Riolu thinks with a disappointed look in his eyes, "I guess once we get back to the cabin, I should let Maractus and Mienfoo know about Zorua's deal with Darkrai…"

However, while Zorua has his eyes closed, he hears Darkrai's voice say in his head, "Zorua… Riolu knows about the deal. You must finish them all off when you get back to the cabin!" Zorua weakly opens his eyes as he thinks in his head in the demon language, "I'm sorry, Lord Darkrai. But I'm afraid I don't have enough energy or heart to do such a thing."

Zorua and Darkrai are staring each other down from within Zorua's soul. Darkrai has a serious expression on his face, "What do you mean you don't have the heart to do such a thing? Are you disobeying my order?"

Zorua shakes his head no and he replies with a serious expression on his face, "Not like that. I just don't have the heart because you got that other bastard to kill off my friend, Audino! How could you do such a thing like that?"

Darkrai yells at Zorua with a serious expression on his face, "You're taking too long to finish the job, Zorua! I'm starting to think that you will never kill Mienfoo, Maractus, or Riolu!"

Zorua yells back with an angry look on his face, "Of course that's the damn case! Mienfoo, Maractus, and Audino have been my friends ever since I was born! How the hell could I possibly kill them?" Darkrai grabs Zorua from the neck and lifts him up in the air.

Zorua cringes his eyes as he is forced up into the air and gasping for air. When Zorua opens his eyes and looks directly into Darkrai's eyes, Darkrai says with a serious expression in his eyes, "Listen here, Zorua! We had a deal here and it is your task to keep your end of the deal!"

Zorua closes his eyes and yells back with his face distorting with anger, "How is it that I wanted to make the deal, huh? In case you didn't notice the first time, I had no other choice but to grab that weapon!"

Darkrai has a serious expression on his face as he says in a calmer tone, "Do you really think you didn't have a choice back there? Then tell me," Darkrai turns Riolu to where he is facing the direction where Darkrai is looking and Darkrai says while a televised screen appears from the shadows, "What do you think would have happened to you if you didn't grab the sword?"

Darkrai loosens his grip on Zorua's neck and Zorua replies, "I would have been killed out there. I would have no hope of surviving." Darkrai has a disappointed look on his face as he replies, "That is a logical guess… but," the screen turns on and reveals what could have happened if Zorua didn't grab the sword.

As Zorua watches the screen, a look of disbelief fills his face and tears of sadness rolls down his face. "Y-you're telling me that I c-could have…?" The screen forms back into the shadows as Darkrai answers, "That's correct; you could have survived the fierce mob attack thanks to Riolu's ultimate power."

Darkrai lets go of Zorua and Zorua lands onto the ground on his stomach as if he were thrown. Zorua has a look of sadness on his face as he thinks, "Oh no… what have I done?" Zorua looks back at Darkrai with an angry look on his face and he yells, "You're a sick, twisted, evil bastard! I wish I never had grabbed a hold of that damned Hell Spirit Blade!"

Zorua gets back up onto his feet and tries to find some way to get the Hell Spirit Blade out of his body, but he has no luck finding a way. Darkrai watches as Zorua just lies on the ground and starts sobbing.

Darkrai turns his back on Zorua and he says to him, "You're a sad, pathetic child, Zorua…" As Darkrai slowly walks away, he says to Zorua, "I suppose I can tell you other ways to get rid of the Hell Spirit Blade…"

Darkrai stops walking when he hears Zorua ask, "What can I possibly do?" Darkrai looks over his shoulder and he says to the poor Zorua, "There are three ways for you to get rid of the Hell Spirit Blade. The first is to obey all of my orders, the second is to fight me and take me down all on your own with the blade, and the third way,"

Darkrai turns his head away from Zorua's location and he finishes, "is to end your own life." Zorua's eyes widen with fear when he heard the last way. Zorua has a troubled expression on his face as he thought it through, "There's no way I can defeat Darkrai and win. I also don't want to keep on obeying him anymore…"

Zorua has a depressed look on his face as he thought, "Is the only way to end this is to take my own life?" Zorua looks back at where Darkrai was located and notices that he has already disappeared from the area.

Zorua opens his eyes in the real world and sees Riolu and Maractus sitting right in front of his bedside with their arms crossed and serious expressions on their faces. Zorua looks at the other end of the room and sees Mienfoo lying on a bed with bandaged wrapped around her right foot.

Zorua asks with a worried expression on his face, "Is Mienfoo going to be all right?" Maractus nods her head with the same serious look on her face. Zorua looks at both Riolu and Maractus and he asks, "What's with the serious looks, everyone?"

Riolu replies as he reveals his right hand. Zorua has a shocked expression on his face when he sees a white aura thread attacked to Riolu's right palm. Zorua looks down at his chest and notices that the white aura thread is attacked there too.

Zorua looks back at Riolu with a surprised look on his face and he asks, "So you heard the whole conversation?" Riolu and Maractus nod their heads. Zorua has a depressed look on his face and he asks them, "Will it be possible if we can get rid of the Hell Spirit Blade trapped in my soul?"

Riolu gets up out of his seat and he replies, "It's not going to be an easy task, Zorua. There are so many things you must do in order to get rid of a cursed blade such as that one."

Zorua asks with tears slowly rolling down his cheeks from his eyes, "From what Darkrai has told me already, are those three ways the only way to get rid of this sword?" Riolu has a serious look on his face as he replies, "I'm afraid so, Zorua. But,"

Riolu clenches his fist as he says while flowing some of his white aura into Zorua's body from the thread without him noticing, "I will not allow you to do the first or the third way! I'm going to help you to where you can fight Darkrai and lose the cursed sword forever!"

Zorua has a shocked expression on his face when he starts to feel the white aura flowing throughout his entire body from the thread. He looks into Riolu's eyes and he asks, "What're you doing, Riolu?"

Riolu grins with a confident look on his face and he says, "This will be a temporary solution to weaken the Hell Spirit Blade's control on your body. As long as my white aura is flowing through your system, it'll disable the sword's effects for at least an hour a time."

Zorua has an impressed look on his face and he says with a brighter look on his face, "I'll do it! I'll train with you and we'll become a strong duo!" Riolu nods his head and he says, "There we go!"

Riolu disconnects the thread from Zorua's chest and he says, "I gave you enough white auras to last the whole night tonight. We need to get plenty to sleep if we wish to hit the ground running tomorrow!"

Zorua nods his head with a confident smile on his face and he replies back, "I understand, Riolu!" Maractus has a surprised look on her face and she thinks, "Zorua… he's back to his normal self!"

It is now midnight and Zorua is still awake while lying on his bed. Riolu, Maractus, and Mienfoo are all still sleeping soundly as the moonlight glows through the window and brightens the room slightly with a beautiful winter white glow.

Zorua looks up at the ceiling as he thought, "Darkrai… I'm going to turn my back on you as your apprentice. I'm going to become stronger and take you down once I become stronger. Just you wait…" Zorua closes his eyes and he falls into an instant, peaceful sleep.

But as he slept, Darkrai tries to make contact with him in his dreams, but Darkrai gets pushed back by the white aura blocking Zorua's soul. Darkrai is in the Underworld, furiously cursing Zorua and Riolu.

Darkrai yells out with dark Riolu in the area, "Damn you, Riolu! How dare you take my apprentice and transfer Arceus's white aura into Zorua!" Darkrai summons a large mob of demons. But when the mob of demons came in, Darkrai instantly kills them all out of anger in one single blow.

The demons turned to ash and dark Riolu just stands there with a terrified look on his face. Darkrai looks directly at dark Riolu with a malevolent look in his eyes and he says, "Do you even understand what this situation means?"

Dark Riolu shakes his head no and he replies with a nervous look in his eyes, "I'm a-afraid I don't know, my lord D…!" Before he can finish his sentence, Darkrai instantly appears right in front of dark Riolu and grabs a hold of him by the neck and lifts him up straight into the air.

But dark Riolu remains calm and listens as Darkrai yells, "The fact that Riolu is going to seal off the Hell Spirit Blade means that he'll take Zorua to the Mountain of Heaven. If that happens, Arceus will destroy the Hell Spirit Blade and we'll all face certain destruction! My power will be lost and I'll no longer be immortal!"

Darkrai drops dark Riolu onto the floor and he orders dark Riolu in a calmer tone, "Summon every demon in the Underworld and tell them to be prepared to enter the living world." Darkrai yells out throughout the whole Underworld, "We're going to make the living world become a living Hell in one week!"

Uproars of demons are heard throughout the whole Underworld after they heard what Darkrai said. Darkrai looks right at dark Riolu and he says, "Better yet, I have a special task for you."

Dark Riolu asks with a nervous expression on his face, "What do you have in mind, my lord?" Darkrai grins malevolently and he says, "We're going to give Zorua the most severe punishment for turning his back on my deal."