Chapter 18: The Forgotten Past…

Riolu and Snivy are both standing on the dock of Mirage Island, staring seriously at the portal that Arceus has opened up, leading into the Underworld.

Snivy looks right at Riolu with a serious expression on her face as she says to him, "Are you sure you want to do this alone?"

Riolu nods his head and he replies after looking back at Snivy with a serious expression on his face, "I'm sure of it… once I kill Darkrai's apprentice, I'll disappear from this world. But I don't want you to get involved with the aftermath in the Underworld, which is why I want to do this on my own, to keep you safe."

Snivy replies with a smile on her face, "Thanks for the concern, Riolu. But please be careful in there."

Riolu nods his head and he replies, "I'll be sure not to die before I kill Darkrai's apprentice." Before Riolu could look the other direction and head into the portal, Snivy runs up to him and hugs him.

She says after she closes her eyes and smiles, "I'm glad that I've got to meet you, Riolu."

Riolu hugs Snivy back and they both let go. Riolu faces the portal and jumps in it, disappearing like a ghost.

After he jumps into the portal, it disappears instantly, leaving Snivy alone on the dock.

Riolu is flying through a wormhole in the portal, flying towards a bright red light at the end of the tunnel. Riolu thinks as he continues to fly through the tunnel, 'Snivy… I was blessed to have met you and Arceus. But now, I have to do this on my own, for everyone's sake.'

After Riolu makes it through the other end of the portal, he lands on the ground on his feet in a dead forest area. Once the portal behind him vanishes, a mob of demons rushes through the trees straight towards Riolu with blood thirsty expressions on their faces.

Riolu has a confident grin on his face as he says, "You all want to play, huh? Well then…"

Riolu points both of his Heaven Glove filled knuckles at the mob of demons coming his way and he says while white aura bows take form from the gloves, "Let's see if you can lay a single scratch on me!"

The white aura bows start firing thousands of white aura arrows, piercing right through the hearts and foreheads of any demon that comes in his way. Riolu starts running as he continues to fire his aura arrows at the mob of demons ahead.

Blood covers the dead forest ground and trees as Riolu fires continuously at the oncoming mob.

After all of the demons in the mob are dead, Riolu deactivates his aura bows into the gloves and he thinks as he looks around at his surroundings, "Well now… where are you hiding your apprentice, Darkrai?"

When Riolu activated his Aura Eyes, he sees Darkrai's aura one hundred kilometers away from the forest. Riolu thinks with a serious grin on his face, 'I'm assuming your apprentice will be by your side!'

Riolu keeps his Aura Eyes activated as he runs straight towards the mountain where Darkrai's palace lies on top of, jumping from run rock to another over the lava. After he gets to the other side of the river of lava and enters a forest, another mob of demons runs straight towards him, mouths wide open and claws out.

But Riolu just activates his aura bows again from his gloves and open fires at the demons ahead of him, causing blood to spill all over the dead forest. Riolu thinks with a confident grin on his face, 'Even though I'll disappear after this, I might as well reduce Darkrai's army forces during the process!'

He continues to run through the forest, shooting at every demon he comes into contact with, slowly reducing the number of demons.

After he gets out of the forest and reaches the foot of the mountain, he thinks as he looks up at the palace with a serious expression in his eyes, 'This will be my final moment… once I step foot in that palace, my fate will be sealed. The only one I have to worry about if Darkrai's apprentice, not Darkrai, or the Hell Spirit Blade.'

Riolu takes a deep breath and starts running up the mountain road, shooting at all of the flying demons in the sky that try to attack him.

After Riolu reaches the top of the mountain, he stops running and his eyes widen with shock when he sees thousands of demons blocking all entrances leading into the palace.

All of the demons turned their attention to Riolu and they all let out murderous screeches and roars.

Riolu thinks with a serious grin on his face, 'Well now… I wasn't expecting to see this many demons guarding the palace.'

Riolu looks at his aura bows and he thinks, 'There's no question that these bows won't be enough for all of these guys… but they're my only weapons.'

Riolu looks back at all of the demons that start running straight towards him and he thinks, 'I guess I have no other choice but to use this move…'

Riolu aims both bows at the demons and he thinks as a large sphere of blue and white aura takes form in front of the two bows, 'This move… will finish them all off in one single blow…'

Riolu yells out at blue and white aura lightning bolts began to discharge out of the wrecking ball sized sphere, "Aura Blast!"

The sphere fires a massive beam of energy towards the demons in its path, still discharging sparks of aura bolts from the sphere. After the beam makes contact with the palace, along with all of the demons, the beam explodes, destroying parts of the palace.

Riolu has an exhausted expression on his face after the Aura Blast ends. His aura bows disappear as his arms fall to his sides.

Riolu thinks with a serious expression on his face, 'I need to reserve my energy for the battle with Darkrai's apprentice. I better get inside the palace before more of those bastards try to stop me…'

Riolu runs into the destroyed part of the palace, running down a number of long hallways, trying to find the staircase leading to the next floor. However, as he runs through the hallways, he hasn't run into anymore demons.

Riolu thinks with a serious expression on his face, 'Something's not right… why aren't there any demons in these parts of the palace? Shouldn't this place be crowded with them?'

When he went up the final staircase and opened the door at the top of it, his eyes widen with shock when he sees Darkrai standing at the other side of the room, looking back at him from the fireplace.

Darkrai says with a serious expression on his face, "Welcome to my palace… what brings you down here?"

Riolu says with a serious expression on his face, "I came here for your apprentice."

Darkrai faces Riolu and he says in a serious tone, "You came here for my apprentice? I'm guessing that means you're the human from Mirage Island…"

Riolu thinks with a look of shock on his face, 'How the hell does he know that?'

Darkrai continues, "However… I don't even have an apprentice."

Riolu has a serious expression on his face as he asks, "I don't believe you… I know you have your apprentice hidden somewhere in your palace!"

Darkrai grins malevolently as he replies to Riolu, "You want proof?"

Darkrai holds up his hand, releasing large amounts of lack aura throughout the entire castle.

Darkrai says with a serious expression on his face, "I'll give you your proof!"

After Darkrai closes his hand, Riolu's eyes widen with shock when he notices that the whole palace is collapsing like a bomb went off on it.

After Riolu falls to the ground with rubble falling on top of him, Darkrai reappears from the shadows where he was standing before.

As Riolu tries to get out of the rubble, Darkrai says to him with a serious expression in his eyes, "Riolu… how was that for proof?"

After he gets out of the rubble and stands back up on his feet weakly, he thinks as blood trickles down Riolu's arms and face, 'Arceus… you sent me out at the wrong damn time!'

Before Riolu could make a move, Darkrai reappears right in front of Riolu and grabs him by the neck.

As he lifts him up into the air, making him gasp for breath, Darkrai says with a serious expression on his face, "You're coming with me, Riolu…"

Darkrai starts sinking into the shadows, bringing Riolu right along with him.

Riolu opens his eyes and finds himself in an underground dungeon. He tries to move his arms and legs, but they are shackled down onto a wooden table.

Riolu looks around at his surroundings weakly and sees Darkrai standing right next to him, staring down at Riolu with a serious expression on his face. "Riolu… you are a threat to my goals."

Darkrai places his right palm over Riolu's forehead as he continues, "However… you'll be helping me bringing my goals to reality. But in order for that to work…"

As black aura forms out of Darkrai's palm and into Riolu's head, Darkrai finishes by saying, "You must forget everything in your past life, your main goal… and your alliance with Arceus."

Riolu's eyes widen with shock as his pupils dilate from the presence of the black aura.

Darkrai says as Riolu begins to sweat and tries to fight the restraints, "Your past life doesn't matter. Your main goal is to take the Hell Spirit Blade away from the Underworld and place it in the living world. Also… once you complete that mission; your power will be gone, followed by the rest of your memories."

Riolu screams as he tries to fight the restraints, causing his wrists and ankles to bleed. But it is too late for Riolu to fight.

Darkrai sends his black aura back into his body and disappears completely, leaving the Hell Spirit Blade behind in his place.

After the shackles release Riolu, he falls onto the ground on his hands and knees, panting heavily as his pupils return to normal.

As he slowly gets back up onto his hands and knees, looking right at the Hell Spirit Blade, he thinks with a weak expression on his face, 'I have to get out of here with the Hell Spirit Blade before anyone else spots me.'

When he grabs a hold of the hilt of the Hell Spirit Blade, Riolu's eyes widen with shock when he finds himself out in a forest, full of snow and greenery peeking out.

He looks around with a confused expression on his face and he thinks, 'H-how did I end up out…?'

Before he could finish his thought, he hears Darkrai's voice say, "Now… stab the blade into the ground by a tree and get away from it. You're mission will be complete once you do that."

After Riolu did as Darkrai said and stabs the blade in the ground, he starts running away from the area, running as fast as he can through the snow covered forest.

As he runs, Darkrai thinks, 'This will do…'

After Darkrai snaps his fingers, Riolu's pupils dilate and he falls into the snow face down. As he lies there in the snow, the darkness fills the area around him, completely devouring him along with it.

Riolu awakens from his sleep, slowly sitting back up with the white aura still flowing out of his body in a calmer matter.

He looks down at his hands with a serious expression on his face as he sees the Heaven Gloves on his hands.

When Riolu looks up at Arceus, he says with a serious expression on his face, "Lord Arceus… thank you for giving me back my erased memories."

Arceus looks down at Riolu with a guilty expression on his face and he replies, "I'm sorry that you went through all of that for nothing, Riolu… it was my fault that you got in that mess."

But Riolu replies with a serious grin on his face, "Don't worry about it… at least now, I know my true purpose as a Pokemon."

After Riolu gets back up onto his feet, he looks in the direction where the Underworld Island is located and he says with a serious expression on his face, "Zorua… will be freed through death."

After the white aura forms back into Riolu's body, he thinks as he looks down at his palms, 'My strength… has gotten stronger since that day.'

Riolu looks back at Arceus with a curious expression on his face, "Now that I think about it… where'd Snivy run off to?"

Arceus replies, "I sent her down to your ship to bring your two other friends up here."

Riolu has a shocked expression on his face as he replies, "Wait, what?" Riolu faces the side of the mountain and starts running to it.

Arceus asks with a shocked expression on his face, "Am I missing something? What are you doing?"

Riolu looks back at Arceus and he replies while still running in place, "It's Kirlia! Let's just say that she can be a real handful!"

Arceus replies, "Well… you better get down there!"

Riolu replies as he jumps off of the mountain and starts sliding down the mountain, "No kidding!"

While he slides down the mountain, Arceus thinks while chuckling slightly, 'Well now… I guess I better get used to a lot of noise around here again.'

Riolu thinks with the same shocked expression on his face while sliding down the mountain, 'The facts that Kirlia and Kirlio have no clue of what just went on, Kirlia will probably attack Snivy. If not that, she'll annoy the living crap out of her like she did with Zorua! I better get to them before it's too late!'