Chapter 5: Enter the King of Darkness

In the Shadow Master's base…

Dawn and Chris were scurrying through different halls, trying to find the detention level. Chris grumbled, "Dang it! This is like trying to find a fighter plane in a hay stack! How do you know where we're going?"

"Just shut up and run!" Dawn simply said to him. "I think we're almost there! No need to worry!"

Piplup popped out of her bag. "Pip?" Translation: Huh?

"Hey, Dawn, can I jab that syringe in your neck now?" Chris asked. He stopped to rest.

Dawn stopped running, turned around, and asked, "What?! Jam the cure in my neck?!"

"Okay," Chris nodded, pulled out the syringe, let the needle sink into her neck a few millimeters, and injected the serum. Her white Pachirisu tail disappeared slowly. Her squirrely instincts were beginning to fade. Her pupils dilated for a few seconds, and then went back to their normal size. She sank to her knees; her bloodstream taking on the cure. She clutched her left wrist with her right hand. When the cure finished its work, Dawn rose to her feet again. She was still a bit woozy, but she was still good to go.

"Okay, we'll get moving again once my head stops spinning," she announced. "Geez, what the heck is in that stuff? I feel like there's a swarm of Combee in my head!"

"Nope. We have to go now," Chris grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her down the hall. He finally found a hallway full of prison cells and dragged Dawn down it. "Hello? Dawn's nerdy guy friends?"

"Who are you calling a nerd?!" a voice demanded from one of the cells. Chris and Dawn rushed to the cell to find a hotheaded blonde boy their age, Barry, and a boy their age wearing a hat, Lucas.

"Lucas!" Dawn gasped with joy. Lucas wasn't just her friend. He was her boyfriend. "Lucas, I am so glad you're okay!"

"D-Dawn?" Lucas sputtered. He seemed delirious. "Dawn, is it really you?" He held his hand out weakly towards her.

"Yes, it's me! I'm here!" she cried and grasped his hand with both of hers.

"Well, it looks like we have some unwanted visitors," a sinister voice snarled. Dawn gasped as she sensed a dark presence. She turned around and saw a tall, seemingly well-built, cloaked figure was standing in the shadows behind her. "Welcome, Space-Time Warrior of Mesprit. I am the King of Darkness."

"Wow. The Shadow Master sure has a wacked up family," Barry remarked.

"What do you want?" Dawn demanded, getting the distinct feeling that a fight was coming on if she didn't think fast. Her only weapon was a small dagger with a six inch blade.

"Not him…again," Lucas strained. Dawn turned around and activated her sixth sense. All seven Space-Time Warriors had a sixth sense. Hers was the ability to read emotions. She saw the fear and despair in Lucas' eyes.

"You are a Space-Time Warrior. You're here to keep the glorious shadows from spreading. You're very existence is preventing the perfect dark world! You must be killed!" the King of Darkness answered. He held out his hand, and it had long, claw-like nails. An orb of dark energy hovered above his palm. He hurled it at Dawn, but Chris reacted first, creating a light blue energy shield. The orb hit the shield and exploded. Dawn took the opportunity to try and pick the lock. Having no success, she took to an alternative.

"Piplup, use Peck!" she ordered. Piplup sprang up with a glowing beak and smashed the lock. The cell door swung open. Barry, somehow having energy, bolted out of the cell. Lucas managed to get to his feet and staggered out into Dawn's arms.

"Resistance is futile!" the King of Darkness snarled and shot a black bolt of lightning from his hands. Dawn's face became very serious. Her sapphire eyes turned to a golden color. She raised two fingers up and the bolt of dark magic dissipated inches away from her fingers. The King of Darkness was taken aback by this. "What?! But how?!"

"I've lost my hometown to you shadow freaks. I AM NOT ABOUT TO LOSE MY LUCAS!" Dawn screamed at him. Her screams sent the King of Darkness hurtling into a wall. "I WILL NOT LOSE ANYMORE OF THE THINGS I LOVE! I WILL NOT LOSE THE ONES I LOVE!"

"Whoa!" Chris exclaimed. He had never seen her like that. "Dawn?"

"Wow! This is crazy!" Barry commented. "I've never seen her like this!"

Dawn ceased screaming. Her eyes were still that golden color. To her right, she sensed one of the Shadow Master's elite ninjas. This ninja had two Shedinja with him. She didn't care. "Piplup, use Peck!" Piplup, again with a glowing beak, sprang up at lightning fast speed. Its beak slammed into one of the Shedinja, knocking it out due to its ability, Wonder Guard. As the fainted Shedinja began to descend, Piplup jumped from it towards the other Shedinja. Shedinja were normally fast Pokémon. Well, fast enough to react, anyways (as Ninjask have proved to be faster). Piplup was too quick for it. Both Shedinja had fainted in the blink of an eye.

"Whoa! They were totally in sync!" Barry gasped the remark in awe.

"Dawn…" Lucas murmured.

"Okay, here's the plan. Dawn, keep doing what you're doing while we make a quick and idiotic escape," Chris plotted.

"Oh, no! I want in on the action," Barry objected. He reached into his pocket for a Poké Ball. "Heracross, let's go!" Out came his Bug- and Fighting-type Pokémon.

"Barry, I strongly suggest that we get out now!" Lucas advised impatiently. "Hurry! The other ninjas will be here any second!"

"Okay, okay! Fine! Heracross, use Focus Blast on the wall!" Barry ordered. Heracross did as ordered. It heightened its mind and created a ball of power. The ball was hurled at the wall. A gaping hole was where the Focus Blast had hit.

"When did Heracross learn that move?" Chris asked. Barry only smiled. He jumped out the hole, not remembering that the detention level of the tower was elevated. "There he goes…twenty bucks says he's dead."

"There's a bet I'm not taking. Let's get out of here," Lucas suggested.

With Ben, Alvin, and Brittany…

Ben, Alvin, and Brittany were sitting in a circle. They were hidden by a hollowed tree, where they hid for safety. Ben had an idea. He took out a deck of playing cards and asked, "Do you guys want to play?"

"Sure. I am so bored," Alvin immediately answered.

"Pichu, are you playing, too?" Ben asked Ukulele Pichu.

"Pichu, Pichu? Chu, Pichu," Pichu scoffed. Translation: After last time? Yeah, right.

"Okay, so that one poker game got a little out of hand. Forgive and forget, right?" Ben recalled and tried to reason.

"What happened last time?" Alvin asked.

Brittany looked at the cards and asked, "And why do these cards have barcodes on them?"

"Uh…they were convicted of murder?" Ben tried. Alvin and Brittany's jaws dropped. Pichu rolled its eyes and began to play lightly on its little blue ukulele. Ben then went on the defensive. "You know how they have those police auctions? The Ranger Union sometimes does that. So, I got these cards. What? Is something wrong with that?"

"How can playing cards be convicted of murder?!" Brittany demanded. "Is that seriously possible?! Can you really kill someone with cards?!"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Ben responded. "Uh…so are we playing poker, blackjack, or crazy eights?"

"Uh…" Alvin wasn't sure how to respond. "You Rangers are crazy!"

"Nah, it's just me, Tom, Hannah, and Summer who are crazy," Ben objected with a chuckle and a smile. "The rest of the Rangers are quite sane. But we're the only Top Rangers that you know!"

"I'm going to sleep," Brittany muttered. She leaned against Alvin and closed her eyes. Alvin wrapped an arm around her. She snuggled up against him, her eyes still closed.

Alvin looked up at Ben and asked, "How do you kill someone with playing cards?"

"In all honesty, I have no idea. I just bid on them, and miraculously no one wanted them," Ben explained. "It's like they were meant for me. Ironic, right? I'm supposed to be the Hero of Oblivia, and I bought cards convicted of murder."

"Yeah, that is ironic. Well, Ben, I wanted to tell you that," Alvin began, and then hushed his voice, "I'm worried about Brittany."

"I am, too. But we have to have faith in ourselves. We can protect her, plus she can protect herself," Ben reassured. He was a true blue optimist. "She'll be fine. We'll all be fine. We'll kick the Shadow Master's you-know-what. You know, when we're not so focused on trying to avoid death, this planet is actually pretty beautiful."

"Yeah, it is," the red clad Chipmunk agreed. He smiled and held Brittany even tighter. "It sure is."

"Al, let's go find the others."

With Ash, Misty, Thomas, Hannah, Simon, and Jeanette…

Simon was sitting on a rock, holding a sleeping Jeanette in his lap. Ash, Pikachu, Misty, and Azurill were playing tic-tac-toe. Thomas and Vileplume were leaning against the rock Simon was sitting on. Hannah, Combusken, and Sewaddle were trying to figure out a way to get to their friends. She snapped at the others, "A little help would be nice!"

"Relax. I've got this. I'll just use my sixth sense to locate everyone else, and we'll go and get them in a pinwheel fashion," Thomas assured. Every Space-Time Warrior had a sixth sense. Thomas' sixth sense was spatial navigation.

"I thought that would be hard to do with the random flow of dark and light magic of Azula," Misty pointed out, not taking her green eyes off the tic-tac-toe board in the dirt.

"It is. But it's worth a shot."

"What's worth a shot?" a familiar voice asked. Ben appeared from the tree line. Alvin appeared next, dragging a drowsy Brittany along. Pichu appeared last. The ukulele playing Pokémon hopped up on Ben's shoulder.

"Ben!" Thomas and Hannah exclaimed. This woke Jeanette up. her eyes fluttered. When her vision came into focus and she saw her sister, she darted over to her and gave her a great big hug.

"You're alive," Simon commented when he and Alvin were face-to-face.

"Yep," Alvin nodded. "This is awkward."

"Yes, very awkward."

"Oh, for Pete's sake! Just hug! You're brothers!" Misty encouraged.

"Fine," Alvin grumbled. He and Simon wrapped their arms around each other. It was meant to be quick, but they were too glad to see each other to let go. "I'm glad you're okay, Si."

"Me, too, Alvin," Simon responded.

"Aw! Brotherly love!" Hannah gasped at the cute moment.

"I hope," Ash added as he gazed at the hugging Chipmunks. Pikachu rolled its eyes.

"So, now all we're missing is Cilan, Summer, Eleanor, Theodore, and Iris," Misty came to the conclusion.

"More or less," Ben bit his lip and said. He told them about the encounter that he, Brittany, and Alvin had with Iris. Jaws dropped. Eyes were filled with worry. Fists were clenched.

"We have to get Iris back and force the Shadow Master off of Azula," Ash concluded. Everyone nodded in agreement.