Chapter 13: The Kindness in Sorrow

Wow, okay, gee, thanks Lyss… Going through my things, and then she actually wrote in my journal!? And yes, it IS a Journal, NOT a diary! Gosh, what I write in here is kinda private. I mean, I hope to one day publish my record in the hopes that someone will find it interesting, but, geez, at the moment, this is meant for my eyes only….

Well, at least I can look back at those two entries and read what went down when I was under Darkrai's spell… Anyway, back to the Darkness Region.

We said goodbye to Hanna and Greg. Skylar went off ahead of them. I wonder why they travel with him… Must be because he needs to be kept under constant watch. He can get a little… crazy at times. And arrogant. But that's just Skylar, I guess.

I figured we had wasted enough time with the whole Team Cataclysm rescue operation/me being in a coma thanks to Darkrai thing. About two days. Not to mention we had been traveling for two days before that. We only had three days left. But, in a place that was nothing but darkness with very limited vision, where could we possibly begin to look?

"I think we should head North" Kai said

"Why north?" I asked her

"Well, it seems that's the only way we haven't been here, so I just kinda figured" Kai responded

"I guess that makes sense" Lyss said, as we all headed in that direction.

We kept wandering on and on for what seemed like hours. It eventually we reached a strange spot in the forest of darkness. It opened up into a field. Like the rest of the area, the field was pitch black. However, from the middle of the field came light. It was the light of a small fire. We headed towards the fire.

"Hello friends" a warm voice sitting next to the fire said. We looked and saw the young man sitting at the fire. He was wearing a pitch black suit coat and pants with a white button up shirt and blood red tie. His skin was incredibly pale and his hair jet black hair was grown long past his neck, with a long bang covering his right eye. His left eye was visible and was an erie red color. "Come sit by the fire with me. I know its dark, so staying here could be good for all of us." His strange appearance was contrasted with his kind, warm voice.

"Ok, thanks a lot. I'm Andrew, this is Kai, and that's Lyss." I said, introducing all of us

"Greetings Andrew, Kai, and Lyss, I am Tristan. What brings you this deep in the dark forest?" Tristan asked

"Well" Lyss said "We're looking for the Area Leader. We only have, like, one day left for all three of us to beat him and get the badge here"

"Right. We got a little sidetracked with Team Cataclysm" Kai explained.

"Well then, you're in luck." Tristan said "Because it looks like I can battle you three right now, if you so wish."

All three of us looked at him in disbelief. Here we were, just sitting by the fire with the Area Leader. He never mentioned that it was him, he just invited us over and accepted our challenge.

"uh.. Okay, let's get going then! Right now!" I exclaimed, eager to start.

"Very good then. Here's how it works. I will challenge you three all at once. The catch is that you can only use one Pokemon, and that Pokemon can only focus on one of my Pokemon. So, Andrew, send out your a Pokemon."

"Uh.. Ok, go Blaziken!"

"Right, go Houndoom." Tristan sent out a black dog with a red muzzle and long, curled white horns and white bone markings all along its body. "Now, for example, Andrew's Blaziken can only fight against my Houndoom. But, since this is a demonstration, and since we showed our pokemon to each other early, I ask that you not use Blaziken and I will not use Houndoom in this battle, just to avoid any advanced planning. Now, each of you send out a pokemon, and I shall send out three of my own and we shall begin... as soon as I put out this fire" Tristan finished explaining the rules to us and began to try and put out the fire. When he finished with the fire, he directed us to one side of the field and got himself on the other side. It was pitch black again.

"Alright" Kai said, "I guess I'll go with Pidgeot." Kai sent out her large, tan bird with a dark brown back and flowing pink and yellow feathers.

"Very good. I too will choose a bird Pokemon then. Go, Honchkrow." Tristan sent out a small, black bird with a tuft of white feathers on its puffed up chest. It looked as if the bird had a large, black fedora on its head.

"My turn then! Go Lucario!" Lyss exclaimed sending out her bipedal dog Pokemon.

"Good choice. I will use Scrafty then." Tristan said as he sent out an orange bipedal lizard Pokemon with what appeared to be a yellow hood and baggy yellow pants and large, dark orange mohawk on its head.

"Alright then, lets go Ampharos!" I said as I sent out my trusty electric type Pokemon.

"Interesting" Tristan noted. "I guess I will use Absol." A white furred, quadrupedal Pokemon with white fur, a black face, black claws, a black tail, and a single black horn jutting out from the top left part of its head. "And with this, let us begin. Honchkrow, you will only attack Pidgeot. Scrafty, you will only attack Lucario, and Absol, you will only attack Ampharos. Now, Honchkrow, use Wing Attack, Scrafty, use Brick Break, and Absol, use Faint Attack."

Honchkrow's wings began to glow as it launched at Pidgeot. Scrafty's hand glowed as it began to chop at Lucario. Absol disappeared into the shadows and reappeared behind Ampharos and threw a powerful punch, hurting Ampharos.

Now... As cool as the whole battle was, since this is MY journal, I'll recount Ampharos versus Absol. As much as a care for Kai and Lyss, it was really hard for me to focus on their battles while I was in the middle of my own. How Tristan did it and still managed to put up an incredible fight for each of us is beyond me. I feel that had we each faced him one on one, none of us would've won against him. His attention to details, especially in the dark, is incredible. Anyways, back to the battle.

Absol had used its Faint Attack to sneak up behind Ampharos and throw a powerful sucker punch. Already, Ampharos was injured, and the battle had just begun.

"Now, Absol, step back and use Swords Dance." Absol moved backwards and began to concentrate its energy. It was dark and hard to see, but I could tell it was increasing the strength of its attacks."

"Ampharos, use Thunderpunch, go!" Ampharos charged a large amount of electricity in its fist and charged at were it thought Absol was, but, even though the electricity gave him light, he couldn't see where Absol was.

"Now Absol, Night Slash!" Absol appeared from the darkness and lunged at Ampharos, slashing him, and then disappeared right back into the darkness. By this time, Lyss had won her battle.

"I see..." I thought to myself "So Absol attacks, then covers itself back in the darkness. Because it is a dark type, it can see Ampharos, but Ampharos can't see it. Hmmm..."

"Absol, use Night Slash again!" Absol appeared and began to lunge at Ampharos again

"Ampharos, quickly, use Flash!" As Absol lunged, the jewel on Ampharos's tail lit up and let out a blinding light. Absol's attack never connected. Now there was no more darkness around us. Ampharos's tail generated so much light that Absol couldn't hide in the shadows anymore. Kai had just finished her battle.

"Very good, getting rid of Absol's cover. But that's not all the Advantage that Absol has. Go, Absol, charge up the whirlwinds!" Two large whirlwinds started forming around Absol.

"Ampharos, use Charge!" A large amount of electricity formed around Ampharos as he began to store it in his body. His next electric attack would be a powerful one.

"Now, Absol, Razor Wind!"

"Ampharos, use Discharge!"

The two whirlwinds split off into many sharp wind blades and flew at Ampharos. Ampharos let the stored electricity out in a powerful electric attack. The electricty connected with Absol, completely obliterating most of the wind blades. One did cut Ampharos pretty badly, but he went through it. Absol was now pretty badly injured.

"Absol, use Double Team!" Absol began to move at a fast pace. He then moved so fast that it appeared as if several copies of it surrounded Ampharos. "Now, charge up the whirlwinds again"

"Ampharos, use Signal Beam!"

Whirlwinds appeared all around Ampharos as Ampharos fired a rainbow beam from the jewel on his forehead. It his several of the copies, causing them to disappear. However, the wind blades still came from multiple directions, hitting Ampharos from all over. Ampharos went down. He struggled to get back up. He had cuts from all sides. The copies that he had gotten rid of restored themselves. It seemed rather hopeless at this point, like my whole Nova challenge would've been ended right there. But it didn't.

"Ampharos, try Discharge again!"

"Absol, use Night Slash once more!"

All of the Absol copies lunged at Ampharos as he let loose a large amount of electricity once again. The electricity spread out further and further, encompassing a large area around him. All of the Absol clones disappeared and, by the time the electricity all cleared, the real Absol was struggling to get up.

Ampharos and Absol faced each other, both now exhausted from their difficult fight. They stared each other down, both of them knowing that the next attack was going to decide the victor.

"Absol, finish this with Faint Attack!"

"Ampharos, lets end this with Thunderpunch!"

Absol disappeared and reappeared behind Ampharos, ready to deliver the finishing sucker punch. However, Ampharos turned around and hit Absol with its electrically charged fist. Absol fell to the ground, sparks of electricity in its fur, unmoving.

"Well, all three of you battled splendidly!" Tristan said, returning his Absol and walking towards us.

"Thanks, I'm surprised that, even though your attention was divided, you still managed to command all of your Pokemon in three separate battles. It truly was remarkable to fight a trainer of your caliber." Kai said as she accepted her badge.

"Yeah, I was really surprised! That Scrafty was tough and you weren't even fully paying attention to our battle, I guess that's why I won first!" Lyss chattered as she took her badge.

"Yeah, I guess you got to really focusing with me because those two won. But still, its remarkable." I said as I gladly accepted my hard earned badge. I looked at the badge and it appeared to be a sun that was blacked out, like a solar eclipse.

"Just so, you three fought hard and won those badges." Tristan said, a kind smile settling upon his face. "Now, would you three please join me around the fire again? I'm sure we're all tired.

Tristan started building a fire again and, once he got it lit, I recalled Ampharos, leaving the only light left coming from the fire. The four of us settled around the fire and Tristan began passing around some hot dogs for us to roast upon the fire.

"Now, if you don't mind me asking, what is this encounter with Team Cataclysm you three had?" Tristan asked

"Well..." Lyss said "Andrew here was kidnapped by them. We had to sneak into their base and rescue him."

"Oh my that is a problem" Tristan said

"But that's not all." Kai began. "We found just one of their bases. We were able to destroy it and have the members clear out, but one of their leaders got away. The base is Southeast of here if you want to inspect it. They were using the perpetual night of this area to hide the base in plain sight. They're a lot smarter than we give them credit for."
"This is true. Do you know what brought them here?" Tristan asked

"Darkrai." I responded

"Wh-what!?" Tristan asked in disbelief

"Yeah, they wanted Darkrai. And they got him too. That's the second legendary Pokemon I've witnessed them capture. The first was Celebi in Luzige's area."

"So... they managed to slip past Luzige, too. First Draco's castle, then Celebi in Luzige's area, and Darkrai in my area. What are they up to?" Tristan suddenly went from the warm, caring man he was to a determined one. He seemed determined to get to the bottom of what was going on with Team Cataclysm. "It doesn't take much to slip by me, especially in a place like this where we're in complete darkness, but for them to have actually gotten by Luzige and Draco... I fear... I fear the worst... They are smart. Very smart. They are very good with stealth and covert operations. You three just so happen to to be unfortunate enough to get caught up with what they're doing when they happen to be doing it. No coincidence, I imagine. They must have taken a certain interest in you three, or, at least, one of you. This is bad. We need to learn more about them. They seem to be targeting the rarest and most powerful of Pokemon. The Legendary Pokemon are not meant to be messed with like this. They're meant to create balance within the world. A little secret: The Nova League was not only built to challenge the most powerful trainers, but also to house legendary Pokemon. As you saw, Darkrai was in my area, and Celebi in Luzige's. Draco's castle was constructed around the Light and Dark stones, so that no one could unleash the power of Reshiram and Zekrom unless absolutely necessary. I'm assuming that's why the castle was destroyed, because the stones were hidden deep underneath the castle. Team Cataclysm needs the Legendary Pokemon for something. I will inform the other area leaders of this. That way, they know to protect their respective legendary Pokemon, something, I'm afraid, Draco, Luzige, and myself were not able to do. For now, we should get some sleep. Tomorrow, I will personally escort you three back to HQ. Good night, you three."

Of course, I couldn't sleep that night. I got up, the last few embers of the fire were beginning to die out. I got out and walked off a bit. Tristan's words were still in my head. The whole idea of this entire region being constructed just to house the Legendary Pokemon was absurd. Yet, from what I've seen, it had to be true. There was no other explanation as to why Darkrai and Celebi were there, other than the fact that their homes were being disturbed. I kept trying to think of what other Legendary Pokemon I could possibly encounter. Could I see Kyogre in the Sea Area? Or maybe Manaphy? Or even the mighty Lugia? And in the Arctic Area, which would I see, Regice or Arcticuno? Or maybe even the fearsome Kyurem? And what was housed in the City Area? Mewtwo? Genesect? There was no telling. The legends these Pokemon had associated with them were incredible. It was hard to imagine them all being confined in one place, even harder to imagine them all being captured by Team Cataclysm for Arceaus knows what... It was unimaginable...

"I see you couldn't sleep. What troubles you, Andrew?" Tristan asked as I turned around to face him.

"Its just... I failed at protecting two Legendary Pokemon from Team Cataclysm, possible four if they got ahold of the Light and Dark stones from the castle. And then, the whole idea of there being so many powerful Legendary Pokemon found in one region, especially one that's much smaller than the others found throughout this world. Its all just so..."

"Ludicrous, I know. But you have to believe it. And don't fret about lost Legendary Pokemon. They were not your responsibility. If anyone is to blame, its me and the other Area Leaders. We failed at a big part of our jobs." Tristan explained, trying to comfort me

"I know, but..."

"Its all in good time. When we get back to HQ tomorrow, you must continue with your challenge and keep on fighting Team Cataclysm. Now, you must rest, you do have fourteen other Area Leaders left."

"True, thank you Tristan."

"Good night, Andrew. And remember, you can't change the past, but the future is open to all your choices and decisions."

A/N: Wow, its been awhile. Sorry for the hiatus, I got really busy and started another story. I hope this chapter is as enjoyable as the older ones were, hopefully even more so! I'm out of class so chapter will be more consistent. Also, I have a prequel planned for a yet to be introduced pivotal character in this story, so look out for that sometime soon (probably)! In the meantime, reviews for this chapter would be great. I have something big planned that I think no one will be expecting from this story, so stay tuned this summer!