Author's note: I'm so, so sorry I haven't updated. I was going to give up on this story until I remembered how much I was enjoying writing it... so here's chapter 4. I don't think it's as good as the past chapters, and some of the characters have ridiculous names, but it's the best I could think of.

The police were so silent you could've heard a pin drop. Solar stared at them solemnly.

"…Is Jade really going to die…?" asked Cloud.

"Only if we don't save her," Solar replied.

Sky stood up straight. "Then we'd better get going!"

Mika glanced at the police and sighed. "I suppose we're strong enough. Gardevoir?"

Sylvia looked up. "Me?"

"Yes. Can you levitate and carry the Jolteon and Mienfoo, please?"

"OK." Sylvia picked Cloud and Kyo up.

Mika turned to Black."And you, Shuppet. Please can you levitate as well?"

Black nodded. "Alright."

"Everybody else, get on my back," the Flygon ordered. The remaining four climbed onto her long back, while Solar stood on her head. Then, the ten Pokémon set off toward the Dark Army's base.

Zoroark growled in annoyance. "Hold still, would you?!"

Ferdinand, the Zangoose who Zoroark had taken from his prison cell, struggled. "No! I don't want you poking that weird-looking needle into me!"

"Then I'll have to force it into you!" the fox shouted.

Ferdinand looked over at his Seviper friend. "Toxic! Help me out here!"

The snake just sat there, watching with a blank expression on her face. She had struggled as well, but it had turned out OK in the end. It was just a quick little jab, and it had changed her point of view for the better. After all, Darkrai was the best king the world could have, wasn't he? "Don't be such a baby," she said coldly.

"What did you do to her?!" the Zangoose yelled, turning back to Zoroark. In reply, the illusionist stabbed the needle into his neck. Ferdinand gasped in pain, but quickly recovered.

Zoroark stood back. "Thank Arceus that's over," the Dark-type mumbled. "You two, follow me. You don't have to go back to your prison cells now that you understand our goals. You can be part of the army."

Both Pokémon gladly followed him out of the prison.

Meanwhile, an Oshawott sat in front of Jade's cage, watching her closely.

She hissed at him. "What're you staring at?" she growled.

"I'm not staring. I'm just guarding you."

"Hah! Like I could escape this thing!"

"Someone's still gotta watch you."

"Really? I didn't hear your commander up there tell you that."

"I know what I have to do."

"You're annoying."

"You're more annoying."

"No, you are!"

"Shut it, snake! You'll wake everyone up!"

"Who cares?!"

"Me."

"Your opinion doesn't count!"

"Yes it does. I'm a Water type, not a wimpy Grass type like you."

"How dare you insult my type? That's racism!"

"Not if it's true."

Quicker than lightning, a vine whipped out from Jade's shoulder and lashed the Oshawott right across the face. "Who cares if it's true or not? It's still racism!"

"Stop being childish," Oshawott snapped. "There was no need to lash out like that."

"Why should I not hit you? You're my enemy!" The Oshawott abruptly stood up and walked over to the cage, pressing his face against the bars. Jade just stood there, glaring evenly at him, not even flinching. "Listen," the Water-type hissed, just loud enough for her to hear. "I'm on your side, OK? I know about Shadow's plans, and I'm against them. You just need to trust me."

"Why should I trust you? You have no proof that you're on my side."

"You're going to die if you don't trust me later on, you know."

This caught Jade's attention. "What? But why would they kill me now? They put so much effort into kidnapping me."

"The main reason they kidnapped you was to kill you," Oshawott explained. "Well, they don't just want to kill you, of course, but their plan involves your death. Basically – the leaf on your tail is bigger than that of a regular Snivy, right?"

The Grass-type rolled her eyes. "Yes. Why does everyone make such a big deal about it?"

"It means you can absorb more light for Solarbeam. The door to the chamber in which the Nightmare Crown is hidden, in the middle of the Nightmare Temple, needs light to open, and your Solarbeam provides a lot of light."

"And how exactly does this lead up to me dying?"

"No Pokémon is supposed to use an attack that powerful. You won't be able to take it, and, well, you'll die."

"I'm stronger than you think," Jade snapped.

"No, you're not. As I said, no Pokémon is supposed to use an attack that powerful. Even Arceus himself probably wouldn't be able to take using something like that."

"What would you say the base power for that particular Solarbeam is, then?"

"About… nine hundred."

Jade's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "And I've been able to use an attack that powerful all my life?!"

"Yes, but it would be risky. You'd need to absorb sunlight for about an hour first. And you wouldn't actually be able to release it without being hit by several attacks first."

"So I won't be able to just laser them all to death before we reach the door to this temple thingy?"

"Nope."

"Aww…"

"There it is." Solar raised a lavender paw to point at the towering grey mountain on the horizon, clouds surrounding the peak.

"So the mountain is their base after all," Kyo murmured.

"I've never seen a mountain that tall…" Black whispered, in awe.

"Neither have I, and I used to live in the mountains," Comet said, smiling at the mountain with a distant look in her eyes. "But somehow, I feel as if I'm going home…"

"Don't get too comfortable here," Sylvia told her, glaring at the mountain ahead. "It's still our enemy's base, whether it feels like home or not." Comet went red from embarrassment.

"It used to be a habitat for many Pokémon," Mika told them. "But the Dark Army drove them all out…"

"So they drove innocent Pokémon out of their homes for their own selfish purposes?" Cloud growled.

"Pretty much," Mika answered.

Sky clenched her fists. "This is making me want to strangle those bastards even more…"

"Calm yourself, Sky," William told her. "You know that you can't fight as well when you're angry."

The Lucario snorted. "Neither can you."

"True, but I don't get angry."

"Liar! You get angry almost as often as I do when there aren't many people around! Like that time Black called you a girl. Remember?"

"Well, he looks like a chick!" Black exclaimed defensively.

"Guys! Stop it!" Sylvia snapped as the Lopunny threw a punch, which went right through the Shuppet. "We're almost there. Look." The mountain now looked much closer than it did earlier.

Solar glared straight ahead. He could feel his brother's presence more strongly than ever. He knew that the Umbreon had probably become a lot more powerful since they last battled, while he hadn't been training at all, assuming that he was the strongest as he usually did. I was foolish not to train, he thought. I feel overwhelmed by his power, and I'm still almost half a mile away. We'd better prepare ourselves for a difficult fight…

"Commander…. Commander!"

"For Arceus's sake!" Shadow roared, sitting up. "What now, Alisha?"

"There are intruders. They're less than half a mile away."

"Why didn't you say so before?" the commander snarled, standing up and stretching. "You're strong enough to detect a life form nearly ten miles away!"

"…I-I was asleep…"

Lee the Munna snickered. "You were instructed not to fall asleep, Alisha~," he said mockingly.

Aero the Aerodactyl stood up and stretched his wings. "Quit picking on her, Lee. We've gotta go."

"Mom?" Dianna the Dieno stared up at Jay the Hydreigon. "Where are we going?"

"I don't know, dear." Jay looked up and stared helplessly at Shadow.

"We're proceeding to the temple a little earlier than planned," Shadow decided. He turned to the others. "Caleb, bring the hostage."

"Yes, sir." Caleb the Oshawott opened Jade's cage, dragged her out, and quickly tied both of her hands behind her back. "No funny business, OK?" He leaned closer to her ear and whispered, "Just play along until we get to the temple. If you try to escape, they'll probably attack you. And they can hurt you pretty badly, especially those three." He gestured to Aero, Jay, and Charles (a Charizard who was a close friend of the other two).

Jade just nodded.

"Alisha, bring the Dark Orb. Hold onto it until we reach the Nightmare Temple," Shadow ordered.

"Sir." Alisha picked up the pitch-black orb and held it as if it were a sacred object.

"Toxic, Ferdinand, you two will stay here and guard the base."

Without a word, the snake and the ferret slipped out of the door and took their positions outside the mountain, their faces completely devoid of any emotion.

"Right. Let's go." Shadow climbed onto Charles's back, followed by Alisha. Caleb, dragging Jade behind him, jumped onto Jay's back and stood next to Dianna. Zoroark sat down on Aero's back, while Strawberry rode on his head. Lee floated alongside them. The three monster-like Pokémon took off, with a sigh of exasperation from Aero. Strawberry couldn't help but cast sympathetic glances at the trio. Out of all of them, she was the only one who really knew their backstory, besides Shadow, of course.

Jay, Charles, and Aero had been close friends long before joining the army. Shadow had noticed them fighting against a large group of wild Ursaring one day, and had been impressed with their power. He asked them to join his army, but they refused. So the Umbreon used his favourite strategy: he kidnapped Jay's daughter, Dianna, and threatened to harm her if Jay didn't join the army. The Hydreigon, who obviously cared a lot about her daughter, had had no choice but to join. He then threatened to hurt Jay and Dianna if Charles didn't join. Although Jay was capable of fighting for herself, Shadow would probably take out the timid Dieno, Dianna, first, which would leave her mother heartbroken. The Charizard decided to join for her sake. Aero didn't need any blackmailing: he couldn't take life without his two friends, and joined without hesitation.

"…Shadow?" the Pachirisu asked.

"Yes?"

"I was just wondering…. Where exactly do you plan on getting the light that our prisoner needs to absorb before she can use Solarbeam?"

"From the sun. Where else?" Shadow snapped.

"So we're just going to leave her lying out in the open for an hour or so?"

"No, you moron! It'll take us a while to get there. She can absorb sunlight while we're travelling."

"But it's only going to take us about forty-five minutes to get there."

"She doesn't have to absorb sunlight for exactly an hour," Zoroark explained. "It can be anywhere from half an hour to an hour. We were just thinking an hour to be safe."

"Will you guys stop talking about me as if I'm some sort of object?" Jade yelled.

"Silence!" Caleb snapped. Shadow gave him an approving look.

"There's someone on the side of the mountain," Mika observed.

Solar nodded. "Looks like a Zangoose and a Seviper."

"And they're on the same side?" Kyo asked, surprised. "I thought they normally didn't get along."

"I'm not sure if they're doing this willingly or not," Sylvia commented. "I mean, look at their faces. They have completely blank expressions. They look… hypnotized."

"Maybe that's what they were doing to the disappearing Pokémon," Comet said. Kyo pulled out his notebook and began to messily scribble down all of their recently obtained information.

"We may have to fight them, guys," Sky pointed out. "We'd better get ready."

William smirked. "Remember our motto, Sky. We're always ready, right?"

Black nodded in agreement. "Ready for anything. Right?"