On the First Day

Darkrai sighed softly to himself as he swept around yet another tree to find no Gardevoir. This was beginning to seriously irritate him. Honestly, how did she manage to elude him all day? Newmoon Island was so small that it could be circled on foot in a day. Yet he had been combing every inch of the Arceus-forsaken rock for five of them and had still not recaptured that irritating little girl.

Darkrai sighed again and leaned against the trunk of the tree he had just swept around, extending a pair of spindles from his lower region to facilitate the action. He then asked himself, not for the first time, if it was really worth putting up with this girl and her irritations. Admittedly she was very unique, and it was this fact that had led Darkrai to capture her in the first place. Still, surely there must be someone, somewhere who had the same quality as her without being so very headstrong and difficult to deal with.

A sudden rustling in the bushes to his left caught Darkrai's attention. Smoothly and silently he melded backward into the tree until he was nothing more than a black patch on its bark. The blackness slid down the trunk and across the ground until it had passed through the bushes. Well, what do you know? Speak of the devil and up he comes.

The girl was hiding in the bushes with her back to the place where he had just been. Oh, this was just too perfect. Darkrai could just imagine what would happen as he moved to a spot behind her and silently became physical again. He would float up behind her, soundless, and grab her. She would scream with fright before he quickly subdued her and carried her unconscious body back down into the central pit of the island. Once there he would make sure she was properly secured so that she would not be able to repeat this little stunt.

Darkrai was now an arm's length away from the girl and still she had noticed nothing. If his mouth had been visible in that moment, it would have been smiling wickedly. He reached slowly forward with one hand and clamped down on her shoulder.

-(000)-

Creak.

Creak.

Cre-CRACK! "What the-?!"

SNAP! "ARRRGH!"

THUD! "…ow."

Flocks of Pidgey and Starly scattered into the air with loud chirps of fright as a large tree branch suddenly detached itself from its tree and crashed to the forest floor below, taking with it the unfortunate Gallade that had been standing on it.

Zephyr lay draped over the branch that had broken out from him for a short while, moaning softly. Eventually the dull ache in his chest subsided and he dragged himself into a kneeling position as he rubbed his throbbing head. Well, that certainly could have gone better.

"I'm gonna have a killer headache in an hour," he said to himself as he continued to rub his temple gingerly. He then glared at the offending branch. "How's that for irony? I survive a direct assault from the Lord of Nightmares, and yet a tree branch almost kills me. I mean, really…"

Getting to his feet Zephyr looked upward to the canopy of trees and, not for the first time, cursed his complete lack of directional sense. Most wild Pokemon learned instinctively how to navigate by the sun in order to make seasonal migration to correct climate regions. Unfortunately, Zephyr had never picked up this knowledge because for the greater part of his life he had relied on Zach's PokeTech in order to navigate. This dependence on technology effectively squashed his instinctual knowledge and now he couldn't even tell what time it was, much less what direction he was going.

Zephyr exhaled dejectedly. At this rate it would take him almost a month to reach Canalave City. Who was the genius who decided to put Sinnoh's largest and most all-encompassing library all the way out on the west coast? Why couldn't it be a little more inland? Wouldn't that have made more sense?

The fact of the matter was that Zephyr's battle with Darkrai had seriously shaken him. He knew that as he was he stood absolutely no chance against the Lord of Nightmares. If he were to ever have even a chance at saving his mate he would either have to become much stronger or find someone to help him in his quest. Zephyr knew full well that at the rate he developed it would take several years before he was even in Darkrai's league. The thought of leaving Rain in the clutches of that monster for even a day was almost physically painful.

That left the second option: find someone to help. However, therein also lay the problem of Darkrai's outright strength. How could he possibly find who would be equal, or even close to Darkrai's level of power?

Zephyr had spent every waking moment of his three healing days pondering the issue. Normal Pokemon were immediately thrown out of the equation. For an absurd moment he had considered gathering an army, but that was impractical on so many levels it was almost funny. The answer would have to be another Great One.

Unfortunately, that choice also had its share of problems to overcome. The first issue would be whom he would be able to find and ask. Even if Arceus herself were willing to help it would do no good if he were unable to ask her. This effectively meant that any Great One who did not reside in Sinnoh was out of the question.

The second issue was willingness. Who among his potential candidates would be willing to help, and of that select few, who would be able to handle Darkrai? The Lake Trio was immediately rejected. Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie would probably agree to help but they were all pure Psychic types and so would only be a detriment. Regigigas was no good because he was currently asleep in Snowpoint Temple and Zephyr had no way to communicate with the princes of ice, rock, or steel. Perhaps Palkia or Dialga might be of some help, but it was highly unlikely that either of them would trouble themselves with the matters of a mere mortal. They had all of time and space to take care of, after all. Giratina would most likely eat him on the spot just for bothering him. Arceus probably wouldn't even let him through the front door.

The situation looked pretty hopeless. Again and again Zephyr ran through every Great One that he could remember but none of them seemed like workable candidates. He found himself one day thinking over a passage that Zach had once read him from an ancient document describing Darkrai.

'It moves unseen through darkness and void, living shade. Thy secret terrors and frights it knows, and unto thee it shall deliver visions most horrid. Master of the night, none dare to challenge it, save-" and then it simply cut off, the rest of the words illegible or gone entirely.

'They got that right,' Zephyr had thought as he lay in a semi-conscious state. 'None dare to challenge it.' He lay feeling dejected and hopeless and very tired, and it was a few moments before the penny dropped.

'Wait, 'Save-'? Save what?' Zephyr had sat bolt upright at the realization and once again felt the stinging smart of his still-healing chest wounds. Mumbling to Altrea, who had looked at him with concern at his sudden movement, that it was only a bad dream, he had lain back down with his mind working furiously. The document clearly went on to say more and from that one word it was clear that what followed was a description of something that could and would challenge Darkrai. Come to think of it, hadn't Zach once said something to that effect? Hadn't Zach said that there were two Great Ones associated with the moon?

The more Zephyr thought about it, the more it seemed that this was his option, his way of saving Rain. This being seemed almost to have been created for the sole purpose of keeping Darkrai in check. Surely it would be willing to reign in its counterpart no matter how trivial the issue, and it would most definitely be suited for the task.

Unfortunately, that was all that Zephyr could manage to recall. He'd never really been able to remember the details of all the Great Ones, what with there being at least thirty and all. In fact, he still sometimes managed to get Jirachi and Celebi mixed up in his mind. Try though he might Zephyr simply could not recall so much as a name.

For perhaps a day Zephyr had lain in dejected defeat, certain that his only chance had slipped away from him simply because he had a bad memory for this sort of thing. He wished more than anything that he could just look up the answer in an encyclopedia or something. That was what had made him think of the Canalave Library. It was, without a doubt, the most comprehensive library on Sinnoh legends. If he couldn't find what he was looking for there, then it was a lost cause. The Canalave library thus became his primary goal on his quest, which meant that he had to go west.

Unfortunately, Zephyr could as easily have leapt over the moon as told you what direction was west right now. Still, he could hardly just sit here and mope about it so he picked a direction that seemed more or less right. With a resigned sigh he began to march.

-(000)-

Darkrai groaned slightly as the sun suddenly moved out from behind a cloud and glared brightly into his eyes, ripping him suddenly and rather unpleasantly back to consciousness. He slowly hoisted himself off the ground and resumed his usual hovering height of about four feet, massaging his head as he did so. He was surprised to find that his whole body ached. What had happened to him?

His memory seemed a bit fuzzy for some reason, but gradually the focus sharpened. The last thing he could recall had been the girl. Yes, he'd found her hiding in the bushes and had slipped behind her. Then he'd reached out to grab her and drag her back with him. It took Darkrai a moment longer to remember what had occurred after that, but eventually it came to him. The memory made him groan out loud.

The moment he had placed his hand on the girl's shoulder she had grabbed it with both of her own. Then, with an almighty heave she had swung him over her shoulder and slammed him into the ground very hard indeed. Just when he had barely managed to register just how much that had hurt she had knelt over him, wound back and slugged him in the face with an electrified fist. Everything after that was black.

Darkrai growled with irritation. Normally he was not one to show emotion unless he wanted to. In fact, if there had ever been a contest for the most stoic living thing on Earth, it would quickly have been canceled because the only person who would ever win would have been him. The angry display he had made in front of that Gallade had merely been to give him false confidence and thus make him easier to kill.

But that girl…she was irritating on a level that Darkrai had not encountered for countless years, and she was actually managing to get under his skin. Only one other person had ever managed to do that to him. Not for the first time, Darkrai wondered whether it might not be better just to kill her and find another subject for the ritual, preferably one who was not so headstrong. However, currently that was not an option because he had no other subject for the ritual, and they weren't exactly ten a penny. Still, Darkrai knew that if he ever found another usable victim that girl would disappear from his island faster than a chocolate bar in front of Mew, and that was very fast indeed. Whether or not she left with her life was not really his concern.

-(000)-

"Oh, for Arcues' sake! You have got to be kidding me!"

Zephyr leered caustically at the tree branch that he had noticed about three minutes ago. Shortly after noticing it he had realized that it was the same tree branch that had fallen out from under him while he had been standing in the tree attempting to get his bearings about an hour back. It didn't take a very high IQ to figure out that this effectively meant that Zephyr had walked in a very large circle.

Zephyr continued to glare at the branch for about another minute, but it only lay there innocently. Finally, with a resigned sigh Zephyr looked away and sat down on a nearby tree stump. He'd known that he would never be a mapmaker, but he'd never believed that his directional skill was this bad. At this rate he wouldn't even make it out of the forest. Some savior he was turning out to be.

At that precise moment a wicked chuckle sounded directly behind Zephyr. With a startled yelp he leapt off the stump like a scalded cat, certain that Darkrai had found him and was about to kill him. It took him a moment to realize that the thing that had made the noise was only a small Croagunk. Zephyr heaved a huge sigh of relief and relaxed his battle posture, trying as he did so to convince himself that his reaction had not been at all undignified.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" asked the Croagunk in a low voice. Its tone was not one that inspired very pleasant images. "Looks like an intruder."

"Well, I apologize for entering your territory," said Zephyr. "It was not my intention to encroach." He turned away from the Croagunk and started to walk away. However, he had only gone about ten steps when another Croagunk sidled out from under the foliage.

"We don't like intruders," it said, and from its voice Zephyr could tell that it was female. However, this did not in any way make her seem less intimidating. Admittedly, Zephyr didn't feel very threatened by her in the first place, but she wasn't exactly doing her best to roll out the welcome wagon.

"Well, then you'll be happy to know that I have no intention of staying," Zephyr replied. He again turned and began to walk away before finding his path blocked by a third Croagunk.

"I think we need to show him what we do to intruders," it said in a male voice. By this point Zephyr was starting to get seriously annoyed.

"You three do realize that I'm about as tall as two of you stacked on top of each other, right?" he asked in a tone that just barely concealed his irritation. "As a general rule of thumb, it's not smart to mouth off to something bigger than you." With a sigh and a slight rolling of his eyes Zephyr turned in yet another direction and stopped dead.

A crowd of no less than 15 Croagunks was staring at him with eyes that spoke of less than friendly intentions. The middle finger of each and every hand was glowing purple and seeping thick, gelatinous purple goo. In a moment the first three had joined their comrades and taken up battle positions. There was a slight pause, and then with a great hiss each and every one of them lunged at Zephyr, Poison Jabs extended with the obvious intent to maim. It would take less than five seconds for them to cross the distance between themselves and the Gallade.

In that space of time Zephyr was able to roll his eyes, yawn tiredly and crack his knuckles. He then extended one arm blade and held in directly in front of his face. Almost immediately it began glowing with white energy. When the first few Croagunks were about a foot away Zephyr slashed diagonally through the air. A crescent of pure white energy was expelled from his arm and cleaved straight through the swarm of angry frogs. Each and every Croagunk chattered with pain as they were thrown to the ground by the Psycho Cut, gashes appearing in their skin were they had been struck. Not a single one had avoided the attack.

"You've got to be kidding me," Zephyr said as he rolled his eyes at his would-be assailants. Well, they had been annoying. He retracted his arm blade, then turned on the spot and stopped dead again. A group of at least 20 fully matured Toxicroaks were standing ten feet away with identical leers on their faces. Each and every claw-like middle finger was glowing purple.

"You've got to be kidding me!"

-(000)-

Rain appeared in a small white flash, quickly scanning around in an effort to spot Darkrai. She seemed to be alone for now. Of course, there was no way to be sure since she was unable to sense him. Being a Dark-Type meant that he was completely immune to any of her psychic powers, even something as simple as progging.

This fact had almost cost her dearly, seeing as he'd managed to sneak right up behind her without her noticing. If he'd taken the chance to outright attack her instead of just scare her, she'd have been at his mercy for sure. Still, she reflected, some good had come of it. She'd learned to be more careful. Also, there was something undeniably satisfying about feeling her knuckles crack as her fist slammed into Darkrai's face.

She would have to start making preparations. Just running and dodging wasn't going to keep her out of his clutches for very long, as she'd learned today. If she wanted to stay safe, she'd have to leave Darkrai a few surprises across the island. She didn't know much about guerrilla warfare, but she could learn. She would start as soon as Darkrai left that evening. Now, what had Zephyr taught her about setting up tripwires?

-(000)-

A Toxicroak lunged straight at Zephyr, only to be dropped by a punch that came so fast he didn't even see it. Zephyr then bent forward at the waist just in time to let another Toxicroak go sailing over his head directly into one of his comrades. Turning on the spot, Zephyr delivered three X-slashes to three different Toxicroaks in the space of a few seconds. They fell and did not get up.

Just then Zephyr hissed in pain as a Poison Jab caught him directly in the side. He immediately grabbed the offender by the arm and swung him into one of his friends before hurling him into a tree. Unfortunately, he had not been fast enough to avoid the injection of venom that accompanied the attack. He could feel the poison start to course through his veins, but he couldn't do anything about it at the moment.

Fortunately, the group of attacking frogs had been thinned out significantly, which gave Zephyr room to be a little more decisive with his takedowns, and cooler as well. He raised his fist over his shoulder just in time to make it collide with the face of a Toxicroak that had tried to jump him from behind. He then proceeded to deliver a swift rabbit punch that he ended with a vicious slice to the abdomen, causing the frog to drop like so many bricks. Immediately afterward he delivered a roundhouse kick directly into the face of another Toxicroak that had made the mistake of getting within attacking range. At this moment yet another poison frog leapt down from a tree and landed on top of Zephyr, punching him as hard and as fast as he could. One whirlwind grapple later and he had been thrown upside down into the trunk of a tree.

Another Toxicroak made the mistake of charging directly at Zephyr. However, instead of taking the easy approach and simply dropping him with a swift attack Zephyr ran away from him and directly toward a tree, making sure to lower his running speed so as to not get too far ahead of his victim. When he reached the tree with Toxicroak in hot pursuit he ran straight up the trunk. When he was about seven vertical feet up and pushed off, made several very quick rolling flips in midair, then drove both his feet into the back of the frog's skull before landing lightly on all fours. The unfortunate Toxicroak was propelled face first into the tree, leaving a rather nice dent in its trunk.

Without missing a beat Zephyr leapt into the air and delivered a powerful helicopter kick that struck three different Toxicroak out of the air as they all lunged at him at once. Only one more was still standing at this point. Zephyr marched swiftly up to him and, before he had even registered what was happening, hauled back and proceeded to throw punch after punch after punch. His arm was a green blur as he rained blows at the poor punching bag of a frog. After about ten seconds Zephyr stopped and looked his opponent over. He was standing with a dazed expression and was clearly just about to fall over. Zephyr decided to help him, so he stepped forward and, making sure to retract his arm blade, elbowed his in the back of the head. His face hit the ground before his feet did.

Zephyr quickly scoured the area, searching for more opponents. Seeing none, he walked over to the spot where he had dropped his little berry satchel. The poison was getting stronger, and he needed to deal with it now. Already his chest was starting to hurt. He opened the little sewn leaf bag and reached inside, plucking out a pink heart shaped berry. He studied the Pecha berry for a second, then opened his mouth to toss it inside.

He then leapt in the air and performed another helicopter kick, which collided directly with the face of the one remaining Toxicroak, who had tried to do what several others had failed at, meeting no better success. He was propelled through the air into the trunk of a tree, and was unconscious before he had hit the ground. Zephyr landed lightly, his face showing absolutely no change in expression.

"Psychic type, remember?" he asked the unconscious before popping the Pecha berry lightly into his mouth. He chewed briefly, savoring the sweet flavor before swallowing and waiting for the natural acids of the berry to counteract the poison. Sure enough, the pain began to swiftly lessen until it was gone entirely.

At this precise moment Zephyr happened to glance toward his left and realized that he had an audience. Three little Spearows were standing at the edge of the clearing, each staring at Zephyr with wide, stunned eyes. Zephyr got an idea.

"Hi," he said cheerily, as though he had not just beaten about 20 large poison frogs into the ground. The Spearows just stared. "Could any of you tell me which direction is west?"

Simultaneously all three Spearows looked up at the sun for a moment. Then they looked back at Zephyr, still wearing those stunned eyes. Without looking away from him, each pointed one wing to the their left.

"Thanks," Zephyr said, waving as he started walking in the direction they had indicated. The Spearows watched him as he walked way. Then they glanced at the various piles of unconscious Toxicroaks. They took off in a flurry of feathers and flew as fast as physically possible in the opposite direction.

-(000)-

Sorry this is so late!!! I lost the creative flow for a little while. Please don't kill me.