To my three reviews for last chapter, you guys rock! Super high-fives for all of you! Also, thumbs up to all people who favorite-storied this story or put it on story alert. You guys rock too! This is the most successful story I've had and I'm pumped!

There will be some answers in this next chapter, but hopefully not many. I wouldn't want to have people actually know what's going on. :)

Enjoy! And I love the reviews so keep 'em coming!

Spenser

"Voicemail, voicemail," my styler went off and I let go of the tree I was clinging to long enough to answer the call.

"Yeah," I said hoarsely, feeling crappier than I'd ever felt in my life.

"Hey, Spense," I heard Joel's voice on the other end, "I'm thinking that you're dealing with some stuff right now."

"No way," I replied flatly, tentatively stepping away from the tree, "Really?" I was feeling a little bit better. Maybe I just had to get used to this crappy feeling.

"Listen, buddy," he continued, "I'm sure you've figured out, basically, what the heck is going on right now. But, I'm guessing Solana's freaking right now."

"Just a little," Solana put in anxiously.

"Well, Elita says that in light of the current situation, she's okay with you telling Solana everything. You know, about the test. Technically she's not supposed to know and all, but, eh, we can let that slide."

"Tell me what?" Solana walked slowly over to me and leaned against the tree I had formerly been holding on to for dear life. Then our conversation was interrupted for a moment as someone wrestled Joel's styler from him.

"Arceus, Lucy, we all agreed I would do this," Joel said in annoyance and I could hear a brief tussle in the background. "Lucy, stop it. Holy Suicune, could you- Ow!"

"Hey, guys," Lucy said happily, seemingly in full control of Joel's styler now. I heard Joel grumbling and I couldn't help myself from grinning.

"Do you know how much you lower Joel's self-esteem when you do that?" I asked with a certain amount of amusement.

"He needs it," Lucy replied and I could hear the grin in her voice, "Listen, Kate's busy capturing things, seeing as she has the Vatonage styler and everything, but she wants me to tell you a few things. First off, I don't know if you've figured this out yet, but the Vatonage styler is the only thing that can capture these Pokemon."

"Yeah," I rolled my eyes, "We figured that out the hard way."

"Kate also says that the crappy feeling that you have right now will go away," Lucy continued, a bit too cheerfully for me, "It's just a side effect of the Darkrai."

"I'm sorry," Solana looked at me in shock, "Did she just say Darkrai?!? What the heck is going on right now?"

"I'll explain in a minute," I waved her off. She immediately went into grumpy mode. I could already see the syndromes. The angry face, the looking off into space- the grumping, really. How had I managed to piss off both of my dynamic duo separately within an hour?

"Honestly, Spense, and this is from all of us," Lucy had dropped the playfulness and sounded concerned now, "You and Solana be careful, okay?" I was reminded of the seriousness of this. As much as we as Rangers joked around, we all knew there was a job to be done and that any one of us could be hurt or killed at any moment. The only way we could make it better was to joke about it. Take it too seriously and you go crazy.

"A Darkrai's got no chance against us, Luce," I replied, grinning, "Now just promise me that you'll play nice with Joel while I'm gone."

"I'll try," Lucy answered, "But no promises." Joel was protesting in the background, but I couldn't tell what he was saying. "I'll see you when you get back, Spenser," Lucy said, seemingly keeping a positive attitude.

"Bye, Lucy," I finished, amused, and cut off our connection. I looked up to see Solana staring at me.

"What?" I asked, shaking off the last of Darkrai's effect. I felt so much better already.

Yup, she was grumping. "Why do I feel like I've been left out of something?"

"Solana, you haven't been left out of anything," I replied, trying to keep the grin off my face.

"Don't smile, you make it worse," she shot back, looking like she wanted to hit me over the head repeatedly.

"Okay, the shortened version of all this is that a Darkrai, we're not quite sure if the one causing this is the same one, is a bit of a friend of ours- ours being the Fiore Ranger leaders. Elita would want me to tell it to you like this. Ever since the beginning of the Ranger Union, which originated in Fiore, the test for all would-be Fiore area leaders was to capture this Darkrai- our Darkrai. Seeing as there's only four of us, it was the one of the greatest honors to begin with. No one knows how this tradition started. It just did."

"But-" Solana started to ask, but I interrupted her question.

"Look, let me talk and you just listen, okay?"

She shut her mouth. That was what I needed. This thing was hard enough to explain on its own. I shouldn't even be the one doing this. Elita was the one who knew protocol. Not me. "The difference is that the Darkrai wasn't pissed off, as it is now. A pissed-off Darkrai could be dangerous, as you can see here, although this Darkrai is making the other Pokemon act weird, which isn't normal. Anyway, a calm Darkrai can be the perfect test for a Ranger. The one that we go to has been perfectly calm its whole life. Not only does it test your capture skills, but it also tests you emotionally and mentally. Darkrai shows you your worst fears. If you can get through that and capture it, you can do anything."

"However, ever since the incident with Kate and the Darkrai on Altru Tower, the Ranger Union's been… rethinking things. It's tradition, but it also could be dangerous. We've tried to confirm that our Darkrai isn't the same one that caused the havoc on Altru tower, but we're not sure. We've haven't had any need for another test in six or seven years, since Cameron took it." I couldn't help but grin, "Solana, you should've seen him take it. He's better than you think, you know. He's just too lazy sometimes to get off his butt and do the tough stuff."

"You're getting off topic," she warned me. I made a face at her.

"Anyway, Elita's a stickler for protocol and she believes that you'll be fine. I believe the same. If Cameron passed, you can pass." I didn't tell her about how after seeing how badly Kate had been affected, I wasn't so sure anymore. She didn't need my uncertainty right now.

"Okay, so if Darkrai's here, why don't I just get it over with now," she shrugged, "Let's go find it and I'll calm it down."

"Uh," I thought about it for a second, "Yeah, that's not such a good idea."

"Why not?" She shrugged, "I'll catch two Pidgey with one Pokeball. Calm down a raging Darkrai and pass my test. I couldn't get a better oppurtunity."

"Uh, because it's pissed off and therefore, you're screwed," I answered hesitantly, "And besides, it's most likely that this Darkrai is wilder and more out-of-control than ours is. It might be better if I took this one, seeing as I've faced a Darkrai before." Solana shook her head definitely and I winced. There was nothing I could do to stop her. Her mind was made up.

"Kate did it and she didn't have any experience with Darkrai before," she smiled lightly, "So I can do it too. How do I find it?"

"Listen, at least let me help with its area move," I said, realizing that nothing I could say was going to change her mind, "If this bad-ass Darkrai starts to suck you into the nightmare world or whatever, just grab onto Fearow and hold on for dear life, okay?"

"Yeah," she answered restlessly, "Okay, now where is this sucker?"

"I don't know for sure, but I can give you my best guess," I said, looking pointedly toward the temple up the cliff.

"Ah," Solana nodded, "Everything leads back to the Relic, don't it?"

"It's the creepiest place within a fifty or so mile radius," I shrugged, "I'm thinking that Darkrai's gotta be there."

"Well, let's go," she replied, sounding a bit too excited for my liking. I followed her as she made for the Relic, and I couldn't help but think that all this was happening a little bit too fast. I was sitting in the Ringtown base reading my styler-mail not even an hour ago. Who would've known that now I'd be getting Solana ready to face an angry Darkrai?

I really hated being screwed.

Darkrai

Whatever had been thumping around up there had given me the worst headache. Honestly, you'd think that the legendary Pokemon of darkness would be pretty much left alone, but no. Stupid other Pokemon.

The thing was that I had been getting headaches pretty easily lately. And I'd been having nightmares of my own. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't eat. I was wandering. This had been going on for four years, which may be insignificant for a Pokemon with my lifespan, but it didn't feel very insignificant right now. But you'd think that a Darkrai wouldn't have nightmares. I inflict nightmares on other people, so I shouldn't get them. This was ridiculous.

They always had that Dark Crystal in them. I still couldn't get away from it, even though its power had been neutralized. It was everywhere I went. Let's just say that my protection of it hadn't always been completely voluntary. There was something about that had been inviting. The darkness was inviting. It was compelling. I had to protect it, you know. And now that it was gone, I couldn't think of anything else.

My mom was always telling me to come out and live with her on Newmoon Island where I wouldn't affect anybody. But seriously, who wants to live with their mom? And she's always got Rangers coming to see her every couple of years. She serves as a test for them. Honestly, how much lower can you get? Besides, who would want to live near that freaky wacko Cresselia? My mom deals with Cresselia because Cressalia's the only thing that can negate her nightmare effect on people. But I won't. Forget it. I'd rather freak people out than live anywhere near that creep.

Anyway, that earthquake or whatever the heck had been going on before had gotten me super-pissed. Seriously, the next thing in here, Pokemon or human, was going to get pulverized. Was it wrong that I was looking forward to the pulverization part? Hmmm, nah. I'm a Darkrai. It's what I do. Whoever or whatever came in next was gonna have to live with it. Or not.