Enjoy :)

Chapter 31

TheUmbreon

When I woke up on the cave floor, I heard nothing but Shaymin's seemingly endless chattering about what would happen if we fought Darkrai. She started going on about how strong he was, but when she started imaging our downfalls I stood up and said, "Let's go."

"Agreed," Austin said. He crouched down in front of Shaymin and said, "Look, we'll be alright. Thanks for caring, but we have got to do this, okay?"

Shaymin surprisingly shut up and simply nodded. She whispered two final words as got up and left the cave: "Good luck."

"Thank you," Wylie took a moment to say to her, glancing back for an instant.

Then we walked out of the final cave and ended up on the top of the mountain. Unlike what you'd think, it wasn't pointed at the top. It was a flat, plateau-like place that was about half as big as I remembered a football field to be. It was also fairly dark and kind of foggy.

"Is he here?" Carry asked, sounding a bit relieved that he wasn't in front of us yet.

"Definitely," Austin said grimly, biting his lip and nodding. "His auric presence is almost overwhelming."

"Damn," Carry swore and chewed on her tongue angrily.

"Remember his abilities," Wylie warned us.

"Which ones?" I wondered. "Doesn't he have a lot?"

"I meant his major ones," Wylie told us. "To put people into endless nightmares and to turn into shadows."

"That's right!" Austin gasped, his eyes widening. He suddenly snapped his eyes shut and took on a look of fierce concentration. A moment later he opened his eyes and threw an aura sphere at a specific cluster of shadows.

"AH!" someone with a deep, deep voice yelled with a tone of rage. Darkrai materialized with a hiss, his eyes full of rage and delight. "So you're smarter than I previously thought."

Darkrai was this huge, monstrous beast that half blended in with the shadowy top of the mountain. His red eyes seemed to pierce my soul with thrown daggers.

Everyone froze in place at his sight except Austin, who stepped forward with his fists in the air and yelled, "You murderer! All those pokemon! If only you could have seen their petrified souls!"

"Oh, I did," Darkrai purred. He clasped his hands together gleefully. "And now it's your turn."

"Never! Not ever!" Austin screeched at the top of his lungs. He threw an oversized aura sphere at the terrible pokemon and then a mini one just for good measure.

Darkrai didn't flinch when he was hit, just laughed evilly. Austin threw another sphere and then began a dragon pulse, hitting Darkrai's heart easily.

Darkrai continued to laugh.

"Guys! Let's help Austin out!" Wylie shouted, then let loose a water pulse.

Carry joined by letting her eyes flash white for a moment in a future sight attack and then sending a fast purple wave.

Jared used water pulse and Heather used whirlpool. She took a moment to charge it but then she sent it quickly.

I sat back, charging for one of my favorite of umbreon's attacks.

All four attacks hit in time with Austin's aura sphere and dragon pulse.

Darkrai, the great mass, shook in the sky for a moment.

That moment was perfect.

I jumped forward and unleashed my hyper beam. It hit Darkrai with a huge thud and he was forced back a good few feet, but still he came forward again. He looked down upon us and yelled, snickering, "Is that the best you've got!? Pathetic! Taste my power!"

Darkrai threw his arms up and dark spheres formed, spreading grimness into our hearts as we realized what those spheres were. Abruptly he threw his arms down and they poured down on us.

Heather screamed as one came close. Austin jumped in front of her and called forth a bone rush. He hit the dark void, making it fizzle into nothingness. He then jumped up in front of everyone and swung the blue bone in lightning-speedy circles, destroying all the dark spheres.

All the while he kept his jaw set and eyes alive with a steady fire of hatred. He looked so calm yet so deadly. Y'know, I'd never really felt intimidated by Austin before, but seeing him like this kind of frightened me in that I had never really thought he was capable of that amount of... hate. Even towards Darkrai.

"That was nothing!" Austin shouted up at the black beast.

Darkrai narrowed his eyes at the little lucario. "You're the Celebi's Chosen, aren't you?"

"And if I am?" Austin asked the monster, staring fearlessly into his red eyes. "Will you slice me open like the rest, spread my blood upon the mountain side and burn my body?"

"No," the darkrai said, shaking his head. "Dialga would like to see you first."

"What?" Wylie wondered, his eyes widening and his voice a whisper. "But Dialga is on our side...?"

"Enough talk! I plan to kill you!" Austin shouted, and he launched another sphere.

Carry threw up a paw, holding the darkrai down with her psychic power. "Shit, he's strong! Everybody attack! Hurry!"

Austin whipped around to face Wylie. He told him, "Wylie! Hit me! Now!"

Wylie tensed, suddenly nervous. "Now? Are you sure?"

"Absolutely!" Austin nodded. He turned to Jared, Heather, and I and instructed, "On the count of three use your most powerful attack. Trust me and do it." Heather started to say, "But-" but Austin held a paw up. "Trust me," he said simply, giving her a smile. "I know what I'm doing."

"Running out of time here, guys," Carry said nervously, struggling to hold the dark creature in place. Sweat was dripping down her neck.

"One," Austin said, and Wylie began to use extreme speed towards his friend. Austin pulled a bone rush and the moment Wylie attacked with tackle Austin hit the bone rush down onto the ground. It sent him flying towards Darkrai. "Two!" he yelled, and finally, "Three!"

I let loose a hyper beam, feeling its power surge in me and bubble over and out.

Heather used a hydro pump, spitting water at hundreds of miles per hour at the dark being.

Jared used hydro cannon, shooting a ball of water that would explode once it touched Darkrai. With that attack he suddenly lit up and began changing formes.

Carry squeezed her paw, putting a choking hold on Darkrai.

Wylie crossed his arms above his head and threw them down, making water gush around him. He used ice beam just as the water caught around him and he launched up, creating an ice aqua jet.

All of our attacks (except Wylie's) were sent flying at Darkrai. They all hit him, throwing him far back. Suddenly Austin appeared in the sky, high above Darkrai thanks to Wylie's prapelling extreme speed. With a piercing battle cry, he used a metal-claw-special-wave combo that hit Darkrai hard, sending him over the very edge of the mountain. Austin and Wylie then crashed into him hard. So hard in fact that they bounced off. Wylie used aqua jet and caught his friend then returned back.

Darkrai crashed onto the ground below.

We waited hopefully, wondering if it could possibly be over.

No. It wasn't.

We all tensely watched as Darkrai got back up and began flying back over.

"Now everybody give it all you've got!" Austin yelled at the top of his lungs.

Darkrai arrived above us. He laughed once more, taunting, "Pathetic! I thought you'd be more of a fight then this!"

"Why don't you come down here and fight like a man!?" Austin shouted up at him, fists clenched.

"If you insist!" Darkrai laughed evilly and came down in front of us.

Austin started immediately by running up to him, sliding between his legs, and jumping up to put an aura sphere in his back. Darkrai was sent flying towards us.

Wylie and I jumped aside to dodge and then raced towards the evil pokemon, a water pulse in Wylie's palms and a shadow ball forming at my snout. We threw the attacks.

I felt a weight on my shoulders as Carry used me to bounce off of. She flipped gracefully and then landed in front of Darkrai, throwing her front paws down. A psychic wave erupted from under her paws and hit the dark-type pokemon hard.

"Everybody move!" a voice like Jared's but a bit deeper rang out behind us. We all whipped around to see a smirking dewott with a huge whirlpool floating above his head and arms.

We all jumped away as the now-evolved Jared threw the attack. It picked Darkrai up easily and immediately started throwing him around. He thrashed and thrashed but only ended up hurting himself more.

Austin appeared behind me and used a dragon pulse. The attack began to swirl with the whirlpool, hitting Darkrai over and over again.

Carry smirked as her future sight move kicked in and Darkrai yelled in pain.

Wylie threw his arms to the sky and looked up. Dark clouds began to swirl and finally a bolt of thunder struck the whirlpool. "Thank you, Uxie's abilities!" Wylie smiled.

I threw in a few shadow balls and sat back, beginning to charge up another hyper beam. I shot it just as the whirlpool ended, and Darkrai screeched and fell back. Once he hit the ground he melted into the shadows.

Austin snapped his eyes shut and followed his aura around for a good, terribly tense minute before he popped open wide eyes and yelled, "Heather! Watch out!"

It was too late. I jumped over, trying to knock her away, but was too slow. I landed flat on my face just as Darkrai appeared and threw her. Poor Heather screamed as she hit the ground once, twice, and finally

rolled

off

the cliff...

"Heather!" Jared screeched. He ran over to where she had fallen.

Heather. She'd been throw off the cliff and now was probably still in the process of falling to death...

"No," Wylie whispered, his eyes going wide with sadness. Austin clenched his jaw and shook his head. A fire lit in Carry's eyes.

"No!" I yelled suddenly, abruptly remembering my last memory. This may not have been Craeg, but this was his boss, I guessed. This guy was the one who commandedCraeg to kill all those innocents. "No more, you a**hole!"

Darkrai looked down at me and tilted his head. He looked from Austin to me for a few minutes before realizing, "You two are both Celebi's Chosens. Ah, well. I'll just have to take both of you, then. One more to suffer from losing your friends."

I couldn't take another word of his. I threw a shadow ball and then charged forward with extreme speed. As I ran, I felt power surge in my veins and adrenaline speed through me. Suddenly I smashed into Darkrai and pink power bursted off me.

Giga impact. I'd used giga impact.

Darkrai and I fell onto the ground. It took all my strength to jump off him and use quick attack to get away.

Just as I had returned to recharge, Austin and Wylie were racing towards Darkrai. He stood up and waited for their arrival.

Austin did the same trick again by sliding under Darkrai's legs. Darkrai was too distracted by Wylie, who was forming white energy by his right paw, which was tight against his side. As Darkrai began to prepare a dark void attack, Wylie suddenly he thrust the arm forward.

Snow and ice flew everywhere. Austin smartly hid behind Darkrai, who was getting slightly frozen. I guessed Austin was still attacking the dark beast.

Jared appeared beside me, rage turning his eyes a bright, bright red. His face was shiny with tears.

I didn't offer any condolence. There wasn't really any to give. I was sorry. He was sorry. That wouldn't help us now. That wouldn't bing Heather back. That wouldn't defeat Darkrai.

"Let's kill him," I quietly suggested to Jared, who nodded.

Carry came over and said, "I'll hold him still. You guys attack with all you've got."

Wyle's storm ended and he and Austin retreated.

Darkrai suddenly threw his arms down, throwing dark voids everywhere.

"Now!" I yelled as they came down upon us. Carry's eyes flashed red and Darkrai yelled, his attack cut short.

We used several of our precious seconds in order to dodge the remainder of the dark voids. None of us, thankfully, were hit.

"Go!" Carry yelled, her voice telling us that she was in pain.

"I'll help you!" Wylie said, and he held up a palm. Darkrai froze, unable to even struggle. "I'm going to say it again. Thank goodness for Uxie's abilities."

Austin ran in right away. Jared and I followed after, both of us using quick attack.

Austin started with a close combat, his eyes turning white with power. The lucario moved extremely fast, boxing Darkrai's face a few rapid times before leaning backwards and kicking his chest. Jared used razor shell, slashing at Darkrai. I used retaliate, figuring Heather just being down would double its power.

I'm pretty sure it did, considering the big burst it gave when I used it.

"Get back!" Wylie suddenly yelled. "It's our turn!"

Austin, understanding, raced back. Jared and I shrugged at each other before following suit.

Wylie and Carry both suddenly thrust their arms in different directions.

Darkrai's arms were thrown up. He shifted from side to side, both psychic powers working to pull him apart.

"Enough!" Darkrai finally yelled. Did Wylie and Carry let up? Of course not! What do you take us for, idiots?

"Nope!" Carry shouted back. "In your dreams!"

But Darkrai pulled one on us and slowly melted into shadow.

"You're not getting away!" Austin yelled angrily, starting to run after Darkrai's aura.

"Help!" came Heather's voice suddenly. Shocked, we all stared at each other for a long moment before Jared raced over to the spot the voice seemed to come from, the rest of us following.

Heather was hanging onto the cliff. "I fell onto the ledge down there and used rock climb. "Pull me up?" she asked.

Jared immediately did so, and then we all hugged her. "You're alive!" Jared exclaimed happily.

Then he kissed her.

Heather looked terribly surprised at first, but then she smiled and kissed him back.

Suddenly Austin yelled, "Get away, guys!"

But it was too late. The shadow under Heather materialized in Darkrai. He had gotten a knife somehow, and now held it above Heather.

"I love you guys! And you, Jared! I'm glad I got to meet you all and I have no regrets! Tell my family I love them!" Heather told us as fast as she could. As Darkrai plunged the knife down and we all screamed, Heather whispered, "And I don't mind dying for you all."

Then she was stabbed through her back and Darkrai melted away into the shadow once more, leaving Heather's dead body with the knife still sticking out of her crumpled on the ground.

"No! You aren't getting away!" Austin yelled. He started racing after the moving shadow.

"Austin! Wait!" Wylie shouted, running after him.

Carry and Jared remained, looking up at me with sad eyes. For a long moment no one spoke. We all simply sat. Eventually Carry asked, "What do we do?"

I stood frozen a moment before wondering, "Why are you asking me?"

"You're the leader of Team Sound," Jared said simply. He glanced down at Heather's cooling body and shuddered.

"Oh," I said simply.

"I think we should go help Wylie and Austin," Carry said quietly, staring down at the ground.

"I don't want to leave Heather," Jared mumbled, turning his head away from her body.

I thought for a moment before saying, "Jared, I don't want to leave you, but Wylie and Austin are going to need help. Is it okay if Carry and I go?"

Jared was silent for a moment before turning back to us both and saying, "Okay."

"But... But first," Carry said, meeting my gaze weakly. The weakness was so unlike her: it scared me. Carry closed her eyes and sat up straight. "Heather was nice and sweet and everything I didn't like about girls. Once I got to know her, though, I learned she was actually pretty cool. I'll miss her alot. Maybe now she'll make peace with her Grandma, though."

"Yeah," I said quietly. I sat up straighter and said, "Heather was a great teammate and an even better friend. She really cared about all of us and made a big sacrifice. It's so brave, especially since it was her decision from the start. She could have left the danger, left us, but she never did. I'll always admire her for that. I hope she and whoever else in her family that's dead are resting in peace up there. She'll be miss- I'll miss her. Her positive attitude, too."

Jared whispered quietly, "I loved her. I loved the way she was different but didn't care. She accepted herself for who she was. She had a lot of inward battles as well as outward ones, like the spirits, but she didn't let anything hurt her the way things can hurt me. She was so beautiful on the inside because she didn't care what was on the outside. She wasn't afraid to get to know me. I'll miss her like I'd miss the moon and the stars at night and the sun and its light during the day."

We three stood in silence for a while before Jared told Carry and I, "Go find Wylie and Austin. Make sure they aren't added to the list of people Darkrai kills." Jared suddenly looked up and met my gaze, cold numbness in his eyes. "And kill him for me. Kill him for Heather and for everyone else he killed."

I stared at my friend a moment before nodding.

Jared smiled bittersweetly and said, "Thank you."

With that, Carry and I ran off towards Austin and Wylie.

Really LOng Author's Note:

Chapters 29, 30, and 31 were so, so hard to write. (Especially 29 and 30.) Not only did I have the TV, ffn, homework, and Facebook on hand but I knew what I had to do and I didn't want to do it. But the reason I killed Heather was because I had this great, interesting character in a place where she didn't fit xD It's really my fault that I didn't do more with her, honestly. For that I apologize. While you may be thinking Jared is similar, I have a place for him yet!

I almost cried when I was writing the part about how they did it together and chose their own paths. I knew Heather was going to die, and I wrote it knowing it...

(They all chose except Dark. He lived in a different world (since there's Chosens in each) and he was picked because no one at first thought he'd end up where he is now. But by the time the legends had realized it it was too late to stop it.)