Part 41

"Hey mister, are you okay?" A small child approached Blake who was curled up on the ground in a fetal position. Blake remained silent, allowing his bangs to fall in front of his eyes. He had nothing to say. There was nothing he could say.

"You look like you could use some help." The child continued, kneeling down beside him. "Don't worry, I can help!"

Blake peeked through his bangs to find a rather interesting sight. The child resembled him. In fact, Blake was even willing to conclude that it was him during his childhood.

"Who are you?" Blake asked.

"I'm you."

"Me?"

"Yup. You put me here." The boy went on. "Don't you remember? And then you locked the door."

"No…I don't remember doing that." Blake replied.

"But you did."

Blake shut his mouth after this. Nothing was making sense anymore. What reason did he have to not believe that this child in front of him was really him.

"I really am you."

"What?" Blake asked.

"I heard your thoughts. I'm telling the truth. I am you."

"Yeah, sure kid." Was all Blake said in reply.

"Can I help you?"

"Do whatever you want."

"Look, that must be New Bark Town!" Grace shouted to the group from Robbie's Pidgeot, getting a shout from Matt and Robbie who were also packed on the back of the bird. The two guys had almost fallen off from Grace's sudden outburst, and they couldn't help but glare at the girl.

Mari, who was hanging from the feet of her Altaria, couldn't help but giggle as she looked at the group.

They had finally arrived in New Bark Town, or, what was left of it. Mari and Robbie were very confused as their Pokemon came in for a landing. It had been several months since they visited New Bark Town to meet Professor Elm, but the town looked nothing that what they saw during their last visit.

It had been a quite town located on one large grassy plain near the exit of Tohjo Falls, filled with small homes. But as they recalled the few hours they spent in the town, the two of them noticed that they had never actually seen any of the people who supposedly lived here. They just assumed that the owners of those homes were just out in the town somewhere.

"What happened here?" Robbie asked out loud, but no one in the group had an answer either.

"That building…it's the same one I was brought too when I first came to Johto." Matt said rather softly as they approached the New Bark Town Orphanage. He had last left this house after receiving some encouragement from the owner Lola. But as he looked at the building, something was definitely off. "This is where Blake lived. Maybe he's inside."

"An orphanage?" Robbie exclaimed.

"Blake's an orphan?" Mari asked, looking toward Matt and Grace. Matt only shrugged while Grace seemed to think about it for a moment.

"Sort of." She replied. "It's just a really messy story that I'll share with you guys later. Right now, we have to find to Blake."

The group of four quickly entered the orphanage, doing their best to avoid breaking the rotting wood before they conducted their search for Blake. They spent about half and hour searching the orphanage from top to bottom, but one chilling fact presented itself at the end of their search.

Blake wasn't here.

11/24/0046/Evening

Route 40

The massive stretch of water between Olivine City and Cianwood City was a sight to behold as Alan and Lola looked down at each of the Whirl Islands that they were passing over.

They were closing on Cianwood, although their destination was past the isolated city. Both of the Dark Crests rested on the back of their respective Legendary Pokemon, although Latias had an extra passenger aside for Lola. Blake was also on its back, leaning against Lola in his slumber.

"He still hasn't woken up yet?" Alan called out from Latios, looking toward Lola who shook her head. "Well wake him up, we're getting close to the Embedded Tower."

Lola sighed before looking back at Blake who was seated behind her on Latias. Brushing her hand against his neck, this gained a snort from Blake. He was a heavy sleeper back at the orphanage, and this was how she would wake him up in the morning if his alarm clock couldn't get the job done. Blake seemed to shutter a bit before his eyes opened up.

The teenage boy gave a content yawn before realizing that he was in unfamiliar surroundings.

"Ah Blake, I'm glad to see you're awake. Did you sleep well?" Lola asked kindly with a warm smile, hoping to get on Blake's good side.

"Yeah, I did." He replied, studying Lola's face for a few moments. "Sorry miss, but who are you?"

Alan glanced at Blake as he stared intently at Lola as if he knew her from somewhere, but the boy just couldn't seem to place his finger on it. There plan had been a success.

They had forced Blake to revert back to his former self before he was kidnapped from Ecruteak City. He was now nothing more than a child with a great purpose but blissfully unaware of his importance.

'Too easy.' Alan noted as Blake then noticed the Pokemon he was riding on. The boy seemed to be amazed with Latias's sleek design as well as the color red.

In a matter of minutes they were passing over Cianwood City, and their goal came into side. Among the steep cliffs that made up the south side of the island Cianwood City was located on stood tall tower that was embedded into the side of the cliffs although its height far exceeded that of the cliffs.

"Latios, down there." Alan said, pointing down at the small platform that was in front of the entrance to the Embedded Tower.

"This is so cool!" Blake exclaimed as he stared at the Embedded Tower, amazed with the architectural feat that stood centuries after it was built.

The landing was quick and easy with the two aerodynamic Pokemon.

"Come on Blake." Lola said, motioning for the boy to follow her. "This way."

Blake followed obediently, entering the tall stone tower behind Alan and Lola. As they began to travel down the sole corridor of the tower, Blake took notice of a strange design on the wall that was made up of intersecting lines and circles that only consisted of three colors. Red, blue and green.

"This place feels…familiar." Blake said as they traveled down a rather short corridor which led out into a large room.

"It should feel familiar Blake. This is the place where your Crest was bestowed upon you." Lola replied as they entered the largest room of the tower.

As they observed the room, the trio could see that three opposing colors and designs that had been in the corridor traveled throughout the room, but at the center of the room was where the three colors met in a circle.

Blake's Crest opened upon his entrance to the room, shinning far brighter than it normally would.

"Wow!" Blake exclaimed in amazement as Lola and Alan motioned for him to head to the center of the room. As Blake neared the middle, his Crest continued to become brighter until he could no longer be seen. Stepping into the center circle, a vertical ray of light was fired up to the top of the tower, bathing Alan and Lola in a harsh white light that forced them to cover their eyes to avoid being blinded.

The entire room became white in the light for several moments before it died down, revealing that the circle Blake had been standing on had disappeared into the floor belong along with Blake. Approaching the hole in the floor, Alan and Lola peered down into the room below, unable to prevent their lips from curving upward into a smile.

"Oww." Blake whined as he held his left shoulder which he had landed on after a long thirty foot drop. Wincing in pain for a few moments, Blake only held his shoulder until his attention was draw to a sparkling object in front of him. Looking upward, Blake stared in astonishment as he found a large crystalline structure that ran from the floor all the way up the ceiling of the room he had fallen into. But what had really gained his attention wasn't the simply shape of the crystalline, but what was on the inside of it.

A black centaur. A white dragon. And a brown haired beauty.

"Lana-chan!" Blake shouted, calling out to the frozen girl. She was big now. And she was even prettier than the last time he had seen her. The boy continued to shout at the girl, expecting an answer as Alan and Lola descended in the room on the backs of Latios and Latias.

"Blake, she won't answer you. She's trapped." Lola explained to the boy to silence him.

"Trapped?" He repeated.

"Yes. This is what happens when you raise your Crest to level four and place the seal on something." Alan cut in.

Blake could recall a warning he had received from Yumi and Nozomi.

"Blake-kun, never, and I mean never, use the sealing method you're granted when you raise your Crest to level four. Once the seal is activated, you will be encased in crystal for the rest of your life." Yumi explained.

"Only the King is capable of breaking the seal. If you seal yourself away, there won't be anyone who will have the ability to save. Hopefully a situation like that won't present itself though. But Breaking a seal will leave you in a comatose for an extended period of time."

"Only I can break her free." Blake concluded, unaware of the fact that the two adults that were with him had be previously been preparing to coax him into performing this task. Alan and Lola didn't think it would be this easy to make Blake break the seal on Lana, Lugia and Abyss Arceus, but that would only speed things up.

"Good ahead Blake, break the seal and free the girl." Alan said, motioning for the boy to continue. Blake stepped up to the structure that held the two enormous Pokemon, placing his hand on it in order to find the focal point of the seal. The seal was easy top spot since it was an exact replica of Blake's Crest that shinned in the room, and it was within Blake's reach.

Placing his palm on the Crest, Blake opened up his own Crest to level three recalling what he had learned from Yumi about breaking a seal. Focusing what energy he could into his palm, Blake molded the raw energy into the shape of the spearhead which he then used to pierce through the focal point of the seal.

The sound of glass breaking rung through the entire room before a blast of light blue sparkles flew out in all directions from the seal, a getting a look of awe from Blake as he appreciated its beauty. Alan and Lola gave each other a nod before looking toward Latios and Latias, returning to the backs of their Legendary partners.

"Mission success." Alan said as the Eon Pokemon began to rise toward the ceiling, exiting the room through the entrance Blake had created for them earlier.

Shards of the crystalline structure began to break off one by one. Small first, but the continued to grow larger. As the crystal building collapsed, Blake felt a sudden drain on his stamina. Although he had to admit that it didn't feel bad. Something was inviting him to fall asleep on the spot, and Blake fail to fight against the urge for more than a few moments.

The last thing he saw was a large chuck the crystal falling toward him, but Blake couldn't convince his body to move. His Crest flickered back to life for a moment, right before he was crushed, a dull thud marking the moment in time when the heavy object hit the ground, followed by several more landing on top of it.

The occupants that had been inside of the large crystal had finally begun to awaken, the first being Lugia. The piercing eyes of the large white Legendary Pokemon snapped open, although Lugia seemed to be shocked at the fact that it was able to move again.

"Wha, what's going on?" Lugia asked, looking around a bit through its blurry vision which cleared up after a few moments. Lugia then took note of Lana who was still resting on the head of Abyss Arceus. Neither of them had moved yet, but Lugia found that its gaze had been drawn away from Lana to a pair of glowing red eyes.

Abyss Arceus roared which gave Lugia a fright. Lugia could recall its last encounter with Abyss Arceus on Mt Corenet, and from that short battle, Lugia could tell that it wouldn't be able to defeat the black centaur on its own. Focusing on Lana, Lugia quickly snatched the girl away from Abyss Arceus with the help of its Psychic attack before fleeing from the Embedded Tower with the use of Teleport.

Abyss Arceus stood alone for a few moments, scanning the room. But its vision had been clouded by crystals that it had previously been trapped in. The beast only gave another roar as if to vent its frustration.

Sinnoh Region

Mt Corenet

Spear Pillar

Sander stood alone on top one of the tall stone pillars that gave this area in Mt Corenet its name.

After the closing of the battle in Mt Corenet, Sander had been experiencing a rather uneventful time. Now that Abyss Arceus was free from its bindings with Pure Arceus, he didn't have much to do.

Just a few hours after Abyss Arceus had been sealed away, Sander had been contacted by a pair of people he hadn't seen in quite sometime. Alan and Lola appeared before him in Spear Pillar about a month ago, and they had come with a proposition.

They had agreed to unseal Abyss Arceus for him and give him another Dark Crest for him to use as he pleases. But in return, Sander would have to keep his hands off of the Crest of Jirachi.

"The two of you are still scheming to take the King's Crest for yourself, aren't you?" Sander asked with a cackle as the Eon duo joined him in his laugh.

"We are no where near as simple minded as the rest of you. We have bigger plans in mind." Alan replied with a smirk.

Sander had to admit though, this duo was incredibly useful. Who would've though that they would be the ones to discover the Dark Crest he had been searching for. And this girl would be far more useful than the group of mindless children he had taken full control off.

Glancing down at the twenty two year old amber haired woman that was seated at the base of the pillar Sander was seated on, Sander couldn't help but give her a crooked smile which she remained unaware of.

Alan had given him a guidebook on how to manipulate Maria Holker as he pleased. The girl was searching for a way to revive her late fiancé, and this made it far to easy for him to bend her into the tool he would need as the Storm progressed.

Sander felt a small surge of energy run through his Crest which lit up, but instead of the usual gray color it possessed, his Crest was black. This had only happened on before. The day he had freed Abyss Arceus.

"Excellent work Alan and Lola. The two of you never fail to impress me."

Another short chapter. Sorry about this again guys, but we've finally made it. The Storm had finally begun back in Sinnoh only for an immediate stop thanks to Lana, but now that Abyss Arceus is free once again, we'll finally see what's in store for the world.

I know these past two chapters have been really short, but trust me, the next chapter will make up for it. I had been building up toward this chapter since the second chapter of this fic, and now I'm finally writing it. This is so exciting.

I want to thank all of you guys for the reviews too. I'll do my absolute best on the next chapter, so until next time. Peace!