"Summer! Get down!" Ben yelled as he ran away from the flashing computer machine as it began shining. Summer's eyes widened as she looked at the machine. She threw a researcher off of her before diving to the floor of the lab.

A loud explosion sounded throughout the deserted streets of New Bark Town. Researchers and debris were sent flying, some at a distance of half way across the town.

With a groan of pain, Ben opened his eyes slowly as she looked up. The lab had been completely blown to smithereens. He hissed as he sat to his knees, a pain in his shoulder demanding him to lay back down, but he wouldn't comply.

As Ben rose, he looked around the lab. His eyes scanned over all the researchers. He bit his lip, looking away from them. He couldn't tell from a distance whether or not they were alive.

"You should have died!" a loud voice screamed. Ben turned on his heel. His eyes widened as he looked at Elm stood behind him. Piercing red eyes glared into the boy as Ben felt a cold hand grip his throat.

"I won't allow scum like you to interfere with the darkness!" Elm yelled.

"D-Dark…ness?" Ben asked, gasping for breath as he was lifted into the air. Elm's eyes went cynical as he dug his nails into the boy's throat.

"Yes darkness. The being that corrupts all. Pokemon and people alike! You will all fall to it soon!" Elm yelled as he laughed. Ben gritted his teeth as he felt blood trickle down his neck.

"It-it won't happen!" Ben argued as he felt his air being cut off slowly, but effectively.

Summer groaned as she pushed a part of the fallen ceiling off of her. She rubbed her head, trying to get rid of the pain. As she opened her eyes, her vision span, but she could see, clear as day, that her partner was in trouble.

"B-Ben," she whispered as she tried to stand to her feet. Her head throbbed, causing the girl to fall back to her knees.

"The darkness will consume all, starting with Sinnoh!" Elm yelled as Ben closed his eyes. Elm dropped the boy to the ground as a black hand came up from the floor. Elm's eyes locked with Summer, who held her head in pain.

The hand quickly grabbed Elm and dragged him away with it into the darkness. Summer, taking no chances, stood shakily to her feet and wobbled over to her partner. To her surprise Ben quickly gasped for hair as he took a hold of his own throat.

"Arceus, Ben. Don't do that again," Summer muttered as she and the brunette collapsed on the floor in pain. The girl's vision soon stopped spinning as she pulled her styler out.

Although it was flattened and crushed by the explosion in the lab, she hoped to Arceus she could still make a call out. The brunette moved her head, needing to assess the situation they were in at the moment.

She could tell, just by the silence of the wind, that none of the researchers had survived that explosion. Tapping her styler a few times, static suddenly appeared on it.

"Rythmi, Linda, Marcus, anyone, please answer," the brunette begged as tears came to her eyes.

"Sum….mer?" a voice came from the other line.

"Rythmi? Is that you?"

"Are…. Okay?"

"Rythmi listen! Ben and I need help. We have to retreat this mission. The two of us were in an explosion in Elm's lab. We're badly injured. We need help, now," no reply came from the other end as Summer began speaking. "Rythmi? Ryth?!" she yelled into the mic but there was no reply.

Ben placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. She looked at him as a small smile came onto his face. That smile, that one little thing gave her hope.

"They'll know what to do," he whispered as he sat up. His shoulder throbbed in pain as he removed his shirt and dabbed the wounds on his neck. As he looked at himself, he noticed he was more injured than he had thought. His leg was indeed broken and his should was more than likely dislocated.

Looking over at Summer, he saw a large gash on her arm, as well as one on her head. She had a bone sticking out from her arm and could see the minor scratches and wounds over her body.

Summer coughed silently, spitting a little blood up as she did so.

"If they wanted to kill us, they failed," she muttered.

"I'm more concerned about who this darkness is," Ben hissed as he tried to move his leg. He hadn't felt it before, but his leg was starting to throb in pain now. A light breathing came from besides him, Ben looked at Summer, the girl had tears slipping out from her eyes as she sniffed slightly.

"We need to warn the others," she whispered, thinking of her friends. Ben remained silent. He knew she was right, but their stylers were broke. How, on earth, would like alert the others with no way of communication?

Ben sighed, all they could do was rely on the union to have received part of Summer's message and get to them as soon as possible. Ben bit his lip. He was worried. Without medical attention, would Summer make it? Would his leg get fixed? Would either of them be permanently disabled for the rest of their lives?

Only time would tell. But one thing was for sure at that moment in time. That the condition the two of them were in they were no longer fit to continue their side of the mission.

The mission for Ben and Summer ended there and then as the two of them awaited back up.

'We'll have to help out as much as we can at the Union,' Ben thought as he looked to the sky. He needed something to keep himself preoccupied. He couldn't let himself or Summer fall asleep in case death were to creep upon the two of them.


Isaac in Rythmi's body looked at the screen in confusion as static showed up on the screen. He (she?) fiddled with the keys in front of them and spoke into the mic on his face.

"Hello?" Arceus his voice sounded so girly. He hoped that Rythmi and he could get this sorted out soon. He didn't want to have to sleep in a girl's body. He couldn't even imagine taking Rythmi's top off to change and – no, Isaac shook his head of those thoughts as Summer's voice came through.

"Summer?"

"Ryh…..mi? Is ….. you?"

"Are you okay?" Isaac was getting panicked. The static between them was too much. If Summer was going to say something important it would be easy for the blonde to miss.

"Rythmi…. Ben…. help….. retreat…. mission…. two of…. an explosion…. lab… injured….. help," Isaac's frowned at the static going on but he got the gist of the message. He quickly turned in his chair.

"Hastings!" the older man turned around at the sound of Rythmi's panicked voice, of course it was Isaac but he didn't know that.

"What is it?" Hastings asked, quickly walking over with Erma following him.

"We have two injured Rangers. Ben and Summer were involved in an explosion at Elm's lab. They need help. Summer said they needed to retreat the mission," Isaac explained as he looked at the older man. Hastings' eyes widened profoundly as he looked at Linda.

"Get in touch with Barlow, we need Luana and Crawford here to bring our Rangers back to us," Hastings ordered.

"But who will look after the Almia Region?" Marcus asked as he looked at the older man.

"We'll call in backup from other Regions if everything's okay there. If now, then we need to pray to Arceus everything will be alright," Hastings answered as he looked at the boy.

"We're on our way," Crawford's voice flowed through the room as silence fell among the group.

"I hope our dears will be okay," Erma whispered as she looked at the screen. Isaac bit his lip as he looked at the screen in front of him.

"I can call the others, make sure they're okay," he suggested, but Erma shook her head.

"No, our Rangers know what to do if they are ever in trouble. They will call us if they need us," she replied as she turned away from the screens. But all that was running through Erma's head was doubt as to whether or not the mission she had sent her Rangers on was too dangerous for them to handle.

"Who am I kidding? My Children will be just fine," Erma whispered to herself as Isaac ran passed her. "Careful Rythmi dear, we don't need casualties here as well," Erma warned. Isaac turned to her before smiling kindly.

"Sorry Erma, I need to get Isaac so we can get our infirmaries ready," Isaac replied before rushing off again.

Rythmi sighed as she looked at the screen in front of her. She had taken a blood sample from both her and Isaac but there was nothing in their blood or on the tests she had ran that had shown how they had switched bodies.

"Ryth?" Rythmi looked up from holding her head in her hands. Isaac walked over to her and scanned over the writing on the screen. "Still nothing," Isaac sighed as he looked down.

"I'm starting to think the only way to turn back is to get rid of whatever caused this," Rythmi threw her opinion out there as she looked at the blonde. Isaac simply nodded, not really caring at the moment.

"It doesn't matter. We should tell the Union but we need to push the body switch thing to the back of our minds. We have a problem," Isaac replied as he explained what happened with Summer and her communication.

"What?! Do you know what she said? What's happening? Who's going to help them?" Rythmi asked frantically as she stood up before pacing around. Isaac gripped the girl, in his body, by her shoulders and forced the girl to look at him.

"We're sending Luana and Crawford. From what I could make out they were involved in an explosion. As soon as Luana and Crawford leave we need to get the infirmaries set up. We can't take any chances," Isaac answered as he tried to calm Rythmi, but this time it was trickier as she began tearing up.

"I- I don't think I can do this anymore Isaac," the blonde looked at her with pity in his eyes. "First Operation Brighton and now this. B-But this seems more dangerous and what happens if someone d…." Rythmi couldn't even speak the word. Her body wouldn't allow her.

Isaac quickly took her in his arms as he tried his hardest to sooth her. Though it was awkward now that she was about a head taller than him in his body. The blonde sighed as he pushed her away slightly.

"Ryth, the others are strong. Operation Brighton has made them strong, they can and they will beat this. I can guarantee you that. Have faith in them," Isaac whispered as he looked at the girl. Rythmi sniffled slightly but nodded her head.

Of course, she knew her friends would make it. Even when all seemed lost for them they would always come through with something to surprise them. They did it with Operation Brighton and Rythmi just knew they would do it with this mission as well.

"Let me take a look at those results as well," Isaac ordered as he took the seat Rythmi had been sat in. Rythmi stood behind the boy as she looked over his shoulder as he typed away on the computer.

She knew, that is anyone could figure out how to turn their bodies back, it would be Isaac. She had more faith in this scientist than anyone in the entire Union. Of course she would never say that to anyone.

Rythmi and Isaac both just hoped that the others wouldn't come back to the Union like Ben and Summer during or at the end of this mission.

'Please be safe,' both blondes thought as they preoccupied themselves with the test results of their blood samples.


Kellyn placed his small blue hand on Seren's knee as she sniffed slightly. The black haired girl gritted her teeth as she balled her fists. Her body was suddenly filled with anger as she looked up.

Kellyn's eyes widened as he looked at the anger in those beautiful eyes of her. He gulped slightly, she was honestly scary, especially with the growl that left those scarred lips of hers.

Seren stood to her feet. Her anger getting the better of her as she picked Kellyn up and walked towards her mother's building once more. She saw Tyler stood outside with Caden. The older boy looked pissed, while Caden looked a little over terrified.

Tyler smirked when the black haired girl walked back over to him. She had stopped crying and all that was left were her puffy red eyes. Tyler smirked as he walked up, looking down on her.

Seren held Kellyn in her arms, squeezing her tightly, she was still scared, but she knew this was one fear she had to overcome.

"Come back, have you?" Tyler asked with a snicker as he glared down at his sister. Seren frowned.

"I came back to speak to her about what's been happening lately," at the tone of Seren's voice, Tyler struck her across the face. The black haired girl dropped Kellyn and Caden rushed to the pokemon's side.

"Seren!" Kellyn yelled, though it wasn't much use, since no one could understand him.

"Seren," Caden whispered as he put his hands to his lips, tears forming in his eyes. Seren tch'ed as she looked at Tyler, who looked at her on shock.

"If you think you still have control over me, you're wrong. I am going in there and I will speak to that thing that calls herself a human being and you will not stop me!" Seren yelled as she glared at the boy. Tyler walked over to the girl, fists balled as he did so.

With a swift movement that boy had swung once again for the girl and with another swift movement Seren had anticipated his movements and quickly dodged the attack.

She ducked as slipped away behind his back before kicking the boy forwards. Tyler was froze in shock as he looked back at his little sister. Seren glared down at him with her chest puffed out proudly.

"She won't speak to you," Tyler growled as he stood to his feet. Seren smirked.

"I'm not expecting her to," she replied as she turned around. "But what I am expecting is for you to stay out of the way of my mission. Interfere in any way and I will arrest you," Seren added as she looked at the boy.

"You don't have the authority!" Tyler yelled as he walked over to her. He gripped her shoulder and spun her around to look at her. Seren glared up at the man as she took her Ranger badge out from her pocket.

"I have the authority to do as I wish as a Ranger. I can and I will arrest anyone who gets in my damn way while I save the world. So stay out of my way," Seren hissed as she glared at the boy. Tyler scoffed as he looked at the girl, his eyes flaring with anger.

"This isn't over," he seethed as he turned to walk away. "Caden, come," he ordered as he growled as his younger brother. Caden looked at him in fear before taking a step forward. Seren sighed.

"I can't allow that," Kellyn looked at the girl in shock as he listened to what the girl was going to say.

"What?!" Tyler growled as he glared at Seren.

"I know what happens under that damn roof! I will not allow you to take my little brother to that hell hole!" she yelled in response. Kellyn's jaw dropped to the floor as he looked between Caden and Seren. The little boy laughed at Kellyn's reaction.

"Well, dear sister, he is my brother too," Tyler countered as he looked at Caden. Seren smirked.

"Why don't we let him decide?" Seren asked as she glared at the boy. Caden instantly ran to Seren's side and hugged her leg, hiding behind it in fear.

"You'll regret this," Tyler growled as he walked away from the two. Kellyn tugged on Seren's pant leg as she fell to her knees, suddenly feeling exhausted.

She looked at the pokemon and instantly knew he wanted an explanation. She sighed before patting the blue pokemon on the head, smiling weakly as she did so.

"I'll explain when you're back to normal, Kell," she whispered as she kissed the pokemon's forehead. Kellyn blushed slightly as Seren stood to her feet. Kellyn jumped onto the girl's shoulder as she lifted Caden into her arms.

She gulped, looking at the building before walking inside.

"Can I see your badge?" Caden asked as he looked at Seren. The girl took her badge out and handed it to the boy.

"Don't lose it," she whispered as she walked to the receptionist. "I'm looking for Sarah Redfern," Seren spat the name out as though it was venom to her.

"Top floor, last door on your right," the receptionist replied as she continued typing on the computer.

"I don't wanna go up there," Caden whispered as he buried his face into Seren's neck. Kellyn gave the boy a pitying look as Seren walked into the elevator.

"I know," Seren whispered as she stroked the boy's hair and took her badge back from his grasp. The lift dinged a minute later as the girl walked down the hall. She stopped outside a room labelled Sarah Redfern in big black letter. She gulped before knocking.

"Come in," she had forgotten the sound of her mother's voice in person. Her voice still sent shivers down her spine.

Seren set Caden on the floor and held his hand tightly. She opened the door with a determined look on her face and walked in. Sarah looked up from her desk and instantly stood to her feet.

"You!" she hissed.

"Me," Seren hissed an equally venomous voice. Sarah glared at the girl in front of her.

"I thought I told you not to come here!"

"I don't want to be here anymore than you want me here. But I'm here on official Ranger Business!" Seren growled as she held her badge out to the woman. Sarah scoffed. "And I want you to answer some questions. Should you object I have the authority to take you with me to the Almia Region for further questioning by the Union itself. However, if you answer the questions I have then I will leave and you will never see me again," Seren explained as she glared at Sarah, who glared back.

"What do you have to ask, Seren dearest?" Saran asked as she looked at the black haired girl.

"Only a few questions, they should be too hard for you to answer, mother dearest," Seren answered as the two woman glared each other down.

Kellyn's mouth dropped wide open as he looked between the two women in the room. He suddenly found his head running a mile a minute as he closed his eyes.

'I'm gonna kill you, Seren,' he thought with a sighed as he opened his eyes and locked eyes with the girl's mother.


Wendy growled as she entered Mt Hideaway, the fierce winds around the mountain had cut part of her skin. She quickly pulled out a bottle of water and cleaned her wounds before walking inside the mountain.

"Let's see, as long as I go up, I should be okay," Wendy spoke as she looked around before walking towards a small exit in the room. She walked through and ended up in a larger room, this continued for a while until she got to a rockslide.

With a sigh, the greenette began moving the boulders with her bare hands, she shivered slightly as the wind in the cave blew.

Wendy's eyes widened, she was inside a mountain there shouldn't be any wind at all. Turning on her heel she came face to face with dark eyes. She stepped backwards, falling through the rest of the rocks, gripping Sven's hat as she did so.

It wasn't until she was in that smaller, dimly lit part of the cave did she realise the figure pursuing her was her own partner.

"Sven!" the figure gripped the girl by her arms and lifted her to her feet. For a moment, Wendy thought she was safe and that her partner had come to his senses once more.

But when those, what used to be, soft hands, tightly gripped her shoulders and threw the greenette against the wall, she knew she had to run. As she looked around, she could only see one way out. Up a set of stairs.

The girl took off running and the figure of Sven followed closely behind her with a growl. As Wendy reached the stair, Sven appeared in front of her. With a menacing grin on his face, the ghostly figure of the boy advanced on the girl.

"S-Sven! P-Please!" Wendy whimpered as she looked at her partner being controlled. Her heart ached as she took the boy's hat off of her head and tried to see if she could get through to him.

"Darkness will rule," Sven's voice was croaking as he spoke. Wendy knew it wasn't him, and yet she couldn't help but feel her heart ache at his words.

"Darkness? What darkness?" Wendy asked as she was backed up against the wall. Sven walked in front of her, cornering her as he looked down at her. A dark hand appeared behind Sven as an evil smirk appeared over the boy's lips.

"The darkness that will consume you all!" Sven's voice echoed throughout the cave as the black hand grabbed him from behind, pulling him back into the darkness.

"Sven!" Wendy yelled as she reached her hand out towards her partner. As Sven was sucked into the darkness once more, Wendy could feel the exact same pain coming back to her as before. She hated that feeling and then a thought crossed her mind.

The darkness was messing with her. It was giving her Sven back and then it was taking him away it. It was a repeated pain that was killing her on the inside. This darkness was evil and it was only there to cause everyone pain.

Wendy felt tears start rolling down from her eyes as she tried her hardest to compose herself. She fell to her knees as she cried silently.

"Sven," she whispered quietly as she wiped her eyes and leaned back on the wall behind her. "Sven please…. Come back to me," she begged as she held her knees to her chest.

This darkness was causing Wendy more pain in this one day than she had ever felt in her entire life and for a moment, she debated whether or not she could finish this mission.


"You couldn't find the Professor?" Cynthia asked as Kate looked at her styler.

"No, but the darkness got Sven and Kellyn's been turned into a pokemon. We need to act fast," Kate answered as she looked at the girl. Cynthia frowned before sighing.

"It's evident that there's a lot of activity coming from Mt Cornet, but I can't get to the top of it. It's been completely blocked off by landslides. Even now, while Lucario's trying to clear them there are trembles higher up," Cynthia explained as she looked behind her. Her Lucario was trying his hardest to move the large boulders asides and clear a path for Cynthia.

"Stay in Mt Cornet. Kate and I can fly to the top of it to see what's going on," Keith suggested as he looked at the blonde. Cynthia nodded her head as the screen went black.

The two caught some remaining nearby Staraptor and quickly hopped onto their backs.

"Are you sure about this?" Kate asked as she looked at the red head.

"Do you have a better idea?" Keith asked as he looked at Kate.

"But what if we get sucked into the darkness?" Kate asked.

"Then we fight from the inside!" Keith called back as they flew towards Mt Cornet. The Staraptor began to get restless as they tried to stir away from the mountain.

Kate and Keith held a firm course on where they were to go. They flew through the blackened skies as purple lightning began hitting the ground below them. Keith's eyes landed on a small figure in the ground.

Kate's eyes widened at, what looked like, a small portal was open near the Spear Pillars. Keith growled as he tried to get a closer look, but his Staraptor only just managed to dodge a large jolt of lighting from the sky.

Kate looked at her partner in horror as he hissed at the electricity that grazed his arm.

"We need to land!" Kate yelled.

"Darkness! Darkness shall rule!" a voice yelled from below. Kate and Keith both turned their attention to the figure standing on the ground. Blue hair flashed in the light but that was all either could make out from the figure as they laughed loudly.

Suddenly, Kate felt herself being sucked up into something. She screamed as both she and her Staraptor were being taken further and further into the air. Keith looked at her, going to grab her hand, but Kate pulled her hands back.

"Kate?!" Keith yelled, confusion and anger evident in his voice.

"We'll be useless if both of us are sucked in! Find Cynthia!" Kate ordered as her voice started getting more and more distant from the red haired boy.

"Save everyone!" that was Kate's final order before her voice disappeared and her body vanished from Keith's vision. The red head looked at the large cloud that had sucked her in. For a moment, his vision turned red as he glared up at the cloud but quickly turned back to normal as he landed on the ground at the bottom of the mountain.

"Keith!" Cynthia's voice came from inside the mountain. Keith turned around in time to see the blonde walk out of the entrance. He nodded at her as he looked at the large black clouds surrounding the mountain.

"Where's Kate?" Cynthia asked, fearing the worst as Keith sighed.

"She was sucked into the clouds. I couldn't get her in time. She said it was useless if we were both sucked in," Keith answered as he balled his fists, gritting his teeth. "I don't care what this thing is. I won't let it take anyone else. It's gone too far by taking my partner. Now it's time to pay," Keith growled as he glared up at the sky. Cynthia smiled as she looked at the boy.

"We need to make it to the top first. It seems the darkness hasn't taken any of the pokemon inside. I'm not sure why but it's left them all where they are," Cynthia explained as she looked back into the mountain.

"So we have a chance to get to the top? As long as we can catch the pokemon in time and avoid the rock slides in time?" Keith asked as he looked at the blonde. Cynthia nodded but her frown told Keith it wasn't as simple as that.

"It sounds simple, but it isn't. The pokemon inside are very agitated, they refuse to help people and are even fighting against themselves. Every time a rock slide is cleared another one happens, bringing even more rocks in place down," she explained. Keith frowned.

"Basically it's a race against time in there. Find the pokemon, get rid of the rocks, slip through the opening and then clear the next ones while avoiding agitated pokemon," Keith ran over his idea to himself before nodding his head. "It'll be tricky, but not impossible with two of us as long as we cooperate," he added as he looked at Cynthia, the girl nodded her head.

"Did you see anything on the top of the mountain?" she asked as they turned to the entrance.

"A blue haired man, and something that looked like a portal, but that was about it," Keith answered as he looked at the blonde.

"Blue haired man?!" Cynthia asked in shock as her eyes widened. Keith nodded his head, his eyes narrowing as he looked at her.

"Mean something to you?" he asked in confusion as he frowned.

"It means something to this entire Region. We need to move before it's too late," Cynthia answered as she walked into the mountain. As soon as the two of them entered there was a rock slide behind them, sealing them from the exit.

"What do you mean?" Keith asked, his anger bubbling. Who was this guy? And why was he bringing so much trouble to the Regions all so the darkness could rule?

"His name's Cyrus Galactic. He used to control Team Galactic."

Keith's eyes widened as the name entered his mind. He had heard of that man. Cyrus, leader of Team Galactic. That damn scum of a team that were after Dialga and Palkia in order to destroy space and time.

Keith balled his fists in anger. This was unforgivable. He would bring Cyrus to his knees, whether it killed him or not.


Woah, minna, I am so sorry. I got swamped with revision and then I had to do this chapter solo. I'll see how Sky's feeling and if we can do this next chapter together.

Keith: Are you planning on killing everyone or something?

Kate: That reviewer was right, this is dark!

Isaac: Are you sure you're not depressed?

I'm fine! Why does everyone ask me that?!

Kellyn: Because you're mental?

You're a pokemon, shut up.

Kellyn: Screw you!

Sorry what?

Kellyn: *growls*

Seren: Moving on!

Rythmi: Please review this story and HTF and Sky will try to review as soon as possible.

Sky: *wakes up from nap* Hey guys *yawn* I missed ya *goes back to sleep*

Yeah, that's what she's like. Anyway I hope everyone like this chapter. Can't wait to see you all again soon.

Cast: Please, REVIEW!