In the last adventure, everyone was told about the dreaded Demon Comet. As it turns out, the Demon Comet not only caused the most recent events to be possible, but it's also the basis of Darkrai's ultimate plan of world conquest, not knowing what calling the Comet down will actually do to the world. Our heroes are unfortunately unprepared to deal with this threat. Only one day remains until the Comet is within Darkrai's reach. Time grows short for our heroes…


Chapter 10 – One Day Remains


"We need an Alpha Blessing, stat!" Pelame frantically demanded of Dialga. "The Demon Comet's coming, and we need every last—"

"Pelame, calm down!" Pugno chastised. He turned and addressed Dialga. "Sorry, sir. She just wants what's best for the world."

"I UNDERSTAND," Dialga assured. "I AM AWARE OF THE DEMON COMET'S IMPENDING ARRIVAL, AND I SHALL INDEED PREPARE YOU BOTH TO PUT AN END TO IT. FOLLOW ME."

In response to the glow of the red jewel on Dialga's chest, the panel holding the five Time Gears folded into the ground and extended out of the tower, revealing itself to be an elevator. The three Pokémon got on it. As they rode it down, Pelame stomped on it in a futile attempt to make it go faster, despite it reaching its destination in only fifteen seconds. The stop was the cliff about three feet below the base of Temporal Tower. Dialga stepped forward, and the rock face responded to the glowing red jewel by sinking into the ground, revealing a tunnel. Pelame rushed inside just before the slab finished disappearing into the ground. Pugno followed after her, though not as hurriedly as she had entered. Dialga patiently followed the two of them.

"I HAVE ALWAYS KNOWN THERE WAS SOMETHING SPECIAL ABOUT YOU TWO," Dialga said, having caught up to the two Explorers who had already taken their spots within the Alpha Sigil on the floor. "I MUST SAY I'M PROUD TO BESTOW THIS GIFT TO YOU. I'M SURE YOU WILL PUT IT TO GOOD USE."

Dialga stood in the back of the chamber, glowing gold and lighting everything up. The statues above the Sigil took on their new poses as Dialga spoke.

"MY GIFT TO THIS ALPHA BLOODLINE TEAM,
TO HELP KEEP THE WORLD FROM COMING APART AT THE SEAM.
FROM THE MASTER OF TEMPORAL TOWER,
AN UPGRADE TO YOUR RAW ALPHA BLOODLINE POWER.
WITH THIS WITH YOU, MORE SHIRNES YOU MUST FIND,
TO RESTORE THE ALPHA POWER TO YOUR HEART, SOUL, AND MIND.
NOW ACCEPT MY GIFT PELAME AND PUGNO,
AND OFF TO THE REMAINING SHRINES YOU GO!"

After the gift was passed on, Pelame teleported herself and Pugno away before anything else could be said or done.

"GOOD LUCK TO YOU BOTH," Dialga said. "AND PELAME, PLEASE DON'T LET THE DARK BLESSING TAKE YOU."


"There it is," Kelvin said. "We've found it. The Grey Castle."

The remaining group consisting of Team Temperature, the Wigglytuff Guild crew, Celebi, Dusknoir, and Blessing had at last located Darkrai's base of operations. The Grey Castle was situated on top of the Aegis Ruins. Its size overwhelmed the ruins and practically crushed them underneath it. The castle's design was nothing like anyone had ever seen. "Uneven" was the term that came to everyone's minds, referring to the main tower looking unfinished, and the castle appearing to be missing its entire left side. All of its main structures appeared to be leaning to the right, including the bell tower. As its name implied, the castle was colored grey.

As anticipated, none of the Pokémon (besides Team Temperature, Kelvin, and Blessing) could approach the Castle without being blasted back by a mysterious force. The Dark Blessing was protecting the castle.

"Don't worry," Guildmaster Wigglytuff said. "We'll keep watch. Everyone, get out your Vanish Seeds." On the Guildmaster's order, the Guild crew ate their Vanish Seeds and turned invisible. Celebi and Dusknoir used their own natural powers to hide themselves. The four who could get past the Dark field entered the castle without being detected.

The only light available to the four Pokémon were the lights generated by the Alpha Amulets. From what they could see, the castle was kept up well enough. At least, nothing was broken. Some of the pictures looked a bit macabre. Blessing stared at one mural in particular that depicted a formless matter with eight wings extending from it. The wings resembled thorn bushes and they looked grotesque. Blessing couldn't help but get an intimidated feeling from seeing it.

"Blessing, don't lag," Celsius said, bringing her focus back to the mission on hand.

"What were you looking at?" Kelvin asked.

"You know, I can't even put it into words," Blessing answered. "But, for some reason, it scares me to look at it. You know what I mean?"

"Not really," Kelvin said with as much sympathy as he could manage. "But you have nothing to fear, Blessing. Whatever you're afraid of, we'll take care of it together."

"Yeah, you're right," Blessing responded. She looked up and smiled at Kelvin. "Nothing we can't handle, right? Those Demon-types will be at our mercy!"

"Right!" Kelvin agreed. He gave a quick kiss to Blessing's cheek. She brought her hand up to where she was kissed and giggled.

"Yeah, laugh it up!" shouted a Pokémon. "At least it's better than hearing Lady Bloodshed laugh. I can't wait to see the look on her face when she finds that I was the one to finish you whelps off!" The Pokémon revealed himself to be Skuntank.

"I don't think she'll be surprised to see you covered in bruises," Blessing retorted. "Bring it, smelly."


"—NOW ACCEPT MY GIFT PELAME AND PUGNO,
AND OFF TO THE REMAINING SHRINES YOU GO!"

Palkia had finished bestowing his gift to Pelame and Pugno. The two felt as though they could withstand any Demon attack thrown at them.

"I'M IMPRESSED WITH YOUR PROGRESS, YOU TWO," Palkia said. "ONLY TWO MORE AND YOU'LL BE READY. IT'S NEARLY MIDNIGHT, SO I SUGGEST YOU GET A MOVE ON. TOMORROW'S—"

"If you'd let us, we COULD get moving!" Pelame snapped.

"Pelame, cut that out!" Pugno chastised. "We'll be ready for the Comet tomorrow. But you shouldn't act like this to the ones who are helping us out!"

"We're wasting time!" Pelame retorted. "Lollygag if you want; I'm heading to the World Abyss to receive Giratina's gift! Now if you'll excuse me, Alpha Warp!" Pelame made good on her word and teleported away.

"Please don't be angry at her," Pugno said to Palkia. "Darkrai snuck a Dark Blessing into her, and the Comet is—"

"YES, I KNOW," Palkia responded. "THE COMET IS AFFECTING HER, AND SHE WANTS TO STOP IT. FOR HER SAKE, YOU BOTH MUST SUCCEED IN THIS MISSION. FOLLOW HER. SHE'S AT THE WORLD ABYSS NOW."

"Understood," Pugno said. "Thanks, sir." He then teleported after Pelame.


"Heart Stopper!" Skuntank shouted, releasing a bolt of evil lightning from his eyes. Blessing caught the attack and threw it back at Skuntank. Being hit didn't faze him at all, but an Alpha Blast from Kelvin did.

"Absolute Zero!" shouted Zubat, entering the fray. His icy attack failed to hit its target, freezing the walls instead. A quick Blast Burn from Fahrenheit melted the ice and took Zubat down in one shot.

"Diabolic Inferno!" shouted Koffing, avenging his fallen teammate by roasting Fahrenheit with his attack. He only served to distract himself from Celsius's Focus Punch, which had him down instantly, leaving Skuntank as the only remaining opponent. He refused to go down easily.

"Sheesh, I almost know how Lady Bloodshed feels," Skuntank moaned. "Fine, then. I wanted to do this myself anyway. Malevolent Miasma!"

From the tip of his tail, Skuntank sprayed an evil mist at the four intruders. To his shock, it had no effect. He had expected them to instantly choke to death. However, the entire cloud of mist exploded once it touched Kelvin's tail flame, right when he was getting ready to attack. Fahrenheit brought up an Alpha Guard just in time to shield everyone from the explosion. When it was safe, the shield was let down. Kelvin got himself ready to attack once more.

"I hear you've given Team Space-Time trouble before," he said to Skuntank. "I'm part of that Team now, so let's settle this."

"I'm with you, Kelvin!" Blessing said, stepping forward to flank her fellow teammate. "I'm part of Team Space-Time, too! Skuntank, you're history!"

"Well, then, let's get started," Skuntank urged. "Hope you can handle more than a Putrid Stream!" Out of Skuntank's evil aura came a flood of an indescribable toxic liquid, which Kelvin blocked immediately.

"Mom, Dad, take Skuntank's teammates away from here!" Kelvin said. "Blessing and I can handle the stinker himself!"

"Understood, son," Celsius said.

"They'll be back to normal by the time you're done," Fahrenheit added. "Catch up to us when you're done!" With that, the two were off with the two incapacitated Team Skull members. Skuntank did nothing to try to stop them, instead focusing entirely on his two remaining opponents.

"Two on one, smelly," Blessing taunted. "But you never had a chance anyway, even if you had your cohorts with you. Ice Beam!" Skuntank's Flamethrower attack couldn't deter the Demon-type enhanced Ice Beam coming from Blessing. The odorous fiend was hit directly, but he quickly thawed himself out of the ice, only to be slugged in the face by Kelvin's Focus Punch.

"That was for trying to drown me," Kelvin said.

Skuntank could no longer stand, nor did he have any more energy to fight. Against his will, he collapsed.

"Well, that was anti-climactic," Blessing remarked. "I can't believe Pelame and Pugno once lost to this smelly amateur."

"He must have cheated," Kelvin responded. "Just like he tried to do earlier. Let's take him prisoner with us. Mom and Dad can take care of him, too."

"Gotcha." Blessing had just finished tying Skuntank up with her Energy Threads. She then kicked him straight in the jaw. "That's for your hand in the Grey Theatre incident! That'll teach you to gag me!"

"But he wasn't the one who—"

"Who cares?! I hate being gagged, even if it's by your hand!" Blessing realized how harsh that last part sounded. "Sorry."

"I understand. And I'm sorry for silencing you that time. But anyway, my parents are waiting in the crew bedroom below this hall. Follow me; I'll track their location."

"On my way. I've got our hostage."

The two were off to meet up with Fahrenheit and Celsius.


The Treeshroud Forest looked just as peaceful at one hour until midnight as it did in the afternoon. Pelame was taking in none of it like she normally would have. She and Pugno had finally reached the spot of their final Alpha Blessing, soon to be bestowed on them by a Celebi they both assumed was the ancestor of the Celebi who was helping track down the Grey Castle.

"I've never seen a green Celebi before," Pugno said.

"Yes, green is our natural color," said the Celebi. "Some are pink, such as my descendant. She telepathically told me you two were coming."

"I hope she told you to get this over with quickly!" Pelame snapped. "The Demon Comet's coming tomorrow! Hurry up already!"

"I know," Celebi responded calmly. "It's this way." Celebi guided Pelame and Pugno to a random pond in the forest. The two explorers were able to stand on the water as though it were the ground. Once they reached Celebi, the three sunk into the pond. At the very far bottom was the Alpha Shrine. The water was unable to leak into the Shrine.

"I'm proud of the both of you for your progress," Celebi said. "Soon, everything will be just the way it was. The world will be just like—"

"WE KNOW HOW PEACEFUL THE WORLD WILL BE, DAMN IT! GET ON WITH IT ALREADY!" Pelame screamed at the top of her lungs. Pugno and Celebi stared at Pelame in shock, just as she herself realized the gravity of her behavior up to this point. Her eyes filled up with tears. "…what's wrong with me?" she whimpered.

"You should have come to me sooner," Celebi said. "Cresselia's gift has been given to me in light of her mysterious death. I will actually be bestowing two gifts to the both of you."

"Please, help me," Pelame begged of Celebi. She and Pugno took their spots within the Alpha Sigil. Celebi assumed her spot atop the touching weapons held by the statues.

"My gifts to this Alpha Bloodline Team,
to foil the Dark Blessing's twisted dream.
Improved resistance to the Dark Blessing's manipulative ways,
and the strength to bring light back to these dark days.
You now have no Shrines left to find,
The Alpha Bloodline's power is completely restored to your heart, soul, and mind.
Now accept my gifts, Pelame and Pugno,
And off to stop the Demon Comet you go!"

The whole chamber took on a golden glow as the words were spoken. Pelame and Pugno had finally received all the Alpha Blessings, and were ready to save the world.

"Thanks, Celebi," Pelame said. "I'm so sorry for snapping at you. Please let the others know how sorry I am, too."

"I shall," Celebi responded. "I am aware of what befell you five days ago. The Dark Blessing's followers have been chasing you for the past week or so, I gathered."

"But now, we can beat them," Pugno added. "Thanks to you and the other Legendaries, that is."

"That's right," Pelame added. "We won't let you down. That's a promise! We'll be seeing you!"

"Good luck to the both of you," Celebi said.

Pelame and Pugno ascended out of the Shrine with the Alpha Bridge ability they learned from Regigigas. They hunkered down in a nearby cave in the Treeshroud Forest and put up an Alpha Guard around the area they made camp.

"This should last all night," Pelame said. "We can't oversleep, Pugno."

"I know," Pugno said. "We can't take liberties just because our friends already infiltrated the Grey Castle. I just received word of that now; Blessing and Kelvin defeated Team Skull while we received Celebi's gifts."

"Well, we should congratulate them when we catch up to them. Good night, Pugno."

"Good night, Pelame. Sleep well, my love."

The two Pokémon drifted off to sleep.


"I've got the leader," Blessing declared triumphantly upon entering the bedroom Fahrenheit and Celsius had made themselves at home in. The entire room was guarded by an Alpha Guard field, preventing any of the enemies from entering without permission. "I'll leave him with his loser friends." She dumped him near Zubat and Koffing.

"You fools think you can stop Darkrai from conquering the world?!" Skuntank shouted. "He will crush all of you!"

"Speaking of Darkrai," Kelvin said. "You three will no longer be serving him. Mom, Dad, they're ready for you to do the honors."

Fahrenheit and Celsius approached Team Skull, Alpha Amulets in hand. The two Infernapes touched the Amulets against the three Pokémon; Fahrenheit's Amulet touching Koffing and Skuntank, and Celsius's Amulet touching Zubat and Skuntank.

"You three are no longer slaves to the Dark Blessing!" they both said. "Alpha Purify!"

The entire room glowed with a pure white light. Once the light faded, Team Skull lie there, dazed.

"You three should never ever return here," Celsius said. "We're sending you somewhere where you'll be safe." On those words, Team Temperature's founders teleported Team Skull out of the Grey Castle.

"Everything is set now," Fahrenheit said. "I sense that Pelame and Pugno have finished receiving Alpha Blessings. We should get some rest. We'll all be ready by tomorrow to stop Darkrai from summoning the Demon Comet."

"I've let Pelame and Pugno know that we're here," Kelvin said. "We're really all ready for tomorrow, then?"

"Yes we are," Celsius answered. "Good night, son." Fahrenheit and Celsius settled into a nearby bed and went to sleep. Kelvin and Blessing took the only other bed in the room. Blessing picked up a red and yellow scarf from the room's closet.

"Say, Blessing, I noticed something earlier," Kelvin said. "You were moving just fine earlier while we were fighting Skuntank."

"Hey, you're right!" Blessing responded joyfully. "It didn't even hurt me to fight. That reminds me. Wait here; I'll be right back."

Kelvin took Blessing's leave as an opportunity to straighten out a spot on the bed he had picked.


Blessing had just left the lavatory's shower, having already removed her bandages. She then decided to climb into the bathtub, just to relax a bit. She felt as though she needed it. The tub was big enough to fit a Snorlax, so she was able to float at the deep end. The water was a comfortable temperature. Even an Ice-type Pokémon like herself needed some heat every now and then. She sunk under the water and looked up to the surface from the bottom of the tub. She rushed to the surface in surprise of who she saw when she looked up.

"Kelvin!" she gasped. "What are—"

"Quiet…" Kelvin whispered, putting his hand over Blessing's mouth. She glared at him for a moment. Then, before Kelvin could pull his hand away, Blessing grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him into the tub and under the water with her. They both rushed to the surface.

"Blessing," Kelvin whispered. "What in the world are you doing?! You know where we are, don't you?"

"Of course," Blessing answered, keeping her voice down. "In Bloodshed's private bathroom. I'd love to see the look on her face when she finds that I used her private toilet."

"My goodness! It's like you want her to kill you! Not that she stands a chance against you, but still."

"Darn right she stands no chance against me. I can't wait until I kick her butt."

The two Pokémon rested against the side of the tub. Blessing turned around and rested on the side, chin-first. She then felt a pair of hands on her shoulders. Kelvin's hands started kneading on her shoulders.

"So, you were physically tense, too," he quipped. "You really ought to take it easy."

"Yeah, sure, I guess," Blessing responded. "Us Dark-types sure don't have much reason to—ooh, right there, that's good—much reason to relax. It's just part of being a Sneasel, I guess. I know it—YES! Right there! Keep going!—I know it makes absolutely no sense, but there you go. Plus, all that stupid stuff that's been going on, seeing my mother's murderer alive, and, well, you know where I'm going with this."

"Oh, totally. But look at it this way: everything will be dealt with tomorrow. All will finally be well again."

"Yeah, I guess so. And you know, it's been an exciting ride. And one more thing; I saved your life the one time. You don't think you're indebted to me, are you? Because you don't have to keep doing all this for me. I mean, I do kinda love you, too, but…"

"You just have a different way of showing it."

"Yes. Exactly that. And by the way, I'm relaxed now. So you can stop." Kelvin did as told. "Thanks for the massage, by the way. Man, was that a refresher. But really, there's no need for you to pamper me like a bad parent spoils their child."

"All right, I get it. Besides, we've spent too much time here. We should get to bed. We've got a busy day ahead of us tomorrow."

The two Pokémon emptied the tub and climbed out and returned to the room the group had picked out. Kelvin got into the spare bed and prepared a spot for Blessing.

"Glad to see you're all better, honey," was all Kelvin said as Blessing climbed into the bed. "Good night."

"Good night, Kelvin. And also…" Blessing leaned forward to kiss Kelvin on the right cheek. "Good night."

The two lovers were asleep in seconds.


"Hey! What are you two doing up here?!" Chatot squawked.

Team Temperature, Kelvin, and Blessing were awakened by Chatot's loud question. They all came to a horrible realization all at once.

"Hey! The Grey Castle's gone!" Kelvin shouted.

"But we were supposed to go with it when we slept in it!" Blessing added. "Did we get kicked back onto the Aegis Ruins?!"

"Looks like it," Celsius said, surveying the surroundings and finding that they were indeed on top of the Aegis Ruins.

"Oh, this is bad!" Celebi said. "We have to find the Grey Castle again, and quickly!"

"We had better get a move on, then," Dusknoir added, pointing to the sky. Everyone looked up to where Dusknoir was pointing. A pitch-black object was visible in the morning sky, and it was quickly approaching the planet. The Demon Comet had entered the planet's atmosphere.


Suggested music for this chapter:

The Grey Castle Gate – Magus's Castle (Chrono Trigger)

Inside the Grey Castle – Confusing Melody (Chrono Trigger)

Team Temperature vs Team Skull – Boss Battle 1 (Chrono Trigger)

Blessing and Kelvin Relaxing – Happy End (Digimon Adventure OST)

The Demon Comet Enters the Atmosphere – Taiketsu (Digimon Adventure OST)


A/N: That bathtub scene might be the shippiest thing I ever wrote. Well, that was fun. I hope you had fun reading that, because all the fun ends here.