Nightfall came for the menacing forest. Not that it mattered. It was practically the same thing. The Darkmon howled and screeched throughout the forest, intimidating those who might hear their nightmarish sounds. The night was where they were more active. Those who stepped into this forest must prepare themselves.

These were the things racing through the minds of a band of Pokémon trudging through the dark. They were cold, tired, and hungry. They were on the verge of passing out. They needed to rest for the night.

Krookodile sighed and took off his sunglasses. They may be his prized treasure, but there was no way he could wear them in these conditions. Even the moss was losing its glow, making it increasingly difficult to find any sort of path.

Emolga, Axew, and Scraggy laid on top of the sand croc's head, which he allowed for the time being. They were just as worn out as he was, maybe worse. They were scratched up and bruised. Scraggy looked worse than them, as his head looked like it was slammed against a freight train. It was crudely bandaged up with fallen leaves. The other two, while injured, weren't in any serious conditions.

He had to find some shelter soon before those creatures find them again. He could only defend the others and himself for so long. He was on the verge of passing out from exhaustion.

Fortunately, his search came to an end. Right ahead was a tree with a large, hollow center. Big enough for everyone to sleep in. With a relieved smile, he marched on over to it, making sure to stay quiet.

He carefully squeezed into the hole and looked around. He could barely make out the entire area, but it was definitely vacant. He couldn't smell the scent of those creatures. His only hope is that none of them discover this place.

He took the sleeping Pokémon off his head and set them down gently. The ground was surprisingly soft, even if it was void of life. Odd, considering they've been avoiding dangerous plant life all day.

He stepped out of the tree and smelled for any predators, as his sight was pretty much useless. Once he determined it was safe, he scouted the nearby area to find some firewood and something to block off their shelter. He might as well search some food, if there's anything edible. He spotted a bunch of berries and fruits throughout the day and was worried if they were poisonous or not. Piplup was lucky he didn't eat any that could have killed him.

He spent a few minutes collecting firewood, making sure to stay within sight of their shelter. He ended up finding a tree full of berries. Again, he wasn't sure if they were safe or not. If these were found in the natural wild, he could easily tell if they were safe of not. These were anything but natural.

However, an idea around that little dilemma formed in his head. He looked around and spotted a large leaf that could hold the berries. He plucked it off and started picking the berries, again making sure the coast was clear. He had to use some vines to tie the firewood to his back. He gathered various fruits and berries. They looked good, but looks can be deceiving. Hopefully his idea worked.

He carried them back to the shelter, just in time to see his companions slowly rise from their slumber. Emolga stretched, groaning from the soreness that struck through her body. She took a huge whiff of the air and licked her lips as her stomach let out a low growl. "I smell fruit!" She jumped and flew towards the scent.

The sand croc caught her by the tail and held her upside down. "Before you think of eating these, they might be poisonous."

"I'm hungry! It's worth a little poison!" She desperately tried to reach for them, but to no avail. She sighed in defeat.

Scraggy sat up and rubbed his banged up head. "Man, those things did a number on me."

"You said it," Axew agreed, rubbing his scratched up arm.

Krookodile set the flying squirrel down and sighed. "We've all had a long day. We need to get some rest for the night." He set the food and wood down in front of them. "Start making a fire to cook the berries while I find a boulder to seal off the shelter. Won't stop them, but it'll buy us some time."

Emolga groaned. "That sounds like work…"

"It's survival, get use to it," he retorted before leaving the tree.

Axew picked some sticks up. "Might as well get started." He took some discarded stones littered around the ground and began making a fire pit.

Emolga pouted before smirking at Scraggy. "Oh Scraggy~! Can you be a dear and handle the work for little ol' me~?"

He flailed his arms in protest. "No way! You're helping!"

"Oh really?" She said with a flirty expression, one he recognized unfortunately.

"If you use your Attract on me, so help me…!" he shouted in an angry tone.

Axew got between them before a brawl could start. "Both of you, stop!" He covered his snout, worried if something from the outside heard him. He whispered, "We need to keep it down. If those…whatever they are, find us, we're done for." He looked pleadingly at Emolga. "Just this once, can you please help us with the fire?"

She could have easily said 'no', but the puppy dog eyes really got to her. She sighed, unable to upset him. "Fine…but don't expect me to do this again after we leave." She picked up some sticks and started to help construct the fire.

The easy part was out of the way, now comes the hard part…actually making a fire. Scraggy scratched the side of his head. "So…how do you start a fire?"

"I could use my Dragon Rage. That's fire…sort of."

Emolga rolled her eyes. "Too destructive to start a fire." She took some leftover sticks and rubbed them together quickly. "I saw this back when I was still in the wild. Some trainers rubbed wood together and create a fire."

The bipedal dragon smiled. "That's awesome, Emolga."

She smiled proudly from the praise. "Well, I am fairly brilliant."

Scraggy thought of something and tapped her shoulder. "Uh, Emolga?"

"Quiet, I'm trying to focus."

"But Emolga-"

"I said shut up, Scraggy." This left the Shedding Pokémon with a sour expression. Rather than bug her any further, he just leaned back against the wooden walls and waited somewhat patiently.

Emolga, for the past few minutes, tried desperately to start a fire. But she couldn't even get a spark. The wood wasn't even warm! She rubbed them together harder and faster with an annoyed expression, soon turning into blind fury.

"Light, you stupid twigs!" She succeeded in, not lighting them but, snapping them in half from the force. She stared at them in disbelief and threw them away furiously. "Ugh! This is impossible!"

"Emolga?"

"What, Scraggy?!"

He shushed her, reminding her to keep her tone down. "Can't you just, I don't know, use a small Volt Switch to light them?"

Emolga stared at him with a twitch in her eye. She used her left paw to face-palm herself while using her right to create a small Volt Switch and flick it into the fire pit.

Within seconds of the flash, a fire came to life. Axew clapped. "Nice work, Emolga."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever…" She was too exhausted to acknowledge the praise properly.

Scraggy jabbed the extra sticks into the fruit and held them over the fire, like roasting marshmallows. He handed two more to his friends. "Can't wait to eat these."

"Assuming their safe…" Emolga reminded in boredom. If she ate one without cooking it, she was going to get it from Krookodile…assuming the possible poison doesn't do her in first.

Axew sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "Today sure has been a nightmare…"

*Flashback*

They rubbed the cuts on their body, wincing from the sharp pain. One minute they were searching for Pikachu, the next they get poked by flowers that appeared out of nowhere.

"Ow…" Axew complained. "That really hurt…"

Scraggy, however, was crossed. "Alright, who's the wise guy?" He hiked up his pants like membrane and glared at every inch of the forest. "You want a piece of me? Come at me! I'll take you all on!"

Emolga rubbed her arm while staring at him in minor frustration. "Quit acting like a child, Scrags." Her eyes widened before she let out a groan. "I've been spending too much time around Iris…" Her eyes landed on the flowers that jabbed them, but saw them retreating into the ground with a purple glow. "Wha…?"

Krookodile picked Scraggy up, who was flailing furiously. "Chill, little guy. Let's not do anything unwise."

"Just let me at them!" he pleaded with fire in his eyes.

Emolga jumped back as hands sprung out of the ground. "Guys! We have company!" They turned and gasped.

"Hehehe…hello, Pokémon," said the evil Emolga in front of them. Her white fur was purple and her yellow membrane and cheeks were red. Krookodile was black with red stripes. Axew was purple with red tusks. Scraggy's tan and yellow skin was now purple and black. They glared sinisterly with red glowing eyes.

Krookodile staggered back. "The heck are those things?!"

They snickered evilly, with Dark Emolga saying, "You will all surrender to the almighty power of Lord Dark."

"Lord Dark?" Axew parroted in confusion.

Scraggy stomped his foot on the ground, preparing to charge. "I don't care who your boss is! I'll take you all on!" He charged head first, preparing a Headbutt.

Dark Scraggy spoke with a calm tone, "Such hasty violence." He waited for Scraggy to be in range. "Your arrogance will be you downfall!" He used High Jump Kick, nailing Scraggy right in the jaw just as he was about to hit him.

"Scraggy!" they shouted as he flew across the field.

He crashed into a tree and landed on his face. He picked himself up and marched back over to his counterpart in a huff. "Oh, so you think you're tough, huh?" He glared down on him with his Leer attack.

Dark Scraggy stared in disinterest. "You call that a Leer? This is a Leer." He glared menacingly at the childish Pokémon. Scraggy's eyes widened fearfully, let out a scared whimper. "Haha!" He fired a Focus Blast point blank to his face.

Axew ran over to help his friend. "Dragon Rage!" He fired to blue draconian fire.

Dark Axew retaliated with his own version of the move, only it was dark purple. They clashed with each other and exploded. They both used Scratch on each other, but Dark Axew was proving to be more lethal. The cuts he made would have been deeper have it not been for the dragon's tough skin.

Krookodile dug underground to get the drop on his counterpart, but Dark Krookodile knew how he thought. The moment Krookodile surfaced, his dark counterpart swung a powerful Dragon Claw across his chest. He staggered back in pain, but didn't let it affect him too bad. He activated Stone Edge and fired the storm of jagged rocks. The evil sand croc used Dig to avoid it and attack him from behind.

Emolga was firing a storm of Discharges, trying to nail her swift flying counterpart. But she proved to be too fast. Faster than her.

"Grr! Hold still!" She fired Hidden Power, tracking down the evil rodent.

Dark Emolga smirked and made a u-turn, with the Hidden Power following close behind. She struck Emolga in the face and used her as a Pokémon shield. The Hidden Power nailed her, knocking her out of the air. "Hehehe! You losers are no match for the Darkmon!"

Krookodile pushed against his counterpart with fire in his eyes. That fire extinguished when he saw his fallen comrades being ganged up on. They were losing, badly. He didn't want to abandon a fight, but he had to get them to safety.

"What's the matter? Scared?" Dark Krookodile asked maliciously.

Krookodile growled and grabbed his arm. He performed a judo throw over his shoulder, slamming his counterparts back against the ground with as much force as possible. He glared at the other Darkmon, as they announced themselves, and fired Stone Edge after Stone Edge.

They saw the attack coming and were knocked away. Krookodile quickly made his way over and picked them up. They didn't look good. He held them in his arm and ran in a random direction. Where was he going? Anywhere, but here.

The dark counterparts rose off the ground and chased after him. He could feel their presence, as if their dark aura was tangible. He needed to make an escape and fast. But how?

He looked down at Axew, forming a crazy, but effective idea. "Axew, I need you to do that Dragon Sneeze of yours!"

Axew looked up at him with weary eyes. "Isn't that…dangerous?"

"There's no time for safety!"

Axew gulped when he saw their counterparts advancing closer. He gave Krookodile a nod and charged up Dragon Rage. Rather than fire the attack, he closed his mouth down on it. Krookodile held him out and braced for impact.

The explosion did its job. It blasted away the counterparts, even blinding them. Krookodile took most of the damage, using his body as a shield to protect his injured friends. He ignored the pain and ran as quickly as possible, gaining distance from the Darkmon.

*Flashback Ends*

Axew sighed and looked at his berry, which was on fire. "Whoa!" He quickly blew on it, extinguishing the fire. It didn't look too different, other than the smoky smell.

They heard someone walking in their direction. Thankfully, they recognized the grunts as Krookodile's. He was lugging a large boulder over his back, sweating from the exertion it was putting on his body. He set it down, relieving himself of the massive weight. After a moments rest, he pushed the boulder into the entrance, leaving enough room for him to slide right in. He pulled it a bit until it nearly covered the entire entrance.

He laid on his back and panted heavily. "Can…one of you…cover up the rock…with some form of camouflage?"

Seeing as how she was getting the stares, Emolga groaned and dropped her fruit on a stick. "Fine." She exited through the small passage the rock didn't cover, mumbling, "And people call me lazy…I'm doing all the work…"

Krookodile laid against the wall, looking unbelievably exhausted. This worried Axew. "Are you okay, Krookodile?"

He managed a weak nod. "Y-Yeah…I just really need some rest."

Scraggy blew on one of the roasted berries and handed it to him. "Here."

"Thanks." He took it and took a bite out of it. He figured if they were cooked, there wouldn't be a high chance of poisoning. So far, other than his weary body, he's fine.

Axew and Scraggy nibbled hungrily on theirs. Emolga came back in, stained with purple on her hands and torso. "I covered the entrance with a blanket of moss. Hopefully it keeps us safe." She sat down and picked up her stick. "Anymore labor I should attend to?" she asked rudely.

The sand croc rolled his eyes. "No, we're good for now. Eat your dinner."

"Final-" She was shushed immediately. "Sorry...I mean, finally," she said much quieter. She ate away at her berry on a stick. It wasn't the best berry in the world, but definitely better than what she had early.

The Tusk Pokémon looked directly into the fire and sighed. "I wonder how the others are doing."

"Hopefully better than us…" Emolga said as she stuffed her face with cooked berries.

"We'll worry about them in the morning," said Krookodile. "In the meantime, we need to get some rests. One of us will take stay up for a few hours and keep an ear out for danger. I'll volunteer first…" he said as his eyes slowly drooped.

Scraggy huffed in protest. "Fat chance!" he exclaimed, but with a somewhat quiet tone. "You've been pulling our weight all day. I'll take first shift!"

"Same here!" Axew stated with a nod.

The sand croc yawned, trying to reason with them. "No…you two…need your…rest…" With those words, he passed out, snoozing soundly.

Axew and Scraggy smiled and high-fived each other. Emolga rolled her eyes and laid down, giving them a reminder to wake her up in a few hours. She might as well take the next shift. Krookodile needs all the rest he can get.

Around the time Krookodile found shelter for his group, Dragonite was getting everyone situated in the shelter he found. However, theirs was a little more camouflaged. In fact, it was practically a treehouse.

Dragonite gathered some logs and brought them up to the tree while Pansage tied them together with vines. Quilava and Pachirisu went food hunting, making sure not to stray too far from their campsite. Pignite was setting up the walls, with Pansage quickly tying them down to the base.

They were all exhausted, but not to the same degree as the others. Dragonite was a little roughed up. Pansage and Quilava barely had any scratches on them. Pachirisu was perfectly fine. Pignite probably was in worse condition and he only had minor bruising.

Pansage tugged on the vines and knocked on the wood to make sure it was stable to support all their weight. He did quick measurements in his head and nodded in satisfaction. "Okay, this thing should be suitable for sleep."

"Should?" Pignite questioned.

The monkey shrugged. "Hey, it's not an exact science. It just needs to mostly support you and Dragonite, as you are the heaviest of all five of us."

Dragonite kept an eye out for Pachirisu and Quilava. Despite the poor lighting, he caught a glimpse of them scurrying across the ground and making their way up the tree. He could clearly see something big and bulgy on Quilava's back. Must be a feast.

They both jumped onto the wooden floor, presenting their leafy bag of goods. "We got one heck of a buffet tonight," the Volcano Pokémon stated proudly.

Pansage waved him over. "Let me see the berries. I need to check if they're safe for consumption." He obliged and set the bag down in front of him. He took out each berry at a time and separated them into piles. The one on his left being good, the one on his right being bad.

Pachirisu ran around their treehouse. "This place looks awesome!" he shouted.

"SHH!"

"Sorry…"

Dragonite shook his head. "We were lucky to escape those…what did they call themselves again?"

Pachirisu tapped his chin. "I think they said Darkmon."

He nodded, accepting the answer as truth. "Darkmon…yeah. Those guys were pretty strong…"

*Flashback*

Dragonite slammed into a tree and rubbed his chest in pain. He glared at his opponent. A Dragonite with black scales and a purple underbelly and antennas. His glowing red eyes made him feel like he was staring into his soul. This just riled up Dragonite rather than intimidate him.

He smirked. "Feels nice to have a worthy opponent."

Dark Dragonite smirked. "The feeling is mutual." They rammed each other with Dragon Rush, fury blazing in their eyes.

Pignite and Quilava teamed up to take on their counterparts. Dark Pignite's brown and orange colors were swapped for black and purple respectively. Dark Quilava had black fur and a red underbelly. His flames blazed a smoky purple.

"Flamethrower!"

They sent their attacks at them. The Darkmon smirked and dodged the attack. Dark Quilava covered themselves with Smokescreen, which was thicker than Quilava's. They looked around, trying to detect their movements. Pignite got nailed in the back with Flame Wheel and Quilava took a Flame Charge to the face.

"Hehehe! Ooh, these kinds are a lot of fun! Let's up the entertainment!" echoed the evil Volcano Darkmon.

"Oh, most certainly," Dark Pignite agreed.

Quilava and Pignite pulled themselves together, but became surrounded by Fire Pledge, which erupted right under their feet. They screamed in pain, the flames doing more damage than they should.

Pachirisu and his counterpart were running around wildly, trying to outrun each other. His white and blue fur was swapped for purple and red. His cheeks were black. Dark Pachirisu snickered childishly and rammed him with Spark.

The squirrel growled. "Hey, stop that!" He rammed him back with Spark.

"You stop it!" Rams him back.

"No, you!" Rams him back.

"Fine, I'll stop!" The dark squirrel immediately stopped, leading Pachirisu to slam into a tree.

"Ow…" He peeled his face off the trunk. "I think I have splinters on my tongue." He turned back to his counterpart, just in time to get nailed with Super Fang. The damage was immense on his health. "AAHH!"

Pansage was swinging from the trees, firing Bullet Seed from a distance. Dark Pansage, who had a light purple head and legs and red body, dodged quickly with Dig over and over.

This irked Pansage, who was normally calm and collected. "This is getting ridiculous!" He began to charge Solar Beam and waited for the evil grass monkey to surface.

"…boo." Pansage's Solar Beam was canceled as a beam of dark energy nailed him in the back. He landed harshly against the ground. Dark Pansage chuckled. "Your Solar Beam is useless here. But a Darkmon has its own variation of the move. We don't need sunlight to charge, just darkness!" To further his point, he instantly charged an orb of dark energy and fired a beam of it downward.

The grass monkey narrowly escaped the blast, coming off with nothing more than a few scrapes.

Dragonite and Dark Dragonite continuously punched each other with Thunder Punch. Dragonite was taking the most damage, but his endurance was in top condition. The dark dragon was impressed, to say the least.

"I must admit, not many Pokémon can take hits from us for this long," Dark Dragonite complimented.

While keeping his guard up, Dragonite accepted it. "Well, I am the strongest member of my team!" he boasted.

This, however, made his counterpart smirked unsettlingly. "That's why you'll die first." He fired an Ice Beam. Dragonite dodged it with no trouble, but got a face full of Flamethrower immediately after. Dark Dragonite pummeled him with a barrage of Thunder Punches. The dragon did his best to endure the hits, but he could feel them taking their toll on him. He got elbowed in the back, giving the dark dragon the opening he needed. "Tell me, which wing hurt the most when that android was beating you up?" He fired an Ice Beam.

Dragonite felt a sharp, freezing pain shoot through his body. He growled in pain and crashed into the ground. His left wing was frozen. "Grr…"

"Oh yes, that one." He prepared another Ice Beam when a Swift attack nailed him from behind. "What?!"

Quilava charged him with Flame Wheel. Pignite was holding off both Darkmon to the best of his ability. Dark Dragonite caught him and stopped his Flame Wheel. The weasel gulped, having run low on options.

"I was going to kill Dragonite first, but you just made me mad." He readied a Thunder Punch.

Dark Pansage got kicked out of the trees and headbutted Dark Dragonite by mistake, dropping Quilava.

Dragonite pushed himself up and readied his own Thunder Punch. "Alright, now things are getting interesting!"

"Dragonite, we need to go!" Quilava shouted.

"No way! I'm finishing this fight!"

"We're all getting our butts kicked! You can't even fly anymore!" The dragon didn't want to listen, even though he spoke the truth. The slightest twitch of his wing sent a sharp sting through him. "Please! We need to go!"

He clenched his fist, unsure which to choose. His own pride or his friends? He barely interacted with any of them ever since he was caught. Why should he care about them? Other than getting a lecture from Iris (assuming he survived), he had no reason.

He watched as they were getting thrown around and beaten. He clenched his fist. He really wanted to beat them all up…but that was for a later date. "ARG! Fine!" He stretched his wings out, stinging turning into agonizing pain. He grabbed Quilava and flew towards the others, picking them up one by one.

Dark Dragonite narrowed his eyes as they made their escape. "Oh no you don't!" He took flight and chased them.

Dragonite couldn't concentrate on him, as he was pouring all of his energy into staying airborne. The others nodded at each other and fired a combination of Swift, Flamethrower, Discharge, and Rock Tomb. They did their job, knocking the dark dragon out of the air. Dragonite increased his speed and disappeared into the trees.

*Flashback Ends*

He rubbed his damaged wing. It was bandaged up with leaves, curtesy of Pansage. "Hopefully we can find Pikachu soon. At this rate, we're going to be killed."

Pignite sighed. "Why on Earth did we agree to this?"

"Because we care about Pikachu and he's our friend," Quilava reminded.

He chuckled. "Well, he's lucky he's a cool guy."

Pansage finished separating the good and bad berries. "Alright gang, dig in."

They sat around the pile and munched on them. They cringed from their sour taste. "Ugh…I miss Cilan's cooking," Pignite whined.

"Why couldn't Pikachu have fallen in a bright, candy forest?" Pachirisu complained.

The grass monkey sighed. "Look gang, I know it's not the best food in the world, but we're gonna have to deal with it for a little longer."

"But what do we do?" Quilava asked. "We're lost and Dragonite isn't in good condition to take flight anytime soon. What will we do without our trainers?!" He started breathing rapidly.

Dragonite bonked him on the head. "You were never in the wild, were you?"

He looked down shamefully. "No…I was born into capture."

He sighed. "Kid, listen…we're going to be fine. I have experience in the wild. I know how to handle tough situations." He chuckled. "Kind of feels nice to feel free for once."

Pansage narrowed his eyes. "What? You don't like Iris?"

"Would I let her capture me if I didn't? No, I do like her. It's just kind of nice to stay out of that Pokeball for this long." He leaned against the walls, throwing a berry into his mouth. He cringed for a moment. "Though, I'll admit, Cilan's cooking is much more preferable than this stuff."

Pansage chuckled before releasing a tired yawn. "We got a big day tomorrow, guys. We start our search again after breakfast."

Quilava gulped. "Is that…a good idea?"

"We'll find a way to retrace our steps back to the treehouse, don't worry. In the meantime, get some rest." He curled up and closed his eyes. "Night."

"Night," everyone but Dragonite said, who just offered a short wave.

The smaller Pokémon curled up around each other to conserve heat. Pignite took first watch, keeping a careful eye out at the darkness.

Unbeknownst to them, they were being watch. A pair of sinister red eyes, yet they were filled with curiosity, not malice. "Ooh…they're an interesting group. I can't wait to greet them in the morning." With a childish giggle, he disappeared into the trees.