Ryder was wandering through the forest, trying to find his way. He was usually good at navigating through it, but something was off. He couldn't sense any of the Darkmon…or anything for that matter. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion. There was no way they could have got past him without being seen or detected.

He pulled out a bomb and waited for anything to move. His environment slowly changed. He was now in a clearing, illuminated by the moss. There was something definitely wrong. He could feel it in his gut. He clenched the bomb tighter as he backed up.

A laugh echoed behind, making him throw the bomb and destroy a tree. He panted as the laugh echoed all around him. "Someone's jumpy today!"

The laugh was very recognizable. Which meant one thing. "Get out of my head, you monster," he muttered angrily.

"Oh, what's the matter, Ryde? Did I upset you in anyway?"

"I said GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" he shouted furiously.

Dark stepped out of the shadows. "You normally block out my mental assaults. Must be wasting your energy to keep me out of those pathetic Pokémon's minds."

He turned around and grabbed him by the throat. "I'll break every bone in your body…" he threated lowly.

Dark merely smirked. "Charming…won't get you anywhere, but I like that fury you're presenting." He turned into watered and splashed down in front of his feet. He walked out from behind him. "You can't protect them forever."

He growled. "I made a vow to never let you kill another Pokémon again…"

"And you kept to your word very nicely. You still let hundreds of them get hurt and on their death bed, but at least you're keeping them alive so they can suffer longer," he said with an innocent tone, though Ryder knew the malicious intent behind his words. "And I thought I was evil." He laughed sinisterly.

Ryder tried to control himself, knowing that fighting him in this state was pointless. If he didn't train himself to keep calm, he would be in a violent rage. "Did you come here just to mentally torture me?"

Dark tapped his claws together with a sly look. "I do enjoy a good torturing…but no. You should know, I will find the others. And they will feel my wrath."

Ryder narrowed his eyes. "You haven't found them yet?"

"As stupid as they are, they did a decent job of eluding me…for now. My Sight Orbs may not be able to find them, but my Darkmon scouts will make sure their dragged back to my throne and drained of their precious energy. Soon, even the Pokémon you're trying to protect will be next."

"I'll get them out of here before that happens."

However, this didn't faze Dark the slightest. "I grow stronger every day, Ryder. And let's not forget…" he tapped the left side of his head. "…I have my ways of taking you out." This made the Charmeleon rub his scar.

"So why haven't you?"

The Darkmon lord laughed. "We're having too much fun, that's why." He floated over his head, made his hand intangible, and stuck it through Ryder's head. "I could easily capture your friends, but those pesky mental barriers seem to keep your thoughts safe." Ryder swatted him away. "It's only a matter of time."

"I swear, I'll destroy this forest and take you down with it," he growled.

Dark smirked. "Your determination is to be admired…but your heart is your weakness." He snapped his claws as the trees parted, revealing a pit of fire and something tied up over it.

"Ryder, help!" screamed two voices, ones Ryder hasn't heard in five years.

"Ryan…Jade…"

The Darkmon lord could see he was getting under his skin. "I don't need to fight you to destroy you." He snapped his claws and the two fell into the fire pit, screaming in agony. Ryder stared at it with a cold glare. Darkmon placed his hands on his shoulders, a look of mock sadness. "Oh, poor them. They had so much ahead of them."

"...all you Darkmon are monsters. You don't deserve to live. Nothing but pure evil…" he mumbled with calm aggression.

"Saying it won't make everything hunky-dory!" Dark flew overhead. "You're in my dominion, Ryde. You had a good five years of slowing down my plans." He smirked evilly. "But I promise you, everything will change. Your planet will soon become the planet of the Darkmon." He floated in front of him and placed a claw up to his forehead. "You say 'Fear the Shadows'…but I'm the shadow YOU fear." He flicked his forehead.

Ryder felt himself get knocked into an endless void, watching Dark gradually disappear from his view. He fell for what felt like an eternity. There was no end to the void. Then, he saw it. A bottom, covered in jagged spikes. He came increasingly closer to the spikes. He clenched his eyes as he felt them against his skin.

Ryder shot up with a gasp. He breathed heavily as he felt sweat dripped down his forehead. He looked at the others, who were snoozing comfortably on the floor next to him. Pikachu and Buneary were cuddled up together, with the egg in its protective casing. Snivy was leaning against the wall, letting out soft snores that one could hear if you listen carefully. Piplup was rolling around in his sleep, worrying Ryder he was being attacked. However, after hearing the penguin mumble something about 'Meloetta' and 'stay away from her, Oshawott', he rolled his eyes.

Speaking of the otter, he had his back turned to Ryder, snoozing soundly. He could tell he had a hand over his scalchop, obviously ready for action.

The Charmeleon sighed and stood up. He climbed up the ladder and opened the hatch. The moss were dim, meaning morning was around the corner. He hopped out and closed the hatch. He hopped up the trees and landed on a branch.

He stared deep into the darkness in front of him. Being out here for so long, he's naturally adjusted to seeing in the dark. The sun would be murder for his eyes if he stepped out of the forest.

Despite keeping a stoic expression, he was shaken up by the conversation with Dark. It wasn't a pretty sight watching his loved ones being dropped into a fire for someone's amusement. He knew Dark was getting stronger each and every day. It would be near impossible to get everyone out at once. He knew Dark's plans were moving around the corner. He didn't have much time left.

He looked at his hand. He narrowed down at it as it enveloped in his aura. He focused carefully as sparks flew across his hand. A single ball of light appeared in his palm. He focused harder, trying to make it expand in size. He poured his energy into it, increasing its size. It seemed to be going well for a moment. That is, until it started bubbling. He tried to keep it stable, but it was too late.

It exploded in his hand, nearly knocking him off. He coughed and shook his head, getting his bearings in order. He still couldn't do it. He couldn't form an Aura Sphere.

"You okay?" He glanced down the tree, seeing Oshawott staring up at him.

"…why are you up?" he asked, ignoring the otter's question.

He crossed his arms. "Well, excuse me for worrying about you. I was up when you woke up. You looked like you had a nightmare."

He glanced at him a bit longer before returning his attention to his hand. It was burnt from the explosion. It didn't bother him as he was used to this kind of pain.

He heard grunting and watched as Oshawott scaled the tree with his scalchop. He has done this a bunch of times in the past. The difference being his body was not in the best of shape currently. "Almost…there…" He jabbed his scalchop into the tree again, but it wasn't deep enough. He lost his grip and fell off, screaming. "AAAHHH!"

Ryder kicked off the branch downwards and landed before Oshawott did. He caught him immediately after. "Now, are YOU okay?"

Oshawott rolled his eyes and got on his feet. "Thanks…what were you doing up there?"

He stared at him, weighing the options of telling him or not. He figured he might as well know. Not that it would matter. He held up his hand. "As I'm sure you know, I can manipulate my aura to great lengths. I've been lacking in my aura training lately, needing to self-teach myself. I've already mastered the ability to amplify my strength, speed, and endurance. I'm able to see auras and predict attacks.

"I can't use attacks such as Aura Sphere. I've been trying my hardest to use it. Eventually, I just gave up and dedicated my time to protecting Pokémon like you from Dark."

"Wow…" Oshawott expressed. "So, how come you didn't get the full training?"

He narrowed his eyes. "That's just it…I did…" He looked away, running his hand against his scar. "But…things change…" Oshawott tried to get it out of him, but Ryder continued with, "Listen Oshawott…thank you for worrying about me." He sighed. "Kind of nice having someone care about me."

The otter narrowed his eyes sympathetically and patted his arm. "Hey, I'm always willing to help out a friend." Ryder smiled a bit from the word 'friend'. "Shouldn't we wake the others?"

He shook his head. "Let them sleep. We have to search for your friends later. They're gonna need their energy." They walked back to the bunker.

As Ryder opened the hatch, Oshawott asked, "You know a lot about these creatures, right?" He nodded. "So…why do they want to kill us?"

He narrowed his eyes. "Oshawott…they were designed to kill all Pokémon. All they care about is blood and suffering. They're creatures that will deceive and harm others to fulfill their heinous acts. That's just how they were made. And I plan to destroy them." He hopped down the hatch.

Oshawott wanted to ask who made them, but it was clear he didn't want to talk about it. So, rather than be a pest, he gave him his space until he's more open to share. He hopped down the hatch and closed it behind him.

Pansage watched as the moss regained its natural glow. As far as he could tell, that meant the sun was rising. Guess that explains how the Darkmon tell time in this place. He wasn't sure how long he's been on watch duty. An hour? Two maybe? Who knows?

He grabbed one of the berries from last night and took a bite. The sour taste still made him cringe, but not as bad. He was adjusting to the taste a bit. Speaking of adjusting, they needed to make sure they have a plan for finding Pikachu and the others. After observing the trees, thanks to his adjusted vision, they do seem to change every so often. The change itself is so fast and mysterious that it feels as if a magician covered the landscape with a blanket and changed its appearance with some sort of trick or illusion. If the forest wasn't trying to kill them, he wouldn't mind checking it out some more.

He stood up and stretched. He walked back into the treehouse, where the others looked half awake. Dragonite yawned and stretched out his wings, flinching from the pain he still had in one of them.

Pachirisu yawned and shook his head, patting down some hairs sticking up from his head. "Is it morning yet?"

"As far as I can tell, yes," Pansage said as he gathered the leftover berries and handed them out evenly to everyone. "We should get moving soon."

Pignite blew smoke from his nostrils and scratched his side. "Can we wait on that? My legs feel sore from yesterday."

Quilava stretched, but still remained in a sleeping position. "Besides, how are we going to find our way back if this forest is constantly shifting?"

The grass monkey crossed his arms and sighed. Even with the few hours he had taking watch, he couldn't come up with a plan that would guarantee them returning to their safe haven. He thought of leaving a trail of leaves, but there are so many scattered across the ground that it would just get lost in the piles. He even thought of tying vines together and making a long guide rope, but that could easily break or come undone.

At this point, it was either stay put until someone walks by or scout them out with the risk of getting lost. Both of which he didn't like. Not to mention they were all still sore from yesterday. It would make traveling and defending themselves much more difficult.

He sighed and looked at the others. "We're gonna have to stay here until we come up with an effective plan."

Dragonite got to his feet. "Are you kidding? I say we charge through anything that stands in our way!"

He glared. "Use your head, Dragonite. You're in no condition to be fighting those things, especially since there are clones of us who are probably still searching for us."

"So the plan is sit and wait?!" he shouted.

"The plan is to think rationally!" he fired back. "If we go charging into a battle we can't fight, we're as good as dead."

Dragonite snorted and made his way to the edge of the treehouse. "Forget it, I'll find them myself!"

"If you go off in your current state, you'll only wind up more injured!"

He clenched his teeth together. He didn't want to admit it, but he had a point. His wing was still in bad shape. "They could be in danger!"

"What choice do we have? If we go out there and don't find them, it will be for nothing!"

"Both of you, shut up!" They flinched and stared blankly at the EleSquirrel Pokémon. Even he was getting fed up with their arguing. "Pansage is right. We need to stay here and recover, plain and simple." Before Dragonite could retort, Pachirisu countered with, "If you really want to fight your counterpart, you need to be at top strength. Otherwise you'll be beaten to a pulp."

Dragonite opened his mouth, then let out a sigh of defeat. Told off by a squirrel…his day was not going well so far. "Fine…we'll play it the safe way." He walked back to his spot and sat down.

Pignite sighed. "Thank goodness. I was worried you would attract a predator or something."

Quilava gulped. "Y-Yeah…you don't suppose their around, right?"

Pansage looked outside to double check. As far as he could tell, no one was around. Their piercing red eyes would have given themselves away. "No, we're fine."

He sighed in relief. "Good." He picked up one his berries and lightly nibbled on it.

Pansage looked at Pignite. "Come on, we better find some supplies. The last thing I need is something breaking in." He nodded and followed him down the tree, using the vine ladder Pansage made.

Half an hour has passed and everyone managed to fully wake up. Dragonite was mindlessly playing with a leaf while Pachirisu and Quilava were playing a game of Hangman using a piece of wood to carve it into the floor. Their previous matches were littered around the floor.

Quilava scratched his head as he tried to figure out the word. "Um…Z?"

Pachirisu made a buzzing sound. "Wrong! You lose!" he exclaimed. "The word was 'Auspicious'."

"Do you even know that word?"

"Not a clue!"

Dragonite rolled his eyes and crumpled up the leaf. He would rather be doing some training, but that obviously wasn't happening. To top it off, his stomach was growling. The four berries he ate didn't help to quench his hunger. The only berries they had left were the poisoned ones and there was no way he was eating those. He questioned why Pansage kept them. Perhaps to make sure they didn't somehow give away their location. Who knows?

He took a closer look at the berries and raised a brow. For some reason, the pile looked smaller than he remembered. Must be his imagination. He shrugged it off and looked to the side.

He heard footsteps running past him. He quickly turned, but saw nothing. Just Pachirisu and Quilava, who seemed to have missed the noise. He shook his head, feeling he was just hearing things. He heard another set of footsteps, but didn't see anything. Okay, he definitely didn't imagine that.

He looked at Pachirisu and Quilava. "Hey you two!"

They looked up from their game. "What?" Quilava asked.

"Are you two making those noises?"

Pachirisu tilted his head. "Noises?"

"Yeah, the footsteps!"

He looked at Quilava, who offered a shrug. He turned back to the dragon and said, "Sorry, but we're not making any noises. Other than the sounds of me beating Quilava!" he cheered, making the weasel face-palm.

Dragonite held his head. "I must be more tired than I thought…" His eyes landed on the bad berries, to which they widened in shock. Half the pile was missing. He definitely remembered it being bigger than that. There was no way any of them took them, as they were poisonous. That meant…

He stood up and clenched his fists. "We have an intruder."

Their heads shot up. "Intruder?!"

He shushed them harshly. He whispered, "Search around the shelter. If you see anything unusual, subdue it." They nodded and stood up.

They searched around the shelter, which didn't take too long as it was small. They checked out the trees to see if there was anyone hiding in them. They couldn't find anything. But Dragonite knew someone was stalking them. And it was a Darkmon. Who else would want to steal those toxic fruits?

Quilava checked back inside, hoping to find some clues. He checked around the berries. He didn't smell anything unusual about them, other than their usual aroma.

He looked around, feeling the intruder was already gone. This thought was immediately discarded when he felt a strange presence over his head. He slowly looked up and saw a pair of red, glowing eyes staring down at him.

"…hi!"

Quilava screamed and fired a Flamethrower upward. The figure dodged it swiftly. The Volcano Pokémon could already tell it was a Darkmon, just by their eyes alone.

"Wow, your Flamethrower must be really strong," he complimented. "You burned a clean hole through the roof!"

Quilava fired off a Swift attack, to which the Darkmon jumped outside to dodge. "Guys! There's a Darkmon in here!"

Dragonite and Pachirisu raced in just in time to see him. "I knew I wasn't crazy!" Dragonite shouted before firing Ice Beam.

The Darkmon jumped out of the way and onto the roof. "Brrr…that looks cold."

Pachirisu climbed up to the roof. "Discharge!" He fired off the destructive electric attack.

The Darkmon jumped out of the way, narrowly dodging the strikes by bending his body in odd ways. "Whoa! That's pretty hard to dodge!"

Dragonite growled. "He's toying with us!" He fired Flamethrower through the roof, trying to blast him off.

The Darkmon gasped as he moved away from the attack. He kept dodging as the roof became more and more riddled with holes. "You guys are going to start a fire at this rate!" Quilava fired his Smokescreen around him. "Hey, who turned out the lights?"

Meanwhile, Pansage and Pignite were walking back with some berries in hand. Strapped to Pignite were some materials for their treehouse. "This should be enough to make some adjustments for the treehouse," Pansage said.

Pignite nodded. "Yeah. Who knows? It might be a good place to live if we weren't in danger," he joked.

The grass monkey chuckled. "Yeah, I guess." He caught a strange aroma in the air. "Hey, do you smell smoke?"

Pignite sniffed the air. "Huh, yeah. Maybe the guys are having a cookout."

"Why would they be…" The moment they came up to the treehouse, they dropped their stuff in shock.

The Darkmon was running around as everyone chased him. Dragonite repeatedly tried to smash him with Thunder Punch, but only destroyed the home even further. Quilava chased him down with Flame Wheel. As he chased him, he left a trail of fire that spread over the shelter. Pachirisu ran at him with Super Fang, to which he jumped and let the weasel and squirrel crash into each other.

"What…the…heck?" Pansage muttered.

"We were only gone for half an hour!" Pignite shouted. "And who is that up there?!"

The Darkmon stopped and waved at them. "Hello down there! You're living here too, right?"

Pignite's eyes widened. "It's one of those creatures!" He ran up on the vine ladder. Pansage, however, scratched his head in confusion.

"Eep! Not again!" The Darkmon made a dash for it as Pignite got to their level. He used Flame Charge and chased after him. "Why do you guys keep throwing fire at me?!"

Pansage merely stared. Something about this one was…different. He didn't sense any hostility in him. In fact, he was acting like a little kid. He was definitely a Darkmon, but he didn't exhibit the same malicious traits. I wonder…

The Darkmon ran in circles, trying to avoid his attackers, when he found himself cornered by a wall. "Oh snap…" He slowly turned, seeing them charge up their Flamethrowers and Discharge. "Uh…I surrender?"

They prepared to fire when Pansage suddenly got in front of him. This did not go well with Dragonite. "What are you doing?! Get out of the way so we can blast him!"

"Hold on a second!" Pansage pleaded.

"This guy tried to kill us!" Quilava shouted.

"And he was stealing our food!" Pachirisu complained.

Pignite scratched his head. "Wait, this is HIS forest. Aren't we the ones ste-"

"Not the point!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Timeout!" Pansage shouted. That got their attention, if only for a minute. "Quilava, you spotted him first, right?" He nodded. "Did he actually attack you?"

He recounted the incident and went over it in his head. "Uh…well…I may have been the one who attacked first."

He nodded at the answer, then looked to Pachirisu. "As for the food, we only had the bad berries left. He was 'stealing' the ones we didn't need."

To prove his point, the Darkmon rubbed his stomach contently. "They're pretty good for Darkmon. Pokémon…not so much." He flinched under Dragonite's glare.

"Even so, he's one of those creatures that have been terrorizing us ever since we got here!" He cracked his knuckles. "I say we torture him so he'll tell us where his leader is." This made the poor creature squeak nervously.

Pansage glared. "Hold on for a minute." He turned toward the Darkmon. "Hey…it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you."

The Darkmon smiled and wagged his tail before coming into a more noticeable light source. He was a Dark Riolu. His blue and black fur was swapped out for purple and bright red respectively. The bumps on his hands were black.

"Nice to meet you all. I'm Darkmon number 6-7-4-6!"

Quilava gulped. "There are over six thousand of you?"

"Actually, over eight thousand!" he corrected cheerfully. This did not cheer up the Volcano Pokémon the slightest. "We might break NINE thousand soon!"

Dragonite growled. "Pansage…why are we talking to this thing?" he asked with a tone that sounded like he was holding back tons of anger.

Pansage ignored him and continued to talk to Dark Riolu. "Really? That's an impressive number."

"I know, right?" he shouted happily. "Hey, can I eat the rest of those berries? I haven't had breakfast yet."

"Help yourself." Dark Riolu sat down and started munching on them.

Pignite pulled him to the side. "Pansage, this is ridiculous," he whispered harshly. "Don't you remember we were almost killed by those things yesterday?"

"Yes, I do. But…he doesn't seem so bad."

"Doesn't seem so-Do you hear the words coming out of your mouth?!" he nearly shouted.

The grass monkey crossed his arms. "Keep in mind, if he wanted to do harm to us, he could have done it by now. Judging by the way he's acting, I can only assume he's been watching us all night. He could have smothered us or snapped our necks in that time."

Pignite subconsciously rubbed his neck. "Yeah…but still!"

Dark Riolu spotted Pachirisu and Quilava's Hangman matches. "Ooh! What's this?"

Pachirisu smiled and walked over to him. "That's called Hangman!"

"Why would you want to hang someone? Isn't that mean?" he asked innocently.

The squirrel laughed. "No, no, we don't actually hang anyone. You think of a word or phrase and your opponent needs to try and guess it using the letters of the alphabet. Use a wrong letter and a body part is added to the hangman. If you guess the word, you win. If you use too many wrong letters, you lose."

"Ooh! Fascinating! Can I play?"

"Sure!"

Dragonite picked up the squirrel. "He's the enemy! Stop making friends with him!"

The squirrel pouted. "I didn't want to be rude."

"Wha-taka-RUDE?! I think we have bigger things to worry about than being rude!" He dropped him and pointed a claw at Dark Riolu. "For starters, how do we know he isn't a spy? Or that he has an army waiting to take us out while our guard is down?"

Dark Riolu merely smiled and shook his head. "Oh no, I'm just a scout. I don't have the qualifications to lead an army like Lord Dark."

"Lord Dark?"

"He's our master. He leads the Darkmon with an iron fist. He's the strongest Darkmon ever. He's stronger than ALL of them combined!"

"Str…onger…than all of them…" he repeated with widened eyes.

"Oh yeah! His power is unmatched by all of us!"

Dragonite nearly choked up on his shock. His counterpart nearly beat him into submission. There was someone far stronger than that?! He was sure whether to find interest in a challenge or terrified that they might not make it out alive.

Dark Riolu jumped up and waved his hand in front of his face. "Mister? Are you okay?"

He shook his head and glared. "Get off me!" He slapped him off.

"Ow…" he whined as he rubbed his elbow.

Pachirisu helped him up. "You okay?"

"Don't help him!" Dragonite shouted. He glared at Pansage. "This is ridiculous! There is no way we can trust this thing! I say we get rid of him!"

"Dragonite, let's think about this rationally."

Pachirisu walked to his side. "Pansage's right. He doesn't look evil."

Pignite walked over to Dragonite. "How do we know for sure? Hank said these things are known to deceive anyone who enters!"

They shouted back and forth, trying to get their points across. Quilava shied away from the arguing when he spotted the Darkmon sitting in a corner and looking down sadly. Cautiously, he walked over to him while the others argued.

He sat down next to him, but didn't speak to him immediately. He needed to phrase his words carefully, just in case this thing WAS close to snapping. "Are…you okay?"

He sniffled. "…why does everyone hate me?" Quilava was surprised by the words. "I was only trying to make new friends. But any Pokémon I meet run away from me in fear."

Quilava's eyes narrowed a bit in sympathy, still keeping a look of doubt…at least, a little doubt. "Well…maybe you just scared them. Don't you have friends of your own species?"

"They think I'm weird. They labeled me as a defect."

"A…defect?"

"Yes. Imperfect. I don't act like other Darkmon. I'm an outcast. The only reason I haven't been destroyed yet was because Lord Dark saw potential in me. He had use for me."

"Use for you?"

He nodded. "You see, I have the ability to-"

"This is getting us nowhere!" They turned their attention back to the group. Pansage looked about through with this. "We need to focus on finding our friends!"

"We need to destroy these things!" Dragonite shouted angrily.

Pansage glared and took some steps forward. "Now listen to me…" As he stepped closer to him, Dark Riolu's eyes widen and glow purple. He could see Pansage stepping on a weak spot in the floor, falling, and severely breaking his arm, even cracking the bone. It happened so quickly, yet only a second passed for him. He shook his head and gasped. "I'm the only one with any common sense around here and I say-"

He felt the floor beneath him collapse. He gasped as he nearly fell out. He would have…if it weren't for Dark Riolu grabbing him just in time. He panted lightly. "Man…that was close…"

Pansage stared in disbelief as he looked at the ground. It was a long drop, too. He could have gotten hurt…badly. "W-Wow…t-t-thanks…"

He helped him back in. "No problem. Don't worry, that's the only weak spot." He felt the other four staring at him in shock. "Um…did I do something bad?"

"How…did you do that?" Pachirisu mumbled.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"You…caught him just as he fell…" Quilava muttered.

He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Oh, that? Well, you see…I have the ability to see briefly into the future."

"Say…what?!" Dragonite shouted.

"Yeah…that's how I was able to avoid all of your attacks. I can sense danger or prominent events in the future. Pretty handy when you can't see anything. I can sometimes see things further into the future, but they're usually incredibly vague."

"Wow! That's awesome!" Pachirisu exclaimed. "Can you see if my trainer Dawn will finally win the Grand Festival?"

"Well, uh…"

"Oh, this is stupid! He can't see the future! He just caught him by coincidence!"

Dark Riolu pouted. "I CAN see into the future!"

"Prove it!"

He narrowed his eyes. "Fine." He left for a brief moment and came back with a small rock, which he threw to him. "You throw that wherever you like. But I know for a fact it'll land…there!" He pointed to the corner closest to their door.

He smirked. "Oh, you're so on." He walked toward the door and winded up his throw. Heh, I'll chuck it as far from here as possible! He threw it out of the treehouse. "Looks like I-"

"-lose!" he finished cheerfully. The force from the throw caused the rock to ricochet off a nearby tree and bounce back inside. It bounced off the wall a few times before landing…exactly where Dark Riolu predicted. "Yay! I win!"

"T…That's impossible…" he muttered.

Pansage, however, was impressed. "That's a pretty useful ability. But how did you acquire it?"

He scratched his head. "I'm not sure. Normally when Darkmon are replicated, they take on their counterpart's abilities. I guess the Riolu I was cloned from could see into the future. I'm not sure what happened to him, though."

"I have a fairly decent idea…" Dragonite whispered to Pignite.

Pansage glared shortly at him before smiling at Dark Riolu. "Well, you certainly have an amazing gift."

"Thanks! So…you guys said you needed to find your friends?"

Pachirisu nodded. "Yeah! Do you know where they are?"

His ear drooped. "Sadly, I do not. I'm tasked with patrolling this section of the forest only."

"I see…"

He smiled. "But hey, I'm sure I can help! Just…as long as Lord Dark doesn't find out. He scares me…"

"Really?" Quilava asked.

He nodded. "Yeah. Whenever I ask questions, he threatens me. I even tried asking about that building that hangs over the forest, but he wouldn't tell me."

"Building? Did it looked destroyed?" He nodded. "Do you know what it is?"

"No…but I have heard rumors about it. They say it could be linked to our existence…"

Pansage rubbed his chin. "Pachi, can you entertain him while the rest of us talk?"

He smiled. "Sure! Come on, buddy! I'm gonna teach you how to play Hangman!" This made the Darkmon smile.

As they were occupied, the others spoke. "Change of plans. I say we have him take us up to that building and investigate."

"Why would we do that?" Pignite asked.

"Think about it. There's something weird going on around here. Whoever this 'Lord Dark' is, he wants to keep that building a secret for a reason. Maybe it could tell us about who created them and how we can defeat them."

"I…guess that makes sense," Quilava said.

Dragonite groaned. "Even so, there's no guarantee we can trust this kid. What's stopping him from backstabbing us once we gain his trust?"

Pansage looked at him and Pachirisu, who were laughing as they played Hangman. He smiled. "I think…we can trust him."

Pignite said, "Even so, what do you expect to find up there?"

"Who knows? Answers? Dust? Could be anything. But it's worth a shot, right?" They looked at each other with uncertainty. "Come on guys, this could even help us find Pikachu and the others."

After a moment of silence, Quilava raised his paw. "I'm in."

Pignite sighed and raised his. "Same."

They looked at Dragonite, who was hesitant. He kept glaring back and forth at them and Dark Riolu. Eventually, he gave a sigh of defeat. "Fine…we'll play out your way."

Pansage smiled at his willingness before turning back to Pachirisu and Dark Riolu. "Hey kid." He looked at him. "We would like to check out that building."

His eyes widened a bit. "You sure?"

"Yes. We want to know more about your origin just as much as you do."

"Well…" He smiled. "Okay!"

Pachirisu cheered. "Yay! That means we can hang out more, Koda!"

"Yeah!"

The others blinked. "…Koda?"

Pachirisu smiled. "Oh yeah, forgot to mention. He said he doesn't have a name. While you guys were talking, I gave him one!"

"I like it!" Koda exclaimed.

Pansage blinked again. "Well…it would be easier than referring to you as 'Darkmon'."

Dragonite rolled his eyes. "Good for you. Now, can you lead us to that building?"

"Oh, I can't."

The dragon's eye twitched. "You said you know where to go…"

"I do, but…uh…I can't go into the sun."

"How come?" Quilava asked.

"When a Darkmon is exposed to sunlight, they burn up. I could disintegrate into ash." He pointed at the leaves. "These leaves, as long as their connected to the trees, block out the sunlight. They regenerate faster than the sun can destroy them."

"That's why I couldn't burn them off…" Dragonite muttered in realization.

"So, we'll have to wait until nightfall." He smiled. "But in the meantime, how about we get to know each other? If we're going to be a team, we need a strong bond!" He pumped his fist. "Go Team Darkmon!" He got no response other than blank stares. "Okay…Team Pokémon!" Nothing. "Team Super Awesome Amazing Strike Force?"

Pachirisu patted his back. "Let's just sit down and talk." Koda smiled and nodded. Pansage smiled and joined them, along with Quilava.

Dragonite crossed his arms and looked away just enough to spot him in his peripherals. "I'm keeping a close eye on him."

"I don't know, Dragonite. Sure, he's weird. But maybe not everyone in this forest is evil," Pignite suggested as he walked over to join the circle of friends.

He wasn't convinced. He wasn't going to let his guard down for a second. "We'll see about that…"