After leaving Azurview, our heroes walked through fields of low grass, heading east, where they had been directed. According to the map, it would take them about a week to reach Treasure Town.

The disturbing thing about the trip is that, according to the map and some indications that marked the roads, they should be walking through fields full of exuberant flora like the Nectar Meadow, but in reality they were walking through less green areas and more flat fields, not to mention that some sets of flowers were withered and trees had fallen… was all this a cause of evil in the Pokemon world?

"Careful!" Dylan stopped them, when he looked ahead.

They all stopped. Ahead of them was a fairly steep drop-off, and at the end of it, a crater so huge it had created a canyon. Going down very carefully, they wondered how to get to the other side.

"We can use that," Luke suggested, pointing to an old, dry tree.

"I'll take care of it" proposed Mina, "Time to evolve!"

Mina converted back from Nidoran to Nidorina. And, using the most powerful headbutt of hers, she impacted and felled the tree in such a way that in a second they had a bridge to cross.

"We must go one by one" Rose suggested seeing the delicate path.

Luke could easily fly over and accompany them in case someone stumbled, so very carefully each of them made their way across the bridge. However, when it was Rex's turn, he panicked as he put a paw on it.

"Don't look down... don't look down..." Rex thought as he advanced on the log.

But when he reached the middle, a vibration reached everyone's ears and made him lose his balance. Then Rex slipped and almost fell. Fortunately, Luke who seemed less affected, held him with one of his claws to make him regain his balance.

"Thank you…" he said once he finished crossing the bridge. It was obvious that he was still having a hard time facing his fears.

"Help! Help!" yelled a shrill little voice.

It was a Noibat, who flew from one side to the other producing that vibration, in that species, that behavior was common even when he was scared. From the dirty look of him, he looked like he had just gotten out of some kind of danger.

"Hey!" Luke yelled as he flew towards him, "Calm down! What happens?"

The Noibat flew with Luke in the direction of the chosen children, since they were the only ones who could help him.

"My colony was attacked by an evil Noivern," he explained to them, "He was a simple Noibat before and was expelled by our previous leader due to a dispute they had. But he recently returned with his red eyes of evil and evolved. He defeated our leader and now he is abusing my colony."

"Does that Noivern by any chance give off a black aura around him?" asked Rex, now recovered.

"Yeah! I think he is the cause of that which is why he is powerful!" Noibat clarified.

"A dark atom!" they all shouted

"We should go help" Zack suggested, "Isn't that right, guys?"

"Yes" said the rest.

"Thank you very much..." he said.

Turning their way to the north, the chosen boys followed Noibat through a short forest, until it ended and in front of them was a cave curiously bright blue in color as if it were...

"This is the Lapis Lazuli mine" explained Noibat, "It has been uninhabited for a long time and my colony occupied it. We didn't used to have visitors for a while, but it has the perfect touch of light and dark"

"Lapis lazuli?" Dylan asked seeing the rocks, "Woah, those are rare minerals. I had never seen it so close before."

"I remember my grandmother told me that my grandfather gave her a pair of these as earrings," Mina commented, "But they got lost and they never found them again…"

"Could you bring her a pair," Rose suggested.

"Well... I don't think it's bad" she replied as she took a couple of rocks and put them in the backpack, "I think you'll love them"

"Well, let's worry about the rocks later," Zack suggested, "You have to go through this place. Rex, do you do the honors?"

"Sure" he answered, going first. Being the only one with the flaming tail, he could give light to others.

They walked like this for a while (except Luke and Noibat who could hear his slow beating of wings). Strangely, the cave was not as dark as had been estimated; and that was perhaps because some weak rays of light passed through small cracks in the walls. This, added to the light that Rex emitted, gave them an environment free of darkness, but it still didn't compare to the outside.

"Does your colony live deep in this cave?" Zach asked.

"No…" Noibat commented, "They should just be in…"

But before he could continue, a small hum became perceptible. However, it grew louder and louder until it made such a horrible noise that it sent out a great wave of energy that ejected them all from the cave with great power. When they recovered from that impact (which left a vibration in each one's head), they got up and realized that they were not alone: a Pokemon with a black and purple body and its large wings was near them, unconscious. The appearance of him was vaguely reminiscent of a gargoyle. He was a Noivern... but he was very injured.

"Boss!" yelled Noibat (he seemed the only one who wasn't so affected by the vibration), "Are you alright?"

"The deserter..." he muttered, "he has turned our hive into..."

Several vibrations cut through him, just not as powerful as the first, but too many that they all had to cover their ears. The next second, a hive of at least a hundred Noibats shot out of the cave. When the boys recovered, they noticed the danger: each of them had red eyes and a dark aura possessing them.

However, the real trouble arose (literally) from the depths: a larger Noivern of the wounded chieftain flew above the other Noibat, and was equally imbued with darkness.

"Is he!" Noibat yelled.

"Join us, Rye!" the Noivern told him, "We are more powerful now!"

"I am faithful to my cologne! I will never join you!"

"Well then, disappear!"

With that last word, the defecting Noivern ordered the Noibat to attack. Sharpening their senses again, the boys prepared themselves.

"Time to evolve!" they all said in unison.

And, as before, they all evolved into their higher form: Charmeleon, Frogadier, Bayleef, Luxio, Nidorina, and Tranquil. Then they all spread out to finish off the Noibat.

"Water pulse!"

Dylan jumped high and fired a powerful and concentrated shot of water at the Noibat, but barely managed to hit two or three, as they separated and emitted waves that made concentration difficult. He almost doesn't see the five Noibat behind him.

"Vine Whip!"

Rose protected Dylan with her vines, and lashed at the Noibat from a safe distance. Each falling Noibat detached a dark atom.

"Thank you!" Dylan told him.

On the other hand, Zack's electrical attacks were the most effective against the Noibat.

"Thunder shock!"

With a single electric shock, he was able to defeat twenty Noibat. However, the number of Noibat from Rye's hive (the friendly Noibat) was overwhelming. In another perspective, the others were also struggling desperately.

"Flame thrower!"

"Poison Sting!"

"Air Slash!"

Ten, twenty and even thirty Noibat were defeated by the attacks and the number seemed to dwindle, but suddenly, the boys were struck down with the same sound wave that expelled them from the Lapis Lazuli mine. Noivern was attacking them now.

Rex tried to get up as he watched the Noivern attack at high speed. He couldn't get any faster, and it looked like a painful hit, until the other Noivern (Rye's boss) got in the way and he got knocked down instead of Rex.

"You again?!" the deserter yelled angrily, "You are a…!"

"Sacret Sword!"

A light blue shimmering slashing attack came out of the nearby forest and struck the Noivern full-on. Astonished by this sudden and miraculous intervention, Rex, Mina and Luke saw the Pokemon that had executed him: he looked like a horse, but he was blue and had a curved horn on his forehead, like a sword. In addition, his mane was light blue and he had a mane. He wasn't a dark Pokemon, that was for sure.

"Who are you?" Rex asked, unaware of that Pokemon.

"Hello, my name is Keldeo" he told him, helping them to get up, "I was doing a reconnaissance and I heard a loud noise in the surroundings, it must have been that guy..."

"Keldeo, the Swords of Justice Pokemon's apprentice" muttered the evil Noivern who survived Keldeo's Holy Sword, "You have nothing to do here"

"I see that you are more resistant to a normal higher level Pokemon" Keldeo stressed, "And I warn you that I am not an apprentice, but a true Sword Pokemon"

"Keldeo…" the chief Noivern muttered, "He is… imbued with darkness…"

"So the rumors are true…" Keldeo said hearing that, "There is darkness possessing the Pokemon. Well, it doesn't matter: I'm going to defeat you!"

"You won't catch me!" shouted the deserter flying into the sky and releasing his powerful sound wave again.

The attack was quite powerful and almost sent them all flying.

"Bubble beam!"

Keldeo countered with a water attack, but Noivern dodged it in midair. As long as he was there, it would be harder to attack.

"If you attack him from the air, you can defeat him" the chief Noivern advised them, "But he is so strong that you must attack him with a joint attack to defeat him"

"I can fly, but I don't have that much power to defeat it" Luke said, "If someone comes with me, we can make a joint attack"

"I'm too big to go" Keldeo suggested, but then he saw Rex, "But you can go"

"Me?" asked Rex, "But... I'm afraid of heights."

"I know what it is to be afraid. But if you don't face it, your best friends will pay for it."

Keldeo's words created a point of awareness in Rex, giving him something of value. Somewhat motivated, Rex agreed to go with Luke and they flew together in the direction of Noivern. The Charmeleon was clinging to his mate's feathers, while he tried not to look down.

"We're close, Rex," Luke warned him. "Let's attack together!"

"OK!" Rex confirmed.

The Dark Noivern detected them immediately.

"Dragon breath!"

Rex and Luke countered with a combo attack.

"Gust!"

"Flame thrower!"

Both attacks combined into a whirlwind of fire. But, although the combo attack was powerful, the power of that attack was more powerful as it was a dragon type and was empowered with powerful dark energy. That attack surpassed that of the chosen kids and made them lose their balance and, fortunately, they did not fall. However, Rex felt fear as he saw below him.

"No!" he thought trying to clear his mind, "I don't have to be afraid! I need to focus!"

"Watch out!" Luke yelled.

As he tried to hold his ground in the face of his fear, Noivern attacked them with thunderous power and knocked them to the ground. Now he was lost to Rex: he was going to fall, he was going to die... but in his mind he didn't want that to happen. His bravery was overcoming fear... and there was a different warmth in his chest.

"What is this?" he wondered himself upon seeing himself.

A glowing symbol had appeared on his chest: it represented a flame, a symbol of fire. At the same time, his Pokephone began to shine brighter than ever. Rex, sensing that it was something new, yelled:

"Ultra Evolution!"

At that moment, the symbol separated from his body, and together with the glow of the Pokephone, they made Rex evolve again. His body grew, his color changed back to orange, he grew two horns and finally… wings. Now, thanks to his courage, he didn't have to have any fear of heights, because he could fly. He had evolved from Charmeleon to Charizard.

"Woah…" he said to himself as he looked at his snow, "It feels strangely more powerful than before. And… I can fly!"

"Rex?" Luke asked, recovering, "Wow, you've evolved again. This must be what Lugia and Alakazam were referring to."

"Guys! careful!" Mina warned them.

Just in time, they dodged the evil Noivern's attack. Now the battle had turned. Luke looked a bit drained, but Rex had received a significant energy boost.

"Dragon pulse!" Noivern attacked.

"Flame thrower!" Rex countered.

But instead of launching a Flame thrower, a star-shaped fiery figure was formed that surpassed the dragon pulse and slammed hard into the dark Noivern. This one had managed to survive with certain burns. However, he had reached his limits after Keldeo's attack and Rex's. Then, in one last attack, he lunged at the Charizard to try and bite it.

Instinctively, Rex recalled his battle against the Azurview Charizard and, dodging Noivern's bite, pinned both its wings and lifted up holding it, then swooped down to the ground.

"Seismic toss!"

At the last second, Rex released the Noivern and it hit the ground hard, falling defeated and stripped of that evil energy that controlled it. In turn, Rex's friends had also managed to defeat and free the rest of Rye's hive.

"Rex!" they all yelled when they saw him land together with Luke. His Charizard form was incredible and the fear of heights had been wiped from his face. However, the next second, he returned to his top form and then back to his base form.

"Wow, it was great while it lasted..." Rex said, breathing heavily, "At least it's over."

"Can you be a Charmander again?" Keldeo asked in surprise, "I didn't think that was possible!"

"Not just him" Mina commented and everyone returned to his base form, leaving Keldeo more surprised.

(Minutes later…)

"We are indebted to them for his help" the recovered chief Noivern thanked them and together with his brothers Noibat, "Now we can rest peacefully in our home"

"It's been a pleasure helping," Rose told them, "Now, we must get back on our way."

"Where are you going?" Keldeo asked.

"We're headed to…" Zack began, but immediately, Rex and Luke passed out.

They quickly realized that something bad had happened to them: their bodies showed signs of being immobilized and somewhat sick. Noibat and Noivern recognized that symptom.

"Dragon Deserter's Breath attack," they said, "Causes paralysis, do you have any Zrezas berries?"

"Yeah!" Rose hastily replied as she took a pair out of the backpack and handed them to both of them.

Rex and Luke ate the berries. However, they did not immediately improve.

"That dark energy combined with the Dragon Breath attack must have caused a different effect," Keldeo suggested, "They need treatment."

"We are too far to return to Azurview"

"No problem, I know an Audino who lives near here…" Keldeo mentioned.

"Keldeo!" someone yelled behind them.

A tall Pokemon was heading towards them: it had the appearance of a gazelle with curled green horns and some kind of pink vines around the body. Her feet looked like green boots.

"Virizon!" Keldeo replied.

"I was looking for you, I heard that you had gone to investigate these strange vibrations…" said Virizon.

"I know, I know. But there's no time to lose" and pointed to Rex and Luke, "They're sick, Virizon. You have to take them to Miss Audino in Paradise"

The Pokemon took a quick look from two to analyze the situation and then, she agreed to take the chosen kids to Paradise together with Keldeo.