Chapter 20: Dimensional Trap

Deep within the mountain cave, where the legendary Spacial Rift lay, lay a wounded Palkia, struggling to stay on his feet by sheer force of will. Facing him, the empowered Darkai emanated more darkness than when he defeated Dialga.

"I'm not going to give up!" Palkia exclaimed, "I've made it disappear before and I'll do it again!"

In that instant, Darkai launched a dark arrow with such power and speed that it was only in the blink of an eye. Despite the thick layer of dragon scales, this sudden attack did such damage to his right arm that he feared he would not be able to defeat him.

"You never made me disappear, I hadn't even lost my memory!" Darkai claimed, "When you disturbed the balance of the portal I found myself in an uninhabited world, empty and covered in darkness. I was trapped for a long time until I found it…"

With that last sentence, he fired a very powerful Dark Pulse at him. Palkia held on, but had no more than a few minutes of energy left. Darkai continued:

"…the base power of Dark Matter…!"

He then attacked with lightning bolts of darkness that immobilized Palkia. While torturing the legendary, Weavile appeared.

"The Poke-Destined have been being transported by Latios and Latias," he announced, "Not much time…"

"I don't need much" Darkai replied, still holding Palkia with his dark rays, "Put the plan in motion and let's get rid of the head of that group"

( Meanwhile …)

The storm at sea was getting worse by the minute as the Poke-Destined, mounted on Latios and Latias, approached the Space Rift Island at full speed.

"Do not trust!" Latios warned them, "Darkai won't let us get close that easily!"

"We see it!" Zack yelled, pointing ahead.

They had entered the limits of the island. In front of them, the great mountain had a large hole that led to a cave that Palkia would enter (this was undoubtedly the place). The bad thing was that he was watched:

They looked like dragonflies, but they were bigger and had a long green body, with two short legs without fingers, two small arms, and a long tail that ended in three rhombuses that formed a kind of fan . Its wings were large and diamond-shaped. In the eyes, they had a protective red membrane that glowed more intensely than normal. They were a pack, swarm, or group of Flygons .

The possessed Pokemon saw them and the chosen boys prepared to fight, but Latios made an unexpected move and threw Mina, Zack and Luke onto Latias's back.

"Don't stop!" he told them, "If Darkai disturbs the balance of space too, this world will fall apart! Latias, take the boys to Palkia! I'll take care of the Flygons !"

"We can't leave you!" Luke exclaimed.

"Don't worry, a swarm of Flygons won't stop me that easily. But it may take time. Leave now!"

Without more to say, he launched himself against the Flygons , with his best attack: Radiant Focus. Latias, knowing her brother, had no choice but to continue towards the cave entrance. Once there, Rex told him:

"Go back to your brother and help him in his battle, we will continue from here"

"Oh really?" asked Latias, "I could be of more use to them and we would quickly defeat Darkai."

"Don't worry, we'll fight with everything we have," Rose stressed, "Rex is right: your brother needs you."

Latias pondered for a couple of seconds before saying, "Okay. As Lapras said, you are our best hope. We'll be back when we're done with the Flygons . "

Latias went back to help his brother Latios. Then, the chosen children turned their attention to the entrance of the cave: it was huge, dark and gave off a certain air from its interior which was somewhat suffocating.

"This feeling… it's like…" Mina commented.

"As if the environment is constantly changing" Zack completed, "It's as if the space is deformed"

"That means we're heading in the right direction," Rose said, "come on, let's go in..."

They were already entering when Rex stopped them:

"Wait a minute, folks" he told them, "Does this seem strange to you, doesn't you?"

"What are you taking about?" asked Luke, "No enemies in sight."

"That's the strange thing" Rex replied, "In the Hidden Land they attacked us with everything and managed to separate us... why isn't there as much security now as the Flygon swarm that Latios and Latias are keeping at bay?"

"It seems strange to me too" Dylan supported him, "Weavile is not there to stop us either, and if we go in... wouldn't it be imprudent to go in like this?"

"The world is going to fall apart with each passing minute!" Luke exclaimed, "If it's a trap, we'll get over it as a team, right?"

The others nodded, Rex and Dylan then agreed as well. So they all went into the dark cave. As soon as they entered the darkness, they felt a pull downward, as if the ground had been removed from under their feet. Everyone screamed, as they fell to an unknown destination, even Luke: it seemed as if the environment did not allow him to fly

(A few minutes later…)

The chosen children got up and did not believe what they saw: they were in a kind of clearing inside a dark cave. However, the worst was that they were locked in some kind of bubble of dark energy.

"But what…?" Rose asked using one of her vines to touch the sphere. However, it was like touching metal charged with electricity, " Ouch !"

"Be careful" Zack told her, "It's very dangerous"

"I already knew it smelled like a trap!" Dylan complained.

"Very well inquired, chosen child" a voice from outside the sphere told them, "But a slow performance, typical of a novice"

Weavile appeared in front of them, his evil smile was unmistakable and he mocked the children for having fallen squarely into the trap. Dylan glared at him.

"Weavile..." he said, "Neither you nor your master will get away with it."

"Is that what the one who is inside a dark sphere that prevents evolution says?" Weavile laughed, "You should know."

The boys looked at their Pokephones, which seemed normal. However, Mina held onto it and yelled, "Let's evolve!"

Nothing happened. The kids couldn't believe it... stuck unable to evolve? They had always been able to win due to evolving with Pokephones, what would they do now? And that wasn't the worst...

"Guys..." Rose said looking around, "where's Rex?"

The other kids noticed the absence of their partner.

"Are you asking about your little friend?" Weavile sneered, pointing behind him, "He's accompanying Palkia."

Behind Weavile was a wall and, tied hand and foot by some kind of black energy ropes, was Rex, next to the huge Palkia, the legendary Pokemon lord of Space.

"Rex!" said all his friends.

"Guys!" The Charmander answered them trying to free himself from his bonds, "Don't worry, I'm fine... if I can let go"

"You won't be without this…" said a voice undeniably more sinister than Weavile's: Darkai appeared in front of Rex and Palkia.

He had changed slightly since the Hidden Land: his appearance seemed a little darker than before and the supposed trench coat that was wrapped around his neck was turning more purple and darker… was he being totally consumed? To make matters worse, it was holding Rex's Pokephone in its sinister claws.

"Darkai!" Palkia snarled, still trying to break free of his bonds. However, this one treated it as if it were a separate thing:

"I'll take care of you later…" he replied, at the same time shooting a dark wave at him and making him scream in pain, "You've lost several of your powers, Palkia. I don't think you're in a position to be a threat. Besides…"

Darkai reached out with his ghastly claw and grabbed Rex's head, but did nothing more than inspect him. Of course, for Rex it would be like a cross between skeleton and ghost is touching him. After a while, Darkai left him and turned to the rest of the children, then fixed his gaze on Rex again.

"Without a doubt you stand out among your teammates…" he told him, "I would say that you are more like the head of this team that is causing me so much trouble…"

"I don't know what you're talking about" Rex replied, "We don't have a leader, we fight as one"

"That shows that, indeed, you are" Darkai stressed, "And that without adding that blood that runs through your veins"

"I already told you that… wait… what are you talking about?"

There was a laugh from under Darkai's dark trench coat, and with his bony claw he pointed to Rex's mark.

"That mark is a sign of descent from a powerful family of Fire and Dragon's Pokemon" he told him, "But what it does in a human child, even if he is a chosen one, is what still remains to be found out..."

Those words hit Rex like a bucket of cold water, what do you mean Fire and Dragon's Pokemon? He was a human ! At least at home. Although, the truth is that he was also adopted, what was happening here? Every thought and possibility turned him round and round.

Meanwhile, the other Poke-Destined looked helplessly at their companion.

"Is what Darkai says true?" Mina asked quietly, as if so Weavile wouldn't hear them.

"True or not, we can't let him continue to torture Rex's head" Rose replied in the same tone, "We have to get out of here…"

"Rose's right, guys," Luke agreed, "we have to help him. But how?"

"I think I have an idea," Dylan said, "When Rose touched that barrier, she got hurt with a negative charge, didn't she? So, we must fight negative with positive and… Zack is the key"

"If I don't evolve, I don't have that much power," Zack stressed.

"But Pokephones have another function: when Rex fought Darkai in the Hidden Land, his Pokephone gave him enough light to power up his attack. If we unite ours in Zack, surely he will gain enough positive charge to make the barrier disappear"

"It might work…Okay, let's try it"

"However," Darkai continued, "I only know that such a mark on someone like you is a danger to my idea of a world filled with darkness...so..."

From its claws, such dark energy emanated that it was concentrated into a single large Shadow Ball . However, before he could launch the attack, Palkia was attempting to break free of his restraints by preparing a Hyper Beam aimed at his restraints.

"Palkia…poor defeated Legendary…" Darkai sneered, "You can't destroy those shadow chains with your powers…"

"Maybe not…" Palkia roared, "But the walls are just rocks…"

Said and done, Palkia unloaded the attack on the wall, destroying it and thus loosening the dark chains, pulling out a huge claw and destroying the rest of the wall. Rex was released. That instant, the kids put their Pokephones together and they emitted a powerful light that was reflected towards Zack. Then, charged with positive energy, he charged against the barrier.

"Spark!"

Zack hit the negative bar with his discharge and, as expected, both energies were neutralized. Weavile realized that he had broken free and was about to sink his claws into Zack.

"Ultra evolve!"

Just in time, Dylan evolved into Greninja and created water kunai, with which he stopped Weavile's claws.

"You were saying that I was slow to act?" Dylan laughed as he held back his nemeses, "Guys, go get Rex!"

"Yeah!" the others yelled as they recovered and headed off with their partner.

For its part, Palkia tried to claw at Darkai, who dodged effortlessly. However, when he noticed the escape of the chosen kids as he approached to help his companion, he stopped fooling around.

"Stop!" he yelled as he used his Dark Pulse and pushed Palkia against the wall, " Regirock ! Registeel ! Regice! "

From the other side, something hit the wall and collapsed it like it was made of paper. Among the rubble, some small lights could be seen that moved as if it were a machine... it was a great rock golem : Regirock . Right behind him were the iron and steel goals: Registeel and Regice . The bad thing was that, despite those little lights shining on what seemed to be their faces, the same dark energy emanated from them that had controlled several of the Pokemon with which the chosen children had fought.

"Attack!" Darkai commanded, "Destroy the Poke-Destined and the cave!"

Weavile separated from Dylan and went with Darkai who disappeared into a dark cloud that he created. For their part, the 3 Regi launched themselves against the chosen children, but Palkia got in the way.

"Spacial Rend!"

Palkia's most powerful move warped the space where the 3 Regis were and transported them to another place. However, the release of energy was causing the cave to collapse.

"We must go for Darkai!" Palkia yelled at the kids, "He plans to create a space-time vortex that will swallow everything and everyone in an explosion!"

"But where has he gone?" Luke asked.

Then, a memory returned to Dylan's mind as he returned to his base form: "…meet me on the dark mountain…"

"The Dark Mountain!" Dylan exclaimed, "That's where Weavile told me he'd be waiting for me to end our fight!

"I know it," Palkia said, shielding them from a few falling rocks, "I'll send them there!"

Rose asked Rex, "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine..." he replied, returning to his usual self, "What Darkai said about me is true, this is not the time for it: we must save the world"

Palkia roared and with its powers created a vortex large enough for the kids to pass through.

"Stop him, Poke-Destined!" he yelled at them, "I'll take care of stabilizing the space. And if I succeed, I'll catch up with them there…"

And, without further ado, he flung the vortex at the chosen children who were sucked like sheets of paper into a vacuum cleaner, heading towards the place where they were to stop the darkness once and for all.