Chapter 52: MOS 6581
Come back! A furious voice fired a powerful Thunder at his fleeing opponent.
As a Sword of Justice, this is my mission Force of Nature, the bulky brown Pokémon stated as he dodged the Thunder and kept dashing through the rugged mountains.
The Reveal Glass belongs to the Forces of Nature, not the Swords of Justice! The Electric-type fired Dark Pulse.
Not today! The Fighting-type spun around to face his opponent and revealed his glowing sword-like horn that formed at the top of his head. The Rock-type jumped forward and slashed through the Dark Pulse, eliminating the attack.
The Fighting-type Pokémon then burst out of the cloud of smoke and continued dashing through the Rocky Mountains. What is your objective by stealing the glass, Sword of Justice? The pursuer blasted through every nook and cranny his target slithered through.
You know as well as I do that the enemy threatening our existence is far beyond your control, the Sword of Justice responded sternly.
The Reveal Glass belongs to the Forces of Nature, we created it and we guard it. Not even your kind is capable of handling such an item; the Force of Nature crossed his arms.
We may not be able to, but we have an idea of someone who might, the Sword of Justice argued.
There is no one capable of understanding the powers of the Reveal Glass except for us! The Force of Nature proclaimed and clapped its hands together to create a powerful wind. His target quickly made a run for it as it bashed through the boulders blocking its way.
The fleeing target's opponent yelled you won't get away! Then with the force of Thunder dispersed the cloud of smoke and aimed it right for his enemy.
His opponent tried to run with all its force, but Thunder had made its mark. Unfortunately for the Electric-type, Thunder blasted through the illusion and merely damaged the ground. The Flying-type's eyes widened with anger, realizing his target had escaped. DARN YOU! The Force of Nature roared at the sky as dark clouds began to form in the sky. Low roars of thunder echoed in the air and the genie-like Pokémon flew into the thunderstorm with ferocity in its gaze.
Die! A devilish voice cried out from the pitch black cloud and fired a dark beam at Roxas.
"Watch out!" Ash shouted as he prepared to push the boy away from harm until Roxas charged up an Aura Sphere.
Roxas fearlessly fired the Aura Sphere from his palm and burst on contact with the dark beam. The smoke quickly dispersed and left the group facing the dark cloud once again.
Not bad, the voice chuckled. Suddenly, the dark cloud burst and the mysterious figure revealed itself as a Darkrai. The Dark-type gave the gang a very menacing look as it hovered over the ground hauntingly.
"It's a Darkrai!" Ash exclaimed with his eyes wide, remembering his experiences with Darkrai in an instant flashback. The fearsome Pokémon stood before him once again, but this time as neither a friend nor competitor and instead as a foe.
"A Darkrai?" May looked at the menacing Pokémon with concern, wondering who this strange and dangerous creature was.
"Darkrai, the Pitch-Black Pokémon. Legend has it that on a moonless night, Darkrai will lure people to sleep and unleash nightmares upon them," May's Pokédex described. The girl then put her machine away and glared at the Legendary Pokémon.
"Sounds about right," Hilbert crossed his arms as he frowned at their deadly attacker.
"Is it responsible for what happened to all those grunts upstairs?" Hilda asked with a frightened tone.
Yes, that would be me. Their faces of fearfulness when I drained the life out of them, Darkrai chuckled.
"They may be horrible people, but they didn't deserve that at all," Ash clenched his fist while gritting his teeth, staring angrily at a less noble Darkrai than the ones he had met in the past.
Horrible people…possibly not. A cold heart cannot experience the fear in their eyes and the thoughts streaming through their minds as I took their lives, oh how unfortunate that they had to meet such gruesome ends. After all, they were merely foolish people with no other mission than to take orders from another; Darkrai spoke with a very cold attitude.
"They weren't great people, but who are you to judge their fates?!" May yelled at the Dark-type angrily.
"That's right, what you did was wrong. You took lives with no mercy or right and that is just inexcusable," Ash added with a very sharp tone in his voice.
"Pika pikachu!" Pikachu backed up his friend as electricity emitted from his cheeks.
"Tini vi!" Victini also stood by his friends' side and spoke up against the intimidating Legendary Pokémon.
Roxas and Lucario looked at the four with interest. The pair turned to each other with impressed expressions. The two turned to Darkrai to see how the Dark-type would respond to such valor.
Darkrai looked at them coldly and flew a bit closer, alarming all of them in a second. The Dark-type glared at them. It then raised its arms, spare me your morals. They are not welcomed in my realm. Abruptly, Darkrai fired a Shadow Ball into the ceiling that burst and showered down dark energy that consumed the setting. Everything got torn down as the ancient architecture of the room became nothing but a setting of darkness.
The gang found themselves standing on darkness; they could not see anything except darkness. Everything that surrounded them was black and ghouls could be seen lurking through it as maniacal laughs echoed and red eyes illuminated the zone. On the other end, Darkrai faced them with its eyes shining an intense blue.
You, Darkrai pointed at Roxas, suffer first, the Dark-type declared evilly.
Roxas smirked, Lucario use Drain Punch. "Go!" the raven-haired teen pointed at Darkrai.
Lucario attacked so fast that it seemed more like teleportation. In just seconds it appeared in front of Darkrai with its fist glowing dark green. Just as the Fighting-type prepared to jab his opponent though, the Dark-type multiplied and the jackal Pokémon punched through an illusion.
Fool, did you really think you could catch me off guard even if I didn't hear your commands. Fighting-types are my specialty, Darkrai laughed demonically as copies surrounded Lucario.
Fire! Darkrai released multiple Focus Blasts at Lucario.
"Let it rain!" Roxas spread his arm out to the right as he instructed his next move.
Lucario launched himself up as the Focus Blasts missed and destroyed each other on impact. Once the Steel-type was high enough it fired multiple Aura Spheres from its palms like rain and destroyed every Darkrai copy below.
It's going to take more than that, a gaseous form appeared behind Lucario and took the form of Darkrai. The Dark-type then shouted as it let out a fierce Incinerate.
Lucario spun around quickly and with wide eyes fired a last minute Dragon Pulse that burst on impact. The two powerful Pokémon then flew backwards and landed smoothly on the ground.
"Darkrai is on par with Lucario, no way," Ash was in disbelief as he witnessed for the first time a Pokémon as powerful as Roxas's.
"Do you think Lucario will be able to handle it?" May clenched her fist as she expressed concern with Pikachu and Victini.
"No, Roxas has to have a plan," Hilbert remained certain that Roxas had this under control. Hilda on the other hand stayed silent as she hoped Lucario would blast Darkrai into another dimension.
Roxas ignored their comments as he stayed focused on the battle. Rarely is anyone ever able to match 25% of Lucario's power, but then again this is a Legendary Pokémon. We'll have to come up with something clever, the sapphire-eyed trainer thought.
I'll be prepared for anything this demon has in store. It obviously favors surprise attacks, Lucario commented, making Roxas nod in agreement.
"Lucario, use ExtremeSpeed!" Roxas shouted.
The Aura Pokémon took off once again almost like teleportation. This time however, it made itself visible for several seconds as it fired Aura Sphere. It disappeared again and would then reappear to fire more Aura Sphere.
Cheap illusions, Darkrai extended its arms out and made the Aura Spheres glow neon blue. The Dark-type then maniacally fired them everywhere without control as Lucario narrowly dodged multiple of them.
"It took control of Aura Sphere with Psychic!" Hilbert exclaimed.
As Lucario got busy trying to dodge the out of control projectiles, Darkrai took another approach. Try this on for size! Darkrai shot upward and then fired a purple-black energy ball at Lucario as it tried dodging the Aura Spheres.
"Dark Void, if Lucario gets hit it'll fall asleep!" Ash screamed with his jaw dropping.
"Lucario heads up!" Roxas shouted.
Lucario saw the incoming attack and prepared to move in another direction; however, Aura Spheres threatened to hit it from all directions.
"Pikachuuuuu!" Pikachu screamed as a Thunderbolt fired without warning and destroyed the Dark Void.
Blasted Pikachu, Darkrai made a fist in anger as Lucario successfully dodged all the Aura Sphere and avoided harm's way.
Thank you, Lucario nodded at Pikachu.
"Pika!" Pikachu smiled happily for a moment before returning to its serious demeanor.
"Good job Pikachu," May patted the mouse as Ash and the other teens let out a sigh.
Roxas himself was in relief, but he wasn't going to let his guard down after a lucky break. As he prepared to continue battling, Ash and May's voices intervened. "Roxas let us help you. Lucario can't fight Darkrai alone!" Ash told the trainer.
"That's right Roxas; we're going to fight right by your side!" May added as Roxas got caught by surprise.
The sapphire-eyed trainer looked at them with puzzlement and wondered for a moment as the couple grinned at him with Pikachu and Victini. Lucario gazed at them as well while Roxas thought of them fighting by his side, but traumas entered his mind and he quickly shook his head. "No, I'm sorry," Roxas looked at them with a blank stare.
"Why not?!" Ash spread his arms out.
"You're both very strong, but nowhere near Darkrai's strength. Please just stay out of this," Roxas turned away from them, leaving the pair confused.
"Why did he do that? Ash and May could help him beat Darkrai in no time!" Hilda yelled.
"I wish I knew," Hilbert became just as confused as he gazed at Ash and May, who got confused by Roxas's response.
How touching, friends trying to back each other. Unfortunately, the five of you combined isn't enough to defeat me, Darkrai laughed.
"Darkrai, who are you working for?!" Roxas shouted out the question without any warning, surprising Darkrai for a moment.
Darkrai chuckled as it descended closer to the ground. Who am I working for? That is none of your concern boy, this criminal unit infiltrated my castle and I was merely protecting my home.
"I don't believe you. Darkrai don't inhabit places like this, you and I both know this. On top of that there's one other mystery still unanswered. Where's the Light Stone? Before you attacked us, I noticed that the stone was no longer where it should be. I know you have something to do with it," Roxas glared at his fierce enemy.
The Light Stone is not for the hands of you. I've had enough of your existence now. Time for you to die! All of a sudden, Darkrai multiplied and fired Dark Pulse almost like electric beams.
"Lucario, dodge with ExtremeSpeed!" Roxas reacted fast as he saw the dozen incoming Dark Pulse.
"Lucario, don't! Use Close Combat instead!" Ash instructed.
"What?" Roxas raised an eyebrow as he turned to Ash.
Roger, Lucario smirked, hoping to enlighten his trainer a bit through an act of defiance. At that sudden moment the jackal Pokémon took the Dark Pulse head on and punched and kicked every Dark Pulse attempting to damage it.
What on earth? Darkrai became confused by this turn around as Lucario kicked and punched back his attacks, destroying each copy. Darkrai himself also moved fast as he attempted to dodge every incoming Dark Pulse.
Roxas looked at Ash with surprise, but before he could ask Ash responded, "Lucario is part Steel so Dark-type moves barely have any effect so you're not risking much if Lucario takes the attacks head on."
With that said, Roxas smiled slyly as he turned to Lucario. Another soon interfered in the battle though, "Lucario, go for an ExtremeSpeed with a Drain Punch fast!" May commanded.
Right, Lucario dashed through the battlefield and as Darkrai got occupied dodging Dark Pulse, it failed to see Lucario coming. Unfortunately for the Dark-type it felt the full force of Drain Punch right in the face and felt its power get sucked away gradually.
The force of Drain Punch also sent the Legendary Pokémon crashing against the dark floor and the Pokémon groaned in pain.
"Darkrai got distracted by all the Dark Pulse. When something like that happens, it's the best moment to attack," May smiled confidently as Roxas, as the boy eyed her with content in his face.
"Well what do you know," Hilbert chuckled as he saw the table of the battle turn immediately.
"I think they might win this!" Hilda cheered.
Roxas chuckled over the decisions his parents made for him and turned to Lucario. "Alright Lucario, last set of moves, use Earthquake and wrap it up with a Dragon Sphere!" Roxas declared.
Time to end this! Lucario shouted as it stomped the ground and made it tremble. The shockwaves sent a recovering Darkrai flying. The Dark-type shouted in pain as it could no longer find the strength to recover after a lethal attack like Drain Punch.
With the Legendary Pokémon vulnerable in the air, Lucario prepared to execute the final move. The jackal Pokémon charged up an Aura Sphere with both palms and released them with a final roar. The Aura Sphere was twice the size of a regular Aura Sphere; however, its power would get accentuated with Lucario's Dragon Pulse. The Aura Pokémon opened its jaw, releasing stream of blue-green energy that fired like a spiral.
Dragon Pulse quickly caught up with Aura Sphere, resulting in the dragon move enveloping the sphere. The combined attack charged head on towards Darkrai, who helplessly delivered a last minute Dark Pulse that stood no match. Dark Pulse got shot through and the force of Dragon Sphere made Darkrai cry in pain while the gang cheered with joy.
Impossiiiiible! Darkrai shouted as the dark setting around the gang shattered back into the room they were previously in. The ghouls in the background shouted in pain with Darkrai as they faded into nothing as well. Soon everything returned to normal with Darkrai getting blasted against the stone wall.
The Dark-type groaned in pain as it dropped like a corpse on the ground, leaving a large crack on the wall. "That's that," Hilbert crossed his arms with relief.
"Phew," Hilda wiped away some sweat.
"Pika!" Pikachu fist pumped into the air.
"Victini vi!" Victini flew around cheerfully.
Ash and May just laughed with joy as a smile grew across Roxas's face. The raven-haired trainer turned the couple with a grin on his face. "Good job Ash and May, we wouldn't be here right now had it not been for your tactics," Roxas complimented them.
"Thanks for recognizing our skills Roxas, even though we look like scared, clueless teens in love, who don't wear black coats to show off our prowess," May joked with a sassy tone, although the girl did smile at him.
"She means to say that we're happy to help," Ash laughed as he placed a hand on May's shoulder.
Roxas chuckled and nodded, "It's cool, thank you though." The boy then thought proudly of Ash and May's exceptional abilities, the ones they had learned while in training with Auro, Nate, and Rosa. Bit by bit they started to resemble the parents of his timeline.
Sadly, the celebration got cut short as Darkrai recovered. The Pitch-Black Pokémon began to slowly get itself to hover over the ground with a weak glare on its face. D-Darn it, curse you, Darkrai winced in pain as his injuries stung him.
"Give us the Light Stone Darkrai that is all we came for. We are not interested in taking your life, we are not like you," Roxas reached his hand out.
My master would not allow that. He has a secret agenda for that Light Stone along with so many other factors you are unaware about, Darkrai chuckled weakly.
"What are you talking about?" Ash frowned at the Dark-type.
Y-You're all…just p-part of a puppet act, Darkrai laughed as the pain coursed through his body.
"A puppet act?" May raised an eyebrow.
The puppeteer will cut your strings when they no longer have use for you. The criminal organizations will all go to the Distortion World, including the Majestic 12. There is a grand plan at stake. The question is will you survive it? Darkrai chuckled as a dark energy began to envelope him.
"What grand plan? Darkrai, answer! Where's the Light Stone!" Roxas immediately became irritated and fired an Aura Sphere to stop Darkrai from escaping.
Unfortunately, the Aura Sphere bounced right off. Darkrai got consumed by the darkness until he was no longer present. Nothing was left where the Legendary Pokémon once stood.
"He mentioned a puppeteer, what was he talking about?" Hilda spoke with a worrisome tone.
"Darkrai said we had strings attached…something smells like foul play," Hilbert scratched his chin.
"If we are part of someone's evil plan, how can we be helping if we're trying to do something good?" Ash wondered with confusion.
"Unless whatever good we're doing will have negative effects, but like what?" May became puzzled as the four teens began to wonder along with Victini and Pikachu.
Roxas I fear there are some things we are unaware about. Things that weren't revealed in our time, Lucario spoke in a closed telepathic conversation with Roxas.
How could that be though? All our data, all the information we've gathered over the years have never exposed any large conspiracy, Roxas became frustrated as he felt like punching the stone wall. He wondered how could there be something going on behind the scenes. A hawkeye like Roxas's would have detected something odd by now.
I believe we will only find out once we abandon our mission for the Light Stone for now and leave this dreaded castle. Something is brewing at the surface, Lucario suggested, receiving a nod from his trainer.
Abruptly, Roxas's device began to ring and caught the attention of everyone else. The gang looked at Roxas while he looked at his phone, "It's Auro," the sapphire-eyed trainer informed.
He clicked on the button as Auro appeared on the screen. "Auro, what's going on, any news on the Genesect?" Roxas questioned.
"I think that's what you should be least worrying about right now. We have a bigger problem on our hands," Auro spoke through the phone and turned the camera to show the setting where Auro was located in.
The gang became alarmed when they saw the things occurring back on the surface. There were dark clouds hovering over the land as tornadoes ravaged through the forest. The ferocity of the weather was clear by the violent rustling and the way Auro's hair blew. Sounds of destruction, birds crying in fear, and the sounds of other fleeing Pokémon could be heard as well. Flocks of Unfezant, Pidgeot, Braviary, etc, could be seen flying away from the danger zone.
"We don't know why this is happening. I mean one tornado is normal, but a dozen at once in the same area is not very common. This happening in an area just between Mistralton City and Twist Mountain and on top of that there are reports of persistent thunderstorms occurring in east Unova. What's your guess on all this?" Auro inquired as he appeared on the screen again.
"I don't know Auro; we came down into some problems here in Relic Castle as well. We encountered a rogue Darkrai talking about some conspiracy happening underneath our noses and the Light Stone wasn't even found here. My guess is the Darkrai had it and escaped with it," Roxas was clearly under stress, yet he managed to keep his cool.
"A Darkrai, out here in Unova? Just that bit of information already makes it sound suspicious. Roxas, if the Light Stone is gone, if there is a conspiracy happening as we speak, and if all of Unova is going to experience this kind of weather, I think I'm going to need your help back out here. Plus, we still have those Genesect roaming free, who knows what havoc they and their masters have done. Nate and Rosa went to investigate what is going on in East Unova just so you know," Auro informed his friend.
Roxas, if the crisis is in such out of hand than I agree with Auro. We have to mobilize immediately, Lucario spoke seriously.
"Very well, I'll catch with you as soon as possible. Roxas, out," Roxas gave a farewell to his friend and vice versa until the two disconnected. The raven-haired trainer turned to his friends with a stern expression.
"Roxas, what's wrong?" May looked worried.
"We have to head to Nimbasa City," Roxas sighed.
Knowing that it wouldn't be smart to question him right now, the group of six, including Pikachu and Victini, nodded. Not only had they run into a serious dilemma in the Relic Castle, but a much bigger seems to be transpiring right before them. No one in the room knew what to expect.
That's the end guys. I know, I know, this was much shorter than any chapter in the book. The thing is I didn't know how to make this chapter any longer. I didn't want Lucario vs. Darkrai to be more than 2,000 words or that would've gotten repetitive. The beginning of the chapter was meant to add a bit more diversity to this chapter, but there was not much else I could work with. The other material I have jotted is much too long and it is incredibly inconsistent with the plot of this chapter. The next chapter I have planned is Ash's gym battle and I felt if combined that chapter and this one, it'd seem weird to have dark and light tones in one chapter. I hope you guys still enjoyed this chapter though; I certainly liked writing up the suspense and desperation occurring in this chapter. What I also want to talk about with you guys is that I'm on vacation now, but as you might have noticed, my updates have been inconsistent. I haven't updated every weekend like I wanted to and it's been difficult because of work, however this does not mean I'll stop updating on weekends. I'm sure they'll be some weekends when I can update. So my point is that because I haven't been consistent with my updates it means Ill start updating on weekdays like today. I'll have more free time on weekdays anyway, but I can't give specific days. One day it might Monday that I update and the other might be Friday, but like I've said many times before, I will not give up on this story and will continue updating until my brain can no longer function. I apologize for any inconvenience guys and I'm sorry for not making this chapter more interesting. I'm hoping that I'll have the next chapter up by Tuesday, so that means I won't update Man in the Mirror this weekend since Black or White needs more updating at the moment. Anyways, thanks for reading guys and sorry for making this notification so long. Once again, hope you guys liked the chapter. REMEMBER TO REVIEW, PM, ETC, FEEDBACK IS ALWAYS WELCOMED. Thanks for everything and I'll catch you guys in the next chapter!