The hole in the sky roared with a great storm and a powerful tornado descended at high speed, dragging the islet where the kids were. They tried to hold on, but the force of the air was superior and they were dragged into the portal. As soon as they crossed the threshold, everyone felt themselves falling into the very darkness.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" they screamed as they fell.
Suddenly, the fall ended and they felt themselves floating: they were levitating in an environment reminiscent of outer space, only gloomier and gloomier. But with enough light to see around you.
"Where we are?" Mina asked.
"I don't know," Rose replied, "But I can't feel any natural presence, it's like we're not in the Pokemon world or the human world."
"Is this another of Dusknoir's tricks?" Zack asked.
"No, it's not possible," Dylan replied, "We ourselves saw how he faded away. This is the work of who he obeyed."
"Chosen Children!" shouted a hoarse and gloomy voice ahead, from where almost nothing could be seen due to the darkness. The voice was so terrifying that it would make anyone's hair stand on end.
At first, everyone thought they saw four lights and managed to see that they were red eyes of some unknown enemy. Its body was a deformed, semi-circular or square mass, from which a dozen tentacles sprouted. There was no mouth, nose or ears.
"Chosen children!" He exclaimed again, "You… have stood in the way of our attempts to bring darkness in every era: the Destruction of the Meteorite, the Reconstruction of Time and Space, the Great Freeze, and… my previous defeat, the Dark Petrification"
"Previous defeat…" Dylan muttered, "Is it that… this thing is… Dark Matter?"
"Dark Matter?" Rex asked, "Hadn't Mew defeated her along with a chosen child from long ago?"
"What Mew managed to seal was only my outer shell…" the enormous creature explained, moving its tentacles, in an escape position, "But my true self always exists behind the light… in the darkness!"
The tentacles began to attack, to which the kids had to quickly separate themselves by levitating to avoid them. However, these tentacles were much faster than them and they soon found themselves hit by them.
"That was enough…" Rex said, freeing himself from the blows and attacking the pesky tentacles, "Fire Blast!"
Rex attacked with his best fire attack. However, to everyone's astonishment, one of the tentacles took the shape of a Poliwrath.
"Hydro Pump!"
The form that the tentacle had acquired attacked as if it were a real Poliwrath and the water attack surpassed the fire attack, effectively impacting Rex. Luckily for him, Katie caught him. Dylan, who had just seen this, was equally impressed, but he deduced it immediately:
"Apparently, he can use attacks of different types," he said.
"Let's see if you can defend yourself against this!" Mina yelled, "Shock Wave!"
"With pleasure!" Dark Matter shouted. One of his tentacles turned into an Aagron, "Iron defense!"
The tentacle-shaped received the attack squarely, but its defense was incredibly tough. Mina couldn't believe what was happening.
"That means, what can use those tentacles as attack and defense? And can they attack with different types?" she told herself, "There is no way!"
"Let's see if you protect yourself from everyone at the same time!" Zack shouted, "Friends, let's join attacks!"
"Good idea!" Rex supported him, recovered, "Flamethrower!"
"Dragon Breath!" Katie attacked.
"Thunder Shock!" Zack attacked.
"Razor Leaves!" Rose attacked.
"Multi Water Shuriken!" Dylan attacked.
"Hyper Beam!" Mina attacked.
"Razor Wind!" Luke attacked.
All the attacks combined into one and it seemed like they could hit the target. However, all the tentacles united and managed to catch the final impact, as if it were a ball. He then crushed it as such into powder. The kids couldn't believe their eyes.
"It's not over!" exclaimed Zack, who was able to notice a small detail in the tentacles thanks to his sight, "Look!"
Even though they had been so strong to resist the attack, they showed signs of burns: the attack had not been so easy to cover.
"We did a little damage…" Dylan deduced, "If we evolve to Mega level, it is certain that this time we will do more than a little damage."
"Good!" Rex said, holding up his medallion like the others.
But, before they could do the Mega Evolution, the tentacles tried to hit them and they had to move again to avoid them. Although, this was part of the plan: when the tentacles almost hit the kids, a small but long hand like a mini tentacle emerged from the original and snatched the medallion from each of them.
"No!" Rex shouted, trying to catch his own, but was hit by a tentacle.
"Well, well…" said the Dark Matter, to whom the tentacles had brought the amulets, "The famous fruits of life of Xerneas…"
The tentacle had transformed into a Golurk and held the seven medallions in its hands.
"They are nothing more than thorns to me…" he completed the sentence and, the Golurk-shaped tentacle proceeded to close his hands, crushing the amulets. The next second, a crackling sound was heard, and then, the fake Golurk's hands were filled with golden dust, which dissipated into the air.
"No, it can't be happening…" said each of the kids.
"Now that your fruits of life do not hinder me, you will not be able to do anything. But to make sure…"
The tentacles caught everyone suddenly. Each tried to break free, but it was useless: they could feel the evolutionary energy being drained from them, and in the blink of an eye, they were back in their base forms.
"He took away our Ultra form too…" Katie muttered.
"How does it feel to not be able to evolve?" mocked Dark Matter, "It's the best way to torture the chosen children who cause so much trouble... I know! How do you feel about the heroes of two worlds being swallowed up by darkness before the eyes of those who promised to help?"
"What did you say?" Luke asked.
Dark Matter moved two tentacles and by magic, created two windows to the worlds: the Pokemon and the human. From them, the kids could see both their friends and their families. From their point of view, what they saw was a black sky, with that image that could be seen in all parts of the worlds.
"Welcome beings from both worlds!" Dark Matter exclaimed, "Your worlds will soon come to be covered with my pleasant presence! But first contemplate the only lights that can save them: without their fruits of life, without their ability to evolve... the chosen children!
That, of course, was a joke, but for everyone else it was a sign of misfortune.
"You must be happy to see your loved ones for the last time, chosen children," Dark Matter returned his gaze, "Well, it is time for you to disappear into the darkness: Dark Void!"
The tentacles each opened an eye as grotesque as the ones the main body already had and each released a ball of dark energy. The kids only protected themselves with their hands. The attack did not kill them: it sent them to a dimension where they were tied by their legs, arms or paws, floating in the darkness.
"So, this will be our end…" said Mina, "No, it can't happen…"
"Under these circumstances, I don't think there will be an answer…" Dylan was discouraged.
"We already gave everything we had…" Zack followed.
"Besides, we can't evolve…" Luke continued.
"And the medallions are destroyed…" Rose continued.
"So, is this the end?" Katie asked.
It seemed that Rex was also going to accept the sad ending, but he broke free of the restraints (apparently, they were not that strong and stood up).
"No, I'm not going to let this be the end," he told them, to the surprise of the others.
"How can you say that?" Dylan asked, "It took away our Ultra form, destroyed the medallions, and we're stretched thin in this dimension, is there really a way to win?"
"I don't care if there is a way to win or not, as long as I'm alive, I still want to keep fighting. You see: my entire life has been a mystery, and during this journey, the pieces of that mystery have been falling into place into the truth I have been searching for. I have a life that I did not live with my original parents, the life that I lived with my adoptive parents... the latter has been great and the other I will not be able to make up for lost time, but... I want to fight to live a new life with they!"
It was a good way of thinking, but more than the words, what really impressed them was what happened next. A ray of light of life had appeared in Rex's chest, a small hope and the key to maturity or evolution: the symbol of the medallion of his courage.