The Shadow Nebula DS

[Harley Scarow]

Prologue: The Shadow Nebula DS

What is darkness to most people? Darkness is something that doesn’t have anything in it, because it is there for it is just meant to be. Darkness appears every night, before dusk arrives yet always after it, showing the beauty that darkness can reflect deep upon the night. Darkness isn’t something that is complete, because it’s something that used to be there, but is already gone, faded away into the world’s sky. While one side may sing hope and happiness, darkness can only croon over sadness and madness. This is because people are not used to what the meaning of pain really is, because they are scared of what they cannot touch—because people are scared of change that happens to them everyday. Because people think that whatever they cannot see, it is too dangerous to meet the conditions to get the one thing most people in the world want. Because they cannot see it, they do not know how to fear it. And if there was some force that rayed on the darkness to show them what this material truly was, they would learn to be scared. The experience is meeting new fears, whether it is a new person, or a stone that radiated dimly.

No, people who think that darkness would do that are wrong, because darkness simply exists on its own map, living a soul that nobody else would ever understand, for they are too close-minded to assume why darkness has taken over the map more than once in the past. Why darkness can be so beautiful, yet take the side of what people hate, because those people think that the color of nothingness is too open for them, and that the evil people can take it and do whatever they want to. Those are the people that make this black tone of no worry something to be concerned about, because their eyes already match the color, and their actions make others think that anything related would be death. This meant skulls and chains are looked down by some people, because others can think they mean evil, while those wearing them know they mean good. Darkness truly is freedom, but others love to use it to trap others, even when freedom is already low in grasp, and a breath of air is rare to see and begin with. However, those that do know that darkness is a good thing have power—an object they can control, because they are better—even if they lie.

In the sky, high above the Earth’s surface, there was almost nothing to see at the moment, even if humans decided to take over even the empty space where waste was apparent and flashing lights would make on with energy every moment. There was emptiness—not a single light shone from the skies, except the gentle glittering that the many satellites gave off, but even they were too dim to put into any account. However, even in this black and blank darkness, there was a wave of curiosity that was about to emerge. It was too sad—because it was too dark during nighttime to even consider this loving light to be actual love instead of random hatred, which would be soon ignored. It was nature this time, not because of humans, but because of fate as well, that was travelling through the skies at such a rapid rate. The meteor was pitched black, and it went through the earth’s atmosphere, quickly passing by every other satellite, cleverly dodging them in coincidence—not even a flare of wind blew from this streaking meteor that decided to invade the earth’s surface all of a sudden. The little ozone layer left made welcome for the passing rock.

What was this meteor that went crashing into Earth’s atmosphere so suddenly? How much shock will it bring to the world—if any at all? There would be no sound, and the hot airs in the earth—even for its time, would not notice how strong a meteor is, because the earth has already been attacked by its own species for such a long time. This meteor would prove different, for it was no longer an accident. Humans are too closed to believe—but this is a new judgment for their lives.

[Harley Scarow]

Chapter One: Answer Questions with Questions

What is light? What would one define as light to begin with? Was it a gentle glow that radiated from the night that any person would expect to allure them over to the final source? Or was it a beam that shot down to faces simply to burn them, like the way the sun would do every morning when he reached the other side of the world? Was it simply luminosity that burned brightly in the hearts of every person with half of a determination—a will to make a difference for another? Or because they realized that it’s too difficult to try and make a difference of your own when everybody else already gave up to the horrible truth in knowledge? Is it fear of the darkness—the fear of being dragged down where one could never return again, that compels most people to wish the skies would shine forever and darkness should never come? Why would anybody appreciate it if that was so? If their expectancy was to be the same, the yellow bright sun beaming down on them with happiness yet hatred all at the same time? Who knows—if even a single person appreciates what the sun tries to do, then the work of the world would already be done, and the heavy, bright feathers the sun rose would finally roost gently behind mountains.

These are questions that travel through many minds, because most people do not understand where the source of light came from. Most say it is from the sun, and it is for the earth, but what about everywhere else? If there should never be another force in the world than in the ever predictable orbit that this world should put into routine, then life would not be appreciated as it should, because there is more outside in that world. This outside world burns even hotter than fire does, because nobody knows about how powerful it would be. If people already knew, then it would not be special—it would be like the sun, religiously waking up every morning after a zero second sleep on another mountain, where the other side rests and humans are the ones that wake up every morning when most think others are still waking because of this ray. No, most people would never appreciate the sunlight rising out every morning. They would rather freeze because their hearts are too cold for even the sun to burn through and melt into happiness once again. Then there are those that are too hot—and then the light would help nobody either way.

It was a fiery afternoon. Birds delicately sang their beautiful song in their air as the morning breeze swept through the houses singing their own song, because once the morning sun rose upon faces, another day would soon arrive. There were beautiful crimson roses bursting on one of the many fields outside, and the sunlight made a beautiful glow on this side of the world once again, but nobody could tell if this side of the world was the brighter side or not. All of it appeared to blend in with what everybody else thought the world was—to be happy, because the world would never change unless the lords above wanted to, or were too bored at how happy people could be—or the potential of happiness that all people had on this world before even an act of tragedy could befall them. This was not going to be one of those days where anybody would have to worry—because it was just another day. Even the crimson red roses that were dripping dried blood on the ground agreed, because this pain that the roses had was invisible an whatever pain was asked should have already been forgotten, because it was too happy for pain.

There was a mansion up ahead in the road, and this was where the bright red roses shined their glorious shines over the city. These roses were crimson, which was what was meant to be, but the sleeping garden all in general made the mansion shine like pure gold, radiating in love and grace of what happiness was meant to be. The mansion itself had a huge silver gate that barred the way for intruders, but it was already opened, welcoming whoever wanted to come inside. The plants in the mansion were in great abundance and happiness—like the way days were meant to be, and even if one should ask how bored they were with the rest of the world, another would answer with grace that there was much to do. A huge golden sun orb resembling the mighty generous ball in the sky itself hovered over the mansion, and whoever lived inside must have been greatly opulent, for this sun had its own force of will. While it was not as powerful as the actual sun, it gave out all of the good sides the sun used to give out—before humans began betraying life on earth to improve their own. This sun represented bliss in great abundance.

A girl approached the silvery gates of the mansion, resting her bike over to one of the sides before walking into the rich place. This girl had beautiful golden hair rushing down her back, and a white robe representing her status as either princess or queen of the mansion itself. Much golden jewelry was rushing down her body, even to places that a generalized public area would consider too dangerous to keep jewelry. Blue eyes made her track, but the blue was on the right eye, while the left one was simply golden in own grace—like the sun itself that was reflecting down—the two suns that this mansion got for some reason. The white robe that stretched down to her feet revealed golden slippers, which were so delicate and small that it wrapped around her feet like a snake, but she was comfortable with it. Like roses that matched her eyes without any red, the sun had its own grasp over her, like she was the sun girl that rose over to the clouds.

Senses trickled, because white gloves made this girl seem like she was part of the affluent home, and indeed, throwing her rough backpack, which was contradiction to her gorgeously clad body, she yelled, “Mom, I’m home! How was work?” the girl asked gently, lying down by the pool that was in the backyard. Kicking off her shoes to reveal tiny feet, she relaxed gently by the pool.

“You’re finally home, Annie,” as Annie’s mother approached from inside, as if she was ready to leave, Annie smiled herself, but was tired. Unlike Annie, her mom was dressed in a purple-blackish business suit that signified she was rich herself, but black webbings travelled through her legs that reached down to some professional value. Glasses that she wore symbolized a wave of darkness, yet light in the garden, for they were shaped like butterflies that went swift through the morning. “Sorry, Annie—right now, I have to go to some business meeting. Back later!”

“You’re always going off to these business meetings! You’ll come back soon, right?”

“Of course, dear, I’ll be back. Just go and play with the Pokémon for a little while.”

“Well, you never told me yet, but where do you go off to everyday?”

“Oh, you don’t need to know that. Have fun, dear!”

Walking past the gate, Annie’s mother left their humble abode.

Soon, not so long after, dark clouds began rolling in. These clouds hovered above the sky, like rain was about to drip down upon the people that lived along the land. The people around were wondering why all of these ominous winds would travel through the air suddenly, especially since the breeze of spring and summer was already breathing into the world everyday. Quite a question to ask on its own, but never a true answer to realize—these clouds were nothing more than an empty threat, for not a word of drizzle dropped down upon the darkness. Outside, on the same sentiment as the pool, Annie lay there, sleeping her head off blissfully, like there was nothing that she should do. Being an opulent girl, there was probably nothing she even needed to do. Either that, or Annie was not cognizant that the black clouds themselves were already rapidly rolling in, and that staying outside was out of the question. As usual, the question would not be considered gone because there was no question to answer—Annie was already sleeping, and out of her amusement were nothing more than dreams that were probably better than the clouds.

Another girl came into the room; this one was shocking with voltage all over her. Clad in clothes that were a foil to the rest of the mansion, the young lady wore a yellow and black motorcycle jacket, and had her motorcycle with her to begin. Her name was Terror Zapper, and she was in shock, as she took off her electrically-charged helmet to reveal her long and yellow, but frizzled hair high up into the sky. Quickly, Terror Zapper rushed herself into the same compartment where Annie was sleeping, as if to warn her about something. The clouds above in the sky did not seem to disturb Terror Zapper at all, as it was of her element, if one should say. Holding an electrical guitar on the left strap of her body, Terror Zapper threw it hard onto the ground and it made a loud noise as the bursting case exploded with a loud boom. The rabbit-shaped helmet was thrown onto the ground as well, and electrical gloves were worn by Terror Zapper.

“You have to wake up, you stupid Annie!” Terror Zapper shook her by the shoulders. “NOW!”

Annie was still sleeping.

“If it’s gonna be that way—Zigadude, Explosion now!”

Without another second, Terror Zapper took out a Bolt Ball, which was a Poké Ball with electrical symbols on it, and threw it immensely into the sky. The Bolt Ball erupted with a crushing sound, releasing electrical bolts into the air as Zigadude was released. Now, Zigadude looked like a Pokémon that was in shock. With widely-opened eyes as if it never obtained any sleep and eyebrows that shook as shuttering as electricity flowed through its body, pain was surging through its body. The bottom half of the bally Pokémon had square teeth that shook for no reason whatsoever, other than shock that came from elements, and shock that came from living its own breath. Spiral towers rose out from the upper-part of Zigadude’s body, and they were shaking, because the towers continuously shifted from sharp to narrow, and began charging up some energy. Generally, the electric ball was a larger, more deadly Pokémon than Electrode.

And there, the massively dangerous Explosion occurred, destroying huge layers of the mansion.

Annie woke up in shock. “What happened here? What—Terror Zapper? How could you?”

“No time to panic so much,” warned Terror Zapper, taking one of Annie’s hands before running off with it. “We need to go quickly, because even the sun above you has been shut down.”

The city’s electrical power was suddenly wiped. Zero was the answer to this question, and there was no power left in the city whatsoever. The black clouds above did not seem to even do anything, but there it was—the power completely gone. It was illogical for these clouds to even take the power of the city so quickly. However, it didn’t matter. All of the energy was gone, and the only variable that could have been put into account was the electrical bolts that were charging into the clouds for some apparent reason. Pain was not caused, but convenience already plummeted to the ground far before anything else could be considered. Because there was no power left in the city, there would be no lighter to shine within the night. The night feared, for there was no expecting anything, yet nothing could happen. Happiness was shut down just like what happened to the energy in this city, and anything else would be called dead when it was trapped in its own will. The surge of electricity that was now gone completely surrounded the city, and where dead lights were, dead minds were. The city relied too much on these lights.

In the city itself, people were screwed for their own asking.

“What happened to the lights?”

“Why is this happening today?”

“What’s with all of the screaming?

And if it should happen in any other day, these people would have complained as well, because the message of fear and confusion would soon be delivered on any day as opposed to the kind of time that would appeal to most people. However, the time when pain would be accurate to show was never during daytime, so why not during nighttime? Because people are too scared to admit that the efforts they add into not being scared fears and attacks them at any time of the day, whether they would like it or not. Because of this pain, happiness is nothing more than a weakness, because it prevents people from feeling what they feel when confusion finally makes a delicate impact onto the land they loved for so long. It makes people weak, it makes them cry, to see those that they do not know about and do not want to know about leave the world in great sadness. Even though this was not the same sadness, it’s the same case, and even when nighttime reaches, and things are not meant to be seen, they cry. What a weary world. However, Annie would cry at the next thing she saw. The last thing she would see before screaming too long.

What happened? Nobody cared.

“No,” muttered Annie. “You’re lying.”

“For real?” shook Terror Zapper, just as confused.

“For fake, right?”

It was the meaning of fear. It was Annie’s mother that Annie saw after Terror Zapper put too much effort into dragging her along. Indeed, it was Annie’s mother, and she lay on the grounds of the city, dead, freshly dead, to be exact. Her body was lying down and had a wicked face on, as if she giggled before any of this death would fall upon her. It was death that made her giggle; it was lies that she made to Annie everyday about where she actually went to so that happiness could continue on. It was not what most people could assume for their horrible lives—how Annie’s mother had way too many lies on her. The perjuries, of how her black-webbed legs were crossing each other, crying and dying as the ground began to slowly absorb her. No, the ground could not claim her body for food yet. It wasn’t reasonable. For Annie’s mother was freshly dead, and dead freshly to Annie, as she stood in great consternation—how Annie was standing there in so much confusion. A single day where she came home, only to see her mom leave again like days could never end without her mom leaving her side. The agony would soon surge.

This body meant nothing. It had no evidence. Nobody around even cared for it. They were all too busy running around in the city according to their own whims, asking for what was happening and reporting everything but the death of another person. The death of somebody they probably didn’t even know, and if they did learn, they would not care. This person wasn’t important enough for them, because even if they did know, she would leave when the fake sun above them and the real one would hide away into the shadows—just like today. You could scream for as much as you want, and you wouldn’t hear this mother that could not care less about her daughter—because the daughter barely even grew up with her mom. Scream for as loud as you can, for the moon was finally revealed—the light pollution vanished because the red lights from the city finally died out, showing the meaning of what red truly was. Ask the moon to bring her back, but you could not see it either way. It was black darkness, black silence that decorated the ear’s own amusement. Black fear and no thoughts that travelled through Annie’s shattered mind.

Like the cold face that made an elegant décor on the city, the red roses that were in the garden earlier turned into a freezing black. They were about to wither away, but decided to stay in a state of suffering—like the paralyzed gaze that stood on Annie and her own mother’s face. The silence burned through ears like a screeching noise, and even a plethora of questions asked would no longer bare any answers. The sword that was held in Annie’s mother’s hand was stabbed through her stomach, and a thick stream of red came out of the hole that stuck out behind her. It was fear out of her own grasp, because the sword was held by her own mother. It must have been no less than her death—one caused by ill-intention, whether it was shrewish or simply impacting to the rest of the world. Nobody reflected light where light was asked to shadow, because the hellish act of suicide had no answers. The hellish act of leaving a child everyday with nothing more than Pokémon that she was with everyday would shock all life, because she loved them more than her mother herself. Not because of hatred, but because none ever knew.

A shadowy female approached Annie and Terror Zapper. “Please, may I ask a question?”

“What…?”

“Would it have mattered to you if she died or not, Annie?”

That was the question, dead rose were no answer, but they died anyways.

“Well, I’ll see you later. That, I can promise,” the shadowy figure released a Pokémon.

This Pokémon had electrical wings, and they surged out the only light that could have been seen throughout the night. Even the empty lights shattered at the sight of this Pokémon, because the brown feathers trickling with electricity had quite a shine. The orb that shined on this electrical

[Harley Scarow]

owl’s head was of wisdom, and it glowed as the shadowy female got onto the Pokémon. Her face was not shown, but it was probably better off that it was not, because the painful question she asked would have made anybody seek revenge. The electrical bird called Zapowl shot out a psychic beam on the town, and all of the electricity began coming back. Black spots on the Pokémon turned to black feathers as they dropped down. Even though the city was illuminated again, the black feathers made a dangerous contradiction—they fell on Annie’s mother, where the sword was, and it would have stung her to death if she was alive anyways. With the shadowy female out of the skies, a strange giggle whispered. A card fell from the air, and it was trickled with many spikes, the element of another request went—and this one would truly be considered.


Shadow Nebula
Asteroid Command Satellite
[ADDRESS REMOVED]
June 6, 2007

Annie Gold, Honors Student
Rose Mansion
3000 Bridge Avenue
Gold Gate City, Zuki

Dear Annie,

What an unfortunate event that has fallen on you so painfully! Isn’t it just torture to see somebody that you care so much about leave at a moment’s wait? Don’t you want questions to be answered? The shadowy skies can take their powerful hold on whatever they should ask for, but the shadows of darkness, I am not. Just like how the black trapping shadow follows during the day, where there is happiness, I promise that I can be happiness. What was asked was not too harsh, but a test to see if you should be able to answer. It was not pain, but a gift to see if your third eye can be opened, to finally realize the potential you have as a person. The love that you can add to make everything better again is what I’m looking for. It’s a message where freedom cannot be taken, but only given. Those that have tried once again have failed, but tried once and passed. There is only one source of darkness—and that darkness, most of us should promise to overcome before the morning can be reached. Too bad—pain passes so quick that morning itself can ask to be reached. Promises can never be fulfilled when tasks cannot ever be too done here.

My request is far too simple. Come meet me at the Coronet Rock before tomorrow ends, and I can promise you too much. It may be too far away, but I’m sure you can come up with a faster way to travel quickly so that your own fulfillments can be met. Of course, I am not one to do maliciousness, because I am one that grants promises. As great as those roses you love, they can strongly make an impact. Their thorns can be shed to reveal the beauty that you miss—the beauty that you never met. The beauty that is your mom is what I am telling you. Please, make it there tomorrow, and I can uncover the treasure that you need. The treasure you would probably beg, so that your mom can take another breath in the world. One long night, another day, and you can make it. Enough to breathe, to ask me about anything—please! Even the blackened webs that surrounded your mother’s legs can trample around her neck and strangle her to death can be reversed, and the crimson rose drops that your mother had lost can be revived. It’s a promise, and I say you can earn more. You can earn more than just what most people want, not in darkness.

Heal yourself! Learn more! Lose all of this confusion! You have so much potential to do so! Don’t let meteors from the sky that have not yet arrived trap you during the nighttime, where shadowy clouds have already penetrated your heart! Come please, and make your blood alive!

Remember,
Shadow Empress

P.S. I know you more than you know yourself.


“What’s this all about?” Terror Zapper read the card. “It makes no sense. Are you going?”

The words on the card ran through Annie’s mind.

“Why not…? I have nothing better to do, you already know.”

And the night soon finally slept, at least those two did.

* * *

There was a funeral held for Annie’s mother the next day.

“Life doesn’t have too much meaning in some eyes,” muttered Annie.

The roses from the gardens in the mansion itself were thrown on this gentle lady’s coffin, and it was beautiful, yet sad all at once. It was a sunny day, but not too sunny that paying a respect was too much of a burden. Throughout the entire day, Annie stood completely silent, while the few people that knew Annie’s mother were speaking in tears. The faces on everybody else were saddened, and there were only a couple dozen people at the funeral. It was expected to be hundreds, considering how affluent the family was, but it didn’t matter—not at this point.

The roses that were thrown indeed were turned black after last night. Whatever compelled the roses to turn to such darkness was a mystery, or maybe it was a blue mist that seeped through the garden with a screech. The screech of a lifetime, which these roses turned from ruby red to black hatred, yet resembled those that have left us. Yet the roses meant nothing, they didn’t make death happen. They were there to cover up tattered beauty—the kind that Annie’s mother had on her own face before she died, and the beautiful way the sword stabbed through her own body. The roses meant more to Annie before they would be friends in the afterlife, where they would decompose back into the ground. This was because they were always at the pool with her.

So much crying over one death was a waste. This is a death that did not care much to Annie, even though she tried to make it matter. Forcing the feeling into her would not help, because what was felt was felt, and nothing could change that. Nothing could care, because the negative emotion of not having any was already damaging. Why would anybody care? It didn’t matter, it happened, and only people that Annie’s mother knew would even give half a request, half a solemn tear as to why this would happen so suddenly. However, Annie did cry so much today.

The coffin was lowered into the ground, and Annie walked over to her mom for the last time.

“It’s too bad I never got to know you.”

Stained Mother

A blackened love, a cherished tear, beyond,
Where dance would take, and blood could shake, before.
To which my face and cheeks have not been fond,
But wings could go emerge, and make a soar.

The sword that stabbed, of metal and of spear,
This blackened webbing, whitened, scorched again.
It made me think, the screeching that I fear.
With little that I love, my heart in veins.

If tiny bits of love have disappeared,
I fear, I fear, about my deepest end.
Where lowered fangs and fears can follow tears,
And wings of hell, you ask, will never send.

I wish I learned the level of your love,
For me and roses, look at me above.

After Annie threw the poem into the grave, Terror Zapper slapped Annie.

With that action, Annie felt no pain, no tears emerged, either. “What is it…?”

“You really believe that your mother’s going to go to hell?” asked Terror Zapper. “Why?”

“Sorry—I don’t think so, Terra. It’s true—I know so.”

“You may think that, and I may act like we’re not related, but she’s my mom, too!”

“Then you should know also, you should know more than I do!”

“Yeah, and I know damn well, Annie. Yet, how can you hope that?”

The two were sisters, and they both exchanged tears. Of course, there was no reason to cry.

After the funeral, morning was over and day finally truly hit in the sky. The air was blue, and the golden city with its bridge leading out of the city to the rest of the region had its own romantic shine, because the water was making its own waves on the bridge. However, Annie knew there was more than just the day to have fun, and relax in the huge backyard of their mansion—the one that was already repaired when Terror Zapper’s Gigadude completely marred the back. There was that letter that Annie would have to follow if she wanted to have her questions answered.

A Pokémon came into the garden that was hovering with bubbles. It was a creature called Lumiocean, and apparently, Annie was familiar with the Pokémon. This Pokémon had many watery bubbles spouting out of its body, and indeed, it was a genderless Pokémon. Shaped like a moon ready to crash, Lumiocean was a sideways-standing Pokémon, always shifting towards to the side, as if it was about to tip over. Being intentionally shaped round, it was ironic how the bottom half of its body was showing watery waves kicking back and forth, a strong reference to how the moon controlled the waves depending on its stare. Around the Lumiocean, 108 watery bubbles stood hovering around, a symbol of power, because 108 always showed much power in its own number. The bubbles began to all pop, and the speechless Lumiocean projected a hologram into the pool using one of its special abilities, to read aloud a message from one.


Coronet Rock
Icy Summit
Black Earth City, Zuki
June 6, 2007

Terror Zapper
Rose Mansion
3000 Bridge Avenue
Gold Gate City, Zuki

Dear Terror Zapper,

It’s really cold up here, even for me. Guess who it is? It’s me! Icy Angel! Well, that’s my internet name, but you already know what I mean. So how’s it doing all the way down there? We all made a promise earlier this year to win all of the contests we possibly can, so hopefully, we’re getting some of those contests done already. It’s a little cold whenever I win a contest because I usually use moves that set everything on ice, but like, you know, it’s all cool! And by cool, I mean really cool. So like, I won a couple of contests already, but the Grand Festival’s so far!

Anyways, I’m on top of Coronet Rock right now, and there’s this weird gothic girl standing on top of it also. She’s probably doing some weird satanic ritual so that she can summon aliens from space or make meteors hit the earth or something, but whatever. Anyways, she keeps talking about some gold rich whatever, and it makes me think about Annie. You’re the rock one, Terra, so I can’t really say anything about that. Anyways, she just went up to me earlier, and I thought it might be cool if we made friends. Why don’t you guys, like, come over, and chill with us?

After climbing up the entire mountain, I NOW know that it would’ve like, been a better idea if I just sent out one of my Pokémon and flew all the way to the top. Hey, it’s a pretty good view from up here, and I can see all of Black Earth City—even the Ribbon Society’s Secret Hall! Like, it’s cold because the Zuki region somehow got a piece of Mt. Coronet from the Sinnoh region, but it’s like, so worth it to come here. Great place to escape from global warming, and it’s like, so cool. Be seeing you later, and whatever. Have fun and I hope you come, like yeah.

Chill gals,
Icy Angel

P.S. Bring a jacket with you, just because it’s cold like hell up here!


After the message, the words became a card for Terror Zapper, and Lumioecan teleported away.

“We have to get to Coronet Rock. It’s in Black Earth City, and Gold Gate City’s too far from that place,” informed Terror Zapper. “Let’s use one of those big jets we have in the mansion.”

“Well, I guess we have no choice.”

Reluctantly because she knew it was going to be dangerous, yet with effort because she wanted to get some answers and knew that this was the only way, Annie snapped her fingers, and a jet increased from the ground after one of the water fountains drained out. Many red roses were decorated on the jet, and real roses themselves were on the plane’s entrance and such. The both of them got inside of the jet, and the entire thing was pretty much automatic by itself. Rising higher and higher, the plane shot off to the sky in a thick stream behind, travelling off ahead…

* * *

Afterwards, Annie and Terra made it to Coronet Rock. They were not at the summit, but they could sere Icy Angel in their sight. The entire place was submerged in a thick layer of snow covering brown and black rock, and the snow was almost blocking their faces. This mountain wasn’t actually a mountain, but a large hill that snowed too much for anybody around to see, and their eyes would already be trapped into thinking this was a dangerous mountain to travel. A handful of Pokémon were seen, and the strange idea was that all of these Pokémon were from the Sinnoh region. That included Snover, Abomasnow, Medicham, Machoke, Chingling, Bronzong, Clefairy, Golbat, Noctowl, and many more Pokémon around in the area. They didn’t care about the ritual that was being done around the summit area, simply because the best thing to do was to stay away from the circle of death. However, Icy Angel wasn’t in such a good condition now.

The Shadow Empress held Icy Angel’s arm tightly. “Now, Annie, come for some answers…!”

“Let go of my sister!” demanded Annie. “What’s this all about?”

“Like, so sorry,” apologized Icy Angel. “This bitch, yeah—she made me call you guys.”

“You want some answers from me so badly?” giggled Shadow Empress. “Battle me.”

“What?” Now Annie knew she had no choice but to do this favor. “Fine, I will.”

[Harley Scarow]

Episode Two: Forever Sleep, Eternal Shadows

At the present moment, Coronet Rock was as breezy in cold air as it was all the time, having the many icy rocks become more and more frozen than it was the second before. However, the icy coolness was not always what it would be during the daily months—at the summit, it was starting to burn up. The snow that was blowing onto all of their faces began to flare up as it began to burn, except it wasn’t the snowy wonders that made everybody around burn up. It was because Annie and Terror Zapper were frightened, and their eyes began to glow with their own anger. If this anger was somehow physical, then it would be sure that the summit would run down the mountainside of Coronet Rock, and the white snow already began to trip over as Annie made her few steps forward ahead. Worried, yet in cold passion, trying to turn it into the gold that her eyes were; Annie was going to try her best. The rocky landscape around would make for a perfect battlefield, because of how much the snow was falling down, and how much flaming snow would rush into their faces. This would be a stormy battle, and one Annie would risk for.

It was because a cold girl with a warm heart, like Icy Angel, was standing at the summit, forced to be in her position as she was held by the Dark Empress. The white snow that was light all year would soon turn dark, because the auras that were given off by this female was not one to love, but to be warmed up, then melted onto the ground. The innocence travelled around Icy Angel, whom always shared the name she used on the internet, and what her real name was, she wouldn’t tell, and nobody would know unless they were too close. A message that was sent from Icy Angel was what allowed Annie and Terra to fly over to Coronet Rock so she would be rescued. This was not of greed, but of coincidence that Icy Angel’s call was not only to help her, but it ended up helping Annie. Earlier, a girl came up to Annie and asked her a strange question—and now a win in this battle would save her sister, and get some luxurious answers.

“If you win, then I’ll let her go,” declared the Dark Empress. “Is that worth a deal?”

“Fine, and you’ll also answer the question you asked me yesterday,” added Annie. “It was a dumb question that was rude and made no sense. Let’s see if you can stand up to me!”

“A battle in the ice as cold as my heart. En garde!”

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Heroine Annie vs. Dark Empress
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[Dark Empress twitches her eye, and tilts her hair in an embezzling way. She then makes a spin wit her black-gloved arms crossed against her body, throwing two Poké Balls into the air.]

“My beautiful ghosts, Gravision, and Valtergyst, come out!”

Two Pokémon came out: Gravision, a Pokémon with a gravestone on its back dating 20XX, baring huge purple eyes that looked in two different directions; this creature had a look in her eyes that would make others think that it could see death in the future, for she was about to cry as a girl in her eyes began to slowly jump off a building. The second Pokémon was Valtergyst, a jumping little ghostly creature that had legs made out of dark brown blocks continuously disappearing, and hands that vanished back and forth with sharp metal claws; these claws were holding objects, then the objects evaporated into sad air, before appearing randomly again. Both of these Pokémon saw the hail above, and were not afraid that it would hit them strongly ahead.

“Start off good—Teilqueen and Solaranda!”

Throwing two Poké Balls, Annie released Teilqueen, a royal Pokémon that had a yellow crown on her head, a jewel with a golden glow stood directly in the center of her body, and a golden aura that radiated as strongly as the snow did on the mountain; shiny wings marked her appearance, and the golden shine of the sun directed into the cold eyes quickly. Now, Solaranda was an orb that levitated in the sky with powerful and sharp spikes that glistered and had a narrowing glister, showering fire over to some of the snow upon its entrance, for this golden glow in the duo of Pokémon made a strong impact on the mountain, turning the powerful hail into glowing sunlight. The orb of sunshine made a snowy field into raging sunlight overhead.

“Start off in darkness! My Gravision—Glare on Teilqueen! My Valtergyst—Rock Summon!”

“Don’t let a bad start go! Use Psychic, Teilqueen first! Now Solarlande, Solarbeam the latter!”

Flying strong wings into the sky, Teilqueen unleashed a powerful wave of psychic energy from the golden jewel on the middle of her body onto Gravision. This powerful purple wave knocked over Gravision into the snow. However, Gravision did not take any damage whatsoever, standing back up, and waving the gravestone high above in the air, shedding empty tears into the snow.

“My Gravision’s a Dark-type, so your Psychic-type attacks don’t have any effect!”

“So now I need to change my moves up a little.”

Soon afterwards, Valtergyst summoned two rocks onto the field that were shaped like cubes, standing in the snow from thin air. They didn’t have any special meaning; at least their meaning was not immediate. The rocks were too big to move, but not too big that a decent Pokémon couldn’t jump over it without too much effort. However, the rocks did block the way a little.

Because there was a Sunny Day effect overhead, Solarlande was able to use Solarbeam immediately, striking through one of the rocks with a super-charged beam collected from sunlight and shattering it. After the rock was destroyed, the beam continued and struck Valtergyst immediately in the middle of her body, while the legs were formed, destroying her.

The Dark Empress shook her head in shame. “Lucky shot.”

“That was a strong move, Solaranda!”

Afterwards, Gravision showed a paralyzing look at Teilqueen, paralyzing the fast bird.

The Dark Empress glared a flashed eye. “Lucky shot,” she returned Valtergyst. “Now Ghoulvil, start off the job once again! Yes, I know you can be sneaky, so finish the job!”
The Dark Empress threw a Poké Ball that resembled a darkened ghoul and a devil, with many flames coming out of her mouth. The flames were hitting the field, and some sneaky hands materialized from Ghoulvil. A cape was shaped behind Ghoulvil, and it had many skulls falling down into the snow, as if to practice some setup right when entering the field with such an aura.

“Now, Gravision, Flash Blinder! My Ghoulvil, Poltergeist!”

“Go, Teilqueen, Hurricane the field! Solarlande, Fire Blast on Gravision!”

The sunlight was strong.

Because Teilqueen was paralyzed, she was not going first this round. This allowed Ghoulvil to take some opportunity, using Poltergeist to lift the remaining rock on the field and throw it randomly. The rock cube landed on Solarlande, and it didn’t knock the sunny Pokémon out. After this powerful hit, Solarlande got back up, and Ghoulvil released some of her energy off.

“That was my setup attack! You liked it?”

Afterwards, Solarlande used Fire Blast on Gravision, unleashing a powerful flame of energy that was further collected by the power of the sunlight above. The Fire Blast exploded in a Chinese symbol on Gravision, burning the Pokémon strongly. Of course, Gravision did not have any reaction, although some damage was taken. Getting back up, lights shined from Gravision.

This was a powerful light shot out from Gravision, blinding both Pokémon on the other side of the field with Flash Blinder. This powerful light prevented the two Pokémon from seeing that well, and this would soon render Teilqueen’s ability to use her attack. The powerful flashing even affected Annie, but she didn’t mind, because she was hoping her Pokémon could see this.

“Please, Teilqueen, you can see through this!”

The Hurricane attack that was unleashed from Teilqueen began to quickly twirl around both of the opposing Pokémon, trapping them. This was one of those huge moves that would never miss, because it was too wide a range to miss. While it didn’t do much damage, it did startle Pokémon, damaging Ghoulvil, and bringing Gravision’s strength into the red zone to weaken it further.

“It shouldn’t be too long.”

The sunlight was burning.

“Now, Gravision, use Future Sight! Ghoulvil, use Flame Wide on both Pokémon!”

“My Teilqueen, use Refresh! Solarlande, Recover!”

As Teilqueen was still paralyzed, a new attack began to form. With Ghoulvil sneaking into the shadows and regenerating her body on the other side of the field, Ghoulvil took out both of its claws and charged them with fire before slashing both Pokémon with Flame Claw’s large fire. A little damage from Poltergeist added last turn, and Solarlande fainted because of that. At this moment, Annie was scared that her Solarlande was hurt, returning the sun back into its ball.

The sunlight faded. Hail began to fall again.

Soon, Gravision looked to the future, seeing an attack that would soon strike on the field. It was Future Sight, and tears began to spurt out of her eyes for no apparent reason, as they did earlier in the battle. In the eyes, Annie saw her Teilqueen being knocked out with a watery attack on the next turn. For some reason, Gravision began to smile and giggle in a creepy matter at the cold.

For the past couple of rounds, Teilqueen was immobilized by the Glare attack that took a strong and annoying effect, making it the slowest Pokémon. However, by using Refresh, the wings on this Pokémon began to glow beautifully, restoring the energy back into the normal state. Since Teilqueen was no longer paralyzed, more unique moves would be able to activate in a shine.

Annie was about to send out another Pokémon. “Go Silveroar!”

Throwing a Golden Ball, Silveroar emerged in a shower of golden sparks. Now, Silveroar was not exactly what her name said, being plated in gold as well, and fangs as hard as knife were trickling down with a beautiful beauty. The mane of Silveroar shined in the mountain, and she was impervious to the hail that was sparking down from the skies in a harsh and painful matter.

Hail continues to fall. All Pokémon on the field are struck by hail.

“New Pokémon? Doesn’t matter! Gravision—EXPLOSION! Ghouvil—FLAME CLAW!”

“It does matter! Now Teilqueen—Golden Shield! Silveroar—Silver Shield!”

With this order, Teilqueen and Silveroar both put up shields respectively to their orders, protecting them from everything on the other side of the field. These powerful shields caused a glow so powerful that they blocked out any other light given on the field, and the shields made a powerful orb radiate as well. With this attack, Dark Mistress was in some distress to see guards.

“NO! Gravision! NO!”

“Because both of my Pokémon are protected from Explosion, you know what that means!”

The date on Gravision decreased rapidly to zero, in which the crying Pokémon had no more eyes, and exploded with a loud blast. The shields blocked for Teilqueen and Silveroar, but Gravision wasn’t so lucky, blowing up to tiny little bits. Because Ghouvil was a Ghost-type Pokémon, she was protected, but Ghouvil pulled off a suicidal last resort—and it failed; her trainer screamed.

“How pathetic!” the Dark Mistress returned her Pokémon. “It’s all useless!”

Next, Ghouvil used Flame Claw to attack both Pokémon, but the move did not work, because Teilqueen and Silveroar were still protected by their Gold Shield and Silver Shield. The claws broke when hitting the powerful shields, and even though they regenerated, this proved completely useless. The Dark Mistress’ complete round was wasted because of the protection.

“And you’re another down!” giggled Annie, proud of her shields.

“And you’re about to go down, too—I choose Tombevil! This one is truly evil!”

Sending out Tombevil was truly one of evil essence. The Pokémon had many tombstones lying down on her back, and truly there was fire burning around in the presence. It was burning and purple and the many tombs showed that there was much death involved in this Pokémon, especially when the reddened and orange eyes began glowing and shooting out dead spirits.

Hail continued to fall, striking on all of the Pokémon for tiny bits of damage.

“That’s not so bad! Go, Teilqueen—Hurricane! Silveroar—Silver Fang the latter!”

“Let’s make this round truly dark! Tombevil—use Dark Tomb! Ghouvil—Ambush!”

This trick caught Annie by surprise. Because Annie already commanded Hurricane and Silver Fang, which were both damaging attacks, Ghouvil had an opportunity to strike down because it was quicker from the ability of Ambush. Using the Dark-type attack allowed Ghouvil to strike down on Teilqueen before anything could be done, knocking out the weakened bird-Pokémon.

“That was not fair at all!” complained Annie, returning her Pokémon. “Thanks, Teilqueen…”

Soon afterwards, Silveroar used Silver Fang on Ghouvil, which did some slight damage, even though it wasn’t too noticeable; the metal fangs made a crushing strike on Ghouvil, causing her Defense and Special Defense to lower by a level. This didn’t matter, because Ghouvil was laughing at her own pain, as if it counted—burning flames grew around the reason for no threat.

The next move involved Tombevil using Dark Tomb, making huge rocks from above rain down on Silveroar—the only remaining Pokémon on Annie’s side of the field. The Dark Tomb caused these rocks to surround around Silveroar in a painful constriction—preventing any movement, and any chance of switching out. These dark binds made Silveroar scream in screeching pain.

“Now, Steelix—come on out and show them your cry!” Annie released Steelix.

Hail continued to fall, striking on all of the Pokémon for tiny bits of damage.

“Too bad—Silveroar, Silver Roar on everyone! Doesn’t matter, but Steelix, Metal Hammer!”

“This isn’t good…Ghouvil, Fire Spirits! Use Dark Spirits, Tombevil!”

Running up to the field, Silveroar used Silver Roar, which was a metallic version of the actual Roar attack, sending every Pokémon on the field warping back into their Poké Balls. The difference between this attack and Roar was that it did not make the user go last, and it swapped

[Harley Scarow]

out every Pokémon—including the user. At this, Dark Empress was in deepened fury, seeing her Pokémon return back into their Poké Balls so forcefully. The plan behind this was for Annie to find out what kind of Pokémon did Dark Empress have on the remainder, even to show.

“Now, Milotic and Goldusk, show your power!” Annie threw two Poké Balls.

Out of these Poké Balls came Milotic, a treasured beauty. The other sent out Goldusk, a golden dragon that had a mouth shining with so much gold that a treasure hunter would probably be willing to run inside and grab all of the glory that lied within. The sparkly and glittery scales had a radiance similar to the sun, and dazzling eyes impressed the girls—a happy, majestic dragon.

“This is NOT good, I have to send out those Pokémon…fine. Go Gengar and Spiritomb!”

With reluctance, the Dark Empress released Gengar and Spiritomb onto the field.

“Like, what’s that?” Icy Angel looked in shock. “No, those don’t exist anymore…”

The Gengar and Spiritomb were unlike any normal Pokémon. They didn’t have any ambition to battle like normal Pokémon—they had much more, so much more than what was normal. These two Pokémon had shadowy auras around them, surrounded in so much evil. Deep down, trainers should know that Pokémon are not meant to be evil. These Pokémon were evil. The other Ghost-types and Dark-types that the Dark Empress had may have appeared to be vicious, but they were only battling. They were only doing what they were asked to do in battle. However, Gengar and Spiritomb, they were different. By different, it was meant in a bad way—their aura was glowing with darkness, a shadow aura. This aura was dangerous, and when Gengar was sent out to the field, he was snickering with a tongue that stuck out, licking itself and everything around, turning the snow into darkness for even to touch was contagious of evil. With Spiritomb, the 108 ghosts that were trapped inside of the Pokémon were sticking out, ready to taint the world with his evil again, because these spirits were one step away from being freed—to cause sting.

“What are those Pokémon?” Icy Angel asked. “What have you done to them?”

Not realizing anything, Annie was in great confusion. “What’s so weird, Icy Angel?”

“Those Pokémon are evil! Yes, I already know that the trainer is evil, but the Pokémon are!”

“That’s impossible!” Annie looked in shock. “You’re right! But how is that possible?”

“You shouldn’t have used that move and just let me win with the regulars,” the Dark Empress giggled with contradicting anger. “You’re going to die now, at the hand of these evil Pokémon.”

“Well, I’m not going to let you do that! I’m going to beat you, even against those two!”

“The Shadow Pokémon—the concept of why they exist. It’s painful to explain, like a punishment of death where one has to stay alive. It’s beautiful pain, yet it makes those that see the Pokémon cry, because they have to exist with all of this pain. As from your eyes, I can see that you probably never met any of these Pokémon before, or maybe you have in the past, but forgot because that knowledge doesn’t matter to you. Oh well—it all ends here, because my Shadow Pokémon know shadow-moves that can end this in no more than a few short rounds—go!”

“Fine, Milotic, use Surf on both of them! Please, Goldusk, use Royal Thunder!”

“Too bad—Gengar, Shadow Claw on Goldusk! Now Spiritomb—Shadow Storm!”

“What?” exclaimed Annie, “Those moves—I never heard of them before!”

“They’re shadow-moves, and they’re super-effective on regular Pokémon!”

Unfortunately, Annie and her Pokémon were about to learn this the hard way. With Gengar sneaking way behind Goldusk, the golden dragon had no way to dodge. Appearing from blank and blackened shadows, Gengar took one of his claws out and pulled a dangerous slash across Goldusk’s back, which although was not super-effective, it did much damage to the creature.

Soon afterwards, Milotic ran over to the field and summoned a huge wave of water that crashed on every other Pokémon on the field for devastating damage. The Shadow Pokémon did not take that much damage, especially the impervious Spiritomb, which would eventually become a thorn in this battle if it did not end soon. Even Milotic’s partner, Goldusk, was attacked by this move.

Afterwards, Goldusk released Royal Thunder, causing random magical lightning bolts to shoot down from the sky. Everything on the field was hit as well, and even though it was an electrical attack, Milotic did not suffer too much. Soon, Milotic was paralyzed because of this move, activating Marvel Scale. Now, Gengar was brought down to the red, and Spiritomb at center.

The next Shadow-type move that was going to hit would be hazardous. With a powerful spit, Spiritomb summoned Shadow Storm, and these clouds are two purple tornados that began heading towards the other side of the field. Everything on Annie’s side of the field was hit once again, and Milotic was brought down to the red, with Goldusk getting back up with a struggle.

“Those are the Shadow Pokémon, right? How powerful. Now, Goldusk, Dark Pulse! Since you’re harmed, Milotic, use Recover! This battle’s not even close to being over yet, get that?”

“This battle is long from being over, but the Shadow Pokémon’s presence will be short, even if it should be malicious.” The Dark Empress held out two Poké Balls, returning Gengar and Spiritomb. “It was dark, but it was fine. Go, Ghouvil and Tombevil! Relinquish the field again!”

Both Ghouvil and Tombevil were exchanged onto the field for the other two shadows.

Because of the paralysis from earlier, Milotic was unable to go first this round. However, the Marvel Scale ability should help Milotic for a time before damage literally packs into and would finally succumb the draconic Pokémon. Because Annie was not willing to switch this round the same that the Dark Empress decided to, Goldusk would now follow on with his attack, taking a deep breath before releasing a huge wave of darkness onto the field. This dark wave directed itself towards Tombevil, which did only normal damage to the Ghost and Dark-type Pokémon. The damage reflected onto nothing, but Tombevil truly currently held an evil look on her face, one that statured the one that the Dark Empress held on her face at the same moment, of evil.

Afterwards, Milotic used Recover to rid most of the damage that was on her body.

Hail continued to fall, hitting every Pokémon on the field for minor damage.

“Now, Ghouvil, use Fire Spirits! Time for the move—Tombevil, use Dark Spirits!”

“What’s so funny? Now Milotic, Surf! Finish them off—Goldusk, Dark Pulse again!”

Both Ghouvil and Tombevil charged up their attacks respectively. Starting with Ghouvil, who charged many fire balls from her hands and unleashed them on the opposite side of the field, more specifically. Now Goldusk was beginning to break the Pokémon down. Even Dark Spirits was just as powerful, sending powerful spirits onto the opposing side to finally fall Goldusk.

“What a perfect battlefield,” tittered the Dark Empress. “The more my Pokémon is hit, the more damage these two moves respectively do. The Hail must have struck them some time already.”

“Return, Goldusk—good job. What a technique there, but now you have to face Silveroar!”

Throwing the old Poké Ball, Annie released Steelix onto the field again.

The Surf attack that Milotic used knocked out Ghouvil with its watery waves, and left Steelix standing with an inch, for the metal snake had but a Focus Strip on, preventing any harm from a single knockout attack. With this elderly move, Milotic crashed the entire field, and the Dark Empress was certainly mad—she would have to release a Shadow Pokémon onto the field again.

“What lucky and almost a sacrifice you made! Return, Ghouvil, go Gengar!”

The thrown Poké Ball released Gengar onto the field once more.

Hail continued to fall, striking on all of the Pokémon, and almost knocking Annie’s out.

“Time for more darkness! Darkness of Tombevil, Dark Spirits again! Darkness of shadows, my Shadow Gengar, use Shadow Blade to kill both of those Pokémon with a speed too much!”

“Can’t lose—have to win! Please, I need you to be quick, Steelix! Use your Mine Bomb! Sorry Milotic, but I need this to work! You have to go now, and I’ll give you a good rest later!”

Both Milotic and Steelix gave a nod, knowing that the opponent would destroy them.

Gaining some amazing speed was Steelix, whom somehow suddenly lost a gaining amount of lead weight off her body and shed it to the ground. By charging up, a huge yellow and greenish glow radiated in Steelix’s body. The opposing Pokémon were blinded by this glowing, and then Steelix did that dangerous move. The move that had the exact explosive powers of steel mine, once that would strip a human of their arms. However, this one was a massive bomb as opposed to a focused blast, sending out metal shards to every Pokémon and knocking them all out.

“HOW WAS GENGAR SLOWER?” cried the Dark Empress. “Well, I still have one left.”

“And I’m down to my last Pokémon, too!” Annie returned both of her Pokémon, trusting them throughout the battle. “Thanks, and now I’ll repay the favor—Silveroar, avenge a sacrifice!”

Throwing her last Poké Ball, Annie released Silveroar back into the battle.

“And I’m down to a single Pokémon too. Go Spiritomb, and make the battle into darkness!”

And throwing her last Pokémon, the Dark Empress released her Spiritomb back as well.

The hail kept striking the Pokémon in the battle, although it didn’t make any more difference.

“An honorable one-on-one battle is what we shall have,” declared Annie. “Let’s start off this new battle with a strong move! Go, Silveroar, and use your Silver Fang attack on Spiritomb!”

“Wow, how cheesy,” remarked Terror Zapper. “A battle to the finish—old-fashioned—cheesy.”

“Come on, Annie, you can do it~!” cheered Icy Angel from the sidelines. “Only one more!”

With this command, Silveroar rushed up to Spiritomb and bit the stoned Pokémon directly on the head, almost swallowing the strange presence into its body. The steel-type wolf spat the Shadow Pokémon out, possibly realizing that it was not something delicious to bite out, because it was full of too much evil as compared to the honor that Annie was speaking about from the start.

“An honorable battle is not what I’m used to!” added the Dark Empress. “It’s not going to be too quick, but only into blank darkness! Now my Shadow Spiritomb, use Shadow Rave at once!”

This Shadow Rave attack pulsed as Spiritomb jumped high into the air and laughed with his twirling left eye in a malicious gaze, causing black spires to spit out of the ground and hit Silveroar for some damage. The silver wolf quickly got back into a normal position, but was damaged from this shadow attack having been super-effective, and he was not used to this force.

“It’s not a fair one-on-one battle,” added Terror Zapper. “Spiritomb’s a Shadow Pokémon.”

“What’s a Shadow Pokémon again?” wondered Icy Angel. “Wow, so much confusion.”

“It’s about to end here!” declared the Dark Empress. “You’re about to go into darkness!”

“And the light’s about to shed onto your Pokémon! Use your Silver Shadows! You’re about to regret talking in such an evil way that made no sense, like a stereotypical villain in a game!”

Before the Dark Empress was even allowed to make another order, Silveroar sped into the air in a wave of many silvery shadows, but not the kind of shadow that would be considered evil, and rushed his way back down onto the field in a powerful vault. The silvery wolf crossed dragon slashed down on Spiritomb and shattered the rocky stone that the Pokémon was on, knocking out the Pokémon, and bringing the right eye to a squiggle on the side as well. The Dark Empress was humiliated and astonished to see both of her Shadow Pokémon defeated just like that, screeching.

“What’s this move?” screeched the Dark Empress. “You can’t get any answers!”

“Well, at least now my friend and sister, Icy Angel, can be free!”

The Dark Empress pounded her fists in anger.

“How is this possible? The darkness that powered my Pokémon is now gone! All is foolish!”

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“So you beat my Shadow Pokémon and my team of darkness. Good job, and what am I supposed to tell you because of your victory? What have you earned from beating me—remind me.”

“You’re supposed to let me go!” Icy Angel yelled, comically struggling. “Pretty please?”

“Fine, you’re useless.” The Dark Empress snapped her fingers to release Icy Angel.

“The dumb questions that you asked me earlier—answer them now,” demanded Annie. “I can’t, so you will! And if you don’t, then I don’t care. I just want everything back to normal.”

“Even if I do answer those questions, and even if I never see you again, nothing can ever turn back to normal. The Shadow Nebula is about to arrive on the earth and you will all feel it soon.”

“The Shadow Nebula?” repeated Annie. “What on earth is that?”

“It is not a part of the earth, but you can guess—all of your crimes will be punished.”

“We haven’t done any crimes, you witch,” berated Terror Zapper. “Shut up, and leave already.”

“The majority is more important,” the Dark Empress teleported away into the wind, making a leave full of black wind trapped in the air. “The Vampire’s Lair is next. Take this, Annie.”

Annie received the Nebula Claw.

“The Vampire’s Lair?” shuttered Annie. “No, I remember that place. Somewhere…let’s go. We can’t waste anymore time, but I have no idea where it is to begin with. Guys have a plan?”

“It’s somewhere in Green Tree Town, next to the forest,” notified Icy Angel. “We can get there quick on the jet, but the cave in somewhere on a small island. Well, I don’t know, but let’s go…”

[Harley Scarow]

Episode Three: Poisonous Tree, Bleeding Darkness!

Yesterday may have been a bad start to a new adventure, but indeed, it was still a start. With the knowledge of a place known as the Vampire’s Lair, Annie immediately went onto her laptop and did some research on it. However, the name of the Vampire’s Lair did more than spill blood inside deep thoughts—Annie appeared to have a sense of familiar taste to this name, as if she had met this place in the past. The others, Icy Angel and Terror Zapper, were both wondering what Annie doing in her room, so alone and deep in thought. There was a terror out there that only they would know, and Annie would not tell anybody else, because she knew that she would be able to solve it on her own. Sometimes, she even calls herself lazy, but the majority of the time, Annie promises that she will get the job done. Typing out some information on the computer, Annie came to a great discovery. The computer screen had vicious images in amazement.

It was rather hideous. The computer screen, for some reason, had pictures of dead people lying all around, with their neck soaked dry like a sponge squeezed after having a chunky load of water inside of it. It was painful, because these humans were lying, with all of these stray marks on their neck, and the blood was drained dry, so beautifully drained that it could be considered a work of art to see their death carried out so beautifully. The shocking images on their face, with their eyeballs bulging out, had inference that pressure was applied to their body before they died, drained completely of whatever was inside of them. Their deaths were in works of patch, because their skins were tied together with the type of knot that one would use for voodoo dolls after using them once, and seeking to use them again. The wooden knots marked a screeching look on these faces, and these people were lying down in front of brown, wooden logs, unexpectedly dying from such a ravaged death. Their hands were screaming even still, having bones shattered, and decomposers making their home in the body, the precious, dead bodies.

Ironically, all of this happened in a desolate forest where nobody would ever go to. No, it wasn’t one of those forests where if you looked in the skies, nighttime would always spark its illusion during the day. It was a regular forest, with nothing else in it except for a plethora of bushes leading to endless trees raking themselves in the sky. There were Pokémon in the background, but the circle of life would not care less for some humans that may have died here. These humans that died, speaking of which, led to a question in mind. It was the question if these people either decided to venture out to the forest and be murdered by a vicious force that they could not dodge, or if they were kidnapped from their close hometown nearby. The same hometown that was so peaceful and restful compared to this astonishing event. How a green magnet that would attract trainers that loved the clean grass and clear skies would see red scars and dead lies on the ground. The person that decided to put this on an unreliable source on the internet should have his or her heart scarred down to the bottom, because it was a parody of life.

Life isn’t meant to live in shocking consternation such as this. It is meant to live in enjoyment, where even words can make others laugh and dance because of inspiration. However, this parody on the internet was making fun of the deadened people, burning their scars down to the ground, making humorous faces on these people. Strangely, there were no Pokémon in the location, or this person that edited the picture to death may have edited them out for malicious reasons. It didn’t matter, because this information was good enough for Annie, she was in delight, even if the voice of the Vampire’s Lair did speak through her contemplating mind more than ever before, because the voice of life being dragged down to burning fires was not to be new, for it was too familiar to be true. The voice of hatred and burning, all lodged in a place of peaceful songs and restful mornings, where sleeping out in the night was actually more trustful than living in the homes, because the night skies were more calm—but it was ruined by useful parodies. An added look Annie made again then printed out the article off from a somewhat wireless printer.

“Hey, you guys, come and take a look at this!” called Annie, running out with many different copies in her hands, dropping some along the way. “Yep, I got some information on the area!”

Both Terror Zapper and Icy Angel came into the room Annie was in.

“You finally got something?” asked Terror Zapper. “That’s cool, what you have?”

“There’s some dangerous stuff on the news lately,” added Icy Angel. “Looks like the peaceful and serene Green Tree Village are starting to burn up after all of the global warming problems.”

“That’s not really funny,” replied Annie. “Besides, there are a lot of deaths lately there.”

“So get straight to the point,” demanded Terror Zapper. “We don’t have all day.”

“Okay, then. That Dark Empress I battled yesterday said something after I defeated her quickly. Something about the Vampire’s Lair—that’s what I remembered. It’s in Green Tree Village.”

“Sounds like a cosplay party or a strip club,” commented Terror Zapper. “Fine, let’s go already.”

“There’s more to it than just that. My mom—our mom, she’s been there before. The Vampire’s Lair, our mom’s been there in the past. She had a membership card or whatever for that place.”

“Well, you can call her our mom, but I don’t give half-a-damn about her,” yelled Terror Zapper. “In my eyes, she’s a damn bitch that never even cared about any of us. Who cares about her?”

“Don’t talk about mom that way,” calmed Icy Angel. “She does love us though, you know that right? You’re forgetting that she gave life to us, and she did help us in the background.”

“Fine, whatever—I don’t really care. If you want fights that badly, you two do all the fights—can’t stand what the world calls peaceful and serene. You two go to Green Tree Village then.”

“We’ll bring back maple syrup cookies!” promised Icy Angel before the two left.

* * *

Alone, without Terra going along with them, Annie and Icy Angel made their way to Green Tree Village with the same method Annie used to get over to Coronet Rock yesterday—the private jet that they had piloted by themselves. Eventually, they arrived at the peaceful town, which was as peaceful at the time as the town was used to being peaceful. While the news may have stated that damage was done to the town, it must have been either deep emotional damage or that it was long gone past. Whichever it was, it didn’t matter. The people in this wooden town were having their merry way, and whatever may have happened earlier was no longer in effect, even if pain and suffering may last in the hearts of people forever. The sunny day and the bright skies with white clouds travelling over and passing each other could’ve made the difference, for the wide and green forest ahead was singing gentle notes to be heard by the wind and its beautiful sounds.

Indeed, Green Tree Village was a town of peaceful logs and gentle skies. The many logs that made up the town made up the small cabins that the people lived in, and these logs were recycled from trees that may have been struck down by natural causes, such as lightning and fire. It was better than chopping down trees with the cowardly and lethargic method of deforestation and the air was clean because of this usage. These houses had people inside, and lights were not used as it was during the day, and electricity was probably used in a conservative matter in this town. This meant the town was extremely concerned about the ecosystem, and trash was recycled from plastic to metals, while food and feces were used as fertilizers for plants that were in the town, which most of them must have been in the darkened forests but still growing and glowing with light. The forests around did have people hanging by, even if they were simply there out of zest and zeal of a bright day in the woods, where gentle calmness would sprinkle around, and the gentle flowers and winds would make for a perfect picnic—one that everybody would love.

Many trees grew around in the area, as the name of the town would have already given it away, and the green trees were bursting with energy—more than most trees in the world might have up to today, with all of the global warming and sacrifice that humans made only to sacrifice their own kind, and increase their own blood with shards and lightning that they burned. This town wasn’t like that, because these trees were actually happy, and a gentle crooning could be heard from the woods, and it was more like a delicate whisper. A whisper of green and gentle calmness, of sleeping rest, forever grace, and lasting wood that would not burn to the ground for nobody was too careless to do that. For the homes that lived on the ground were cabins, and the ones on the trees interacted with the many Grass-type and Bug-type Pokémon that surrounded the area so nonviolently, in green peace and resting in nostalgic pinkish scents. Even Annie and Icy Angel, visitors to the town, respected this remaining land; they jumped off the jet before any intrusive noise would wake up the calmly sleeping Pokémon and humans in the resting trees.

“This town really is nice!” Icy Angel took a long stretch in her arms in the air. “Wow, look at all of the fresh air! It’s nothing like the city! Not my type, but I could learn to adapt to it!”

“We should ask somebody where the Vampire’s Lair is,” reminded Annie, sticking to her words in work all the way to the end. “Hopefully, harm to the town won’t arrive from our presence.”

“You always sound so mysterious. You should add some more moods to your body and cool off a little, even if it’s still keeping you too hot for this calm and cooled-down town, you know?”

“Well, that was kind of cold, but maybe I should take some of your advice and chill off a little, but I don’t want to freeze this town,” countered Annie. “Yep, I just want to save it from later.”

The weather was mildly cool and brisk at the most. The town kept a constant feeling of spring in the windy breaths, even if global warming continued to dominate the world by shedding darkness with burning light. Advancing through the town, Icy Angel continuously digressed off the main goal to come here—which was to find the Vampire’s Lair, even if this small taste of enjoyment didn’t hurt anything, because it was too innocent for anybody to be admonished because of gentle roses that danced along the path. While Annie didn’t actually care about what Icy Angel was doing, mysterious up to her name of the heavens, she did want to solve this mystery that appeared two days ago. If it made a difference, an ivy with an envy had a notion to trip Icy Angel along the way, and one could have admitted it was strange how some of the vines got deeper and deeper as they walked through the brown-toned city with wooden logs as stepping stones. The night breeze acted during the day, but the skies that were surrounded with trees, unbelieving to a nightly forest, would come stronger and stronger, blocking vision slightly.

“From what I read in the Grand Festival book, there’s a Contest Hall somewhere in this town, and there’s also a Top Coordinator and the Gym Leader of this town in charge of the place,” informed Annie. “If we want to get some information from anything about the structure of the town to the slightest demographics, we should talk to the leader of Green Tree Village now.”

“Whatever you say, sis,” replied Icy Angel, not actually listening. “Whatever you say—oh, and I know that we can do this sometime later in the year, but let’s enter a Pokémon Contest now!”

There was a Contest Hall straight ahead. In front of this Contest Hall, the colors of the abundance of flowers that decorated the front of the place had the same vision as the rest of the town—resting and peaceful with songs that sang in the mind because the silence of the town was ready and standing, but not too much that it was dead silence. The aroma of the flower fields that stood in front had a back way that if you followed the flowery paths, they would lead you to the backstage, which was completely enveloped in trees and grasses and other nature objects that one would love if they were the kind to interact with nature. While many out of town would consider this different, the Contest Hall actually blended into the town. There was a beautiful flower up ahead, on top of the Contest Hall’s appeal stage, and it was a huge purple petal that constantly threw down glitter, or at least it would, when an appeal was made. The glitter had a scent of wondrous beauty, like roses and chocolates, although it would not cause any allergic reactions. The seats in the crowd were arranged so that if seen from above, the entire arena would be in the shape of a flower. Basically, an actual Flower Stage led the way from the front to the back of the Contest Hall, and somebody was emerging from the back at the same time.

“Doesn’t the Contest Hall look so beautiful?” asked Icy Angel, pleading for Annie to come over and see the field that looked like it stretched on forever. “It’s really nice, don’t you think?”

“And one as icy as your nickname, which everybody calls you, loves fields of flowers?” replied Annie. “Well, I do love them, for they do have some hypnotic scent around in their eyes.”

A girl walked out from the Contest Hall, and it was the same one that was walking from the backstage in a look of serene grace that trickled from her face. Carrying a bouquet of flowers in her hand, she walked out and saw Annie and Icy Angel marveling at the flowers. Wearing a pink kimono with many real flowers added to the design, this girl had beautiful green hair that was as green as grass, and it stretched down as she freely let it stream down the back of her body so delicately and gently. The flowers that were arranged so perfectly on her head, possibly arranged so perfectly by hers truly, were spinning in a cute matter, and her own design stood out from the rest of the town. Her feet were in pink slippers and hands as delicate as woven silk, with green eyes matching the same grass that her hair matched. A look of jealousy as much as others emitted towards her as this girl had many Contest Ribbons used as earrings, and she earned them as much. This was indeed the girl that Annie and Icy Angel would be jealous—from start to bottom of her dancing outfit, and umbrella that was carried above her to guard from the sun.

“You two like the flowers?” she asked. “My name is Flora, and I grew them myself!”

“You’re the one that made these flowers?” Icy Angel rose in a field of happiness. “These flowers are so beautiful! They’re so gorgeous, and dancing like the wind that is made of coolness!”

“So what are you two looking for?”

“We’re looking for the Top Coordinator of Green Tree Village,” answered Annie, although she probably already had a clue of who it would be. “Let me take a guess about those ribbons…”

“Oh, that’s me,” introduced the girl. “Yep, I’m Flora, the Top Coordinator of Green Tree Village, and if you want a challenge of nature, just come and ask me for some answers about it!”

“We’re trying to look for the Vampire’s Lair,” requested Annie. “Yeah, I know about it, but…”

“Then you should know that it’s extremely dangerous to even go around that place,” added Flora. “You two seem like nice people that don’t want to get hurt, so stay away from there!” For some reason, this question added a tough tone down Flora’s earlier, gentle voice. “That place has nothing but trouble, and what happened a year ago should be forgotten, even if it was sad.”

“That’s strange,” commented Annie. “The article I read said it happened a week ago.”

“What are you talking about? The disappearance of those people happened a year ago!” Flora countered, but she was confused and curious of Annie’s assumption. “It’s long gone, already.”

“The article says different,” Annie handed Flora the article that she printed earlier from her laptop—the one with the drained bodies in new freshly squeezed blood. “Just read through it.”

After skimming through the article, Flora had a look of shock on her face, the look of new fear.

“This is not of grace and beauty that the town expects,” muttered Flora in fear, with a voice that showed she was truly shocked of this lack of knowledge but new to a few seconds ago. “This is not supposed to happen. The town was supposed to destroy that place forever, and it would be the first time Green Tree Village would destroy anything. For now, I’m coming over there.”

Before Annie and Icy Angel could call her, Flora left for the forest.

The forest that would eventually lead to this Vampire’s Lair was wrapped in a dark aura, but this darkened breath in the air was a natural boundary that surrounded all of the fields with an empty

[Harley Scarow]

glow that shadowed nothing. This glow wasn’t supposed to be fearful, because it was just there for the ride, but when Annie and Icy Angel sped through it, the aura became stronger and stronger. Maybe this was because the two decided to enter the forest from where Flora did, which was from the darkened and dampened side of the town, as opposed to the sunny stormed area at the entrance from where they came. The darkness didn’t appear to bother Annie at all, but Icy Angel was rather annoyed at it. Herds and flocks and random storms of Grass-type and Bug-type Pokémon were seen in the breeze of darkness that had an icy chill as the two got closer and closer. Even though Flora was nowhere in sight, it was a true word of knowledge that she was not far. With an empty trail leading behind, the woods got even damper and darker, and the air became a strange moist that had a strange smell—not a putrid one, but it was a reddened smell.

The smell of blood began to come into the air. Even in the blankest of darkness, the smell of blood would reach through any other aura and reach into noses that would sniff the blood in a screech that was loud. It was like metal was screeched onto the walls, and the trees began crying because of the many drillings that would result from this. The horrible stench of blood completely dominated the dark lights in the air and the damp feeling that travelled through skins, and the darkness yet protected from the truly fearful sight. There was a dead body etched between the trees, with her head hanging out with white and blackened eyes wide opened, and in the darkness, this sight was blocked. A flash travelled through the air, and her eyes were wide open, and a grin that showed she was earsplitting before she died. The quality of life was drained, and the blood pouring, dripping like a broken ceiling wall during a torrential downfall that rushed through the night while sleeping. This girl’s hands were bleeding, and a baby in a baby carriage was dripping full of blood, like a baby showering by her mother, but blood instead.

As Icy Angel saw this sight flash before her very eyes, she stood in shock, completely mesmerized by the deadly appearance before her. “What’s this? Please, tell me, what’s this?”

“We have to move along,” urged Annie, even though deep within her own heart, she was gravely astonished by these awful images before her. “They’re gone; they’re to be forgotten in woods.”

Suddenly, in the blank sky above them, something began dripping. This time, it wasn’t the mortal blood of those people that were trapped in the trees with their bodies completely dried out of blood, except for the little bit that continued to leak out even through all the pain that the body was already put through. It was the same feeling of fear that surged through Annie and Icy Angel’s body, because it had the same sensation. The sensation that if this liquid was inside of another living organism, it would be free and happy, and continue life on until life would eventually wither away like the way life was meant to be at all times in the past. However, this feeling came in huge pouring from the skies, and it was a dead emotion that made a physical impact on roaming bodies that passed around. This was a rushing of fearful blood that showered above both Annie and Icy Angel, and indeed, it was enough to scorch their eyes when they looked up, and they flinched immediately, draining out whatever got into them before the dead material could truly do some impact on their body. Like meteors from the sky among a darkened night full of innocence, the sensation was reddened with deepened crimson, but to be unseen.

However, in this empty darkness of the forest, there was shining a ray of brilliant light up ahead, and how strange when this light decided to finally show itself—for the light never radiated upon the rest of the forest until the two travelers and the rushing Gym Leader, which was still out of sight, got to the area when actions would start becoming truly hazardous. The light ahead showed the rays of a shining tree, and it wasn’t thickened with dry blood like some of the remaining saps in the forest holding dry blood like a basin that was about to break. The tree was glowing with yellow light so bold it was a golden crust upon the nighttime lights of the forest, not more of unworthy noir and forgetful moments every passing of a delicate plant unseen would bring upon an eye. It was a standout castle, as one might say, among the middle of a surrounding dungeon that another would wish to get out of. Indeed, this light of the tree had legendary forces thriving inside, for the leaves were dropping, and made the land golden wherever they fell. Like a dangerous chemical that made beauty more apparent, it was as contradicting as a tree can grow.

“That tree up ahead; the tree that could take away all sadness amongst a single look at its dazzling and golden branches,” began Annie. “It’s so beautiful, so golden…of raying hope!”

“”See?” commented Icy Angel with more happiness in her voice that made up for that horrible gasp she made earlier during the vicious sights. “This yearly Christmas Tree did light you up!”

A sad crash could burn through the eyes, because it was like a chemical that prevented any plant other than its own kind from growing—magnificent versions in compact notices were around this sacred tree, and Annie and Icy Angel approached this beautiful and desolate area of the forest with golden glitters in their eyes. These glittering eyes off trees that would never suffer from the wrath of deforestation unless the gods in the skies themselves decided that this wonderful bridge of life should crash among the total darkness of the forest, would then move towards the tree even closer and closer, and deep among the light of hope in the forest, a ray of darkness began to shine. The tree had a secret door that opened upon the removal of a rather large leaf that blocked the way, a golden leaf that shined with brilliance such as the rest of the tree, to lead to a cavern door surrounded with dark energy that would remind people that found this entrance that they were still in a dark forest. A reminder that the dark forest would not stop at a single miracle of nature, such as the golden tree, and that a wrapped foil around with a delicate leaf as gentle by any other name on the tree would prove to be as wise and strong as the darkness that surrounded the rest of the forest. The darkness that a newspaper article said would surround the elements in less than a day or a week, when happiness used to radiate everything.

A fiery ball worth a Pokémon attacked the two out of the dark cavern. “Boom! Boom! Boom!”

“That’s a Boomova!” alerted Flora, which appeared from the back of the golden tree. “Be careful, those things can explode at angry rates, so destroy the Pokémon at quick haste now!”

While Boomova was not one of the largest Pokémon in existence, it was a dangerous one to see indeed, especially considering the forest had surrounding trees that did not have any sunlight appearing in the forest. A rocky meteor this Pokémon may have been called to resemble, with many blackened spots surrounding the edges of Boomova shaped like orbs that were about explode under certain conditions. A huge mouth with blackened and cracked teeth shined, even though Boomova’s mouth was more liked to be closed when it was attacking, but yet it screamed its name out so many times already. These reddened eyes that looked like they were about to cry began letting off steam, like all of the many Boomova around wanted to, as they were rampaging the place with this given anger that spouted out from nowhere other than their own genes. Huge blackened steamy marks began letting out of Boomova, and they were exploding into thick layers in the air, but they became small eventually. The angry Boomova in huge quantities began charging up a breath, with a mouth full of fire, then shot fireballs out of its mouth quickly, and…

“Livone, stop that attack with your stony body!” commanded Flora. “You’re safe, now!”

Quickly reacting before the fireballs were able to hit the other two, Flora threw an Ammo Ball into the air, and this Poké Ball was different from many others. Erupting into a streak of rocks and metal shards, the Ammo Ball released four Pokémon out of the same Poké Ball, and these were all Livone. The Livone were like an ordinary stone, but it looks like there are two halves combined two each other. In the middle there is a slot. On each half there is an eye and at the bottom there is his mouth. These Pokémon stood in the way, and blocked all of the fireballs.

These Livone lived up to their names, being living stones that hardened when these fiery attacks were launched towards them, and all of their fireballs were destroyed on the spot. These Boomova ran away in fear, off to a random direction in the forest. It was a sure thought that a fire would not start in the forest, because these Boomova were now in fear instead of anger, and the plethora of fireballs that were thrown off randomly in the air already depleted their fiery energy. Walking up, Flora returned all four Livone into the same Ammo Ball, relieved finally.

“How did you get four Pokémon to be in the same Poké Ball?” asked Icy Angel. “Yeah, I know there’s a lot of different Poké Balls out there, but I’ve never seen one do that before…cool…”

“That’s because I used an Ammo Ball,” answered Flora. “An Ammo Ball has the ability to hold four Rock-types or Steel-types inside of them, as long as they’re not too big for the Ammo Ball.”

“The Sacred Tree,” muttered a voice from somewhere, possibly in the blocked skies.

Out of nowhere, as many things that happened without a reason struck appearance today, something else with an unfortunate eye and thought occurred. However, this reason struck lightning, and onto what was sacred and bold. It was the golden tree that was suddenly learned of a Sacred Tree, and this lightning was so fast and invisible that even the quickest eye would have trouble seeing the yellow and blue shard strike from the skies onto a piece of love and true grace that lived itself in the blued chasms of this swallowing forest. An unloved fire began sprouting from the lightning bolt that struck, and the tree began to scream in pain as the leaves began to wither quickly for they fell onto the ground, burning up. The golden silk that made up the tree began to burn into oil that leaked on the rest of the forest, leaving big traces of blackened land that the three watching could only be in fear. A huge branch that was the size of a small edifice began to crush down, and as the three girls in the forest took out Poké Balls, they tried to throw them, only to see that the Pokémon were somehow unable to be released outside, in true pain.

“What’s that sound in the air?” shuddered Icy Angel, freezing not of her cold. “It’s scary!”

A man with huge wings swooped down from the sky while the tree was still on fire, and suddenly, the fire began to vanish. All the flames turned into a flock of bats that began to cry and screech in their own whims as they flew back into the air. These bats were not of the Pokémon world, because they weren’t even bats at all—they were possessed demons that again formed the man swooping out of the sky, full of scaled wings and a gentleman’s face with a top hat resembling a man who was good at gambling. A black goatee signaled his appearance, and wings swooped wide open revealed a blue and purple cave with skulls and chains written all over them and yellow eyes that flashed out of blackened-glasses that he wore earlier. Resembling a vampire that had appeared out of no vision whatsoever, bats began to turn back into the man and the creepy man grabbed Icy Angel and stole her away. The flock of bats that made up the fanged man with ooze leaking out of his mouth led to the second time so far that Icy Angel had been kidnapped. The only place this sharp-appearing man went to was none other than the cave.

“Icy Angel!” Annie and Flora both yelled as they chased the vampire into the cave.

Inside of this cave, there were electrical wires that lined amongst the ground and the ceiling with electrical shocking waves spurting out of them, like this golden reflection of the Sacred Tree was nothing more than an illusion. However, this wasn’t the case, for when they entered the Sacred Tree, there was a huge stairway that led them to an underground level below the forest’s surface, and this was a fearing thought. The electrical wires were all around, and it was like all of the life in the forest was somehow transported down here, but it was still so empty. No living life other than the natural, which did not appear to be so kind, would take a breath down here. The golden leaf that blocked the way earlier was probably there to protect people from venturing inside the illuminated darkness, full of shadows that made the resting forest after a murdering story kind enough to live into, where life was breathing naturally. However, this definitely wasn’t the case with the underground cave, for there were chasms leading deep down underground even more, step after step, as one would venture. A screeching of bats could be heard somewhere inside.

“Be careful down here,” warned Flora. “I administrate Green Tree Village, but this is new.”

“Sure, I’ll heed your words,” nodded Annie. “Now, I need to find my sister, and I really do.”

The underground had a sensation of light in it, strangely to the lacking of light that the forest had itself, and there was more life to be seen here than on the actual surface of the forest, where natural life was invited to live, unlike the questioned life of the bats that made continuous screeches down in here. These bats had a glow to their eyes that attracted them to light like the bugs in a ranch were attracted to flickering lights that would eventually take their life away because they didn’t deserve it. These bats were the formation of death, because when they surrounded Annie and Flora, the bats began to spit acid out of their mouths, which was quickly repelled by a Livone’s blocking, as Flora sent out another Ammo Ball. The electrical wires then began to tangle around out of nowhere, and these darkened emotions that made up the surface of this underground tunnel began to continue once the bats flew out of the way. There was no sight of the one that snagged Icy Angel away from Annie and Flora from earlier, but there was only one way to follow, and that was somewhere down the tunnel, full of darkness—natural as night.

Going down the tunnel might have been a horrible mistake. Unlike the first level of the underground, going down this path caused the darkness from the forest’s surface to surround them again. Even though the two venturing girls were not scared of the darkness, they were trying their best to make it through a place that may have remained secret for such a long time. A dark secret may have been carried somewhere down here, but there was one thing that was sure to be carried—and this was the gunk of dead bodies that were floating beneath the sewer levels somewhere around the nighttime. The shocking feeling of bodies would make another faint of a shock as thick as that, but Annie and Flora were not scared of this feeling, for Annie had witnessed many scars over the past few days, and Flora was already used to some of the dangerous news that made their way over the surface of Green Tree Village. The sewage content that made an ironic reputation to the land of Green Tree Village was down here, and the purple water was flowing without any end, allowing sponged-dry bodies to float around with blankness.

“We should go as quickly as we can immediately,” alerted Annie. “There are all of these dead bodies that we see lying down by the sewer, and if we don’t move quick—then you know…”

“We need to save your sister right now,” replied Flora. “And I understand your heeding words, but there is only one way we can with some speed, and some light should shed out shadows.”

Taking out a Snake Ball, which had a beautiful design of a snake’s head with red eyes that stared out some fear, Flora threw it into the air, and it erupted in an explosion of purple snakes to release a strange Pokémon. Cobrily was similar in appearance to the Cobra Lily pitcher plant. Resembling a rearing cobra, Cobrily had a wide head which sports two barbells above its mouth resembling a forked tongue. Within its mouth lies a true forked tongue. Cobrily had eyes were red and sit just below the widest points of its head. Its slender, snakelike body is supported by two leaves-like appendages which can be used both as feet for locomotion or hands for grappling objects. These appendages are located at a point most its body length giving the impression of having a tail. Cobrily is also capable of wrapping itself around things, such as a tree's branches or a person's limbs. Because it was a female, there were purple and yellow flowers at tail’s edge.

“This Pokémon belongs to my sister, and her name is Cobrily,” informed Flora. “Her name was Lily, and she was raped then murdered on the day of the accident that happened not so long ago—that’s why I was so angry earlier when you reminded me of the terrible deaths that I was trying to forget. Right now, let’s illuminate this cave with a Forest Flash attack to brighten all!”

The forked tongue that Cobrily had began to illuminate and unleash a wrapping army of lighted leaves out, which completely illuminated the direction. These leaves made the image of a forest surrounded with the light of the sun on a sky with blue lights sharp in the air because of a nature’s beautiful shine upon what nature was intended to be. The leaves danced in a creepy passion were Cobrily moved around in the tunnel, sharp with its eyes as if these leaves were the servant of the Pokémon. Eventually, they reached a dead end in the tunnel, but there was something up ahead—a ladder that reached out towards, and it would lead to the top of this tree that was completely surrounded by the dark forest—the top of the beloved Sacred Tree above.

“Good job, Cobrily,” commented Flora. “Now all we have to do is climb this ladder up.”

“We’re about to save you, Icy Angel,” assured Annie. “Just a few more gentle steps, live!”

As out of nowhere, a huge yellow pulse ray shot out at Annie and Flora, putting them to sleep.

[Harley Scarow]

Episode Four: Fangs A Lot!

So yesterday, after getting through the dark tunnel with so many dead bodies rolling on the ground that the number would make your head spin, Annie and Flora made it to the end of the tunnel. It was a dark tunnel, at least, so they wouldn’t have to count how many dead bodies they saw along the way. Too many people on the ground dying without any clear reason makes people run away in fear and tell others about what they saw during nighttime under a campfire, or advise their children not to go here if they cherish their lives as much as they did themselves. Unless you had a truly good reason, most people would have stayed away upon the sight of a mother and her baby being stuck in a tree, dead, with all of her fluids drained and the little life that her baby existed on the planet drained like the sponge that didn’t absorb enough water before being used up. While people would have been terrified upon seeing half-a-sight of torture, Annie and Flora had a reason for going through the dark cave without a single ray of light to lead their way—at least Flora’s Pokémon did, but there was no light at the end of the tunnel.

However, the amount was amazing, considering the news only said that a handful of people died, as opposed to this overlapping number that would make all tourists that came to Green Tree Village run in fear instead of stay there in the expected peaceful nature that the town radiated, even from a distance. Getting to the end of this bloody tunnel which spilled a crimson ooze onto the sewage which would burn if those lying were still alive meant that hopes would raise, and with strong ambition, a light from any source or any name would shine down and tell those that made it there that they were probably the only ones that survived, while others may have died from a certain vampire or of shock from just seeing what he did to them. No, since this was real life—or at least for Annie and Flora at the time, they couldn’t expect some source of happiness to radiate on them, only fangs that would randomly sprout out of the bloody acids and spit out intense wonders of poison at their faces. Thank goodness for Flora’s Cobrily, this had some light on her snaky body, and faded around all of the other poisons except for her own goodness.

It is too much sadness that Annie and Flora would not experience, because when they got to the end of this darkened tunnel, something unexpected happened to the both of them. A powerful ray of light in the form of a pulse came shooting out of the darkness’ edge when the both of them got to the end of the tunnel, and this caused them to fall asleep. The sleeping wave, the pulsing electricity had some sort of wave signal that would put them to sleep, because it was hypnotic, and the wave matched the same thought pattern that the both of them had. At least the sleeping wave didn’t control them, only put them to sleep all so suddenly. Waking up in nothing but a shower of darkness from the shady forest, yet at the top of the tree that they were all underneath for such a long time, they were still sleeping. This Sacred Tree was of magical wonder, for even a mile down the blackened tunnel with crimson tears running down the secret river, and emerging back up, the Sacred Tree was still in sight, as if reaching for miles beneath. Or, it could have just been that these covert tunnels led in circles to a back entrance that the Sacred Tree had.

Both Annie and Flora would know if they were still awake, that this powerful wave of energy that shut their eyes amongst the nightly acids of the tunnel was not from the one that took away the girl that the both of them were looking for. It wasn’t the deadly vampire that stole Icy Angel, but it was somebody else that they could not see their face because the darkness around showered over beautiful views that led in shocking questions of why a person would do that to them, because it was so dark. The thunders striking, the roaring guitar, the strings attaching, the hearts in blackened pulses rating, that was what put them away, so that they could both rest at the worst time possible. And even when the next day rose, they would not realize, for their sudden sleep meant nothing more than a distraction and as both Annie and Flora were at the top of the Sacred Tree, they could look up and see a face. This face was familiar to Annie, but new to Flora, because Flora has not yet met her. However, Annie was delighted to see this face, which was overlapping them and gave a shadow to the golden lights that the Sacred Tree gave out.

It was Terror Zapper, such an unexpected surprise. “Hey, bitch, what’s up? You had a good sleep there, as I can see. So, wake up now, and listen to the music that I have in play for you, now!”

Opening her eyes completely, Annie ran up to Terror Zapper with so much relief. “How did you get here? I’m so happy to see a familiar face! Where’s Icy Angel? Is she okay, Terror Zapper?”

“Get away from me, you bitch! How dare you touch me after that dumbass argument we had earlier back at home?” Terror Zapper rudely pushed Annie out of the way, and this caused the sister to be extremely shocked and extremely confused of how her hyperactive sister was acting, even for her own personality. “You have some nerve there, saying that crap! Let me tell you.”

“Who is this girl?” asked Flora. “What’s your problem, pushing my friend around?”

“This girl’s name is Terror Zapper,” informed Annie, getting up. “She’s my sister.”

“Yeah, I’m her sister. That’s right, and you’re supposed to be some loser Gym Leader, right Flora? That’s what I heard. Anyways, that cold girl called Icy Angel’s somewhere up there!”

Terror Zapper pointed her finger up to a branch in the Sacred Tree, and they all looked.

“Icy Angel!” Annie and Flora both yelled.

That’s right; Icy Angel was no longer on the ground. She was in the trees, trapped by a layer of thick white to silver webbing that held her on one branch of the tree. These webbings appeared to be unbreakable, and there were Zubat and Spinarak making position around her, ready to attack if she should try a move to escape. When Annie and Flora looked up, Icy Angel was comically shocked at her present condition, having a sweat-drop run down her face out of embarrassment that the two were seeing her like this. The webbings were connected in a polished fashion, and were linking down all the way to the bottom of the tree, and there was shocking news at the bottom of the tree, where pulsing waves were released from them. These pulsing waves were not loud, but the sound emitted was creepy, having the aura of purple darkness, and the kind that would contradict brain waves and make a person go to sleep. While Icy Angel was not aware of this, any of her movement caused the music to play, and not only that, but the boom boxes were connected to the guitar that Terror Zapper was carrying with her at the present moment.

The eyes of the Zubat and the Spinarak were not of a normal vision, because they stood as if they were controlled by the wave being emitted from the pulse. While this wave didn’t control humans, it did control Pokémon. Perhaps one of the reasons why Cobrily did not fall under this horrible state was because it was a snake, able to control what movements ran into its ears, but used her snaky body to listen to where the vibrations were coming out of from underground, allowing Annie and Flora to make it to the end of the cave where they would be able to run into Terror Zapper, the one which Annie was questioning identity at the present moment. However, the wave that may have put them to sleep might have came from Terror Zapper herself, because these vibrations stopped at a sudden moment, and the underground forces were able to feel this same emerging wave as well. This wasn’t all that there was to the wave—because a wave of non-Pokémon bats began surging through the sky, and when they landed next to Terror Zapper, the vampire that kidnapped Icy Angel from the start materialized once again in true stature now.

“~Silence…good job…Terror Zapper,” the vampire said with a whispering voice. “Shh…”

“Whatever,” Terror Zapper teleported away from the forest, leaving the others to suffer.

“What have you done to my sister?” demanded Annie, almost throwing a fist. “Tell me!”

“~Silence…nothing…she just came to me for help…now, I’ll battle Icy Angel, or Kristyn.”

Suddenly, Icy Angel blew in an outrage. “How did you know my real name?”

This vampire man snapped his fingers, and suddenly, Annie and Flora switched places with Icy Angel, or as everybody knew now, Kristyn. This shocked everybody, because this magical teleportation meant that Kristyn was the one that was going to battle, while the lives of the other two would be on the line. With this vampire man approaching closer and closer, he flapped his wings and flew over to the other side of the stage, which was on top of the Sacred Tree, where gold glittered everywhere, and the sunlight was hiding above the trees that shielded the field in darkness, so that the battle with a vampire would be fitting. This vampire was able to live within sunlight, though; he just wanted to keep the place submerged in a blanket of darkness, except for the glowing field, for the sake of misery. However, the Pokémon above, which were Zubat and Spinarak, were the kind that would only come out during the nighttime, which was almost always the case in this deepened and now-to-be depressing forest. With Icy Angel now known as Kristyn, the battle was about to start, and how this vampire learned of that was a dark secret.

“How did you know my real name?” asked Kristyn. “My name is Icy Angel!”

“Shh…the Icy Angel named Kristyn, I can read your mind,” he answered. “By the way, before this battle to determine who lives and who gets drained, my name is Shade Fang, if you should know. Now, here are the conditions of the battle. SHH! This will be a six-on-six battle. The loser of the battle has to leave the other alone forever. The winner of the battle can do whatever they want to the loser—and those that are around them…shh…this means if I win, then those two up there are also mine. Well, this leaves you at a dead end, but you’ll all be dead soon, anyways.”

After these conditions, Shade Fang snapped his fingers once again. This meant bad news, yet it may have appeared good at first. All of the Zubat and Spinarak were equally spread at a distance around Annie and Flora for some reason, and the two that were trapped in the trees were suddenly relieved to know that the nighttime travelling Pokémon were not about to leech off their bodies anytime soon. However, there was a catch, and this catch, Shade Fang was about to announce to Kristyn soon. When Kristyn looked in the branches to see that the Pokémon were evenly spread out, this meant some sort of consequence was about to happen, because in the wild, creatures rarely ever stand according to one place in such a patterned motion, like they were chess pieces in a set. Real Pokémon and all wild creatures in general will strike when they need to so that they can survive, rather than stay in one place and wait for certain conditions to be met before they strike. This would be one of those few times when conditions should be met.

“Shh! Oh yes, every down in your Pokémon façade means your friends get punished,” informed Shade Fang. “Be wise best in utter darkness to prevent my darkness from overwhelming them.”

“Fine then, let’s start this battle already! Yeah, I’ll freeze you over!”

“Let into the darkness. Let into the cave, let you be my slaves! Let the darkness consume you…”

====================================
Icy Angel [Kristyn] vs. Darkloid Shade Fang
====================================
[Shade Fang did three spins in mid-air with his vampire wings wide-opened, then stopped with his screeching tongue sticking, threw two Dusk Balls, releasing Blackwing and Shadowscythe.]

First of all, Blackwing came out of the Dusk Ball, and he resembled a vampire just like his trainers, except his entire body was encased in a thick layer of fog, and there was an invisible cave leading to some dimension hanging out behind him; these red eyes that he had stared out at nowhere, and the shocking hands that were sticking out of the purple fog was also creepy to the knee—it had black ragged wings that were pulsing out with some negative energy, its body is black too with an acid green belly and black silver teeth pumped with poison. The second Pokémon was Shadowscythe, and he was a reddened and blackened one-eyed creature with black and white scythes for arms attached to chains that were swinging wildly, and these chains were moving out of the body as well, like they were not even part of Shadowscythe; the legs these Pokémon had turned into scythes, and they shifted in shadows—it had pointed horns on its head and many long, sharp, extremely venomous teeth. It has a black body and blood red strips down its back, also having large black rings with grey webbing. This fearing aura really made a shock.

“That doesn’t scare me at all, Shade Fang! Go Korpis and Lunarocean!”

Throwing two Dive Balls into the air, Kristyn released Korpis, which was a long blue and yellow creature with an arc that had fangs sticking out of the wave for a tail that looked like it was charging energy out of the area for some powerful move, with electrical fangs and the hung out of a bottled-nose that was shaped cutely; Korpis had two fins that were extremely spiked, and radiated electricity. The second creature that came out was Lunarocean, which appeared to be a moon that had many glowing blue orbs hanging out, along with blackened orbs that forced themselves into large etchings within the body, and a wave of energy came from the bottom-half of this Lunarocean, the genderless creature, with blued emotions, and ready to battle in silence.

“Shh…Blackwing, use Night Slash on Korpis. Shadowscythe, Night Slash on Lunarocean…”
Before Kristyn was able to order any attacks, the entire field turned into complete darkness, so only Shade Fang was able to see his Pokémon. The two Pokémon that Shade Fang had moved through the darkness and swift in a beautiful motion, and it had the signal of a quick death before it finally struck the other side of the field. With Blackwing and Shadowscythe making quick strikes on the other side of the field, Kristyn was in shock of the darkness that was striking the field so suddenly. For some strange reason, deep down Kristyn’s emotions, she was sure that the darkness was not about to strike any of her Pokémon. When the field rose up out of the misty blackness, Blackwing and Shadowscythe were confused, while Korpis and Lunarocean vanished.

“Shh…silence is reached, but not of good silence. My Pokémon, watch out…so much silence.”

“Round and round they go, where they’ll surface, only I know! My friends resurface!”

Both Korpis and Lunarocean resurfaced out of non-existing water and attacked Blackwing and Shadowscythe out of the water, and both of the Pokémon on the dark side of the field were hit with this not-so-painful move but unexpected in every sense of the word. The invisible ocean began to vanish as the Dive attack of Korpis and Lunarocean disappeared. With this damage inflicted upon Blackwing and Shadowscythe were effective. The anger that Shade Fang had emitted made Kristyn giggle that her move worked, and his Pokémon flinched from the water.

“That was sneaky, now wasn’t it? I’ll make the first move this time! Korpis, go for a strong Spark attack on Blackwing! Let’s see—Lunarocean, use Brine on Shadowscythe to wipe them!”

“You’re quick, but shh…Blackwing, Night Fang. Shh…Shadowscythe, Night Slash again…”

With Korpis being the quickest one, the electric fish began charging up energy and shocking it after jumping in the air onto Blackwing, and it was a super-effective hit that left the bat Pokémon in paralysis. The next move was from Lunarocean, which was amazingly quick when it used Brine to slash and crush Shadowscythe to faint the bladed Pokémon onto the ground, but…

“Activate your special ability, Shadowscythe! Scythe Revenge! Leave the end in silence…”

The fainted Shadowscythe revived his body as a ghost, running up to Kristyn’s side of the field and slashing the Lunarocean. For some reason, Shadowscythe had an unreasonable amount of Hit Points, which made a difference when Lunarocean knocked it out. Using this access damage, Shadowscythe slashed Lunarocean and knocked out the watery orb with a quick shadowy move.

Afterwards, Blackwing flew in his thick layer of fog and bit Korpis on the neck, and because it was still somewhat dark, the Night Fang attack did even more damage. No, not a little dark, completely dark on the outside layer of the field, because the skies were completely shielded with this layer of blankness, and the golden surface that made the Sacred Tree sure didn’t count.

“Come back, Shadowscythe, but you cannot live in silence after temporarily being dead, right?”

“Return, Lunarocean, that was a good Brine move. And can you stop talking about being in silence for so much? You’re the one annoying me with all of your talking about silence!”

[Harley Scarow]

“Shh…please, Deatheater, make your presence on the field, upon my own calling…”

“Don’t tell me to shut up! Come on out, Stareeler, and make your huge crashing wave!”

The Zubat and Spinarak began moving closer to Annie and Flora.

Throwing a Dusk Ball, Shade Fang released Deatheater, which was a black skeleton with many blades attached to its arms, and there were many razors in an army of shards ripping through its empty rib cage. Bloody wing webbings made this Pokémon, and Deatheater had a mouth with teeth that were constantly gnawing each other, as if it was too hungry and wanted to kill.

Afterwards, Kristyn released Stareeler, and this creature was a swordfish with a huge nose that made the shape of a blade at the edge, with a yellow, sparkling star linking the edge of the nose to the rest of the body. There were also many stars that twinkled on the Pokémon herself, and razors as sharp as edged knives in all colors were fins for Stareeler, along with enormous eyes.

“Shh...Blackwing, Reaper’s Claw, Deatheater, Necro Blazer!”

“What are those moves? Korpis, Thunderbolt the first! Stareeler, Thunderbolt the latter!”

With Korpis under a chain of paralysis, she wasn’t about to be the one to move first this turn, so Stareeler was going to take a shot away. By charging up some electrical energy on the tip of her body, Stareeler unleashed a Thunderbolt that struck directly on Deatheater, but the shattered and dead Pokémon with blood oozing out didn’t take much damage, and got back up for some more.

Next, Blackwing flew all the way up to Korpis and Stareeler, taking out a huge scythe with bloody running that signaled pain and agony within the blade’s crust. This blade was not seen from before, and slashed both Pokémon with this deadly scythe. After this move, Korpis and Stareeler flinched in pain from this move, because it had the power of a super-effective shadow.

The next move belonged to the new Deatheater, which charged up a huge fist that came from the tiny boned hands, ripped of all flesh, and then held them above the field, ready to attack. The huge fist came running down on the opposite side of the field, and the face of Lunarocean and Blackwing appeared in an eerie matter, knocking out Korpis but leaving Stareeler in a big hit.

“The more fainted Pokémon there are in the battle, the more damage this move does,” explained Shade Fang. “Now for silence to your Korpis and its unneeded suffering paralysis…shh…”

The Zubat and Spinarak began using Leech Life on Annie and Flora.

“As you can see, every time a Pokémon goes down, your friends can’t live in silence!”

“That was so mean! Stop hurting them so much! Please, Riverince, make up for that loss!”

Throwing her first Snow Ball, the Snow Ball erupted into a façade of a blizzard onto the field, blinding everybody for a little while. Out of the Snow Ball came Riverince, which had a look like a dolphin, but has a horn on its head, is covered in seaweed like stripes and it has feet. Yes, feet. There were two short legs at the front and two stumpy hind legs at the back. Big eyes!

“Let me tell you a little piece of information that you should bare in mind, regarding the amount of Pokémon that have fainted so far during the battle. Once you send out your fifth Pokémon, something will happen, and it will be devastating. It will be so much of a threat that the silence in the forest can no longer emerge itself being nothing more than an empty silence—I promise.”

“Well, that’s a dumb threat! Stareeler, use your Thunder Stars! Riverince, Ice Wave!”

“Shh…I expect Blackwing to die now. Shh…Deatheater, same as before—Necro Blazer!”

Both of these moves would hit the entire opposing side of the field, and it was quick. First, Stareeler jumped in the air and unleashed six Thunder Stars, with three of them hitting each Pokémon in painful hits, but it wasn’t so much because the damage was divided down the middle; the shock from an electrical move made Blackwing finally faint onto the field in shock.

“Finally, that dumb bat’s down!”

“And you’re about to go down also! Last words! Blackwing, use your ability: Detonate Drain!”

The horrible Blackwing could not just go down yet. Moving and charging onto the other side of the field with quick moving wings, Blackwing launched his body onto Stareeler and drained a massive amount of energy from her. Afterwards, all of this energy was transferred to Deatheater, recovering the damage that these swift Thunder Stars did to Deatheater to prepare for the next.

Afterwards, Riverince released a massive wave of ice on the other side of the field, but the entire move dominated Deatheater to a limit that if the damage wasn’t healed by Blackwing, this devil Pokémon would have fainted. However, almost meant nothing, because the next move would belong to Deatheater as his mouth began blazing with fire, aiming for the opposite field side.

This move again devastated Kristyn, because her Stareeler and Riverince both suffered the fatal hit of Necro Blazer, which now had the strength of Korpis, Lunarocean, Blackwing, and Shadowscythe—the force blasted down on the field and knocked out the weakened Stareeler onto the floor to faint her. Fortunately, Riverince was able to stand in a strong wave of her own.

“Now you must send out your fifth Pokémon, and that means something! As for now, I’ll send out Sahound to finally end all of this silence, but you won’t know what that means! Dread~”

The Zubat and Spinarak began evolving into Golbat and Ariados, tightening their attacks.

“Well, I have no choice, now do I? Seaward, come on out and charge your aqua blade! And didn’t I already tell you to stop attacking my friends? Stop it so that I can concentrate already!”

Throwing out yet another Dusk Ball, this one released Sahound, which was a large grey wolf with glowing blue and green runic symbols going the length of its body, its eyes are a glowing green. The gray fangs this Pokémon had were in the shape of a crescent, like the way a moon is, and a ray of darkness travelled to the sky that was meaningless to bring his presence onto stage.

The Seaward that Kristyn released onto the field was a sword that was stuck inside of an underwater rock like the way Spiritomb was a ghost attached to a stone. His eyes were closed like he was still dormant underwater, and he was a creepy ghost himself, having hair that was actually seaweed running down the back of his body when materializing out of the Dive Ball.

“No more silence can cover the field in too much darkness! Now that you’ve sent out your fifth Pokémon, the battle can truly shine with the darkness that I have stored inside of my body for such a long time! The battle shall no longer be two-against-two, but you against me, or at least your Pokémon to start with! My evil energy will fill the field, and you will all but perish here!”

“What in the world are you talking about?” asked Kristyn. “You sound like a crazy loser that has nothing better to do than throw out these dumb emotions. No more silence, you say? Shut up!”

“Now that you’ve sent out your fifth Pokémon, something happens, and I’ll explain exactly what happens on the mark. First of all, every Pokémon on the field is damaged with bats from the skies that I command until they only have one HP remaining, and this should surely hurt your chances of winning this battle—and your chances of saving those friends you have up there.”

“What?”

Some shards suddenly began raining down from the skies, striking everything on the field—including the current Pokémon, which were Riverince and Seaward, Deatheater and Sahound, striking massive damage on them. The shards became bats and engulfed the majority of their parameters until they all had only one HP left, and were barely standing on the golden field. The shock that this attack made caused the Zubat and Spinarak and Golbat and Ariados to be left in a state of shock as they moved away from their two victims. Even the webbings that were wrapped around Annie and Flora began to slowly unravel as the wave kept striking down on the Pokémon, leading to a dark abyss of chaos and confusion. There was something new on the field.

“If you think that was horrible, wait until you hear about what I have next in store for you!”

“What? Enlighten me after that horrible uncool attack.”

“Well, that’s pretty much it, but the silence shall return back onto the field, and it will be in so much null and void until you cannot hear anything but the cries of your own friends and family.”

“Let’s just get on with this battle again. Riverince, use Surf! Seaward, Aqua Claw!”

“That won’t do anything! Deatheater, Sucker Punch! Sahound, use Ambush!”

Just before Riverince and Seaward were able to use any of their attacks, the moves of Deatheater and Sahound sprung into action. These moves were only able to be activated if the range of some damaging moves were about to be used against them, and this fit the requirement quite perfectly on the mark of the target. The two Pokémon began to disappear and reappear behind both Pokémon, and struck them painfully from the back before they could make any move. However, for some reason, Riverince still survived, while Seaward fainted from this fatal remaining move.

The Golbat and Ariados began torturing Annie and Flora, but they stayed in waking silence.

“My Riverince can survive because of the Focus Band that it’s currently wearing! And that’s not all! Because you knocked out Seaward with one move, his special ability activated, and this strikes down the Pokémon that attacked it to begin with, and that happens to be your Deatheater—so too bad, too sad. Gone with the waves already? That’s the way life flows down!”

The Seaward that was knocked out earlier by Deatheater materialized his soul back into a ghostly form, then struck down the opponent, which was Deatheater, onto the ground, piercing through the beast’s body and knocking out the hellish creature. This left Shade Fang in shock, but he had something else up his sleeve, and this would be the next Pokémon he was about to release…

“Now, Sunoceasun, come on out!”

Throwing out her last Dive Ball, Kristyn released Sunoceasun, which was a sun fish that radiated with the color of the sun that was not rising on their current location, on top of the high Sacred Tree that was polluted with the darkness that Shade Fang invited over to the area. Spears stuck out of Sunoceasun that were in a shard-formation, and a tail with a glowing edge made strong.

“You have turned this battle way too far! No more silence in darkness, only the shadows remain in my possession! Go Shadow Crobat; make your eerie presence with such a strange breath!”

Throwing his first Poké Ball so far, Shade Fang released the eerie Shadow Crobat.

“Guess where I got this from?” Kristyn took out a Snag Machine and wore it on her left arm with a strong look on her face. “Snagging time! Now Riverince, freeze Crobat with Cold Freeze!”

“You have a Snag Machine? How strange? Sahound, Razor Fang! Crobat, Shadow Poison!”

The Shadow Crobat made a quick move by striking with Shadow Poison, unleashing poisonous waves from his mouth onto Riverince for major damage. Then, Riverince struck back with Cold Freeze, unleashing a wave of cold energy to freeze the Shadow Crobat on the spot. Afterwards, Sahound ran up and bit Sunoceasun, which rose to the sky and charged a fiery wave around her.

“Snag Ball, go!” Kristyn threw a Snag Ball at the Shadow Crobat with some effort. “Mines!”

The Snag Ball hit the Shadow Crobat, but bounced off, as if he was unable to be snagged.

“My Shadow Pokémon is invincible! That’s why I’m a vampire—you’re the exception!”

The Shadow Crobat flapped his wings in anger and unleashed a powerful storm of darkness—Shadow Storm, to damage both Pokémon. However, Kristyn knew that the only thing that she was left to do was knock out both Pokémon on the opposing side, which was just what she was about to do, secretly ordering her Riverince to strike the Sahound from behind with Aqua Jet, finally knocking the wolf Pokémon out before any more damage was done. Soon afterwards, a Solar Ray was shot onto Crobat from Sunoceasun, and the fire-type attack scorched the shadow bat until it was angrily knocked out by the powerful rays of fire being emitted suddenly here.

“Very powerful, two gone in a row. Now, my final Shadow Pokémon, come out! Ariados!”

Throwing his last Poké Ball, Shade Fang released a Shadow Ariados—his last shadow.

“His Pokémon are invincible from being captured by a Snag Ball, so we’ll have to go all out this round! Now, Riverince, use your Ice Beam on Ariados! Sunoceasun, use your Fire Blast now!”

“This cannot end with silence. No! My Shadow Ariados use your Shadow Beam!”

With Ariados using Shadow Beam first on Riverince, the dolphin finally subsided below the waters, returning back into her Dive Ball. This was about to be the deciding win for Kristyn, because her Sunoceasun was still almost completely healed when she was sent out, and the fiery attack was soon to destroy Ariados with one more quick hit. However, the side-effect struck.

The Golbat became Crobat and the Ariados attacked Annie and Flora, almost killing them.

Then Sunoceasun unleashed Fire Blast, which exploded when the fiery ball travelling through the field hit the Shadow Ariados for a super-effective hit, fainting the spider because of how toasty it had become from the fiery attack. With this final Pokémon done, Kristyn was happy to see that she made it through the battle, and her friends were almost dead, but managed to survive.

“No! The screeching noises in the air! My wrapping darkness!”

====================================

“Fine then, you finally beat the darkness that I am made of. Take this. Oh, get all three of them, and something amazing will happen when you reach the one thing that will kill everything…”

Kristyn received the Nebula Fang.

Snapping his fingers, Shade Fang released Annie and Flora from the webbing binds.

“Thanks for saving us,” Annie and Flora commented. “We could’ve died.”

“Shh…more Shadow Pokémon out there—mines were invincible, so you could not touch them. The plan that I have put into motion at Green Tree Village has finally come to a plan, and it was to use the dark energy that I leeched from humans and insert them into Shadow Pokémon by giving this energy to the master. Now that I am defeated, I shall leave.” Shade Fang teleported.

In the background Terror Zapper stood. “And I’m the next threat you should consider, Annie.”

[Harley Scarow]

Chapter Five: Swarm of Stolen Shadows

Next morning was a morning that was generic without anything else to actually start it good, but at least the sun rose with light today instead of the darkness that Annie and Kristyn suffered a day or two ago. It was bright, and the sun would rise and shine over the garden in their town of Golden Gate where flowers would radiate upon light, and the Pokémon inside of the garden were able to dance in wonders because everything was going well for the day’s first breath, and it would shine over across some of the mountains that one could seek over the crossing horizon where gazers could look forever. As today was a new day, some of the disastrous things that happened yesterday to Annie and Kristyn were pretty much forgotten by now, even though life did turn into quite a buzzing spot over the last couple of days. Some of it was completely random, while other things that should come to mind when a bright morning covers total darkness leads to a loss of memory upon the light of a new day across a gentle golden hill. Even negative thoughts faded away, like those that happened yesterday, because they were dead.

A feat to lead to no demise within, for the morning meant new things would shine, and the Bug-type Pokémon in the backyard were doing their natural role in life—being food and helping some of the plants become exceptionally beautiful. These were the Bug-type Pokémon that made their way in the Zuki region, and like many Bug-type Pokémon out there in the Pokémon world, they were large. However, even though some of them were common in many gardens and were not the gross kind that humans in some alternate dimension would disregard as a pest—at least most of them, some places in the Zuki region were bursting with these huge swarms of Pokémon, because they were able to be at piece in this place. The smell that these Bug-type Pokémon emitted was beautiful, because the beauty of their patterns, the strengths of their bodies, and size of their hearts were too much to imagine, and that much love in goodness of quality over quantity but quantity in large amounts for good quality meant humans could smell this aroma and get away with loving back and giving no sorrow in return. A sweet piece was given back.

Even though piece could finally be found today, there was a village somewhere in the Zuki region that could not be at piece because the environment began to throw around. Much like a grassy and tree-loving town next to it, this town was the sweetest town in the Zuki region, even though it was quite small and only the biggest insects that lived amongst the lives of humans could barely fit. The size of the town was narrow, but there sure was a sweet scent in the air—the gentle sweet scent that would attract Pokémon over from miles across the bend because this smell was so common yet so exciting in the hearts of both Pokémon and humans alike. Some people might come to this town for the sole purpose of getting a taste that this sweet scent was giving out. The pink air that the radiating sweet scent emitted was gorgeous, and it was like nectar from a dancing flower within the sun that loved to be above to whatever limits it was able to be at that danced on flowers upon a morning’s rest. To the problems that this little town had, situated beneath a mountain and next to a forest, a swarm of Pokémon began fluttering above.

This swarm of Pokémon wasn’t the normal type of Bug-type Pokémon that fluttered above Zuki, because these were not normal Beedrill. For a Pokémon as vicious as Beedrill that would already be angry and rude amongst any given situation unless tamed and nourished with goodness, these Beedrill were angry and running towards the town with their shiny silver spears out like swords that were ready for battle. As they approached the town, many of the townspeople began preparing themselves for the battle against some of these horrible pests that were actually pests in the Pokémon world. For some reason, these Beedrill were not normal—otherwise, they would have let these humans be in piece. Because there was a dark aura coming out from one of the Pokémon in charge of the flock, which was a Vespiquen, these Beedrill were out of control, and the single Vespiquen controlled all of the Beedrill like nothing more than minor puppets in a show where the audience would suffer pain from stings and needles given by the many actors. A fearing look from the townspeople flashed, because this spark of yellow and black spread fears.

These fears would soon all be controlled by a single girl in the town that had the daring guts to stand up to all of these horrible creatures that would soon attack the town. This girl may not have been the best when it came to the subject of beauty, but she was as brave as these Beedrill that knew they were eventually going to die when coming to the town with nothing more than a silver needle to pierce a heart in the town. This girl had some determination against them, like a swarm of Bug-type Pokémon were swarming themselves in her heart, and she had the braveness to control all of these bugs in her heart and send them towards whoever was daringly stupid enough to attack the town with nothing more than a single weapon, even if their control was too good to imagine. Being at the center of the town, she was pretty much the head, and everybody centered on her, taking out mostly Net Balls out of their pockets and was ready to throw them into the air upon her command. Indeed, this girl was much like the central Vespiquen that was controlling all of the Beedrill around, and this golden heart would soon make all the difference in sweetness.

“Go Betty, go!” the town cheered for the girl.

“You can bet on me, if you know what’s up!” Betty replied happily. “This isn’t what I really look like, but if you get the idea, it’s really inner beauty that counts compared to outer beauty!”

This Betty girl could be called a girl that had some unique taste in how she dressed herself, especially in the eyes of Pokémon such as Beedrill and Vespiquen. Because of her strange choice of color for being clad, Betty was wearing a yellow and black skirt that made her look like one of those bees that she was going to fight in order to save the town herself. It may have been Betty’s fault that all of these Beedrill were travelling over to the town, considering the flashy yellow and black striped skirt reached down to her knees and beyond, and these Beedrill might have also wanted a new queen other than the Shadow Vespiquen that was attacking everybody in the sweet-loving town. The town in general knew that this was not the case, and this yellow and black skirt was reflected with beady glasses that were too big for her, and a similar-striped ribbon was tying her hair together adorably. With a scholar’s backpack and many books tucked inside of it, Betty appeared to be a schoolgirl, but her choice for wear was unique, because some honey cans were dripping out of her backpack, and the Beedrill were attracted to that as well.

“You’re not going to take over our town—not on my watch! Now, Vespiempres, go!”

Throwing a Net Ball into the air, Betty released Vespiempres, and it made the single Vespiquen in the crowd of Beedrill look extremely weak upon this royal presence onto the air, in which the fluttering wings with rainbow talons trickled on the rainy glitter upon this Vespiempres’ appearance, was too much to handle. Having a powerful crystal staff with a red and yellow orb at the edge held tightly by both of her hands, Vespiempres was like a deity to all of the Bug-type Pokémon that were around, because an appearance with this much gold meant there was a strong chance of power to emit. The golden orb that was on Vespiempres’ head commanded some of the Bug-type Pokémon to come out of the forest. The many hives that were below Vespiempres’ body were now veiled with a beautiful layer of silk with gold as the royal blend to protect her secrets upon evolution. Radiance emerged from Vespiempres that was royal and bold, yellow and red, and this strong energy attracted some other Beedrill from the forest towards herself. The yellow veil Vespiempres had shined with a royal thunder, even upon arrival to the buzzing field.

“Go, Vespiempres, stop all of those Beedrill from attacking by striking down Vespiquen!”

With this command and without another word, Vespiempres charged down with her yellow veil hanging down with an erotic scent emerging, passing through all of the Beedrill that stood in her way, whom did nothing to stop the empress of Bug-type Pokémon from attacking, and this royal Pokémon appeared towards Vespiquen. The other Beedrill knew better than to attack a queen that they were not familiar with, especially one that had much more power than all of them put together had they, so they moved out of the way, gently and allowing the empress to pass them and arrive somewhere else. All of the people in the town were amazed at this complete command of the Bug-type Pokémon, so they put all of their Net Balls away, knowing that the situation was going to finish as soon as this move would be over. The gentle Vespiempres put a look of paralysis to the bug’s abdomen without any effort, but when her jewel glowed, it happened.

The leader of the Beedrill swarm that was attacking the town was not in shock, but in deep paralysis, standing before her own evolution, and how this Vespiquen’s evolution could do so much more than she herself could, commanding as many Bug-type Pokémon from the forest with so much passion without so much will like she had to when commanding the Beedrill. Standing in deep consternation, paralyzed by a single gaze that Vespiempres had over many Bug-type Pokémon, Vespiempres unleashed a powerful needle from her veil at the Shadow Vespiquen, but something happened. The Shadow Vespiquen began to attack viciously at Betty’s Vespiempres, shocking the royal Pokémon and breaking the spell that Vespiempres put on all of the other Beedrill just by dipping past them in a gentle gaze and vast swarm. However, this ended shortly, for the Shadow Vespiquen and Beedrill all swarmed away after the one attack.

“That was a little confusing,” Betty commented, sweatdropping. “Whatever, they’re gone!”

“YEAH!” the townspeople all yelled in happiness, as if true effort was put in this attempt.

The honey trees that Yellow Hive Village had were beautiful, and they were as brown to yellow to golden as anything in the region could be. As per many Pokémon and Pokémon fans themselves, they would probably swarm over to this town as well simply to get a taste of some of the Sweet Honey that the town had to offer upon arriving in the sweetest town in Zuki. The sweet smell in the air emitted an aura that was of pink puffs and yellow sparks, like walking into a field of flowers on a sunny day. Indeed, there was a field of flowers situated in a northern area of the town that had this same imagination, and the gentle peace this town had was different than the rest of the region, resting in scents that would tickle the nose in a good way and put others to sleep because it was enough to calm the mind. For from seeing the town above the skies, it was yellow and brown, but reaching down to the scents that lived in the constant spring weather that the town had, it was golden brown like cooking love brewed. And not only is that, but the scents of the town made people feel better about themselves, and that a reason for the many picnics.

The piece of wooden logs scattered all upon the town made a nature’s rest and a best way to relax when you looked up at the peaceful sky. The wooden logs were like the ones you would see in a park, peaceful and enough for a picnic because one could be happy staring at the flowers and the woods full of yellow and brown and golden trees that stretched until the waters, which were not drifting at all in this town. The difference between the kindness in this place and the anger in other places was not much vast, except there were many Bug-type Pokémon travelling around, and Pokémon that were attracted to honey made this town their own, and shared it with the humans that were gentle enough to share the honey with them whenever they randomly found a jar on the ground, and had the generosity to rub all of the honey on the tree when they could be getting a handful taste of their own rather than just an empty finger. A sweet scent added from sweet hearts because these humans had too much freedom and wanted to work for their Pokémon, so that happiness in sweetness could spread throughout the town in swarms.

As Betty walked down the soiled roads without any cement to block the way of nature, she took out a ribbon case and looked inside. “Wow, I only have one ribbon. Yeah, I’m just like one of those insects that’s still inside of an egg, and I need to get another ribbon if I want to hatch and show my colors to the world—the contest world, where Zuki makes its true loving sweetness.”

Because there were so many Honey Trees around specifically in this town, there were bound to be many Pokémon living up in these lighted chasms that made suitable habitats for Pokémon that wanted a place to live—whether there was honey on these trees are not. This meant there would always be at least some Pokémon in the trees, for Yellow Hive Village didn’t have the famous name for honey without a reason. A world where people were able to be gratefully generous to their Pokémon because the smells that they sent back were sweet and pinked the air with love and happiness from a single act of generosity that didn’t cost anything but time that did not matter to these people—for time passed slow enough for the people in Yellow Hive Village to enjoy without knowing they wasted any. As Betty was one of these people, she stopped by one of the trees and scraped off some excess honey that was on the ground, putting it into a jar.

“Can’t let honey like this be gone—it’s too sweet to be wasted, so I’ll be nice and give it!”

Being one of the leaders of the town, Betty was of course, the most generous one. As a matter to vision and loving fact, there were some Pokémon up ahead in the tree that Betty was walking towards to, and she was in a sweet delight as gentle as honey that was on the tree before when she arrived, taking out a jar of honey from her backpack that began to leak because there was a hole in it. As per recurring words, Betty was one of the more generous people on the town, and that was too much to bare—for her entire backpack was filled with honey, and all of this was meant for the Pokémon that were in the trees—the kinds that she would run into and gratefully give the honey away because they deserved it more than a human that had nothing else to do with it—and she wanted Pokémon to enjoy it, so that left another reason. Some of the people in the town felt left out for buying the honey for themselves, and even though there were some Combee flying in the air with happiness, gathering their own honey for themselves and to give to other Trainers that were nice enough to come and ask, Betty wasn’t the kind of person to just ask—instead, getting the waste that was on the ground, which was still was tasty and healthy as the honey that first appeared on the Honey Tree themselves—maybe even more than that, because the honey on the ground was mature. Seeing the Combee fly in swarms in the sky was much better than the swarm of Beedrill that had no intention other than to follow blind orders.

“At least the numbers in the town are more peaceful—for now at least. Oh, look ahead! How cute can that be?” There was a Honey Tree up ahead, like the many, which Betty ran towards.

There were some Aipom in the tree ahead, and they were fighting each other playfully as they fought over who should get the last piece of honey that was spread in the tree. Seeing this meant Betty now had the opportunity to make some Pokémon happy. Taking out her honey soaked backpack, she dumped the entire carrying bag onto the Honey Trees around, and this allowed the Aipom to greedily take the honey and sup it for their own lasting hunger. They were happy and laughing, though, and did share some of the honey with their own friends, taking bits by their dexterous tails and licking it into their own mouths. With their tails cutely soaked with honey, Betty walked over to the many Aipom, hoping that the many friends that she already had with the Pokémon and townspeople around her would be in a surplus number. The Aipom realized that it was Betty that gave them all of the honey that was in the backpack, so they all lined up to Betty and took a graceful bow, with their honey-soaked tails waving down as well. The fighting ensued between the Aipom, but it was playfully, as the fighting would be before to say the same.

“Ai-pom-pom,” the Aipom screeched their cries, “Ai-pom-pom!”

“You don’t have to do that, Aipom! That honey that I threw from my backpack was just for you guys, so enjoy it!” Betty rubbed her hands on the happy Aipom, and then walked away in tears.

There was a memory that recurred itself in Betty’s mind, and it was a memory that made her so sad that she would burst in tears just by seeing the Aipom in all of her happiness. Earlier today, there were vicious Pokémon that wanted to rip the town apart. Now there were Aipom who were pretending to rip each other apart during their adorable little acts of play-fighting. This vision made Betty want to burst to tears, and it made her remember a girl that she could never see again—even if this girl was not a part of her blood. A vision of a girl wearing a kimono and having many cherry blossoms on her hair appeared, along with green and pink flowers and decorated her hair, and pond lilies that floated on an umbrella that she carried in the air whenever she moved. This girl had beautiful seaweed wrapped around her kimono, and they were glowing with a green radiance that made it look like rain was always pouring on her, yet the festivities of happiness and lights shined in her eyes. Green slippers that were themselves, lily pads, were worn on her feet. This vision made Betty burst into tears, and then she whispered some words.

“Lily, I miss you so…why did that day in Green Tree Village have to happen?”

One of the Heracross from the trees that was making a sweet meal of honey stopped supping the tree like a leech and calmly walked over to the crying Betty, trying to find out what was wrong with the sobbing Gym Leader. The Heracross stood unnoticed when Betty decided to sit on one of the brown logs, holding her hands together by her face and trying to forget a fateful event that happened only less than a week ago. This thought was too deep for a presence as gentle for its

[Harley Scarow]

size such as Heracross to be noticed without some effort. The Heracross walked closer to Betty with some compassion, feeling a little sad from seeing the Top Coordinator cry, and began tapping Betty, with hopes of lightening up her day with her beautiful face and single-stag horn that she wore above her head. When Betty opened her eyes, she was shocked not because Heracross was a huge Bug-type Pokémon, because she liked bugs, but because a Pokémon that did not belong to her or anybody that she knew had the sweet compassion as sweet as honey to walk over and make sure that she was okay. It worked—Heracross made Betty feel better.

“Thanks for making me feel better,” thanked Betty, wiping her eyes of a bad memory, knowing that she had to move along and not look back. “You’re such a nice Pokémon, Heracross!”

“Hera—Hera—Cross!”

This Heracross held a crown in her hand—it must have been one that she found earlier, so she handed it over to Betty with hopes of completely lifting her spirits. When Betty looked down, she realized what this item was—it was a King’s Rock, and how Heracross got it from Yellow Hive Village without leaving the town was a wonder. Then, Betty noticed that there was one in her backpack, which was ripped opened when she threw it at the Aipom with hopes of them having something to eat. The King’s Rock earlier was taken by the Aipom out of curiosity—not because they wanted to steal it, and then handed over to the Heracross. Now out of complete kindness, Heracross wanted Betty to have it back, even though she did not know that the King’s Rock that she held belonged to Betty to begin with. Some of the Aipom from earlier came around, and hugged Betty with their tails, and this completely lit up her spirits into the air.

“That King’s Rock that I have with me, and I’m so happy that you got it back and gave it to me in my hands—but I don’t think I’ll be needing it anymore,” began Betty, “Not now, at least.”

“Aipom?” “Heracross?”

“For some time, I’ve been looking for a Pokémon that could evolve by the use of a King’s Rock—at least a Pokémon that came from Yellow Hive Town. As a Top Coordinator, I need beauty and grace if I want to finally hatch, because the first ribbon showed that I have been finally brought into the world as an egg—but I need a second ribbon if I want to shine my eyes in the world. As a Gym Leader, I need strength from a Pokémon I love, and that’s why I wanted my King’s Rock to work, but it won’t today. You can keep it—it’s a good gesture of friendship.”

The Heracross accepted the King’s Rock, but in some confusion, sweatdropping.

For the moment, even if it was for a short moment, Betty was the only person in the town that was crying of sadness and not of happiness, even if either one was rare in the optimistic-loving town. There were no more tears running down Betty’s face about a reminder of terror from a look of happiness. However, the town was about to suffer something completely different—something where memories will not lurk behind the shadows, because now the shadows were about to become real. The smell in the air would not smell so sweet anymore, by any other loving name, sweetened hearts, and hating roses. The air would soon turn bitter rather than sweet, because a strange presence began to climb its way to the field, and this presence was not welcome, for it would spoil the pink hearts this town has—even in the white petals that occasionally dripped down from the brown buds that these Honey Trees had. The thing that was ready to disrupt some peace, and shatter the peace into pieces, was a vampire that was floating in the air—a familiar face to some, but to Betty, an enraged look, because of the reminder again.

In a flock of bats, Shade Fang materialized himself onto one of the flower fields up ahead, and Betty knew that she had to get out of the picnic area and pursue this threat before any danger could occur. The swarm of Beedrill earlier had no intention of power or purpose, because they were blindly listening to spat commands from the Shadow Vespiquen—an infected insect that would spread this infection upon command and listen when one turns to the wave of darkness and cannot turn back. This is why the angered Betty from sadness to bloody rage ran over to the flower fields, where endless types of flowers made their stance on the field, and how this life would be wrecked by a foolish vampire that wanted nothing more than blood from humans and Pokémon around. There was nothing more than reddened scars where this vampire went, even if natural Pokémon came along with him—but those Pokémon would be shielded in the shadows.

At the flower fields, Betty knew that this was an inappropriate place for battle, and the gluttonous Munchlax that were sleeping in the fields rose up with fear and hunger, running out of the fields as the vampire attempted to drain out all of their fat with his bite. These Munchlax were sleeping peacefully, having no intention other than to waste their days away in happiness and food, eating as much as they want. A yawn from them was relaxing enough to put another Pokémon to sleep, but Shade Fang had to destroy this piece so quickly, so rapidly. It was painful to see all of this piece run away, for when the Munchlax got up, they grabbed as much food from the fields as they could and ran off—as if these fields were set on fire, but worst this time—by an uncontrolled darkness that made others angry. The people around wanted to kill this immortal vampire, which promised to stay away from Flora, Kristyn and Annie upon his recent loss yesterday. Now that Betty got to the field, she grabbed an Insect Ball and a Leaf Ball out.

“More tasty blood,” snicker Shade Fang. “You’re mine—Gym Leader. Now, attack! SHH!

====================================
Leader Betty vs. Darkloid Shade Fang
====================================
[Shade Fang did three spins in mid-air with his vampire wings wide-opened, then stopped with his screeching tongue sticking, threw two Dusk Balls, releasing Blackwing and Shadowscythe.]

“Cherritry and Mothruna, show them how sweet this town can be, and sweet victory!”

Cherritry was the evolved form of Cherrim, with her main body long and brown with Sunflora's feet, having branch-like arms with a purple flower bud on each one and a big, green, round head with Clamperl's face; a purple flower bud is on each side of the head and three more of the flower buds are on top; During strong sunlight, the flower buds open to resemble a Cherrim's head (but faceless), in which Cherritry's expression changes to resemble Cherrim's. Mothruna was a moth-like creature whose main body was about eight feet tall, having dark-blue wings with a white crescent on each of the upper lobes of her wings. The wings are also decorated with sparkling white dot and her main body was brown; her legs are shaped like Erureido's and her light brown abdomen has horizontal zigzag patterns on her feather-shaped antenna—being a legendary Pokémon meant she had a shine other Pokémon didn’t, and this was dazzling.

Mothruna’s Startle lowered Blackwing and Shadowscythe’s Special Attack!

“Cherritry, use Sunny Day to brighten up the field and Mothruna, Solar Wind everything!”

“Battle Item—Predation—Dark Sword on Shadowscythe! Now Shadowscythe, Dark Sword!”

First, Cherritry made the entire field into sunlight by forcing the sun to radiate stronger on the field, even though the flower fields already had enough sunlight; afterwards, Cherritry opened up to reveal her entire body in an erotic fashion. This was a beautiful appearance, and the Flower Gift ability supercharged both Cherritry and Mothrun, increasing their stats to great heights.

Afterwards, Mothrun used Solar Wind to blast the field with this focused sunlight by concentrating all the energy into a powerful burst of wind that blew everything on Shade Fang’s side of the field onto the Honey Trees that loved this wind. This ended up knocking out both Blackwing and Shadowscythe before Dark Sword was used, but this did not faze Shade Fang.

The sunlight is strong.

“Shh…what a silent death—Now Deatheater and Sahound, emerge onto the field.”

“This time, Cherritry, use Petal Dance—and Mothruna, same thing as last time!”

“Battle Item—Predation—Dark Sword on Deatheater! Deatheater, Dark Sword Mothruna!”

This time, Deatheater was much quicker than both of Betty’s Pokémon. The strange, dripping caped Pokémon ran up to Mothruna and struck with a huge Dark Sword—so huge, that Cherritry was almost knocked out by the move. Unfortunately, the darkness in the Dark Sword was too much—and Mothruna was shattered because of this powerful slashing evil weapon.

Afterwards, Cherritry used Petal Dance, unleashing a strong tornado of pink flowers that began homing into Sahound. The wolf was completely surrounded by these petals, and the sunlight only made Cherritry stronger because of her ability. The petals began homing into Sahound, but right before the petals actually hit—something happened, a white glow came from Sahound.

This flash and contact with the petals caused Sahound to evolve into another creature—and he was now called Canight. The new Canight was a large white wolf in which the runic symbols from Sahound were now gold, and was much larger than the other Pokémon in his dashing royalty and waving energy. This energy quickly knocked out both Cherritry and Canight.

“Vespiempres and Mothornado, swarm!”

Sending out Vespiempres again, the royal bee Pokémon had the same royal entrance again. The second creature was Mothornado, a moth Pokémon that evolved from Mothim, and had many feathers that resembled the powerful force a tornado would have, because of the windy feathers that shook through. The spiral on the center of her body was in the shape of showering winds.

Afterwards, Shade Fang released Shadow Crobat.

The sunlight is strong.

“Use Execution Command, Vespiempres! Use Hurricane, Mothornado!”

“Shh! Deatheater, Dark Beckon on Vespiempres! Shh—Shadow Crobat, Shadow Poison!”

With a quick arm, Deatheater caused a fleshed-out arm to appear from the skies and pull on Vespiempres, dragging her away to a different dimension. This dimension had hundreds of needles strike Vespiempres and destroyed the bug empress like nothing that was ever seen—knocking out the Pokémon with a one-hit-knockout move. Afterwards, Deatheater took recoil.

“You took out my Vespiempres, but her special ability makes Combee swarms attack you!”

Afterwards, Shadow Crobat unleashed Shadow Poison, throwing dangerous amounts of toxic onto Mothornado, but the hovering deity was able to take the move without much damage—even if it was super-effective since the move was a Shadow-type. The moth then retaliated by blowing a twisting hurricane, damaging the Shadow Crobat and knocking out the weakened Deatheater.”

The sunlight is strong.

One of the Aipom from earlier jumped onto the field before Betty was able to throw out another Pokémon to battle. This caused Betty to be in shock, although she knew that this Aipom was doing her best. Not saying anything, the Aipom evolved into an Ambipom because of the usage of Double Attack, and Betty knew that this would be one of her new partners on the battlefield.

“Shadow Gengar, win in silence!” Shade Fang released Shadow Gengar.

“That was unexpected! Go, Ambipom, use Double Attack! Mothornado, Thorn Tornado!”

“Shh…Shadow Crobat, use Shadow Storm! Shadow Gengar, use Shadow End on Ambipom!”

Doing four spins, Shadow Crobat unleashed Shadow Storm, which was a double-tornado that blew across the field and hit both Mothornado and Ambipom. With this powerful blast, Mothornado was knocked out by the crushing wind and type disadvantage multiplier times four, blowing away the moth and weakening Ambipom along the way—this was a quick battle.

“Thanks, Mothornado. “Go—” Heracross jumped in the way, still holding the King’s Rock.

After a few seconds passed, the King’s Rock began glowing on Heracross, causing the stag beetle to glow as well, and she evolved. The new Pokémon was Herrarchy, and it was an oversized royal bug that wore a crown on the top of her head, along with a royal gown that reached down to her toes, symbolizing her power over Bug-type Pokémon as well. A strong set of wings this creature had, and a staff materialized in her hand, glowing red and brown. Of course, Betty was extremely surprised that one of her dreams was now accomplished here.

“That was amazing! Go, Ambipom, use Shadow Claw on Gengar! Heracrown, Kingdom Ball on Crobat, and take out that Shadow crew now! Thank you so much, you two! Thank you, guys!”

Throwing her body in the air, Ambipom charged up both of her tails—the new tail that she got when she evolved, and ran down on the opposite side of the field, slashing across the Shadow Gengar twice and shattering the Shadow Pokémon. Afterwards, Heracrown charged a huge golden ball on the top of her head, like how when a beetle in ancient Egypt rolled up a ball to show the ancient Egyptians the sun. This ball extinguished the Shadow Crobat immediately, because the light contradicted the shadows—but Shade Fang wasn’t defeated just after this.

“This battle isn’t over yet! ~SHH!” Shade Fang dematerialized into bats, and attacked.

Two claws out of the ground that were zombie-like reached out and grabbed Ambipom and Heracrown, and the two Battle Items: Dark Sword—materialized from the ground and hovered above the field, sending dark energy into Shade Fang. The flock of bats screeched, the swords slashed, and the hands tightened around the two Pokémon, knocking all of them out on contact.

“Vampires are immortal. When we lose, we hold onto a rope—and we strangle you with it.”
====================================

Feeling miserable suddenly, Betty hugged both Ambipom and Herrarchy in her arms.

Afterwards, Shade Fang walked towards the defeated girl. “The darkness is inside of me.”

“Fine, you won. What do you want with me? I’m just a stupid Gym Leader!”

“Oh, you are? Well, now the darkness is inside of you!” Shade Fang blew a pulse at Betty.

“NO!” Betty screamed at the top of her lungs, as Shade Fang ripped her clothes and bit her.

* * *

There was a cave in Red Brick Town, and it lead to an underground location that was filled with so much treasure a greed could devour everything. There was also a coffin located somewhere amongst the room with a load of treasure that was ready to be scavenged by whatever hunter was too obsessed with the treasure. The coffin began to open slowly, and inside, there was a beautiful girl inside, wrapped in a rose. The rose had layers of ivy trapped around her, and this dangerous beauty had poison ripping out of her skin, and tears running down her empty, opened eyes. The oozing beauty leaking from her, and healing lily pads that were in an underground lake surrounding this girl—it was a forbidden energy. Something to embezzle—this was the female.

“They care about me that much?” whispered the girl. “Well, let them join me in the darkness.”

[Harley Scarow]

Chapter Six: Join Our Side—The Dark Side

The next morning shined over Red Brick City, a place of its own where many of the buildings were as crimson as blood, red as the sun when it was angry because there was little ozone layer to block its rage and its true face. From far above in the sky, one could see that Red Brick City was a town where many skyscrapers hit the skies, cars was running down on the streets, and the smoke around gravely contributed to the Zuki region’s normally stable environment, in which Pokémon could easily get along. One could also say that the skyscrapers reaching into the sky made Red Brick City one of the highest points of the Zuki region, excluding the Coronet Rock and some of the southern mountains that existed. While most of the city wasn’t natural, there were some places that were, such as one of the gardens that were filled with a field of roses, blinding to the eye because the dark color of red made it seem like blood was situated in the air, absorbing light and spreading pain to whoever should squeeze a rose by any hand. The blood that would travel down reminded one of the cities itself, and how they were in such a grueling place.

The bustling location of Red Brick City was shining above the waters, happily shining yet ignoring the shine of the water because everybody in the town clearly had something better to do than look at the water. With the sun above as red as the bricks in this gorgeous city that was looking towards the waves, the city had many busy people that were running down the streets as if they had something better to do. Whereas most of the place was filled with nothing but people that thought their presence was going to make the world better, there were some areas on the edge of the city that were ignored because they probably did not belong. This was the true treasure of the Zuki region—a cavern site, where it stretched across the border of the city, separating the actual busy city from the water that the skyscrapers overlooked. Over here, it was no longer red, but maroon as far as the eye could see, until they decided to travel underwater and see what the cave truly was. Inside of this treasure cave, which had a sign that called it Treasure Trove, there was something in shocking—a human being—possibly the only one here, sleeping.

A girl was sleeping in a coffin surrounded by a reign of lilies that acted as the soldiers preventing anybody from entering, and the girl sleeping inside so restfully decided to get up, opening her eyes and seeing to the world. And this was the girl that some people in the Zuki region wanted to get back, simply because they loved her too much, and wanted her to arrive because she was their friend, the one they lost not so long ago—their Lily. Getting up from the coffin, Lily was not completely questioning why she was here, for she may have been sleeping consciously the whole time, waiting for time to pass so this life-preserving coffin was able to restore some of her energy back. The energy that Lily got back might have given her some powers that she had never imagined—starting with a small one, such as lily pads materializing under her feet wherever she came, and using one of them to lift herself in the air, and hover around the city as if she was able to fly like the birds could. Not a sound came around her, only the long hair that ran down her face was able to be seen on her complexion, but she flew off using these lily pads, giggling.

“They care about me that much?” Lily whispered to herself. “Well, I’m back.”

The city could never be at peace—even if the day was normal full of crowded people in the street, awaiting their whims and wanting to get where they wanted under the shortest conditions of times, such as a perfect day this city could be. Outside of the Treasure Trove, a girl from a familiar face, Dark Empress, was following Lily with some intention of an invitation, sneaking by her without a word because she didn’t want to get Lily’s attention, with a fastidious step amongst the wind like she was able to. Not a careless step did the Dark Empress make, but she did fly off into the skies with hopes of meeting up with Lily, and she didn’t make a careless movement in the air, otherwise it would have given her away. A prying look travelled through the Dark Empress’ face, much like the one she gave Annie before when she approached Annie and asked a rhetorical question at usual—but she wanted it to be answered. Hoping that Lily was able to answer some obsessive questions, unlike Annie was able to, the Dark Empress flew over in front of Lily with a prying face, wanting to get some answers she did not even deserve here.

“Oh hi, my name is the Dark Empress, that’s all you need to know. And I have some questions.”

“And I need to visit some of my old friends. You can float away in the wind, and laugh away.”

“In an investigative mood, I want to ask you some emotionally devastating questions.”

This made Lily giggle, “Well you certainly love wanting things off the top. Go ahead—ask.”

“Where were you all this time?” the Dark Empress asked her first question with a snicker and a tear running down her face. “We know Betty and Flora—your friends, but where were you?”

“If you must know, Shade Fang murdered me and so many others; but I, being a vampire, was able to live through the attack, recover, and spread more love onto the world. Next question?”

This information stimulated the Dark Empress’s mind. “Okay and what is your desire today? A waking sleep has emerged from her coffin—what are you planning to spread over today?”

“Well, for now, the winds will lead me to go over to Yellow Hive Village and Green Town Village to leech off some of the dead people that Shade Fang has killed there—then kill him.”

“The past and present has been decided by you!” prepared the Dark Empress. “But the future hasn’t been asked yet. What do you plan to gain from taking more than the shadows have?”

“Get my revenge on the vampire that has taken away so many of the Pokémon that I love, and show Betty and Flora that I’m too immortal in my vampire light to be dead so quickly and sad.”

“That’s all I have to ask from you,” the Dark Empress flew away in the swift air full of blackened pollution all over from the Red Brick City directly below. “Thank you for your time.”

A volcano was situated in Red Brick Town, on the further edges of the walls that separated the city from the oceans that lied beyond. However, this surrounding almost blocked the entire city from seeing the water if you were on sea level, but if one climbed one of the many skyscrapers and looked down, they could see the intimidating volcano that had lava as red as the name of the city—being all crimson and brown and the flavor of blood etched into its walls. This volcano was of course, dormant in its current state, but should humans decide to interfere with the volcano, some dangerous stakes might arise. The volcano itself was looked upon the city as protection, contradiction to some people. The walls were nothing more than an extra level, and a bridge that narrowed the way to another city across the coast was seen next to the volcano, where hot air was apparent much to the hot air that many of the people in the city radiated from their bodies whenever they walked upon the day. While some may have cowered upon the thought of the bubbling volcano in all of its heat, there had to be at least one person out there who loved it.

At the base of the volcano, there was a reddened mansion—not by the soot that the volcano constantly delivered into the air by natural causes—but red as the roses lying in the garden somewhere in Red Brick City, and this mansion was close enough to the city to be considered a part of it. This mansion was rather large, but stood there unprotected from whatever the volcano may have released, but there were many Fire-type Pokémon hanging out in the rose garden as red as the one in the city—along with many Grass-type Pokémon that knew calmness meant hot feelings struck when emotions wanted to break down hearts. The red Pokémon in the backyard, such as Roselia, were dancing upon the day’s rising, and sure, they were enjoying the sound the volcano was giving off. While this mansion was nothing compared to the tall skyscrapers, whoever owned it knew that they had much more—because an underground passageway led to an underground base that was much bigger than many of those skyscrapers stacked. Whoever owned the mansion also made sure there were barriers so the life in the volcano was in calmness.

A girl walked outside from within the mansion, and her face and her colors were as beautiful as the many fields or roses she possessed deep within the gardens, ready for beauty and to shine within the good morning with nothing more to ask than a regular day. Another spectacular pose went from above the stage this time, beginning as a large rose trapping a human within, as a hand waved in elegant formation out of the petals. This rose opened when landing on the stage, and a woman with brunette hair, sharp glasses, and a rose-red dress with many white and black roses plastered all over her professional wardrobe emerged with an intimidating fear from her black nails. The legs that were shining with a crimson that had a taste as sharp as blood, the pain of thorns that ran through her legs, and wanted to feel more of this pain so the red beauty that made up nails and bones that this girl had and had alone could be a foil to the town—even if she was completely embodied by red all around her—much like the redness that the town had in general, but wanted to get more beauty out of entrance and seeking love than just the busy looks that the town had. A thought and hair of utter shine and twirling twists were what made up a rose, and a rose only was this girl meant to be, living in a home as rich as this—as loving by herself, and with friends that she knew that only she would have—because they were her own Pokémon. A delight that the sun and the volcano blocked her face in her own shadows, and when she looked up, there spelled her name—a rose field by any other name would still smell just as sweet, the Pokémon in the garden would say if they knew how to talk the way humans did. This was the girl that emerged from within the mansion, heading over to the fields of roses to check on the many Pokémon that they called home there, and these Pokémon were also friends to the beautiful lady. As far as the rose fields led to the back of her hand, the name of this girl—was Rose.

“And the morning smells just as sweet as yesterday—if it wasn’t for the town with all the whims that they have with their business,” Rose spoke gently. “And I am that one rose amongst all.”

The volcano that was bursting above began to actually give a real burst to the layers of the city, where the sound boomed and energy emerged within sounds that gave nothing more than peace, but decided to grow when the town was no longer as busy as it should. A lethargic crust for a volcano consistently grew higher and higher, like the lava wanted to spill off a cup that was too high for peace, because the love of the town that gave nothing out but reddened light pollution that somehow appeared even during the day was nothing more than an empty threat for this protective volcano with a roar as strong as a protective pet would want to roar when even a friend that was just met would come over and ask for nothing more than peace. That was the energy of the volcano right now, making loud groans like the monster that made up the natural, crusty edifice decided to wake up and terrorize the people that were living in the town—because some of them deserved it for not doing anything to fix the nature that was destroyed—but only contribute to the reddened air that was already not caused by the reddened volcano like it should have been from the start. The people in the town were too ignorant to try and do anything, so they stood there, waiting amongst days and days, of wakes and wakes between naps and naps that they could never take because still, there was always something to do. And Rose picked up the slack, caring too much about the volcano that she lived at the foot at, and wanted to calm all.

“This isn’t good,” murmured Rose. “The city’s in danger because of the volcano! No!”

Going to the top of the volcano, where the mouth would be, Rose took a huge leap, and materialized wings as red as the rising phoenix during the middle of the night. Flying through the hot air with nothing more than a feeling of determination where accomplishments would arrive out of a problem that had been caused, nothing more travelled through the mind of Rose other than to help the people in the town that were currently in need—because they didn’t know how to save themselves. These wings took her to the top of the volcano, where a threat would immediately wait for her. However, in the air, somebody else was also flying to the top of the volcano, to the extreme shock of Rose. The only girl in the city that truly communed with the only green that the polluted town had was the one that was able to fly on the winds using the very plants that saved her after she was damaged—and how her origin was a monster that was able to drain the love of life away to make herself better was a mystery, and how so many people cared about her. This girl that was hovering was Lily, and both her and Rose made it to the top.

“So you came buzzing back, Lily!” giggled Betty. “Now please, can you help us already?”

“And the flowers other than roses can never be as sweet if we die!” yelled Flora. “Help us!”

“How have you two done without me?” asked Lily. “Now I have to save you two, again?”

“Well, I don’t know who you are, but we have to stop that guy!” warned Rose, “Now!”

Both Betty and Flora were waiting, and there was a man behind them. A man that was so large that it made the enemies that this region suffered so far over the past few days seem like nothing more than an empty threat. A blue signal lining marking the weapon that his entire body was clawing through the motions as his body stood there without any motions, standing and solid without any feelings inside of him. The claws anchored the way through the ground were his feet, three-hooks like the wild beast he was, for this man were not of nature. The arms that were stretching down across had blue lines crossing, like the bloodstreams of humans that appeared to be blue, except his were popping out and darkness travelled through his blood like nothing but energy being prepared to shoot out both of his hands onto the two girls. Shooting a laser out of his hand, the two girls—Betty and Flora, had dark energy rumbling inside of them with lasers.

“BUZZ…My name is Laser Eye, and I am the leader of the Shadow Nebula,” introduced the man. “Give me the Nebula Claw and Nebula Fang back. If you don’t, then I will do more than reclaim it. This is a perfect opportunity to test out the Dark Soul that the Dark Empress has collected from Annie earlier. Once I exploit these powers, he will be able to control all of them.”

“The darkness, it hurts…please help us!” “We don’t want to hurt you…help us, please!”

====================================
Princess Rose & Legendary Coordinator Lily vs. Leader Betty DS & Leader Flora DS
====================================
[Betty hovers in the air and opens her hands like a cross, releasing Beeboh from a Legend Ball]
[Flora does three spins, making black flowers appear, releasing Leafir from a Flora Ball]

Beeboh was a very speedy legendary bug Pokémon; also the smallest legendary Pokémon. Leafir held sawgrass blades for use in battles; and could also cause earthquakes.

“Go my Shoutot, my first sweet rose.” “Now, Azumarine, bring us peace!”

Shoutot was the evolution of Chatot with a darkened mouth and a boombox with her. Azumarine was an Azumarill evo; a Water-type bat Pokémon that also used Ice attacks.

“Go, Beeboh, use Execution Command on Shoutot!” “Leafir, Leaf Blade on Azumarine!”

“Shoutot, clean the field with Hyper Voice!” “Azumarine, use Ice Wave to freeze them over!”

The first round started with Shoutot screeching an extremely loud attack that used sound waves to injure Beeboh and Leafir. Then, Beeboh reacted by using Execution Command, which caused deadly insects to swarm over the opposite side of the field and knock out Shoutot with a one-hit-knockout move, landing the bird on Rose’s face and making her shocked at this single hit.

“You weakened them, at least,” Princess Rose gave a kiss to her Shoutot.

The next move had Leafir run up to Azumarine and slash the bat Pokémon with a huge Leaf Blade that materialized from many leaves, slashing the Pokémon and knocking her down onto the red. However, it wasn’t over yet, because Leafir’s blades did something else—charge up her own attack—but it wasn’t about to make a difference—even if her attack rose by some levels.

“Your Leafir’s about to rest in a gentle wind. And soon, the both of you will be saved!”

“What are you talking about? The insects are coming!” “And the flowers are blooming!”

Afterwards, Azumarine charged an Icy Wave that caused a huge wave of chilling cold to crash down on the opposite side, being super-effective against Leafir and knocking the bladed

[Harley Scarow]

Pokémon out. However, Beeboh had the endurance that some legends had, surviving the hit with barely anything left—but was also frozen solid, standing in place, hovering in the hot air around.

“Remodaradi, be my second rose.”

Princess Rose released Remodaradi, which was an Octillery evolution with swords in her hands.

“Lustre, the flowers wake upon morning.”

Throwing a Legend Ball, Flora released Lustre, a legendary plant Pokémon that held a very rare and humongous berry in its hand. The shine of the berry was as hot as the volcano itself.

“Remodaradi, Fire Claw the frozen Beeboh!” “Azumarine, Ice Beam on Lustre!”

“Beeboh, retreat! Next wave—Celesol!” “Now Lustre, use your Natural Gift on Azumarine!”

Betty returned Beeboh, releasing Celesol, an angel Pokémon with a sun wand and buglike wings.

The first move belonged to Remodaradi, running up to Beeboh with blades that began charging up with huge bursts of fire. The blades slashed through Beeboh multiple times, but didn’t knock out the Pokémon, for it had many resistances to fire itself—being a Fire-type itself and a fairy that was able to deflect magic off the wind like the energy produced was little to nothing else.

The next move went to Lustre. With a quick move, Lustre took the huge berry that it was carrying and launched the entire object onto Azumarine, knocking out the bat-like Azumarill with a single hit. Since Natural Gift relied on how strong the berry was, this huge berry was strong to count. Not only had that, but the huge berry that Lustre carried regenerated once again.

“Come back, Azumarine. Now, Chikindle, bring us peace!”

With this, Lily called Chikindle, a Water and Fire Pokémon that was kind of like a duck.

“Remodaradi, Aqua Claw the hot Celesol!” “Come on, Chikindle, Flamethrower that Lustre!”

“Celesol, use Sunny Day to brighten up the field!” “Lustre, Natural Gift on Remodaradi!”

This round belonged to Celesol, which used Sunny Day and caused the sun above on top of the mountain, if the volcano wasn’t already hot enough, to burn through the field. The sun began to radiate as hot as the volcano, and this energy directly struck over the field, which caused even the light-filled Princess Rose and Lily to flinch, while the evil-infested opponents stood there.

“The light hurts so much!” yelled Lily, obviously because she had been in the darkness for such a time already. “We have to end this battle quick, before any darkness can destroy! For peace!”

Then, Remodaradi ran towards Celesol again, this time, with a sword completely surrounded with a thick layer of water condensed so that it would not fall off like the way regular water fell off. The sun above quickly caused most of the water to evaporate, weakening the Water-type attack when it hit Celesol—even if it was super-effective. Therefore, nothing much was done.

The Sunny Day began to backfire, because Chikindle was able to use Flamethrower to an advantage against Lustre because the move was a Fire-type. Because Lustre was a Grass-type, the move would be even more effective. Shooting a breath of fire out of the duck, the move managed to almost knock out Lustre—however, Dark Berry saved Lustre, then regenerated.

Then, Lustre used Natural Gift again, throwing the huge darkened berry at Remodaradi and knocking out the Pokémon with the huge berry, even though the type of the berry wasn’t exactly one to know. This time, the berry didn’t regenerate again—the third time was the charm, doing the most damage—but it was also the last. This made Flora worry about what would happen.

“You tried your best, Remodaradi. Now, my charming rose, Laprama, appear on stage!”

Laprama was an evolution of Lapras, having grey armor along her neck and large rocky spikes on her shell with a huge fearsome mouth with lots of teeth, dangerous to children and the elderly.

“Celesol, use Solarbeam on Laprama!” “You’re useless right now—Lustre, Seed Sheller!”

“Come on, Laprama, Thunderbolt on Celesol!” “Chikindle, Flamethrower on Celesol, too!”

For some reason, having no more berry attached to Lustre made the Pokémon extremely quick—much quicker than before. In a sound of hullabaloo, the malkin Pokémon exploded in many seeds and burst throughout the entire field after spinning multiple times. All Pokémon fainted—Laprama, Chikindle, Celesol, and Lustre fainted all at the same time before their turn came.

“Beeboh, make a morning whisper on trees again!” “Shadow Kanasama, flowers come at day!”

“Volcane, my unlucky four—be my super bliss!” “Seagret, make the waters swim at you!”

Betty sent out her frozen Beeboh again. Flora released Shadow Kanasama, a Bellossom evolution, and a samurai-like flower Pokémon that had many swords slashing in darkened air.

The bulky Laser Eye intruded during the battle. “BUZZ…my power turned them into shadows.”

Princess Rose’s Volcane was a large ferocious dog that had a bursting volcano on his back, the evolved form of Arcanine. Seagret was a water bird that tended to be too naïve for her sake.

“Beeboh, try and defrost your body!” “Kanasama, Shadow Storm the entire area now!”

“Volcane, use Fire Jet on Beeboh and take it out.” “Seagret, use Rain Dance afterwards!”

Beeboh wasn’t able to defrost its body from the freezing wave that Azumarine inflicted upon the legendary Bug-type Pokémon from earlier. It wouldn’t make a difference, because Volcane was already using a super-fast move, such as Fire Jet, to stream through the entire field, charged by the Sunny Day that was above, and knock out the legendary bug Pokémon with a single hit. This angered the somehow emotionless Betty, whom returned the Pokémon. Fortunately, Rain Dance from Seagret showered the field in rain the next move, relieving the sunlight from its stance. A shadow attack came next, and it caused the Rain Dance to turn into a raging electrical storm as Shadow Storm blew across the field, greatly weakening both of the opponents under a storm.

“Come on out, Ketze, make a frontline approach!”

Ketze looked like a bug pixie, but was also known as the snow-dancer.

“Use Sheer Cold on Seagret!” “Utilize Shadow Storm again!”

“Volcane, Fire Blast on Ketze with haste!” “Seagret, Flamethrower on Ketze!”

Ketze was quicker than both of her opponents, using Sheer Cold to bring a massive wave of ice directed at Seagret, freezing the slow Pokémon over before she was able to use her attack. This icy wave was a one-hit-knockout move, and it chilled the opponents to a bone, in which Lily was forced to return her Seagret, which had no power left to battle—completely froze out.

Although Volcane was slower than Ketze, he was able to avenge his partner by unleashing Fire Blast, which blasted into a Chinese symbol on Ketze and knocked the icy bug out in a single hit. The latter move was Shadow Storm, which did little to Volcane, even if the Pokémon did suffer enough—the burning will of this Pokémon under the torrential downpour was amazing for fire.

“Return, Ketze! Evil insect, front assault—Saiyanma! Order yourself amongst the latter.”

Shadow Saiyanma, a split Yanma evolution, was an elaborate and magical dragonfly Pokémon.

“Gentle rains, great effort, Seagret. Follow the drifting yet empty current, Shakahani!”

Shakahani was a legendary whale Pokémon that lived in an underwater city.

“Saiyanma, Shadow Fire on Volcane!” “Use Shadow Blade, Kanasama, on Shakahani!”

“Volcane, Flame Wheel on Saiyanma!” “Shakahani, use Tidal Wave on the entire field!”

The fast-acting Saiyanma rushed onto the edge of the field, then unleashed a huge wave of fire from a boombox that was generated from the bottom of the field, shooting at Volcane and knocking the legendary dog out in a single hit. Because Shakahani was slow, Kanasama was able to slice and almost skin the huge legendary whale Pokémon with a single samurai cut of sharp.

“The next move will bring peace onto the battlefield,” whispered Lily in her soft voice.

The Tidal Wave attack was super-charged by the Rain Dance that was still falling on the field, completely devastating the opposite side with this move. The fast Saiyanma was able to dodge most of this devastating wave, but the already damaged Kanasama was knocked out by Tidal Wave, blown like a plant that was overwatered and splashed onto Flora, almost knocking her out because of the heavy weight that the creature gave off—especially with the shadow energy.

“How dare you—Necteon, make your presence! The Leaf Storm blows now!”

Flora gave Necteon, an Eevee evolution that was a cute doglike Pokémon with a flower theme.

“Skarryu, be my fifth rose before doom hits! Show them the metal shine you have!”

Princess Rose sent out Skarryu, a disproportionate Skarmory evolution that was dragon-like.

“Saiyanma, Shadow Storm the entire field!” “Necteon—rid this rain! Sunny Day!”

“Skarryu, Flame Drill on Saiyanma!” “Shakahani, use Blizzard on Necteon quickly!”

The round began with Saiyanma using the Rain Dance that was in effect for the last time by unleashing Shadow Storm on the opposite side of the field, baring damaging Skarryu and damaging Shakahani greatly, as if a tidal storm in the waters was a replica on the field at the top of the volcano. Afterwards, Necteon caused sun to burn on the field again—a foil to the rain.

The draconic Skarryu was much like the pre-evolved form in the thought it was about to use Flame Drill, a Fire-type version Drill Peck. The powerful beak that Skarmory normally had that was charged up with a spiral from its mouth turned into fire this time, and it rained down on Saiyanma like an electric drill instead, bursting through the insect and knocking him out. The round wasn’t over yet, because Shakahani charged an icy breath in its mouth and unleashed Blizzard on the other side of the field, freezing everything in its wake—knocking out Necteon.

“Milledia, when night in the field chirps!” “Periquet, when the darkness in roses falls asleep!”

Milledia was a Ledian evolution that loved to stargaze. Periquet was a Roselia evolution that was a flowerpot and had five different flowers on her head. These two were both Shadow Pokémon.

“Skarryu, Fire Drill on Milledia, end this!” “Shakahani, use Blizzard to end this battle!”

“Not so fast! Milledia, Shadow Punch that Shakahani!” “Periquet, use Shadow Beam the same!”

Both Milledia and Periquet decided to have a team-up attack on Shakahani. This started with Periquet, whom charged up a powerful Shadow Beam that hit the entire column, weakening the legendary whale. The second hit belonged to Milledia, whom destroyed the whale with a fist made of shadows, knocking out the legendary creature to Lily’s shock. Skarryu’s Fire Drill was quickly done afterwards, charging into the Milledia that barely finished the move and knocked out the gazer Pokémon before any more damage could be done—the battle was very close now.

“Tigerlyle, grace the field!”

Tigerlyle was a Vileplume evolution that was known for spitting out lots of water and pollen.
“Viceroyal, take your turn on the field!” “Return, Periquet—go, my own Tigerlyle!”

Viceroyal was sent out, the unofficial queen of all Bug-type Pokémon. Then, Flora substituted Periquet, and sent out her own Tigeryle. This shocked Lily, seeing a Shadow duplicate across.

“Skarryu, Steel Wing on Viceroyal!” “Tigerlyle, Water Shell!”

“Viceroyal, Shadow Bomb!” “Tigerlyle, Shadow Bomb!”

Lily’s Tigerlyle began spinning viciously, and then exploded into bits of water, knocking out everything. Then Viceroyal and Flora’s Tigerlyle did the same, destroying themselves as well

“Roserade, come out!” “Cobrily, my dearest friend! Last move!”

“I have nothing left!” “Periquet, my last chance.”

“Roserade, Weather Ball your split evolution!” “Cobrily, Snake Flash!”

“Periquet, Shadow Beam on Cobrily!”

Periquet used Shadow Beam on Cobrily to knock out the old creature with a single hit—this Pokémon appeared to be a friend of Lily that lasted for decades in the past, and she won many battles with it. Then, Roserade used Weather Ball, and since there was a Sunny Day effect on the field, this move knocked Periquet out instantly, and both Princess Rose and Lily cheered.

“The darkness hurts us, making silence ring!” “Flowers can’t bloom on days without any light!”

====================================

The darkness that conquered Betty and Flora left their bodies, along with their Pokémon.

Lily ran up to Betty and Flora, whom were worried about her for some time already because of her strange disappearance. “Are you two okay? I’m so sorry for that time I’ve been gone…”

With an evil grin, Laser Eye approached, snapping his fingers and stealing back the darkness that conquered Betty and Flora, “The dark energy that was infused within those two leaves their powerless bodies. It reintegrates back into Annie, but she can stare at what lives inside. Now you know what lives inside of all of us, and that you narrowly beat them—and it will soon beat you.”

“Annie is my sister,” informed Princess Rose. “What did this Shadow Nebula do to her? And you mentioned earlier—what in hell are the Nebula Claw and Nebula Fang? What are those?”

“Nothing—my fair lady,” Laser Eye teleported away, “But I do own the Nebula Eye.”

Laser Eye disappeared. His purpose of filling Rose, Lily, Betty, and Flora with fright was finally complete. After this event, everybody at the volcano becomes worried about the Dark Soul.

[Harley Scarow]

Chapter Seven: Vulnerable Body, Immortal Soul!

The next day came, and this day belonged to a city that was surrounded with a layer of nighttime blocking the ways to the skies and the sun that existed all of this time. This blanket of shadows was not because of some evil that decided to come that happened to hate the sun and happened to find a way to literally block the sun—it was all-natural darkness, standing still in the sky in its own wake. This darkness in a blanket of dampened shadows that was covering the town was something that most of the members of this small and secluded town was used to already, because the weather stood still, and going outside meant artificial light from the streetlights that would stand still just as the skies did would illuminate the location. These skies somehow had stars, which was an amazing feat, because most would imagine that the light pollution radiated by the streetlights in such a luminosity that one would still think it was an hour before evening would barricade the skies before any freedom would spark in the stars onto reaching the eyes of the people that lived in this small town. A light given, an eye shown, and watchers would smile.

This small town situated in the middle of the forest, completely unnoticed by many except for those that decided to venture through the woods in a place where nighttime was always present was called Black Earth Village. Most towns had routes that led over to the town, and one could easily get to any of those towns by reaching the entrance to the town by a single route that led there, at least. However, this town had no roads that led to it, completely surrounded by forests on all side, and even though the forest may have been considered a rocky road that led to this deepened, earthy village with people that may have lived in peace, most tended to leave the village alone where it was. Because Black Earth Village was such a lonely place, there were not that many people living in the small town because the small population would never increase because of arrivals from other towns. Needless to say, there was an airport in this town, though, and this was where most of the people that were not living in Black Earth Village would arrive from, and this ensured that most of the townspeople remained safe with familiar faces at times.

Although Black Earth Village was situated in the middle of a forest, the town itself was quite rocky. Looking as if the entire town itself was carved out of rock, the village stood on a huge layer of stone rising from the ground, like a huge hole in the Zuki region decided to propel itself out of the earth and reveal the town’s gentle beauty that stood in the brown and blackened rock with their own enjoyment. This was the town, standing all by itself on a rock, and whatever was standing on the rock had a unique foundation to be standing there whenever it can. Many cliffs surrounded the edges of the town, so if you were in the forest, and you made it to the wall of the town, most people would disregard it as running into a wall if they did not have a map and turn the other way around. These cliffs were overshadowing the town in a ghastly presence, because each edge of the rock held itself over the town in perfect symmetry, like a pattern of rocks that hung over the village for a future ritual that would occur someday. This was not to be astonishing to the town, though, because these cliffy hills that overlooked the town were also protection.

All in all, while the town called Black Earth Village itself was not too small because the huge stone layer that the village was encrusted on was as big for at least a city, the people living in this area treated the nature with calmness, like the cities full of empty pollution were so far away, and would look at the skies forever. During daytime, which appeared to be nighttime, there were no stars in the skies, but the gentle Pokémon of the night that found nighttime a delicacy in any of the other places in this large region would still be awake, such as Kricketot, Kricketune, Zubat, Golbat, Misdreavus and Murkrow, treating the day like the stars were still awake. Alas these stars, they were not awake in the skies during nighttime, because while the illusion of shadows showered themselves over this side of the Zuki region, it was daytime everywhere else. During nighttime, however, the stars illuminated the night even more than the streetlights did. Even so, nobody knew why these shadows made their rest over the village so peacefully without any harm, or why these shadows affected this part of the Zuki region. Still, the nights were dark.

Both Princess Rose and Lily teleported to Black Earth Village in a dashing flash of light.

In another flash of light, both Betty and Flora teleported, in fairy dust and pink petals.

“Why did we come here, Lily?” asked Princess Rose. “This is Black Earth Village.”

“We are trying to find that source of darkness that Laser Eye was talking about,” answered Lily.

“The one that took over us,” added Betty. “The one that made us fight our friend, Lily.”

“It’s also the darkness that Laser Eye said came from Annie,” informed Flora, “How sad.”

“We need to go to the Underworld if we want to find our answer,” reasoned Lily. “There may be huge flocks of shadows waiting for anybody that arrives, but that’s where most darkness is.”

“Then I’ll check our map,” Princess Rose opened up a map with directions for Black Earth Village located all over it. “The Underworld can be accessed from the outer-edge of the village.”

“Then let’s head over there and get it over with!” insisted Betty, already starting. “Let’s go!”

“Wait for us, and don’t trip over any of the nature unseen here!” warned Flora, going after Betty.

The four girls eventually made it to the edge of the town, and indeed, this was the part of the town in which the overshadowing cliffs made a sharp and harsh protecting wall over the village that resided within these walls. These cliffy walls also prevented most people from leaving the village unless they had the bravery to climb over the walls, in which falling would be a great punishment for those that failed to escape, and getting lost in the forest that the walls warn not to enter would already be a great torture. Now that the four were at the wall, finding the entrance that led to the Underworld would be the hard part. As they scoured every single rock looking for the gate, the dark skies hindered their sight, for the gate to the Underworld itself should at least be as dark as the name of it states. There was a generous idea, though, and it was one that would turn the area and show a field of light that would shine upon all the rocks and shower light over.

“Cobrily, I need your help!” Lily released Cobrily. “Use your Flash attack in the area!”

The snaky Pokémon began moving her tail in some strange motions, in order to summon light onto the area. The tail that Cobrily had had a unique orb standing on her, and this orb began shaking to emulate large quantities of light all over the area, causing an artificial “daytime” to awaken itself onto the rocky area. Some of the Pokémon that were around, which were probably used to the darkness, began fleeing from the area, completely shocked of the light that rarely appears in such an aura around the area. Because of this light, Lily felt a little sorry for them, but knew that illuminating the area was the only way to find the path to the Underworld—the path that Black Earth Town was trying to block for so many years to prevent people from entering.

“I found something!” hollered Betty after minutes passed when the light showered over the field.

The quick-running Flora ambled over to Betty to see what it was. “Hey guys, take a look at this!”

Both Princess Rose and Lily sauntered over to where Betty and Flora were standing.

There was a hole in the ground, but this hole was not where the four seeking girls were—this hole was across a narrow bridge, where one would have to hold on to some weak ropes and cross with hopes that their wandering eyes would not stare down at the dark alley. The rope involved climbing through some gaps that existed between the many cliffs that overshadowed the town with a natural edifice, and it was only narrow enough for one person to cross at a time. This hole was standing in the middle of this already inverted hole that made up the town’s crust. However, this hole wasn’t the typical opening that led to nowhere in the ground other than a trap that certain individuals would lay to trap certain people and steal their belongings, or kids that had nothing better to do than dig a hole in the earth and play inside of it, then complain about how they got hurt. This hole was dodgy, as a dangerous wave of dark energy emitted from it upon even looking at it. There was a twisting circle of dark energy waving out at the hole, as if shadows were trying to drag one in, but one would never know the creepiness until venturing in.

“So we have to cross this narrow gap to get to the Underworld?” asserted Princess Rose.

“It is but the only way to the first level of hell,” affirmed Lily. “We must go inside.”

The four girls began crossing through the narrow bridge, one by one. It began with Lily, whom was somehow familiar with what dying was like, and was not afraid to cross a thin bridge made of weakened wood that probably was in this world for decades and not repaired because barely anybody from the surface dared to enter a place with so much darkness seeping inside of its walls. Afterwards, Princess Rose crossed briskly, with the only thing that was brewing in her mind being what they would find once they arrived in the Underworld. Following behind were Betty and Flora, in whom Betty held onto Flora in fear, which was strange, because Betty was the one that found the entrance in the first place, and Flora wanted to be a friend to Betty.

* * *

The four girls crossed the gate that lead to the Underworld, and it was a shock when they entered the gate, which treated them like nothing more than travelers entering through a gate that would exist in another town or city, because the natives in Black Earth Village knew well that the only gate leading into the town was filled with shields and misguided information. In a flash of light, the gate to the Underworld teleported the four girls into the land itself, and this flash was so strong that a white light began surrounding the four girls, then wrapped around them, to send them into this land that many did not bother to come. The energy that surrounded these girls was meaningless, but indeed, it was to be counted—because the sight afterwards was very fearing.

The Underworld was absolutely hideous, and while it may have not be confirmed, the Underworld may be the source of darkness that surrounded Black Earth Village even if daytime surrounded every other town in the Zuki region. There were many spikes that were lying in the Underworld, and these spikes had the taste of blood dripping from them, like this was truly where bums lived in the Zuki region, like the way subway operations worked in cities with many people riding the train everyday. The spikes that were in the entrance were shockingly poking out, and this appearance was already enough to spark fear into the people that entered, because some of these sharp needles were on the ground, and if one stepped on them, their bodies would be filled with fear, like a creature suddenly appeared. However, this land that was made of spikes littering around in a floor in such an organized fashion made gentle the homes of many Pokémon that lived there, such as hellish appearing Pokémon, like Murkrow, Misdreavus, Haunter, and Gengar that appeared in the area, natural to the area and treated it like nighttime always lived.

“What a hellish place,” remarked Flora before the four girls walked on.

In the same Underworld, but in another section, there was a ritual that was being performed, and it involved many artificial suns that were shifting locations in the air in an eerie matter. The suns that were moving in the air were all put in certain places within the room, situated in the corners of these rooms in a perfect position, where each spot would have some meaning on whatever was going to be done in the next few seconds. The location of the suns were perfectly spread out, but all of them had one thing in common—the many artificial suns that were in the room were all pointing to the center of the room, where there was an absolutely uncomfortable object lying there, ready to be punished, because whatever was inside of this object would soon die to the sunlight that was focused in such a great matter on the center ob the room. These suns made sunlight get summoned upon the area. The sunlight that was made from the artificial suns emitted placid light, a peaceful scene, and a serene glow in the Underworld, where light was rare because candlelight was common, and this illumination was caused by creatures of darkness.

The center of the room, where these entire dynamic lights that were meant for tranquility and comfort, there was a coffin that contradicted all of the peaceful auras and illuminating lights in the room. This coffin was large, and there was a crest in the middle that had a red orb depicting an aura just as crimson, and the coffin obviously caused some feelings of dark agitation within the room itself. The unneeded sluggishness and passiveness that existed within the body of whatever was lying inside of this coffin brought fear and terror that struck into the room, even if the Underworld naturally meant hellish visions would arise at every movement that one made inside of the area. Apathy and topor poured down from the lights onto the coffin, restricting the lack of vitality that already existed inside of it. On the surface of the coffin, there was also an eerie area where a fang would fit, and this part of the coffin was moving with pain, as if the lack of this fang meant the coffin would eventually break through. The somnolent and slumberous yawning that moaned in the energetic coffin eventually spelled that it would impend a wake.

In the middle of the room, next to the coffin, was a lighthearted, loving girl that was responsible for trapping whatever was in the coffin and controlling the moving suns that were above in the area. She stood there in the center of the room, dressed like summer was dancing in the harsh winds that made up the atmosphere surrounded in the harsh zone, but these clothes she wore were not the kind one would wear to the beach—they were the kind that a maiden with the ability to perform spells would dress as. A white robe with pictures of the sun and the other stars that were of the same stream as the sun made up the robe that reached down to her feet and beyond, with yellow sparkles all over her outfit, and surrounding the presence that she made when she was in the room. Carrying a wand in her right hand with the picture of the sun and in her left, a purifying device that kept the coffin in front of her intact, she made perfect precision movements. Her face was filled with gentle qualities of light, and arms that held accordingly with sincere and impartial movements to what she was doing to the intriguing coffin at the end.

“I need a certain fang if I want this ritual to work,” the girl whispered to herself in worry, holding her hand on the coffin, “For they don’t call me the Solar Girl for no reason! Let’s…go!”

Annie and Kristyn teleported into the Underworld, in the area where the Solar Girl was.

“There was a part of me that went missing over the last week, and I want it back,” muttered Annie in pain, as if a part of her body was stolen, although there was not. “And I need it back!”

“We’ll get it back, and I wish people would start calling me Icy Angel again instead of my real name,” sobbed Kristyn comically. “Let’s both rescue that sister that was acting uncool that day!”

The Solar Girl approached Annie and Kristyn in cloudy and blurred steps. “And I heard the both of your names. My name is Mitsuko, and I am the Solar Girl. I’m also an Elite Four member.”

“What’s this creepy thing in front of you?” raised Kristyn. “It looks pretty evil, pretty cool.”

“Have you two ever heard of winged creatures called vampires?”

Both Annie and Kristyn nodded.

“There is a vampire in here by the name of Shade Fang,” explained Mitsuko, and these words caused chills to run through Annie and Kristyn’s spine. “And I need an item—the Nebula Fang.”

“You captured that rapist, Shade Fang?” both Annie and Kristyn screeched in unison.

“And I need an item called the Shade Fang in order to seal him inside his coffin forever.”

“If you say so,” Kristyn took the Nebula Fang from her fossil and gave the object to Mitsuko.

“Thank you,” Mitsuko put the Nebula Fang in the area where it fit on the coffin, causing the case to glow purple. “Now you two, move back. It’s time for me to kill this vampire once and for all.”

Both Annie and Kristyn moved back, and then Mitsuko began to start the ritual that she was already busy in doing earlier. Taking out the purifying device that was in her left hand, Mitsuko shot the gun at the coffin, causing the coffin to move and shake in pain. The light made the

[Harley Scarow]

coffin crack up, literally. The vampire that was inside, Shade Fang, was screeching for the first time so far, because in the past, his actions proved that he loved pain, but the pain of a huge concentration of light radiating onto the coffin was too much to bear. The coffin began breaking up in bigger chunks, and the Nebula Fang began to pierce into the center of Shade Fang’s heart, causing his body to bleed into large amounts of splattering blood, and his guts to spill over in areas that were too uncomfortable to look at. The coffin eventually began moving away, as if Shade Fang was trying to escape this hellish torture, and eventually, the Nebula Fang fell off the object after piercing a hole through the dormant Shade Fang. This vampire was not about to give into death, as he shattered the coffin, opened his wings, and hissed—his body regenerated.

“Shh…I am the immortal Shade Fang…who was the one that attacked me…?”

“If you must know, it was I—Mitsuko the Solar Girl, member of the Zuki Elite Four!”

“You dared to ruin my impending silence…?” Shade Fang opened his wings up.

“Watch out!” Annie and Kristyn alerted Mitsuko, both feeling a wave of dark energy around.

“Then we shall battle an honorable fight,” beamed Mitsuko. “I am not afraid of you.”

“You can never permanently kill the immortal…I will always return, and I will always kill!”

====================================
Elite Four Mitsuko vs. Darkloid Shade Fang SP
====================================
[Shade Fang did three spins in mid-air with his vampire wings wide-opened, then stopped with his screeching tongue sticking, threw two Dusk Balls, releasing Worqua and Bamboozl]

The first Pokémon that Shade Fang released was Worqua, which appeared to be a shy earthworm that was round and shaped, shivering like there was a bird in the way ready to devour the small creature. The second Pokémon was a Shadow Bamboozl, a large duck that had a blowpipe made from bamboo in his hands, poisonous darts all over his body, and the evolved form of Farfetch’d.

“Power of light! Go, Staffolead and Angelain!”

The light-loving Elite Four Mitsuko threw two Bright Balls. Both of these Bright Balls had the picture of a flashing light radiating from the surface, and they both released two extremely light Pokémon. The flashing light was so powerful that it temporarily blinded the two opponents, Bamboozl and Sirenade, lowering their Accuracy by two each since there were two Bright Balls.

The first one to come out was Staffolead, a brown brooch-like shaped Pokémon that was wrapping a spiral wand in the center, and this creature had much red and yellow jewelry twinkling in the center of her body; this dancing figure was spiraling in a dizzy pattern, with the head glowing a royal gold with red orbs that signaled a powerful beam, and horns that sent strong commands. The second to arrival was Angelain, a winged-creature with feathers that shined upon the sunlight that the artificial suns on the field were giving out; she looked like she was from heaven as her beautiful glow made a reminisce on the field, and with a white robe that stretched down to her feet, a cute baby-like creature was inside, carrying a harp and singing light.

Mitsuko shot a beam out of her hand and made the Bamboozl back to a normal Pokémon.

“Shh…impossible! How did you do that? Tell me, and I’ll leave you in silence for the battle.”

“The light power that I have can purify all Shadow Pokémon when they are released!”

“Shh…Worqua, Giga Drain on Staffolead. Bamboozl, Shadow—err, Dart Barrage on Angelain!”

“Staffolead, Mind Control on Worqua! Angelain, Solarbeam on Bamboozl!”

The round began with Staffolead using Mind Control, which hindered Worqua’s ability to use the Giga Drain attack. As a matter of fact, the Giga Drain went in reverse and damaged Worqua instead, doing damage to the Pokémon, then recovered himself because that was what the effect of Giga Drain did—heal the user after the attack worked. Basically, the move was cancelled.

Afterwards, Bamboozl used Dart Barrage, tossing five small, poisonous darts that flew through the air at a quick speed, which hit Angelain five times, doing minor damage on each hit. The third bullet managed to poison Angelain, but Mitsuko was not worried about this minor setback, because the next move would devastate the field—the sunlight above was glowing powerfully.

Charging up an energy ball in her hand, the adorable and attractive Angelain unleashed a beam of sunlight known as Solarbeam at Bamboozl and almost knocked the bird out. The sunlight that was being emitted from the artificial suns up ahead may have not come from the real sun, but it counted as sunlight, which helped to charge up the Solarbeam that devastated the field.

“Staffolead, Grass Rope that Worqua! Angelain, use Hyper Beam to eliminate Bamboozl!”

This round again started with Staffolead, whom used Grass Rope to make knots appear on the ground and trap Worqua. The heavy earthen beast was 203.2 lbs, and being super-effective, the Pokémon was knocked over and knocked out as more grassy knots appeared on the field to trap Worqua. This tangling completely trapped Worqua, and squeezed the creature into submission.

“Avenge your partner! Bamboozl, use Feather Salvo to destroy Staffolead!”

The avenging Bamboozl used Feather Salvo, which caused an army of feathers to rain down onto Staffolead and knock the royal Pokémon out. This move had hundreds of feathers that matched according to the power of Bamboozl, and considering how strong Bamboozl was because of the Shadow Pokémon energies he had earlier, this move was enough to blade the enemy down.

The next move belonged to Angelain, and this heavenly creature began charging up a beam of light that had as much energy as the Pokémon had goodness inside of her body. The Hyper Beam rushed through the entire field and eliminated Bamboozl from the field with the massive blast, and the heavenly Angelain was exhausted after the hit, breathing heavily after Bamboozl was knocked out. With Angelain as the only Pokémon on the field left, every other Pokémon would be replaced, and both competitors had a grin on their face—battle of pure light vs. darkness.

“Sirenade—silence in sirens!”

The Sirenade that Shade Fang released was from a Dive Ball, and it exploded into a creature that was utterly beautiful. A female that had a beautiful voice, and began showing her voice the moment she entered the field. The creature was a mermaid that had sharp, aquatic weapons carried behind her back—and these weapons would soon be used in the midst of battle.

“Show them the light—Archance!”

Throwing another Bright Ball, Mitsuko released Archance, a red archery female with long green hair that stood subsided in a layer of invisible water, safely covered because there were many shells around the area to protect her when she came into the field. This Archance carried an arrow in her hands, and a halo was glowing above the weapon that she carried in her hand.

“Make sound breaking cries—Shadow Terrodactyl, embrace the field with your speed!”

An Aerodactyl evolution, Terrodactyl, was released from a regular Poké Ball this time. This ferocious creature had fangs hanging out from every section of his body, and eyes completely white-out in rage with handsome, erotic scars running down his face. A devil’s tail hanging with rushes of fire and draconic scales running down his back scented Terrodactyl’s emerging power.

Mitsuko shot another light beam at Terrodactyl, eliminating the shadowy aura around him.

“My Shadow Pokémon’s powerful aura is gone again! Shh…it doesn’t matter, I’ll still win!”

“Shower them with light! Light Wave, Angelain! And Archance, Knockout Arrow on Sirenade!”

“No chance in hell—Sirenade, Final Realm. Shut them up—Ancientpower on Angelain.”

The first move belonged to Sirenade, but only because the move that she was about to use would always strike first. A beautiful song began travelling in the air, and this song dragged the battlefield into an island with mermaids singing erotic and sexy songs that travelled. In this case, only Special Attacks were allowed to be used—and Shade Fang’s next Pokémon was ready.

The next move belonged to the extremely quick Aerodactyl, which blurred through the area like the Underworld was small and charged a rapid-hitting Ancientpower that destroyed Angelain on contact. The move was so quick that all the rocks from Ancientpower hit instantly on Angelain and knocked the heavenly Pokémon out in less than ten seconds—remarkable speed indeed.

The last move belonged to Archance, which charged an arrow that was made of darkened energy, shooting it at Sirenade. This arrow released a force so strong that it would knocked Sirenade—but a downfall happened—Sirenade’s special ability activated—Hypnotic Song, which triggered when Sirenade was Hypnotic Song, which put Archance to sleep before fainting.
“Shadow Crobat, make your silent presence onto the field!”

Shade Fang released Shadow Crobat, which had his aura destroyed by Mitsuko once again.

Shade Fang slid out onto the battlefield. “The power of light is overpowering me. Stop it!”

“My next creature—Pegallade, shower them with light!”

Throwing another Bright Ball, which again weakened the accuracy of Terrodactyl and finally, regular Crobat, Mitsuko released Pegallade, which was a golden horse with golden blades sticking out of her mane. The golden creature neighed in glory, looking up at the sky with shining wings that formed upon appearance, and gained some energy from the sun above her.

“Terrodactyl, use Thunder Fang to faint Archance. Shh—Crobat, Brave Bird—Pegallade!”

“Archance, try to open your eyes into the light! Pegallade, use that move, that secret move…”

The sleeping Archance was unable to defend against Terrodactyl, as the huge bladed ancient creature swooped down and bit the shelled Archance on the shell, shattering the shield completely and shocking Archance with so much electricity from his fangs that she was knocked out from the battle. Her arrow was shattered, and the clams around had Xs on their weak eyes.

The next set began with Crobat using his four wings to flutter into the air, and then release four clones of himself at Pegallade with high speed. Suddenly, Pegallade used Flash Mark, which was a Light-type version of Sucker Punch, hitting Crobat for heavy damage. After the army of Brave Bird hit, Crobat took recoil from Pegallade’s high hit points, knocking both competitors out.

“Aeronite, show them the goodness that is encrusted within the light!”

Throwing out another Bright Ball, Aeronite appeared on the stage. Aeronite was a light-filled creature that was shaped like a fighter, having the body of a human with feathers all over her body, but the head of a bird. Talons made sharp appeals when Aeronite span and sharpened them when arriving onto the field, and her wings spread high, giving the impression of a sharp angel.

“My Shadow Ariados—I invite you to your final performance. Win this battle in silence.”

Shade Fang released Shadow Ariados, which had his aura destroyed by Mitsuko once again.

Shade Fang slid out once again. “Things are looking dark for me—I’m in quite a bind.”

“Show them what the power of the sun truly is—Espeon!”

Throwing another Bright Ball to weaken the opponent’s Accuracy, Espeon emerged.

“No more going easy, SHH! Battle Card—Predation—Dark Sword—Crobat! Battle Card, Predation—Dark Sword—Crobat! Destroy both Pokémon at once! Attack them with darkness!”
Dark auras were again formed around Crobat and Ariados, turning them to Shadow Crobat and Shadow Ariados again. Before Mitsuko was able to direct any orders, Dark Swords formed on both Pokémon. While the Shadow Pokémon was normally unable to hold any swords, all four of Crobat’s wings became sharp swords, while all eight of Ariados’ legs became swords, and both Pokémon began charging at Aeronite and Espeon. One hit from the swords could destroy both Pokémon, but Mitsuko had a plan up her sleeves—plans to stop these attacks before reach.

“Espeon, lure those Pokémon over to you, and activate your Holy Shield!”

Both dark-obsessed Pokémon ambled over to Espeon, and attempted to attack with their Dark Swords, but Espeon put a shield of light to turn away dark on the field, at the cost of some of her Speed. The first handful of slashes that hit came from Crobat, in which the damaged was greatly reduced, and then Ariados hit with all eight swords, shattering the shield; knocking Espeon out.

“Now, Aeronite—Heaven’s Light to get rid of both Shadow Pokémon—and their shadows!”

With this speedy command, Aeronite rushed her body into the air, all of her feathers opened to reveal the warrior that was inside. All of the suns that were hovering above began to shine a white light on the entire field, devastating all that was not a Light-type, and being super-effective on all darkness—destroying Shadow Crobat and Shadow Ariados’ aura and wiping them out.

“I will be back! You will be the first to die! SHH!”
====================================

“You may have defeated me, shh,” Shade Fang took deep breaths. “But Laser Eye still has complete control over Terror Zapper! She’s somewhere in the Underworld with him, and you’ll all die once you confront the both of them.” Shade Fang’s body began turning into a strange, grayish color. “I’ll die right here, but my darkness will always be a part of you, Annie, always.”

Once again, Shade Fang exploded into an enormous flock of bats, but all the bats exploded.

“Well, I might as well be taking this back,” Kristyn took back the Nebula Fang.

“What does Shade Fang mean—that the darkness is inside of me?” Annie spoke softly, under her breath, but the others could hear. “I’m scared, I don’t know what that means—I’m so scared.”

“Your soul…does not seem to emit an earnest aura as if you were a part of the dark side,” responded Mitsuko in assurance. “Whatever the taciturn vampire said—just ignore his perjuries.

In the walls of the area, Terror Zapper stood. “But I believe you do have darkness inside of your heart, my bitchy sister,” slapping a note on her guitar, Terror Zapper teleported somewhere.

The other four girls—Rose, Lily, Betty, and Flora, arrived in a desolate region somewhere in the Underworld. Unfortunately, this area was also where Terror Zapper teleported to as well.

“And you, my sister, Princess Rose,” started Terror Zapper. “May I have the dance floor?”

[Harley Scarow]

Chapter Eight: A Friend in a Stranger

Has there ever been a friend in the world that a person knew that they could always trust through until the end? A friend that has always been there for this one person, because they knew that if they were not there, the person would break down, and know that the few friends he or she had were gone right before their very eyes. Most friendships are formed because of a common interest, not because of any strange intention that struck a gentle bolt in both receiving ends, and it turned out that this bolt only struck because both of these future friends were in the same place at the same time, or were at the same place and knew that this other person who had laid footsteps in the area wanted somebody that they could share common interests in—because they both emulated the same aura. A friend that trusts you trusts back when one or the other helps each other out are a friend indeed one worth keeping, and friendship, while not meant to be a game can turn into a great one. A game where both sides try their best to show who they are and get words back in return, because nobody knows who a true friend is until they are finally happy.

But what happens when a friendship begins to fall apart? What happens when this friend of a person that had trusted them for so many days and weeks and months—even their entire life, turned themselves into a sneaky, underhanded, contemptible soul right before your very eyes, yet at the same time, you never saw this coming? This person used to be so reliable to another human being, always getting the job done—but lost her steady steps along the way, for some reasons left unknown. So much dependableness one can trust on another, because friendship means cursing at each other meant nothing at all—because the name of friendship already instantly nulls whatever catch this rudeness could bring. A sincere word from one friend to another, which they would be leaving, yet without a reason, because whoever did that would still want to be friends—but have a different way of showing it to the world. The world where people know that they would suffer eventually if they made too many acquaintances along their journey to eventually die at the end, because each lightning bolt taken back strikes them where it hurts.

To the worst—what happens when a sister decides to betray her own flesh and blood, and goes off on her own way? What could have been so fickle inside of her heart that led to inconsistent steps marking the path of darkness that one always tried to avoid their entire life? At least most people tried to avoid the flighty and reckless path that was called darkness, because darkness was probably a good thing in some points—just random and undependable in every day light shadows with these binds. When one loses reliability and steadiness within their own footsteps, and starts saying things—going to places where people would never know them to go to, that’s when siblinghood truly breaks apart—and it can be much more vicious than losing a friend that one has known for so long. Their eyes turn into sheer darkness, and then their face cannot even be seen anymore, because the darkness that surrounds those makes their existence intangible—one could not even guess why. It makes their existence immaterial and ideal, because questions run down a contemplating head like a waterfall that went on a horrible drift, falling forever.

Yet strange to believe, once their ice-crusted, empty heart full of randomness and weirdness that turns to the negative side turns into a more concrete form, one will start to feel that this person still exists. How important that person is, because a concrete heart made not of rock, but fire that burns at the same temperature as another friend or sibling would burn radiates through the night with enough warmth to bury an entire family in happiness. A tangible soul—one would understand, is beautiful, because it shines like the way an occupation within another’s drifting mind would everyday, and lasts forever—solid within a memory, even when this certain person dies. A specific face that one would remember for the rest of their life—because friendship and siblinghood shows that these two people have something in common for the rest of their life, lasting forever—and this fire can never burn out. The lightning that strikes the fire makes the flame grow stronger, yet it shows one true thing. The true thing that lives inside the majority of the world: people cannot be alone for long, people want things, and people lose too much later.

And even when arguments from yesterday’s dark night, or even a small war that lasted only since the terror of last week started finally ends, there is something that will always remain inside those that know this person. In addition to the love and bondage that makes a person know and recognize another face, there’s always the darkness to the other person that can never be forgotten. No matter how much one wants to disregard this acceptable fact, it has to be believable that they did this to a friend before, and that the stains of the past can never be removed unless a memory was wiped. No matter how credible and likely a happy cause can be, there is always sadness and depressed minds to put into account. Forcing memories to be improbable to the events that have happened is almost possible, but unattainable will that forces the truth of a friend to stay lasts forever. Even impracticable days where blood runs down like a river because a friend made it happen can never leave a mind, and these remain stars in one’s head that can never be touched. How these stars can be so beautiful, yet strike you with thunder.

In the Underworld, there was always a presence of darkness trapped within the area. There have been quite a couple of sections met in the Underworld already. The first one was the room with many spikes littering around in the hellish floors where they made their elegant positions, and one would have to brave the entrance by entering a mouth that officially took them to the other side of the region—the side of darkness. Another part was the room filled with artificial suns meant to absorb sunlight from the outside, and it would be used for a ritual to destroy a certain bat—and it did assist in the process, along with the battle that proceeded after the first step of the ritual. All in all, the hellish patterns of the Underworld shook fear down people’s spines, and it made people realize that it was better to die than let the evil spirits that made the Underworld their home take control of their bodies. It was indeed hell, because sometimes, fire burst out in huge lakes. Sometimes, this was nothing more than a silly illusion that was perceptible to the eye, while at other times, it was real—and this hellish cause would burn skins down to the bone.

The four girls, brave in the Underworld—Rose, Lily, Betty, and Flora, arrived in a strange zone.

“This area of the Underworld smells so horrible!” complained Flora. “And I know about horrible scents—I have Gloom in my gardens that smell better than this! And they smell horrible!”

“This is a very secret area in the Underworld,” informed Princess Rose, holding out the same map that she was using earlier. “Quite useful that MapQuest has locations on the Underworld.”

Now, there was yet another zone to put into consideration, and while the other zones were nothing more than empty threats, this one was serious. Instead of simply frightening décor added into the area, there was true death lying. There were not only spikes and fangs scattered in this zone—there were skulls of dead people stabbed through the spikes, and dead bodies made the color of the room, hidden away as much as it can so that those that did arrive in the Underworld knew better than to be reckless with their unwary steps upon the nightly shadows this area gave out. There were fiery torches all around the area, and some could say that those who died in the Zuki region without any reason were buried here for the same reasons—being dead in a place where their decomposing remains were clearly seen through the eerie auras that seeped through the zone was beautiful. The eerie sounds that travelled through the air was enough to make people want to leave the Underworld forever after seeing the understandable amount of pain that these corpses suffered from the darkness, so clearly lucid and distinct to trigger a human’s fear.

Eventually, Annie, Kristyn, and Mitsuko arrived in the rather putrid-smelling area as well.

“I see dead people ahead of me,” muttered Annie. “How frightening…”

“It smells like somebody pooped blood here!” complained Kristyn. “Let’s get out!”

“I thought that you two were looking for your lost friend,” reminded Mitsuko. “Go for it.”

“Marvel at where the winds have brought us—to where the hurricane has blown them away,” laughed Lily, approaching Mitsuko with a smile. “It has been quite a long time, now has it not?”

“It has been quite a long time, Lily,” nodded Mitsuko. “Somehow, I knew that you would be able to come back after that fateful day in less than a short time ago. Well, I got rid of your problem.”

“Lily?” both Annie and Kristyn were shocked to hear this name.

“What problem? Shade Fang? Well, the winds have not flown his soul to mines earlier.”

“That is because Shade Fang is now dead,” informed Mitsuko. “Annie, Kristyn followed along, and they helped me to destroy Shade Fang by granting me the Nebula Fang they won days past.”

“It’s nice to see you again and well,” Flora commented as she spoke to Annie and Kristyn. “Now that rapist of a vampire won’t be touching my friend, Betty, and any of us ever again. Lily!”

“Wait, did you just say Lily?” exclaimed Kristyn. “Isn’t Lily what you called her? Oh, and my name is Icy Angel. I hope everybody starts calling me that cool name again instead of the real.”

Betty and Lily both approached Annie and Kristyn, whom have not met the two before.

“My name’s Betty. I’m a Leader in the Zuki region and I like Bug-type Pokémon.”

“Oh, my name’s Lily. I’m a wandering trainer and I like whatever way the wind flows.”

As the girls were talking to each other, they all got acquainted with each other and acted as if they were best friends or family to each other. It was a strange sight, because these mind-drifting, worriless conversations were taking place in the Underworld—a place where mind-warping and worrying words should travel out of people’s lips and into each other’s ears. The creatures in the Underworld, such as those that were permanently turned into shadows, looked at the girls with confused looks and muddled ideas about why they would be enjoyment. Whoever administrated the Underworld would probably think that these girls were in denial because of how they enjoyed being in the Underworld, while in reality, they forgot they were in a place where hellish actions took place for the majority of the time. There would never be any enjoyment for too long before it was shattered by some darkness that wanted to conquer the land, and soon, it would.

* * *

Both Laser Eye and Terror Zapper teleported into a remote area of the Underworld.

“The darkness is within you, Terror Zapper,” reminded Laser Eye. “Remember that for later.”

“Just because I’m all in the dark side and stuff doesn’t mean I have to listen to you.”

“Of course you should not listen. Listen to yourself, and you know what you should do.”

“Our mother’s dead has already generated darkness within Annie’s heart. And somehow, every activity that has happened over the past few days, you’ve been stealing some of that darkness.”

“If you want more darkness, ask me for power,” Laser Eye had something held in his hand.

“Fine, give me more darkness. Just don’t ask me why I want to be so evil.”

“Here,” Laser Eye handed Terror Zapper some Battle Items.

Terror Zapper received two Dark Cannons, which were items that looked like artillery cannons.

“Thanks, but how do I activate these?”

“Activate them like the way you would use the X-series items in your Battle Items pocket.”

“Thanks, I guess. Don’t think this means I owe you anything. See you later.”

Terror Zapper plucked a note on her guitar, and then she teleported off.

“And you do not already realize that you are doing me a favor. This is a game, after all.”

Ripping a dark hole after shooting a laser at the wall, Laser Eye walked through it, teleporting.

* * *

In the zone where Annie, Kristyn, Mitsuko, Lily, Betty, and Flora were at, a wave of dark energy began to surround all of them. A dark presence began approaching the room, and in a lightning bolt that shot from no skies whatsoever, waves began moving around. These were strange signals that came from the edge of the zone and went into transverse until they hit the walls, then intercepted and repeated again. These lightning bolts were sharp materials that turned into electrical guitar strings that were apropos to whoever was throwing them out, and they wrapped everything in the room—including the girls that were interrupted from their conversing in the terrifying Underworld for those past moments. The germane and applicable electrical wires that began wrapping everything were a rather fearing horrifying sight, and many of the skulls that littered the area began to shatter in half when the electrical wires ripped through their weakened craniums. The unconnected heads began laughing, as if they were remote controlled, and although this could be called unrelated and irrelevant to the threat, it existed all the same way.

“Guys, tell me what’s happening!” complained Betty. “I don’t want to die yet! I’m too young!”

“Everybody, calm down!” pleaded Flora. “They’re more scared of us than we are of them!”

“Even though you two are my friends,” began Lily. “You two are the only ones that are scared right now! Have some control like the rest of us! You’re Gym Leaders also, remember that!”

In a flash of electricity, Terror Zapper appeared in the room, in front of everybody else.

“So, all of you fools have finally arrived in the darker parts of the Underworld,” began Terror Zapper, randomly hitting notes on her guitar. “I know exactly how much freedom I have now.”

“Come on, Terra—stop being like this and come back down here,” pleaded Annie. “You’ve been gone over the last few days and everybody’s been worried sick about you. We all care, Terra.”

“Sorry, but I’m with the Shadow Nebula now! Shocking, isn’t it? I have too much freedom!”

“You’re saying like you never had any freedom with us!” countered Kristyn. “Not only are you my sister, but you’re my friend! Didn’t we always promise that we’d stay cool with each other?”

“I used to always play pranks with Icy Angel, and we used to always have problems coming up with nicknames for the duet that we performed everyday at school. And then eventually, we came up with name. We stuck by our names, and we still played pranks on other people.”

“And we can still play rock songs afterschool if you stop talking this nonsense and stop startling us! We all miss you, Terror Zapper, and we want you to be our sister—our friend, again.”

“And those days are long gone!” Terror Zapper began playing dangerous ghostly notes.

“And I’ll make sure that the real you can resurface again! Come back to me, Eudora!”

“Fine, then battle me. For those of you that don’t know my real name yet—it’s Eudora, goddess of the waves. You want to be friends again that badly? Now Icy Angel, battle me! On air!”

====================================
[Icy Angel] Kristyn vs. [Terror Zapper] Eudora DS
====================================

[Harley Scarow]

[Eudora had her electrical guitar emit electrical waves from it, and as she pulled random notes, ghostly spirits came out. She took out two Poké Balls—a Thunder Ball and a regular Poké Ball, hit them with the guitar to launch them, releasing Zapowl and Shadow Electrivire respectively.]

The first Pokémon arriving came out of the Thunder Ball in an explosion of thunder strikes on the ground, which allowed an electrically charged owl that was yellow-and-black striped to emerge from within with her wings opened wide and ready to strike; Zapowl had eyes with a dizzying black and yellow whirl on a gaze. Secondly, a Shadow Electrivire arrived on the stage.

“How can you do that to your Pokémon? Riverince and Lunarocean, start with a splash!”

Throwing two Dive Balls, Riverince and Lunarocean came out onto the darkened stage, with both Pokémon making a big splash on the invisible water that was in the Underworld. The stage actually did not have any water, but some of it began to appear on the field for the main purpose, although the competitors knew that it would not make any difference in the long-run, after all.

“Zapowl, use Thunder Drill on Riverince!”

“How can you do that to your Electrivire? You filled him with so much darkness!”

“Yeah, you have a problem with that? I can do whatever I want to my Pokémon, after all!”

“I do mind the way anybody treats their Pokémon. Riverince, use Dive to go underwater!”

Quickly moving through the field, Riverince dived underwater, where it would be protected for the remaining of the round. Because Riverince was now submerged underwater, Zapowl’s Thunder Drill was unable to make any contact onto Riverince, and the move was worthless when it missed. This did not affect Eudora at all, who did not care for any of these small differences.

“That was nothing more than a luck, sis! Shadow Electrivire, Shadow Bolt on Lunarocean!””

The evil Shadow Electrivire began charging up electrical energy on the wires that were on the back of his head, and upon aiming the wires at Lunarocean all charged up; he unleashed them at Lunarocean for super-effective damage. However, it was not that much, because Lunarocean was a bulky Pokémon all on its own, being able to survive such a powerful shadow electrical move.

“You don’t have any respect for your Pokémon, so be quiet! Lunarocean, Lunar Beam!”

The powerful Lunar Beam was super-charged because in the Underworld, it was standing nighttime at the zone, even if outside of the hellish place, it was daytime. A black beam shot from Lunarocean and hit Electrivire directly on his body’s core, and Lunarocean’s ability to super-charge Water and Dark-type moves caused the beam to intensify and shrivel Electrivire.

“What do you know? Zapowl, Thunder Drill on Electrivire! Electrivire, again!”

“That’s because you were cool, and now, you’re cold! Lunarocean, Lunar Beam on Zapowl!”
The nighttime aura in the area took benefit for Zapowl this time, super-charging the already quick Pokémon with even more speed. However, Electrivire got no advantage from any of this darkness, but Zapowl wanted to help. Diving high from the sky and redirecting the attack from hitting Riverince, whom was still underwater, to targeting Electrivire, something activated on contact with the sharp electrical beak, increasing Electrivire’s Speed by one level and preventing the electrical move from doing any damage to him—this was a huge threat now to the enemy.

“Why are you attacking your own Pokémon? You could’ve destroyed one of mines!”

“It’s called strategy; Electrivire’s Motor Drive increases Speed upon electrical contact!”

Electrivire used the extra speed to unleash super-quick Shadow Bolt at Riverince the moment he resurfaced from the water and smashed Electrivire directly on the face, knocking out the fish Pokémon with a single hit. The nighttime-status on the field super-charged Lunarocean’s speed also, and the Lunar Beam attack created a beam that was as dark as nighttime and became stronger, glowing because of the nighttime that was on the field and doubled the move’s power; this blackened beam hit Electrivire, knocking out the huge egg-shaped Pokémon in one hit.

“Korpis, show them how to battle underwater!”

Kristyn threw a Dive Ball, releasing Korpis onto the field.

“We’re not battling underwater; we’re battling in the darkness! Joey, I summon you!”

Throwing a regular Poké Ball this time, Eudora released Joey, a brown baby kangaroo.

“Rise, my Joey, rise!” Eudora shot a beam directly at Joey, whom turned into a shadow, and…

Joey forcefully evolved into Kangapunch, a kangaroo with boxing gloves and determination.

“Lunarocean, Sheer Cold on Zapowl! Korpis, use Thunder Fang on Kangapunch!”

Before Eudora was able to give any orders, Lunarocean used Sheer Cold on Zapowl. The moon was always able to bring coolness into the world, but when Lunarocean turned into an icy moon-shaped creature, Zapowl instantly froze over, knocked out like a bird that went to sleep in the snow, and this breeze was so concentrated on Zapowl that nobody else felt the freezing force.

“How cheap! My Kangapunch is angry now! Use your Shadow Punch on Lunarocean!”

Shadow Kangapunch threw a rocket Shadow Punch at Lunarocean, instantly knocking it out.

Before the round ended, the unnoticed Korpis struck Kangapunch with a vicious electrical bite known as Thunder Punch and paralyzed Kangapunch. However, Kangapunch was still energetic even though electrical sparks were flying off the demented kangaroo. The sneaky and underhanded, yet sadly controlled Kangapunch could not stand being even restrained. The darkness around the field began surrounding in a damp aura that was starting to become more noticeable as time passed during the battle. It was not because of the fact that Eudora was evil, but it was because of the devices that she carried in each of her hand. These were the same negative devices that were given to her by Laser Eye, and they posed a threat as their glare glowed in her hands—of purpled blackness that radiated like nighttime. The energy from her hands began to start shaking, and she was ready to use at least one of these Dark Cannons.

“Zigadude, blast their faces in the black skies with your shocking new disguise!”

Throwing another Thunder Ball, Eudora released a Shadow Zigadude onto the Underworld.

“That was one of your best friends, Eudora DS. Seaward, show them truth and honor!”

Throwing another Dive Ball, Kristyn released Seaward onto into the Underworld.

“Kangapunch, Shadow End on Korpis immediately! Take it out before anything else!”

Kangapunch made the first move in this round, and with a streak of dark energy running behind him, he charged onto Korpis and knocked the electrical fish out before the fish was able to avoid the shadow-filled attack. Taking some backlash damage, Kangapunch’s vitality was cut in half because of the downside effect of Shadow End, causing the demented kangaroo to flinch back.

“Seaward, avenge your partner with Vengeance Slash! Turn that Shadow Pokémon to normal!”

The aquatic-sword that was Seaward sharpened into a blade and was filled with darkness, along with a silhouette of the recently destroyed Korpis in the bladed shadow that made the path for Seaward to travel on. Slicing towards the other side of the field, Kangapunch was sliced with the same amount of damage that was done to the fallen Korpis, finally knocking out the shadow.

“A-ha-ha-ha-ha! Let’s end this round with a bang. Go, Shadow Zigadude, use Shadow Bomb!”

The hasty and fast-moving Zigadude began charging shadow energy at the center of its core, and when the energy was fully concentrated, the living bomb exploded with the energy stronger than its pre-evolved forms of Voltorb and Electrode. After the shadowy blast destroyed everything currently on the field, Seaward and Zigadude were both knocked out from the enormous blast.

“So much shadow energy—why did you trade your pride for power? It wasn’t worth it.”

“Pride? You’re one of those losers that care about pride? It doesn’t matter—it was worth it.”

“Stareeler, my stars—make this battle have a mark during the stars at nighttime!”

Throwing another Dive Ball, Kristyn unleashed Stareeler onto the stage.

“That means nothing, you fool. Go, Elemander—sing on the stage of darkness! The dark notes that are on my iPod will soon play, and then you’ll wish you were on my side instead!”
Throwing a Thunder Ball that again erupted into a shower of sparks, Elemander came onto the field with a sharp tongue. The Elemander looked like an electrically-charged salamander, shaped like a lightning bolt with a tongue that stuck out having the same shape. The last end of her body was constantly shifting between water, fire, earth, and wind. Occasionally, the creature shot out some elements from her body, but it was not large enough for an attack, only for color. A sharp spark came out of Elemander, and spikes all over her body began spouting up for a threat.

“My last Pokémon, end the battle with a splash—Sunoceasun, make your presence!”

Throwing her last Dive Ball, Kristyn released Sunoceasun, which shined on invisible water.

“Hit a note and release electrical waves—Magnezone, make them face the music!”

Throwing her last Poké Ball, Eudora released a Shadow Magnezone onto the stage.

Eudora slid onto the battlefield. “How shocking! You’ve got me in a metal-barbed corner!”

“And I’ll free you from that corner. Stareeler, Shadow Stars! It’s not a Shadow-type attack!”

Although it was always nightly in the Underworld, there were no stars in the skies. However, Stareeler would soon cause some of these stars to appear. As Stareeler hopped into the air, she released a barrage of black stars that turned white when they approached the other side of the field, and being a foil during a nighttime’s vision made Shadow Stars do extra damage to foes.

“I’m in a pinch, so…Battle Item—Predation—Dark Cannon! Elemander, embrace shadows!”

“Sunoceasun, use Light Screen to weaken that Dark Cannon!”

Eudora’s Battle Item: Dark Cannon summoned a black mortar in front of Elemander. This darkened cannon had shadow energy come from inside of it. Before any damage could happen from Dark Cannon, Sunoceasun moved to the edge of the field where Kristyn was, created a wall of light. The Dark Cannon blasted, greatly weakened Sunocean, and destroyed Light Screen.

“Magnezone, use Shadow Bolt on Stareeler and knock out the aquatic beast!”

The magnetic Magnezone began charging up bolts of electricity on the back using the three magnets that was on it. After enough energy was charged, the shadowy bolt was directed at Stareeler and it hit directly, although the creature did not die—even though she was a Water-type, the Electric-type sides of Stareeler prevented the star-seeking from fainting, but tired out.

“This battle is negatively charged! Battle Item—Predation—Dark Cannon—Magnezone!”

Another Dark Cannon was summoned, and this one was in front of Magnezone, whom used its magnetic control to switch the Dark Cannon on and obliterate Stareeler with darkness. The standing Stareeler stood for a few seconds before fainting, falling over and submitting to the power of the darkness as Elemander turned into the element of shadows, readying for a move.
“I need some more hope. I’m down to my last Pokémon! Sunoceasun, you can finish it well!”

Suddenly, Sunoceasun began giving a powerful white glow. Beginning to undergo a new metamorphosis, the sun fish began shining as much as the sun would itself, and turned into a scaled dragon that had orange and yellow spikes like the edges of the sun, a face with eyes that were golden red, staring with honor, and light-blue battle armor that also shed the Water-type.

Everybody stood with awe—Sunoceasun evolved into Solarmor in front of their very eyes!

“Solarmor, congratulations! Thanks a bunch! Now use…um…Solar Mirror on the entire field!”

This difficult move summoned two mirrors, with both of them reflecting images of the turned-Shadow Elemander, and the been-Shadow Magnezone. The mirrors turned into light-sided versions of the enemy Shadow Pokémon and exploded, reflecting beams of light that used piercing opposite reflections on the darkened Pokémon, rid their shadows, and destroyed them.

“What a performance! I think I’m in shock! How can the black thunder lose on the stage? No!”
====================================

The darkness that surrounded Eudora vanished along with the black auras of her Pokémon.

Almost in tears, Kristyn rushed over to Eudora. “Terror Zapper…Eudora…are you okay?”

“Icy Angel…Kristyn, I’m sorry for everything that I put you through…it was the darkness…”

The others—Annie, Mitsuko, Rose, Betty, and Flora quickly ran over to the two girls.

A hole ripped in a wall close by full of noir static, and Laser Eye stomped out of the abyss.

“You have defeated Terror Zapper,” Laser Eye took back the hovering darkness in the air that left Eudora and her Pokémon. “How disappointing…however, the biggest challenge is ahead.”

“What challenge are you talking about?” demanded Mitsuko. “The darkness is finally gone! The vampire named Shade Fang is destroyed, and Eudora’s darkness was just removed right now!”

“Wrong! The darkness is still here, right in my hands,” Laser Eye spoke in a droning, mechanical voice that was deeper than usual. “The Shadow Nebula is still approaching the earth in space!”

“What meteor are you talking about?” pondered Annie. “We never heard of any meteor!”

“That’s because darkness is can never be dissipated in the hands of good,” explained Laser Eye with an angered voice. “I preserve, I retain, and I save that darkness. I am the good warrior.” A sharp eye of Laser Eye shot to the ground and made a projection of a crimson mountain. “This is Asteroid Island. Beat me there, and get access to the satellite that controls the Shadow Nebula Meteor from space. Lose, the world is destroyed. And you, Annie, this is where your true darkness finally emerges and joins us….” Laser Eye teleported away after these warning words.

[Harley Scarow]

Chapter Nine: Long Claws, No Seek

This would be the day. The day where all of the girls that have been affected by the organization known as the Shadow Nebula would get back for all the pain that they suffered. In a way, everybody in the Zuki region suffered because of the Shadow Nebula’s attempts to hurt the world, and now some people would finally do something about it. There would be no more unanswered questions, ransoms for a sibling; dead eyes gazed in trees, a sacred place being tainted by darkness, a village of peace disturbed, goodness turned to evil, darkness being immortal everyday, or your own sister betraying you. All of this would finally be over, and everything would finally be at peace again. The people that were directly affected by the Shadow Nebula’s actions were at some rage right now, and they knew that everything they lost—even if they already gained it back, would come back to their hearts. The darkness surrounding the Shadow Nebula grew heavier and deeper everyday, but soon, all of it would be gone. All of the darkness would start fading, all of it would forfeit to the light that made greatness in numbers.

Everything that happened so far may have not built up to the tension that was boiling in the veins of the girls that were travelling in some private jet over to a secret island was hidden among the waves that surrounded its darkness. Volcanoes littered the area like pimples that sprouted off a teenager’s face on the island, in large quantities, and instead of being filled with lava, they were filled with one more ingredient—hatred that spat darkness onto the land. This was not an exaggeration to the fear of the island—there were ghosts and dead bodies in the mouths of the volcano that were moaning, and they were bringing darkness onto the island’s central core and the general brink of the island. The spirits that lurked inside the mouths of the volcano were harmful and bitter, but this unhealthy surrounding made whatever was truly deep inside of the island remain innocuous. This island was called Asteroid Island, and from the words that Laser Eye informed, it was extremely secluded from the rest of the world, being in the middle of the sea. Few people knew where the island was—rich people, and those that fell into the darkness.

There were large holes in the ground, although all of these large holes appeared small to comparison to what was lying inside of the mouths. There were rocks inside of these large openings, and they stood inside the holes in a strange matter, like they were put there for a reason. All of the rocks appeared to be the same, but the level of how deep some of them were was different—in one of the holes, there were three rocks: one of the rocks were excessively big—but slick at the same time, while two of those rocks were exceptionally small compared to the other, and they were bound together by an invisible force. In another hole, there were two rocks—one of them had a sword etched inside its darkened body, while the other one had a shield that made a beautiful standing on it, as if this was a showcase in a museum. Nobody appeared to notice these strangely arranged rocks, although they must have meant something gin the end. The rocky craters that made up the land were in strange groupings, like the order of the rocks actually meant something—whether it was good or bad, which was left to some question.

The intrusive Asteroid Island had a dangerous atmosphere around it, like all. Walking with caution was a necessity and sure thing if one wanted to make it through the island, because there were narrow paths everywhere on the ground, and falling over meant a horrible thing. A person that had the carelessness in Asteroid Island when they walked would fall into a black abyss that drained whoever fell down, and they would never be able to get out of there again if they wanted to live. Where this dark abyss went, nobody knew, but those with a quick eye had an unlikely chance to fall to their dooms and it was easily preventable. The Shadow Nebula did not misuse nature on the island, because some of the darkness that came from the area was used as energy for the environment, even if it did make some of the plants become freaks, and their bodies were dissipated rather than preserved and retained for the better and be saved. The dark abysses, however, makes the spirits falsify about how horrible the place was if they should misrepresent their steps and fib about the darkness that they loved, even if their fibs involved them groaning inside of these darkened towers. The unequivocal sadness was that the rocks that made this darkness came from the crust, and unfortunately, the blooded beauty that made this bloated island was factual—people that died because of Shade Fang’s kidnapping and Laser Eye’s darkness-giving were brought here to suffer all of their lives, to feed off the energy that killed them. There were spiral towers that popped out of the ground at some point, and some of these towers stood on a small holding area in the middle of some of the mouths of the many volcanoes.

All the friends arrived—Annie, Kristyn, Eudora, Rose, Lily, Mitsuko, Betty and Flora.

“This is it, Asteroid Island,” began Annie. “We have to win, we have to stop everything.”

“I will have my questions answered,” added Lily. “The Dark Empress asked me some earlier.”

“And we’ll have ours also!” yelled Betty and Flora in unison.

“I’ll kill Laser Eye and get my revenge,” added Eudora. “He had no right to manipulate me.”

“And we’ll come along for the ride!” yelled Kristyn and Princess Rose in unison.

“All the shadows will finally be purified,” added Mitsuko. “The light will finally shine.”

Suddenly, out of the ground, some huge objects popped out in surprise. the blackened abyss that was lying in the ground and holding some unseen objects all of this time because of the blinding darkness emerged from the ground. What was seen was beautiful, the heavenly bodies that made up the area outside of Earth, except the size of all of them were reduced to something that was no more than giant pillars a little bigger than what an averaged sized person would stand on. A flashing beauty came from the ground as each one of these shining heavenly bodies began rising out of the ground, in front of the girls. These girls who were named for heroes would eventually know what these planets were, because once they rose up out of the ground, the aura around the girls began glowing beautifully, like there was some kind of link leading through the force of the miniature planets onto the growing aura of the girls. The bodies that made up the Solar System that Earth resided in popped out of the ground. These objects were planets—representing Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. It was extremely colossal.

“What are all of these planets?” wondered Mitsuko. “They seem to be linked to our souls.”

While there was nothing more than a tiny spiral that linked the auras with the respective girls, there was more than just that. The planets began falling into the hearts of all of the girls, which eventually fused into their bodies. The planets caused no harm, even though they all rose from the black abyss that had many souls surrounding. The aura that they emitted had no reason, other than to find a chain that fit with the person they matched best with. All of these auras tried to signal the female that fit the best to their souls, and the colors that matched emotion to the respective heavenly body. Luckily yet it may be unfortunate, all of the planets matched their chain to each of the girls, as they hovered in front of the one that matched their condition and floated without a reason. There was no scorn given from the girls seeing these erotic heavenly bodies stands in front of them, nor was there any disparagement or derision from the planets. In a way, the planets showed admiration to the girls, as if they were worthy enough to be on this island without being dragged down to the Underworld where people suffered torturous deaths.

First of all, Mercury fused into Betty for no apparent reason other than that she was the first.

Secondly, Venus, the planet of eternal sunlight, fused with the flower-loving, sun-shining Flora.

Thirdly, Earth, the planet where most life is known, fused with Lily, who cherished life in times.

Fourthly, Mars, the planet of blood and war, fused with Rose, the girl with the same crimson.

Fifthly, Jupiter, the planet with energy storm, fused with Eudora, whom was as electrifying.

Sixthly, Saturn, the most beautiful planet, fused with the most beautiful girl, Annie.

However, Uranus, the planet with too much light or too much darkness, was left alone.

Lastly, Neptune, the planet known for godly water, fused with the icy cold, yet warm Kristyn.

The former planet Pluto existed as a small icy rock that did not matter, without any purpose.

A miniature sun appeared, and with solar energy, fused with Mitsuko, the Solar Girl.

A voice appeared out of nowhere, but it was feminine. “So you all have finally arrived on Asteroid Island. Here’s a question: When you fail and succeed, what have you done?”

“What kind of question is that?” screeched Annie, whom was already angered. “I know you!”

“And I know her too—I met her in the air before when I got out of that horrible place,” muttered Lily with the mutual feeling. “The Dark Empress—it is her. She’s come back onto the land.”

With the snap of a finger, the Dark Empress teleported onto the island, in front of everybody.

“You still never answered my questions!” complained Annie. “And now you ask another? Well, I can tell you something! We gave and lost a lot, so we win everything! That’s the answer!”

“Then somebody, answer my question. And since you answered it wrong Annie, allow me to tell you what the true answer it. What effort is gained after losing it? That’s another way to say the question. When you lose, you go into the negative from zero. When you win, you go from zero to positive. When both happen, you end back at zero. There’s nothing to be gained. You end up being dead, without any vision. When you’re in heaven, it’s positive. When you’re in hell, it’s negative. When you’re at zero, it is purgatory. You die either way, and you couldn’t answer it.”

“Who are you really?” inquired Lily. “What’s your real name?”

“What do you mean? My name is the Dark Empress! Nothing else, ladies….”

“Because I’ve seen you somewhere before—before you talked to me the other day. Tell me.”

“My mask defines who I am. The shadow around me is myself, truly.”

“Then take off that mask and show us who you really are!” demanded Annie, “NOW!”

Without saying another word, the Dark Empress took off the mask that she was wearing to reveal a beautiful face that was somewhat in misery. Peeling off the mask was rather slow, and every second that the Dark Empress took on peeling off the mask caused tiny sheds of blood to scatter on the ground where her face underneath was. The skin on the Dark Empress’ face was completely shadowed in darkness, like a movie with noir and colorless woe, where she would cry on and on for the entire movie. Her eyes were an empty black, like something drained the color out of her entire face and used it on her shadowy outfit. These tears that were running down the Dark Empress’ face—they marked the pain and sadness that she felt for seconds after she took off the mask, and the twinge that she felt when she was still wearing it; when the black shadowy mask dropped onto the ground, there were spikes on the mask that would hurt if she removed it. Long, black hair rushed down her back, and the Dark Empress revealed what she truly was—a face that cried and laughed at the same time—and did it with unguided blood.

“That’s who you are,” muttered Annie. “That’s the face underneath the mask that I battled…”

“Now that you know what I look like, here are more secrets,” began the Dark Empress. “My name, the Dark Empress, is not complete. I am a high rank in Shadow Nebula, but Dark Empress is simply a title. As you can see, Shade Fang and Laser Eye have their names based on the treasure that they have. My name is Night Claw, and now all of you finally know that.”

“And for some reason, you look familiar,” added Annie. “Tell us everything.”

“While I may tell you all of my secrets without restraint, I want you to remember that I am still a member of Shadow Nebula, and I will soon see that you will all die. However, you should know one more thing. I am a close friend of your mother, Annie. And I know that your sisters are Eudora and Kristyn and Rose, so do not hide that. I am one of your mother’s best friends.”

“Then tell me—why the hell is she dead?” demanded Eudora. “What the hell happened to my mother? People don’t die without a reason—and I was taught that recently. Did you kill her?”

A tear ran down Night Claw’s face. “How can you even ask me that question? I was one of your mother’s best friends, and sadly to say—one of the few friends that she ever had. When we were little, there were always so many wars in the Zuki region, and we helped each other to survive—we were like sisters to each other. I used to help your mother raise you when you were little!”

“There sure are a lot of bitches brewing in this damn world,” cursed Eudora. “For the past few years, we’ve been seeing our mom less and less. And if you cared for us so much, then how come we never saw you since we were infants? How dare you say those words? My sister Annie and I have been with each other for years using money by ourselves! We have nobody else!”

With some impatience, Night Claw took out her hand and unleashed a blackened energy burst from her claws that caused an explosion where the girls were standing. All of them were blown back by this energy, which felt like claws were shredding through the skin painfully. The girls walked back and realized that arguing was not going to help, and that questions that were more than cursory and hasty would never be answered by shallow words. These claws that Night Claw had retracted with a sharp cry that made a loud screech and a deep cry could be heard inside.

“Leave!” ordered Lily with a serious voice, even though deep down, she just wanted to make sure that the other girls were safe. “I’ll handle the Dark Empress, Night Claw. You have a job.”

“Give me answers to my questions afterwards, okay Lily?” Annie took out the Nebula Claw and threw it to Lily whom caught it quickly. “I’ll wish you some luck, and we’ll save the world!”

“There’s no point in this little debate. Sorry to be obscenely greedy, but I want the power of immortality. I’ve inspected every possibility of you, Lily, and I want how you survived earlier.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot,” started Betty. “I did wonder how you came back after all that time.”

“Tell us, Lily!” pleaded Flora. “We’re your friends, so we’ll keep it at some secret limit!”

“It’s kind of freaky, but I am a vampire,” giggled Lily with a sweatdrop running down her face cutely. “Well, I’m not in actuality, a vampire, but I can regenerate with some immortality.”

“Where do you regenerate? If you refuse to answer, then I will not answer Annie’s questions.”

“Okay, I’ll tell you in words as swift as the wind—I don’t regenerate. Actually, I refuse to say.”

This sharpened Night Claw’s anger, and she took out her nails to sharpen the edges even more, making black polish ooze out like a river of darkness. “Fine, violence won’t be needed between us. Here’s an idea—we battle. You win; I leave your life forever. I win; you tell me your secret.”

“My cutting wind will be stronger than your darkened claws!”

“Let me show you how sharp my claws are when I slice them into your thick flesh!”

====================================
Legendary Coordinator Lily vs. [Dark Empress] Night Claw
====================================

[Harley Scarow]

[Dark Empress twitches her eye, and tilts her hair in an embezzling way. She then makes a spin wit her black-gloved arms crossed against her body, releasing Cryptation and Apperulcher.]

The first Poké Ball released Cryptation, a huge tombstone Pokémon that had many etchings, carrying a rocky knife in his hand and rocky crust on the other, and words that glowed red and blue. The second Poké Ball released Apperulcher, which was a grey and blue apparition that had a huge mouth with huge hands carved onto her face, scared and eyes as white as the narrow fog.

“My windy spirits, come on…out! The wind draft travels, and the truth will soon be revealed!”

With a quick and speedy movement, Lily released Cobrily and Tigerlyle onto the rocky field.

“You will never get any answers! Cryptation, use Rock Slide to bury those Pokémon!”

“Not so fast! Tigerlyle, use Quick Flower to dash up and strike Apperulcher!”

Before the slow Cryptation was able to make a move, Tigerlyle used Quick Flower, causing a ray of flowers to stream behind the Pokémon and slash Apperulcher onto the back, damaging the Pokémon only a little. Because both of her Pokémon were resistant to easy moves such as that, Lily was caught by surprise. The ray of flowers disappeared, and Night Claw giggled at this.

“All of my Pokémon are Ghost and Dark types—how weak! Apperulcher, Defog the field!”

Next, Apperulcher caused the entire field to loose all of the fog, including the dog that was caused by the dead spirits that wandered in the chasms that were not far from the field. Because the fog was gone, there was nothing more on the field to stop the ghostly spirits from being seen, so they rose out of the wells and began harassing the other watching two girls—Betty and Flora.

“Help us!” yelled Betty and Flora.

“Well, I’ll rid of your resistance. Cobrily, use Miracle Eye!”

Before the aged Cobrily could do anything, Cryptation caused huge rocks to fall from the nearby mountains and volcanoes onto the field, weakening Tigerlyle a little and almost knocking out the wizened Cobrily. Afterwards, Cobrily used Miracle Eye, shooting a beam at the Dark-type opponents and allowing Psychic-type moves to work against them. They were now revealed.

“That won’t work! Cryptation, use Night Slash randomly; Apperulcher, Shadow Ball randomly!”

“Random moves? How cheap! Cobrily, use Psychic on Apperulcher! Tigerlyle, Pollen Bomb!”

For some reason, Tigerlyle knew better than to go first this round, slowing down; most Pokémon use the fastest speed they can to their advantage, but Lily must have trained her to slow down at certain moments. Both Cryptation and Apperulcher moved randomly with their moves, and both Pokémon appeared in front of Cobrily. The confused Cobrily did not know what Pokémon to use Psychic on, so she used it on both hellish creatures. Even though Night Slash and Shadow Ball made contact, the attacks were reflected by Psychic quickly, blowing the two hellish creatures to the back of the field. Then, Tigerlyle went to the center of the field and blew a gust of pollen that healed herself and Cobrily, but somehow managed to knock out both opposing Pokémon.

“Cryptation, activate your special ability: Type Encryption! This will restrain you!”

A bind wrapped around Cobrily and Tigerlyle, preventing any future Grass-type moves.

“Apperulcher, activate your special ability: After Appear! This will harm you!”

The apparition known as Apperulcher secondly summoned darkness to faint Cobrily.

“Boocrypt, make a scare, make a dare, and make a battle they cannot fare!”

Throwing a Poké Ball, Night Claw released Boocrypt, a Pokémon that was a ghost appearing to have a white cloth thrown over her. This white cloth had inscriptions of death and wonders that present-day people are unable to read. A mouth opened with many purple, rotten apples that revealed the other side of her body had sharp teeth. Her hands were also made of fearing jaws.

“Cryptoo, you’re my pet. You’re my friend! You’re the reliance that I can depend!”

Throwing another Poké Ball, Night Claw revealed a wolf that was turned into a ghost, most similarly to a housedog. Instead, this gentle pet was dead, and most of his body was made out of bones that were shattered completely, ending in a briskly ghost tail. A mane that was rough and eyes that were filled with determination had a long tail with ancient words encrypted onto him.

“Shakahani, make a wave controlled by the forces at the air and above!”

A next shot emerged Shakahani, whom appeared onto the field with a dousing watery wave.

“And I’ll go first! Boocrypt, Bite onto Shakahani! Cryptoo, you know what to do!”

“What do you mean? Tigerlyle, Surf attack! Shakahani, use your Surf also!”

This fell exactly according to whatever plan Night Claw was using against Lily. First of all, Cryptoo charged his doggy body on the field and disappeared, reappearing behind Shakahani to throw an Ambush attack from behind. Afterwards, the secondly quick Boocrypt drifted to Tigerlyle, and bit the tiger Pokémon on the neck with a cheap Bite that happened to flinch.

Shakahani flinched, but Tigerlyle used Surf to crash water on everything, damaging all majorly.

“I’m sorry—but too bad. Boocrypt, Shadow Ball on Tigerlyle. Cryptoo, Roar the latter.”

The super-fast Boocrypt was able to charge a Shadow Ball before Lily was able to give off any orders. Sending this shadowy blob on the other side of the field caused the majestic warrior known as Tigerlyle to faint onto the field as she was blown back and hit one of the volcano craters that was burning so hot. The steam that came from the water Tigerlyle gave as a last result fogged the field a little, but she was knocked out—and more was to come afterwards.

“Those claws fly quickly! That’s your strategy! Now Shakahani, Water Spout!”

Shakahani used Water Spout to unleash sharp-spitting water from its hole on the top of its body and drop the splashing waves onto Boocrypt and Cryptoo, almost knocking the two Pokémon out. A little more vitality remaining and maybe Shakahani would have made more of a difference. However, it was late; a Roar from Cryptoo caused Shakahani to switch into Seagret.

“You think that made a difference! Come on out, Chikindle. Come out and show them power!”

Releasing Chikindle, the small Pokémon played in the water made by Shakahani’s appearance.

“Seagret, use Water Dance! Chikindle, use Flamethrower on Boocrypt!”

“No more chances. Boocrypt, you know what to do. Cryptoo, you know what to do.”

The round began with the elegant dancing Seagret doing more than just a dance—by making patterns in the water beneath and moving in shifting shapes like water, she increased her Special Attack and Speed by one level. Next, Boocrypt flew over to Lily’s side of the field, vanished, and reappeared behind Chikindle to use Sucker Punch, damaging Chikindle for a chunk. When this move ended, Chikindle was able to unleash Flamethrower onto Boocrypt, and all of the damage that was done so far finally made Boocrypt subdue, fainting to a watery grave, in a way.

“Boocrypt, activate your special ability—Big Boo-Boo!”

Boocrypt regenerated for a few seconds, charging up to Chikindle from behind, taking out a knife, and stabbing the creature with a sneaky gait on his face. Both Pokémon subsided, and it turned out that Big Boo-Boo was an ability that attacked the Pokémon that destroyed it, whether it was an Attack or a Special Attack. This stabbing caused both Pokémon to faint, somehow.

“Big Boo-Boo lets me put a well, Big Boo-Boo onto your Pokémon! Have a taste of that!”

“This battle is starting to catch up a little! Thanks, and Azumarine, come on out!”

Releasing her second-to-last Pokémon, Azumarine popped out with many bubbles around.

“What does light block and create in the darkness? Don’t answer. Shadow Gengar, shine!”

Releasing her first Shadow Pokémon in this battle, Shadow Gengar stuck out his tongue.

“Shadow Gengar, use Shadow Freeze on Chikindle! Put that flame to ice!”

Many Gengar around the world are known for being able to drain away coldness the moment one of them made their presence. This one was no difference, but being a Shadow Pokémon meant many of his attacks were going to be intensified by the shadowy icy wave that Gengar unleashed, freezing Chikindle on the spot. Afterwards, Chikindle shattered out of the ice to little pieces.

“Come on, you can catch up on what your friend lost! Azumarine, Bubble Wrap yourself!”

Azumarine quickly formed a bubble around herself, protecting her from the next attack.

“Re-emerge back onto the field with a big splash! Make a return, Shakahani—come on out!”

“Return, Cryptoo. What has one head but 108 minds? Don’t answer—Shadow Spiritomb!”

Lily sent Shakahani out onto the field; Night Claw substituted Cryptoo for Shadow Spiritomb.

“You’re a legend, Shakahani—Blizzard. Azumarine, Bubble Seal on Shadow Spiritomb!”

These moves came quicker than Night Claw was able to give orders to her Pokémon. The legendary Shakahani used Blizzard to hit both foes with an icy storm. Luckily for Lily, Shadow Gengar was immediately frozen by this move. Afterwards, Azumarine used Bubble Seal to trap the Shadow Spiritomb on the spot, which prevented the 108-spirit filled Pokémon from moving.

“That’s it! Time for the real claws! Battle Item—Predation—Dark Vulcan—Gengar!”

The Shadow Gengar defrosted immediately after the Dark Vulcan appeared on his left arm, beginning to shoot rapid bullets out. This also sharpened the claws on Shadow Gengar’s right arm, and this item automatically caused the dark creature to unleash huge bullets that almost downed both Pokémon—and as their HP fell into the red, Night Claw giggled at the vision.

“We’re reduced down! Azumarine, Thunderbolt on Spiritomb! Do it for double damage!”

Somehow, Azumarine had the ability to control electricity—a skill that was not known by any of her previous forms. Hitting the Shadow Spiritomb that was trapped in a bubble caused the electricity to do twice the damage, knocking Shadow Spiritomb out before any moves from the 108-trapped spirited Pokémon was able to do anything about it. The match was now barely even.

“Cryptoo, you’re my last hope!” Night Claw re-released Cryptoo back onto the field.

“Last round! Shakahani, freeze them over again with your Blizzard! Azumarine, repeat!”

Night Claw slid onto the battlefield. “This is the last run—my claws have truly sharpened!”

Without any orders, Shadow Gengar ran up to the stage and used Shadow Claw on Azumarine, breaking the bubble that surrounded the large mechanical Pokémon that was close to shallow. Then, Shakahani and Azumarine used Blizzard to freeze the field, knocking Shadow Gengar out of commission after redundantly freezing the already cold-hearted Pokémon onto the ground.

Night Claw slid onto the battlefield again. “Even claws on a chalkboard can’t beat you!”
“Shakahani, Ice Wave the field! Azumarine, Aqua Jet!”

“Your first-hit move? Cryptoo, Battle Item—Predation—Dark Vulcan. Destroy it!”

Cryptoo immediately made a move even quicker than Azumarine, charging in behind Shakahani, slashing the shark, and finally taking out the legendary creature. Bullets in high numbers hit two dozen times and felled the shark onto the ground, which made a big slash. The darkness greatly powered Cryptoo, but the aftermath made it even quicker—the next move would be the final.

“Azumarine, I need your strongest power! Whatever you can, release it!

Suddenly, Azumarine began giving off a faint glow. The strange mechanical bat-like creature that already had three forms behind her. After a few seconds, Azumarine became Azumangel, a beautiful angelic creature with blue wings and a pink heart that emitted from the aura that was surrounding her. Cuteness surrounded the angel wings that were painted with rainbow bubbles.

Then, Azumarine shot a white blasting beam that obliterated everything on Night Claw’s field…

“Even a ripping claw against your face wasn’t able to defeat you! Your mind is sharper!”

====================================

“So you managed to shatter my claws,” began Night Claw. “Turn my Pokémon back to normal.”

Using the Nebula Claw, Lily turned all of Night Claw’s Shadow Pokémon back to normal.

“There’s somebody here that I care about—I love this special person, and I had to join if I wanted to save this special person. Now that I am defeated, there is no chance of that occurring.”

Betty and Flora sprinted over to Lily with hopes of relieving her of the battle damage.

“Why are you with the Shadow Nebula?” asked Betty. “Don’t you know that people are hurt?”

“Somewhere in this island of death, that person lies. And she is gone, forever—disappeared.”

“Now answer Lily’s questions, whatever they were!” ordered Flora. “Let’s hear them!”

“Here are answers to questions Annie and Lily might want to know,” started Night Claw with a giggle. “Oh, and there are also answers to the questions that Annie’s forbidden dark side holds.”

Night Claw took out a darkened orb with shifting words, and threw it to Lily, who caught it.

“Hopefully, all of my questions and Annie’s questions will finally be answered.”

“And after all of this madness—if this planet survives it, my questions will be answered,” with these final words, Night Claw exploded into dust. “…answers always lead to more questions….”

[Harley Scarow]

Chapter Ten: Eye of the Beholder

Eyes—what do you see inside of eyes? Are they just simply a sense that most people have so they can have a visual perception into the world? Or is it just a sense that exists to look beyond what is given to one to begin with? Eyes that are created and bonded into a face to show visions that are meant to be seen, and can be touched if hands are warm enough with the conditions to feel that sight that eyes deliver. These eyes that are given can see into the complexions light can offer those with these shining, bright eyes to gaze upon the light that was meant to shower over bodies rather than a dark abyss of nothingness. Even so, the dark abyss that steals all light and delivers nothing back but sorrow and hatred that blinds this sight and washes this light away can still be seen, until everything but darkness remains. This is the sight that eyes can see—one or the other, because both of these visions, eternal happiness or forever sadness, can last within these twinkling orbs or ovals that sparkle called eyes. Once a person opens them up, they can see whatever they want to see, because at that point, it becomes one’s choice to choose what’s ahead.
From Genesis to Revelation, God has spoken to people through dreams and visions! But from the very beginning the “Nightmare” has tried to make us afraid of using our spiritual eyes, hoping to make us too paranoid to want them opened. He has counterfeited the “Original One’s” visions with demonic visions, in hopes that we will fear seeing into the spiritual realm and will quench the Holy Spirit when He speaks to us through dreams and visions. In the beginning, “The Nightmare” had a great fear that Time and Space would have spiritual eyes to see the truth, so he perverted the truth, in hopes of making them afraid to see with open spiritual eyes. One could stare up at the skies and learn to see the “Original One” better with spiritual eyes. “The Original One” wants us to hunger and thirst to see it. The pure in heart will see the “Original One”! Isn't it about time we quit letting the “Nightmare” steal from us? The “Original One” chooses to speak and bless with visions like the music in the air. Let whoever in the world that thinks they can make a difference with words lead into chants prays to have all of these invisible spiritual eyes opened. The “Original One” appeared to open the eyes of humans that were too scared. The “Original One” chose to warn unbelievers with visions. Pray for help and open eyes to see it. The “Original One” wants equal sides to live together. All in all, these eyes that open can see all of this light that was overshadowed by the darkness, before it begins to multiply without stop.
Then, someday, after the world pays for all that they have done, in ruining the world; this light will finally shine onto the rays where they were taken. The Shadow Nebula had the ability to see everything that was moving in the world, and even with actions that were lost in covert secrets that were shielded by a sanctuary. A sanctuary where dead spirits that were very dead and very solemn could still cry and wish their eyes were closed trapped in the lava that was boiling in the island. The sight of each other suffering and pleading to die more and more is painful enough that their eyes, their sense of being in the world other than just plain and stale vision, would fade away into an abyss and never reappear again. For their own appearance and suffering in these muffled cries scorn each other and these sounds turn into bleeding walls that rain down on dead spirits that have paid the grave price after their alarming punishment. A single minor act of curiosity began with disparagement and derision to turn into malicious, cruel, iron-bending gears that gnaw through these eyes and emotionally blind the men and women that have died on this graving island. No admiration arises at all, because eyes inside an array of darkness that chains like a beam prevents nothing other than the withering eye that could see nothing but agony and the melting sludge that was in his or her own arm. These eyes cry crimson tears that are nothing but yesterday’s tears, because eyes can see not only solids and others—but blackened emotions.

Then there are eyes that can truthfully inspect into another’s own soul, as empty and barren as these eyes may be. An investigation for one’s own whims that narrows down the chasms of a heart and what the heart truly wants on another soul—a dark search for hatred that seeps inside a single heart—yet an eye can see it perfectly. To forcefully eject the heart out of the body and probe it like a machine that was malfunctioning, but instead of helping the heart, add a concentrated laser beam of energy that was formed from the eye to further the evil that begins brewing inside of it. This beam, from an eye as dark by any other eye, burns through, like a ray from the sun turned yellow to purple, and hurts everything along the way—everything that was inside of the heart. The scanning of a lifetime caused by a rectum that was blackened and glowing with this proud blooming spreads like a garden full of blackened chunks of dead flowers, withering even after death, but could still be seen amongst the daylight’s rising break. A wish could be denied; all of this could be caused by a single soul that was too much ignored.

Let these blossoming eyes that react to a gentle waking to await a new day blossom something else instead—a piece of evil that lies like blank emptiness that begins to brew nothing instead of everything. Shining eyes show only one thing—goodness, but noir eyes only have one thing—everything but good. Meaning too much, it does not mean badness will emerge from empty eyes, only nothing. That is why these eyes, that do not sparkle in the mirror or shed tears when emotions rise heavy in a torrential downpour where feelings rush from deaths and love, but only because this kind of noir eyes can only absorb. One eye—a left or a right, can absorb so much that the color changes completely. Then one of the gateways to the veins that rush to tell if a person is telling the truths out of mere character, or muttering a lie to get away with a plead, will be banished. A cursory shadow of what eyes have been will vanish. It turns hasty for the light that was lost, and shallow out of damp tears. Yet at the same time, these eyes are deep, because white and black should not describe the world ever. It leaves for a time, before the eyes change.

A horrible laugh transcended in the air, making the ground rumble. “Heh…Heh…Heh…BUZZ!”

“We have to get to the tower and stop whoever’s up there!” pointed out Annie.

“Who is it?” Annie and Kristyn wondered in unison.

“Laser Eye,” Eudora and Rose replied with the same gesture.

“We should get there fast,” rushed Mitsuko. “I can defeat him.”

Eudora held her hand out. “No, he controlled me. And I want revenge.”

“We won’t get anywhere with revenge,” reminded Annie. “All of us should know that.”

Ahead, there was an intimidating black spiraled tower ahead, strangely across the horizon even though it was so close to the girls. The tower held its place, glowing with a greenish white glowing that was on all of the edges of the edifice like some stones were used with their magical qualities to make it that strong. This tower was barreling itself out of the ground, sticking out of the ground as the girls approached it. These glowing edges were like the shadows that glowed off from the auras Shadow Pokémon had, and this might have been the source of where some of the recent ones have appeared. The tower had many strange bars sticking out of it, as if trying to invite something to the sky to its exact location, or maybe it was. Approaching the tower caused it to radiate with some strange gravitational force that caused the girls to hold down a little upon feeling the powerful wave. This tower radiated with energy that was varying and dissimilar.

“What is this strange energy?” moaned Annie, holding herself down. “It hurts so much!”

The beautiful Princess Rose screeched as well. “This is not how you treat a Princess!”

“Why does this island have to be so annoying?” Kristyn yelled, forcing a comical smile.

“The gravity field is somehow increasing over there,” implied Mitsuko. “Walk slowly!”

“All of you are weak,” Eudora ambled calmly. “You can stay and die while I get my revenge.”

Some huge spikes were on the edge of the tower, huge enough to hold at least a small apparition that began wandering inside because they had nothing else to do. Indeed, this was the case, because inside of these huge spikes that poked out like pressure was applied; there were many dead souls that were wandering, as if being used to supply energy to the bars that held them. These ghosts were nothing more than batteries for the huge tower, sustained inside for all of the energy to attract whatever would come out of space and land hard on the target. The dead spirits with their remaining life energy were nothing more than living batteries being drained into the tower, suffering and crying. It was as if a human was being held on an iron maiden, living to have all of his blood soaked outside and be used for a drink by an evil king. This time, there was nothing but life energy escaping form the dead spirits, and eventually, they would fade away. All of these spirits would eventually die out when a certain crater crusted into the land, and would spread because the energy inside of these spirals had the unique material to spread the blast.

“You damn bitches stay here where you’re safe,” cursed Eudora. “Who wants a piece?”

“Well, I guess I’ll come,” Kristyn raised her hand out weakly. “Help me get up.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Eudora raised Kristyn with a single hand. “Just because…okay…?”

A laser beam shot out at the ground and broke a piece through it, separating Eudora and Kristyn from all of the other girls. The ground began cracking apart at this point, slowly drifting away.

“What the hell?” Eudora clanged her fist at the hardened ground.

“This is the Dimensional Tower. If you want your revenge that badly…”

Upon the first words of this faceless person, Eudora already knew who it was. The rage that she was controlled by this person coursed through her veins in multifarious levels, rumbling back and forth. Now she would finally be able to get over it, one this piece of revenge would finally be fulfilled. Even so, Eudora’s motives were fairly identical—to destroy the one that controlled her under all costs. This humanoid creature made Eudora somewhat despise herself, and as she spat at the ground, clenched her fists together—even the drifting crowd knew the burning rage.

“THEN COME AND GET IT! BUZZ!”

With this bellowing under a mechanical voice, Laser Eye opened a laser hole from the top of the tower and leisurely walked out of it. The laser hole closed, and Laser Eye formed a sharp pose.

Taking out her guitar and striking a note, Eudora teleported to the top of the tower.

“BUZZ! I’ll ask you one more time! Join the Shadow Nebula, and be spared!”

“Make me!”

“Refuse, and die! BUZZ!”

“I’d rather die!”

“I am the leader of the Shadow Nebula! I decide who lives and dies! You, die! BUZZ!”

====================================
[Terror Zapper] Eudora vs. Shadow Nebula Leader Laser Eye
====================================
[The mechanical Laser Eye steps with crushing stomps, shooting a laser into the air with his visor-covered eyes to rain blasted rocks (and two Poké Balls), releasing Claydol and Probopass.]

“What a crappy opening! Electrivire and Zapowl, shine as bright as the stars!”

Throwing two of her specially-designed balls, Eudora released Electrivire and Zapowl.

Both Claydol and Probopass glowed immensely—they were Shadow Pokémon.

“Self-infliction makes Electrivire better! Zapowl, Thunder Drill your partner!”

The quickest Pokémon on the field, Zapowl, flew high into the air and unleashed an electrical drill from the beak did nothing to Electrivire, but the wired creature began to move wildly.

“My Electrivire’s ability is Motor Drive! Now Electrivire, Thunderpunch that Probopass!”

As per Eudora’s explanation, Motor Drive caused Electrivire to move extremely fast. Charging in for a quick electrically charged punch, Electrivire sent Probopass back and paralyzed him.

“BUZZ! Shadow Claydol, Shadow Beam on Electrivire. Shadow Probopass, Shadow Storm the enemies! The ancient laser beams are glowing, and let your beams buzz through the field!”
Shadow Claydol charged a laser beam much like when it charges Hyper Beam, breaking through the row with a massive blackened laser and slashing through Electrivire for great damage.

The deranged paralyzed Probopass began inhaling air, and with a huge sneeze, he released Shadow Storm, which swept two tornados through the field and left a nasty smell in the air.

“Now it’s my turn,” muttered Laser Eye. Time froze all of a sudden, and a blue beam shot out of his hand and zapped Eudora, then flowed again. “You can’t use the same moves twice now!”

“How cheap! Electrivire, use Cross Chop and eliminate that crippled Probopass!”

The fast Electrivire zoomed in the battlefield with an electrical streak, then rampaged over Probopass by taking both arms and crushing the oversized magnet with an X-shaped smash.

“Let’s have a little rest, shall we? Zapowl—put that Claydol to sleep with your Hypnosis!”

The electrically charged owl began rising into the air and unleashed a hypnotizing move that made the standing Claydol fall asleep. It closed all of its eyes, except for the fake backed ones.

“BUZZ! How irritating. Claydol, wake your statured soul and use Shadow Bomb!”

Claydol was fast asleep.

“Justice can never be served under these conditions…Sunnasal, arise onto the field.”

Shooting another beam onto the ground, Laser Eye raised Sunnasal from the ground, which was a sundial with a huge nose casting a shadow to emerge the clocked rock—Nosepass’ split form.

“Same crap! Electrivire, use Cross Chop on Sunnasal like the way you crushed the previous!”

“Buzz…ha-ha-ha…buzz…that won’t work! Sunnasal, Shadow Shield!”

The quicker activating move involved Sunnasal forming a Protect that was made of shadowy sparks and deflecting particles before any other action was made. Electrivire tried to crush the Shadow Shield, but the defensive powers of this wall was much too protective to break, causing the huge monster to run back in failure. Afterwards, Sunnasal stood completely unperturbed.

“Well, I’m not impressed! Zapowl, use Shadow Ball to take Claydol out of the map!”

The electrical owl began flapping her wings up into the air, then hurled a black blob known as Shadow Ball from her wings that also generated electricity to knock out the sleeping Claydol.

“BUZZ…you should know that it’s not that easy…Moaiye, show them your breaking beams!”

Shooting another laser beam at the field, Moaiye rose from the field. Moaiye was a nose creature that was shaped like Moai creatures from South America, mystical and similar to the statues

[Harley Scarow]

existing on Easter Island, which was owned by a South American country, Chile. The shadowy aura already disgraced the third split form of Nosepass, completely shadowing the marble.

“Charge in! Zapowl, Thunderbolt on Moaiye! Electrivire, Cross Chop on Sunnasal!”

“Not so fast! I won’t fall for that again! BUZZ! Moaiye, Shadow Shield— on the entire field!

This time, Moaiye put up a Shadow Shield, except the strange magnetic powers that Moaiye had caused him to make the shield as big as Laser Eye’s side of the field, shielding everything. Both of Electrivire and Zapowl’s attacks were rendered useless by this cheap shield. However, this shield individually protected the magnetic Pokémon, and this meant something explosive.

“Heh-heh-heh…BUZZES! Sunnasal, Shadow Bomb! Clean the invader’s field!”

The Sunnasal had his arrow begin spinning out of control, and then the arrow popped out of the magnetic creature, signaling the end of all of Eudora’s Pokémon was about to come. Sunnasal’s body parts were all scattered in this self-destructing attack, and both Electrivire and Zapowl were knocked out by this devastating crush, including Sunnasal but excluding the shielded Moaiye.

“That was the BOMB! Bad pun, but whatever. Go, Joey! Make your own break, Elemander!”

Throwing two more specially designed electrical balls, Joey and Elemander emerged.

“BUZZ! Time for a change of plans! Demostar, arise onto the field! Arise!”

Shooting another laser onto the ground, Laser Eye summoned Demostar, which was the evolved form of Lustar—appeared as a small black hole with a golden eye that crusted in the ground.

“I need your help in this time of battle! Please, Joey, evolve! Turn into a hot chick!”

These words magically made Joey evolve, and soon, she became an enlarged, noble kangaroo known as Kangra. Her pouch was shiny, and her fur was glowing with golden sparkled dust.

“BUZZ! So much energy! It does not matter! Demostar, start this round with Dark Fountain!”

The round began with Demostar summoning a fountain that was overflowing with power—dark power. Suddenly, everything on Laser Eye’s side of the field began to sprout with life, as if this fountain had the ability of restoration. Indeed, while it did not make a difference, Laser Eye was about to prove that it did. The water began falling off the tower, and this made a royal glow.

“My Pokémon will heal every turn they do not die! BUZZ! Dark Laser! Increase that power!”

Laser Eye shot a laser forward onto the ground, opening up a dark hole—most similarly to the kind that he used to move around the world. Some of the water from the Dark Fountain began spilling inside of the hole, and suddenly, this caused the dimensional hole to warp and glow with bursting power. This overflowing power increased the normal amount of healing power possible and made Laser Eye chuckle, knowing that his side of the battlefield was about to become invincible with every turn that passed by—until his army of laser-shooting creatures have won.

“Come on, that’s a whole bunch of blabbered crap! Zigadude, Explosion to end their talk!”

The quickest Pokémon on the field was Zigadude, which had an insane looking face as it began charging energy. Then, exploding in a huge massive bomb, the Zigadude unleashed Explosion, causing severe damage but causing the user to faint. Kangra secretly used Protect. Afterwards, in a shock, both Pokémon survived—Moaiye and Demostar, even though they were gravely hurt.

“BUZZ! Now, Moaiye, Shadow Eye onto Kangra! Let’s see your moveset!”

The eerie Moaiye shot a shadowy laser from his eye at Kangra, revealing her moveset.

“Ahh…” Laser Eye learned about Iron Tail, Protect, Present, and High Jump Kick.

The round ended, the water from the fountain completely healed Moaiye and Demostar.

Throwing her next Poké Ball, Elemander came out in a sparkling rush of electrical showers.

“Kangra, use High Jump Kick and down Moaiye once and for all!”

“Moaiye, retreat. Demostar, Black Trinity. After three turns, everything dies.”

“Fine then! Elemander, use Flamethrower on whatever comes out of that retreat!”

The strategist Laser Eye substituted Moaiye for Crystar, a yellow star with two spikes coming out of its back and sapphire crystals on the points and forehead. Crystar always glowed blue.

The slick Elemander slithered on the field then blew flames at Crystar to blow the astonished Pokémon back, having just been released onto the field. This barely did any damage, and Eudora knew she had to start using moves that had quick knockouts so that the water fountain would not regenerate Laser Eye’s Pokémon. The Crystar rose back up, almost undamaged by the flames.

Afterwards, Kangra used High Jump Kick to down Crystar. Crystar used its Levitate ability to move, and the Psychic-type that made up the Pokémon reduced the damage to weaken the move.

Finally, Demostar used Black Trinity, causing three stars to appear above the field, sparkling with darkness. The first star began slowly fading away, and would eventually vanish off.

The turn ended, and the fountain regenerated Crystar’s vitality back to the maximum.

The next round began, and one of the three stars above vanished, leaving two dwindling ones.

“Two more turns, and your Pokémon shall perish! BUZZ! It’s time to speed that up! Go—Battle Item—Dark Spread—Predation—Demostar! Destroy the entire opposing side of the field!”
Now Demostar was shadowed and equipped with a vicious blackened gun that was already charging energy. The gun was released, and this caused random sparks that spread quickly like a lightning chain, attacking every inch of Eudora’s side. This caused massive explosions to blow, and eventually, both of Eudora’s Pokémon were unseen. The smoke cleared, and they survived!

“First, Kangra used Protect. Then, Elemander jumped into Kangra’s pouch to be shielded too!”

“What a cheap way to escape defeat! Fine then, Sapphire Beam that moving Elemander!”

The pouch-protection was only able to last for one attack, and because Elemander was sneaky to begin with. After Elemander was forced out of the pouch after the huge blast made. The velocity-filled Crystar began hovering high above the field, then shot an icy cold beam that completely encased Elemander in sapphire. This sapphire was real, and Elemander could not even move.

The round ended, but the water did nothing this round—neither Demostar nor Crystar were hurt.

When the next round began, the second star vanished like the first, with one fading star left.

“Is this move like Perish Song? Where if you switch out, the effects are negated to an extent?”

“Well, I might as well inform you of destiny. BUZZ! Too be of gentleman-like, I say yes.”

“Come back, Kangra! Go Magnezone! Come on, Elemander, use Thunderbolt on Demostar!”

“Retreat, Crystar. Only one left, only one switch! Demostar, Shadow Ball! And then some…”

Taking back her Kangra, Eudora released her last Pokémon—Magnezone.

Taking back his Crystar, Laser Eye released an earlier face—a feared one—Moaiye.

“Heh-heh…Elemander is in my hands! Flamethrower on Magnezone!”

The deranged Demostar released Shadow Ball, which hit Magnezone for weak damage. In a flash, Elemander morphed into sapphire and unleashed burning flames onto Magnezone.

“Damn, you cheap bastard!”

This round ended, with Eudora extremely enraged about her failure to release Elemander.

The next round started, with the third star finally vanishing. With this, the stars struck down on the Pokémon that were not swapped—Elemander and Demostar—knocking them both out.

“Come back out, Kangra! The field is all safe now!” Kangra was released back onto the field.

“How did you like the taste of darkness? BUZZ! You could have kept that if you remained with the Shadow Nebula, you fool.” The unnoticed Crystar was also released back onto the field.
“An even level for the both of us! Magnezone, Magnet Heave on that annoying Moaiye!”

The fast-moving Magnezone dashed onto the middle of the field, then used a huge magnet that began to force Moaiye to move towards Magnezone. The shadowy creature was unable to do anything at the moment, and the many magnets on both magnetic creatures caused them to be attracted to each other in a forceful way. A spark suddenly flared from both magnetic Pokémon.

“If your Magnezone shall be suicidal, my Crystar shall be homicidal. Battle Item—Dark Spread—Predation—Crystar! Blast them all away—Moaiye, Magnezone, and Kangra! BUZZ!”

A beam was sent from Magnezone to Moaiye that pierced the center of the north-facing magnet directly. This burst Moaiye from the center and finally destroyed the shadowy magnet as the magnetic Pokémon shattered into metal fillings before being returned back into his Poké Ball, damaged beyond repair. The magnetic energy from Magnezone made a strong magnetic field.

A darkened spread gun appeared in front of Crystar, much like the way it did for Demostar. The existence next to a creature of light caused Crystar to turn completely into shadows. Unleashing the Dark Spread with rapid speed, a bursting explosion occurred on Eudora’s side of the field, however, something happened. It was cheap, like before—but both Pokémon came out alive.

Because Kangra was swapped out, she was able to use Protect again without any issue. However, even the damaged Magnezone was able to get out of this bursting explosion—even though it was already damaged by its own attack from the Magnet Heave. What was protecting the magnetic creature? The identical magnetic field that repelled the Dark Spread attack into little shards.

“That’s impossible! BUZZ! Fine! Rise, my deadened Demostar, rise from the grave!”

The water that was still overflowing on the field began to rise up, and Demostar rose up from the water with a hungered face, raging over the lost. Suddenly, the deadened Demostar along with the shadowed Crystar held hands and shot huge meteoric beams. These beams were not repelled by the magnetic field. With this, Magnezone was knocked out, with Kangra still protected.

The deadened Demostar fell back into its Poké Ball for a rest.

“When Crystar is the only Pokémon remaining, Demostar gives you a little present! BUZZ! As unkindly as it sounds, consider it avenging the living, more likely—revenge on your team!”

“Don’t even dare think this battle is close to over yet! It’s down to a street one-on-one now!”

“You are right by that point, a point as sharp as ice shards! BUZZ! Crystar, Shadow Chill!”

“Your ineffectual Shadow-type moves don’t have anything on Kangra! Use Iron Tail!”

It was down to a one-on-one battle, and Crystar made the first move, even though Kangra was clearly faster. Using a chilling burst of ice with shadowy shards encrusted into the frost, Crystar released Shadow Chill in an attempt to encrust Kangra in ice. However, Kangra used Iron Tail to crush through the icy trail of shadowy shards and break the icy bridge like the way the icy bridge melted after the Ice Age ended. This was intense, because the Iron Tail bashed onto Crystar, but the Shadow Chill froze Kangra’s tail completely. This was getting ready to become real-time.

“It’s time to end this battle! BUZZ! Crystar, use Shadow Bomb to destroy everything!”

“That won’t work on Kangra! Go, Kangra, use Pro—”

“Oh, and I’m not about to let you do that! BUZZ! Disruption Beam! BUZZ!!!”

Taking out his hand, Laser Eye unleashed a blue beam that prevented all supplementary moves from working, shattering the Protect and leaving Kangra completely unshielded from the blast.

The Shadow Bomb worked, and…

Suddenly, out of the smoke, Kangra began glowing. Growing larger limbs and sharp body parts, including a golden breast plate and a royal crown with a staff that was fit for a queen, she changed completely into a majestic, robed creature. A pouch larger and ears in spikes. She was Kangaruda, the royal light-shining queen that shined with energy, blocking the Shadow Bomb.

“Grand coincidence! High Defenses and Special Defenses! End this battle…Mirror Crush!”

The force of Shadow Bomb was reflected by Mirror Crush with twice the power and destroyed Crystar, finally knocking out the sapphire-gem Pokémon and ending the battle in a white glow…

“Sorry, my Shadow Queen! I apologize for failing you and failing to defend Meteoric Island!”
====================================

“As much as you wasted your efforts, I am not the true Shadow Nebula leader. BUZZ…”

Laser Eye threw the Nebula Eye, which Eudora caught before she collapsed out of exhaustion.

“My World of Darkness…my hatred for you will allow your Dark Soul to reborn. All of you.”

“Who’s the true Shadow Nebula leader?” from afar, yelled Mitsuko. “You said Shadow Queen!”

“That is for me to know…and you will never know for I die here…BUZZ…BUZZ…BUZZ!!!”

Laser Eye explodes like everything. A bridge from ground to Dimensional Tower’s top forms.

“Mitsuko and I will stay here and take care of Terror Zapper…Eudora,” affirmed Kristyn.

A teleportation pad appeared at the top of the Dimensional Tower. Only Annie and Princess Rose entered, which converted them to waves to somewhere. The teleportation pad disappeared.

A soft, slurring sound of a caring female’s voice giggled. “Annie, come to my hands….”

[Harley Scarow]

Chapter Eleven: The Darker Side
Two halves of a person’s personalities are what every breathing person with their spark in the world has deep inside of their hearts. Whether they are bad people, or good people, this feeling lies inside of them, the feeling that two halves of themselves keep their body intact just because of this delicate balance. All of those that have a soul, a life have this rule as a base. Whether they choose to keep it at a balance depends on how much of a person they are. They can choose to let the darker half take over their souls, and they would not be called insane and greedy. They can choose to let the lighter half take over their heart, and they would not be called nice and generous. They could let whichever half dominate their body, as much as they desire, and they will always be there, both sides of their soul. Somehow, fighting for the other one to lose, grabbing victory unconsciously, when the body making these decisions do not realize that actions cause painful splits to sever themselves from each other. It would not be called unfair to let one side take over another, or let one side take over completely, because that’s how it is.

The two halves that allow a soul to manifest inside a body, thrive, and breath until it becomes a true living soul—life, is what this balance is. Rather than judging people from how much they contributed to the world, or how many sins they have done, most should start looking at that person as a general soul. Balancing out the good and bad in their souls on a magical scale called judgment can barely tell how much there really lived in a single, worthless life. More than just those mistakes from adolescence, that were then taught to become good futures by correction and contributed to the good scale. Or the good actions have done which were led into darkness and betrayal, and now are balanced on the latter of the scales. Then these stationary scales become mobile, shaking back and forth, to determine if a heart and soul would linger at the light side or the dark side. However, life never turns out to be this easy. There is not a scale in a sanctuary leveling itself up above the clouds that one could make a vault and find out what one needs to get to heaven or hell. Let their own judgment play upon them, but then it would be too late.

How can an immobile soul that lies deep inside one stay immobile? Especially if this soul was to be considered malicious? Is there a charm that can rip out this dark soul and leave the good remaining intact? Then again, what would be the point? The dark soul that thrives deep within a certain girl’s body lives in nothing but a deaf and blind vegetative state, unwilling and unseeing without its own consciousness. But what if it starts becoming active? What if all of these evil villains that were faced led to the moment when the hovering soul would start shaking, and then breaks out of a human body to do more than a still evil soul would do? All of these are nothing but words. Even those called penchant could betray this girl called Annie if her evil spirit dwelling inside of her soul like a nesting home broke out. Then all friendliness from either side would vanish. Although blood in family runs strong, even the bond called kinship feeling would spark away, like a breeze blown by poison. This repulsion would pop up in Annie’s veins, and her flesh will be ripped out—whether in her mind or by skin’s crippling cry of burning vessels.

Then when this dark soul runs back into one’s body, like Annie, something happens. Ironic as it could be, a dark soul coming back into the host’s body would be called much better than letting the ravaged beast take minding rampage on the land. The feelings of contrite and regret rush through one’s mind, the person that unconsciously released the dark soul outside, or because of another force. A force that can have the ability to yank out this essence, and have enough blood-spattering pain as when a hand from some unknown dimension reaches out to rip the superior arm out, screeching as it does so. Except in this case, in which the eventual remorseful feeling feels as badly as the pulling of hearts out of a body, just to pick the dark spark that allowed that person to contribute to evil. The repent that one pays afterwards hurts and is nothing but regret that they have caused all those around them to feel this pain. The girl named Annie does not know from reason of fault, other than that it thrives. If this darkness should bloom anymore, or anymore speaking of it, then the mind from a young girl should go mad and even worst far.

After stepping onto the teleportation pad, Annie and Rose ended up in the satellite that was hovering above space. This was no ordinary satellite. This was a machine made by humans, yet somehow able to stand itself invisible in the sky, high above earth, where it would never be detected as it lay in a thick layer of strange coating. The two girls did not realize that they had arrived in space until they looked out at the pristine, clear windows of the machine, seeing that they were now high above earth. This did not shock them, though, and they walked deeper down.

“I always wanted to be in space,” Annie observed, her voice of worry weakening down.

“It’s so…I don’t know what to say,” Princess Rose sobbed, shedding a tear. “Beautiful.”

A large screeching sound rampaged through the halls of the satellite, almost deafening Annie and Rose as they shielded their ears with their arms and held their heads onto the metallic floor.

“What nuisance!” “Sob…”

After the screeching stopped, words spoke out. A female voice with a viper-scented tickly tinge spoke from some soundspeaker, “And it will all be gone eventually. It will all die. The meteor is almost at the Earth, and soon—everyone you hold dear will perish in darkness…”

“How dare you….”

“Eudora…Kristyn…”

“And all of your friends too!” the voice screeched, a waterfall of hatred pouring down.

The rage boiling in Annie was more than what it would be like if she walked out to space without the proper equipment. This taunting voice wanted to stir up rage, and rage she would build, as if it would make any difference. Opposed to Annie’s actions of anger, Rose could do nothing but look out at the windows of the satellite, crying her way as if tears could save lives.

The female voice began again. “And I want you to see all of them perish. All of them die, with their skulls and bones ripped out slowly, even though the meteor will kill them at sharp haste.”

“I don’t want to see anybody else hurt, please,” muttered Rose. “It won’t help any of us.”

The feelings that scourged their way through Rose’s blood turned from red to blue, like sadness ever helped anyone. The only thing sadness had ever done in the past to people with problems was drive them to depression if they allowed these feelings called teardrops to rain down on them. Then they would realize that it was the end, and suicide was the only option if there was not a friend to guide them. And all Rose could do was let these sad feelings drive down into her, and as per usual, they would not help. A feisty personality she once sported drowned away.

The voice boomed with the truth of reality. “The island down there called Meteoric Island is where the meteor that is heading to earth shall crash. Then the fury of the meteor shall spark shards that will explode all over the earth, like when one of the first true creatures to roar on land rampaged the earth were destroyed. Little on the foolish planet knows about this meteor at all.”

“Why do you want to destroy the world?” stood Annie.

“What?”

“What do you gain from it?” Annie continued.

“And that shall remain a secret.”

“That’s pathetic. You want to rid the little fountain of life that Earth has left?”

“But few words can describe why! A dark soul can corrupt heart, but not will!”

The ghostly look on Rose’s face enveloped itself over her face, wiping out the faded emotions that barely hung on to its life. These words, that somehow attacked her energy, caused her to slowly fall over. This pain that can come from all of those that she cared about was enough for Rose to take her hands, hold them around her neck, and want to strangle herself to death.

The voice boomed again. “You see? Your friend there has given up!”

“My sister! Rose, rise! Please! You can get through this! Nothing to perish for but words!”

“What a tragedy!” the voice began to giggle with a voice reflecting an evil taste like black licorice. “When those you love give up upon pathetic speaking lips! Show me actions instead!”

“Then I’ll battle you! If I win, then you stop this meteor, and if—”

“—if I win, then the both of you will become my puppets. However, you should see me, first.”

The floor below Annie and Rose began to slide into another room. This other room was a spacious area with a spread out battlefield standing above a transparent ground that showed the outside space below. Hovering planets were among the skies as the battlefield marks began to glow, and some fireworks began sparking themselves. Rose picked herself up with some haste.

The true body of this voice began speaking, still unseen. “And allow me to rise down!”

Falling from the sky as a black-masked female that had tattered angelic wings no less than that of a fallen angel, this elegant lady flew from the skies. Clad in black robes that stretched down at least two feet in every direction, the one that caused this voice of fear to tremble with no remorse down Rose’s neck began to arrive. Her dress looked much like the kind one would wear for a Super Contest, decorated with many strange objects, like human craniums that coated themselves perfectly. Creepily, there were red scars from her arms—the only part of her body exposed.

“So you finally decided to show yourself,” announced Annie. “But not your face, coward!”

A blackened, dead nostalgic scent passed in the air that reminded Annie of something.

“And I see you’re just as breathing as ever. Days have come by, but less than a fortnight. You and your friends have let hellish experiences pass. Now it should be time to see the taste of it.”

“Now that you took us to a battlefield and you finally arrived, let’s have our little duel!”

“Too sad—I never distinctly stated that you would be fighting me, the voice of darkness.”

The Nebula Claw from Lily, the Nebula Fang from Kristyn, and the Nebula Eye from Eudora appeared in the air suddenly. These strange relics teleported themselves from Meteoric Island in front of Annie and Rose from their respective holders, and the evil lady that was walking closer witnessed their beauty, impressed that Annie and her friends were somehow able to attain them.

“My friends and I have earned these relics of merit,” declared Annie. “The proof that we were able to best those enemies you sent at us—that we were able to always believe in ourselves.”

“Fine then, you earned your keep. Now, the challenge! You can call me the Shadow Queen.”

A huge, shadowy arm whipped itself out of the Shadow Queen’s left side of her body where her heart was, and grabbed Annie’s left side also as if trying to pull out her heart. A fury of shadowy energy began emerging from Annie’s heart, and it manifested itself physically onto the field, nothing more than a blank silhouette of Annie herself. Even without notice, this was not merely a backsliding or lapsing version of Annie that could be called the recidivistic version of the young girl—it was more like the building, improving version of Annie that was actually her darkness. A single thought came to the Shadow Queen’s mind—that the darker side of Annie greatly manifested Annie’s body in terms of side than the lighter side, the only thing that remained.

“This is you, Annie,” the Shadow Queen shot out. “Look at the beautiful thing living in you!”

“That’s…me…? How can that thing—a hideous monster, live inside of me? It can’t be true!”

“And I will turn this beautiful moment into a science experiment of my own cause and will!”

The hand that grabbed Annie’s dark side let the shadowy version of Annie out onto the surface, which stood with an empty gaze, empty of emotions and shallow of the environment, as it probably lacked consciousness when it stood without a body. This hand then redirected itself over to Rose, which was still lying down on the ground, possibly traumatized by the thoughts that were pressured into her body as a result of the Shadow Queen’s impulsive and hasty words. The hand pressured itself into Rose’s body, sucking out some material that was let go onto the floor, and suddenly, a rash feeling began rushing through Rose’s actual body. This force began yanking out of her, but nothing came out. The Shadow Queen cackled at this sadistic sight.

“The experiment reveals its flare to be a success. It’s time to combine a half-soul and a body!”

A copy of Princess Rose’s body revealed itself when the shadowy arm let go, just as dark as Annie’s dark side, but physical rather than spiritual. The Shadow Queen pressured the soul into the empty Rose’s body and the two of them merged to form a conscious version of the evil Rose, truly fueled by the evil that lived inside of Annie. This shocked both of the girls, puzzling them on how a half-soul and a mistakenly made body could breathe and make sounds. Walking to the battlefield and taking the Shadow Queen’s place, the battle would start with a different foe.

With so much soul energy extracted from her, Annie could not move. “Please, Rose, fight!”

“This uses your dark soul, Annie, and a temporary body from Rose!” clarified Shadow Queen with a ghastly giggle. “Now, Rose, fight my art of your sister’s infection into a part of you!”

The exhausted Annie was barely able to breathe. “You…can…do…it…”

The drained Princess Rose got on her feet, knowing this was the only way to give Earth a chance of survival. Landing on her feet, Rose walked towards the trainer’s box; opposite sided to where the evil Rose stood. The transparent floor made a beautiful scenery, and the Shadow Queen began rising above the battlefield, sitting in a high skybox area where she got a perfect view.

“My recent art against natural art,” whispered the Shadow Queen to herself. “Now to see the noir colors mix and turn into nothing…soon there will be nothing but hopeless, running tears.”

“Um, I don’t know who or what you are,” started Rose. “But I’m going to save everything!”

“My name…shall be known as Black Rose, the death and hellish fire compared to you! And you are no angel yourself. Be mad, hellish girl yourself! These words come from Annie’s lips!”

“Because it’s her evil side! How uncouth to all extent! Those words belong to engulfing flames of death! Not only that, but I’m going to take my energy back, and win Annie’s yang back too!”

A lightning bolt struck down onto the field suddenly, and sparks radiated through the stage.

“Just try,” the evil Rose said with a chocolate-flavored voice of the actual Rose. “Light or dark, choose one side; lighting stalks, death arises! Try and see if you can last against yourself!”

Some rolling lightning surged through the field again, and the field was set on fire!

====================================
Princess Rose vs. Black Rose
====================================
[The malicious Black Rose took out two roses—one red, and one black, squeezed one with her right hand to pierce blood and the left went to her mouth, which she bit to cause more blood to run down her face and splatter. Two Poké Balls appeared in her left hand, and she threw the both of them singlehandedly to release]

[Harley Scarow]

[The malicious Black Rose took out two roses—one red, and one black, squeezed one with her right hand to pierce blood and the left went to her mouth, which she bit to cause more blood to run down her face and splatter. Two Poké Balls appeared in her left hand, and she threw the both of them singlehandedly to release Gryseria and Salcachomp onto the transparent field.]

Gryseria was an evilly darkened version of Cresselia, with tattered, blackened wings in that flew through the field with gloomy elegance, darkened beauty instead of Saturn’s golden rings. The latter choice, Salcachomp resembled a red and blue knife-sharp feathered falcon that was hungry for prey, with her talons already beginning to spout out some powerful flames from the tips.

“The battle of the roses shall start! Come on, Castform, arise! And Periquet, arise!”

Throwing out two capsule-covered Poké Balls, Castform and Periquet arrived on the field in a tornado of roses that left for a dazzling entrance, as these roses shaped to form the two Pokémon.

“Let hell’s doors open! Gryseria, Evil Dance on Periquet!”

The vicious Gryseria used Evil Dance, automatically fainting itself. However, Periquet, before the battle even got to any sparking action, surrendered as well, both creatures fainting in one hit.

“That wasn’t even fair! You knocked it off without trying! Castform, Sunny Day!”

“Let the flames consume you! Obsession with FIRE! Now Salcachomp, Fire Fang!”

The vicious Salcachomp charged in right away, ready to use Fire Fang on the tiny Castform. For some reason, Castform’s speed was higher than usual, and it managed to use Sunny Day to summon sunlight onto the field. The sunlight rayed down on the field with shattering lights from the sun that the battlefield was ever so close to, and Salcachomp’s Fire Fang enraged with power.

“Obsessions with fire shall begin! Thanks for increasing the power of Fire Fang!”

The rapid Salcachomp hit Castform on the mark, knocking out the weather-changing Pokémon as fiery claws began ripping it apart. Suddenly, instead of being returned back into his Poké Ball, Castform began glowing, evolving. Becoming a huge storm cloud that was raging with thunder that quickly altered into fire, Castform’s body became shifted into a cloudlike draconic beast.

“Because of Sunny Day and Castform hit with fire, it became the fiery version of Castorm!”

“Shut up, you obsession killer! My Roserade, reveal your fire onto the stage!”

The evil Black Rose sent out Roserade, which looked up at the sun in utter grace.

“Don’t tell me to shut up! You’re not even real! Go, Cherrume, shine in the sun!”

Throwing another rose-filled Poké Ball, Cherrume appeared on the stage. The beautiful Cherrume appeared to be a Cherrim wrapped in an elegant garden of red and blue and green dresses that reached all the way to her feet. With pink blossom eyes, beautiful golden eyes, and grace that danced through the field, Cherrume made the sunlight filled field even shinier.

The newly sent out Cherrume had her Flower Gift effect activate.

“Her Flower Gift powers herself and her teammate when Sunny Day is in effect!”

The sunlight is strong.

“A field of flowers can never be too big! My Cherrume, use Quick Blossom!”

The graceful Cherrume used Quick Blossom to summon even more flowers around the field, around her body, and made her dress even more elegant. Her Special Attack went up two levels.

“How were you faster than my Salcachomp? Take down Cherrume with Fire Claw!”

“Not so fast! Before you’re able to do that, Castorm, use Weather Wall to defend!”

The concentration of the sun began rushing towards Castorm, and then the weather Pokémon formed a wall made of concentrated sunlight to protect Princess Rose’s entire side of the field. A strange feat, because the wall absorbed the Fire-type attack without any difficulty whatsoever, and somehow increased the Special Attack of Castorm and Cherrume inside of the fiery wall.

“The effect of my Castorm’s Weather Wall defends my side when there is a current weather!”

“There’s a downside! Now, Roserade, Sleep Powder on Castorm and stop that nuisance!”

The elegant Roserade jumped in the air, then scattered a powder from her red and blue roses that travelled over to the opposite side of the Weather Ball and hit Castorm, putting him to sleep.

The sunlight is strong.

“Return, Castorm. Now, Rosacane, emerge onto the field.”

The contemplating Princess Rose returned Castorm and sent out yet another alternate evolution of Roselia, Rosacane. The Rosacane was like a Roselia with four sharp pink and blue transparent pixie wings that sparkled. She had a purple rose in her right hand and a blue rose in her left hand, and legs that were curled together. A big, feathered leaf covered her genital area cleverly.

“Go, Cherrume, out speed them all! Use Cherry Bomb and blast everything on the field!”

The watching Annie was impressed. “A sacrifice made for the better. That’s what it’s called.”

The rose-filled Cherrume exploded without another motion, along with all of the plant growth on her body, knocking out her own body and both Salcachomp and Roserade, even if the bursts of red cherry fluid were four times resisted by both foes. This was effective because of the Quick Blossom move cleverly used last round. Somehow, Rosacane managed to survive, because of her surplus Special Defense compared to the two foes. The withered Cherrume fell to the ground after using this energy-draining move, although this motion was more comical than harmful.

The sunlight is strong.

“How foolish! My Lassule, emerge onto the field and make them meet their execution!”

Throwing another Poké Ball, Lassule emerged. This creature was strange, a tiny but humanoid Pokémon that had lassos in his hand with withered leaves falling all over as he moved around the transparent field. These vines were nor prescient or foresighted, moving in a random direction that puzzled foes more than normal, and intimidated both opponents to lower their Attack stat.

“Are you tired of seeing my fields of roses? Come on, Steelix, show your scales!”

Throwing out another Poké Ball and in contradiction to the hundreds of roses that exploded out of the capsule, a long snaky Pokémon emerged. It was Steelix, the long, diamond, iron-snake.

“You’re no match for the hardheaded insect of destruction! My darkness! My Pinsteel!”

The devious Black Rose sent Pinsteel out onto the field, which had an appearance like Pinsir, except the spikes on the top of his head were overloaded with iron shards in between them, and eyes that were reddened out. Some saliva and blood leaked out of his mouth, and his arms resembled motor blades that would slice anything that it ran into—a destructive monster indeed.

“Let the fourth round of Sunny Day be unlucky for the foes! Go, Rosacane, Flower Dust!”

The pixie-like Rosacane began spinning over to the opposing side of the field, and then released some pixie dust known as Flower Dust to paralyze both foes on the spot before they could move.

“Too sad, too slow! My Steelix, use Earthquake and strike the field!”

The iron snake Steelix leaped into the air then purged herself into the ground. This caused a powerful quake to surge through the field and hit both Lassule and Pinsteel for ineffective damage. However, Rosacane was not affected because she was a flying pixie that made sure she was out of range before the Earthquake managed to hit. Now, Black Rose giggled with evil.

“Time for the essence of darkness! Battle Item—Dark Bomb—Predation—Pinsteel!”

A huge blackened bomb filled with evil energy appeared in between Pinsteel’s horns, turning the creature into a Shadow Pokémon. The bomb was thrown and hit everything on Princess Rose’s side of the field with a huge blackened blast that spread through the air and knocked out the hovering Rosacane with barely any effort. However, something happened to Rose’s Steelix.

The Steelix that was hit by the bomb suddenly began glowing in the purple smoke, and she began to evolve into something even more devastating. The vicious looking Metallix that then appeared from the smoke had spikes that could break through anything, with spears that stabbed through walls. A trident at the end of her tail, and devil horns with heavy war artillery added.

“Two evolutions during a battle?” muttered Annie in awe. “That’s amazing! Nice shine!”

“This round isn’t over yet! I’m unimpressed! Steal it all Lassule, use Grass Lasso on Metallix!”

The next thing that happened was that Lassule unleashed a Grass Lasso that stole whatever Metallix was holding, and that item was Choice Band, which now limited Lassule’s movepool.

The sunlight is strong.

“Come on, Castorm, and try to wake up!” Rose sent Castorm out again and pleaded to awaken.

“You can’t limit anything! Battle Item—Dark Bomb—Predation—Lassule!” a Dark Bomb appeared to Lassule, turning into a Shadow Pokémon. “Pinsteel, Shadow Break on Metallix!”

The Shadow Lassule tossed the Dark Bomb in the air, which exploded and automatically knocked out Castorm without a try. However, Metallix escaped with barely a dent on the snake.

“Your Pinsteel can’t defeat paralysis, though! My new Metallix, use Fire Fang on Pinsteel!”

The heavy and gear-packed Metallix used Fire Fang, biting the Bug and Steel Pinsteel with fire-cloaked fangs and iron-chained fangs, knocked out Pinsteel also with the sunlight’s assistance.

“Come on, Princess Rose!” cheered Annie from the side. “Beat Black Rose and get it all back!”

The sunlight faded.

“It’s the last round, my evil side! My final Pokémon, Azarose, arise onto the field!”

Princess Rose released another split-Roselia evolution, Azarose, who once again appeared in a burst of flowers. This final Pokémon was like Roselia, but with orange, yellow, and purple petals that made a skirt that reached across her body. Golden black eyes and a crimson and azure necklace that connected to her two roses made a psychic glow onto the now “normal” field.

“My evil witch, Rosellon, appear onto the field! Let the thorn monster kill and cry all of you!”

The last Pokémon to be released by Black Rose as well, Rosellon, was an extremely tall lady that resembled hatred for Roserade and the others. With vampire fangs and black and purple webbings as a dress, this was the most vicious split-evolution of Roselia. Angering thorns on her arms and spikes that made on the top of her breastplate, along with a bleeding body made auras.

After sending out Rosellon, Black Rose slid out. “My queen of death, my spirit myself!”

The Shadow Queen finally spoke. “Defeat Rosellon and Black Rose is defeated!”
“I understand the conditions. Go, Metallix, Ice Fang on Lassule!”

The geared and spiked iron snake Metallix rushed through the field, and bit Lassule with ice-infused fangs for super-effective damage, knocking out the useless creature once and for all.

“Only one more Pokémon left,” Annie whispered to herself, her heart beating. “Come on….”

“And I welcome death to your Metallix! My Rosellon, utilize Frenzy Thorn on Metallix!”

The gothic-style Rosellon charged up two thorns on both roses, then unleashed spiked vines that smashed Metallix like a physical Frenzy Plant, knocking out Metallix with immense strength.

“Time for a last ditch effort to win the battle! Azarose, use Fatal Flowers! No delay!”

The evil-infused Black Rose slid out. “Don’t even think you can beat my malicious beauty.”

The cute Azarose unleashed black and white flowers that resembled the color of death, and all of these petals advanced and hastened to quickly wrap herself and Rosellon. The elastic and springy roses had the flexibility to wrap around both Pokémon like bands in coffins, and when they were uncovered, both Pokémon fainted. Both battlers and the spectators looked in utter shock at this.

“What a rigid edge for a rose! For I bleed, and I surrender, and a tie or not, I lose!”
====================================

Princess Rose collapsed. However, Black Rose—not destroyed, but teleported away somewhere.

“Please tell me you’re okay,” the worried Annie rushed over to her sister. “Thank you, Rose….”

There was applaud from one individual in the room—Shadow Queen. “This proves one thing—that Rose’s light and your darkness is nothing but equal. Never matter, you may advance on.”

“What do you mean ‘advance on’? Finally, I think that the two of us should battle and afterwards, all of us will be safe! No more crimson thoughts on that bloody meteor charging at!”

“You were born into a rich family, Annie. You were born into a family that had more than others did, and you were never spoiled. You were always innocent because of this affluence, though.”

“What do you know about my family? What do you know about me? What do you know about my sisters? Why don’t you shut up? Better yet, why don’t you show yourself for quick time?”

Before showing it to Annie, Shadow Queen flashed and teleported her and Annie somewhere….

“Fine then, you earned it.” The Shadow Queen held her hand over her evil mask, ripped it off and threw it away. In shadows, only Annie saw it. The shadow of her face only, giggled evilly.

“No,” was the only thing Annie could say. She looked in awe, and she was about to cry.

[Harley Scarow]

Episode Twelve: Endgame

Promises, the one thing that humans swear whenever they say they would keep one. Whether it is for a friend that they see, a family member of their blood, or any other case, promises are meant to be kept. Most promises come out as nothing but words to plead and tell another about what would eventually happen in the future. If these words are loved and hugged for, then they will grow, and eventually, the one at the receiving end of the promise would gain trust for the other person. That’s one of the reasons why promises that are passed come out so successfully, because they were meant to be kept. The people that keep their word to the end either do it because they know it makes somebody they have emotions, tattered or strong, gain from it. Or even if it is a promise where they would take the better gain themselves, they would follow it to the end because it would be the right thing—whether they aligned themselves to darkness or light or any other kind of bond. The togetherness grows forever and it would keep going on and on like a ray in the sky. A waterfall of hope and trust, and accomplished tasks done as favors.

However, there are some people out there in the world that would never keep a promise. They would say it, and although most promises start out as words that would eventually develop into either brave or gentle actions, some stay solid rock, iron-crusted as words forever. And sometimes, these words would not only stay in one place, but they would start rotting down to the ground like acid ooze that was thrown on a metal wall. These words then turn on the people that the promise was trusted on, and they do things to people that nobody could understand. This leads to the opposite of what staying true to one’s one words can be. Instead of gaining trust from another, they lose honor. They lose the gold that comes out of their mouths. For those that never had a waterfall of gold pour out of their mouth, it turns into poisonous acid that melts through eyes whenever they make contact. There would be no point in making anymore of these promises, because it would already be told—those words mean nothing. They spell meaningless.

Some families can make promises to their offspring, telling them about how their life will always be okay. Upon the ages of utter innocence, where the light spouting in their heart would remain innocent for years to come until it begins to wear off, these words remain in effect. While these promises are not religiously or uniformly made by all families, most families have a special way of bringing these words out. These words forming into graceful promises that these kids, whom eyes are glowing as bright as the sun, would never are sequestered into dark solitary, that they would always have somebody else looking out for them. Truly and sadly, eventually this makes the kids hermitlike, always relying on the promise that parents make to their kids while their innocence is still fresh in the world. Even more sadly, once they grow up, it will be to the parent’s negativity that the promise no longer counts, or positively for those parents who decided that caring did not matter anymore. This is when the choice of these children becomes gregarious on a solemn account and start taking paths by themselves, even when the promise can intervene.

To that, even when these promises seem to be ceaseless down the unending path or perpetual life that lies ahead of a young mind, there comes a time when the one that cared for you secretly above all this time reveals a secret that makes life seem sporadic. The crafty and treacherous secret that emits from not only their word of promise, from their effort of making it all too far in the world, but from the subtle turned to candid face that is shown. The face of this person, the Shadow Queen, would be in a purple mist that is encrusted in a shadow that only Annie could see. How a galumptious girl such as Annie jugulate through all the deaths that she witnessed so far—even if these deaths did not originate from her own flesh and blood. These deaths could have been caused by yet, her own flesh and blood as well. A mystery, and conundrum, that lay faceless to Annie all this time would suddenly reveal its ugly face, or pretty one, a classy worriless one that would worry for another smaller one. The riddle of who this person that was actually Shadow Queen then revealed it to be a look called obviousness. This face made tears.

Looking at the Shadow Queen one more time, Annie crouched down to the ground, her hands on the new location’s crusted surface. “This can’t be, right…?” She could not believe what she was seeing, and these tears rushed down her face, like blood from a cut within skin. Yet Annie somehow wanted herself to believe it, because of course, the Shadow Queen herself believed it.

The Shadow Queen had teleported both herself and Annie somewhere else in this galaxy. It was somewhere much further away from the earth where hell has been going on for the past few days, further away from the satellite from which the honorable Princess Rose battled her evil twin, Black Rose, and tied in battle with. It was a crusted land, reddened with smog that was much like the surface of Mars and the aftermath of a war in general. It was far from being the crimson planet, though, it was inside. Walls like a cave’s interior covered above, and the cavern walls had spikes of deadly intention, both literal and somewhere else. The spikes that popped from the ground gave the impression of hell, the impression that they would forever be trapped here, even though Annie would be the only one trapped here. The source of all this evil that was approaching the earth—this was the feeling—that was why there were so many dark crusts.

“You are now inside of the Shadow Nebula Meteor,” announced Shadow Queen, her face completely exposed. The motionless force that lay in her face began dwelling with a mist.

“But I have to believe it,” muttered Annie with an empty look this time rather than tears rushing down her face. “Mom, I can’t believe you’re the Shadow Queen.” Looking at the Shadow Queen’s face one more time, Annie banged her fist onto the crust of the meteor, as if it even had a chance of breaking its passage. “Why, why…why is this true? What the hell is this madness?”

There was a thrust of movement inside of this meteor. It was the passage that the meteor had as it was moving towards the planet known as Earth. Where all of Annie’s friends and family were, and even Princess Rose, who was abandoned back at the Shadow Nebula Satellite, would be the first to die if this meteor should make a successful passage. Somehow, the meteor’s existence remained seraphic to Annie, knowing that all the pain that officially did happen would be ended rather than rebuilt. The meteor from the outside had no such aura, though. There was a streak of shadowy light coming from the tail of the meteor that indicated immersive speed, and possessed by the wraith of shadows, it would not stop anytime soon. The stars that appeared to be passing would not be harmed by the meteor. Deep down, the main cause for the meteor was mere judgment on the Earth, to decide if it should live or not. At this point, Annie did not feel like she could live anymore, and that all of those that she ever cared about were going to die. Die by a lonely rock that would first kill her friend Rose then the others on Meteoric Island. It was grave.

“Sorry, my daughter, but that is the truth. I am indeed the one who can be called the Shadow Queen, and as your mother, I can apologize once more,” the Shadow Queen, whose first name still somehow remained forgotten by Annie under all of this shade of blackness. “The Earth shall perish for it, and I see myself in hell, burning with your dead father. Call me Malicious Heart!”

“And even as a loved daughter in your family for fifteen years, I still don’t know any names, anything other than titles. And I do not know anything about my past father, which you called, grossly abusive, loudmouthed, and scurrilous towards you?” rambled Annie as she threatened Dark Heart, her mother, about what she knew. “Or anything about my uncle, on my father’s side that you called celestial in comparison to the earthly and banal scum that you married? Yeah, you wanted to marry him. And you ever told me about your faceless friend at work…”

“Why would you care about their names or who they were?” started Malicious Heart. “What did names matter to you when your band-obsessed sisters started calling themselves Icy Angel and Terror Zapper and Princess Rose while you did not care at all? Even you called themselves by those titles! And even your closest sister, Princess Rose, never let you call her real name?”

“If that name is what she is entitled to and feels comfortable with, then let it be!”

“Her real name was Rosemary, and even she didn’t let you call her that. And your father was somebody that you may have encountered so far. Your so-called dead father is breathing, but through nothing more than a corpse that encompasses itself into nothing but utter silence that you girls rampaged on all day and night! His name is poison, and you kids know him—Shade Fang!”

“What? Shade Fang…? He’s my father? He died three times already! And does that mean…”

“Yes. Shade Fang and me, our precious offspring—you’re all hell’s flying b*tches—vampires.”

“What else do you have to hide from me? Tell me before everybody in the world dies! If I cannot stop this meteor, then I want to know everything! Who was this uncle that you were with love?”

“Who else could it be? He was the one that I put in charge of the Shadow Nebula while I was cleverly marking and sending this meteor to Earth in secrecy. He was the only one that I ever trusted, and he is a beautiful man. His body is completely destroyed after that fateful day, but his caring heart far surpasses Shade Fang. He turned you against each other—he was Laser Eye!”

“Why? Laser Eye? He turned Terror Zapper—Eudora, against us! He made us hate her for some time before we rescued her! He controlled some people and made many die! What love is this?”

“Either way, I had a sense of proclivity and predilection towards the man. More often than my true husband, he got the job done. Managing to control Betty and Flora some time ago and even succeeding in turning the infected Lily into darkness after Shade Fang killed her, it was some success that showed darkness could be transferred. In a way, Laser Eye was a love scientist.”

“And finally, who was this faceless friend at work that you spoke about?”

This last question made the Malicious Heart giggle. “This mysterious person whom I never told you but always talked about on my days home from work is unique. It was the one that you first battled when you risked yourself to save a friend that was a part of your blood. Yes, it was Night Claw, whom went under the name of the Shadow Empress, the best friend that I knew….”

“The girl that asked too many questions…?”

“You ask too many questions. You just asked another question.” Malicious Heart’s voice was beginning to fill up with ripping resentment. “You repullulate with questions like viruses. And I forget to tell you—that Night Claw was the one that convinced me not to commit suicide after realizing that Shade Fang had left me and Laser Eye was left in the condition that he was.”

“And yet you committed suicide that day,” Annie reminded. “She didn’t help, did she?”

“And when I did commit suicide, something else happened. It was not the pure image of heaven or hell or anything larmoyant to say the least. All four of us gained these strange powers from the meteor that chose us to lead God’s path. All of us committed suicide at one point, when we realized that we couldn’t live without the other. Now we are leading judgment—God’s will.”

“You think you have the power over God? How foolish, ranting at some airy imagination.”

“That’s right—the Shadow Queen was me, Malicious Heart. The Shadow King was Laser Eye, the one I truly loved. The Shadow Prince was Shade Fang, the one cared less about. The Shadow Empress was Night Claw, the one I thought about everyday. We gained these forms after dying, courtesy of the Underworld. We were you would call the Dark Side of the Elite Four!”

“And I can tell Mitsuko would not approve. Okay, now we’ll fight and determine the world!”

“Yes, and I will construct tomorrow’s fate!” Malicious Heart snapped her fingers, and something subsided from the skies—whatever sky there was inside of this enclosed meteor, that is.

The rock that was hovering down from the interior of this wretched meteor was glowing with blackened and purpled shadows that somehow turned into evil orange and raging red. The evil Malicious Heart had a pact of scaevity, as she lifted that specific arm to summon the encrusted rock down onto the to-be battlefield that Annie was about to fight in. A great fury of scathefire that emitted from the center of the meteor began to be put out, perhaps giving space and grace in summoning whatever was inside of the lowering rock. As this rock was being lowered onto the field, Malicious Heart summoned a sceptriferous staff into her hand already seen to be of scaevity. The scorching red hot rock began breaking apart with many stalagmites forming themselves in a senticous matter as it began breaking apart into evenly, quartered pieces. As Annie watched in awe, Malicious Heart laughed with in a sevidical matter, causing thunder.

The creature that emerged from inside of the rock had oozes falling all over, with its right arm being a normal arm while its left arm was a sireniform-like shape, consisting of a leg being encrusted into that arm like a laboratory experiment. However, this creature was nothing of the Earth. It was a space virus brought to life by possibly the vicious Malicious Heart, whom had some of her energy transferred to the middle of this creature’s core. No longer was the bearer in command, the creature now the leader of this sodalitious place that she once commanded. The virus’s arms twisted into double-helixes, and began screeching with an extraterrestrial cry as an aurora began appearing out of the now-turned transparent sky above the meteor’s large crust.

“You control the alien that is said to bring havoc to everything once it is summoned…” echoed Annie, completely in awe of the creature she was witnessing. “That is—that’s…amazing…”

“This is Deoxys. This Deoxys is actually a virus that intends to come to earth inside of the meteor that we are in now. Once I have it ‘exposed to a laser beam,’ it will kill everything.” The insane Malicious Heart took out her staff, which bonded to her strongly as the edge began to sophronize into her body. “This staff is called my Ender Staff.” The staff began charging up a huge white energy that came down from the skies and hit the normal form of Deoxys directly in the center of its body. As the creature began growing larger, Annie screamed at the energy.

The Deoxys was called as much as a sparsile of any large star. It began to split into the four Deoxys forms—Normal, Attack, Defense, and Speed. There were also two more Deoxys forms in the background, hidden from sight. The accomplished Malicious Heart began taking steps forward, and had the Deoxys forms starrify in a stance, proving she had control of all of them.

“This is our final battle,” Annie whispered to her Pokémon. “And I’ll see this to the end!”

“I’ll make this world regret taking everything from me!” clarified Malicious Heart. “And once all the people I am acquainted with and I are in hell, the world can finally be in slumber forever!”

====================================
Hero Annie vs. Shadow Queen Malicious Heart
====================================
[Malicious Heart spins her staff in the air five times in her hand called scaevity, and then crashes the staff down onto the ground to cause meteors to crash onto the battlefield. Two shadow-infused balls—a regular and a Cherish Ball, Metagross and Deoxys appeared with shadows.]

“Let’s go, Teilqueen and Steelix, start this war off good!” Annie released those Pokémon.

“This will be over fast—Metagross, Shadow Rush on Steelix. Deoxys—Battle Item—Dark Stage—Predation—Deoxys! Turn this battlefield into a pit of darkness and utter death!”

“Come on, Teilqueen—use Hurricane to sweep the field! Steelix, Dig to escape!”

The fast Deoxys turned the field into utter darkness, with black holes spouting from the ground, charging up the Shadow Pokémon. These black holes were shaking in a creepy motion.

The iron spider charged up with all four legs retracting into its body before slamming into the slower Steelix, whom suffered massive damage before digging into the ground. Then Teilqueen used Hurricane to blow the iron spider back to the opposite side for minor damage on the foes.

“Allow me to explain. The Battle Item, Dark Stage, cannot be compared to any other item of darkness. It incases the entire field in Dark Holes. These Dark Holes are more than just for

[Harley Scarow]

show—they intensify the Shadow Pokémon with dead spirits from the Underworld. Therefore, the more evil there is on the to-be-destroyed planet, the stronger my Shadow Pokémon!”

Both Deoxys-RS and Metagross were filled with evil spirits, but their body began to slowly rot.

“Teilqueen, use Blizzard to send them packing!”

“Silence! Deoxys-RS, Shadow Ball on Teilqueen! Metagross, Shadow Rush the latter!”

The magnificent Teilqueen was about to attack, but was interrupted by Deoxys-RS when the Shadow Ball blob generated went straight into her core, knocking out the charging bird.

Then Steelix purged himself out of the ground, ready to break Metagross. However, the Dark Stage activated and gave Metagross strange powers, including the force to break Steelix apart.

“The Dark Stage powers my Shadow Pokémon to unthinkable levels! At a small cost….”

Both Deoxys-RS and Metagross were choked with evil spirits, screaming in utter pain.

“Self-pain infliction? Go Solaranda!” Annie released Solaranda. “Go Milotic!” …and Milotic.

“Metagross, Shadow Rush their arse! End their unlived misery, Deoxys-RS—Shadow Rave!”

“They’re weakened! Solaranda, Fire Shard on Metagross! Milotic, let’s do our plan!”

The sunny Solaranda automatically went first, thanks to priority. The Fire Shard was a ball of fire trapped inside of a magma rock that blasted Metagross, knocking the metal spider out. The remaining Deoxys-RS used Shadow Rave to force blackened spikes to purge both Pokémon, fainting Solaranda. Milotic used generated mirrors to reflect it back at Deoxys-RS, fainting it.

“That’s the move I had in store all along! Mirror Coat takes Shadow Rave and doubles it back!”

“Doesn’t matter! I have a large arsenal left! Deoxys-LG, I summon your defensive power!” This time, the released Deoxys-LG was the Defensive form, and it was not clogged with shadows.

“Your team isn’t that strong! Silveroar, emerge!” then Annie summoned Silveroar.

“And your plan is not successive! Deoxys-FR, I summon your offensive power!” The next Poké Ball released Deoxys-FR, the Offensive form. Like its partner, it was not clogged with shadows.

“The battle goes on, mom! Milotic, put Deoxys-FR to sleep! Silveroar, Draco Meteor!”

“Not enough! Deoxys-FR, Thunder that Milotic! Deoxys-LG, Stealth Rock the field!”

Deoxys-FR forced a lightning bolt to crash onto the weakened Milotic, knocking her out. Then Silveroar used Draco Meteor on the lowly defensive Deoxys-FR, causing vicious storms of blue and green blasts to slam down on Deoxys-FR and knock the fragile creature out; of course, Silveroar paid the price of having his Special Attack stat butchered after using the strong move.

Then Deoxys-LG caused a stiricide of pointed rocks set on Annie’s side of the field.

Evil spirits travelled their energy into Deoxys-LG, causing the virus to screech in pain.

“My last Pokémon, Goldusk, come on out!” Goldusk is sent out.

Sending out Goldusk, sharp stones stabbed through the dragon, causing him to scream loudly.

“My cosmic-level speed—Deoxys-E, I summon you!” Deoxys-E was sent out. In its Speed form, a grand entrance with white flashes shined through the field. Not shadowed, like those before it.

“Goldusk, use Dark Pulse on Deoxys-E! We’ll let the Dark Stage eliminate Deoxys-LG!”

“Not so fast! Or maybe it is! Deoxys-LG, eliminate Silveroar, Psycho Boost! Then Spikes!”

The extremely fast Deoxys-E made the first move, attacking Silveroar at full power using psychic energy, knocking the dragon out. The recoil was Deoxys-E sharply weakened. Then Goldusk used Dark Pulse, releasing a horrible aura imbued with dark thoughts that slammed directly into Deoxys-E, taking a big chunk out of the fast creature’s withering health.

Afterwards, Deoxys-LG laid a trap of spikes at Annie’s side of the field’s feet. These spikes came from the tank-like creature’s core, and began spreading around in a rapid succession.

Evil spirits left Deoxys-LG’s health at half, while Deoxys-E subsided at this immersive force.

“Why lay those spikes? My Goldusk is my last Pokémon!”

“Just wait. The new Deoxys form! Deoxys-HP!” the next Poké Ball released the HP version of Deoxys, which carried many orb sacs holding health capsules, glowing green and red in envy.

“Come on, Goldusk. One last attack, Dragon Rush on that Deoxys-HP!”

Malicious Heart slid onto the field after showing her last Pokémon…. “Never surrender! Never give up!”

“My Deoxys-LG is going to die this round anyways. My Deoxys-HP—Body Overload!”

All of the orbs on Deoxys-HP began breaking apart, shattering. Its HP began withering down, and fixedly reducing Goldusk’s HP by the amount of HP that it lost, which was hundreds.

Goldusk fainted from the move, and Deoxys-LG fainted from the Dark Stage’s evil energy.

“And God’s judgment has chosen me to be victor. Your game represented the world’s end….”
====================================
“So what, this is it?” Annie crouched to the ground, giving up most of her will. Then she remembered something she saw earlier. “The world’s not in summotion yet. There’s more!”

“The battle is not over; I will not temerate my deal with the world. It will continue!” Malicious Heart articulated. “You still have one more chance, my daughter. You may use more than six.”

“Those two forms that I saw earlier,” began Annie. “There were more than four Deoxys. There was the Deoxys-HP. And there were two more—one a sniper and the other a ninja. They—”

“Allow me to welcome them to the field right now!” Malicious Heart used her Black-Earth staff to conjure violet thunderbolts that struck the ground, and two more creatures joined Deoxys-HP.

One of the creatures had a visor and front-chassis chest with packs of charged artillery, including some cannons that were on its back; a cursor generating machine was lighting up, for accuracy. While the other had a ninja-like mask over its face, some stealthy armor that somehow allowed for fast movement and a crescent moon on its back that made fake shadows for evasiveness.

“Let the war begin! Deoxys-Sniper and Deoxys-Evader! Send out your Pokémon!”

“Fine then! Let this fight be all-out! Dunperlace and Gliderisu let loose some heaven!”

Dunperlace Had a small, yellow mace for a tail, with its nose underground and a heart shaped crescent glowing on her back. Gliderisu was an electrical flying squirrel, with gliding wings.

“Go, Deoxys-Sniper, take out the both of them with Aggression Flame!”

The aiming Deoxys-Sniper threw many red orbs with fiery marks within them, and they all homed into Annie and her Pokémon. Then Gliderisu flew into the front and blocked with wings.

“Thanks, Gliderisu! Now use Charge Wing! Go, Dunperlace, Ground Slice them both!”

Gliderisu caused electrical sparks to radiate from her wings. Then Dunperlace dug into the ground and almost slashed Sniper and HP, with Evader moving the two out of the way quickly.

“Use Aggression Flame again! Then Deoxys-HP, use Mind Overload and take the latter out!”

The Aggression Flame wasted away Deoxys-Sniper’s energy, but the orbs all ran towards Gliderisu and knocked out the electrical flying squirrel. Then Deoxys-HP began overloading its entire body, exploding in a psychic blast that wiped through the entire field, with Deoxys-Evader moving itself and Deoxys-Sniper out of the way. Both of Annie’s fighters went down there.

“You did well, my friends,” Annie returned them. “Go Altaruri and Femalip!”

The sent out Pokémon—Altaruri was like an Altaria with four wings, larger and shinier with the grace of a rainbow and pink eyes that danced like the wind. The latter, Femalip, resembled that of a human girl, perhaps even able to blend into the world as a human if she should desire.
Now Shadow Queen carried three shadowy orbs in her hand. She threw one to the fainted Deoxys-HP, and it formed into the Shade Fang’s shape. The second one went to Deoxys-Sniper, turning into Laser Eye. The third one went to Deoxys-Evade, who turned into Night Claw.

“My dead friends and family, they’re all back! Now take your revenge with your souls!”

The three forms began rushing towards Annie, and her two Pokémon got in the way.

“Come on, Altaruri, use Dragon Song and lay their spirits to rest!”

The enchanting Altaruri sang a song with dragons and fairies and other feminine flutters to the field. The three dead spirits vanished and rested, returning the Deoxys back to their real form.

“It does not matter!” shrieked Malicious Heart. “Search and destroy! Hide and seek!”

The teliferous Deoxys-Sniper began shooting huge energy bullets at Annie and her two Pokémon. Deoxys-Evader began duplicating, clogging the battlefield up, preventing any escape.

“My Femalip, bring the men to my side! Let them know the truth about my mother!”

The effeminate Femalip awakened Shade Fang and Laser Eye to Annie’s side.

Both Altaruri and Femalip were fainted from the shadowy bullets and the shadowy clones.

“Arise from the dead, Night Claw! Save my mom!” Annie claimed as she pushed her hands into the ground, and lights summoned Night Claw. “I need more help—Skaramour and Pitchbird!”

Skaramour was like Skarmory, with fancy designs on wings and front, more feathers on the wing, a shield-shaped crest plate and a larger head with steel feathers. The second, Pitchbird, was a giant, warrior bird carrying three sharpened leeks used for swords, with a visor and such.

Malicious Heart snickered. “You cannot turn wicked darkness against me! I am Shadow Queen!”

“And I’m not only darkness! Come on, Skaramour, let’s ride! Pitchbird, let’s destroy!”

The quick-moving Annie vaulted onto Skaramour’s back and the two were off with a streak of silvery feathers flying behind. Meanwhile, Pitchbird rose all the way to Malicious Heart, took her Black-Earth staff, and used all three leeks as swords to slice the staff into thrice pieces.

“What? No!” Malicious Heart rose with vein-breaking anger. “How dare you disrespect me?!”

In a crazed and frenzied cry, Malicious Heart released her fainted Metagross. Then her fainted Metagross fused with her own body, with Deoxys [HP, Sniper, Evade] forming a triangle. One of her thundery blasts and the triangle blast made quick work of both of Annie’s Pokémon.

“As much darkness as you say there is inside of me, I believe there’s enough light!”
A freakishly blinding light appeared from Annie’s heart where the darkness resided as well, and something astonishing happened. Dunperlace, Gliderisu, Altaruri, Femalip, Skaramour, Pitchbird, and Annie’s light all regenerated at the same time. In a very…”classic” style, Annie went to the center and unleashed a blast of light strong as her darkness at Malicious Heart’s core.

“Is this when the child surpasses the parent…?” theorized Malicious Heart. “If it is, then I say that I’ve done a pretty good job. Goodbye for the third time in your life, my sweet daughter…”

“Mom, don’t be a temerate person!” beamed Annie. “Before you and I end up somewhere, you have to tell me how to stop the meteor! I don’t care if I die! I want to save those I care about!”

“Do you care about me…?” asked Malicious Heart, weakened. “Please answer….”

“What kind of question is that?” hissed Annie. “Of course I do! I love you mom!”

“My sweet Annie, I am the virus. To stop this meteor, I must take my life away as well.”

The ones Malicious Heart cared for—Night Claw, Shade Fang, and Laser Eye—they bonded her.

“No mom, no,” this time, Annie cried out of sadness for another loss. “Please don’t leave.”

The meteor began fading away slowly, everything breaking down. The former Shadow Queen snapped her fingers, and an exit showing her evacuated friends and family opened. They were back at Gold Gate City. They were praying that Annie would make it back, and Annie knew that she had to leave. They were hoping for her, but she couldn’t pry her hands off her mother.

Even Princess Rose made it back as well. “Annie, please make it back…please…!”

The meteor was mere miles away from entering the Earth’s atmosphere, and the entire material of the meteor was starting to break apart. Like a sped up decomposition, the thought theomeny that this meteor had control of made Annie think. Would this be an honorable thysiastery for her? To save her friends? Her mother stabbed herself again, and the dark-turned-light sword…

“Annie, I’m already dead. But I need you to come with me to save this world. I’m sorry…”

Annie nodded. “Goodbye, sweet world.” Annie ran into the sword and impaled herself.

The meteor faded away into the darkness of space, possibly never to be heard of again. This did not mean that Annie lost her consciousness, even if her dead mother was dead for a second or third time. The sword that Annie landed on stabbed through both her and her mother, for a grotesque image to both the body and the mind. The meteor was gone from the world, forever.

The tollation from the harm that would have been done in this world was grace. The trabiel light that Annie turned from pure darkness to defeat her blood lived. There was more to it, though.

No idea if dead or alive, Annie whispered. “No, it can’t end like this. It won’t let it end like this.”