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Lumiose City - Kalos Region

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Clemont chuckled, stroking his light beard as the light hitting his glasses kept his companion from seeing his eyes. They sat in the 'guest room' of Lumiose Tower. Aside from the slightly messy decor, it had an impressive view of the city. "How long has it been since we were caught together in some villain's evil scheme?"

Serena kept her gaze focused outside the window of Clemont's private quarters within the gym's tower. "Years...so very many years."

"Did you hear who else she has? The others? My sister, Tierno, Trevor, Shauna, they all seem to have vanished." Clemont kept staring, eyes locked on Serena, but she was focused on the window.

"I wouldn't know...I remember about as much as you...though it seems there's a large gap between when she took us...going by the last date we remember." She kept her eyes on the outside, but Clemont knew her well enough to know she was genuinely shaken.

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He was too, in truth. His mind had always been his, a tool that never (usually) failed him, and it had been taken away without so much as a battle. "I guess all we can do is Purge the Shadow from the aura of the others, when and if we find them. Know anyone who could do that?"

She met his eyes suddenly, and the slight smirk he'd been wearing vanished under her stare. "No." Her eyes went back to the window. "That...red haired woman, the one from Unova. The one who beat me. She could do it. She's a strong Trainer. Like her brother, the Champion." She gave him a meaningful look, and Clemont nodded. They'd both had the pleasure of being beaten by his Greninja, and eventually his Garchomp as well. He didn't seem like the type to wield Light, though, as he very obviously favored the dark, like his starter.

Clemont sat back then with a familiar smirk. "There is another...did you hear we have super heroes now?"

That brought a slight smirk of her own to the blonde's face, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "That sounds familiar."

Clemont shrugged. "They may not be taking on Yveltal, avatar of Destruction, single-handed but they're doing alright against that...Venomoth Trainer. His outfit is silly, but he's pretty strong. I have a feeling he's the one responsible for hitting me with that Shadow energy. He might've gotten you, as well…"

She nodded. "Probably. The League isn't as secure as we pretend it is, but we don't really mind intruders. We're the Elite Four. If common thieves can take us down, we deserve to be robbed."

Clemont chuckled. "I'll never get why you enjoy it up there."

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The silence grew as Serena avoided answering. She was a strong Trainer herself, and even after the surprise loss that, technically, lost her the Kalos Queen crown, people had expected her to return for the next cycle of contests. They had already begun though, and so far, neither Serena nor Jessica Gladstone had participated. Serena had ultimately ended up on the Elite Four when they called for a fire type specialist to replace Malva. After her adventures with Calem and the Legendary Pokémon of their region, the League had deemed her strong enough to apply, and from what Clemont had heard, she'd passed their tests quite easily.

The television in the room, a standard installment in every suite of Lumiose Tower, switched on automatically, as the local PNN reporter mentioned the Lumiose Gym, and the incident. It was more annoying than anything after so many weeks, but as Clemont moved to shut it off, he paused, and listened to the woman speaking.

"...for the attack on the Lumiose Gym has reportedly been sighted fleeing north, towards Galar. There is no word yet on whether the Galar region police will help detain the criminal, or give him sanctuary. All local Kalos police forces are currently giving chase before the criminal Dark Moth gets away."

Clemont glanced up as he saw Serena stand, and move to one of his windows. "Hey! Wait!"

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But it was too late. She was already on her Talonflame, a larger individual of the species, as she was female. They soared northward in a streak of fire and Clemont, who had moved to the window by that point, grabbed her hat with his ever-useful Aipom arm as it flew off her blonde head. They weren't wasting time, it seemed.

He shook his head, and chuckled. "I'm sorry about that. The TV interrupted before you had finished changing, and she left rather quick…"

The black and purple clad fusion of a blonde haired Trainer and a Liepard melted from the shadows, and shrugged. He was a bit slender, but as Clemont took a second look, he noticed the so called 'Night Cat' did not skip leg day. Or ab day. Or any day, for that matter, despite still being a teen, or slightly older, he and his partner had been defending Kalos for quite some time now, since this Dark Moth first appeared. Night Cat still managed to keep a tan as well, despite the winter season."It's alright, I can catch her. I am curious though, who else do you know that can cleanse auras?"

Clemont grinned, and pushed his glasses up with one finger. The light hit them perfectly, hiding his eyes, and the blonde haired cat-lad sighed inwardly. "Your Ledi Girl of course! Probably. But failing that...there might be another who could help. He could catch that Venomoth...person, at least. He's fast."

The feline humanoid shook his head. "I already have a partner. Besides, stealth is important for our style of Battle."

Clemont chuckled. "Oh, don't worry about stealth. He's more than your equal, I think."

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The blonde sighed again, turned, and found himself face to face with a legend, in his own right. Everyone in Kalos knew this Greninja.

Night Cat's smirk widened into a grin. "Oh. He'll do. Come on, froggy." He dashed out the still open window, once more leaving before Clemont could so much as utter a word.

The Greninja nodded at Clemont, and then vanished as he dashed forward with speed that few could match, quickly catching up to Night Cat. As Ledi Girl flew down with his bug wings to join the pair, the Greninja sped up even more, pushing himself to his limits as he chased after Serena's faint aura trail. He eventually caught sight of the comet that was Serena, though he knew he'd never catch up to her. Not without a boost.

As he reached for the link required for such a boost on instinct, the eyes, quite by accident, shared their sight with the human to whom he was bonded. Then, just like that, they were in sync once more, for the first time in years. Despite distance, despite their time apart, their bond had not eroded. Ash Ketchum's mind was there, so the Greninja fully embraced the power they shared as his form shifted with a flash of impossibly white light, and his speed quadrupled.

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The Kalosian police in pursuit of the rapidly fleeing Dark Moth were rather good at taking down criminals with, primarily, Arcanine. As fast as their fire hounds were, the streaks of red and blue shooting past them far exceeded their pace. The Arcanine began sprinting as they realized the prey was about to be taken down. They knew how this Greninja handled villains, especially in that form.

This particular 'super villain' was, admittedly, much stronger than their usual targets. Kalos police could usually handle Mega Evolution, but whatever this madman had discovered, and then infused with Shadow, put him in a league of his own. He'd slipped through their forces in Lumiose with unsettling ease after being thrashed by the Champion. After being incarcerated for a few hours, he'd managed to infuse the Police Chief with Shadow as well, turning him into a puppet strong enough to distract the rest of the force as the suit clad criminal made his break for freedom. He'd kept up the chase from the capital for weeks, causing chaos across the countryside, though before now, he'd been much more stealthy about it. Apparently, the only way to reach wherever in Galar he was heading required speed over stealth. Thus, his final desperate charge for the coast line that even now left chaos in its wake.

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Nobody chasing him considered that the villain might be audacious enough to try resisting. Not after so long running, at least. But resist he did, as he narrowly dodged the massive Water Shuriken that threatened to bisect him, and released a cloud of his spores into the air. To his surprise, they burnt to ash, as Serena's Talonflame burned them away with her Flame Charge. The fiery comet of a bird arced in the air, hurtling straight for the fusion of human and Venomoth.

Evidently, he shared a type weakness to the bug he partnered with, as the flames left him badly burned, and falling through the air. The Talonflame soon had him in her claws, and she returned to her Trainer, dangling the injured man before her.

Serena had no pity. "You're going to tell me where the others are. Now. Don't waste your breath on anything else."

The man chuckled, wincing as the sharp talons dug into him. The large beak moved close to one of his bug-like eyes, as her Trainer stepped closer. He spoke then, "I have...no reason to tell you anything."

She raised a brow. "You're not exactly in a position to deny one of the Elite Four...now talk!"

He chuckled again, seemingly ignoring the pain now. The darkness surrounding and corrupting his aura flared. "I may not be in position...but you are! Open fire!"

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All at once, the unfolding scene became chaos, as three elemental Hyper Beams of water, grass, and fire typing surged towards Serena, her partner, and their captive. Behind them were, as expected, her friends. Shauna, Trevor, and Tierno were beside their starter Pokémon, a Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise, respectively, and each of them had an eerily familiar ominous purple glow to their eyes. One that still made her neck tingle. She hadn't let being possessed get to her, but seeing how it affected others for herself was profoundly unnerving.

She knew she was protected, as the bonded Greninja formed a pair of massive spinning Water Shuriken, one per fin, and deflected what he could from Serena. The Hydro Cannon spun uselessly against the powerful offensive attack turned defensive, and the Blast Burn fell to type advantage and the ridiculous speed with which the Ash Greninja was spinning his Water Shuriken. The Frenzy Plant almost hit him, until a dark purple and yellowish blur tore through the massive vines, and covered his flank with claws of ice. Night Cat didn't have time for a witty remark though, as the Shadow-infused plants continued to attempt to strike at him. Moments later, he too was aided by a pair of red and black spotted fists glowing with Light. Between the two fused Trainers, the ferocious attack from the Venusaur eventually ran out of steam.

"Fine. The hard way it is." Serena spoke as she raised her oldest Pokéball, and called forth her Delphox. "Psychic."

The fire fox grinned, raised her Ashwood staff, and hit the villain full force. The man's connection to his pawns was cut as his Venomoth wings took the brunt of the intensely powerful attack. The damage behind the attack was halved by the Shadow protecting him, but the force behind it sent him flying into the base of a nearby mountain. They were on a thin strip of land, surrounded by river on one side, and Kalos' final mountain, the last in the Mediterra range, on the other. The weakened and exhausted Dark Moth fell to the type advantage, and his form split once more into human and Pokémon as Venu (V-noo), his partner, ran out of steam.

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Upon winning the battle, Serena had a moment to examine the help that had rushed to aid her. She knew this Greninja too, but did a double take as she saw his form, and then his eyes. The two stared at each other for an uncomfortably long time that nobody immediately around them had the nerve to interrupt. Ultimately it was the Kalos League's Elite Four member that rose first, and approached the downed criminal. No longer fused, he was far less impressive. His muscles lacked definition, but his body showed signs of battle damage, and not just from her. In truth, she had only dealt the last in a series of harsh attacks that had taken weeks to whittle this criminal's strength down.

"So they've found a way to infuse Shadow in Human auras..." She looked up as the bonded Greninja joined her, and nodded. Meeting his eyes again, she instinctively looked down to hide the rising redness in her cheeks. "I guess it's time, then..."

The Greninja looked up and to the left suddenly, but Serena continued anyway. "Will you be back for the World Tourn-" She stopped, as she looked up, and realized she was just talking to a Greninja. A good friend, a wise friend, that more than understood her. He placed a webbed hand on her shoulder, and nodded once. She nodded as well, eyes hardening, and turned back towards the man lying before her. Her Delphox joined her side, and a few moments later, Kalos police had arrived, and subdued their friends. Still infected with Shadow, some resisted the restraints as the raw emotions of hate and fury overwhelmed their better judgement in attacking an officer.

The Greninja hopped away as the situation around Shauna deteriorated, with several angry Arcanine readying Flamethrowers. She was fighting the officers cuffing her, and her loud tones filled the air. "I'm not into that stuff! Perverts! Get off!" Before her Pokémon, namely her own Greninja and Venusaur could get involved as well, one they all respected, to a degree, arrived to mediate.

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"I want names and locations...I'm tired of chasing false trails." Serena spoke, and her Delphox growled in acknowledgement as the staff flared with a powerful deep red aura. She raised the staff and let the power flow, but the man before them simply laughed as the darkness surrounding him utterly dispelled the psychic power a second time.

"You want a name, little girl? You want a location?" He cackled again, and then went entirely still as the Shadow overtook him. His eyes radiated an unsettling Shadow aura that expanded from his glowing purple eyes in waves. Despite the enhanced possession, his face continued to smirk, and he spoke two words that made the gathered officers and Trainers flinch at the ominous reverb to his voice. "Morgana. Albion."

His chuckles grew into another laugh as he saw their expressions, and the direct control lessened, as Dark Moth was once more in control, with new orders. "I have one more word for you! Supersonic!"

The weakened Venomoth, apparently feigning a fainted state, flapped up suddenly, and the officers around it went still as they inhaled the dust from its bright wings. It aimed its mouth at the rest, namely Serena and the remaining officers, and loosed a screech that scrambled their world. By the time they could see straight, the man and his Pokémon had fled from sight, and given that they were in the wilderness, he could go any direction. Especially if he had other Pokémon. The word was that, in all the time they'd chased him, he'd only used a Venomoth so anything else he'd caught would be presumably ready to fly or battle as needed.

"Dammit! He got away again..." One of the officers growled, but Serena held up a hand, and the recovering law enforcement waited as she knelt low, and retrieved something from the ground.

"I just love it when they drop important things..." She eyed the Burst Heart, and spied the essence of a Venomoth within. A dark look came over her face. These apparently ridiculously powerful crystals, that induced a fusion between a human and their partner, as she understood it, were the source of Dark Moth's strength. According to the news, he had several in his possession that he'd stolen from Ledi Girl's care, but his Venomoth's was undoubtedly his favorite. "I wonder what happens if we remove the essence while its body isn't nearby...probably death, I'd imagine..." She turned to the nearby officers. "How many of your people did he kill?"

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The officer blinked twice as he saw the look in her eyes. "None, actually...some serious injuries, but those were mostly caused by pursuit, not the man himself...Lumiose City is a different story."

Serena nodded, and pocketed the crystal, deciding she could determine who should have it, and when. "I need to find a way to cleanse my friend's auras."

"I think I can help with that." A new voice chimed in on their conversation, and the gathered police turned as one, and raised their Pokéballs. Some, namely the women among them, lowered their hands slightly as they saw who had arrived, and found themselves staring at, arguably, the most handsome man in the region.

Through no small effort, the Trainers infused with Shadow were brought before the new arrival. Calem, who had grown quite a bit taller since Serena had last seen him, knelt down to each of her friends, placed two fingers right between their eyes, and with a bright flash of energy that felt warm and shone like the sun, cleansed their auras of the Shadow's taint.

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Serena followed him as he repeated the process for their Pokémon as well. "When...did you learn how to do that? I've only seen a Legendary Bird with that kind of power..."

Calem gave her one of his better smirks, and as usual, Serena found her cheeks matching her hat in color. "It's a...family trick. Only those who awaken the power in their blood can learn it."

Serena nodded. "So Xerneas did it." Calem nodded as well. "I suppose it makes sense...but wait, does your...does the King have this power too?"

"This, and several others, though he has a difficult time using them anymore. He only regained the Will to exist a few years ago, it takes time to recover from millennia of apathetic wandering. Thus, this is the only technique he was able to pass on in time. Using them multiple times in a row is especially taxing, and his recovery takes longer each time. Something we no longer have." Calem went on, as he usually did around her, spouting everything of import he thought she needed to know. It was something she enjoyed about the analytical mind of the Kalosian Prince, and what had made taking on the rest of Team Flare that much easier without Clemont, Bonnie, or anyone else from her first group of traveling friends. Shauna, Tierno, and Trevor had proven themselves too, and even earned a hero's award for their willingness to face down a legend that spewed death with each wing flap.

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Serena's eyebrows came together as she listened. "Why are you in such a rush?"

The Prince chuckled, and looked westward. "Haven't you heard? Unova has called for aid in their war." Serena's eyes widened, and the prince nodded. "The King has been readying an entire legion of elite Trainers to rush to aid them. I am to lead them. The foe is apparently using mass-produced Shadow Pokémon, many Infused as mere Eggs, and the power to cleanse it has never been needed more."

The Elite Four Trainer's eyes went distant as she realized he too was leaving. Unova was fairly far, and Fornia even farther. "Well, good luck...don't die...I'd go but...we've seen how much use I am against the Shadow. Besides, I have League duties."

"Actually..." Calem said, interrupting anything else, "That's one reason I'm out here. The League has been trying to reach you. Japan is under attack too, and now the Pokémon League is involved. They're calling in everyone...things are bad over in Sinnoh...and every region north of Kanto has gone dark. The Kalos League is sending aid as well, though the Unovan Dragon redirected them to Japan, not Unova."

She nodded, and recalled her Delphox. "I see...so we're at that point already. Alright...let's go."

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The Timekeeper's Grove - Selva Muerta

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Time was a tricky medium, and Alex Redwood was fully aware that he had, at best, a minimal understanding of how it actually worked. Thankfully, he also had several mentors, each of whom spouted wisdom almost like clockwork each time they trained. The current nugget of wisdom his mind was nomming had come from the Rayquaza of the East, when he'd asked what to do, or how to behave, if he ran into a Celebi.

Evidently, the time traveler would only willingly appear in times of peace, and places full of life. If said life vanished from a place visited by Celebi, it had a habit of not returning until the flora regrew. It also apparently left a trail of blooming life behind it wherever it flew, but he personally doubted that bit. If life responded to its presence by growing, it wouldn't avoid scorched areas that needed such energy the most. With Legendary Pokémon, there was usually more to their powers than most humans guessed. Given Celebi's nature, his granduncle had theorized that it was stealing time from the plants it flew over, making them blossom yes, but also stealing their youthful energy in the process, presumably so Celebi could continue living. Its equivalent to eating.

In the grove they found themselves in, the surrounding areas were rather withered, with the grove being the exception. Though even its flora seemed weakened. The energy surrounding the relic stone in the center, a simple, pyramidal shape with tiered sides, was overwhelmed with darkness, and he didn't need to guess where it was coming from. The similarly tiered pyramidal fortress loomed over everything rather prominently, always in view.

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The best way to cleanse a space's energy, he'd learned from the Dragon of Unova himself, was to have living beings, preferably Pokémon, radiate good feelings and emotions. Between the five of them, they had enough partners to heavily shift the energy of the space from one of impending death, to something else. The good vibes only flowed stronger when the Leaf smoking instruments were pulled out once more. All of them, even Shruikan, partook of the smoke, shielded from the wind by the massive wingspan of the giant black dragon.

The hours ticked by slowly, and the sun began to set as Rick made his rather delicious Berry Curry. Once everyone had eaten, the humans watched their partners drift off into Leaf naps. Jess had fallen into one as well, though she jolted awake at the same moment Alex abruptly turned his head towards the emanation those with psychic power suddenly felt. A distortion in the very fabric of the world. Their eyes let them see what was invisible to the others, and thus they silently watched as a Celebi floated out from the portal, glancing around cautiously. A smirk appeared as the psychic and grass type grasped what they had been doing in her grove, and she floated out towards the Pokémon yet awake.

The others grew silent, and nudged those sleeping back to consciousness, as they watched the Celebi appear from seemingly thin air. The time traveler looked at each of them, arching all the way backward in mid-air as she turned to try to take in the enormity that was Shruikan. The dragon actually nodded his head in respect, but sat quietly as he watched the time traveler. He'd become quieter since the war started, and especially on this journey, as he had time to mull over just how many humans he'd felled in their efforts to take the Kanadian Wall. He had discovered he wasn't alone in such thoughts, as the rest of his team had also seen genuine warfare, and not one had been left unscarred by the sights of death and destruction for human and Pokémon alike.

They, like their Trainer, understood the necessity behind all the death, but would never be comfortable with it. Pokémon more than most creatures understood that survival meant fighting, but humanity had, with eons of advancement, tactics, and ever more powerful weapons of death, turned the fight to survive into something else entirely. They called it war. When Shruikan had inquired as to just how many wars humans had fought against themselves, and heard the rough estimate, his opinion of the two legs shifted again. He was not the only Pokémon to wonder why the Alpha had given a second chance to such a violent race, but he continued to watch, as both Tao and Rayquaza had told him that there was much, much more to humans than their ability to kill each other in new and exciting ways.

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Shruikan blinked out of his musing as he noticed the tiny fairy-like entity floating by his nose. The Celebi gave him a shy smile, and a pat on the nose. A feminine voice filled his head, and his alone. He did not share what the time traveler said to him, but his inner turmoil lessened, slightly. Then, finally, the eyes shifted to the humans. Alex stood with a swirling motion, and then bowed in the Unovan fashion after stepping forward several paces. The Pokémon's face had gone from smiling to unreadable, upon seeing the humans. "Time traveler...I am Alex Redwood, of Unova, and these are my companions, Jess, Svelka, Rick Astley, and Drake. We are here, in your home, on the precipice of another dark era, because we require your aid. The aspects of Zigma have tasked us with removing the Dark Nexus here, permanently, so that they may once more be whole. Will you aid us in our search for knowledge?"

The Celebi regarded him for a moment as she perfectly grasped what he said, and her mental tones were soft, feminine, but otherwise plain. "This is what they send to remove the Nexus?" Her eyes moved to Shruikan again on instinct as he purposefully adjusted his bulk. When she looked back, the human was smirking. "Very well...the locals of this land have referred to me in many time zones as Pacha. You may do the same. Now ask your questions, Trainers."

The two Unovans shared a nod and a look, and Alex addressed the mythical Pokémon. "According to the Rain Sage, we need to see how this Nexus was created if we wish to have a hope of stopping it. Can you show us without distorting the timeline?"

The Celebi eyed him again specifically, eyes shifting side to side as she read his apparent typing, and so much more. Finally, she nodded. "Do not touch anything, and stay out of sight...if you die in the past you cease in the present as well, and the Humans of that era, in this part of the world at least, were rather...brutal. If they see you, they will end you, and if you try fighting them, I'll end you. We cannot interfere, no exceptions. Everyone you will see is already beyond saving. Do not try to alter their fate, or you will prematurely end your own."

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The group of humans shared a look, and then Alex turned back to the Celebi. "We understand. Once we arrive, we should find a safe place to Teleport back to. That way we don't have to be tempted to save ourselves." They recalled their partners then, all save for Alex's Gallade, who very much wanted to see the past, and was providing Pokémon eyes for the rest of his team to watch through. He knew how each of his teammates saw the world, such was their link, and with his power, it was a small effort to distort what he saw for them in a manner they were familiar with. Linked like this, they had the same view they would were they not in their balls.

"Arthur, stay close to Svelka, and the others. If we need to bamf out, you need to help them." The Gallade nodded at his Trainer, and gave another nod to the Norstad woman. Her lovely face was unreadable under her tribe's standard crested half-helmet, but after almost a week of traversing a humid jungle, the Gallade could sense she was ready for a real rest, in a hot spring, surrounded by females and only females.

Once they were ready, the Celebi raised her arms, and the gathered psychics watched as she pulled energy from the nearby Time Ripple, to open a smaller portal, just in front of them. "We will not have long, so move quickly!" The humans rushed towards the new portal, and the time traveling Pokémon followed just behind them.

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The six humanoids emerged almost instantly into the past in the middle of a dark night, at the top of a nearby mountain peak. Below, Alex spied the grove they'd just left, though it was much harder to see, as it was surrounded by jungle. Evidently in the past, the flora was much more abundant, and indeed, it seemed much healthier than it did in the present. Even the mountains still teemed with life, and Noivern, judging by the silhouettes. Not far from the edge of those trees that no longer were in his era, he saw the mountain that formed the base of the tiered pyramidal fortress that played home to the Nexus in the present.

With a view of the past, he now made out other carved structures, an entire city almost, that had seemed to be all but completely weathered away in their time. He glanced at the Celebi as she joined them, floating beside Arthur. "Just how far back did we go?"

Pacha glanced around, and shrugged. "You wouldn't understand my calendar. Time tends to cross fate at many axes, so we should be near something interesting. Most likely, the start of the Nexus. When you travel the Time Vortex, you'll usually find yourself drawn into major events if you get careless. Only madmen jump in without a heading, but this time, we were looking for such an event, so it was relatively simple. Prepare your Teleports, and let us move with haste." The Celebi flew to each of them as they focused on memorizing the immediate area, poking them, and making their forms incorporeal. "I've moved you three seconds out of sync with time in the current era. The inhabitants will look right past you, as long as you stay quiet. Even if they catch a glimpse of you, their focus will shift from you easily, so if you think you've been seen, try to blend in, and they should return to ignoring you."

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With that, the group set off towards the pyramidal top of the mountain fortress. Looking around, Alex realized he was seeing the southern continent in a very different stage of its life. The land was teeming with Pokémon, and what humans he saw walked through the jungle without constantly being attacked by them. The jungle seemed a lot more peaceful, compared to their time. The land itself felt different too, seeming more akin to Unova than the land of harsh survival he'd come to know over the past week.

They eventually reached the entrance to the fortress, following silently beside a slow moving line of humans dressed in rags and covered with bruises. They were being herded by other humans with pale skin, black armor that resembled a beetle, light blue eyes, and white hair. Some of their number lacked the hair, but they seemed to be apprentices, rather than whatever the people they were serving had become. He had a fair guess as to what they'd done to attain such visages. He could see the Darkrai hiding in their auras, surveying the prisoners as they marched by. The menacing eyes of each guard slid right over them, and even the Pitch Black Pokémon, it seemed, was powerless before the trickery of time.

Within the fortress, they came upon a truly gruesome sight. The people gathered, Texico West natives, by their clothing, were being marched up to an altar forebodingly covered in more lifeblood than one human could produce.

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The four moved quietly through the straight entrance to the pyramid, which led directly to the central altar. Other doorways led from the pyramidal chamber that housed it, no doubt digging into the mountain itself below, but this central chamber was where these people were evidently attempting to create the Nexus. They split from the group of captives eventually, following a pair of guards who took up a post on the walkways that lined each wall of the pyramid's interior. They weren't lit up, in fact the entire chamber and area surrounding the fortress had been consistently dark. It had aided them in passing unnoticed, but now, they could just barely see the altar, and the area immediately around it, as it was glowing with a faint whitish energy. Alex grimaced as he saw what type it was, but stayed silent.

The gathered crowd of people eventually made it all the way to the staging area immediately below the altar, where its victims waited to be summoned to the top, and ended. A man appeared behind the altar, and gathered the attention of those below with a single snap of his fingers. He was garbed in a robe that was more purple than black, and he possessed the same unsettling eyes and white hair that his cohorts did. He appeared to hold some status though, as his robes were more ornate.

The man raised both hands, and in perfect Common, began orating to the crowd of captured victims. "People of Texico, welcome to our humble mountain home! Some of you may be wondering what fate could possibly await you upon a blood-soaked altar, and you are right to guess it is a rather gruesome one." Mixed looks of fear, and anger, came over the crowd, but the man continued on, his charismatic and even tone cutting effortlessly through their murmuring. "Let it not be said that we are cruel however, for before your lives are ended in the name of our glorious God, you will all understand His glory before facing the abyss!"

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The people within the crowd shared a look, and a pause developed as the man by the altar received information from a black-haired underling. Alex turned to their Celebi guide, and spoke in soft, entirely mental tones. "This is the ancient past right? How are they all speaking Common?"

The Celebi chuckled silently, and responded in the same quiet manner. "Thank the Holder of Arceus for that. He may not have achieved world peace, but he gave the Humans of his future the two things they would need to unite. Battles of sport to test their skill and curb Humanity's bloodlust, and a language by which you could all attempt to understand each other. Many tongues once existed in your world, especially in these parts. What you are hearing is the direct result of a deity's meddling with time and space to fulfill a wish. Now hush."

The man atop the raised altar had nodded at what he was told, and then grinned down at the crowd. "You are all in luck! The moon is gone tonight, and the barriers between our world and the Shadow are thin...be glad, Texicans. Tonight, your lives will finally summon our God!"

"A curse on your false god!" A man shouted from the crowd. Another took courage from him, and shouted as well. "The people of Texico follow the Alpha Pokémon, and his Guardians! We will never bow to your pale imitations!"

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The man in the dark purple robe chuckled. "Blind faith in the face of certain death…" He glanced up and behind him. "They may drain natural resources at an alarming rate and breed like rabbits, but you have to admit...these Humans have potential, under the right deity."

A pair of red eyes appeared from the darkness, and a silhouette formed from the shadows around them, but it was vague, lacking detail, and colored not unlike the Shadow energy they'd seen manifest thus far. Pacha floated backwards on instinct as she saw the eyes. "Oh no...no, no, no...we need to leave. Now!" She stared at Alex as her warning echoed in their heads. He gave her a blank look, as did the other humans. Seeing they needed prodding, she explained, while slowly urging them backwards, towards the exit. "That's the Renegade...no good can possibly come of being near it, and if it catches me, well...the universe as you know it is over. We leave. Now!"

The humans below the shadowed god cowered, as expected, but it was the unexpected and well-hidden shift in the chamber, as well as the faint tones of a psychic type's mental conversation, that drew the attention of the final member of the Creation Trio, and its gaze. The red eyes narrowed, and a genderless voice entered the head of each of the time travelers. The unfettered hate and malice in the tone sent shivers up the spine of each human.

"Do not leave...you are going to miss the show…"

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The four began being dragged towards the ominous, massive figure but thankfully his pawn didn't seem to notice. The man was preoccupied with fashioning a blade of pure Shadow energy around his hand, sharpening it into a tool appropriate for murder. Pacha tried to stop their movement towards Giratina, but the obscured Legendary had them where it wanted them. A power darker than anything they were used to, and one that was entirely immune to psychic interference, raised them into the air of the pyramidal chamber.

One of the captured locals of Texico had been dragged up to the altar by that point, and made to kneel by a pair of black robed, snowy haired men with more bulk to them than they'd seen on the other figures with such looks. The man himself was as typical a native as one could get, with his reddish bronze skin, black hair, and relatively hairless body. He was pleading silently, offering what Alex realized after a moment was prayer.

His plea for help was never answered. The blade of Shadow came down on his neck, and the contents of his body spilled out onto the altar, giving it a fresh coating of red gore. The man in the dark purple robe raised the severed head of the man, and displayed it to the people below. They recoiled in disgust, which only seemed to make the man happier. He gave them a mad grin, raised his sword-encased hand, and snapped his fingers. Blackish purple flames lit the linear lines of the pyramidal chamber's roof, resulting in four straight lines of flame that coalesced at the top of the pyramid, and provided some much needed illumination to the pitch black interior.

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The lights, while visually dramatic and impressive, were far overshadowed by what they revealed to the humans awaiting their turn at the altar. Each of the pyramid's four upwards slanting walls played host to skulls mounted upon metal spikes that had been carelessly driven through each of them, presumably dismembered prisoners of the past. There had to be thousands, and the humans out of their proper time could only stare in silence as they were forced to take the scene in. They could not even blink.

Alex's gaze shifted to the shadowed form of Giratina. Something still seemed off to him. Physically, the Legendary Pokémon seemed entirely focused on the ongoing, and equally gruesome sacrifices below, but there was more to this cosmos traveling entity than what he saw. Some part of the ghostly dragon was making sure that he and his companions saw every moment of this, though he could not rightly fathom why.

Despite that, Giratina still had a role to play that history, and their timeline, depended on having occur. It was as the second human lost her life, that Alex noticed. The eyes burned fiercer with every sacrifice, and as the minutes crept by, with them unable to do anything but watch, he noticed something else. Jess felt it first, but it was Alex who figured out what was causing her discomfort, something he'd become rather good at sensing, and fixing. The gravity in the room was becoming more oppressive with each lost life, but to the force keeping them suspended in the air, it was nothing. Still, the sensation on their own innards was uncomfortable, as gravity strove to force them down, and Giratina kept them stubbornly suspended in place.

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One by one, the five humans, Gallade, and Celebi watched as the crowd of over a hundred human lives was sliced down to the single digits, until finally, only one remained. Young, old, weak, strong, there had been no differentiation made by the captive's butcher. They had each fallen, their life energy passing on directly to the half-manifested ghost dragon, and they had each had their skulls added to the long gore-stained poles that made up the majority of the macabre display on the walls of the pyramid. The people responsible for these acts, whatever they called themselves, had finished their final uncovered wall with the last of the sacrifices.

There was a pause as the last Texican lost his life as well, and Alex shifted his gaze to Giratina. Maybe it was the addition of firelight, and over a hundred human lives, but the shadowed entity seemed far more corporeal than it had at the start. It turned its hateful eyes to the human who'd eagerly played the role of butcher, and the man nodded again.

He turned to the two guards that had, in turns, dragged each sacrifice to the spot of their death. "Fetch the last one...the Emergence is upon us…"

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Silence filled the chamber, as the two guards left, leaving only the purple robed man, who now had a robe covered in gore. He dispensed with it, revealing a similar set of shiny black armor that, from his perspective, Alex saw resembled a Liepard's bodily features. It made some sense, as the local cruel cats they'd come across had made the Unovan's look like common house cats by comparison with their bulkier frames, saber-teeth, and downright foul temper.

The man behind the altar, presumably the leader of what appeared to be some sort of dark cult, was not alone for long. Slowly, from each of the myriad tunnels leading below, other figures joined the man in the chamber. It took a moment for the temporally hidden humans to realize they were Pokémon. Not one of them lacked the dark typing, and at their head, floating before the altar over the space the captives had until recently occupied, was a Gothitelle. She raised both arms directly upwards, towards Giratina, and spoke with telepathy audible to those gathered. "Great one! We have prepared as you have asked! The next Successor has been chosen, and all is ready. With this, your freedom is a certainty!"

The eyes shifted from the executioner at the altar, to the Pokémon in question. She shuddered, visibly. Her god was, finally, going to answer her. Giratina leaned close, an easy feat, with a lengthy neck.

"Well done."

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The two words made the Gothitelle faint in mid-air, or pretend to, but the focus of the chamber was drawn from her antics as Giratina's head moved to take in their new arrivals. Another pair of black-armored men arrived in the chamber, dragging between them a boy in the robes of an acolyte. He yet lacked the white hair of his betters.

Alex took another look, calling on Leo as he did. The Luxray's visual prowess illuminated the features of the young man they'd dragged in. His skin was a paler shade, though more sunburnt than tan at the moment. Facial fuzz covered his mouth in a circle, and the features of the face, high cheekbones, narrow eyes, everything seemed unnervingly familiar.

Within the space of his mind, he aged the individual a few years, accounted for a lack of sun, and more than a bit of cleaning up. The passive expression shifted to a dark grimace, and despite being held, Alex's fists clenched on instinct. The opportunity to wipe out one's enemy did not often parade itself so obviously, but he knew he had to resist, if they wanted to return to the time they belonged. He resisted thinking about all the lives he might save with a command and an arm movement. Out of sync as they were, which was all that was keeping Giratina from crushing them, the inhabitants wouldn't even see where the move originated. Each of the Scales realized this, and though they struggled against the power holding them, they stayed motionless as time replayed the events they had been so eager to see.

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Other white-haired individuals flooded into the room now, taking a viewing position where their captives had stood before. They watched eagerly, each bowing as Giratina's eyes moved over them. They shifted to the distorted group of humans as well, but the intruders had ceased struggling against his power. They weren't worth the effort to kill. Not at a time as critical as this. Displaced as they were by the Celebi, he could do little more than hold them. For now.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

The man who'd thus far been the executioner of the hapless victims raised his Shadow-bladed hand over the neck of the young Pravus, who'd been laid atop the still very much blood-soaked altar. He looked down at the youth, and spoke in grave tones. "Will you give all you have for Humanity?"

The younger human suddenly ceased struggling as, to the eyes of the psychics watching, a small piece of the Shadow within Giratina's aura attached itself to his, and sent him into a state of what seemed to their senses to be a euphoric, primal mix of arousal, rage, loyalty, and unwavering devotion to a greater entity. He made a movement hidden to the eyes of those watching. "My heart and soul to the cause!"

The blade came down, and the body grew still. Arthur, who had watched and engraved every single lost life into his psychic memory, had also seen every blade movement the man had made. He'd turned wholesale slaughter into an art form with his technique, and one had to admire how little his victims suffered, though it was entirely possible he was simply in a hurry, and not taking his time. Those who had tried to fight at the end had been slower to pass on.

It was as the blade came down, presumably for the final time, that the Gallade noticed it was in a different manner from every other merciless cut the man had made. The blade stabbed into the back of the young man who would one day become Caleb Pravus, and as it did, the Shadow in the older man's aura moved from him, to the body on the altar.

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Giratina roared, and the entire mountain shook. The skulls lining the walls of the pyramidal roof began glowing with what little essence yet lingered, and the waves of normal energy shifted to ghost in the Legendary Pokémon's presence. Each otherworldly light flowed into the Renegade Pokémon as it cried out, and the onlookers stared on in disbelief.

In the light, Giratina split into two forms. One, affected by the gravity, manifested on the prime material plane, while the other yet remained a Shadow, trapped in the Reverse World. The two entities seemed to pull apart, until the shadowy one used its tendrils to draw the other back to it. It encased the ghostly dragon completely, and after a few moments, the massively heavy form hit the bottom of the pyramid again, shaking the mountain.

A fully materialized Giratina looked around the chamber, and the eyes were alight with Shadow, but those burning red orbs were still visible in its darkness.

"Finally...with this, all my plans are suddenly within reach…"

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With a howling shriek that made everyone present cover their ear-holes, Giratina began to writhe, or rather, the corporeal one did. It seemed to have two heads for a moment, one real one Shadow, but the Shadow did not take long to regain control. It looked down at the corpse upon the altar as the foul energy sank back into the struggling Legendary Pokémon.

"Finish what you have begun…"

The corpse in question had, upon being suffused with the power and aura of a Darkrai, turned pale skinned. The hair once black was now entirely white, and had lengthened even, to the shoulders. The eyes had shifted from the white, brown, and black of a human to the green of one possessed by a Darkrai of varied color. Slowly, it rose from where it had been struck down, and raised both of the boy's thin arms. A larger pair of darker purple claws enveloped them, and from his perspective, Alex saw the young Pravus grin. It was a look he'd started to notice, and be unsettled by, more and more often, especially in times of war. The gleaming eyes of a human who had acquired new and unfamiliar power, and was gaining a hunger for more.

Purple and black electricity came down from the topmost point of the room, and struck the altar, which began shining with the accumulated normal typed energy of all those given to it. What little Giratina had not taken in directly had saturated the stones, and had continued to do so until the ghostly dragon had told them to stop. Now, what was left of the energy also turned to ghost as Pravus placed both hands on the altar.

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The air gained a sudden and inexplicable weight as the gravity increased tenfold. A sphere of total darkness engulfed the altar, and Pravus, hiding him from the view of all present. After a few moments, the gravitational force increased again. The Shadow encasing the Legendary Dragon began to be sucked in by a forming whirlwind of dark energy, the natural byproduct of shifting so much normal energy to ghost typing. The foul clouds encircled Pravus' sphere with an ever increasing pace, until the entire inner area of the pyramid was filled with swirling black clouds. Suddenly, the sphere of black dropped, and Pravus leapt down to the other spectators, landing in a three point stance that left a small impact crater.

With another roar, the Giratina shifted into its flight-friendly form, and dove into the center of the forming vortex, while simultaneously returning to the world that acted as its prison, and inevitably pulled it back in whenever Giratina managed to leave.

The forces drawing Giratina and its dark passenger back to the Reverse World tore a hole in both space and time as the entity returned, and within, the Shadowmind finally let go of its ancient host, releasing Giratina as it prepared to find a new host. It traveled deep into the Reverse World, hiding easily from Giratina, who had become the Shadowmind's victim, and jailor in the uncountable millennia they'd shared this prison. Unable to separate the Shadow from the natural force of gravity and antimatter that was Giratina, Arceus had locked them both away. Now, ghost typed energy would enter the prison each time the humans on the other side of the new Nexus sacrificed yet more humans, and the Shadow as a whole would grow stronger as a result.

Alex and company found themselves hurtling outside the blood-soaked pyramid with a rapidly flying Celebi, just in time to avoid the chaotic backlash of energy that ripped through those who remained in close proximity. Once they were clear, and things within settled, Alex and the others approached the entrance, and looked within. The humans fused with Darkrai had been struck in numerous areas across their bodies, but even now those had begun to heal. A few figures began to rise. Those among them that still possessed common decency began the lengthy, but ultimately not too costly task of returning their fellows to life. The majority of those who'd managed to regenerate lacked decency, and thus sat back and waited with cocky smirks as the others slowly returned from the brink.

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"We need to leave." Pacha insisted, pushing them from the entrance, and towards the cliff they'd come in on. The Celebi glanced at the sky. "As I recall, it did not take Zigma long to respond to the energy emanations here...we don't want to be around when she arrives…"

The time traveler's insistence led to no complaint from the humans, and indeed, upon reappearing in the present from the rapidly fading Time Ripple, the humans could see where Zigma had struck the once flourishing fortress. Most of the ruins had eroded by their era, but a few scars of the ancient battle remained.

Once back in the grove, Pacha bid them a short farewell, and returned through her original Time Ripple, on to a timezone not embroiled in war. Alex turned to Arthur and the others once she'd left. "Did you see what it did at the end?"

The Gallade nodded. "It went home, and linked the Nexus to the Renegade's prison. We cannot simply shove Light into it. That could end up opening a permanent hole to the Reverse World, and the effects on this land would only worsen."

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By the time they'd returned, not very much time had passed, and the night continued on as normal as the present ever was. Alex fumbled through his bag for the herb-smoking instruments, and began unpacking them with practiced skill. "Obviously...we need a new plan. And when is the best time to plan, oh Gallade of mine?"

The psychic fighting type smirked at him. "At dawn, of course."

Jess plopped down on Alex again as he took the usual crossed leg position that was her chair. "It's settled. At dawn, we plan." Their partners joined in a circle around them, as they had earlier, always eager to partake of the smoke. Funnily enough, the effects had not translated across time zones, so while they had technically just finished a smoke session, soon enough for the bowl to still be warm to the touch, the effects had faded after the fear and adrenaline that came from watching history unfold.

Shruikan's leathery sky-darkening wings surrounded them, as they were more than large enough to encircle the Celebi's grove, and Alex gave the massive chin of the dragon a thorough scratch as he hit the piece one handed, and passed it onto the redhead using him as a chair.

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Lab Ein - Fornia Region

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A shadowy figure appeared in the large entryway of the hangar that supplied Lab Ein. It took the inhabitants a moment to notice, and it wasn't long before the entire room's soldiers had their energy stave weapons pointed at the intruder with varied lights of red, yellow, and light blue. "This area is for enlightened personnel only! In the name of Arceus, and his true Church, put your hands up, or we'll ruin your day!"

The command came from the evident leader of this bunch, a man whose armor was red rather than the standard white, for some reason. Wes looked him over again, and a dark smirk broke the otherwise impassive glare he'd been wearing for this. "Rosso...I had a feeling you might be here." Upon closer inspection, it seemed that the Crusader armor on the men under his command had indeed drawn inspiration from Cipher's aesthetic. The helmets were far superior though, as was the armor plating, and of course, the weapons.

The man in question held up his hand, and the glowing weapons, newly dubbed Power Staves by the Church, powered down slightly. "What!? Who the hell do you think you are? And how do you know my...oh Muk…"

Wes chuckled. "That's right. Round three...lets see if blind faith has made you less of a pathetic Trainer. Typho...Eruption!" The Pokémon appeared in a flash from where he'd crouched by the entrance, but the soldier's leader did not command an immediate volley. His gaze was locked on the Typhlosion that had once been his Cyndaquil. The same Cyndaquil that had gotten him a promotion to Cipher's Mystery Squad. The same Cyndaquil that he'd infused with Shadow energy once it evolved, thinking it would be unbeatable.

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Unfortunately, he had not understood then that Shadow energy essentially made training useless. He'd been effectively stomped by this very Trainer's Umbreon and Espeon, and by the end of the battle, his partner was gone, snagged by a machine that should've belonged to them in the first place.

The Typhlosion met his gaze, and there was anger, but not the kind that had sent him into the Shadow. This was fueled by the shared desire between himself and his Trainer to prevent that foul energy from ever infecting a Pokémon again. Yet every time they closed down an operation using such Pokémon, they'd just pop up again a few years later. This time, they had decided to be thorough. Fornia had advanced the production of Shadow Pokémon into the low billions with their sheer factory power once Doctor Ein 'converted' to their organization, and the numbers only increased when Ardos, bearing Lovrina's notes, had joined Fornia after Cipher's second attempt at world domination. His contributions, while disdained openly by Ein, had nonetheless earned him a promotion to Hand of the Prophet, and Ein had used the notes regardless. The result had been a third variation of Shadow Pokémon, one far more difficult to purify with friendship and good feels. It required an egg to be prepared, but having a powerful tool that also gained experience from battling with the Shadow's power was invaluable to the strength of Fornia's soldiers.

As Shadow Pokémon had pervaded Fornia, the Church had given those who questioned the sudden increase in power, and decrease in kind emotions of the Pokémon to the Church's care. The running excuse for this behavioral shift was that this was caused by the 'blessing' the Arcean priests bestowed upon the Pokémon, turning them into righteous weapons of the Alpha Pokémon's vengeance. Naturally, anyone who'd been able to see such tainted auras, and thus the truth, had quickly disappeared, or fled the region, and the technology used to both identify and purify had been destroyed on sight once they'd taken over Orre.

The order to fire came several seconds too late, as the volcano Pokémon began prepping its signature move. The Eruption was quicker than the energy beams. Most went wild, as the move's fire typed power slammed into the human who'd subjected him to the Shadow so many years ago, and essentially blew that part of the hangar to rubble as it manifested an erupting mini volcano. Rivers of magma formed down the volcano the Pokémon had drawn up from the earth, as burning rocks filled the hangar with death, and the exploding transport aircraft took care of the rest. Wes and his partner strode through it unfazed, shielded by their Espeon's Barrier.

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The move had seriously weakened the already vulnerable foundations embedding the lab in the mountain. Wes informed his partners of the imminent danger over their Holociever, and their time table moved up. They'd already confirmed what he'd expected. These servers had media news files, and little else. As per usual, the good stuff would be in the lab, no doubt buried deep under defenses and mountains, hidden from moral eyes. It was a theme with Ein's labs, ever since his first had been so easily discovered.

Wes continued moving through the base, alternating between his team of ten as their opponents varied their lineups. He was a ruthlessly strong battler, and he burned every human opponent to ash, after snagging their teammates. The ones who persisted, at least, by turning their weapons on him after losing a battle. The few who fled, he let go. Peons were redeemable.

Typho was as angry as his Trainer was, but these guards, evidently composed of a majority of inexperienced Power Stave wielders, were only the warm up to their desired target. Every other outward exit of the compound had, by way of his Noivern, been melted shut. The bat-like dragon now waited above, hiding in the darkness for their quick getaway.

Eventually, Wes discovered tunnels that went into the mountains themselves, leaving the shell of a heavily armed base to defend it from intruders. As per usual, the soldiers he came across supplied the needed card IDs to advance, though not one gave it up willingly, even after losing.

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Eventually, he came to the true Lab Ein, an impressive affair that was suspended over a dormant, but still very much hot volcano. Protected from heat and intruders by an enormous glass pyramid whose edges dug into the sides of the rocky cone of the mountain, there was only one entrance, and all along it Wes spied Crusaders, ready for battle.

At their head was someone he had only heard rumors of. He hadn't been around for Ardos' attempt to revive Cipher, and without Doctor Ein's smarts, the 'un-purifiable Shadow Pokémon' had indeed been saved, but he reasoned that if the two had ended up in the same amoral cult, they'd likely perfected their projects by now. Ein had had plenty of time, after all.

The bridge leading into the pyramid of what appeared to be special glass, as it wasn't melting, was covered at its head by an impressive archway that doubled as a sentry lookout. Wes came up to it, and met the gaze of the man above. "Fire at will!"

Any hesitation he'd received from Russo was due to their history, it seemed. Evidently, the order was to take his head. He wished them luck, as he sensed his Espeon's mind meld with his, and together, they used their shared sight to dodge through the field of elemental energy beams.

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As he spun horizontally over the last straight line of elemental death, Wes hurled a purple Pokéball marked with an 'M' into the center of the soldiers. Those who saw what now appeared in their ranks either cowered, or switched their staves to ice, but the first strike belonged to the Tyranitar. "Dark Pulse...wide spread."

The Pokémon roared in acknowledgement of his Trainer's command, and the dark energy formed a sphere in his jaws. It swirled, condensed, grew in size, and then launched a series of small, rapid projectiles made of dark energy into the soldiers, blowing those hit by the move to pieces with the kind of power that had made Pokémon more valued in war than firearms. Those he initially missed retaliated, and found their beams useless against Protect. They were then ended with a harsh Stone Edge.

For his part, Wes had charged with his Espeon, and leapt up to Ardos' perch. The powerful special attacker held the man with Psychic before he could so much as draw a Pokéball. Wes gave the cat a nod, and began walking towards his Tyranitar, past the carnage of his wake, and across the bridge. The Espeon held the man until they reached the bridge, at which point the psychic cat coldly stopped levitating him, over the lava pit below.

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Wes held up a hand as he heard a familiar Psychic thrum, and spied the falling form of Ardos, levitated now by his Alakazam, saving himself from death once more. "Dark Pulse." The single, focused beam of energy struck the psychic type, and the two plummeted once more. Wes quickly threw a ball at the Alakazam, and the Snag Machine brought it into his care with a manifested claw of bright energy, focused around a Pokéball. His Espeon saved the other five balls, each of which was likely also infused with Shadow.

There had been much snagging on this mission already, and while he knew he'd probably missed some, he also knew trying to save them all alone was a lost cause, especially in a war. As always, he would grab as many as he could, open their hearts, and send them on their way. Those who wished to never again let another Pokémon be tainted, were the ones who stayed, and found true power.

Ardos mercifully did not last long in molten rock, and the three continued on past the bridge. As they came up to the door, Wes spied an irritatingly familiar card key slot, and glanced down again. "Damn. He had it on him, didn't he."

His Tyranitar assuaged his worry by empowering his tail with steel energy, and reduced the barrier to crushed glass and metal with a few powerful strikes. He gave his Espeon the phallic Melmetal hacking spike he'd used on the terminals in the 'lab' above to gather data from. The psychic cat would download their databases, including their current work, while Wes and the Tyranitar took the lead in distracting the Doctor. Of all of the Shadow Pokémon made by Cipher's first wave, none had been so thoroughly experimented on as this very Tyranitar, a pet project of Doctor Ein's.

It had taken a strange green-haired man claiming to be an Aura Guardian, who could speak with Pokémon, to tell Wes the extent of what exactly Ein had put them all through. Thus, he'd hunted the man for years, whenever he dared to leave his base. The base's location itself had, until recently, remained hidden to Wes, safe behind Fornia's strict border policies.

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Vengeance was finally at hand now though, it seemed. None of the Arcean scientists had the fortitude to go toe to toe with a Tyranitar that furious, and as he recognized a few faces, Wes understood. His reputation preceded him. In his time he'd taken down Trainers and scientists alike. This time, they just ran. They found Ein at the top of the building's interior, smashing through every door and Trainer that decided to try to slow them down when they'd reached a lab terminal. His Espeon had become rather good at hacking databases on psychic intuition alone, as his instinct always led him to the juiciest information first, and if the enemy did somehow interrupt their download, all they would miss was extraneous data.

The Doctor turned, and sighed as he saw who had entered. Time had not been kind to him, nor had the Church, it seemed. His jawline bruises were relatively fresh, and his trademark hair flick had been shoddily chopped away, leaving an awkward raised clump as a remnant. He'd stopped combing as well, and the wild tangle of black hair, rapidly turning gray at the roots, suited him, as did the exhausted, sunken eyes. "Of course...it would be you...and with my Tyranitar, of all things. The nerve…"

Wes smirked, but his eyes had no pity left for this man. Not after so long, and so many Pokémon traumatized in his wake. "It's over, Doctor...from now on, you will never again make a Shadow Pokémon...Blizzard!"

The Tyranitar opened his maw once more, exhaling a furious flurry of icy death towards the human he had zero reservations about harming. He had seen all the others, fellow Pokémon of all genders and ages in those days, one by one, turned to the Shadow, and all the while the Doctor had continued 'perfecting' his masterpiece.

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Despite his rage, the ice didn't reach the smirking, aging human, who had reached for and subtly pressed a large red button on his console moments before the strike. As he did, he finally noticed the Espeon that was hacking his database. The AI interface in his workstation gave the 'Download Complete' tonal signal, and the smirking psychic cat Teleported away with the data spike in its jaws.

The Doctor angrily slammed his workstation, now devoid of data, as the heat in the room suddenly grew more intense, and the ice attack, for all its power, was essentially melted into a harmless puddle. The Tyranitar and his Trainer narrowed their eyes in unison. Wes glared at the Doctor as he recognized the terrain effect now taking place all around the cone of the volcano. "Tell me you didn't…" Deep veins of red pulsed along the rock, and he had a strong idea of what was coming.

"The key to a perfect Shadow Pokémon…" The Doctor said, straightening as he turned with a hint of mania in his voice, "Is to make them as strong as they can possibly be, before infusing them...and then once infused, have the door to their heart almost opened, and then shut again, no less than ten times! Until the Pokémon understands that it will never be free of this rage, and power. Not surprisingly… Primal Reversion makes Legendary Pokémon, usually so heroic, far more susceptible to the Shadow…" Ein grinned down at the Tyranitar. "You were only a prelude to this, even Cipher itself was little more than a setback...now, be burned away by the true power of my work!"

There was an all too familiar roar from below them, and Wes sighed. Only Ein would bury a Shadow Groudon underneath his lab. He eyed the Doctor again, and began to understand. This was his line in the sand...he would finally win here, or be burned away, likely by magma, which even then was rising.

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The heat was intense, and the two humans were sweating profusely as the lab was turned into an oven by its proximity to a Legendary Pokémon that really should've been asleep. Ein leapt backwards, atop his workstation, and pointed at Wes. "This is the man! We had Realgam Tower for a day thanks to him! Wipe him out! Precipice Blades!"

Wes swore, as he understood he needed to pull back. The mountain shook as the angered, Primal Groudon's eyes focused on him through the lab's giant window, and summoned the power. Surprisingly, this Groudon was not red, but rather a deep black, and radiated an aura of rage and Shadow that even he could see traces of, such was its strength.

Wes had his Tyranitar charge through the glass, which had finally started to melt under the desolate heat, and he recalled his partner as they jumped out over the bridge below, and landed. He glanced back, and saw four massive earthen spikes rise through the bottom of the lab, breaking it easily. The bridge he was standing on began to groan as the structure descended into the lava, and Wes quickly moved to the rocky edge of the mountainous interior.

He thought perhaps the move might've caught Ein with it, but alas, the mad Doctor appeared atop the Groudon's head after a few moments, and with a manic cackle, the pair rose towards the rock-covered top of this long dormant force of nature.

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Walker and Geralt had made a similar retreat after Wes's warning, and had been encircling on their flying types, alongside his Noivern. They'd been told that some kind of large explosion would likely happen, and that if Wes did indeed go in solo, they would help him better by waiting for his vengeance to run its course.

They figured said vengeance had gone poorly, when the mountain erupted with all the fury of a Primal Groudon. They quickly ascended over the thousands of flaming, burning rocks, and past the rising cloud of ash as well. The two shared a look, as they spied a man in a lab coat, with white armored plates beneath it, atop the head of the Legendary Pokémon. Evidently this Doctor Ein didn't care that he'd just taken out the shell covering his lab, and everyone inside of it.

They saw him point, and the Groudon answered his command with an Eruption. Chunks of metal slag that was once a lab now filled the sky alongside yet more rocks, and the surrounding area, which had thus far been unaffected by the firestorm to the north, now joined it, and made the ash cloud as a whole that much larger.

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His target had evidently been Wes, as the Noivern had, upon seeing the man responsible for infecting him with Shadow, raced down towards him, only changing course at the last few moments when he heard his Trainer call for him.

It wasn't long before Wes was on the back of his newest dragon typed snag, one that had proven quite strong, once purified. Like most modern Shadow Pokémon not captured as an egg, he'd been trained to a decent level of power, and then boosted with Shadow. The accumulated years of experience build-up had driven the relatively new party member to a level that almost matched the rest of their team. Evidently now was the time for him to pull his weight.

"Extremespeed..." The Noivern gave his Trainer a nod, as he inhaled deeply, and made the cones of his bat-like ears shift direction, and invert. With a boom, they shot towards the Groudon, namely the Doctor, as sound was expelled behind the dragon, sending him and his Trainer hurtling towards their opponents. His aim was just shy of the Doctor, but he hammered the Legendary Pokémon's skull with surprising strength, enough to shift even its colossal weight.

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Reeling, the Primal Groudon focused on the now poorly positioned dragon type, and as it rose to fly away, the massive Pokémon raised a claw, and Shadow energy surged forth around the four of them, forming a barrier of darkness, and preventing their flight.

"Oh no you don't...Shadow Break!" Ein's voice had kept its manic tone, though now irritation had sunk in. He'd be set back quite a ways after this, all of Fornia would feel the loss of the lab. Moreover they would soon also learn that most of the quicker fleeing scientists, who'd hauled tail as soon as they'd watched the Snatcher stride through their workplace with a Tyranitar, had offered themselves to Geralt and Walker's mercy, in exchange for their expertise. Geralt had found a way to send the Original Dragon a message via his own Espeon, and the Legendary Pokémon had transported them into the arms of Unova.

The shadowy fist, which had now manifested even to Wes' eyes, came slamming down onto the Noivern, who'd dumped his Trainer from his back, rather than flee. Wes recalled him as he fell roughly ten feet, landed hard, and summoned his ace in the hole. That particular partner would no doubt draw Ein's interest. He hopped atop the back of the rock and dragon typed raptor that had been playing the role of ace in the hole in his squad for several months now, and had proven himself invaluable in keeping Orre in the fight. Whatever Ein had done to this Pokémon, it had made him as fast as a Lycanroc, with the capacity to hit twice as hard, and he hadn't even evolved yet.

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The Doctor was quite obviously fuming, and sweating, as he was standing on a Groudon. He didn't seem to care at that moment though, as his near-perfect genetic masterpiece took the field, took the Snatcher on his back, and then began leaping across the smaller, nearby mountains in preparation for an attack, likely another Earthquake.

They skirted just around the barrier's shadowy edge, and Ein called another command that they were too far away to hear. Shadowy flames came their way in a torrent of fury, but the Veloraptar once more proved just how agile he could be. They did not strike though, and continued dodging the flames, to Ein's evident and increasing frustration.

Soon enough, they ran out of room to run, as much of the massive area the Shadow Hold encompassed now burned with purple flames of Shadow that eagerly reached for them whenever they came close. With a final leap, the raptor met the Shadow barrier with his feet, and using it for rapid redirection, launched himself at the Legendary Pokémon.

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His Trainer hurled a familiar purple ball, the very one that Ein had seen, from the safety of Realgam's stands, snag his masterpiece of a Tyranitar. A dark look came over his countenance as he realized the Snagger's plan. "You bastard Trainers...and your damned STAB…" The truth was that his Groudon had taken far more damage than he cared to admit, and it seemed like Wes was looking to knock the Legendary out, and then snag it. Such tactics, like capturing fainted Pokémon, were usually frowned upon, but Wes had zero Muks to give. This was war, and victory meant survival.

The Tyranitar reappeared with a roar, appearing almost twenty feet in the air, understanding his role as he took in the battle, and made his move with the momentum his ball had shifted to him. He slammed into the ground just before the shattered mountain the giant Groudon was still standing in, and the ground responded to his power, shaking the entire chain of smaller mountains with its fury as the energy was guided into slamming the Groudon once more. The cone of his volcano, what little remained, shattered, and the steaming, wounded primal Legendary began stomping angrily towards the Tyranitar.

The barrier of Shadow keeping them low in the air fell as the move struck home, but not before Ein shouted a counter-command lost beneath the roar of pain from the Groudon. One of the Legendary Pokémon's claws lit with fighting type energy, as it charged his Tyranitar, and sent the massive beast flying as the move connected.

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Wes had taken to the sky once more, this time on his Skarmory, and recalled his fainted partner before he crashed into a mountain from the force behind the quadruple effective move. It seemed Ein could play to type advantage as well. The transferred inertia nearly ripped the ball from his hand, but thankfully, Master Balls could handle such stress. Wes looked the Groudon over again, only to notice that the human on his head was administering a familiar potion.

He swore, as he recognized a Full Restore, and he contacted his support. He was two powerhouses down against a revitalized legend. He might as well use the aid he'd been given. Geralt and Walker swiftly joined the fray, as did Ein's other Pokémon soon after. A Gyarados and Rhyperior joined the Legendary, each undoubtedly sporting the same Shadowy curse, and battle was joined.

Anything resembling the rules of combat quickly fell apart into utter chaos, as wide-area Shadow moves whittled down their strength, and kept them from fleeing. It seemed that Ein had mastered using Shadow moves and had even come up with a few new ones that Michael had never reported seeing. The battle raged for almost two hours, before the Doctor and his opponents had exhausted their store of potions, and their final partners were on their last legs.

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Surprising no one, Wes's Umbreon and Espeon were the last standing on his team, though the revivified raptor was still acting as his method of avoiding Legendary scale attacks, and Geralt was down to just Ghost, who he was riding to avoid flaming rocks and lava. Only Walker still had all three of his partners, though he stayed on his Pidgeot, keeping it from battle as his monstrously strong Tauros and Sandslash abused the advantage of the Primal Groudon's single weakness with yet another series of Earthquakes and same type attack bonuses.

The area around the lab, for at least thirty miles in a circle around the now volcanic crater, had been turned into an inferno of ash, fire, and shattered ground. Other Arceans had appeared over the course of the fighting, drawn by the eruption, but the three humans Tao had assigned to this mission could handle peons.

Like an increasing number of Pokémon the world over, this Groudon had not been limited to four moves either, and its rampage seemed unstoppable. Out of Revives and potions, the three men gathered for a final stand against the beast, alongside their partners.

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Over the course of the battle, Ein's boots had slowly started fusing to the heated Groudon's black scales, effectively sealing his fate to the enraged Legendary. Everyone was exhausted after the ferocity of the fight. Even damaged as he was, the Groudon had not relented. It was uniquely colored, Legendary, and infused with the most advanced methods of Shadow Infusion to date. Ein had crafted the perfect beast for defending his lab, but the three men the Original Dragon had launched at him, not unlike an arrow at a perceived weak point in Fornia's armor, had stymied his plans in less than a day, again, and now his strongest weapon was on its last legs.

The Doctor reached for a Max Potion, finding only one, but as he tried spraying it, the bottle fell to pieces, and the coagulated boiled contents of the potion covered the front of his robe with an appropriate yellowish smear, amidst the black caused by the rain of ash he was all but standing in constantly, thanks to Groudon's height. The Doctor looked across, from what remained of his mountain, to the only slightly scorched tops of the peaks nearby, where his enemies had retreated to in the massive wake of the lava and Shadow attacks.

Wes and Geralt were speaking, and then, a grin came over the Snatcher's face. Ein didn't fancy himself a lip reader, but "Do it" wasn't exactly hard to make out. Ein slowly raised an eyebrow as the two other men with him, reported as members of the International Ranger Force that had taken to being irritatingly effective all across the globe, raised their arms, and began tracing a pattern in the air, or rather, practicing it. Then, he saw their fingers begin to glow, as they traced the same pattern again, in perfect sync, and left the glowing emblem hovering in the air between them.

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Ein had focused mostly on Shadow Pokémon throughout his career, but even he had heard the rumors of the Rangers supposed 'secret power', which put them on par with the Aura Guardians of old. The ability to summon Pokémon, if they knew the Sign for it. A familiar cry, one which had often echoed in his dreams immediately after leaving Cipher, rang through the air. From the first embers of the rising sun in the east, just under the cloud of ash covering the sky, marking an end to the tumultuous night, came a comet of Sacred Fire. A similar ball of fire had ruined his boss' and thus Ein's, chance of continuing with their plans. Instead of slamming into a helicopter, this time, it took the form of a massive multicolored bird, and landed behind his three foes, leaning down towards them.

"Shadow Fire!" Ein shouted, before they could get comfortable and start talking, sharing power, or handing out magical game-ending items. The mystical bird turned its eyes to the fire typed attack, and as the flames purified, they seemed to think better of striking Ho-Oh, the source of what many called the 'Sacred Flame' by avoiding it entirely and fading into nothing. It was an old story in the western regions, but one that claimed the Trainer who could tame Ho-Oh would gain the secret of its powerful fire, along with immortality. Naturally, the greed of anyone seeking such a thing kept the bird from being so much as sighted for many years, until word of it had turned to legend in the face of limited human lifespans.

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While not as active as its counterparts on some continents, the northwestern hemisphere's guardian, who'd had one of its favored trio stolen by this very man, now decided to get involved. They had tainted the Guardian of the Sea in these lands, which very much needed the presence of a Lugia. Though the Lugia in question had indeed been saved from the Shadow, the man-made rot had persisted, and the sacred bird had done as it always had, since the First Dragon tamed the continent. It minded its own business, and out of that lack of attention, the Shadow had flourished. No longer.

The Legendary bird eyed the three humans, and the red eye centered on Wes. A feminine, but no less thunderous voice echoed in his skull with, at his best guess, a volume that matched Tao. "Long have you been fighting the Shadow…" Memories came rising to the surface, but none of it was worth remembering before a certain event which occurred not long after he decided to leave Team Snag'em. The acquisition of the item that had made him a legendary Trainer among those who called the Orre region home.

His mind was once more drawn back into the same cycle that had been fueling his state of fury, as he remembered his first journey. As before, he determined Ein was irrevocably, unequivocally, responsible. For all of it. He glanced down at his left arm, as it began tingling, though not from any natural stimuli. His Snag Machine was shining. Cracks appeared in the casing, golden light shining from beneath them, and in an instant, the device that had been on his arm for years now, shattered to pieces. He knew where the power had come from, and he glared up at the Ho-Oh.

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"How am I supposed to save that Groudon now? You just doomed us!" Wes swore colorfully, and turned towards Ein, and his partner. The Groudon was still panting, but he knew better than to give an enemy a chance to catch their breath.

"All I did was release the restraints on your power. You no longer require such a device." Wes turned back to the bird, as the angry look deepened at her words.

"I don't have magic powers. I can't burn the Shadow from Pokémon with a wave of my hand." Wes swore again, and then whistled to his last two Pokémon. They joined him, and he began to walk towards the 'path' down their chosen peak.

"Would you like to?" Ho-Oh asked. The Snatcher stopped in his tracks, and again met the bird's gaze. Patient as stone, she had not moved. "You have snatched thousands of Pokémon by this point. Have you not wondered at the energy that fuels their snagging and purification?"

Wes turned completely. "Celebi does it. It's Time Vortex energy, used to revert the Shadow infused cells back to normal, once the Pokémon's mind lets its body achieve a measure of homeostasis, of course. Usually through a bond with a Trainer, as its heart opens, the darkness is purified."

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The Legendary bird's rainbow feathers ruffled as she made her version of a chuckling sound. "Almost...but not quite. You Humans have come far in the fields of scientific understanding, but you yet lack the ability to understand just how many types of energy exist."

"Nineteen." Wes muttered, unamused.

"That you know of." There was mirth in the voice, but it seemed the bird was finally going to stop irritating him, as it leaned forward, and gained a serious look in its eye once more. "Listen well, little Humans." Geralt and Walker leapt a foot in surprise as the voice, which had not reached for their minds before now, as Ho-Oh pulled them into the mental web of conversation at the speed of thought. "The dimensions of Time and Space, and those who maintain and make use of their awesome power, can always be traced back to the Light, and the being who resides at the center of it. For He is the one who created, and ordered them, such as they are." A look of surprise came over Wes' face as he processed the bird's words. He could've sworn the rainbow phoenix was smirking at him, but then, birds didn't have lips. "You have been using the Light the entire time...all your machines did was tap into what was residing in the Vortex's energy, and draw out the powerful purifying qualities within. If you do not believe Humanity has come far enough to manipulate Vortex energy, you need only ask your flame-haired friend why his backpack is bigger on the inside, for proof."

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With that, the Legendary Pokémon once more ascended into the air, and leveled a gaze at the Groudon. "Go...I grant you the means to save as many of those fallen to Shadow as you can. All three of you. Do not abuse your gift, it will not be given again." As the calming feminine tones ended, the three men looked up at the majestic sight of a Ho-Oh in flight, and even through the ash-covered sky, a pillar of Light forced its way through the cover in a very bright, very obvious beam from above. The three gasped in unison as they felt it, a brief surge that caused their hands to shine gold, and their bodies to be filled with a genuine sense of peace.

Geralt looked nauseous, Walker had a calm, knowing smile, but Wes was smirking. He let the power fade, then summoned it again. It appeared as a sort of claw around his hand, one that seemed very familiar. The smirk widened, as he realized Ho-Oh had not been as full of it as he'd assumed. Walker had managed a similar test of his power, though for some reason his beard had initially shone with the Light, rather than his hands. It moved to his limbs as he realized he could control it, and being a martial artist, shifting the energy became rather easy for him. All four limbs began shining gold as the Ranger prepared for yet more combat, by dropping into a martial arts stance.

Ein had a good view from his all but welded position atop the Groudon's head. He'd stopped feeling the painful heat a while ago. Unable to stop Ho-Oh's benevolence, he was not surprised when his three foes, now glowing with the force that was apparently the polar opposite of the Shadow, began charging towards him. One atop his own creation, no less. He watched the Ho-Oh depart, and grinned. It was not the first time a Legendary Pokémon had underestimated his ability to come through unfavorable situations intact.

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As the Doctor looked beyond his charging opponents, up at the Ho-Oh in the sky, and then down again in defeat, something caught his eye on the horizon. The look of grim acceptance of fate changed, and the Doctor began laughing like a madman. The Groudon's exhausted, furious eyes shifted to the human, and the Doctor composed himself as he drew a Dark Ball from his stained lab coat. "Return, Groudon."

The three light wielders charging the madman stared in genuine surprise as Ein recalled the massive Pokémon, easily over a hundred feet tall, into his ball. The man who'd been perched atop him began to plummet. He hit the ground long before they got close to him, and it was Wes, atop the revivified raptor, who found the man's broken body, still clinging to life.

The Doctor had blood leaking from his mouth, as was common with internal organs crushed by the power of gravity. He grinned weakly up at Wes. "You're too...late...they're here, you fool…you're all...dead." Wes looked behind him immediately and gave Geralt and Walker a signal to halt. Still some distance behind, they did. It didn't take long to understand why.

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A single, rather massive sphere of technological death, colored entirely black, descended over the peak they had just occupied. With it, came old Earth style fighter aircraft who blotted out the sky. Their numbers had been diminished by clashing with Nate's unbroken string of victories, and sabotage, but there were still enough that had been based in Fornia to handle three men. Wes and the other two regrouped by the fallen Doctor, recalled their partners, and took up defensive positions, desperately hoping their newfound power would defend them. It did, forming a shield over their kneeling forms as the aircraft came screaming towards them.

Their pilot's aim was about as good as the rest of the Crusaders they'd fought here, but thankfully, Dark Balls appeared to become useless when hit with enough Light. After several useless strafing passes, the pilots realized what was happening, and moments later, they ceased their run, and the black orb began moving towards them.

A viewscreen of sorts slid upwards as it came within five feet of them, revealing Caleb Pravus himself, chilling comfortably on what looked like a stone throne, fitted to the sphere's insides. The classically villainous looking man was grinning entirely too confidently. Geralt groaned. "If I have to listen to another speech, I'll save you the trouble and end myself now."

There was a new hardness to the Prophet's eyes, or perhaps that kind of glare was only for the battles that weren't public. "You couldn't have possibly expected me to ignore such an obvious incursion in my own back yard. I assumed Ein could handle it…" He glanced at the broken pile of coughing, mad Doctor in the nearby Groudon footprint he'd landed in. "But it seems not, and now, you all have awakened the power as well. It's about time things started kicking off…"

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Darkrai-esque claws sprung out from either side of the sphere as it zipped forward in less than an eyeblink. The grinning Prophet made a motion with his arm from within the sphere, and with the Shadow, pulled a single ball from Wes' belt as he passed by. The other hand made short work of Geralt and Walker as it smacked them with a wide, open palm. The two endured the hit with the Light, but were tossed a fair distance away, where they hit the ground hard, and rolled to a groaning stop.

The Prophet glanced around with an almost paranoid movement of his head, and then summoned the revivified raptor from the snagged ball. His floating death sphere was radiating an aura of visible Shadow, and now that it was closer, Wes spied a familiar pair of hateful eyes staring down at him. Only one Pokémon had eyes like those, though they seemed half real, compared to the sphere they were hovering above. Still new to seeing such things, he didn't recognize that the Darkrai was suffusing the shell, not the man.

The raptor snarled, and lunged at the ceraglass protecting the sphere. It was a credit to his claws that he managed to scratch it, but the thickness and durability of Imperium blending techniques was second to none. Expensive, for foreign entities, but not for a cult that profited from 'donations' that was over ninety percent of their peon's paychecks. The raptor's eyes went blank as a sphere of dark energy immobilized him in a waking nightmare.

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"Remember…" The dark-haired man said with a grin. His goatee helped make the obvious evil theme he had going that much more intimidating. "Remember what you were...understand what you are…"

After several minutes, the raptor's eyes blinked back into focus, and regarded the man. By that point, Wes had been joined by the rest of his squad, but the barrier of Shadow from Pravus's machine kept them from interfering in the closing of the raptor's heart. He had grown strong as a part of Wes' team. The Shadow would make him terrifying.

Once the raptor was fully snared, the ceraglass shield rose, and Pravus himself reached out to his lab's creation, holding a Draco Plate. It had taken a while to arrive, but they had found more than enough dragon shards to make a full Plate by strip mining Pineus Peak, though even their knowledge had proved futile in replicating or otherwise shifting the form of the Plate. Reforming it had been all they could achieve. The divine object soared from his hand and attached to the raptor's chest area by itself. Then, it started to glow.

The raptor's vertical irises went wide as the power of his blood was awakened by the power inherent in the ancient human's devices wrought from shards of fallen Alpha Pokémon clones. The rock-like protrusions, as well as the typing, vanished and left the Pokémon part dragon, part something else entirely. Where the rocks had fallen, his skin had turned from mottled brown to a darker shade of black, and now seemed to be covered with a subtle layer of what looked like feathers. The teeth peeking from his elongated snout grew sharper, the claws lengthened, and the Pokémon's body as a whole gained several feet of height, and filled out with bulging, tensed muscles.

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The barrier of Shadow fell, once the deed was done. The Prophet lifted his hand from the raptor's head, and then turned him on the three men who were now being surrounded by Crusaders in armor that, in comparison to what they'd faced thus far, seemed to be some kind of improved version of the standard Crusader battle armor.

Being somewhat experienced with finding themselves in situations where they were surrounded and outnumbered, the three men chosen by the Dragon of Unova had a fallback plan for this kind of scenario. Geralt pulled his last pair of regular Revives from a bag pocket and tossed one to Wes. Upon learning they both had Espeon, they had instructed their psychic cats, who seemed to get along, to work together if necessary to ready a last-ditch Teleport. Geralt had no intention of being a prisoner again, and neither Walker nor Wes had a desire to go through what Geralt had told them of in as little detail as possible. The scars he'd shown them had said enough.

The now seemingly rabid raptor charged them as the two revived, and still very much hurt Espeon focused their mental powers. Together, they could recall to a location their Trainers had both visited at some point, which in this case was Rosa's southern command center, a Pokémon Center that had been caught in the fighting early on and turned into a bunker of sorts as the war progressed through Texico East.

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Being one of the only Pokémon yet ready for battle, Walker's Sandslash protected their little group with a Rock Tomb, as beams of fire, ice, and electric energy shot towards them. They hammered the defensive boulders hard, but as the Veloraptar came close, they could see the rage in his eyes. Wes knew he'd have no problem leaping their boulders and tearing them to shreds.

As he looked up, ready to try a last-ditch snag on his newest partner, he instead saw Ho-Oh. She winked at him, and a cylindrical barrier of rainbow light repelled the leaping raptor. He slashed at the barrier twice more, before settling to slowly stalking around it, waiting for a chance to smash it, and destroy those within, as he'd been commanded. It did not take long for his chance to come.

It all seemed to happen at once. A Dark Ball, launched from the once-more enclosed black sphere protecting Pravus, hit the Ho-Oh in the sky, and pulled the rainbow Pokémon into its dark depths. There was an ominous tone, like a bell, as the ball dinged shut, and infused its occupant with Shadow energy. The rainbow barrier disappeared, and the raptor leapt, finding himself face-to-face with an Ultra Snag Ball empowered by the Light.

None of the Arceans saw whether the ball captured their newest acquisition or not, but by the time they got close enough to look, the three men were gone, as was the raptor.

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The obsidian sphere 'touched' down, hovering inches from the ash-covered terrain as the front part of it opened, and filled the surrounding air with a truly foul odor. The Dark Ball thrown from the sphere zipped into the Prophet's hand, and he pocketed it with a grim look. He'd been so close to retaining the raptor, but with a Ho-Oh as a prize instead, it was an equal trade-off. Without Ein, he couldn't make full use of the raptor anyway, properly typed or not.

Two of his soldiers accompanied him as Pravus made his way by foot to the broken, wheezing form of Doctor Ein. He stared down at the broken man with a look of contempt. "There he is...the fallen Doctor Ein yet clinging to life...fetch a medi-pod."

"Yes, my Prophet." The two soldiers moved quickly to do as commanded, and Pravus knelt down to Ein, who weakly raised a hand holding a Dark Ball.

"The Groudon...is still ours...but the lab is...gone." He didn't mention that they'd gotten its data. The Prophet nodded, and took the ball from his hand, pocketing it as well, as the soldiers returned with the pod in question. Like most modern vehicles, it was equipped to float just above the ground, and made harsh terrain one less problem to deal with. Ein would be crooked, and he'd need new legs, maybe new innards, but his brain was intact, and that was all Pravus had ever required from him.

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The Arceans then returned to Sacreus, and continued to wait for the continent-spanning cloud of ash to make its way east. They had been tracking the progress of the cloud for months, and with this latest generous addition, the early reports said it would be more than enough to cover everything, as the Prophet had wanted, thanks in no small part to the mid-winter winds driving the war, and the current stalemate. All across the front lines, those in combat, and those sick of freezing their genitalia off, had slowly become accustomed to the ashen snow, until they stopped caring about it entirely.

With Tao distracted by everything else he needed to coordinate in order to give the new Dragon Empire a fighting chance, he'd overlooked the ash as an unnecessary weather effect, added for flare and intimidation more than anything else. To one who could clear the skies with a single roar, or several if he felt compelled to clear the entire continent, such things were better left to be dealt with until they became an issue. Occupied as he was, he did not have the energy to spend on cleansing the skies of ash, and thus the Prophet's plans came ever closer to a head.