"Speech"

"telepathy/thought"

Special Pokémon later

Chapter 1

Mark

Village Bridge

6/13/2009

10:27 PM/ 1027 Hours

The rain pounded down around me. I ran across Village Bridge, clutching the Pokémon to my chest. Its breathing was laboured, and it was bleeding. I needed to get to Shannon's house, but I am getting tired... I hope she's awake... I ran into an alley between two houses, hoping to Arceus that the guards wouldn't see me. They were being loud, telling jokes that, even though I listened to them, i did not understand them. Their uniforms reminded me of old tales I had read about of the Shinobi, an ancient clan of trainers that specialized in stealthy Pokemon, such as Treeko. They walked past me, not even glancing at the alley. I waited till their footsteps faded, then continued running towards Shannon's house. Please, Arceus, be awake. I ran up to her door, and knocked. The door opened, and there stood Shannon, still in her pajamas. She gasped. "Mark? What are you doing-" I stumbled inside.

"No time... to explain... Ralts... hurt... help..." Then I collapsed.

When I woke up, I saw the Ralts from earlier beside me in a bed. I rolled over and looked out towards the window, and saw sunlight filtering through the drawn curtains. The Ralts was breathing evenly, and was snoring cutely. I scooted over and hugged it, and sighed in relief.

"We made it, Ralts... We made it..."

Village Bridge

6/13/2015

1:23 PM/1323 Hours

I shook my head. Shannon sat beside me, looking at me with concerned eyes. "Mark, you alright?" I nodded.

"Yeah, don't worry." I turned towards my other side, where Flower was keeping watch. "I was just remembering the day I brought Flower here. You remember that day?" She nodded, and smiled.

"Flower was so cute! Remember when she started walking?" I nodded again, smiling. Shannon and I raised Flower like she was our own daughter. She was a capable fighter, and a wonderful friend. Standing up, i walked over to where Flower sat on the edge of the building, looking out over the rest of the town.

"Hey, Flower." She turned towards me and smiled.

"Why hello, Mark. How are you and Shannon doing?"

"Good, good. So, what does it look like out there?" She sent me a psychic visual of where the guards were on their patrols.

"As you can see, they aren't moving from their paths much, if at all. I think we'll be fine. But, there's something I wanted to talk to both you and Shannon about." I nodded and called Shannon over. "I'll go ahead and set up the telelink." Flower started stringing our minds together so we could speak freely without having to speak aloud. It helped to communicate silently. Flower started. "I've picked up faint cries for help in the Lostlorn Forest. I think there should be a Pokémon there, and we should hurry and help it while we can."

"And how do you suggest we do this? It's a nightmare just leaving a town or city, let along get into a government controlled area!" Shannon retorted.

"This will be difficult due to the anti-teleportation force field they put up against the place... Flower, you can bend light, right?" Flower nodded. "Great, so do you think that you can cloak us? Like, make us invisible?" Flower contemplated for a moment, then waved her hand over my arm, which proceeded to disappear.

"I can make us invisible for a short time. Cloaking myself requires intense amounts of energy, but doing three beings at once requires much more. I will only be able to cloak us for... 10 minutes." I smiled.

"That's all we'll need. Where is the signal coming from?" Flower sent Shannon and I a detailed overhead view of Lostlorn Woods. She put a small red dot with circles rippling away from it, to represent the call for help. It was coming from close to a trailer car in the middle of the woods. After we soaked in our target, Flower collapsed the telelink. We stood up. As I brushed off our pants, I said, "We should get rested. I see no reason to not go tomorrow. Does anyone disagree?" Shannon raised her hand.

"Why can't we go now? It's only around ten past two." I laid my hand on Shannon's shoulder.

"Because, fair maiden, we don't have a plan, just a goal and a way of sneaking places. But where, do you think, we can get in at? I would help, but I think Flower is better at that kind of thing then I am." Shannon thumped me on the head. She hated it when I called her 'fair maiden'. I don't know why, but when I do, she gets really mad at me. So I make it a point to say it as often as possible, much to her annoyance. I heard Flower giggling.

"I'll get to work on the plan as quickly as possible. Don't worry, I'll have the path ready by tomorrow." I nodded.

"We leave at 1000 hours![Or ten in the morning.]" I headed downstairs to get some sleep before tomorrow. And because I was feeling lazy.

Village Bridge, Mark's bedroom

6/14/2015

2:06 AM/0206 Hours

I awoke to someone shaking my arm. I turned and looked up at them. It was Shannon. I sat up and glanced at my alarm clock. It read 2:06. I rubbed my eyes. "Shannon, why the hell did you wake me up at two in the morning?" She glanced around.

"I, uh, needed to talk to you. It's really important." I sighed and got up.

"What is it then?" She sighed and said,

"Follow me. You'll see when we get there." I walked out of the door. We quickly ascended the stairs to her roof. I finally asked her,

"Okay, what the hell... did you..." I stopped when I looked out at the night. The moon was gone, and the stars provided the only light. In the darkness, I could feel a powerful presence, but I did not know what it was. "What's here?" Shannon ran forward, and turned a flashlight on. Laying on the ground was a large black Pokémon, who had white hair like smoke, and red spikes around its neck. I gasped. "What the hell is it? Is it a Pokémon?" Shannon nodded.

"Yes. It is an extremely rare Pokémon, however, so most people don't believe it exists." I ran to the Pokémon, and laid my hand on it. It's skin was smooth as silk.

"What's its name?" A deep voice rang out over the night.

Darkrai. I am Darkrai. I glanced around, then down at the Pokémon.

"Was that you?" Darkrai nodded. "Where did you come from?" He pointed north. There wasn't anything that way. I sighed. "Give me a name, please." He nodded.

New Moon island of the Sinnoh Region. I nodded again, in understanding. Sinnoh was a long away from here. I could understand his lack of energy.

"Why are you here?"

A crime syndicate resurfaced in the region, known as Team Plasma. They threatened to destroy everything with a weapon found in the Kalos region if their demands were not met.

I asked, "What were their demands?" Darkrai grimaced.

That trainers hand over all Pokémon to Team Plasma.

Shannon asked, "What would have happened, if the trainer was found to have hidden a Pokémon?" Darkrai sighed, as if he didn't want to talk about it. But, he continued on:

They would find the Pokémon, I have no idea how, arrest the trainer, and execute every living thing under the house by burning them alive, putting them out, and covering their bodies with salt. After that, they cut off each of their limbs until they slowly bled out. Shannon covered her mouth. I looked down, shocked. That much cruelty... It was unheard of today. Darkrai closed his eyes, the stared directly into mine. I need to give you these. He handed me four Pokeballs, and one Dusk Ball. I stared at them, than him. They were my trainers. He gave them to me, and told me to find the one worthy enough to have them. I clutched them, and asked him one question:

"Why. Why choose me?" He responded,

Because, I heard your conversation yesterday. You are quite intelligent, and I can tell that you are a skilled battler. You also have an empathetic kindness I have never seen the likes of in any other person. He stiffened. Someone's coming, down the road. I sat up quickly.

"Shannon! We need to get downstairs, NOW!" She nodded, and stood up. I turned towards Darkrai. "Can you help at all?" He started floating, the plumes on his arms and head flowing quickly. he nodded. We ran down the stairs, and reached the floor just as the knocking began.

"This is Team Plasma! We have received large energy readings from this location! Open the door or we will break it down!" I grimaced, and turned to Darkrai, then Shannon.

"You two got this?" They both nodded. Shannon picked up her two Pokeballs, and tossed them, a Umbreon and Espeon named Yoru and Taiyo. Darkrai held a ball of spinning darkness in his hand. I ran down the halls a bit until I found Flowers room. I could hear faintly someone almost punching the door, and yelling,

"OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!" I shook Flower awake. She looked at me in surprise, then got a concerned look on her face when she saw mine. It must have looked bad. She asked me softly,

"What's wrong?" I picked her up and carried her down the halls, while relaying the past events to her.

"Long story short, Plasma found us. I don't know why it took five years, but they found us. I guess we got cocky or something, and let something slip. Can you fight at the moment?" She shook her head.

"I'm still half-asleep, so I can't stand on my own, let alone use my psychic powers. I'll need some time to rest." I nodded.

"I'll hold you until then, Okay?" I looked at her and smiled. "Nothing will happen to you, I promise."

Did anyone ever tell you that it was a bad idea to make a promise you weren't sure you could keep?

I should be more careful of what I say.