The dark clouds over the plateaux cast a dark, gloomy tone across the land. The trees that were once bright and full of life, now seemed stiff and bone-like. The soft earth now more like gravel. The air thick with worry. It was quiet. Except for a sudden rustling.

"Greniiiinja! (Hellllo!)" Greninja croaked, leaping from tree top to tree top. "Greninja Gren?! (Anyone home?!)"

Leaping from one tree to another, Greninja's webbed foot broke through a thin tree branch, causing him to fall to the ground, lying flat on his front. His pink eyes became lines as another blue blur effortlessly made the jump to the tree he failed.

"Lucario Car Lucar Lucario. (Given the immense danger our Master has put himself in, could you make an attempt at holding your concentration)." Lucario remarked.

Greninja shook his head and jumped up to Lucario's level. "Greninja. Greninja Grenin. (I am concentrating. It's not my fault the stupid branch broke.)" Greninja looked around the immediate area and sighed. "Greninja, ninja Greninja nin…ja? (I'm not one to doubt Kai, but don't you think his theory is a little…whack?)"

Lucario closed his eyes and raised his aura sensing appendages." Lucario Lucar. Lucario Lu. Lucario Lucario. Car, car Lucario. (I do admit, if what Master has said were true. Then I'm certain I would have sensed it earlier. Although even when Darkrai was in front of me, I failed to make the assumption I was facing a Pokémon. Perhaps I am still just as rusty as when we arrived in this world)."

Greninja's pink irises returned and he sighed. "Gre…Greninja. Greninja Greninja, Greninja. Gre Greninja. (Yeah well…what are we gonna do. I don't exactly regret taking it easy with you guys and learning Kai's language. Even though right now, he told us not to use it.)"

"Car. Lucario. Lucario, car car Lucario Lucar, Lucario. Lucario Lucario. (Nor do I. Although, you cannot disagree. If we were to have trained further and maintained and surpassed the levels were when we defeated Team Flare and the champion. Perhaps we would have already defeated them here and be back in Kalos)."

"Gre… (I mean…)" Greninja tried to carry on the conversation when a sudden rustling, made Greninja perk up and turn his head behind him. "Gre ninja. (Yo Lucario.)"

"Car. Lucar. (I know. I sense them.)" Lucario slowly opened his eyes and lowered his appendages. "Lucario Lucario. (It appears that Master's theory was in fact, not whack.)"

The rustling repeated itself, with grass shaking in a direction away from the two.

"Greninja. (And we've got a runner.)" Greninja leaped down to the ground and began chasing the rustling down, followed closely by Lucario.

"Lucario. Lucario. (You do not need to run. We do not wish to fight)." Lucario attempted to negotiate.

The rustling went stopped under a nearby tree, when a sudden white blue blurred up into the tree branches, making them lightly rustle. Greninja and Lucario stopped under the tree, staring up at the foliage.

"Lucario. Lucario car. (Please come down. Remaining at that height will do nothing to deter us.)" Lucario informed.

Greninja stepped up. "Greninja Grenin. (Might wanna leave this to the people Pokémon here.)"

Lucario watched Greninja slowly approach the tree and backed away, closing his eyes to sense aura. "Lucar. (If you insist.)"

Greninja casually stretched his front legs over his head and yawned, lying his back against the trunk of the tree and resting against it. "Greee~ Greninja, Greninja Gren. (Hmmm~ This is a pretty comfy tree y'know, gotta say you pick the best running away spots.)"

The tree rustled above Greninja's head making a small portion of leaves fall of their branches and gently drift downwards. Greninja saw them coming and opened his mouth to let out a puff of air that blew the leaves away from himself.

"Greninja Gre, Greninja ninja. (Clever trying to use grass against water. Of course, flying beats grass.)" Greninja joked, before looking up at the leaves above him. "Greninja, Greninja. Greninja Greninja- (Look I get that you're scared, believe me I've been there too. But if you just come with me and have my trainer explain what's going on-)"

The tree rustled more violently, its branches bending under a sudden force, that followed a white blur leaping away.

Greninja suddenly stood up. "Gre! Greninja! Greninja! (Wait! I wasn't finished talking yet! I was about to get to the point!)"

"Car Lucario. (Perhaps next time you should have started with that.)" Lucario judged while he opened his eyes.

Greninja dropped his front legs in disappointment when a loud boom echoed from the distance. Greninja and Lucario looked in the direction of the destructive sound with a shared look of concern.

"Lucario Lucar. (I do hope the others are having better fortune than the two of us.)" Lucario hoped.

Greninja narrowed his eyes, leaping back up into the treetops. "Gre. Greninja. Greninja, Gren. (Come on. We don't have time to hope. Kai's counting on us. So, try to keep up.)"

Greninja began jumping greater distances than before, keeping his eyes and ears open for any activity. Lucario followed after him, sensing the aura from the surrounding life to guide himself and search the immediate area.

"Lucar. Lucario. (Be careful Master. I swear we won't fail you.)" Lucario murmured.

Nimbly jumping off into the distance, the area went still. Some of the clouds in the area began to split, shedding some light down on the foliage. Foliage that began that seemed to shake and move in the direction Greninja and Lucario travelled.

At the epicentre of the grey nightmarish field Darkrai had set up, the nightmare mythical Pokémon in question floated menacingly over the ground, locking eyes with Kai. Both of their eyes were a brilliantly bright blue, yet the aura's they were giving off couldn't be more opposite. Darkrai's an antagonistic red emanating from its black body, whereas Kai's was a calm defensive blue that primarily shone from his irises.

'I don't hear any of my team coming. Looks like it's just going to be down to me and Slurpuff to finish this.' Kai thought while stepping forward. With each footstep he could feel his senses tingle all over his body through his overclocked semblance.

Darkrai growled at his approach, surrounding its clawed hands with vile energy. "Despite your motivations I cannot allow you to defeat me trainer!" Darkrai weightily thrusted their palms forward blasting off a wave of Dark Pulse. "I'm ending this! Once and for all!"

Kai's eyes flashed and his body moved pre-emptively lunged to the left with impressive reflexes, evading the special move with ease. Kai stamped his boots on the earth and quickly charged forward with both metal palms on his weapons crackling with electricity.

'His reflexes have improved drastically! I won't be able to land a hit the same way I was able with the other humans!' Darkrai quickly thought.

Kai stretched both gauntlet hands firing electric beams from both at Darkrai. Darkrai evaded low by sinking down into its shadow, squirming off to the edges of the area. Kai's Perception highlighted Darkrai's movements in the shadows, their movements making him frown.

"I need to keep it contained. Limit its movements." Kai looked towards Slurpuff while widely swiping the air. "Slurpuff use Flamethrower and cover the ground!"

Slurpuff assuredly nodded and widely opened her jaw, breathing a ferocious stream of fire that she moved in an arc, setting the earth a lit. Dakrai's shadow slithered on the lower plateaux floor when a wall of flames cut it off, forcing it to squirm away.

"That's it Slurpuff! Keep turning up the heat! Direct it closer to me!" Kai further ordered.

Slurpuff kept exhaling a steady stream of fire, directing Darkrai around like a Mareep to a pen. Darkrai struggled to find a safe route free of damage, its routes one by one being cut off. Around the area the other Huntresses' in training watched Kai's strategy coming together with a glimmer of hope.

"Come on Kai! You can do it!" Ruby encouraged from the background.

"Yeah, take it down!" Yang further encouraged.

In her own corner, Robin anxiously watched Kai fight with a serious look in her eyes. "Don't you dare lose Kai…"

Slurpuff's attack kept going, keeping Darkrai continuously shifting from side to side. It grunted in its shadow when the heat from the rising fire heated up the earth it was hiding in. 'First my Feint Attack and now my shadow? How sharp is this trainer's sight?!'

Darkrai's eye opened and its form shot out of the ground and into the air where the fire could not loner reach it. Darkrai suddenly lurched from the poison suddenly striking back, forcing it to halt its movements.

Kai raised his arms up at the mid-air Darkrai, while narrowing his eyes. "Great work Slurpuff! Now it's in my sights!"

Both gauntlets fired off two parallel beams of electricity Dust at lightning speeds through the air. Darkrai stared at the oncoming light, but was unable to move in time due to the poison limiting its movements. The two beams of energy reached Darkrai in a massive shockwave of pulsating light and sparks. Darkrai fell out of the sky with its eyes squinted, but still very much conscious.

Kai brought his arms back down to his sides. "Still not enough…"

Darkrai repositioned themself in mid-air, raising its arms to concentrate dark aura above their head. "Dark Pulse!"

The negative pulsating aura tore through the air making its way towards Kai. Thinking fast Kai tightened his right gauntlet's fist, shooting it off towards a nearby tree and wrapping itself on a tree branch. Kai tugged on his gauntlet to pull himself towards the tree just in time to avoid the Dark Pulse blowing up the targeted ground.

Kai crouched his legs and landed on his feet on the side of the tree trunk. Looking up at Darkrai he suddenly felt the inside of his head convulse in pain, causing him top instinctually place his remaining gauntlet's hand on the side of his head.

"AH! My head…No! I just need to fight for a bit longer…" Kai struggled. "Slurpuff…Use Fake Tears again! Hurry!"

Slurpuff sniffed the air, turning to Darkrai up in the air. "Do not worry Kai Parfume! My teary parfume shall bring this nightmarish parfume to its knees!"

Slurpuff released a flood of tears from her eyes while moaning into the air. The cry reached Darkrai, sharply decreasing Darkrai's special defences by another two stages. Darkrai was swallowed up by a blue weakening aura, followed immediately by its poison status blowing sickly purple bubbles out its mouth.

"My energy is fading. If I fail to defeat this trainer soon then…" Darkrai trailed off, looking down at the plateaux from its floating view. "No…I will defeat this trainer! I have to!"

The poison settled down when Darkrai suddenly disappeared from regular sight. In Kai's blue-tinted Perception view he saw a clear image of Darkrai rapidly descending towards him. Kai kicked himself off the tree and fired his left gauntlet fist into the top of another tree to swing through the air. Kai pulled his other fist off the tree branch, retracting it back and widening its palm.

"This is gonna be close." Kai's metal palm glowed with electricity escaping its centre hole.

Darkrai reappeared in front of Kai, with a black clawed hand. "Feint Attack!"

Kai pulled his gauntlets metallic fingers into a clawed shape, clawing at Darkrai with sparks of electricity streaking through the air. The two collided and interlocked fingers, the electricity from Kai's gauntlet conducted its way into Darkrai shocking his nerves. Powering through it, Darkrai overpowered Kai's own strength, shoving his metal fist into his face. The shock knocked Kai back in the air, making him spin backwards towards the ground. Keeping his focus, Kai used the momentum to swing his leg at Darkrai, kicking them in the centre of their hourglass figure.

Darkrai grunted as their body was knocked back when Kai's hit the ground. Kai winced, struggling to keep his eyes open while watching Darkrai go back.

"Slurpuff use-!" Kai's eyes suddenly widened in response to another pulsating headache, making him scrunch his eyes and tense up. "This…really…"

"Kai Parfume!" Slurpuff cried out and used Fake Tears, the last move Kai commanded her to use.

Slurpuff tears watered the ground underneath, while making Darkrai feel its special defences go as low as possible. Darkrai hunched over from the poison draining it giving Kai enough time to get back onto his feet.

He stood shakily, aiming both of his gauntlets in front of him. "His defences are practically shot at this point…and I doubt I can keep going much longer." Both gauntlets began to glow with built up electricity. "This is it…All or nothing!"

Two large streams of electricity poured out of both gauntlets, crossing together to form one large beam of yellow Dust fuelled energy. The ground was scorched by the attack's speed and power given off, the light making Darkrai's shadow grow in size by their body eclipsing it. Darkrai's eyes narrowed.

"Dark…" Darkrai recovered from the poison eating at their body and concentrated a dense amount of dark aura in between its palms that was so dense no amount of light could be seen. "…PULSE!"

A massive wave of darkness expelled out of Darkrai's grasp. Its size far greater than all previous Dark Pulse's they had used so far, that dwarfed above Kai's final effort. Kai's eyes widened at the scope, witnessing every painful detail of the ongoing aura attack ploughing its way through his twin shocking lasers. With his body already drained, he could only watch the move come his way with no way to dodge when the darkness arrived on top of him.

'Even after everything…it still wasn't enough…' Kai briefly remembered his confrontation with Yveltal all those years ago when he stopped Team Flare, and the Dark Pulse he took that day. 'Just my luck…I suppose this is what I get for being dumb enough to always jump into danger.'

Kai thought back one last time on his nightmare at the one figure lying in the dark before Kai himself was consumed by the darkness. A massive concentrated burst of dark aura erupted from the impact, blowing up the area in a massive spiral of black and purple. The girls in the area could only watch in horror at the un-restrained darkness let loose upon their friend.

"KAI!" Ruby cried out, her eyes constantly unknown to her reflecting a small amount of light.

Robin felt her chest tighten at the dark explosion, defeating her rival. "No way…"

Out of the pitch-black aura a figure emerged in the air. Kai's body flung itself up from the explosive force, his body flashing blue before his aura shattered. His eyes dimming from bright blue to a dull brown.

From his perspective, everything around Kai was a blur. The sensation he felt being similar to what someone experiences after taking off a pair of extremely powerful glasses, listening to deafening sounds, and shifting from one extreme environment to the next all at once. He couldn't even think.

Kai's body suddenly stopped flailing about, coming to a complete stop in mid-air. Kai hung from the collar of his shirt held tightly in Darkrai's cold, dark grasp. Darkrai floated intensely with the source of their frustrations and anger, literally in the palm of their hand, at their mercy.

"You fought well trainer…" Darkrai manifested the last of their dark aura in their free hand. "I will not subjugate you to the torturous fate the other humans will face. Your end will be swift, that I can assure you."

"…" Kai didn't respond. He could hardly understand what was happening to him, his blurry vision slowly coming into focus.

On the ground, Slurpuff frantically looked up at her trainer in distress. "Their parfume's are too close to one another. I cannot risk harming Kai parfume!"

Ruby weakly picked up her weapon, staring through its lens. Despite the zoomed in view, Ruby couldn't steadily keep her weapon to secure a shot. "It's no good…I don't have a clear hit."

Yang looked around desperately. "Does anyone have a shot?!"

Weiss pointed her rapier at the two in the mid-air, squinting her eyes. "Not from here!"

Penny weakly got up, carefully aiming her blades. "I do not have a clear vantage point either."

With the others unable to assist the only one left was Robin, who could only look on helplessly at her rival in submission.

Robin gritted her teeth. "Damn it…"

She thought back to her struggles with Darkrai and how helpless she was. How everyone from Ruby and Ironwood, to Kai and Slurpuff had to jump in to save her. How this whole time, her weakness was just getting other people hurt.

A mental image appeared in front of her of a raven-haired silhouette, their features hidden by the shadow cast over Robin. "All your training. All your work. And when an obstacle comes your way, all you can do is cower behind others. Honestly…it's hard to believe we're related with how badly you screw up."

The mental silhouette began walking on ahead, leaving Robin behind. "If you can do something then quit pitying yourself and do it already. This is one of life's obstacles, if you want to continue living then right now you have to push forward with all your might. No matter the distance. That's what it means to give back to this world. Instead of taking whatever mercy you can get your hands on."

The silhouette faded away leaving Robin alone, to think on the words in her head. Her body stiffened as the pressure she placed on herself grew and grew, in proportion with a dark blue glow around her body that started to crack the ground under her feet.

"Kai…I'm sorry but I can't. I'm too weak to do anything on my own. I…" Robin stopped and looked up to see the darkness in Darkrai's palm grow.

She saw Kai's head roll over, looking down at her from above. From her angle she could just make out Kai's face. He looked sad. His blurry vision began to concentrate, enough to see a blurry feminine figure that he was quick to recognise.

Kai briefly took a brief breath. "Sorry Robin…looks like I'm too weak to call myself your rival."

Those words suddenly made something click inside of Robin. A memory the two shared, the day before. From their first genuine conversation the two ever had.

"Well if we both think we're weak…then it's a good thing we have each other to support the other out right?"

"What am I saying. Being weak…" Robin stared up at Kai and Darkrai and she felt all the pressure she felt go from beating herself up to saving Kai. "Just gives me all the more reason to push forward!"

Suddenly Robin felt her body rise up and she felt herself begin to fall. Falling into the air. Her body shooting forward as a dark blue blur charging through the air.

"Hey Darkrai!" She called out.

Darkrai looked away from Kai, to stare at Robin in shock. "You?! You're still fighting?!"

"Don't you dare forget, just who the hell you've been fighting this while time!" Robin accelerated, rushing into Darkrai throwing her tightened fist forward, punching them in the face with all of her might.

The unexpected speed and shock of the attack made up for the low power, making Darkrai cease their attack and loosen their grip on Kai. Robin grabbed tight hold of Kai's arm, dragging her up through the air with him.

On the ground Slurpuff sniffed the air intensely. "Berry Parfume?!" She sniffed again, catching whiff another scent directing her towards one of the surrounding trees, where the leaves rustled.

Robin felt her speed begin to slow down significantly, she looked down partially in surprise that her sudden actions actually worked and partially that she was currently falling upwards into the sky head first. Her eyes drifted down to t Kai who aside from looking a little out of it seemed relatively unharmed, his aura having taken all of the damage. She unconsciously formed a small smile when her eyes caught something in the trees below.

"That's-!"

"YOU!" Below her Darkrai growled viciously at Robin's assault and placed their palms together to use Dark Pulse. "An annoying trick! But a meaningless one! All you've done is given me the opportunity to take both of you down at once! In one final attack!"

"For once you're right. This will be the final attack but not yours, mine." Robin confidently unclenched her hand and proudly raised it skyward. "Clawitzer!"

Right where she last was after Darkrai swatter her to the side, Robin's Clawitzer stood perched on the top of the tree-tops with a clear shot of Darkrai in her sights. "Claw! CLAW! (Aye! CAPTAIN!)"

Robin's fingers snapped. "Use Venoshock!"

A high velocity stream of purple venom blasted out of Clawitzer's large claw at rapid speed. Darkrai looked down to see the oncoming poison head their way and quickly went to dodge.

"No! I won't let you-! GAAAAAAAH!" The poison status struck Darkrai, engulfing their face in purple. Their body ceased in place unable to react to the oncoming liquid. "My body! I can't dodge! I'm…I'm wide open!"

The venom from Beedrill's venom ran deep through Darkrai's veins, giving them little time to reign their fate. Looking out at the plateaux one last time, Darkrai closed their eyes and braced themselves. "I'm sorry…"

Clawitzer cried out, releasing more pressure on her attack to increase its size and speed for one final push. Venoshock swallowed up Darkrai in its raging rapids, picking up their body and sending them crashing through the air. The vicious liquid soaking through Darkrai's non-existent defences with poisonous power, that tore Darkrai from all sides like raging rapids. Until finally colliding against the side of rocky plateaux wall in a massive explosion of poisonous vapour.

Those on the ground watched the venom stream in awe at its power, whereas Robin and Kai stared at the purple cloud hoping it had been enough. In the tree tops small droplets of venom leaked out of Clawitzer's claw, with it poised and aimed to strike Darkrai should they make any sudden movements. Then out of the toxic cloud, Darkrai's limp body fell out the bottom. Weightily being pulled to the ground, Darkrai's body smashed against the rocky wall with an audible crack, causing its body to flail and spin uncontrollably on a crash course to the planet. Landing with an abrupt thud, that picked up dust. The aura around it seemed to vanish, the land around them started to regain its colour, and the clouds began to part letting sunlight rain down on the ground below.

Weiss hopefully stared at the heavily injured dark type. "Is it finally…?"

She was cut off by the sound of a soft rustle near her side. Weiss looked down to see Blake slowly stirring awake, her eyes heavily blinking and her disposition exhausted.

"I just had the craziest dream." Blake suddenly took notice of her surroundings before looking up at Weiss. "Why was I sleeping on the ground?"

Weiss smiled, stretching out her arm. "I wouldn't worry about it right now. We're just glad you're safe."

With Blake waking up, Ruby and Yang look looked at their teammates joyfully counting their blessings and thankful their nightmare was over. Penny slowly managed to push herself out of the rock, looking at her body to examine herself. Despite all the attacks, her aura persisted through and there was no sign of any metal visible on her body. She sighed in relief at her secret being safe.

Slurpuff however seemed more down, tilting her head up and sniffing the air above her. "Kai parfume..."

The parfume in question was slowly becoming more and more aware, with Kai's senses finally returning to him. His eyes became refocused and his pupils returned to a regular size more, his forehead scrunched up and Kai began to groan.

"Ughhh…Note to self. Next time my body sends me headaches to stop what I'm doing, listen." Kai felt the wind brushing past his face and he slowly realised he was rising into the air. He noticed the tight grip on his right arm and followed it to see Robin, with her dark blue aura carrying him.

"Robin?! You're?! I mean we?! I mean?!" Kai stared down to see a wide-open view of the plateaux and all of its strange natural features. A sight he had forgotten about since their airship ride that felt like months ago. "Are we…flying?"

Robin smugly smiled. "More like falling actually. Just in the wrong direction."

"Riii~ght." Kai slowly realised. "And Darkrai?"

"Taken care of. With…some assistance." Robin answered.

"The others?"

"They'll live." Robin brushed off. "Anymore unnecessary questions?"

"Just one…" Kai looked suspiciously into Robin's eyes. "How exactly do we get down from up here?"

Robin went to answer the question when she came to a sudden and horrific realisation. She didn't know how to get down either. With her mind distracted and the immediate danger taken care of, Robin's stress began to fade away and with it the aura glow around her. Until it had vanished, leaving the two suspended in the air for a second to take in the height they had gathered.

"Would you mind bringing out your two flying types?" Robin quickly asked.

"Oh I would love to except…they're not on me." Kai awkwardly replied.

Robin blinked at Kai, before donning an angered frown. "I'm sorry they're wha-AAAAH?!"

The two Kalos trainers began to fall under the normal weight of gravity, moving as quickly as they were when they were up, as they were now going down. The air pushed up against them, making their clothes and their hair flap wildly as the two's minds began to race.

"Why would you not bring your entire team with you to fight a mythical Pokémon?!" Robin loudly asked.

"Is now really the time to talk about this?!" Kai loudly answered. "What about you?! Don't you have a Beedrill that could help us?!"

"Maybe I would, if he wasn't knocked out! Because he was up against a mythical Pokémon! Instead of going for a random flight or hiding away in a corner!" Robin explained.

"Okay I get you're testy right now but you don't need to insult my team!" Kai quickly looked around to find, anything to save themselves but only ended up losing control of his positioning in the wind and spinning in place. "Of course, the one week I miss out on in Huntsman training, is the one week they actually teach landing strategy!"

"Are you seriously cracking jokes right now?!" Robin agitatedly yelled.

"Oh, I WISH I was joking!" Kai shouted. "You know of all the ways I could have died on this stupid planet. It had to be falling. I mean I guess that's better than starvation or being eaten alive by Grimm but still!"

Kai suddenly gave Robin an idea, and idea that immediately after thinking she grimaced at the thought of. Reaching into her Pokéball pouch, she carefully brought out a Pokéball while making sure none of the others fell out.

Kai noticed Robin grabbing the ball, perking his interest. "I didn't think you had any other Pokémon that could fly!"

"I don't." Robin briefly responded while unlocking the ball.

The capsule opened releasing a large bright light that glinted in the sky as it quickly grew. The light drew in the eye of Slurpuff. The light faded to reveal the Pokémon, whose shadow covered Slurpuff and quickly grew and grew in size at an alarming rate.

Slurpuff's eyes grew wide. "Everyone watch your parfumes!"

Slurpuff began to run away from the approaching Pokémon, when it crashed against the ground making the earth shake under its immense weight. The Huntresses around struggled to remain steady on their feet, using their full attention to keep themselves steady.

"What was-Woah!" Ruby shouted in surprise.

Ruby along with the rest of her team, saw Slurpuff pick herself up off the ground and brush herself off when her nose detected a new parfume. She followed the smell behind her to see Robin's Tyrantrum loudly asserting himself.

Yang saw the Despot Pokémon, blankly staring at it. "Just when I thought today couldn't get any crazier."

Tyrantrum looked down on Slurpuff, tilting his head to the side and wagging his long tail rugged tail feverishly at the friendly face. Seeing Slurpuff sniff at his legs, he lowered his head loser to the ground to sniff Slurpuff with his gigantic nostrils. Tyrantrum's face contorted slightly and he suddenly sneezed into the air, before aggressively shaking his head.

"Is it acting…like a dog?" Blake worriedly asked, slowly taking steps behind Weiss.

"But where did it come from?" Weiss asked herself before looking up at the sky. She saw two small figures gradually getting closer and her eyes widened. "That's-!"

In the air, Kai looked down at Tyrantrum slightly concerned. "Robin you do realise that at this speed, falling on Tyrantrum would be like falling on a rock, right?!"

"Oh, I am aware. Which is why we're not aiming for Tyrantrum's body." Robin gently reached into her pouch again to bring out a plump, yellow, Sitrus Berry. "Good thing I brough a couple of these just in case."

Robin reached out her hand and began snapping her fingers, the sound of the snap suddenly bringing Tyrantrum out of his pet-like trance and focusing on Robin and Kai falling down. Robin waved the berry in her hand in view of her fossil Pokémon, his tongue slipping out of his large jaw and salivating at the sight. Kai quickly looked between Robin and Tyrantrum when he realised Robin's plan. His face going pale.

"No! No! No! We are not doing this!" Kai passionately protested.

"I'm not happy about it either but it's this or instant death. So quit whining and brace yourself." Robin explained.

Underneath Tyrantrum bent his legs and clumsily licked his large lips. Large droplets fell from his tongue to form puddles at his feet as his leg muscles tightened.

"I can't do this! I can't do this! There's gotta be another way right?!" Kai frantically cried out. "I did not solve a natural phenomenon! Face my nightmares head on! And fight a Pokémon of mythic proportions! All to get turned into prehistoric shi-!"

Kai was cut off by the sound of teeth snapping together. Tyrantrum had jumped off the ground, catching Kai and Robin inside of its mouth. At their apparent mastication, Team RWBY's jaw's dropped in surprise. Clawitzer's eyes widened to extreme size, and Slurpuff's body paled in colour, going completely white in shock.

Tyrantrum landed back on the ground with a trembling thud with its mouth tightly closed. Clawitzer quickly released a stream of water out the back of her claw to jet from the trees onto Tyrantrum's snout.

"Clawitzer Claw?! Claw Claw! (What are you doing Tyrantrum?! The Captain is not a snack!)" Clawitzer rapidly smacked Tyrantrum's snout with her large claw. "Claw! Claw! Claw! Claw! (Spit! Her! Out! Now!)"

Tyrantrum whined from having his snout bashed repeatedly. He shifted his tongue around the inside of his mouth and lowered his head to ground level, spitting out the two Kalos trainers with a splat. The two's drool covered bodies slid across the plateaux floor before coming to a stop next to each other on their backs. They were scared, exhausted, and covered in bodily fluid, but they were alive.

Robin leaned up, spitting profusely onto the ground. "Bleh! Right in my mouth! I'm gonna have that taste at the back of my throat for hours." She used the back of her hands to scrape any excess spit to her sides before looking at her fellow trainer. "Kai, are you still alive?"

Beside her, Kai was shaking all over. His eyes spiralled like a Spinda as he felt every movement, he made created a more unpleasant sensation on a different part of his body. "It's warm. Why is it warm? Did I want it to be cold? It's sticking to my clothes. Does it smell? It probably smells. It's in my hair as well isn't it? I'm going to rinse it three times and it still won't be all gone. Why did this happen to me? What did I do to deserve this…?"

Kai muttered over and over again in filth obsessed despair. Robin wiped more gunk out of her hair and sighed. "You really are pathetic sometimes, you know that…"

"Hey guys!"

Kai was taken away from his ramblings by the cries of Team RWBY heading towards him and Robin. He leaned up out of the drool, only to cringe from the movement making his soaked shirt and jeans stick closer to his skin.

Ruby arrived near them first, making sure she didn't step in the saliva trail. "Kai! Are you okay? That last attack launched you into the air and you ended up in its grasp and I-"

"Ruby stop." Kai interrupted. "Look at me, I'm fine. Well not fine, I feel absolutely revolted. But honestly as far as that Dark Pulse was concerned…I've survived worse." Kai sincerely smiled to the arrival of the rest of Ruby's team and Penny. "Still hurt like hell though. I'm just sorry I wasn't able to get here sooner."

"Don't worry about it Kai. We almost had them anyway, until we didn't." Yang sheepishly looked away. "Guess you saved us all again."

Kai's smile faded away, replaced by a serious frown. "No, I didn't do much of anything. I leaped in but…I still couldn't do much to Darkrai. Even with my weapons, my semblance and my training I'm still way behind the rest of you."

"Perhaps not as far as you might think." Penny interrupted. "Even though I was incapacitated, I was still able to see many of your movements. They were quite impressive, especially so given the prolonged duration of your semblance."

"That's a nice thought Penny but I know I've still got a long way to go. Besides, if it wasn't for Slurpuff I would've been put to sleep instantly and my attacks would have barely scratched them." Kai suddenly picked up. "Speaking of, where is Slurpuff?"

"Kai parfume…" Slurpuff waddled up to Kai, with her head low. "I am sorry for failing to protect your parfume, and for failing to defeat the nightmarish parfume."

"What do you mean? It's because of your ability and you re-learning Fake Tears, that we be managed to beat Darkrai." Kai lightly chuckled. "Fake Tears, man that takes me back to Route 7."

Slurpuff saw Kai's more relaxed smile and grinned happily. "I am pleased to have helped, Kai parfume."

Clawitzer jumped off Tyrantrum, using a stream of water out the back of her claw to soften her descent. "Claw! (Captaian!)"

Robin looked to see Clawitzer safely land on her side, checking up on her. "Hmph…You certainly took your time, having a break in that tree."

Robin's comment on Clawitzer's actions, made her sincerely look down. Robin looked at her Pokémon and shook her left hand to fling away some extra drool before placing it on Clawitzer's head. "You did hang in long enough to save me though. I'm proud of you for that."

Clawitzer raised her head upwards. "Claw…(Captain…)"

Tyrantrum suddenly stomped the ground to direct Robin's attention to him. Robin frowned at him. "You saturated me head to toe in drool. I don't care if it saved my life, I'm not praising you for it."

While the others were left alone to check in on one another, their accursed foe was left alone with their wounds. Darkrai lay low on the ground, covered with slight scorch marks from the electricity and completely drenched in venom. Darkrai's face was cast in shadow, hiding its defeated expression as the winds in the plateaux blew gently as though in mourning. A loud clicking sound, was heard in front of Darkrai, making them weakly open their eyes.

"Oh… it's you…" Darkrai weakly greeted someone in front of them. "…I take it you want to finish me off…General..."

General Ironwood stood above Darkrai's weak figure, tightly gripped in his right hand was his white revolver Due Process. "You have no idea what I want."

"I know that you're afraid…Afraid of me…Afraid of those two trainers…Afraid of my brethren they carry…" Darkrai exhaled a rough, coarse breath that sounded as though they were breathing through glass. "That since I could beat an army of Huntsmen…and since they beat me…they could do the same…and you couldn't stop them…"

Ironwood leered at Darkrai, tightening his grip. "Don't pretend as though a creature like you could possibly understand me. Everything that I do, that I have done, has always been to protect the people of Atlas, of Remnant from abominations and monsters like you."

"…Just as I have protected this land from humans like you." Darkrai weakly closed their eyes. "Go ahead…Do it…"

Darkrai's pain ridden body lay still, too exhausted to budge an inch. Ironwood stared at the dark Pokémon once more before lightly pushing down on the trigger.

"Don't!"

Ironwood eased the pressure he placed on the trigger, preventing his weapon from going off. He kept his weapon aimed at Darkrai but rolled his head over his shoulder to look behind himself, staring at Kai on one knee, with his weapon aimed to fire at Ironwood.

"Kai what are you doing?" Yang asked.

Blake followed the direction, Kai was aiming and stared at the General. "General Ironwood? When did he get here?"

"He's been here for a while." Kai answered. "I sensed him with my semblance when I arrived. I was curious why he wasn't fighting with the rest of you, now I see he was just hiding away so that he could steal the kill for himself."

Ironwood narrowed his eyes at Kai. "Stand down Emblem. You've done your job as a Huntsman well, but right now you need to let me finish the mission."

"Yeah, that's not happening General." Kai quickly cut off.

"Kai…you should do what he says." Weiss suggested. "All Ironwood is doing is killing that monster. I'm sure he only held back before until he was certain he could take it down."

"I don't have a problem with him staying back to avoid ruining his chance, even if it is a little cowardly for a headmaster to let students handle the biggest threat alone." Kai shook his head. "I'm doing this to stop him from ending the life of a Pokémon that was just trying to protect their home."

Ironwood frowned. "Protecting its home? This creature, has been terrorizing us in our sleep for days. And this morning made threats and actions to kill us. Grimm or not, I cannot let such a thing live."

"And despite my bias maybe, just maybe I would agree with you. Except I know Darkrai never really wanted to hurt us. At least not intentionally." Kai looked seriously at General Ironwood. "You see I have this book, one about someone from Remnant arriving in our world and unfortunately for him, during their travels they were tortured by a Darkrai for weeks. I can't say if this one is the same, but in their notes, they wrote information about them from some locals." Kai shifted his gaze to the weakened Darkrai. "Apparently they inflict nightmares from their ability called Bad Dreams. And it's used as a defence mechanism to ward people off. Not kill them, to get them to go away because deep down…Darkrai don't mean any harm."

Darkrai heard Kai's words defending them and stared at him with a softened gaze. Not one of anger, fear or violence. They thought back on the fights they had, on what Kai and Robin's Pokémon had said about them and more importantly what Kai had said before they had fought.

"So, I'm giving you one chance. Stand down now and we can end this peacefully."

"This trainer…was he telling the truth when he wanted peace?" Darkrai murmured.

Ironwood remained unmoved. "So, I am just meant to believe a passage in a book I've never even heard of, about a race of creatures I have never seen, to excuse the actions of one."

"No. But haven't you wondered why this one wanted to attack us so badly. Why it's even here to begin with?"

"And you have the answer." Ironwood asked.

"I…" Kai paused for a moment. "Have most of an answer."

Ironwood raised a brow. "You mean you have a theory."

Kai slowly exhaled. "Yes, a theory. But if you just wait for my team to come back with proof-"

"I don't have time for theories. This thing has threatened our lives. Psychologically tortured us. It does not belong on this world. That is proof. Even you can't deny that has what has happened over these few days." Ironwood sighed disapprovingly. "I know this must be difficult. To be given a reminder of your home right in front of you. But I will not take any risks to ensure the safety of this world."

Kai scowled. "Well then Sir, you'll have to forgive me for stopping you."

"Then you will have to forgive me as well." Ironwood slowly began to turn his weapon away from Darkrai, turning in the direction of Kai.

The tall grass at the edge of the area suddenly blew rapidly under a sudden rush of wind. Two blue blurs shot through the area at unseen speeds, stopping short in front of Ironwood.

Greninja held a Night Slash needle under Ironwood's neck. "Don't even think about it."

Lucario was generated an Aura Sphere in his palm, held inches away from Ironwood's chest. "Do not treat my Master's kindness as vulnerability. With or without his word, we will defend him from any threat."

Ironwood's eyes widened; his body paralyzed in shock. "I didn't even see them coming…"

"Guys, settle down. I don't need to give him anymore of a reason to not trust me." Kai asked.

Greninja and Lucario looked over at their trainer before looking at each other. The two stopped using their moves and moved away from Ironwood, who simply stared at them not sure whether he should react hostel after their sudden ambush.

"As you wish." Lucario commented, looking over to his trainer.

Greninja casually looked over the area, seeing how blown apart it all was before looking at his trainer and those around him. "So…I take it I missed a lot. Kai you have a little gunk, kind of…" Greninja gestured Kai's whole body. "Everywhere."

Kai lowered his gaze. "I noticed. Did either of you find any-?"

"Unfortunately, not." Lucario shamefully looked at Kai. "We could sense and notice them. But they were too afraid to listen. Even in our own tongues."

Robin looked at Kai, curiously. "What are they talking about? Why did you send your team away in the first place?"

"Perhaps…I can help answer…" Darkrai weakly uttered, struggling to remain steady, placing its hands on the ground to keep themselves stable as it leaned forward. "To fight for so long…to stand against Pokémon and human for the sake of both…Perhaps what your Pokémon said of you was true." Darkrai glanced up at Robin. "Of both of you…You may be worthy of trust…"

Suddenly the area began vibrating with many strange sounds throughout the air. The eight people present looked around themselves in caution and curiosity, while the Pokémon all intently stayed still as though they were listening to the strange cries.

"These sounds, they're just like before." Weiss realised.

The four girls held a defensive formation around each other when Kai slowly got on both legs and walked out of their protection.

"Kai? Get back, in your condition-" Blake started to say.

"Trust me." Kai smiled, taking of one of his gauntlets. "It's going to be fine."

While Kai started disarming himself, Ironwood cautiously heard the strange sounds around him keeping his grip on his weapon tight.

"General…" Ironwood looked over to see Penny, innocently looking at him. "I do not believe a weapon will be necessary."

Ironwood looked at the weapon in his hand, then at Kai putting his slimy weapons away and Team RWBY unfolding theirs, then Penny putting away her Floating Array. He saw the calmness they all had before looking back at the tense grip he had on his own weapon. He placed his left hand on top of his right, using it to help guide his weapon back into its holster.

"This better be some proof." He muttered to himself.

Darkrai saw everyone unarm themselves and weakly brought out their leg protrusions to stand up. "It is fine…You may greet them…"

With those simple words, small figures began to walk out of the tall grass into view. The trees rustled as the residents hiding within it, made their way to the ground. The cave rumbled and cracked, as strange objects made their way out into the light.

Ruby was the first to see something, her eyes beaming. "Woah?! Woah?! What?!"

Weiss sceptically noticed next, her body going stiff. "Wait, are they…?"

Blake's eyes widened, and her bow momentarily shook. "I had a feeling I was being watched, but I never thought this was what I was being watched by."

Yang blinked a few times to make sure she knew what she was seeing, before placing a hand on her hip. "I know I've said this already but…this day really is getting crazier by the moment."

Ironwood frantically looked around him on all sides, to see the vast number of things coming his way. "Impossible…They've been living here this whole time, without getting found."

Robin's eyes widened and she looked straight at Kai. "Every single one I recognise, they're all-"

Kai proudly grinned. "Pokémon."

Coming out of the dirt, from the sky and earth Pokémon of different shapes and sizes made their way forward. Ones out of the cave made of blue rock with orange gems that illuminated in the sunlight, accompanied by levitating boulders with pairs of arms. Ones that came out of the grass looked like natural flora, floating down appendages similar to dandelions or roses. Ones that appeared as birds flying down from the sky to roost. And various others that looked like more extreme versions of common land mammals such as white squirrels and purple monkeys. All were in view.

"Funny thing about Pokémon habitats." Kai began to say. "To this day, researchers aren't entirely sure if the habitat is what attracts the Pokémon, or the Pokémon creates the habitat. My guess here is that it's the latter."

One of the floral Pokémon, a Roselia much like the ones on Route 7 released a thick mist from her red and blue rose hands. Slurpuff happily breathed in the pleasant natural aroma as it wafted its way to Darkrai who inhaled the cleansing mist to cure its poison.

"My thanks…" Darkrai breathed out in relief.

Robin looked in awe at the wide variety of Pokémon species near her, before looking at Kai with a curiosity.

"How did you figure it out?" She asked.

"Didn't any of those items we found look familiar to you Robin? Or just the general air of this place give you a sense of nostalgia." Kai looked around to see Slurpuff waddling over and being greeted by fellow Fairy type Pokémon, such as Flabébé and Spritzee. "When I figured out it was a Pokémon that attacked us, the rest just clicked." Kai went into thought. "Although I still don't know how they all got to Remnant or why Darkrai was so angry at me and you."

"During our fight. Darkrai was always aiming straight for me, every chance they got. They sounded as though I was the reason they were here." Robin explained looking to Darkrai. "Well, can you explain yourself?"

Darkrai looked towards Robin. "I suppose you both do deserve an explanation after everything I put you through." Darkrai sighed. "To get straight to the point…a group of Pokémon Trainers were the ones who stole all of us and transported us to this place."

"Hang on! People like Kai and Robin took you here! But you were so strong, how did they do it?!" Ruby interrupted.

"I was alone in solitary when these two Trainers arrived hoping to capture me. They were no match of course but when they went to flee a strange appeared. I inspected the strange sight however I soon found myself getting pulled in towards it." Darkrai groaned, placing its clawed hand on its plumy head. "The next thing I knew I was in foreign soil and the night had changed to day. Upon investigating my surroundings, I found more trainers grouping up my brethren in captivity! Punishing those that fell out of line! I managed to free them and ward the trainer's off, my strength attracting the Pokémon towards me as a leader." Darkrai growled. "Over the coming weeks, upon realising we were far from home we made due and created a life for ourselves together in this place. Though not all of us survived the first few months…especially when those black beasts came after us."

"The Grimm." Kai calmly realised. "How did you get rid of them?"

"We erased them from this place. Whenever one would show up, I snuffed them out quickly. Once we had created a stable environment, the bothered us less and less over time. Presumably they learned not to fight us for territory."

Greninja shuddered. "Geez, you almost make me feel bad for the Grimm."

"The Grimm are non-sentient destroyers who have taken millions of lives Greninja." Lucario judged.

"Hey! Emphasis on almost."

Robin started the conversation going again. "The trainer's that brought you here. Can you tell us more about them?"

"I did not take too many details down about them. All I really noticed was their striking similarity to one another." Darkrai revealed.

"They all looked like one another?" Robin repeated in confusion.

Robin thought about what that meant when she felt a strange sensation on her leg. She looked down and saw a small group of small Pokémon all approaching her.

"Hey! Back off my party's full!" Robin stamped the ground to ward them off, only for them to reposition and come at her from a different angle. "I said get away! What don't you understand!"

"Hmph, now you understand a brief glimmer of my pain." Darkrai hummed at the sight of the Pokémon, piquing their interest. "Strange how those one's are drawn to you. Those who arrived here only recently."

"What do you mean recently? Did more Pokémon arrive after you settled down?" Kai asked.

"Not many. Although a large group were found miles from this place. Apparently, they too had been contained by the same trainers at a later point." Darkrai explained.

"These trainers? Did they wear shirts and tie's like mine?" Robin pulled on her white collar and her red tie to demonstrate.

"The colour of the tie was not the same. Although a similar shade was present through the rest of their attire, even their hair." Darkrai answered.

"Red clothes, red hair, and they wore shirts and ties. And these Pokémon, they look like the one's Chesnaught set free during our diversion against…" Robin looked at Kai. "Kai it's-"

"Team Flare." Kai finished off. "I should have guessed. They really have been in Remnant for years."

"Team Flare…" Ironwood repeated, thinking about the group working with the ones who stole his technology. Suddenly he felt a vibration going off at his side, he cautiously went to his overcoat pocket, pulling out his scroll. "Glynda?"

"Miss Goodwitch? She's awake?" Blake sked herself as everyone seemed to gather around when Ironwood picked up the call.

"James? Where are you? Did you deal with the Grimm yourself?" Goodwitch asked on the scroll.

Ironwood confusingly frowned. "Grimm? Glynda, what do you mean? Don't you remember."

"Remember? Did something happen?"

Ruby looked at Ironwood with concern. "What is it? Is everyone alright?"

Ironwood slowly responded. "Glynda, where are your right now."

"I'm where you told us you found the Grimm James, in the clearing before the long stretch of trees. Only…"

"Only what?"

"Only many of the students and even myself at one point were on the ground resting. However, none of them quite remember just when we fell to sleep. Even myself."

"Glynda. What's the last thing you do remember?"

"I remember the two of us reassuring the students and then for some reason I'm waking up after taking a nap on the ground."

Everyone near Ironwood stopped, at what Goodwitch had said.

Weiss thought to herself. "Nobody remembers Darkrai sending them to sleep. That doesn't make any sense."

"It doesn't unless." Robin had a realisation. "Everyone was already sleep deprived when Darkrai sent them to sleep so their minds probably weren't thinking straight. Maybe when Darkrai used Dream Eater to eat their dreams, it also erased a small part of their short-term memory."

Greninja suspiciously looked to Darkrai. "You can do that?"

Darkrai growled in thought. "They did seem half asleep already when I put them in a sleeping state. I suppose its possible Dream Eater could have affected their minds during that period."

"So, if we wanted to…we could just tell everyone you took out a Grimm responsible for all this. Then we could all head back to Beacon and leave the Pokémon in peace." Kai realised.

"But we would be lying to everyone." Yang pointed out.

"I know, but the fact is even if some people would understand. Even if it helps people buy my lousy excuse that I got my Pokémon from hidden areas in Remnant and used this place as an example. Chances are people outside of Beacon will know about it and when they do, they'll never leave these guys alone." Kai turned to Ironwood. "Please Sir, you have to tell them that it's over."

Ironwood scowled. "And what makes you think you have the right to order around a high ranking Atlassian General? What makes you think you know what's best for the world above all others, even those with greater experience than yourself."

Kai sincerely looked at Ironwood. "When I realised this wasn't a mission for a Huntsman to do. It was a mission for a Pokémon Trainer. And as one of only two people here who truly knows these creatures, then I'm begging you to just leave them be. Please."

Robin heard Kai's passionate words and looked at softly. "Kai…"

Greninja, Lucario and Slurpuff all gathered together on one side of Ironwood. On the opposite side was Clawitzer and Tyrantrum. On another side were all with Wild Pokémon trapped in Remnant, and on his last side was Darkrai, the enemy who fed him fear and threatened his student's lives.

"Please…" Darkrai begged.

"James? James are you still there?!" Goodwitch asked through the scroll.

"I'm still here Glynda." Ironwood took one last look at the Pokémon around him, before looking down, away from his scroll. "Don't worry. I've handled the situation. The Grimm has been killed."

All the Pokémon along with Kai had a massive sigh of relief. Ironwood finished the call, and put the scroll back in his overcoat, taking an exhausted sigh as well.

"Thank you, Sir." Kai thanked.

Ironwood looked down at Kai. "Don't. The only reason I did what I just did was because the point of this mission was to learn the source of the Eden's National Reserve, not to fight it. Once we return to Beacon, I will be giving Ozpin an extensive report on the truth. And should Ozpin make the choice to defend his kingdom by eliminating every single Pokémon here." Ironwood leaned in closer. "I will not hesitate in granting him the full aid of Atlas' military arsenal to use at his disposal."

Greninja crossed his front legs. "You couldn't just take the thank you, could you? You couldn't help but lightly threaten an entire species in front of them?"

Ironwood turned and walked off with Penny and Team RWBY following after him. "Now come along all of you, I don't doubt that Glynda will find us herself if we do not return to her shortly."

"This is where I must part as well, to rest my wounds." Darkrai brought in its protrusions and floated into the cave with several wild Pokémon in tow. Before going into complete darkness Darkrai turned around to see Kai. "Trainer…What is your name?"

"My name…?" Kai repeated nervously. "It's Kai. Kai Emblem."

"Kai…Interesting, I shall remember that." Darkrai commented before blending in with the darkness and vanishing from view, as other wild Pokémon went back into their hiding places.

"Might as well get going. Never thought I'd say this but I'll be glad to get back to Beacon." Robin commented, as she headed off with the rest of with the others.

"Same. Also when we get back, I call dibs on the first shower." Kai said to Robin as he began walking.

"You can't call dibs on a shower. Besides, what about ladies first?" Robin argued.

"What about equal treatment?"

"How about the fact I saved you from Darkrai."

"Which I also did to you last night."

"Well Clawitzer dealt the finishing blow."

"After Slurpuff weakened its special defences to nothing." Kai looked at Robin. "Look just let me have this! I've had a long day and I hate being filthy!" Kai suddenly felt the energy drain from his face, putting a hand on his forehead. "Woah, that came out of nowhere…"

"Oh, so all of a sudden my day of fighting for my life is just easy now. And what makes you think I like being covered in drool?" Robin retorted only to get no response. "Kai?"

Kai's eyes suddenly rolled to the back of his head. Without warning his legs gave out and he fell flat on his front.

"Kai!" Robin cried out, rushing to his side with Team RWBY rushing back towards him.

"What happened to Kai?" Ruby cried out.

"I don't know he was fine a moment ago." Robin answered.

"Please don't crowd him. Master is fine." Lucario calmly walked forward with his paw outreached. "He seems to have overexerted himself both physically and mentally. He's most likely only kept active for so long, due to the adrenaline in his system from his life and the lives of the students and later the Pokémon, being put in danger. Since that danger has no passed, his body has no reason to keep pushing itself past its limits."

"Could you put that in simple talk?" Greninja asked.

Lucario groaned. "Master is simply resting. In a few hours he'll be fine."

Blake placed a hand to her chest. "That's a relief."

"You know Robin you sounded pretty worried for him there." Yang insinuated.

"Well of course I was worried, if he died on me then my Pokémon would never learn to talk and all the work I had done so far would be pointless." Robin brought out a Pokéball and Netball, returning her two Pokémon. "Although after today, maybe talking Pokémon should just be a thing in dreams."

"We're standing right here you know." Greninja pointed at himself and the two other members of his team.

"And I don't care." Robin coldly remarked, walking off.

"Rude." Greninja judged as he bent down and picked Kai up to carry him. His eyes widening as the drool made contact with his skin. "Ew…I should have rinsed him off first."

Slurpuff and Lucario waddled off after Greninja when Slurpuff stopped and sniffed the air one last time just when the wind changed. Slurpuff perked up and went still, looking to the side of the area at a thick row of trees.

Lucario noticed Slurpuff and stopped. "Are you coming Slurpuff?"

Slurpuff paused for a moment before rubbing her nose and walking back with Lucario. "Of course, Lucario parfume. My parfume must be confused by all the recent parfumes diffusing and wafting in this small area all at once."

Slurpuff and Lucario walked out into the trees and the tall grass, leaving the area in front of the cave in complete silence. Until three figures walked out from the edge of the trees.

"Guess it was a good thing I realised followed that General's orders was going to be a bad idea huh?" Mercury Black bragged about, as his two teammates followed him.

"I think you mean; it was a good thing I noticed the trainer leaving the camp in a hurry. Otherwise we wouldn't have arrived after the fighting ended and gotten to see all that." Emerald corrected.

"Both of you, enough." Cinder shut down immediately. "This situation isn't good. Xerosic hadn't informed me that he let such a powerful entity slip through his fingers."

"So, what are you gonna do? Run into that cave and finish the job?" Mercury suggested.

"No." Cinder smirked. "This is Xerosic's mistake, I'll let him clean it up. Besides…" Cinder lifted up her scroll, showcasing a video of the Wild Pokémon grouped around everyone. She used her fingers to pinch the screen to get a closer view of Kai talking to Ironwood on his scroll. "We've just gotten a hold of something much, much more harmful to the big hearted General than any alien beast."

Beacon Academy. Despite how it hadn't even been three full days, the toll many students felt gave the impression they had been away for most of a year. While second year and even third year students expected this from their own experiences, they were still surprised when not only did the first years arrive back early but also from the news that General Ironwood had destroyed the Grimm responsible for their nightmares. Needless to say, the Main Avenue was packed.

"Oof! Gah! Move it!" Ruby struggled to move herself and her personal items through the crowds of people. Practically getting shoved about and tossed all over the place before squeezing through to meet up with the rest of her team. "Phew…I thought I was a goner."

"Any other day I would comment on how you always need to make a big deal of things. But today I'm so exhausted I'll just let it go." Weiss commented.

"But you did just comment on it." Ruby pointed out.

Yang yawned, placing her palm on front of her hand. "Weiss does have a point. I am beat. You'd think sleep would be the last thing on our minds after everything, but every time I think about staying awake…" Yang had a massive yawn. "It just makes me more tired…"

"About that…I'm not ready to head back to the room just yet. I think I'm going to head off to the library and catch up on some research." Blake explained.

Ruby looked at Blake seriously. "But Blake we talked about this. We're all in this together, you don't need to push yourself."

"I know Ruby. Which is why from now on, I'll only do research when I'm free. And Miss Good witch gave us the rest of today and tomorrow off. That's two days I can spend gathering info on the White Fang." Blake smiled. "Don't worry Ruby. I promise, I'll be back in the room before it gets dark. And don't worry Weiss, no more all-nighters to keep you up."

With those words, Blake walked away from her friends yet again. Her burden too much for her to let go of completely. Ruby watched her teammate walk off and gloomily looked at her teammates.

"I don't get it. I thought I got her to feel safe." Ruby sadly said.

"But you did Ruby. Didn't you hear her, she's cutting down her hours and improve her grades again because of you." Yang optimistically explained. "Trust me, you've already helped Blake. And if she's still acting like this in another week or two, I'll sort her out. It's what partners do."

"Yeah…okay." Ruby reluctantly agreed.

"Hey Ruby!"

The familiar voice made Team RWY look over and see Velvet and Coco walk over to meet them.

"Is it true what everyone's saying? Did General Ironwood really get rid of the Grimm responsible for those nightmares." Velvet eagerly asked.

"Ugh…yeah. That's what everyone's saying." Ruby answered, not technically lying to her friend.

"About damn time if you ask me. I only wish we found it during our trip, so that you guys wouldn't have to go through what you did." Coco sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "Also…sorry for not telling you guys about it. We wanted to but, Miss Goodwitch told us it wouldn't have been a good idea considering what happened to the group they did tell."

"You don't need to worry about it. It was a shock at first, but we managed to overcome it." Weiss explained. "To be honest you didn't need to come apologise to us at all."

"We still felt guilty about lying to you and Kai though." Velvet added.

"Speaking of, where is he anyway?" Coco asked.

"Kai…he's well err…" Ruby tried to think of an excuse.

"Let's just say he's taking a nap." Yang finished.

"ugh…"

A pair of eyes slowly opened to the accompaniment of a light moan. The eyes opened to view of a Beacon dorm room, with a desk on one side and a bed parallel to the one that was currently being slept on.

"So you're finally awake?"

Kai's eyes fully opened, and he looked to see Robin sitting on her own bed. Washed clean of drool and in a fresh change of clothes.

"Robin? When did I fall asleep?" Kai sleepily asked.

"Right after the fighting stopped." Robin answered. "And to answer your next questions. Yes, we're in Beacon. Yes, all six members of your team are with you safe and sound. You've been asleep for around six hours. And yes, I did have the first shower."

"Okay then…I guess I'm all out of questions." Kai let his legs dangle of the side of his bed. "I guess I should go for my shower then."

"Not yet. There's…something I want to talk to you about." Robin interrupted. "Something…personal."

"Oh, sure. Of course, as long as you're comfortable." Kai agreed.

"Okay, here goes." Robin took a breath. "You remember when I saved you from Darkrai, when I fell into the sky. I think that was my semblance, specifically…I think I can control my own personal gravity."

"Personal Gravity? How'd you figure that out." Kai asked.

"Well I definitely wasn't flying, when I used it I felt this invisible weight on my shoulders, and to be honest it just came to me." Robin explained. "That probably sounds ridiculous."

"No. No it's not, I was the same when I found out about my Perception." Kai excused. "But how is this personal."

"Because I was only able to activate it twice. The first was when I was so certain I failed I just let myself fall onto the ground in defeat, only to fall over it." Robin nervously looked away. "The other was when I was so frustrated that I failed you I made it pile on myself, then when you looked at me and apologised…I just shifted my feelings of weakness in your direction."

"Okay. Well I suppose I can understand why that's personal for you, but why did you want to share it with me?"

Robin looked back at Kai. "Because I think it's more than just more than my feelings of failure. I think I need to accept those feelings in order to direct which way I go. And I don't you, when we were talking to pass the time, to check in on each other, I don't know…it made it easier to accept that. If only for a little bit." Robin looked away. "So, if you ever want to talk about anything, not just about getting home. I wouldn't mind spending a bit of time with you." Robin looked slyly at Kai. "Just as long as you aren't completely wasting my time you understand."

Kai placed his hands on his knees and smiled. "Sure…I'd actually really like that."

"Good, glad we got that sorted." Robin rolled onto her side. "Not right now though. You're starting to stink up the room."

Kai angrily got to his feet. "Hey you don't need to be so blunt about ending a conversation! And come on I must not smell-" Kai sniffed his jacked and immediately dry heaved. "Okay, yeah I do. I really need a shower."

Kai quickly got himself a clean shirt, and a clean pair of jeans from his spare clothes and opened the door. He made it halfway through before looking back at Robin.

"Hey Robin. I just wanted to let you know…I'm really happy that I met you. Even if this is how it had to happen." Kai seriously said.

Robin scoffed at Kai. "Just go and get your shower already."

Kai didn't reply, instead he closed the door and went down the corridor towards the men's facilities.

With Kai out of the room, Robin reached for the bookshelf. "I'm not just going to sit back and let you beat me in Pokémon Training, and Huntsman Training you know." Robin's fingers tapped each book's cover one by one before picking out a Beacon textbook titled 'The basics of Aura-Vol I'. Robin flicked through the book, starting on a chapter about semblances. "Time to get stronger."

Far into the afternoon Ozpin was sitting in his office, exhausted after processing the vast amounts of information told to him throughout the day. Projected over his desk was a holographic screen detailing Ironwood's classified report on what really happened in the Eden's National Reserve. He had already told Ozpin the truth of person of course, but he also felt compelled to write it up in case others, such as the Vale council needed to know the details. Ozpin looked at the holographic report and pressed a button on his desk making it blip off, revealing Ironwood walking out of the elevator into the room.

"James. I didn't expect to see you so until tomorrow at least. Get some rest, as a Headmaster and a General you need twice as much energy as the rest of us." Ozpin politely offered.

"I can't rest. Not until I know your decision." Ironwood insistently pressed.

Ozpin took a deep breath in preparation for Ironwood's reaction. "I have decided to refrain from telling the council, the reserve's true nature."

"Of course, you have." Ironwood bitterly responded. "I should have already known you would make that decision." Ironwood nervously began pacing from one side of the room to the other. "I understand why you need to keep secrets. Believe me I do. But we cannot contain this, this is already out there. You have these Pokémon in your school. Pokémon in your kingdom. And an extremist group using Pokémon to achieve their goals. We can't contain this, not when it's this wide spread already. Sooner or later it will get out and when it does your reputation, your position will be jeopardised. And if that happens the world will be lost!"

Ironwood stopped in front of Ozpin's desk and slammed it with both hands, making it shake. Ironwood breathed heavily in and out, with Ozpin showing little response.

"James. This is about more than my decision isn't it." Ozpin realised.

Ironwood shakily took his hands off the desk and placed them behind his back. "When I was out there. In my nightmares…I saw a world where the Queen had won. A world created by a bloody revolution at her hands." Ironwood looked Ozpin seriously in the eye. "Oz. We can't let her win, whatever the cost. And right now, we both know that these Pokémon are already knee deep in her plans."

"I know James. Which is why you and I need to keep looking for more information to get Kai and Robin home. Information about Pokémon, what they are, what they can do and why they would be used against us or perhaps with us." Ozpin clasped his hands together. "I know that this is tough for you to deal with James. And for your patient and your kindness in sheltering Miss Navy, and protecting the secret of the reserve from Glynda and the council you already have my greatest thanks. But you must not give in to fear, we will survive and we will continue pressing on. We just need to make our fears of the unknown, into the hope of the known."

Ironwood turned and walked away. "If you say so Oz. But may I remind you that the unknown is feared for a reason." Before Ironwood reached the elevator door he turned around. "One last thing. Kai Emblem said he obtained information about this mythical Pokémon from a book he received. You didn't have something to do with that did you?"

Ozpin unclasped his hands and put the under the table. "I may have heard a rumour or two about a book related to Kai's troubles, and may have pointed him in its direction. But other than that, no. I've not even asked to borrow it."

Ironwood didn't reply, instead walking into the elevator. When the doors closed, he reached into his waistcoat pocket to pull out Kai's Pokédex. On it an image of Darkrai from its Pokédex entry, an image firmly engraved in the back of Ironwood's fears.

The dim lighting of computer monitors served as the only source of light in a dark, isolated facility. A silhouette lay face down asleep, on a desk of sorts surrounded by what appeared to be research of some kind. A faint red light emanated across the right side of their face revealing a dishevelled haircut and facial hair.

"…uuughh…gughh!" The silhouette groaned uncomfortably in their sleep. "…huuughh…aaah!"

The silhouette woke up with a start, taking a gasp of air and putting their left hand on their chest. The silhouette took a look at their surroundings quickly calming themselves.

"…I see…it was just a dream. I honestly can't remember having one that ghastly since…no matter." The silhouette got to their feet, the red light becoming brighter as it seemed to shine bright from their left eye.

"The world of tomorrow won't just build itself. Time to get back to work."

And with that, so ends the Nightmare Plateaux arc! Out of all the original arcs I've done this one has so far been by far the most strenuous! I can only hope it was worth it!

One detail I would like to go a bit further in is Robin's semblance: Personal Gravity. Essentially right now Robin can alter the direction gravity affects her body and can also increase the amount of gravity effecting her body, at least that's all it can do for now in the future it may evolve into something more. If you're still struggling for a visual representation think of Chuuya Nakahara from Bungo Stray Dogs, change the colour from red to dark blue and you have a good enough idea.

And while that last scene holds some questions we'll have to wait a bit on that because at long last after nearly 2 years we are returning to the canon! Yup, we're finally doing the rest of Volume 2. So get ready because next time begins the Beacon Dance arc.

So until next time this is Kallerston, signing out!