Darkness Consuming

A/N: This was inspired by a prompt by FrozenFlames12 on what if Ash were Darkrai. This is a crossover between the PMD world and the anime. Mainly focuses on the anime specifically the XYZ series. There will be some amourshipping, but uh... not the way you expect. Enjoy! Don't usually write for the anime so I might have some of the characters wrong! Sorry!

'All my plans ruined,' Darkrai thought angrily as he floated in the depths of Dark Crater staring at the entrance that gaped wide revealing only inky darkness. 'The world could have been covered in glorious darkness and my chance to rule the entire world was destroyed by an idiotic Pikachu and a former human. They'll have the Distortion World to pay for what they've done.'

An Arbok timidly came forward, keeping his eyes low and strained on the crumbling rock and dirt of the cave's floor and said, "M-Master, th-the-"

"Stop stuttering!" Darkrai roared as he generated dark energy and sent it bursting from him in a powerful pulse which sent the Arbok and several of his minions flying and crashing into the cave's pillars and stalagmites. The other pathetic Pokemon huddled behind each other and the rocks while lying prostrate and begging him for forgiveness.

The Arbok meanwhile got up from where he had crashed into the wall of the cave and hunched down while saying, "Master, the explorers, Team Sonder, have come to the lowest level. They'll be here shortly."

"Good," Darkrai said coldly. "Then we can finish off these fools once and for all. Get into position. When they come, don't attack until I say so. Understood?"

"Yes Master," they all muttered as they got into a circle around the cave entrance and Darkrai enshrouded them in darkness.

It wasn't long after this that they heard voices echoing from the black abyss. Soon light began to emerge as a small Pikachu and a Charmander walked inside relying on the light emanating from his tail. They walked toward the back of the cave where lava oozed and bubbled in a large pit. "This looks like a dead end," the Pikachu said as he looked around nervously at the cracked walls and overhanging stalactites that cast eerie shadows. "Darkrai said he'd be here… I mean… I wouldn't be surprised if that was a lie, but I expected that he'd do something at least."

'Poor naïve fools,' Darkrai thought snidely as he quickly darted forward still cloaked in shadows and used hypnosis on the Charmander causing the former human to slump to the floor as sleep overcame him. Darkrai quickly hid back by the walls of the cavern as the Pikachu screamed his partners name, but Darkrai ignored him as he entered into the Charmander's dream to turn it into a living nightmare.

As Darkrai entered the Dream Realm, he saw the idiotic human blinking in confusion. He disguised himself as the Pikachu and stood by the Charmander's side and he conjured an image of himself to stand in front of them. Darkrai relished in watching the reactions of the idiotic human as he explained his plan to plunge the world into darkness by first disrupting the time stream by stealing the time gears. The look on the fool's face was priceless when he learned that Darkrai had attacked him while he was traveling with Grovyle back in time.

"I was going to eliminate you and your little friend over there, but I've had a change in heart," the image of Darkrai said calmly. "You've shown great power and courage. Why not join me? Rule with me in a world of darkness."

Darkrai who was still disguised as Pikachu said, "He's right. We've worked so hard, and for what? I know that the future of darkness looked bad, but it doesn't have to be like that. If we rule alongside Darkrai, we can make it better." Darkrai then walked away from the former human, trying to hide a smirk as he looked back and innocently said, "It really is for the best. We'll be helping the world this way."

The idiot's face was to die for. The look of hurt and betrayal etched on the Charmander's face was enough to make Darkrai satisfied, but hopefully it was also enough to convince the human to join his side. The Charmander's unusual ability to access the Dimensional Scream would be very helpful when he ruled as the king of this world. Darkrai smiled sweetly and called to the former human, "Come join us. A world full of darkness will be beautiful."

Before the Charmander could react, a burst of bright light shot through the Dream Realm causing the illusion to crack and finally shatter plunging them back into the waking world. Darkrai hissed in frustration and looked up to see the culprit who was currently shining brightly as she descended from the hole she had created to break into the depths of the cave. Cresselia. Her lovely body glowed with energy while her pink extremities pulsated with light; her blue and yellow body emanated a soft warmth which filled the Pikachu and former human healing them and giving them hope.

"YOU!" Darkrai roared sending out a pulse of dark energy directly to Cresselia which she easily avoided with a slight roll to the side. "This doesn't involve you. Get out."

"This has everything to do with me," Cresselia said firmly. "You've chosen to try and create a world of darkness. You wish to plunge them into a realm of nightmare which is something I will never allow." Cresselia then sent out a ray of light towards Darkrai which he narrowly avoided before it collided into a stalagmite causing the rock to burst and crumble from the force of the impact. "When will you learn that darkness will never destroy light?"

"Well, we'll see about that Cresselia," Darkrai hissed, "You've told me the same words for the past several eons, but it's time you and all the Legendaries learn to never underestimate me. I will rule. I will be the king of this world and you," Darkrai raced upwards with his hands glowing with energy before he thrust it out to Cresselia, "will bow before me!"

Darkrai screamed to his minions, "Kill Team Sonder! I'll deal with this one myself." He looked pointedly at Cresselia and lunged again for an attack which she dodged as she flew across the cave—light streaming out from behind her as she went. She flipped in the air and turned back to Darkrai flying at high speeds as she generated another burst of light energy which she shot at Darkrai. Below them chaos ensued as Darkrai's minions viciously attacked Team Sonder, but the two young Pokemon were easily able to push back. 'They won't win! Not this time! I won't let them!' Darkrai thought as he went in for another attack.

Cyrus gazed in awe at the incredible sight in front of him. Finally, after all these years of research into the original power, time spent studying the legends and learning to harness the power of the red chains; his plans were finally coming to fruition. Above him hovering in the darkness of the underground cave were the two legendaries Palkia and Dialga currently bound tightly by the red chains. He may have lost his control over Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf, but that didn't mean he couldn't still create his new world.

"Dialga ruler of time, Pakia ruler of space release your powers now and create a new universe before me," Cyrus cried accessing the Original power contained with his glove. The two legendaries cried in pain as the red chains tightened around them causing them to simultaneously shoot bursts of green and white energy to the area the children and the Lake Trio had just been standing over an ancient inscription. The two lines of energy collided causing a large sphere of light and power to be created. The sphere began to expand revealing a void where there were galaxies and worlds without end.

"We have to stop them," Cynthia called from behind Cyrus. "Garchomp use draco meteor on the red chains." The Garchomp immediately generated red energy which then descended towards the bound legendaries.

"Pikachu use thunderbolt," Ash yelled causing the small yellow Pokemon to bound quickly towards the legendaries while sending out a bright wave of electricity. Dawn's Piplup sent a wave of bubbles and Brock's Croagunk used poison sting.

"Dialga use roar of time. Palkia use special rend," Cyrus roared which caused the two legendaries to turn towards the young trainers and send bursts of energy which overpowered Pikachu, Piplup and Croagunk's attack and continued toward the three defenseless trainers. Fortunately, Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit flew in front of them and protected them from becoming nothing more than a pile of dust.

Cyrus stared avidly at the glorious sphere in front of him showing him the spiraling galaxies contained within. "This universe… it's perfect," Cyrus breathed. "A world without emotion. One not governed without heart or conscious. Perfect."

"Oh, it's wonderful," Mars said excitedly. "Let's not wait any longer and go inside to see it for ourselves!"

Cyrus scoffed, "Please. You don't have a place there. You'd only ruin it. This world belongs only to me." Cyrus didn't even bother to look at Mars' hurt expression as he walked by Charon, Saturn, and Mars towards the glowing sphere.

"We need to attack the red chains again," Cynthia yelled. This caused the Pokemon including the Lake Trio to attack the red chains binding the legendaries once more, and this time, the attacks hit causing them to come apart in a burst of energy.

Cyrus ignored them as he felt himself be lifted from the ground and be pulled toward the new universe. He didn't care that Dialga and Palkia fell to the ground next to him having been released from their chains. All he could think of was the world he would go to. A one freed from any of the feelings that so often plagued humans including himself. The light encompassed him to his relief, but it was short lived as the legendaries had at that point gotten back to their feet and sent out beams of power destroying both him and his new universe.

Darkrai fell to the ground in defeat—his limbs shaking from all the exertion of expending all his energy to defeat Cresselia. She was hovering victoriously above him bathed in bright pulsating light with the Pikachu and Charmander standing next to her. All his minions had long since been defeated with him being the last to fall. "It's over Darkrai," Cresselia said as she hovered closer to his fallen figure. "Now it's time to face the consequences for what you've done."

Rays of light began to stream from Cresselia and wrap themselves around Darkrai's weakened body. Darkrai tried to move, but he couldn't so much as stir one of his arms. The stream of light surrounded Darkrai so that he was completely enveloped in an orb of see-through light. He was lifted up from the ground and brought to Cresselia's eye-level, "For your crimes, Lord Palkia and Dialga wanted to wipe you from existence. However, since you yourself are also a legendary, it's necessary for you to continue the balance of darkness in the world and nightmares in the Dream Realm. Instead, the Lake Trio will completely wipe your mind so that there will be no trace of your former self."

Darkrai's blue eye widened in horror and in a final struggle to escape Cresselia's light prison, he used the last shred of his energy to cause a burst of darkness to break apart the strands of light binding him. Darkrai quickly flew from the trio and created a time vortex, and yelled, "I may have failed this time, but isn't that the wonderful thing about time travel. I can try again over and over until the world is at last plunged into darkness."

He reached the vortex, glanced back and cackled at the terrified looks of the two Pokemon and Cresselia's infuriated one. "What does it feel like? Knowing that in the end, I'll have the ultimate victory!"

Before he could slip into the time vortex, a booming voice bellowed, "I WON'T ALLOW THAT!"

Darkrai felt himself go cold as he recognized the all too familiar sound of Palkia's roar. Amidst the rumbling and crashing of the dozens of stalactites, a blinding life engulfed them only to reveal Palkia's mighty form. Palkia roared at Darkrai, "YOU WILL PAY A GRAVE PRICE FOR EXPANDING THE DISTORTION OF SPACE AS WELL AS CORRUPTING THE TIME STREAM!" A blinding light of bright energy began growing in Palkia's mouth, "THIS IS A STRIKE OF JUSTICE!"

Terrified, Darkrai turned and fled for the time vortex and entered it just as Palkia's attack hit it causing it to fracture and completely shatter.

Simultaneously, in Ash's universe the Lake Trio attempted to negate the effects of the recently destroyed new universe by giving their own energy to calm the building destruction radiating from the empty void of blackness. This caused a rift to be created between both universes. The power from the rift became strong, and the Lake Trio attempted to fly from the expanding wormhole linking the universes, but they were still being slowly sucked in. Ash seeing their struggle ran over to help. He pulled them from the rift so that they could be free, but he himself was then lifted into the air and was absorbed into the inky blackness of the wormhole.

Pikachu screamed Ash's name and ran over to help his friend, but another blinding flash of light filled Spear Pillar along with a deafening crack of thunder. Pikachu felt an object collide into him as if the strange rift had spat out something from inside it. 'Ash,' Pikachu thought desperately. When the rift between the universes had calmed, Pikachu ran over to the fallen figure. Pikachu recognized the spiky black hair and general features of Ash, but his clothes were all black with red lining the cuffs and zipper.

Something else seemed to be off about Ash, but Pikachu wasn't sure what it was. "Ash? Ash?" Pikachu incessantly shook Ash's limp form. "Ash get up! Cyrus is gone and everything's okay! Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf are okay along with Dawn and Brock. Look, Cynthia and Looker are arresting Team Galactic. Come on Ash, you have to open your eyes!"

Ash's eyes slowly opened, but Pikachu noticed that Ash's eyes seemed… darker… Pikachu would go so far as to say they seemed cruel and even a little malevolent. Ash took one look at Pikachu and scrambled away from him. "Get away from me you little pest! What's happening? Where are we?" Ash looked away and blanched when he saw the Lake Trio and Dialga and Palkia panting on the floor of Spear Pillar. "No. You won't stop me by getting rid of me. I'll rule this world as king of darkness. You won't be able to stop me. Do you understand you little prick?" Ash hissed at Pikachu.

"Ash, what's wrong?" Pikachu asked desperately. "What happened when you went into that weird hole in space? You're being so mean right now. Did something change?"

"Who the Distortion World is Ash?" Ash asked harshly. "I'm Darkrai your future king and lord of darkness."

"Ash are you alright?" Dawn asked as she ran to his side and took his hand. "I didn't know if you'd be able to make it out of there."

Darkrai yanked his hand from Dawn's and hissed, "Human. What are you doing here? Your species have long since gone extinct." That's when the legendary noticed that there were dozens of humans everywhere. "Wait… what's happened? Why are there humans… what…" Darkrai then looked down at his body and saw to his horror saw that he now had two pairs of legs and hands and arms made of fleshy material. Darkrai felt his face and ran his hand through his black hair. "No, No, NO!" Darkrai screamed as realization hit him. "No I can't be a human! NO!"

"Ash what's going on?" Dawn asked worriedly. "Brock, I think Ash might have a concussion or something. He's not making any sense."

"We'll need to get him to a hospital," Brock said in agreement. "It looks like Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit have managed to send Palkia and Dialga back to their homes so we should be able to leave."

At that point, Mesprit came up to say goodbye to Dawn as Uxie did for Brock, but when Azelf came up to Darkrai, he yelled, "Get out of my sight you pathetic excuse of a legendary! You come any closer and I'll send you into a never-ending nightmare! Dark type beats psychic type any day. Remember that you weak, insignificant-"

Cynthia quickly stepped in and said to a rather upset Azelf, "Um, Ash probably has a concussion and doesn't mean anything he's saying. Please forgive him."

"I mean every word I say," Darkrai hissed, "Palkia will pay for turning me into a human." The police and paramedics came at that point to take Darkrai away, but that didn't stop Darkrai from spewing out a profuse amount of profanities to poor Azelf. "Do you hear me Palkia! If I can't rule my own world, I'll just conquer this one!"

Ash groaned and groggily opened his eyes to see that he was in a very dark area. 'I must be still in Spear Pillar.' Ash suddenly remembered the Lake Trio and sat upright, "Azelf!? Uxie! Mesprit!" Ash looked around and felt fear begin to seep in his veins as he saw that he was currently on a stone path that wrapped around the mountain. It must have been nighttime since it was dark, and a perpetual murky haze lingered over the horizon. Ugly gray boulders remained suspended above the ground as if they were meant to crash into the ground, but for some odd reason, they stayed their floating lifelessly. Ash looked over to where a waterfall streamed down, but the water and droplets stayed suspended in the air never to fall.

"Is anyone here!" Ash called fearfully trying not to let panic set in. He got up and began wandering down the path, "Hello! Brock!? Dawn!? Cynthia!?" Still there was no response, and the longer Ash stayed in this area, the more uncomfortable he became. There was no breeze here, the only sound was the falling of his footsteps along the crumbling stone path. It wasn't just that though—there was an overhanging atmosphere of… evil. As if all goodness and happiness had been taken out of this world. "Please someone, anyone. Can you help me!?"

"A-Are you a human?" Ash heard a voice call from behind a black boulder.

"Um… yes. Can you help me? I need to get back to my friends. The last thing I remember was being sucked into this weird hole that had opened up in Spear Pillar. Do you know where we are? Do you know what's… wrong with this place?"

"You're a human… you must be from another world. Humans haven't been alive in thousands of years. This place that you see feels wrong because… because time no longer works here. It's a world of darkness where Primal Dialga rules absolutely."

"Time doesn't work?" Ash asked looking out to the dark world where the trees seemed more like black statues and nothing whatsoever stirred. "Does… does that mean it's always dark and… awful… like this? All the time?"

"Yes," the voice called. "I… I've never seen the sun in my lifetime. I've only ever known darkness…"

"That's terrible," Ash whispered. What had he gotten himself into? A world with no light and only darkness? Would he ever see his friends and family again? "I have to get out of here."

"Well… I don't know how you will. Maybe you could talk to Palkia, but Primal Dialga has banished him so that he can rule here without any other legendary. You'd have to restore time first to make Dialga more reasonable and then… then maybe you could talk to Palkia to send you back to wherever you came from."

Ash nodded, "I'll do it. I need to get back to Pikachu and the others. Will you help me?"

There was a moment of silence before Ash heard a small, "If it returns the light to our world, then yes." Ash heard some shuffling and out from behind a rock came a green Pokemon. It was a Grovyle.