Chapter Nine: Dark Times

What's going on my lovely muffins, IcyAngels here with another chapter of Seven Worlds! And I didn't stay dead for a year! Yay! It's been almost a month since I've updated, but hey, I also uploaded a video on YouTube and another chapter of Hoenn! That's three updates in a month, so I'm doing pretty well here. Anyways, enjoy the chapter!

Amy's eyes widened as she looked out at the empty ice room, back to Knuckles, and back to the room again. "Knuckles…"

"Yeah…" he replied, staring at the statue-less spot on the floor.

"Please tell me you were being a knucklehead and brought us to the wrong ice castle…"

He walked out on to the balcony, watching over the town a few miles away. "Take a look."

Amy walked out on to the balcony next to him, gasping as she saw what laid before them. The entire town, or what was left of it, was coated in a huge layer of ice and snow, the only things visible being the shapes of the roofs protruding through. "It's completely frozen…"

"Yeah…so what are we going to do?!" Knuckles asked in panic.

"I don't know!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. "Watching over Angel is your job, not mine!"

"YOU TAGGED ALONG!"

"THAT DOESN'T CHANGE THE FACT THAT IT'S YOUR JOB!"

Knuckles sighed, then took in a deep breath. "Okay. Here's what we'll do. When Sonic calls to ask us how it's going, we'll tell him everything's fine. We won't tell them that Angel's gone and that the castle is completely empty. Then, when we hang up, we'll go out and look for her."

"That's a terrible idea, Knuckles," Amy said, crossing her arms. "They're going to find out eventually. What if they come back later and find that all of us are gone?" The X-transceiver in her hand began ringing.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there," he said, then walked up behind her. "Just answer the phone."

She rolled her eyes, then hit the answer button. "Hello?"

A familiar blue hedgehog's face appeared on the screen. "Uh, hi, Amy."

"Sonic!" she squealed in excitement, shoving Knuckles out of the camera's range. "How are things going over there, my darling? Are you all safe—hey, wait a minute! You left without telling me! How dare you?!"

Melaney mumbled something unintelligible from outside the camera's view, but Sonic didn't comment on it. "Calm down, Amy. Look, everything's going fine over here. Are you in Arendelle with Knuckles?"

"Yeah," she replied. "Angel's here and uh…safe."

"Great," Sonic said, giving her a thumbs up. "Can we see?"

Amy's eyes widened. "Uh…sure," she said nervously. She quickly covered up the microphone with her hand. "Knuckles, do something!"

Knuckles approached the device from outside of the camera's range, punching out the lens. "Looks like the camera broke, Sonic."

The hedgehog narrowed his eyes. "What are you guys trying to hide? Amy? Don't you da—" He was cut off when she hit the red End Call button.

"See?" the echidna asked. "Everything's gonna be fine."

"Knuckles!" she exclaimed, slapping the back of his head. "Sonic's already suspicious and we haven't even left yet! This isn't going to work!"

"Well unless you can think of something better, we can't really do anything," he replied.

She groaned, then got in to the back seat of the plane. "Fine. Then let's check back home, first." Knuckles nodded, then climbed in the front seat and started it up before taking off in to the sky.

Lysandre Labs, Lumiose City

Colress typed at the large computer in front of him for what seemed like the millionth time, reading through every article and journal entry on Kalos' ultimate weapon. "The resurrected eternal Pokemon left the man's side," he read aloud, his voice becoming a mere whisper. "The man was surprised and sad. He had revived it so they could be together…" He shifted his glasses downwards, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. "This man attempted to do the same thing that I'm doing, but failed. Is it really that wrong? And if it backfires, it means I would be doomed to roam the earth for the rest of eternity…am I willing to pay that price? And Angelica would have to do the same…can I really make that decision for her?"

The door behind him opened, causing him to quickly turn around. Sylvia flew in, carefully placing the statue on the ground in front of him. Colress stared at it in awe. Here she was, so many years later…his own creation standing right in front of him, frozen in ice. Not a thing had changed, other than the rock lodged in her chest. He released the breath he hadn't even noticed he was holding, letting the air escape his lungs. "I am willing," he said to himself, his voice barely audible to Sylvia. "No price would be too high."

"Colress?" she asked in confusion.

He shook his head, awakening from his thoughts. "I was just contemplating something." He turned back to his computer and closed out of what he had been reading, staring down at his keyboard with a determined look on his face. "I've made my decision. I will bring her back, regardless of what it takes and what consequences there may be!" He looked back at Sylvia. "We'll spend today gathering as many Pokemon as we can. Tomorrow we will go to Geosenge Town and begin rebuilding the weapon!"

Hogwarts, Outside the Castle

Sonic narrowed his eyes at his X-transceiver. "Amy!" he shouted, slamming his fist on the ground. But it was too late. She and Knuckles had already hung up. He laid back on the grass in frustration. "I can already tell this isn't going to go well…"

Melaney sighed. "Well, if something goes wrong, we'll find out eventually."

He groaned. "But the longer we wait, the worse it could end up being."

"But we can't really determine if something happened or not unless we either trust Amy and Knuckles or go back ourselves," she replied. "And if we do the second thing we'll just end up giving the clones more time to grab the emeralds."

"I know," he replied reluctantly, staring up at the starry sky. His X-transceiver then beeped, causing him to look at the screen to see the time. "It's midnight," he said. "Our shift's done."

"Thank God," she said, standing up and stretching. "It's getting cold outside."

"It's always cold outside, Melaney," he reminded her.

"Well, colder than usual," she said. The two then walked back to the camp together, meeting up with Morgan, Joey, and Gold, who were getting out of their tents.

"You guys ready to take the shift?" Sonic asked.

"No," Morgan replied sleepily. "It's midnight and I'd rather being sleeping."

Sonic shrugged. "I'll take that as a yes."

A few minutes later the three were sitting outside on the lakefront, watching tiny ripples move throughout the water. Well, Gold and Joey did. Morgan slept on the ground instead.

"So," Gold began, trying to strike up a conversation. "What is it that you can do, Joe?"

"I have Pokemans," Joey replied, taking out a Poke Ball and tossing it up and down. "And I can make toilet jokes while skewering the Spanish language at the same time." He looked at the sleeping wizard next to him. "Morgan, ¿como es la agua en el baño?"

The wizard suddenly opened one eye, whacking him on the head with her wand. "No tomo la agua en el baño. Now hush."

Joe shrugged and looked at Gold. "I also have a friend named Ben Dover. He gave me the finger once when we were driving."

Morgan groaned, then looked at the other fox. "What do you do?"

"Well, I can use Eon," he explained. "It's this energy that's in all living things. It connects the soul to the body and determines personality traits and stuff."

"Cool," Joe said.

"And it gives me all kinds of powers, too," he continued. "I can shoot Eon orbs and do other attacks like earlier. And I can heal people."

Morgan glared at Joe. "Why can't you do cool stuff like that?"

"I don't know, maybe I'd be able to if you hadn't hindered me by hiring me as a butler—"

"Anyway," Gold continued, getting their attention. "I can heal people, but it takes up energy. And if someone gets a major wound, there's this thing called Eon Whiplash and there's a chance that I can end up with that injury if I heal them."

"Cool," Joe said again.

"Unlike you," Morgan muttered.

"And that's basically how it works," Gold finished. He looked at the other two, who were now arguing. "You guys aren't listening, are you?"

She scoffed. "Joe? Listening? Don't make me laugh."

The arctic fox sighed and looked back at the lake. It was going to be a long night.

Hogwarts, Outside Castle

"MY PANTS ARE ON FIRE!" a voice yelled from outside the tent.

"That's what you get for not watching for where the campfire is, Ash!" Misty shouted.

Sonic covered his ears, opening his eyes just enough so that he could see the time on the X-transceiver. three-thirty in the morning. "It's too early for this crap," he mumbled, burying his head in his pillow.

"I'm surprised you didn't hear Joey and Morgan come back at two screaming at the top of their lungs at each other," a voice behind him muttered. He turned over to see Tails in his own sleeping bag about two feet away. That was right. He had transferred into the fox's tent after the kid wouldn't stop tossing and turning in his sleep. Speaking of which…

"You've been up all night, haven't you?" Sonic asked.

He sighed. "Just like every other night." The hedgehog frowned as Tails went on. "It's like…every night I try so hard to go to sleep. And ninety percent of the time I can't. And if I do, it's the same few nightmares over and over and over again."

"Which are?"

"The most common one is me just reliving her death," he continued. "And remembering every little detail. Right down to the way her scream sounded."

Sonic winced. Truth be told, he had that embedded in his memory too. But he knew that the memory was much more painful for his best friend.

"Other times I have nightmares about what could happen if we get her back," he continued. "Like if the ice thaws and that rock's still in her heart and it kills her. Just think about it, Sonic. Coming all this way and still not being quick enough to save her. I can't even—"

"Don't think like that, Tails," Sonic interrupted quickly. The fox looked up at him, his face pale from just talking about it. They'd had the same conversation a million times, but it never went anywhere. He sighed. "And the other times?"

"The other times we do save her," he said, looking down at the ground. "And she lives. But…she hates me. I think those are the worst ones because there's a good chance it'll happen, Sonic. It's not like when I'm being doubtful, either. The way she looked and talked to me the last few days before…" He trailed off, burying his face into his pillow, a short, muffled sound coming from it a few seconds later.

Goddammit Tails. Sonic sighed in both relief and concern. Mostly the latter. Relief because after all this time, Sonic could still count the number of times Tails had actually opened up to him about the situation on one hand. And the majority of those times were before he had turned in to the hollow shell that laid in front of him at the moment. As for concern, well, that was the thing. He was just a shell of his former self.

"And I know you always want me to keep my head up and have faith," he continued, trying to choke back tears. "You have to know I'm trying. I came all the way out here, didn't I? But every time I think about how there might be a chance, something always gets in the way. Either a huge part of me will doubt it or something else will just crush my hopes." He looked back at the hedgehog. "I want to go back to the way I was before all of this happened. Before we left home, before TDU, before Amy and I were even picked for the Games. But I want Angel here with us. I'm sick of feeling like…like I'm drowning."

"Drowning?" he asked.

He nodded. "All around me I see people around me that are happy and I want to feel like that again, but I can't. It's like everyone around me is completely able to breathe above water, and I can see them, but I'm underneath the surface and suffocating. And nobody realizes it."

"I realize it," Sonic replied, not missing a single beat. "I wish I could make it stop hurting, but I can't. But I realize it."

Tails sighed. "I know you do, Sonic. And I appreciate it." He sniffed, wiping away a stray tear with the palm of his glove. "You know, I'm still thinking about that conversation we had yesterday. I hope you're right."

"About getting her back?" he asked.

"Yeah. But still…if."

He sighed half-heartedly. The fox was closing up again, but was slightly more open than he would've been twenty-four hours ago. At least he had that going for him. Progress was progress, after all. "A little bit of hope never hurt anyone, Tails," he replied, casually leaning back and staring at the ceiling of the tent. His voice softened. "You should try to get some sleep, buddy. I know there's a chance of nightmares, but you're not gonna be able to function without it."

"I know," he replied quietly. "Night, Sonic."

"Night, bud."

Despite this, neither of them could fall asleep again.

Hogwarts, Outside Castle

"GIANT SPIDER! GIANT SPIDER!"

Sonic groaned and sat up, stretching his limbs. "This is a great way to start the day after sitting for three hours in silence," he mumbled to himself. He sped out of the tent to see Melaney backing away from a spider about the size of a small dog, a flaming piece of campfire wood in her hand.

"Kill it! Kill it!" she screamed. "It's disgusting!"

He sighed, but quickly revved up a spin dash and smashed it in to a million pieces. He smirked. "Mashed spider for breakfast, Melaney?"

She made a hacking noise. "You're disgusting, Sonic." The other members of the group had begun filing out of their tents, glaring at her with tired eyes. "What?!" she exclaimed. "Did you guys see that thing?! It was huge!"

Anna yawned, running a hand through her messy hair. "What are we talking about?"

"Giant spiders," Morgan shuddered, pointing her wand at the pile of spider guts and making it disappear. "You should've expected it though. We are outside the Forbidden Forest, after all."

Ash's stomach suddenly growled, causing everyone to stare at him. "I'm starving," he muttered.

Misty sighed. "What else is new?"

"Joe, you should cook us something," Morgan said.

"Or…" Jack interrupted, "we could all not die of food poisoning and go up to North's to steal his Christmas cookies. There is a Chaos Emerald up there too."

"I thought you didn't want to go up there because it was too close to Christmas? And he would stick a sword in your face?" Anna asked.

He shrugged. "I'm willing to take the chance. Plus I haven't paid him a visit in a while."

Tails looked down at the emerald tracker in his hands. "Well, there's no way we're gonna be able to track down the emerald we lost yesterday…let's do it." He placed the portal cube on the ground in front of him, causing a huge metal ring with swirling colors inside of it to appear. They stepped through one by one, Morgan and Joey being the last ones.

"Wait, where are we going?" he asked.

Morgan turned to look back at him, a mere three feet from the portal. "North's workshop. You know, where all the Christmassy stuff is?" She rolled her eyes at that last part. "Didn't you hear Jack?"

"Who?"

"Jack Frost."

"Should I know who that is?"

Morgan shook her head and proceeded to move towards the portal. "I still don't know about you, Joe."

"Wait, we're going in to that thing?!" he exclaimed. "I don't trust—"

"Oh, for God's sake, Joey!" she shouted, then picked him up by the tail and tossed him in to the swirling vortex, entering right after.

North Pole, Outside North's Workshop

"It's f-freezing!" Melaney exclaimed, shivering to death. The group stood in the middle of a swirling blizzard, the snow around them about a foot and a half deep.

"We're at the North Pole," Morgan snapped, taking her arms out of her sweatshirt sleeves and hugging them to her body. "Were you expecting a tropical resort?"

Gold shrugged. "It could be worse."

Jack looked up at the sky. "But it's worse than usual right now. The freeze must be starting to affect places outside of Arendelle. If we wait too long we're gonna end up plunging the world in to the next Ice Age."

"It's been six months s-since it h-happened," Sonic whispered to Melaney. "And it's j-just starting right now? S-Something must be wrong b-back in Arendelle. M-More than usual, anyway."

"W-Well we c-can't exactly go and check it out r-right now," she whispered back. "P-Priorities, Sonic."

"Can we go inside please?!" Misty exclaimed, hopping up and down. "My legs are freezing!"

"All right, all right," Jack said quickly. "Let's go." He led the group to the large double doors of the castle, raising his hand to knock, then shrugged. "Eh, North should be used to me trying to bust in here by now." He used his staff to shove the double doors open, causing wind and snow to be blown in to the huge building. The first living things to greet them were two large, furry beings, their entire bodies covered in shaggy hair from head to toe. Both of them glared at Jack as they closed the doors back up. "Hey, yetis," he said with a nervous laugh.

"Wow," Anna whispered, taking a step forward. There were no words to describe how busy the workshop was. Yetis stood at mahogany tables, assembling and painting toys while elves ran around with Christmas lights, their bells jingling with every step they took. Miscellaneous toys were everywhere in the room, whether they be tiny biplanes in the air or miniature trains on the ground. Along the walls ran giant staircase that gradual moved upwards towards the skylight that made up the entirety of the ceiling. In the center of the room was a huge globe, tiny twinkling dots covering almost the entire surface. The entire workshop had an air of wonder and mystery.

"Isn't it great?" he asked.

"It's amazing," she said quietly.

"Well, at least one community isn't falling apart," Elsa muttered, looking around the completely functioning area. Jack looked back at her, but said nothing.

"I'll go find Nor—" he began, but was cut off when a sudden yelling sound came from the stairs above them. A huge man, about six-and-a-half feet tall, jumped down and landed in front of them. A brown fur cap and long white beard covered up the majority of his face, the only parts visible were a pair of bright blue eyes, rosy cheeks and a nose. The sleeves of his red coat were rolled up, revealing the words 'Naughty' and 'Nice' tattooed on to his right and left arms respectively. The most notable thing, however, was the pair of swords in his hands, which were pointed at Jack's face.

"Huh? Jack, it's you!" he exclaimed, his thick Russian accent clearly ringing through the building. He instantly dropped the swords and took off his hat, revealing his white hair was just as long as his beard. "You gave me quite a scare. I told you to knock first, no?" He laughed, taking off his coat to reveal a pair of black pants and a red shirt. "Take that to my office, will you?" he asked, dropping the jacket on to a group of elves. "Where have you been, Jack?! We have been waiting for you. The Man in the Moon has spoken once again."

"Already, North?" Jack whispered.

"Already," he whispered back. "We will talk later when there are less people. But what have you been doing the entire time?!"

Jack cleared his throat so the rest of the group could hear him. "I've been helping my friends. We're trying to get the Chaos Emeralds so we can revive Angel and undo what's been going on in Arendelle…and what's starting everywhere else."

"Ah, yes," North replied. "I shall show you all what is happening because of all of this. Come, come." He led the group to the large globe in the center of the room, then pointed to the area where Arendelle was located. Every few seconds one of the little lights would flicker, then be put out for good. "That is Arendelle. Every light represents a child that believes in the Guardians and all that we stand for. But when they go out…"

"They stop believing?" Ash finished.

The man shook his head. "I hope that's all that's happening to them." He looked back at the group. "Now, you came here for Chaos Emerald, correct? I have been using one to power workshop. Give me a few hours to get it. It is very close to Christmas time, after all, and we are very busy!" He turned to one of the yetis near him, who was holding a large plate of cookies. "Yeti, we have guests! More cookies! And show them place where they will not be electrocuted by elves." The group began to follow the yeti away, all of them going until North stopped one of them. "Jack," he whispered. "My office."

The two Guardians moved in the opposite direction of the others, approaching a wooden lift in the corner of the room. It descended to the floor below them, which was much darker than the previous, but still had that air of magic in it. The two stepped out and entered a room on the left, North closing the door behind them. The room was exactly the same as it was when Jack had first been there, ice sculptures around the room, a Christmas tree in the corner, and a frosted window looking over the snowy mountains outside.

"Fruitcake?" North offered, holding a plate of it out in front of him.

"Ah…still no thanks," Jack replied.

He shrugged, placing it his desk. "Now, like I was saying before, Man in Moon wants new Guardian."

"But…I haven't even been here for that long," Jack replied, running a hand through his hair. "How could he want a new one alrea—"

"We are in a very dark time, Jack," he said quietly. "Even with Pitch gone, this frost could mean more than just the end of Arendelle. It will spread. Since last night we've lost a few in Kalos. This is no longer matter of just one kingdom and one person. This could mean the lives of thousands, adults and children alike. It will be worse than what happened in Icirrus City."

The other Guardian sighed. "North, how is this going to help? I mean, fighting Pitch was one thing because it was fear. This is the cold we're talking about. I can't do anything—"

"That's where you're wrong," he interrupted. "In fact, cold is the reason why you can help! If all else fails and it gets to the rest of us, you will still be here for the children. You and one other." He took a tiny ice sculpture off his desk, placing it in Jack's palm. He opened it to see a small figurine of a human girl in a dress, a single braid of hair resting on one of her shoulders, bright blue eyes shining.

Jack took his eyes off the statue, looking at North. "Elsa?"

Chapter Nine's done! Yay! So this was more of an emotional chapter than an action one. Gotta have a balance, after all. Angel's with Colress, people are struggling with depression, the Guardians need a new Guardian, and the stakes are so much higher than everyone initially thought! QOTW: What do you think about everything that's going on in the chapter? Kind of a blanket question, but it gives you guys more stuff to talk about. Just analyze things, say your reaction, and leave them as reviews! If you need an example, just look at Gold's reviews. Or literally like a review on Hoenn, the Land of Abundance.

Except Daniel's.

Stupid white vans.

Also, another thing I want to bring up: I think I've found an upload schedule that works for me! Every Tuesday I'm going to try to either upload a chapter or a video on YouTube. The order will be Seven Worlds, Hoenn, and then a YouTube video. That does mean there will be more space between individual uploads on stories, but you still get constant content from me! Anyways, be sure to leave a review! Smell ya later!