Hello, and welcome to Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: A Heart as Cold as Ice! This is an alternate retelling of my other story, PMD: Light in the Darkness. This time, the story will be told from the antagonist's perspective. Don't worry, this story will be mainly original content, with some overlap. Anyways, let us begin!

Prologue: The Decision

It was a most glorious day for the large, black and gray-striped Pokemon as he stared down his most hated enemy atop an ethereal tower. Around him, his Dark forces were busy finishing off the pathetic remnants of his foe's defense team as the tower shuddered and threatened to crumble.

The tower loomed a couple yards above the clouds. Down below, he could see all across the continent. The tower's floor was made of light gray bricks, the same color gray as the foe he was staring at this very moment. A three-foot wall a darker shade of gray surrounded the edge, preventing smaller Pokemon from toppling over to their deaths. At the northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest points of the circular spire, gold structures extended outwards. The structures were identical to the gold ring around his enemy's torso. On the east and west sides of the tower, two twenty-foot walls rose high into the atmosphere, where they fused in the middle to create some sort of shelter from the sun. He was much larger than the structure, but he didn't mind. He was flying in the air behind the tower, staring down at his foe from above.

"I should have known you would attempt something like this. Even after that first time you tried to overtake me all those years ago, you still have not learned your lesson," his gray-and-gold foe spat, Its head shaking in indignation.

It was smaller than him, but inordinately more powerful. He would have to be careful, delicate. He had planned this coup for eons; it would not do to have all his hard work be for nothing.

"It is the nature of darkness to seek out the light and crush it. I merely wish to bring a new era of glory to this world," he rumbled, stalling for time. His allies were still occupied with battle, and he would need their aid very soon.

"You are mistaken. Light and Dark simply complement each other. Separate, they are indeed enemies, but together they bring balance to the universe, as they are intended to do. Cease this needless fighting. Is darkness truly the correct answer?" his enemy pleaded, looking up at him. He knew better than to believe It. He didn't miss the battle-ready stance his divine foe had shifted to.

"Your type of balance is ruining the world! No, Your era of peace is over. It is time for peace to subside and evil to reign. You know I have my siblings on my side. They agree that peace has reigned for far too long. They, like me, hunger for the glory we rightly deserve!" he shouted.

"…I did not want it to come to this. But it seems I have no choice. You have sealed your fate, and this time your punishment will be much more severe."

Upon this declaration, It leaped swiftly and powerfully towards him. But he was ready. He disappeared into nothing a split second before his foe would have struck him. He rematerialized, albeit invisibly, a few yards in front of his enemy, who has skidded to a stop mid-air.

"Show yourself, coward!" It yelled angrily as It wildly looked all around, parts of Its body turning purple in color.

Very well, he thought as he reappeared. His foe turned too late as he slammed into It with all his might, sending It sprawling across the floor of the tower.

"Ghost? Hm. Interesting choice of strategy. No matter, I will be ending You shortly," he mused, more to himself than to his foe, as he summoned a pink ball of energy in front of his mouth. The ball was being charged with the might of dragons, and would soon rain all of its glory down onto his foe's head.

"No you don't!" his foe snarled, sending out eighteen shards from Its body.

Seeing an opportunity, he unleashed the devastating attack, knocking all of the shards from their orbit around the now-fallen foe.

"Ah, I see your lifeline has been severed from You. I will scatter each shard far and wide, one at a time, so You will suffer long and slowly, as You have done to me," he gloated, chuckling at his fortune. His foe could not survive without all eighteen shards, and would continue to weaken as long as It was separated from at least one shard.

Perfect.

He nudged all but one shard back to his fallen enemy. The shards were reabsorbed into Its body, and It began to stir, rising unsteadily. It started to charge a pink ball of light, but he gently—almost lovingly—placed a green dome of energy around it.

"My Protect should keep You confined until Your weakness catches up with You. And even if You break free, I will have my followers pummel You back into submission. Accept Your fate, my friend. It will go more smoothly for You. Now, I am going to put Your final shard miles away from this place. When I return, You will be in no condition to ever threaten me again," he informed as he took the final fragment of life and flew away someplace.

That had been two weeks ago. Now, his divine foe was encased in a sphere of antimatter. The outside of the bubble was protected from the material world, but the inside…..well, that was another story. If the prisoner touched any part of the inside of the bubble, It received a violent shock for its trouble. Matter and antimatter did not mix.

He was busy flying towards the tower, intending to painfully sever another shard from his captive when he heard a faint telepathic conversation on the fringes of his dimensional awareness. He was fortunately omnipotent enough to be able to listen in…

"….champion, but no one in this world is up to the task. So, I've started looking in….other….realms," he was startled and enraged to hear that his divine captive had the audacity to reach out to Its followers! Wanting to hear what It had to say, he allowed the conversation to continue.

"'Other realms'? Like what?" he heard the other Pokemon ask. Inwardly, he smiled. He recognized the other voice. It belonged to the Pokemon of life and fertility. Figured.

"Yes. I've been searching the human realms for a suitable Champion. And I believe I've found the one." his captive said, sounding pleased.

"I see. And this human, he or she will save You?" the Life Pokemon asked back.

"I do hope so," the captive agreed solemnly.

"How will You protect it from Him?" asked the life-giver.

"I will turn it into a Pokemon, so He will not easily find it. I will make it Shiny, to better tell it apart from the species I intend to turn it into," replied his prisoner.

"A Champion, eh?" he intruded, deeming this a good place to end the forbidden conversation.

Immediately, the Life legendary departed from the conversation, leaving only the guilt-ridden captive.

He too left the conversation. He was already on his way to further punish his captive; he would let the captive simmer in Its own fearful anticipation of what was to come. Later he would hunt down the Life Pokemon.

In the meantime, he thought about what he had just heard. So, his divine foe was thinking about bringing a human to this world to be Its Champion? While there was no way It would be able to do so on his watch, the idea of a Champion was too interesting to ignore. A living symbol of darkness, to bring terror and fear to this world...While he was certainly that symbol, the idea of a black-hearted protégée pleased him to no end. He would teach this human everything he knew about pain and fear. It would grow to be the most terrifying force on this planet.

"So…" he murmured. "You want a human to arrive here, intending to defeat me? Well. Two can play at this game."