Something important before we start. This story has, what you could say, a soundtrack. While reading you may find this: "(*Title of the video*)" This is the indicator that a certain piece of music, the title of which is between brackets in recommended to the played while reading that part. Said part lasts until "(Stop the music)" shows up. This isn't obligatory, it's just a recommendation for music, so you don't have to do it, I just thought it would be cool. If you want to listen to the music, you open a new tab on YouTube, and you put exactly what's between brackets. It should be the first result most of the time. If not, it will be indicated. Without any further ado then, let's begin.

Prologue

–

The Darkest Storm

The sky was pitch black. No stars, no moon, no clouds. Nothing. It felt like he was staring into an eternal void of darkness. He lowered his vision, glancing at his surroundings. They had decided to stay in a little forest which was in the middle of the mountains. They only had to cross over the mountain and they would be there. Or so Celebi said, because they had been walking around those mountains for... He didn't even know how long they had been walking around aimlessly and even if he tried, he wouldn't know either. Time didn't exist anyway. Yes, as weird as it sounded, even for someone like him, time didn't exist in that world. It was all in black and white too, and even to him it felt really strange, as if he was in an old cartoon, though he had learned to try his best and ignore the laws of certain worlds a long time ago.

And this world was no different.

He had been to many worlds which weren't populated by humans. Sometimes weird creatures like dragons or talking normal animals. Sometimes there were humans that lived peacefully with these creatures, sometimes they lived not so peacefully... But never in his life had he imagined he would stumble upon a world with pokémon. They were fascinating creatures, in the sense that there were so many species of them. They ranged from dogs, to cats, and even lizards and birds, and all of them with their own individual consciousness and personality... Hell, depending on the area, even languages and superstitions. There were so many species that maybe he would have to recompile them in a book once they got done and over with what they were doing.

But, with this amazing variety of animals and creatures also came a slight feeling of loneliness… well for anyone else in his place, that would be. Being the only human in a world wasn't a really hot feeling at all, but he was glad that he didn't have to put up with them. They already had enough jerks in pokemon form, dealing with humans would've probably made things a little bit more interesting… and violent too, but he couldn't blame them. After all, he was a human himself, at least in the physical sense of the word, of course. He looked at the fired in front of him, and decided to remind himself who he was, and how he was there, just so that he wouldn't lose his focus and be carried away by his thoughts.

He had a name which he used to refer to himself, and told everyone else around him to use when they talked to him, and that name, was Eric.

He was around 2 meters tall, albeit slightly taller than that, with a strong build from all the exercise he was forced to do daily: fighting, running, jumping… His white skin didn't let him camouflage well with the shadows, but his clothing made up for this. His feet were cozy inside his dark blue sneakers, the sole of which was white, with orange lines all over them, giving them a fresher edge that the human liked. Those weren't his only pair, of course, but as of now, that was what he had on.

His sea blue trousers were really flexible, though at first glance they looked like normal jeans. At that moment he was wearing a red sweatshirt, on top of which he was wearing a black jacket, which was unzipped, even though it was really cold, as it would be in a world where the light of the sun didn't particularly shine down thanks to the moon that obstructed it; so he liked to leave it like that, hanging loosely from his shoulders, waving with his every move.

The jacket had white lines all over it, and they all ended up making the silhouette of a five-pointed star on the back of the jacket. His head and neck were bare of any accessories or headgear, and thanks to the dim light that the fire in front of him let out, one could see his black hair, and hazel eyes staring back at the flames. However, inside one of the inner pockets of his jacket, he had a pair of shades, which he would pull out every so often whenever the sunlight was too intense that it would make fights more difficult, or when he just wanted to show off. More often than not, the wore them for the later reason.

What made him different from other humans, however, were the markings he had on the back of his right hand. He looked at it, nostalgically. It was a tattoo of the outline of a white five pointed star, just like the one on his back, although unlike that one, this one was surrounded by a circle.

Also unlike the one on his jacket, there were ten smaller circles around it, inside of which he could see the outlines of shapes in different colors. A purple vortex, a red flame, a dark blue water drop, three brown spikes, a light green tornado, a light blue snowflake, a yellow thunderbolt, a dark green leaf, a violet four point star and an orange hourglass. However, only the flame was crimson colored. The other symbols were greyed out, though the original colour remained. He examined the tattoo in it's entirety. That very same mark was a blessing for some…

But for him, it was a curse. A reminder that he would never be what he wanted... A reminder of his place in existence... A reminder of what he had lost... And a reminder of his duty. He stared at the rest of his hand nostalgically, trying to remember when that blasted thing wasn't there. Then again... did a time like that even exist, or had he been born with that thing plastered on his skin? He didn't remember, nor did he want to remember, for delving into his past was... dangerous, to say the least.

He heard the grass rustling to his left. In one swift move, he placed his right hand on the log he was sitting on and boosted himself up, slightly above ground, whilst a flash of light enveloped his left hand, where a golden bow manifested itself. There were white lines over it, decorating the weapon. A red gem was encrusted in a part of the metal where he could put arrows. Once he landed on the ground, he placed two fingers from his right hand in this spot and pulled them back, an arrow appearing between them, his fingers stretching the string, tensing it. He was ready for anything that would pop up from the bushes... But he didn't expect Grovyle to appear, hands above his head.

"Lower that thing dude! It's me!" The pokemon shouted, panicking as he thought that the human would put that arrow between his eyebrows.

Eric sighed and lowered his weapon. "God damn it Grovyle... I didn't know you would come back so early." He said, turning around, giving his back to the pokémon and sitting back on the log, dismissing the bow, which disappeared in a similar flash of light as the last one.

The grass type smirked. "Eh. I didn't think it would bother you, but as soon as I got close you jolted up from that log. I guess this place is getting to your head, isn't it?" He asked. The grass type approached his human friend and sat on the log. He was just like a normal grovyle, all of his body was green, aside from his belly which was red, with a green line across the middle of it. He had a long leaf coming out of his head, curving backwards and down to his back. This leaf kind of looked like his hair, as it waved with his movement. There were leaves coming out from his elbows, and some coming from his backside, acting like some sort of tail. Both of his arms and legs ended in finger like green claws.

Eric laughed. "You could say that. How long have I been here anyways? Three, four months?" He said, pulling up his fingers each time he said a number.

"Doesn't that pretty clock of yours tell you?" Grovyle inquired, pointing at the human's jacket, although he was aiming at his pocket. "I've seen you pull that thing out of your jacket one too many times Eric. You're kind of obsessed with it." Eric sighed as he pointed out this fact. He put his left hand inside of a pocket in his jacket and pulled out said watch. It was quite big, though not bigger than his hand. It was a golden pocket watch, the top of which was transparent, letting him see the clock hands through the lid, which were spinning around a lot. The base of the clock where the numbers were written had holes, and he could see the gears shifting around like crazy. The bottom of the clock had the same outlined star, just like the one that was on the back of his jacket.

"I always look at this thing in hopes it ACTUALLY works correctly. No luck so far though… I mean, have you seen this thing? Even in the weirdest of conditions I've never seen a watch going apeshit like this. It's almost hypnotizing actually…" Eric commented as he watched the clock hands go round and round. Grovyle however, was way too busy looking behind them and into the cave. Eric smirked, looking at him and showing him the watch. "Yes. Your sleeping beauty is still in there Grovs. Sleeping like a baby. If you want to, we can use this little thing here to hypnotize her and force her to do your every bidding. I'd walk away of course… I don't need to know what you want to get on with her." Eric said, a huge smile on his face.

The pokémon blushed at his joke, punching the human's shoulder with force, Eric eliciting a fake 'Owch' noise, chuckling.. "Oh come on, don't be like that with me bro. You thought you were going to trick me any longer? I can see it in your eyes man." The human said, smirking. Grovyle scratched the back of his head.

"Well... I guess you read me like an open book. Yeah, she's… she's really cute. I… I don't know how to put it." Grovyle struggled to find the words to describe what he felt.

Eric smiled. "I've seen this way too many times man, and I can spell it out for you: L-O-V-E. That's what's going on here. I can see the light in your eyes each time you look at her... and I also see your look of sadness because you're going to be parting ways with her soon." As soon as he said this, his partner's face went grim.

"Not only that but... She's a legendary. It's like impossible for her to accept me." Grovyle answered, suddenly getting depressed and anxious. Eric laughed, however, finding his partner's reaction foolish.

"Really? That's all that's keeping you from telling her? Dude, she may be immortal, but you should tell her anyways, and enjoy the time you have with her. You're better off living what little time you have left with her knowing the answer to that question, than living the rest of your life torturing yourself, wondering if you did the smart thing by not telling her if you were a complete idiot." Grovyle didn't answer, he just kept looking into the cave. "Do what I do: Live in the present, don't look back at the past or into the future. Just try to enjoy what you have now and deal with any problems that come up later." The human said, still receiving no response from the grass type.

Eric got up from the log, sighing as he tucked the watch away into his pocket. " Alright then… I'm going to scout around and make way for us. You go wake her up."The human said, walking off down the cliff, but right before he disappeared from view he turned around to face the bonfire. "And give her a good morning kiss too. She's been snoring away in there since you left." He said, receiving a response in the form of a middle finger and a smile from Grovyle. Eric held back laughter and turned around, heading into the forest. As soon as the human was out of sight, Grovyle let out a long sigh,then got up and went into the cave to wake up the time controlling pokemon, Celebi.

(Balcony Theme – Resident Evil)

Eric looked around, eyes and ears peeled. He was slowly making his way through the forest, following a forgotten track that was covered in dead leaves and… something else. He couldn't really see what it was because of the darkness, but it was some sort of sticky layer, probably the leaves in an advanced decomposition state… or maybe something grimier than that. He didn't want to know. He grasped his bow tightly, an arrow prepared in case anything appeared. He paced around the trees for a while and came up to a group of Ratatta feasting on something. Though he couldn't see through the rats, he could smell something that was rotting. He wasn't really curious on seeing what the main dish was, so he ignored them and kept going.

He always wondered to himself if the world he was in had even been peaceful, because it certainly didn't look like it. All the creatures aside from a few lucky ones had been frozen in time… well, "lucky" was a term he was using loosely in that situation. Those that weren't caught in the time freeze had managed to go on for a few weeks, or months, years… even with Dialga and Dusknoir doing their thing. But after that time, food became scarce… And that was when things started to get real ugly. Needless to say, the morbidity of the situation hadn't exactly gone unnoticed, and most of these "lucky" survivors fell victim to another kind of catastrophe: Cannibalism. As for the cannibals,most of them had gone insane and were now roaming around the world, lead by instincts alone, or a Eric liked to say, Primal.

These "primal" pokemon now roamed every single corner of the planet, killing anything in their way just to eat. It was survival of the fittest now, and not the society of peace that he had been told of. However, some had managed to keep their sanity, the only true survivors from the catastrophe. And many of these had sided with the bad ones. If the survivors didn't have enough with pokemon in primal state, there were also Dusknoir and his goons, all lead by the legendary time pokemon, Dialga. The legendary had gone into a Primal state as well, and they believed that his insanity had resulted in the current situation.

Eric had come to that world just in time to help the survivors, but hadn't gotten to see how everything declined, he got there when everything had gone to hell. They had all figured out that the only way to stop the "time freeze" was to get some artifacts called Time Gears and bring them all to some place called the "Hidden Land". He didn't know where that was though, they would probably have to figure that out later. They needed Celebi's help to travel back in time and fix everything, erasing the future. However that would result in…

A sudden movement next to him interrupted his thoughts. He tensed up and prepared his bow, ready to launch an arrow. A Rattata walked out from the bush, hissing at him. Eric relaxed, but soon realized he had made a mistake, as the pokemon jumped on him, trying to tear his neck... But it didn't even get close to doing so. Eric simply removed his right hand from his bow and grabbed the rat. It began to squeak and move in his iron grip, and it even bit down on his finger. The Rattata thought that it would make the human loosen his hold around his neck. However, Eric didn't even flinch as it's teeth sank in his flesh. He smirked at it, and the rat looked at him, confused. He tightened his grip around it's body, until he heard some of it's bones snap, about to squeeze the life out of it's weak and pathetic body. He then let it go, the pokemon falling to the floor. He heard it whimper in pain as it slowly limped away. Eric hadn't expected the Ratatta to be so foolish as to jump on him, even after it had been found, but either way it was over… it probably wouldn't survive for long unless it found it's pack soon.

(Stop the music)

The human was unaware of one thing however. Not too far away from that clearing, a bipedal shape was staring at the human from the shadows of the trees. It was tall, and it was covered in a black cloak which obscured the view of it's face and limbs, although one could easily see that it had two legs, on the which it was standing, and two arms. Under the hood, which covered its face as well, the shape of it's head was indistinguishable, as if it's features were intentionally irrecognizable. It wasn't long before Eric felt it staring at him from the darkness, his eyes gluing to its figure. He prepared his bow, but didn't aim it immediately, willing to let that thing go without fighting if it didn't attack.

Eric stared at it with his hazel eyes, and the creature returned the gaze, the tension between the two rising quickly. Eric felt something oozing from that figure, a strange feeling of apprehension and regret, as well as anger, desperation and dread, all of them flowing through his body as he kept his eyes on the cloaked creature. Something inside of his body was screaming at him to raise his bow and fire an arrow straight in between those white eyes with freaky glowing blue irises. But he didn't do anything, until he saw the figure take a step towards him through the bushes, at which point he smiled.

"You know… I was wondering where the hell you'd been all this time. You were awfully quiet all this time, yet here you are, finally decided to show your ugly face around here." He said, raising his bow, tensing an arrow. "So… how about it? Want to finish this here and now so we can move onto other places?" He taunted, waiting for his foe's response, talking to it as if he was an old friend… or a foe.

Just then, however, he heard more noise coming from behind him and he sharply turned around, expecting another rattata to jump. But instead, a Sableye did. Eric immediately reacted and punched the pokemon out of the air with his right fist, slamming the Sableye against the dirt and making it tumble away. The purple pokemon got up, growling and snarling at the human like a beast. It was really short, but it's claws really made up for it, ashey could cut through flesh very well, and that was something to be afraid of, and their vision made them see clearly even in the most dimly lit spots. Aside from that, the red gems on their backs and chest didn't do anything as far as Eric knew. The Sableye began charging against him, howling out. The human didn't hesitate to aim and shoot an arrow at it, doing so at staggering speeds. The arrow pierced through it's forehead, right in the middle of it's gem like eyes. It's movement completely stopped, the pokemon dropping to the ground right on the spot, dead.

Eric stared at it for a moment, then turned around to face that same shape again… but when he looked at it, it was gone, and instead was greeted by an empty space. He stared at that empty spot in confusion, before he heard a screech from behind him. He turned around to see another Sableye, who was producing this sound, trying to call it's companions. The sound died down as an arrow pierced through it's neck, making a small gurgling sound as it tried to breath, the blood and arrow in it's throat stopping it from doing so, and soon dropped to the ground like a lifeless corpse. Many screeches filled the forest area, revealing the human's position. "Oh brilliant. Just brilliant!" He shouted out loud before he began running back to the campsite where his companions were.

He finally got to the cave, and he rushed in shouting at the top of his lungs. "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCKIDY FUCK FUCK!" Grovyle came to the where he was as the human began picking up their bags with food and, of course, the map, which he pulled out and hid in his jacket. He looked then looked at his partner and threw a sack at him. "Get you things! We've gotta move it! They found us!" He shouted.

Grovyle's eyes widened. "What?! How?!" They heard someone move hastily from inside the cave."What happened? What did you do?!" Celebi asked as she came to Eric's view. She looked like a fairy, or at least one that Eric had seen in another world, though he didn't remember well, and that wasn't the time for remembering what pixies or whatever the hell looked like. Her whole body was pink, and her head was round that curved up. She really big green eyes and two antennae coming out her head, which ended in green tips. Her feet didn't have any toes and her hands ended in three fingers. She was actually really small when compared to Eric and Grovyle, and she was flying in mid air thanks to the wings on her back.

"They found us! We gotta move it right now!" The human repeated his orders again. Celebi grabbed everything she could, which was just a small bag with maps in it and they all ran out of the cave immediately. When they were outside Eric noticed sableye climbing up the hill.

He pulled his bag off him and threw it at Grovyle, who grabbed it in the air, shooting his friend an alarmed look. The outsider made his bow appear again and aimed at the purple pokemon. "GO!" He shouted at his friends, who fled as fast as they could, trying to cover as much distance as possible, planning to go over the last bit of the mountain they had to climb and go through the forest. Eric looked down the cliff, the sableyes climbing up by scaling the rocks with their sharp claws.

He aimed his bow down at the one that was the closest and shot an arrow, the projectile piercing through it's forehead, ending it's life on the spot, the body losing it's grip on the rock and falling backwards, hitting another pokemon on the way down, screeching being heard as they fell to the forest below, probably to their demise. Eric shot more arrows to those who came close enough to him with incredible accuracy, keeping the pokémon from reaching up to his level. However, soon there were too many for him to shoot, even if he fired arrows as quickly as he could, and was forced to back away from the edge, putting three fingers on the string to create two arrows which he fired simultaneously, both of them hitting their marks.

Eric got far enough to see how the sableye began rushing at him, getting close enough to the human that he was forced to fight in close quarters, one of them lunging at him, the human merely ducking to the side and giving it a punch that sent it flying away, then jumped away once more and fired an arrow at another Sableye that had tried to slice his legs. He looked at the rest of the pokémon, and saw that they were grouping up to attack him all at once. A smile spread across the human's face, one more Sableye trying to get him, charging in alone. Eric ran up to him and jumped, stomping on it's face, crushing it's skull and then boosted himself away, doing a backflip, preparing another arrow.

He brought his fingers back, making an arrow appear and tensing the string. This time though, the arrow was literally on fire, however, small flames licking his hands, even though he didn't feel them burning him. He waited until his own movement made him face the mob of Sableye once more, and once he saw all of them all bunched up and charging at him, he let go of the arrow. It flew through the air, sticking straight into the Sableye that was spearheading that mob. His body didn't have time to fall backwards however, for as soon as the arrow hit, a split second later the fire from the arrow spread across it's entire body, consuming it immediately in a glorious ball of fire that engulfed everything around it in hellish flames with a loud noise,

The fire spread quickly to the others, screaming as they burned alive because of their companion's spontaneous combustion. The pokémon broke formation as they all ran around in desperation, some rolling on the ground, trying to put out those unnatural flames, whilst others walked off the cliff and fell down to the forest, burning and rolling down the hill. One of them though, kept charging at him, even if it was burning to a crisp as it ran, and tried to pounce on him and light him on fire as well. Eric waited for the last possible moment and gracefully dodged to the side, the pokemon completely missing him by inches, it's skin now mostly burned. The human pulled his fingers back and created an arrow on the bow. However he didn't tense the string, as he grabbed the arrow and spun around, stabbing the back of the sableye's neck with it, the pokemon still airborne. The sableye fell to the ground, finally dead as it's body turned to charred bones behind the human. He contemplated the scene before him, the foul smell of burnt meat lingering in the air.

He didn't stick around for too long however. Eric began running after Grovyle and Celebi, following their path down to the forest, rushing into the bushes, following the sounds of screaming and battle. He found the duo shortly after getting into the forest, fighting against another horde of Sableyes. Grovyle brought down his fist to a Sableye's head, making it kneel down, then turned around and kicked it away, one more jumping at him from behind, the grass type jumping back whilst swinging his right arm at it, razor sharp leaves flying in that direction, scratching and piercing the Sableye's body. The wounds were too severe for him to keep moving after that, and Grovyle finished it off as it landed on the ground, throwing a leaf through it's neck. Celebi meanwhile, covered herself and Grovyle with a psychic barrier, whilst using her powers to pick up chunks of trees and rock and hurling them around, or just using her powers to crush and throw them around like ragdolls.

Eric began shooting arrows like crazy, all the projectiles making impact in his enemies, crouching as he ran and grabbing a Sableye by the leg, spinning around and hurling him against a group, standing back up straight again, leaning slightly to avoid an incoming Sableye and fired an arrow at the Sableye he had thrown, following up by stomping on the head of the Sableye he had dodged. Once they finished that off, he turned to look at his friends, seeing Grovyle brandishing a vine whip and slinging around a Sableye whilst Celebi used two psychic blades, which flew near her, to slice and pierce the last few Sableye. Once they were done, the human approached them. "You guys alright?" He asked.

Both of them nodded in response, Celebi pulling out a map from her bag with her psychic powers. "Looks like we're going to have to take a detour through the forest… Maybe if we make it over that cliff over there we can get back on track." She said, pointing at the cliff on the map, Eric and Grovyle looking at the real cliff, which was much taller than the one that was drawn.

The human groaned. "We should've checked that before... But if that's our only way out of here, then let's go! I have an idea on how we're going to get up there." He said, though didn't give too many details, mainly because they didn't have much time to sit around and talk.

They began running through the forest again, shouts and screeches echoing around them as the sableyes began catching up. They kept on running though, trying to cover as much distance as they could, since sticking around would only make the Sableye surround them faster. Eric decided to take a confusing route, choosing a path filled with trees and bushes. He began running through the trees, ducking and jumping over everything that came in his way, holding on to a tree branch and swinging up and forward, doing a somersault in midair, summoning his bow once more and creating a fire arrow, which he aimed at a group of Sableye that were hot on their heels. The fire blowed up behind them, Grovyle and Celebi getting ahead of Eric as the human landed on the ground, rolling in order to keep his momentum and dashing off again after his companions.

He looked back to see the sableye having trouble following him, so he went back to the main path. Grovyle and Celebi followed him, but as they ran behind him, Grovyle saw a large shadow floating between the trees to their right, and the next second he saw a huge fist enveloped in shadows flying towards them. Grovyle shouted in surprise and ducked under the fist, a large figure flying through the trees behind him, Eric turning around and firing an arrow in it's general direction. After that they came out the woods and into a clearing. In front of them was the face of the cliff, which was much smoother than he had imagined, which would make climbing it much harder than he had envisioned, if not impossible. And to make matters worse, they were completely surrounded.

There wasn't anywhere else to run, as Sableyes appeared from behind all the trees around them, and the trio were pushed against the face of the cliff, having no other choice but to prepare for the fight that was about to come. Eric prepared his bow, Grovyle shook his arms, the leaves on his elbows getting sharp and Celebi tensed up, her eyes glowing.

However, laughter echoed through the air. A laugh all three of them recognized. "Dusknoir!" Grovyle called out, furious. He should've recognized him before when they were chasing them. The dark type appeared from behind the Sableyes. He was actually pretty big, considering the size of his goons. His body resembled a bipedal creature with two giant arms, except that his legs were missing, and instead, it looked like he left a trail of darkness, as he was floating in the air.

His whole body was black, with gray hands. He two yellow bands on the mid-sections of both of his arms, as well as two yellow dots on his chest. A yellow line that zigzagged around his body went across his torso. His neck looked like had six projections sticking upwards, gray as his head. He had one red eye, and another yellow band on top of it, with some kind of yellow antenna coming out of his head, which ended in some kind of disk. Finally, there was a transparent white arrow sticking out of his left shoulder, which he pulled out without flinching, smashing it in his right fist.

"You're a good shot…" He said, Eric giving him a wide smirk. "But still, you were foolish to believe you could evade us! You see how your actions were useless?! You will never be able to "save" this world! If anything, this world needs saving from imbeciles like your kind. I, the great Dusknoir, has managed to hunt you down and trap you like little…" Eric groaned in annoyance. He hated it when they started their monologue.

He looked around, looking at all their enemies, their staggering numbers were overwhelming, even for him, and to make matters worse he only had his bow with him. His staff was still missing, as he had lost it as soon as he had gotten to that world. He then looked at the markings at the back of his right hand. "I can summon another one, but... that means he'll be able to use it too…" He evaluated his options by looking around again. "There's no way out of here unless I do it. But... which one? For so many guys... I think Hurricane and Tempest would do just fine... But Quake and Tremor could work nicely too…" He groaned. "Can't decide!"

He then looked at his friends. "Hey guys... How about you don't listen to this guys' monologue and help me decide." He said, both of the pokemon looked at him at they snapped out of their trance, confused. They were all ignoring the dark type now.

"Help you with what?" They asked, the human responding with a smile.

"What do you guys prefer? Two blades that can cut through almost everything or two hammers that can break and shatter whatever they hit?" The human inquired, exposing his options, although both pokémon were confused at his words. They briefly thought about it.

"Well... I think two blades would be better... And you Celebi?" Grovyle answered, then followed up with the same question to his love interest. Celebi looked at him, then nodded.

"If you could cut through these guys it would be really nice." She responded, raising an eyebrow as she glanced at the human. "But... why are you asking this?" She asked.

Eric smirked. "You guys just wait and see." He whispered. It was then when Dusknoir noticed they weren't listening to him at all, the ghost type clearly angered by this fact.

"What are you three talking about? I shall have you know, that you were granted your last dying wishes long ago, but I will hear you pleads… I am merciful, after all." He asked. Eric looked at him. "Was that a joke? Because it was really bad. If you want to know what we're talking about, then we're talking about your stupidity. You do know that you gave us enough time to come with a plan, right?" He reminded the ghost type, who frowned.

"What? What sort of plan could you have come up with?! You're surrounded from every possible angle, you fool! And we kept that little wand of yours under chains, so what else do you possibly think you can do! Just give up and accept your fates, you criminals!" Dusknoir shouted, now angered with the trio's persistence. Eric created another arrow and grabbed it with his right hand, then dismissed his bow and grabbed the tip of the arrow with his left palm.

He grabbed it tightly, cutting his skin and drawing blood, doing a small cut on his palm, The crimson liquid slowly seeped out of the wound, soon enough his entire left palm covered in blood. His friends, and even Dusknoir were staring at him, extremely confused, but Grovyle recognized what he was doing, and Dusknoir did as well. "Stop!" Duksnoir ordered. But it was too late. Eric began talking in an ancient language, the marks on the back of his hand glowing. A green glow, which originated from the fifth mark when starting from the top and going to the right, the one with the symbol of a tornado. He shouted the words with an open heart as he pronounced an ancient oath.

Suddenly, strong gusts of wind started blowing, spinning around him and ascending to the sky, the light green light on his arm getting even brighter. He put his arms on top of his shoulders as he closed his eyes, as he felt the magic of the wind flow through the world, converging where he was standing as it obeyed his every command. Every living thing around him stared at the human in a mix of surprise, fear and confusion, some Sableye being foolish enough to approach the human, violently flying away as the extreme winds blew them away. He smiled, as he opened his eyes, then howled out as he stretched his arms, separating his hands from his body. The wind picked up all the dust, which obscured the view of anyone outside of that cyclone. Two flashes of white light were seen, more purple pokémon jumping into the vortex and melting into the dust… Two quick slashes, which slightly parted the wind, and the shapes of the pokémon were sliced into bits, flying up and away in the gust. Finally, the cyclone ended, and Eric stood on the same spot, although he was panting heavily at this point, and held two new weapons with his hands.

Everyone was staring at him, dumbfounded. Even Grovyle and Celebi were shocked, even though he had seen Eric recite another strange oath when he obtained that golden bow, and Dusknoir was also speechless, as well as intimidated by this showcase of power.

The blades in the human's hands emitted were golden. The handles had a twisted design, like two brown snakes that were twisting around eachother upwards and up to the golden crossguard, whilst they began in a round pommel, with the same emblem of the wind that was present on the back of Eric's right hand against a golden background. The crossguard had a peculiar rectangular design, both edges of it ending in a single pointy end that resembled that of a rectangular triangle, though the other end was inverted. Finally, the blades themselves were a meter and a half long, and had a design reminiscent of single edged blades, although both of the edges were just as sharp. One of the edges of the blade extended further than the other, which made the blade end in a peculiar tip with an acute angle. They were pure white, adorned with golden writing in that same language Eric had spoke not too long ago. The blades weren't designed for stabbing, but rather slicing through foes with ease.

Eric looked at the blades, raising the right one up to his eyes so he could contemplate it from a closer distance, his eyes then focusing on the shapes in front of him. "So... You wanted to know what my plan really was? Here you have it." He said, pointing that same blade at Dusknoir. "Then say hello to Tempest and Hurricane!" He shouted, slashing the air around him and adopting a fighting stance, raising his right blade above his head and pointing it slightly downwards, whilst he pointed his other blade slightly upwards, keeping it above his waist.

(We Are Finally Cowboys [Golden Brown Mix] – No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle)

Dusknoir stared at the weapons the human was holding. He looked intimidating... but smirked, keeping his confidence from before. "You think you're going to be able to get rid of servants with those things? What an idiot… Challenging this entire army to a battle! You've sealed your fate!" He shouted, raising his arm over his head then lowered it, pointing straight at the trio. "Kill them all!" He shouted. All of the sableye rushed them, all at once.

Eric smirked."That was a baaad choice…" He muttered. One of the purple pokemon that got the closest to him jumped, but the human quickly turned to face him and slashed his whole body from side to side while it was airborne. The severed body flopped to the ground, blood flowing everywhere as the Sableye's eyes twitched and groans came out of it's mouth as it's life slithered away. Eric was already slashing more sableye's already though, as he was already running into the mob of Sableyes and cut down anything that crossed his path, although their height made it much more difficult than unusual to dispatch them. He began throwing slashes to every single purple colored creature he saw, a vertical slash that launched a corpse upwards, only for Eric to deliver a roundhouse kick a hurling it away. One of the pokemon jumped high up on top of him, but he just had to thrust his sword upwards, impaling the Sableye whilst bringing his blade down on the arms of a Sableye that tried to defend himself. He then threw the body to more sableyes as he brought the same blade down to another one, cutting it in half and spinning on the spot, the blades cutting clean through everything, letting the momentum of his blades carry him, howling out as he arched his back forward, both of his blades striking another Sableye and then jumped up, spinning sideways in the air as he cut through his victim multiple times as he rose, leaving a trail of blood, then brought down both of his blades as gravity took hold of him again and fell back down to the ground, his swords striking the ground in front of him, a strong gust of wind blowing away everyone in front of him. Without skipping a beat, he picked himself back off the ground and rushed ahead at blinding speeds, letting the wind carry him as he sliced and spun through the air. He didn't inmediately kill the last one however, instead jumping off of it's head and using his wind magic to keep himself aloft, then threw down his sword and impaled the Sableye to the ground with it, the human coming down right after that and stomping on the blade's hilt, making it jump right out of the ground. Behind him six Sableye all jumped and tried to pounce him, but the human swiftly turned around and kicked the hilt of the blade again, sending it spinning towards them, slicing through and then flying off to the crowd behind them, flying as if it had a mind of it's own. It didn't, however, since Eric was in fact controlling the blade with the wind whilst he handled the pokémon that came close to him.

Not too far away from him, both Grovyle and Celebi were fighting like a duo, the Grovyle using is vine whip to topple a couple of Sableyes, spun around with the momentum of the whip and threw sharp leaves at them, piercing their chests and necks, killing them instantly. The vine returned to his hand just in time for him to punch a Sableye out of the air, a leave flying at it right after his fist connected to it's face, backing away into another crowd. He did a cartwheel and jumped above them, grabbing more leaves from his shoulders and holding them between his fingers, and as he went above the crowd he threw his arms forward and released all the leaves at once, taking care of most of those pokémon. The only one left standing was blown away by a psychic blast before it had a chance to do anything.

Celebi flew in straight after it, two spinning blades with three edges floating after her. She roared out as he blades charged forward and sliced through the Sableye, returning to her to orbit around herself, protecting her from anything that came way too close for comfort. She looked at a tree and snapped one of her fingers, lifting it up with her powers, then threw it into the mob with all her strentgh, the log crushing and rolling over everything in it's path while the duo resumed their fighting. The tree trunk was rolling over to where Eric was, and the human found it the perfect excuse to finally use some of his magic.

He turned around to face another mob of Dusknoir's goons charging at him. He rose his left arm and opened his hand. "Flamma!" He shouted inside his mind, the next instant a large flame quickly burst out and burned everything in front of him to a crisp, Eric swinging his sword to the fire… and the sword caught on fire, using both of his hands to swing the sword around him. He spun around as he sliced horizontally, then let go of his sword, grabbing it with his other hand and throwing a vertical slash from bottom to top, sending more Sableyes flying up. The log was almost on top of him, and the human decided to use this to his advantage. He snapped his finger as he repeated the spell. If anything, he really just pictured the log on fire and snapped his fingers, the log itself catching on fire as it rolled on top of him. Eric then turned around with all his might and kicked it away and towards Dusknoir, who was standing outside the battle with his arms crossed.

The log took it's time to reach Dusknoir, but even when it did, the ghost type was already prepared for it. Without flinching, he punched right through the log, turning it into burning splinters. Whilst the remains of the flaming wood were still airborn in front of him, he crouched down and charged forward through the flames, getting to where Eric was standing in a mere second. He threw a brutal punch at Eric, who received the full blow to his chest and sent him flying away. He managed to turn himself around whilst being sent away by the knockback, and saw his other sword shining through their foes and ending their lives not too far away from him. He called it back, the blade disappearing in a flash of light and then reappering in his other hand just as he hit the face of the cliff with his feet, crouching down and jumping off of it again and towards Dusknoir. He was already waiting for him though, the huge mouth in his abdomen opening up, a large shadow ball flying out and towards Eric.

The human slashed at it before it hit him head-on, the explosion sending him tumbling away, his swords flying out of his hands and then disappearing in two simultaneous bursts of bright light. Just as he landed on the ground, sliding on his feet whilst grabbing the ground with his right fist, he summoned his bow with his left hand, then let go of the ground and kept himself moving by floating on the ground with the wind, then began firing off arrows against Dusknoir, doing large circles around him as he fired arrows from every possible angle. Even though his target was large, it wasn't stationary, and the ghost type swayed to the sides and used one of his minions as at meat shield to avoid the human's attacks.

Grovyle saw Dusknoir fighting, anger flaring up inside of him as he stopped what he was doing and charged into that circle of arrows, which made Eric have to stop firing, fearing he would hit his friend accidentally. Celebi shouted at Grovyle to stop, to not fall into temptation, but the grass type was already running at him, whilst she defended herself of some Sableye. One behind her readied a claw, but an arrow quickly pierced through it's arm, rendering it useless, and then another one went through it's neck and killed it, Celebi turning around to face Eric. The human smiled back and pointed behind her, preparing another arrow.

Grovyle howled out as he ran up to Dusknoir, throwing his fist back and then trying to punch Dusknoir. The ghost type responded by throwing a punch as well, their fists colliding mid way. They stood there, struggling against eachother. "Well… You've certainly gotten better as time went on Grovyle… not so much of a weakling as before!" Dusknoir shouted, using more strength to push the grass type back.

The green pokémon had to use both of his hands to not get pushed back by the bigger pokemon's fist, but managed to crack a smile. "Well, what I can say… I was motivated to learn so I could kill you off!" He responded, using all his force to grab Dusknoir's fist and pull to the left, swinging the ghost type that way and throwing him away, getting some distance between him and his nemesis. At the same time, he released leaves from his elbows, and Dusknoir crossed his arms in front of his face so as to not get hit directly. The leaves only scratched his arms, but the real pain came when Grovyle dashed in and punched Dusknoir square on the eye, making him flinch.

Grovyle followed up with a roundhouse kick, but Dusknoir was quick to react and grabbed his leg, then lifted the grass type over his head and smashed him on the ground behind him. As soon as the grass type realized he had been grabbed, he pulled out his whip and constricted the ghost type's neck with it, tightening it's grip around his neck as he went over his head. Dusknoir let go of his leg as he landed on the ground, howling in pain. However, he quickly pushed it away as he dashed against Dusknoir again whilst he coughed and tried to catch his breath, only to receive a drop kick straight to his chest, sending him further away.

Dusknoir managed to recover and glanced over at the Grovyle, who had a vine whip in his right hand leaves between the fingers of his left hand. The ghost type cracked his knuckles and chuckled, staring at his foe once more before they resumed their fighting

Celebi rose her hand over her head and turned around, then brought it down on the incoming Sableye, making them fall to their knees under the pressure her psychic powers were applying to her. As she fended off any attackers, Eric slowly made his way towards her, firing arrows and kicking anything that came close to him. He stomped on a Sableye's chest, pinning it to the ground and fired an arrow straight through it's heart, then kicked the body away as he let go of the string for a second to throw his arm behind him and launch a fireball at a couple of Sableye, burning them to a crisp.

"This is way harder than it should!" Eric exclaimed over the sounds of fighting. Celebi understood him and back up against him, their backs pressed together.

"Why do you say that? Getting tired?" She taunted, using her powers to lift and smash another dead tree, the trunk swinging around wildly.

"Kind of. But it's not that. It's their goddamn size! I can barely hit them with my swords and I have to be constantly looking down. My back is killing me!" He responded.

She responded with laughter. "Well now, what's this? Weren't you taunting me for being so tiny before?" She asked, using her powers to send Sableye flying up in the air. "Serve's up!" She exclaimed, telling the human to finish the job for her. He gladly appliged, turning around and firing a couple of arrows over the legendary's head, hitting all of their targets. He then glanced at Grovyle and Dusknoir, and saw how the duo were fiercely fighting eachother. Grovyle was much more agile than Dusknoir, jumping over his fists and kicking his face, falling to the ground and rolling away to safety, but what the ghost type lacked in speed, he more than made up in brawn, as a single punch sent Grovyle flying away.

Eric motioned his head towards this scene. "Hey, you might wanna go help him." He said, Celebi looking the same way he was. She gasped in horror as she saw Grovyle struggling to get back up in his feet and flew up and towards him. Eric called her. "Hey! You're just gonna leave me here with these chumps?!" He asked, a Sableye growling with a snarl on his face, his claws shining. Eric sighed and created an arrow, then dashed in, grabbed the Sableye's neck and stuck the arrow in it's stomach, throwing it away. "Alright… I better finish off the small fry, or else they'll be taking all the glory." He told himself, summoning both of his blades again, crouching down.

He closed his eyes and focused, wind gathering around him, his right blade and crossed in front of him, whilst his left hand, which he was holding upside down, was crossed behind him. Wind gathered and flowed around him, tiny twisters forming as the breeze turned into a strong gust, almost all of the remaining Sableye gathering around him. The human opened his eyes and roared out, then completely vanished from the spot as he moved faster than the eye could see. Something flashed across the battlefield, and the next instant the human was back where he began, he stood up, spun his swords around and then slashed the air, the blood on the blades flying away. At that precise instant, mortal cuts and wounds appeared on the Sableyes' bodies, and their corpses fell to the ground the next moment. Eric sighed, panting heavily as he successfully killed off all the remaining Sableyes in one swift move.

Celebi came in just at the right time, creating a psychic barrier to parry a direct punch from Dusknoir, and Grovyle followed up by throwing leaves at his stomach, which lightly damaged him, his torso presenting numerous cuts and bathed in blood, most of which wasn't his own, and then the grass type used a vine whip to grab him from his waist and swung him around. He then let go, hurling the ghost type towards Eric, the human smirking as he realized they hadn't forgotten about him. Almost comically, the human reared his right fist so far back that he even lifted a leg off of the ground.

(Stop the music)

"See ya!" But before his fist could hit him, Dusknoir spun and prepared another punch, aiming it at Eric's face. He wasn't willing to take any chances, and ducked, rolling away, letting Dusknoir slide on the ground and look at them, more than ready to fight. So was the trio however, Celebi's eyes glowing intensely, Grovyle holding leaves between all of his fingers and Eric resummoning his blades once more and pointing both of them at him. "Game over, you bastard. Looks like you're gonna have to visit a poke center… in the afterlife." Eric swore, expressing the feelings that he and his two companions had towards Dusknoir… except for that last one. They didn't understand that part about a poke center.

Dusknoir just gave them a smile and visibly relaxed. The smile on his face was unsettling to say the least. A roar then filled the air, so loud that it almost blew their ears out, all three of the pokémon covering their ears in pain whilst Dusknoir resisted. All around the clearing, Sableye tried to sneak away in fear, no matter the state of their bodies. Were they either completely fine or maimed, they tried to run as fast as they could. Eric saw this behaviour, a shiver going down his spine, as if something bad was about to happen. Celebi, however, recognized that roar, and grabbed onto Grovyle's arm whilst trembling like a leaf, Grovyle trying to keep his cool.

"He's here… Oh Arceus we're…" Celebi began stuttering, but was interrupted by another loud roar, then Dusknoir roared with laughter, opening his arm wide.

"Idiots! Your fighting gave my master enough time to join us! Now we shall truly end this story once and for all!" He shouted, laughing even harder. Eric guessed who the ghost type was talking about and fell into despair. He was exhausted, and even for him it would be impossible to take care of him at that very moment. Grovyle, however, only felt his anger reignite, specially after he realized who was about to walk out off the forest around them. The source of all their harm, pain and suffering… The cause for everything that had happened up to that point...

They heard another roar as the trees began to crumble down in front of them, a faint orange light coming from the darkness as a large blue leg crushed the last tree that separated the monster from their view. The legendary time pokemon, Dialga, emerged from the shadows. The legendary was a four legged creature, his body was completely blue, though some gray metallic portions covered parts of it's head, legs and it's chest, in the center of which was an orange diamond, various orange stripes coming out of it and flowing all over and through his body. The legendary pokemon's head looked like a dinosaur's, a fin like structure on it's back. It had two horns on top of it's head and another two fang like horns around his mouth. It had some kind of spines on the back of his neck, and he had really long claws, though his tail was short. Lastly, there was some kind of wing like structure on it's back, though Eric didn't know if it did something.

Not that it mattered however, because it was probably going to lose it soon… If they were going down right then and there, he was going to make sure that this thing lost something. The creature roared yet again, and stared at the trio with it's red eyes, it's gaze piercing right through their bodies, it's cold stare chilling them down to the bone. While Eric still tried to stand strong, failing miserably as his legs shook, Grovyle's anger wasn't enough to counter the pokémon's intimidating presence, and Celebi started feeling light headed. Even for her, the power of the mighty pokemon was terrifying for her. She could control time to some extent… but this thing WAS time itself… and he wanted all three of them dead.

"No... No... We... This... this can't end like this... It can't... After all we've gone through…" She began stuttering as Grovyle fell to his knees, defeated.

"It's over. We're done for. Everything up to this point has been meaningless, it doesn't matter anymore. All the sacrifices... All the hope... Nothing. It's all over." He muttered to himself, frustration coursing through him.

Eric looked at his friends as they fell into despair, and seeing their faces of hopelessness made something inside of him twist and churn inside of him. He felt exhaustion creeping up on him, but... If he had more energy... He looked at the cliff face behind them. It was really tall, but even then, if he could pull "that" off… then it wouldn't be that much of a problem. He didn't have any other tricks up his sleeve however. If this didn't work, then the only thing they would be able to do was to fight to the death and at least make a dent into this thing… It was all or nothing, a real gamble."It's time try my luck… I've got a problem, don't I?" He thought to himself, forcing a smile to his lips, trying to put on his best confident act.

Dusknoir then spoke. "Well? Lost your hopes already? What do you have to say?" He asked.

Eric took a step forward, Dusknoir flinching… when all of a sudden he dismissed his swords and fell to his knees, faking tears and sobbing. coughing and wheezing. "Well... I guess we... were wrong after all…" He continued on coughing, Dusknoir smiling widely whilst his friends just looked at the human, really confused. "We were wrong all along, oh great Dusknoir and Mighty Dialga… We were so blind and thought we could change this world… but alas, we've been proven otherwise. Please, mercy!" Eric exclaimed, crouching down and appealing Dusknoir's MASSIVE ego.

It worked really well, as the ghost type immediately fell into his trap. "Well… I am great and merciful… but I'm afraid you and your friends have wasted more than enough time on your foolish crusades, so…" Before he could finish talking, however, Eric rose his hands up.

"WAIT!" He shouted, interrupting Dusknoir. "If that's the case, then I have a last request!" He said, as he put a hand inside the pocket of his jacket, then pulled out a transparent plastic bottle with a strange liquid inside of it. "One last drink, please… That's all I ask of the great Dusknoir." He said, giving him the pleading eyes.

Dusknoir thought about it for a second… but gave him his consent with a wide smile. "Very well then. Enjoy your last drink in this world, human, for the next one you have shall be in the depths of hell." He said, Eric nodding and opening the bottle, chugging down some of the liquid. The bottle was halfway full when the human began drinking, and when he stopped it was missing a fourth of what it originally had. Once the human finished drinking, he let out a loud sigh and closed the bottle, putting it back into his jacket once again. Energy coursed through his body again, but… he wanted Dusknoir to remember this one.

"Alright… now… my friends, come close to me…. let's die together." Eric said, spreading his arms. Grovyle and Celebi looked at him, unsure about what was going on, but the human glanced at them. "Come on… it's useless. Let's just accept this and die together." He said, winking an eye at both of them. They nodded, feigning looks of sadness and walking up close to the human, who wrapped his arms around them.

"Now… let's sing together…" As he held them together and stood up, he opened his mouth and the trio began floating above the ground.

"I believe I can flyyyy! I believe I can touch the sky!" Eric shouted out as he, Grovyle and Celebi flew up into the air, to the surprise of everyone but Dialga, who roared loudly.

"What the-?! Catch them!" Dusknoir shouted, pointing at them as the Sableye all over the area tried to jump up and reach them. However, they were too far away from the ground for them to reach. Grovyle was looking at the ground whilst grabbing Eric's left arm with both of his hands, whilst Celebi laughed as they ascended, the human continuing to sing. Dusknoir got fed up and floated up to where they were, trying to punch them out of the air. However, Eric simply flew away faster, getting to the top of the cliff really quickly. He threw his friends on the ground once they were there and turned around, aiming an arrow at Dusknoir and firing. The ghost type barely had enough time to dodge it, and even then it hit his shoulder, which made him howl out in pain and fall back down to the ground below,

He roared out as he fell down, crashing against the ground and blowing all of his Sableye goons away. He slowly got up and looked up the cliff, only to see Eric sticking his tongue out. The human then turned around and looked at his friends, who were pretty surprised, specially Celebi.

"What... How... How did you... get us up here?!"She asked. Eric shook his head.

"I'll explain later, now we gotta get moving. That potion won't last forever" He said. Grovyle and Celebi were confused, but Eric was still right. They needed to get away from there on the double. Eric began running to the other side of the cliff, both of the pokemon right behind him. Eric was really worried. What he had just done... He would probably know…

Dusknoir was still looking up the cliff, even when dialga was gone. He was filled with anger. He had been fooled by that human... Once again... He gritted his teeth. He had called him an idiot... A cocky fucker... His eye widened in anger. "This will not stand! I will get my revenge on him! I will find him and…"

He was interrupted by a voice behind him. "And probably get fooled again." Dusknoir turned around sharply. He recognized the one who was standing in the shadows.

"You... what do you want now?"

The shape standing between the trees smiled. "Nothing... I just want you to give up on them... and leave this to professionals…" The one in the darkness said. His dark purple eyes shone brightly in the shadows, and they sent chills up Dusknoir's spine, though he tried to keep his calm.

"What... Professionals? You mean that... you know him?" The pokemon asked. He then realized. "Of course... you are both…"

The one in the darkness interrupted him again. "You can take all the merit... but... I take his head. How about that?" That right there, was an offer Dusknoir couldn't let down. He smiled.

"Deal... But... how are you going to get rid of that human?" The dark type asked. He then saw his smile shining in the shadows, and he trembled. He had never seen such a smile... He knew he was on their side, but... He was still afraid of him. The figure in the shadows looked at the back of his right hand. The silhouette of a gray star was shining, with ten circles orbiting around it. Only the ones with a flame and a tornado were lit, red and light green respectively.

"Oh, believe me... I have my ways…"

"So... everything has to do with that weird symbol on the back of your hand?" Celebi asked. Eric nodded. They had found a cave to stay in to rest for a while. They had started talking about Eric's abilities.

"Yes... I am not going to explain how I got it... Because that's a really long story, but... This tattoo on the back of my right hand is the mark of the chosen one. This mark basically says that I was chosen from the ancients of light to banish darkness from my original world. Basically, I was a warrior. However... Shit got really fucked up and... I…" He sighed, as he remembered. "I don't really want to talk about it, so I'll get straight to the point." He showed them the symbol.

"You see how all of them and grayed out except the fire and the tornado? Well, that's because only those essences are awoken."

Grovyle looked at him, confused. "Essences?"

Eric nodded. "They are the entities that control all of the elements in a world. Basically, gods, so to say. There are twelve of them: Shadow, Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Ice, Electricity, Space, Time, Light and Darkness. The last two are the strongest of the essences, as they decide the fate of the world itself. It can either be shone on by the purest of lights, or plunged into the depths of darkness itself. Light itself is the representation of pure energy, but said energy can not be brought into our material existance through conventional means, and darkness represents pure matter: shapeless and without any type of properties. Basically, a mountain of playdough, if you know what that is. Either way, the other ten are the ones that create the world, and all twelve have to exist for a world to be stable."

"Stable?" Grovyle asked."Yes. When I say stable is that all the powers and essences are balanced. There are rivalries between most, but the two that always bring trouble are light and darkness. They've always wanted to eliminate eachother, as they are complete opposites. However... they both have to exist in a world... and if one of them is completely eliminated then the world becomes unstable, as magic tries to fill the world, which ends up being completely destroyed. Both of the sides know this, and since nobody wanted their worlds to be destroyed, they didn't rise any conflicts for eons. But... Then he appeared." Eric said, though he didn't continue. He looked at both of his pokemon friends.

"Clades appeared. He... was something that no one could've ever imagined... He wasn't anything. He was... nothing. No element, neither light or darkness... I don't know how to explain it... Though I can explain you his purpose... Destroy everything."

Both of the pokemon, who were sitting on the ground in front of him, edged closer to him. "What?! Why?" She asked. Eric's face went grim.

"He's a being of the thirteenth essence... Nothing. You see... before the world were created there was absolutely nothing."

Celebi stared at him, confused. "Nothing? You mean like a void of darkness?" The human shook his head.

"No... just... nothing. Even today, if you were to travel between worlds without enough precautions you would fall into the nothing. None of the worlds are connected directly, and those who know can open pathways between them, pathways which protect those who travel. Anyways... As I said, there was nothing. Then... something appeared. This something would be called in the legend as The Star. The Star created the first worlds. However, the nothing wanted what had been stolen from it. The Star didn't comply, and the nothing began destroying the worlds. The Star then divided itself into the twelve essences I've told you about before. The essences then fought against the nothing, and won the battle, as they managed to create enough worlds to hold it at bay."

"However... The nothing managed to create his own warrior. Clades is this warrior. Clades objective is to infiltrate one of the sides, either light or darkness, and mess up the stability by provoking a conflict between the two. After that, he just watches the world burn." He said, a sarcastic smirk on his face, though none of them understood. "He basically lets the worlds destroy themselves. He doesn't do it himself because he can't wake up the essences. And this is when we come back to where we started. The essences of a world are unaware of what happens, as they are insentient beings. To use weapons like my bow or my swords I need the essence let me use that power. For that, I need to call its attention by creating a huge amount of power, like a signal. I need fuel to do this, magic energy. Magic is flowing through my veins, so what better way to do so than getting the blood straight out of my body, the magic with it. This is how I acquire my powers."

A question rose in Grovyle's head. "Wait... that means you have even more weapons?!" He asked. Eric nodded. "Yes. One for each essence except darkness and nothing. If I need to I will have to use them, but I don't really want to do that straight away. Each time I wake an essence. Any creature that has the same marking I do can use the same abilities. Clades, unfortunately, has another mark for some reason I have yet to discover. So, when I get a power, he does too, making him even more powerful. If I can limit myself to certain abilities, I can prevent him from getting too powerful. I do have a weapon that doesn't matter, and that is my staff. But... I somehow lost it when I came into this world. When I got here, my staff was gone, and I can't find it. I will have to look for it when we save the world."

"Wait... Does that mean that our world is like this because of Clades?" Celebi asked, the realization finally dawning on her.

The human nodded."Yes. All of this is Clades' fault. He somehow managed to completely stop time. Someone must've told him about the time gears... I have a suspect, but we'll get rid of him after we fix this mess. Celebi how close are we from the Time Passage?"

The legendary answered immediately. "We should be there after we get down from this mountain. From there, is smooth sailing through Dusk Forest. After that... both of you are on your own." She said. Both of the guys looked at eachother. Eric smirked.

"If that's the case then this might be the last few hours we spend here." He laid back on the ground. "Boy... can't wait to see the sun again…" He looked at Grovyle. "You're going to love it man. It's something amazing." He smiled and looked at his friend, who, to his surprise, had a grim look on his face. Eric remembered what the pokemon had told him a few hours ago. The smile faded from his face, as he sighed. "Alright... let's just get some rest... And hope for the best." He closed his eyes and tried to rest for a while. He didn't sleep though, he just had his eyes closed, his ears open and listening for anything that could enter the cave. After a few hours of resting, he was feeling fine, though he was still tired, probably the effects from the potion.

He did hear Grovyle moving around a lot in his sleep. However, he did hear Celebi's inconsistent breathing. "Celebi... Why are you still awake?" He whispered. The pokemon seemed to be surprised, as she gasped.

"Wha..? I thought you…" Eric opened his eyes and rose from the ground.

"Were sleeping? I don't usually sleep, only in safe places and after I've drunk a lot of the potion." He explained, and Celebi seemed to remember something.

"Oh! Now I remember... I wanted to ask you what kind of potion that was, the one you took, and also why you hadn't told us about it."

He frowned. "It's not what you think it is Celebi. You see, what I drank before is what I call a stamina potion, as it's actually pretty peculiar." He said, and she nodded, focusing on what he was telling her.

"The potion that I drank before was a strange potion that seems to return stamina depending on the quantity one drinks. However, the effects only last for so long. It isn't a recovery potion, and it only gives the impression you have your energy back. Depending on how much you drink, the longer the effect lasts. When the effect wears off, exhaustion comes back. Because of the potion though, you become more exhausted than before. It basically serves as an extension to one's strength. However, if one was to drink way too much of the potion, the effect would last for way too long, and when the effects wore off, your body would be way too tired to function normally. You would instantly faint and if the dose was too high, you wouldn't have enough energy to drink, and would die from oxygen deprivation." He explained.

The pokemon gulped. "Sounds really dangerous... aren't you afraid of drinking too much and just dropping to the ground?" She asked. He shook his head however. "I've used it a lot of times, and I know how much I have to drink. It's still dangerous for anyone else though. I do remember someone who was an annoying mother fucker. He killed many innocents just to force me to give him the potion, so he could become as powerful as I was. He drank the whole thing."

He pulled the bottle out from his jacket. It wasn't a big bottle, maybe about 500ml. "Look at this thing. Full. In just one chug."

Celebi tiled her head. "What happened to him? "She asked.

"Oh, he became powerful alright. He was so powerful that he lasted for about ten hours of fighting. After that. The guy just dropped. No one missed him though."

Celebi stared at him. The world they lived in didn't really leave any room for compassion or innocence, but death kind of still left a mark on it's inhabitants. Unless they were primal that is. Eric looked at her. "Now, can you now answer my question? And don't change the topic." He winks at eye at her, trying to make her feel more confident.

Celebi sighed. "I can't sleep. I have a... problem."

Eric rose an eyebrow. "What problem?"

She blushed."Eric... what do you know about love? And I mean the love that you feel... not the other one." Her embarrassment was clearly visible, but Eric smirked and rose a thumb.

"Gotcha. I know as much as everyone does. Nothing. Love is unpredictable, so I don't really know anything. You can ask me anyways, maybe I can say something not-stupid for once." He said. Celebi giggled.

"Alright... What would you do... If you loved someone that is... much different than you?"She asked. The human rose an eyebrow, and asked for clarification. "We aren't really that different either... we've known eachother for not too long and... I am someone really... important... but he... he won't live enough... I don't know what to do-"

Eric gave her a shit-eating grin. "Is it Grovyle?" He asked, interrupting her.

She looked at him, really shocked. "How did you..."

He shrugged. "Intuition" He simply lied, while in his mind he kept on swearing. "Damn it why does it always have to be so complicated? I swear... people fall in love and try to jeopardize everything… Heh… Look who's talking" He snapped back to reality as Celebi coughed. "Alright... Yeah. You and him are pretty different, and you are scared he won't accept you because he won't live as long as you will..."

She nodded. "You read me like an open book." She wasn't exactly thrilled, but at least she had gotten it off of her chest, and now it was somehow Eric's problem, who was racking his brains. In the end, he just went for the obvious and simple answer.

"Well... just tell him and wait for the result." She just stared at him, dumbfounded.

"What?!"She blurted out, and Eric shot a nervous glance at Grovyle, whose breathing was thankfully still consistent. He sighed in relief.

"Well... Both of you are never going to see eachother again if things go right. You only have one chance to do either: You can know if he loves you or not, or you can sit for the rest of your existence with that question lingering in your heart. Your choice." He stated, leaving it up to her. They didn't say anything after that. "Go rest some more. This will end soon... For better or worse." Celebi heard him mutter before she drifted off to sleep.

Two shadows were walking across a forest. The forest itself looked in bloom, but it was in black and white, just like the rest of that world. It was also covered in some kind of thick smog or mist. The tallest figure was the one in front, followed by another figure which floated in the air right behind him. "So... you are sure that they will come this way?" The floating one asked.

The taller one nodded. "Yes... This is the only way they can go back to the past... Unless he decides to awake the essence of time. If that's the case though... there won't be anywhere to hide from us." He smiled after saying this, purple eyes gleaming in the dark.

"Is this really... your forest?" Eric asked. The forest itself looked... messed up, to say the least. Physically, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the forest, asides from the sepia colors that plagued the world already, and yet… each time he looked at it he couldn't help feel uneasy. When he ever got that feeling he was sure something was wrong in there.

Celebi looked at him. "What did you think? That everything was going to be alive? This pains me even more than it does you..." She looked at the trees she had watched grow, frozen in time, dead. "You must fix this... Please..." The legendary pleaded, a tear running down her cheek.

Grovyle placed his right hand on her shoulder and wiped the tear. "Don't worry... We'll do it... whatever the cost. "He said. She looked at him, smiling.

Eric walked forward. He inspected one of the trees closely. It looked like it was alive... And somehow, he could feel it was dead. No one knew what happened to the living things that were frozen in time. Some thought they would revive after time was resumed. Others though... Thought they were dead for good. If that was the case... More than half of the species of pokemon were gone forever. He placed his right hand on the dead tree... He then heard various high pitched screams. He quickly removed his hand from the log, panting heavily. "Fuck! "He looked at his friends, who had a worried look on their faces. "Grovs... you gotta check this out... This is... worrying." He said.

Grovyle walked up to his human friends and put a hand on the log, removing it from the tree. "Crap... What the hell was that... It felt like something was screeching inside my head… What was that?" He put a hand on his head. "My head is pounding... "He muttered. Celebi came up to them.

"I am the voice of the forest... and I know what my forest feels. Right now, I feel nauseated and sick... And I don't even need to touch the wood... I don't want to know what would happen if I put a hand on it..." She was slightly tempted to, but the human stopped her in her tracks, shaking his head. It just wasn't the time for things like those.

"Come on, let's get this over with! "He shouted, waving his way. Both of the pokemon followed him, determined to jump to the next and final stage of their plan.

The forest looked empty while they walked inside. There weren''t any pokemon running around or anything, and nothing could be heard either. They walked for a while, and they came up an opening, where multiple paths branched out. They looked around for a while, and both of the guys looked at Celebi. "Where to Celebi? "Eric asked.

Celebi looked around. "Left." She said. They went that way and came up to what looked like the exact same clearing. "Forward." She said. Grovyle was really confused, but Eric smiled to himself.

"A maze huh? You really took your precautions with this place celebi." He praised her dedication to keep this place safe.

She smiled at him as they came up to another opening. "Yes. Not everyone is allowed to make it to the Time Passage. If anyone could do so... Then we would certainly be in trouble. Right." She said.

They went the direction she said a few times. "Backwards." Both Eric and Grovyle looked at her, really confused.

"But... we just came from there. "The green pokemon said. The legendary looked at him. "Grovyle, just go that way. You'll be surprised." She said. The other one complied, going back the same way they came. Or so he thought. They didn't come up another clearing. They were in another path altogether!

"Wha... Where are we now?" He asked. Celebi smiled.

"We are really close to the time passage. Come on!" She exclaimed. All three of them began making their way to the center of the forest.

The deeper and closer the group got to the time passage, the more worried Grovyle got. "Celebi. Do you think that Dusknoir and his troops could get here? "He asked. She nodded.

"They could, yeah. But it would them so long to get through that maze that we would already be ahead of them by the time they got to us." She answered, smiling. Just then, they both noticed Eric, who was standing still, looking to their right.

"And... What are the chances of them just breaking through? "He asked. Celebi smiled.

"Impossible. They could never... "She looked the way he was looking. Her face went pale, and so did Grovyle's when they saw the trees that had been torn up and broken, making a path straight from the outside to the deepest part of the forest. "What the hell?! But... How?! You can't burn those trees, or break them! How did..." Eric felt a chill go up his spine.

"Whoever got here wasn't normal... Keep your eyes peeled guys. "He looked around. "I've got a really bad feeling about this..." He said. All three continued on their way deeper into the forest, Celebi now scared of anything that could appear. Grovyle was also paying attention around him, but he still couldn't keep his thoughts away from the female pokemon. He slowly tried to edge closer to her without the pokemon noticing it. Eric however notice them, and couldn't help but chuckled at Grovyle's attempt. He had one of his swords ready for anything that could jump on them.

They kept on walking for a few minutes until they came up to another open area, in the middle of which was a huge rock. He saw something glowing on the side of the rock which they could see from the entrance. It looked like the frame of a gate. "Is that... Is that seriously it? The time passage?"

Celebi rose an eyebrow. "Did you expect anything else? "She asked. He shook his head.

"No. In fact, I expected less. For being such a powerful thing, it's actually pretty obvious to what it is. Of course, it's already hard enough to get here... come on! It's like having a neon sign over it, with huge arrows pointing, screaming "TIME PASSAGE", you know?" Eric went into a rambling which made both of his friends stare at him, in a mix of confusion, amusement and general worry over their friend's sanity.

Yet again, he was the kind of guy to quite literally assault a prison by the front door, so they couldn't really discuss that theme with him. The answer was pretty obvious. Eric looked back at both of them. "What? "He asked, shrugging. "It's true. It's way too obvious." The legendary pokemon looked at him, a bit annoyed.

"Alright, then what do you suggest I do? Oh right, I can't do nothing about it. It's a time rift which for some reason appeared on this rock with this shape way too long ago, even before I can travel back to. I know how to travel in time, but this stuff is just way too out of my league." She said. Both of the remaining members of the group stood silent. Grovyle didn't know what the hell they were talking about, and Eric seemed to not know either.

"I... "He suddenly stopped talking mid-sentence. He looked around for a while, smiling after a few seconds. "I am not too swift with time travel myself. I can travel in time, but it's only in a few specific instances."

Grovyle and Celebi stared at him, really confused. "But didn't you say yesterday that you could travel in time too?" The grass type asked. Eric looked around nervously.

"Anyways. Celebi it's about time you open this thing right? "He said, changing the topic of the conversation. Both of his friends wanted to ask him, but they knew they wouldn't get any information from him.

"Alright... I'll open it, give me a minute." Celebi sighed in defeat. The legendary turned to the gate of light and placed her hands on it. She began concentrating on opening the way to the past.

Meanwhile, Eric and Grovyle were going over their plan of action one last time before they were there. Eric put his hand inside of the secret pocket of his jacket, pulling out a map. It wasn't any ordinary map though. It was what they called a "Wonder Map". Wonder Maps were kind of special. The wonder maps were something that "Exploration Teams" owned. From what Eric had been told, Exploration Teams were daily heroes. Their jobs consisted of helping those in need when they were in trouble. However, after the temporal freeze, all trace of these exploration teams had disappeared. The maps were owned by these teams, and each time the team explored a new location, it was immediately registered on the map. This helped the teams orientate themselves and indicate them where they had been to and where they hadn't been.

However these maps only showed these locations to the teams that originally owned the maps. This meant that when many of the maps were recovered, most of them were blank. However, something really weird happened, and it was related to Eric. When they were looking through some maps which everyone thought were blank, Eric somehow saw one of them printed. No one knows which team owned the map, or why the hell a human who had come from an entire world altogether could read a specific map. They had ignored that fact anyways, and focused on the fact that they finally had a map. The human had written the map down so everyone could see it. Afterwards, others had also written the map, but they kept the first copy.

"Ok... so after we land here after we travel back in time, we go west, to Fogbound Lake. We pick up the time gear there and then make our way to the east part of region, past the mountains." He pointed at the map, his finger tracing the way they were going to go. "We go south and pick up the one here…" He pointed at the south part of the region, were a peninsula stuck out." Then we go north and we grab the one in this forest..." He pointed at a forest which the map said was called "Treeshroud Forest". "And then the one inside the crystal Caves and then finally in the desert. After that we need to find a way to the Hidden Land and then fix time once and for all." Eric explained.

Grovyle was focusing on the map, but he couldn't keep his thoughts away from Celebi. This meant he would never see her again. Eric looked up at the legendary. "Remember, we have to go back about twenty years back in time, that way, we'll have more than enough time." He remembered her. She looked at him and nodded. She was focusing really hard on the Passage, but her thoughts were slowly deviating to the grass type pokemon that was sitting next to the human. She would never see him again... Should she try? It was risky but... it was worth it if... if he liked her back... She kept focusing on the time rift. It was almost ready for them anyways. She finished opening the portal and flew backwards, admiring her work as it came to life.

It suddenly faded, though it began to shine even brighter. Lines appeared from the bottom of the arc, as they traced across the ground. Thin gates of light started forming on the lines, making some kind of path into the rock. A pure white crack appeared on the area of the rock that was surrounded by the light. That area then exploded, the shards floating everywhere, but just stopping in mid air, floating, a white aura surrounding the shards. The place where the stone had been had been replaced by some kind of white vortex. Eric walked up the the path and whistled. "Wow... "He muttered.

Celebi looked back at him. "What did you say about being too obvious? "She said.

"Now this... this just needs a bigger neon sign. "He said, smirking. She groaned in annoyance, and Grovyle walked up to them and looked at the passage.

"So this is what's sending us to the past? " Celebi looked at him with sadness.

"Yeah... This is... going to take you to the past... " Eric noticed her sad tone. He looked at his pal, who also had a grim look on his face, and the human decided to try and come up with an excuse, and smiled to himself as he got an idea.

He looked around. "Hey... you guys heard that?" Both of them mimicked him, but answered negatively. The human summoned his words, then started walking away. "I think it may be those who broke into the forest... I'll go check it out."

He said, instantly running off into the forest. "Eric! Wait! I'll go with you! "Grovyle shouted.

They heard his voice from far away. "No! Stay there! And if something happens, scream! You scream loudly! Now go get them, tigger!" He cheered on from the distance.

Grovyle blushed. "What?! Eric! Eric!" Celebi giggled at his reaction. He looked at her, blushing even deeper. "Heh... He... he can be an idiot sometimes..." The pokemon said. She giggled again.

"Why not say always?" They could've sworn they heard someone grumbled, but they ignored it. They stayed silent for a few seconds.

"Well... I think this is... the goodbye then... "He said nervously. She nodded.

"Yeah..." An awkward silence rose between them. "You know... I've been thinking..." She began. She sighed deeply. "Should I..?" She thought, and immediately, Eric's words echoed in her mind.

"Do you have your eye on anyone special?" She asked, stuttering between every word. He looked at her, a bit shocked.

"Well... I... Yes, yes I... I do. "He answered. Her eyes widened, and for a second she lost faith… but then she decided to push onward. "Oh, you do? Well... who's the lucky gal?" She interrogated further.

He looked around, really nervous. "Eric... where the hell are you?" He was getting really anxious. "I... I... It's... it's... uh... "Grovyle looked at her. He then looked at the time passage. He closed his eyes and sighed. He muttered something which Celebi couldn't understand.

"What? "She asked.

He looked at her, straight into her eyes, and took a deep breath. "It's you. I... like you Celebi. I started feeling something for you while we were staying in the resistance's base. Though... you will never love me, I know it, we're too… different." Celebi stared at him, dumbfounded. Tears appeared on her face. "I know... I am an idiot for even feeling something for a legendary. You will live almost forever and I'll just… I'll weigh you down, really, I-"

Celebi silenced him with a kiss, their lips sealing together. Grovyle's eyes widened as she kissed him furiously. He ended up melting into the kiss, hugging her and kissing back. They kept at it for a few seconds before breaking away. "Did you seriously think it would matter to me? I like you... no, I love you Grovyle." His eyes widened, and kissed her again.

They melted into eachother's embrace, and were panting heavily after they broke apart again to breathe. "I love you too Celebi." He said. They heard something approaching them, and once they turned to face that direction, they saw Eric clapping, slowly approaching them, a smirk on his face.

"About time. I don't know how you guys couldn't figure out that you loved eachother earlier. Like… come on, put two and two together, or are you really that oblivious." Both of the pokemon stared at him as he kept talking sarcastically.

"So you knew?!" They said simultaneously. They then understood why he left. They couldn't help feel angry at him, but he has still helped them. Though the question was still in order. "Why didn't you tell us?! "Grovyle asked.

The human smiled again, shrugging. "The whole situation was just kind of unbelievable, really. Seriously, something out from a bad romance movie. There are so many obvious signs which you both dismissed as "Oh, I am miss-interpreting things", the sheer fact that you've both spent so much time together that it's just bound to happe… and the quite hilarious fact you both talked with the one friend you had in common about the exact same thing, expect on reverse. Just… wow. Textbook." He clapped sarcastically.

Grovyle and Celebi were glaring daggers at him, still close together and hugging. The smirk disappeared from his face. "However, I think you were the ones that had to figure it out, and you did, so everything worked out in the end. I do want to give you guys my congratulations."

Both of the lovers face's soothened. "Thanks man…" Grovyle said sincerely, and Eric smiled. "Hey, we're friends right? Anyways... now you know what happens, right?" He told both of them. Their faces went grim, and the human winced. "Yeah... Well... so much for romance…" Both of the pokémon looked at eachother, ignoring Eric.

"I'll be waiting for you Grovyle... Even if something happens... I will find you my love... I'll be there with you for as long as I can." She whispered, tears on her face. He was also crying. "I will miss you Celebi... "He said. They kissed again. They both looked at Eric, whose faces didn't show any clear emotion, though he had a faint smile on his face. "You sure you want to leave pal? I can do this by myself you know. It won't be too hard. "He said. Grovyle shook his head. "After all of what we've been together and then I chicken out in the end? No. "He looked at her, who smiled. "Go get them sweetie. "He blushed hard, flinching. "Sweetie?! "He shouted. Eric laughed while Celebi giggled at the pokemon's reaction.

Eric approached the duo. "Well then, I guess it's time I say goodbye to you Celebi. "He said, looking at the legendary. She smirked. "Yep... It's been a pleasure having you around, world traveler. "She said. He smiled at her. "I will come back some other time you know, so this isn't really a goodbye. "The human said. He looked at the time passage. "Twenty years... Alright then... Let's do this. "Eric ran in, dashing under the arcs of light and jumping into the vortex. Grovyle looked at Celebi one last time and waved off, before running after Eric and traveling back in time.

"I owe you both so much… your kindness… your faith… your friendship… And I don't think I'll ever get to repay either of you. If only I could guarantee that your love would transcend this dark age… I would do all in my power to guarantee that at least you two have a better life. Grovyle… Celebi… Thank you."

Eric and Grovyle were both sliding down what looked like cyclone that was sucking them. To the green creature this was a new experience, though for the world traveling human, it kind of fell like a slide for him. Through the pokemon was lying on his back while he slid down, Eric was standing on his feet, like he was skiing. He howled out in enjoyment, as he felt like they were going at an incredible speed. He had traveled back in time before, not only using his powers, but also other ways that other worlds had provided him. This was by far the most fun one.

The fun didn't last long however, as the cyclone suddenly disappeared. Eric and Grovyle began sliding across the ground, which they couldn't see,a s it was completely black. They were literally standing on nothing. Eric managed to stop himself while Grovyle moved further away. He finally got up and looked at his partner. "What the hell happened?" He asked. Eric looked around.

"This isn't the past... Something's fishy here..." He muttered. They heard a voice laugh in the distance. "Oh great... now the villain that stopped the time will reveal himself and give us a monologue of how we are meddling with him..." Eric mocked them, made his bow appear and tensed an arrow, ready for the jerkface to appear from the blackness.

He heard his laughter stop. "Now... Let's not be too hasty Eric. I have just come to talk." The voice said.

Eric humphed. "Yeah? Well my arrow wants to tell your face something. Don't make me wait." Eric mocked. The voice chuckled. He heard something behind him. He spun around immediately and shot an arrow, but realized that there was nothing that way, the arrow completely missing. He heard the same sound behind him again, and he turned around, this time without an arrow on his bow. He saw the pokemon that had been taunting them, and had probably told Clades about the Time Gears: Darkrai.

(Lord Ghirahim's Theme – Skyward Sword)

"There... now we can talk. I am afraid you already know who I am right?" He asked. Darkrai was often referred to as the nightmare pokemon, and his shape couldn't match even better to such description. He had a small head, with some kind of fog-like plume that waved like it was a ghost, covering his right eye. The only eyes that Eric could see was bright blue. There was a red spiky growth around his neck. He had really skinny arms and legs, with long black tatters coming out his shoulders and black claw like hands.

Eric smirked. "Yeah. The cliche villain that conquers the world because he feels like it, and now wants to tell us about how great he is and stuff. "This seemed to amuse Darkrai instead of anger him however, as he laughed.

"Well... seems like he was right after all, you are more of a fool than I thought, as well as arrogant and downright insulting." The dark type said.

The human smirked. "Coming from you? Come on, why'd you do it Darkrai? How did he convince you? Power? The whole world for yourself? The only thing he wants to do is destroy everything, including yourself! "The human shouted.

The nightmare pokemon smirked. "Do you think I'm an idiot?"

Eric's eyes widened. "Yes! You read my mind! Are you also psychic type or something?"Eric mocked, yet again. This one seemed to annoy him.

"You will not confuse with your words! I was promised the whole world covered in darkness, and I got what I wanted eventually! You can see it with your own eyes fool! Now you are the ones that stand in my way! I will destroy you! Both of you!" He shouted, anger in his eyes.

Eric leaned to Grovyle. "Someone woke up and stubbed their toe against the bed this morning..."He said, smirking. The green pokemon stared at him.

"You are seriously joking in a time like this?!" He shouted, amazed at his partner's ability to make someone angry. Darkrai was about to charge at them, when another voice was heard, this one more deep and serene.

(Stop the music)

"You fall to his mockery Darkrai... you are truly an idiot." The voice said. Eric recognized the voice instantly.

"Clades! Show yourself you fucker!" Eric shouted. He made both of his swords appear. He looked around. Clades had to be somewhere around there. Grovyle was also looking around, but also keeping an eye on the nightmare pokemon. He saw some movement suddenly rising into the air in his direction, quickly descending to where they were. He looked at Eric.

"Watch out!"He shouted. Eric looked up at put both of his swords on top of his head, just in time to block another pair of swords. These ones were normal straight swords, which seemed to be a bit transparent.

He pushed upwards, launching his attacker upwards. He began spinning around in the air, as Eric shot arrows at him, the projectiles barely missing him. The other one landed on his feet and looked at Eric, his purple eyes shining brightly somehow. "So... about time you appeared, Clades."Eric said, regaining his composure. He looked at Clades. He was a human, just like him, maybe a bit short than he was, but not too much. His hair was gray, his eyes, as stated before, were purple. He was wearing a cape that left a trail of shadows behind, which looked like mist. The cape covered all of his back and sides, though Eric couldn't distinct his clothes. The trail of mist covered his legs, making Eric unable to see either his legs or feet.

(Disappeared – Kingdom Hearts HD)

Clades rose his right arm, pointing at Eric with the tip of the sword. "I think you and I have something to sort out Eric." Eric smiled, tensing up.

"Yeah, you're right..." He rose his swords. "We have something to settle... "A wicked smile appeared on Clades' face, and Eric's faded out. He moved his feet and started walking towards his foe. The other took the initiative, and charged into Eric. Their swords clashed as they jumped away from eachother. Eric began running around Clades as he kept his eyes on him. He threw his left sword at the other human, but he merely ducked under it, the hurling blade missing completely. Right after throwing the spinning blade Eric had jumped into him, raising his sword over him, but it met with one of Clades´blades. The other one was about to strike Eric, but the human threw a gust of wind from his hand, blowing him away.

Clades heard the sword spinning behind him, and crouched in time to dodge it. Eric was already in front of him though, as he jumped in their, grabbing the sword while spinning and plummeting down on Clades with both of his swords together. The purple eyes human blocked them, the impact however making him flinch. "You're hitting hard this time around Eric..." He heard the human panting. "Let's see how long that lasts!" He pushed his enemy backwards into the air, while he spun around. He dismissed his swords and used his bow. He tensed up an arrow and waited for his body to be aiming right at Clades. Time seemed to slow down as his arrow lined up with his face. Eric smiled as he let the arrow go. The other one deflected the projectile with his sword, and saw Eric out of the corner of his eye preparing more.

He turned to him as the human began shooting arrows at a tremendous speed, all of them headed straight for Clades' body. He started spinning his swords around, slashing the arrows out of the air while walking towards Eric, as the other walked closer to him, each time getting closer and closer. When they were close enough, Clades threw a slash with his left sword, but Eric dodged to the right and tried to stab Clades neck with an arrow. The other however, spun around, his swords almost slashing Eric in half. He jumped backwards and prepared to use an fire imbued arrow. Clades was faster than him however, as he dismissed his swords. He made a circle in the air around the area Eric was, and then snapped his fingers. The area around Eric suddenly burst into flames, trapping him in a ring of fire.

Arrows began flying through the walls of fire as temperature rose quickly. Eric noticed that they were coming counterclockwise. He calculated how much time each arrow took to be thrown, and how far away they were from eachother and the speed they were being thrown at. He aimed one of his arrows and pointed straight to where he thought Clades was. The projectile was a hit, as he heard him growl. The wall of fire died down to reveal Eric's foe with a crossbow, aiming straight at him. The hero had barely enough time to roll out of the way of the arrow as it swizzled right next to him. Clades charged another bolt and shot. Eric shot an arrow, clashing with the bolt in midair, both projectiles bouncing off and falling to the ground. Eric's arm proved to be faster than Clades', as he had been hit by the arrow from before. Eric shot an arrow at his chest. He saw it coming and moved out of the way, but it ended up hitting his shoulder.

Just then, he heard Grovyle call him. "Eric! Need a little help over here!" He shouted. Eric turned that way to look at him. He saw both Darkrai and him fighting. Eric used his bow and aimed for Darkrai. The legendary looked at him before his legs somehow retracted into his body and began flying around at a high speed, making it almost impossible for Eric to hit him. His movements were erratic and all around impossible to predict. He didn't attack them though. He noticed how, in fact, each second that passed he got further away into the blackness of the the time passage…

(Stop the music)

Now Eric understood. They weren't fighting them. Clades and Darkrai just wanted them to lose time! They were now stuck inside of the time passage, which meant that the more time that passed, the less time they would have to save the world! "Grovyle! Ignore them we need to go!" Eric shouted. Grovyle looked at him.

"But how?!" He asked. Eric pulled out the watch from his jacket.

Clades was looking at Eric, breaking the arrow from his shoulder. "A pocket watch? What are you going to do with that?"

Eric looked at him, smiling. "Well... I found this while I was exploring down in the mines. Back at the resistance's secret base. I didn't know what it was... Until I found out that it is capable of controlling time itself... And I don't even need to wake up the essence." Eric's smile grew wider, while Clades stared in disblief?

"Impossible… what could such an item be doing in a world like this?! "He asked. Eric rose the watch. "Beats me… But either way, it's going to help us out!" He shouted. He clicked a button on the side, and the watch lid opened. Suddenly, what looked like the hands of a clock appeared on midair. They were made out of pure light. They started spinning around, the minute hand going faster than the hours. Both of them froze when pointing upwards, at twelve-o-clock. A circle formed around the hands, and it flew away into the darkness, away from everyone. There, the circle was filled with light, and another vortex appeared. Eric looked at Grovyle. "Run for it! Go!"

Both of them ran to the vortex, covering a lot of ground really fast. "No! "Clades shouted. He seemed to completely rise from the ground and fly straight for them. Eric didn't notice him, as Clades got right behind him. He grabbed his right hand, making him fully stop. This confused Eric a lot, before he started feeling an intense pain come from the hand. He felt all of his power being sucked away in a moment. Eric punched him right on the face with his left hand, making him let go. However the harm was already done. The pain didn't subside, and Eric kicked Clades and launched him backwards, though he did see a wicked smirk on his face. Eric looked at his hand, and watched, in both awe and horror as the tattoo at the back of his hand started disappearing slowly.

Each circle began to slowly fade, leaving Eric with a strange empty feeling. He looked at his foe. "What the fuck did you do?! "He asked, now really scared. He had never dreamed that could happen. He then saw how a white and black ball surged from his hand. He instantly knew what it was. "No! Not them!"

He shotued. Clades rose from the ground. "Yes! Yes! "He rushed to Eric, a crazy smile on his face. "Give me your power, Eric!"

Eric then made a decision. He knew what he had right in front of him. An immense amount of power. What he had on his left hand, was an artifact with an unknown amount of power that he had found in that world. Was it chance… or was it fate? The circumstances were strange, almost as if it all had to be this way... He didn't think twice.

Time slowed down for everyone, as Eric threw the watch at the ball. Both of them collided together, sparks of pure energy surging all over the place. A screeching noise was heard, that made their ears hurt. Everything around them shook violently, as the darkness itself began crumbling apart, white cracks appearing. The ball seemed to become gray... Before exploding. A wave power flowed everywhere, as they all felt something disappear, not only from them, but form around them. Eric saw the pieces of the clock flying around in different colors. He saw ten of them, glowing in strange colors before completely disappearing.

Clades, who was really close to him grabbed Eric and placed his right hand right on Eric's chest.

He felt something surge from it and into his body, as he screamed in pain. He only saw something green move swiftly before he felt the grip on his neck soften. Something grabbed his arms and pulled him away from the darkness... and into light. His vision was fading, though he knew he had been rescued by Grovyle's Vine Whip. He then felt like he didn't touch anything with his feet... or arms... Nothing. They were falling in some light. Eric looked at Grovyle. Who was calling out his name, though Eric could only read his lips, the pain in his chest way too much for him to handle. He saw him say, "Give me your hand!". Eric complied and met up with his.

Suddenly, some powerful force seemed to pull from the human and the pokemon from different directions, as even holding eahcother's hands was painful. He saw his green friend say something again, though he couldn't made it out. His vision was too blurry. He knew he wasn't going to make it, and all things considered, he was only going to be a drag. He put his free hand inside of his jacket, and slowly pulled out an old piece of paper. He couldn't hear his own words, though he was sure he said this:

"Find the time gears. Save the world... pal... "And with that, he let go. He heard Grovyle's scream as he was pulled away. He closed his eyes, though he could still see the light through the skin. It was because of this, that he knew when the light died.

It was a dark and stormy night, and the town was being hit by a violent storm. The trees were about to be blown off, let alone the bushes. However, one of these bushes didn't fly off. It was the one located on top of a bluff. Under the bush, there were some stairs, which led to a cave on the side of the rock. There, one could see a bed, and on top of it, someone was trying to sleep. Another lightning struck, and the creature jumped up from the bed. It hated lightning. It was scary. Another one struck, and wind seemed to get stronger, as the creature curled up on it's bed, shaking like a leave. It opened it's eyes, clear and blue and the sky, though not at that moment. And then, the creature saw it. Outlines by yet another lightning bolt, it saw something plummeting down to the water, right in front of the opening. She closed it's eyes, really scared and what or who, could've fallen down.

He was falling really fast. He couldn't hear anything, and he felt really weak. But he could feel cold around him, and the wind around him getting faster and faster. He was free falling, with no way of stopping him. His powers were most likely done. He was done for. After what seemed like hours of falling and pain, he hit something hard. Something really hard, that then turned soft, and swallowed him. It was really cold. He began sinking in a liquid, that he didn't know what it was. He opened his eyes, and screamed at the temperature. He opened his eyes, though he could only see blackness. He had to close them again though, as they began to scorch, like something was burning them. The pain in his chest was unbearable, and he had to breathe. He opened his mouth in desperation, trying to breath in air... But the only thing that came into his mouth was a salty liquid, which almost made him puke.

The liquid flowed into his body, filling his lungs and stomach. He opened his eyes again. He started feeling numb, his mind slipping away. He saw something sparkle up in the sky, before his whole world slowly turned black. Without being able to breath, the pain and oppression in his chest, and the scorching in his eyes, he felt himself slowly drifting into sleep. And then, when the world was completely black, he stopped feeling everything, and gave in to an eternal sleep…

You are offering me... A second chance... A rebirth... But... why?

I don't have any choice.

But... how can I trust you?

You can't, but what awaits you if you don't is nothing but a life of misery and fear. I offer you redemption. Do you accept?

…

…

I accept.

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to "A Hero's Rebirth". Thank you for reading the prologue of this story. The first chapters of this story are currently being rewritten, which means that the next few won't share the quality this ones has. I am sorry for this, but I am currently working on rewriting them too. Thank you, yet again, for reading, and I'll see you on the next one.