Author's Note: Okay, time for our first story! To give you some background on this one, it's a spring-off from the side-game Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia (I srsly love the Ranger games <3). So... it might be a little confusing if you haven't played that game all the way through. This story was originally written for Pe2k's WAR IX fanfiction contest--the theme had to involve the line, "I first thought I'd eventually find the answer by searching. I never knew it was in my soul the entire time." Looking back... I can't remember what place it ended up getting, but I remember Neo Pikachu really enjoying it ^^

This is one of my older pieces... but I like it. I hope you do too! :D






Journal Log 153
April 27, 2010
Dr. R. H. Marks

Once again, I have been disappointed. Far too many of my colleagues have given up hopes on reviving the organization formally known as Dim Sun. I do not blame them for losing faith in its name, but they fail to see the genius of my plans. I, too, have given up any ties to Dim Sun, and instead I have taken a new name upon myself and loyal followers. We shall be known as Phoenix as—just like the mythical creature—we have been reborn from the ashes of flawed plans. We will pick up where Dim Sun left and achieve a greater degree of Glory.
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Journal Log 175
May 5, 2010
Dr. R. H. Marks

I have familiarized myself with one of Almia’s old legends. It seems to have ties to the four stones that led to the demise of Dim Sun’s plans: the Tears of Princes and the Shadow Crystal. I do not understand all the details, but the legend tells of an old monarch who had three sons. The princes grew to be foolish, and the King was forced to banish them. Consumed by guilt, the King began to immerse himself into the darkness, and it consumed him. It is said that this was how the Shadow Crystal, the old weapon of Dim Sun, came to be. The princes, bowed to the depths of humility, shed tears for their loss, and from this the three stones known as the Tears of Princes were formed. As we saw with the downfall of the old organization, the Tears of Princes are able to purify the darkness found in the Shadow Crystal and transform it into the Luminous Crystal.

My followers have successfully recovered large portions of shards from the Shadow Crystal, some straight from the so-called Tower of Peace, formally known the Altru Building once ran by the head of Team Dim Sun. After much research, I have confirmed by earlier suspicions: the crystal does indeed hold some of Darkrai’s power. This better explains why Pokémon reacted so adversely when exposed to Giga-and-mini-remo units, allowing us to control them. (As you may recall, the Remo machines each held a shard of the crystal.) Blake Hall sought to use that power, but he took a much more timid approach to unlocking it. I, however, see a much better technique, one that would ensure better control.

We must find a way to extract that power.
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Journal Log 226
July 30, 2010
Dr. R. H. Marks

My plans are finally unfolding. Everything we have shed sweat and tears for will now be repaid. We have succeeded in developing a way to transfer the crystal’s power to another being. I know that many would approach this differently, wanting to infuse that power into a Pokémon, but not I. You see, one of my goals is to eliminate the problem of the Rangers. I want to wipe them from the face of the planet. If I gave the crystal’s power to a Pokémon, I would fail in this endeavor. Thanks to their capture technology, the Rangers would be able to turn the Pokémon against us.

This is why the power must be transferred to a human. With our superior intelligence, we would be able to utilize and control, plus the Rangers would be unable to capture our power. I shall be the first person in the world to create the perfect weapon—a human weapon. Then no one, not even the foolish Ranger union, will be able to stop me.

Of course, there is still some work to be done, bugs to fix. Luckily, I have the perfect guinea pig to experiment on. Just the other day, a young boy stumbled into our operations, and my grunts quickly captured him. The best part is that he’s an amateur Ranger, and now that we have his friend (the foolish girl came looking for him when he disappeared) he is easily manipulated. Tomorrow we shall perform a test and then…

ERROR: FILE CORRUPTED….
_____

An explosion shook the entire Hia Valley, causing several avalanches to roll down the permanently frozen slopes of the mountains. A cloud of smoke swirling with snow ascended into the air above a well-hidden building as chaos erupted within. Men and woman were scrambling frantically through the halls, trying to escape the fire that was slowly spreading. At the heart of the problem, the building’s main laboratory, the machines were going hay-wire. Lights flashed, sirens screeched, and circuits fried in the chaos. Though the scientists tried their best to deal with the meltdown, they were scared out of their wits by the subject of their experimentation. Something had gone terribly wrong, and now they had lost all control. In the center of the room, mixed within the writhing flames, were tendrils of nearly solid darkness. They reached out like tentacles from the floor, wrapping themselves around wires and ripping them out of their places. As they did so, electricity cracked and sparked, igniting any nearby flammable material.

“It’s no good!” one of the scientists shouted, his face dripping with sweat from heat and effort. “We got to get out of here!”

No one bothered to argue. The white-coats turned heels and raced for the exits, but before they could escape black smoke-like tentacles shot forward, racing flat against the floor towards their fleeing feet before snapping up in full three-dimensional forms. The shadows grabbed them around the legs and began pulling them back. The men cried out as they desperately reached out for something to grab a hold of, but their attempts were all in vain. Slowly they sank into holes in the ground created by churning pools of darkness, looking if they were caught in quicksand. One individual, instead of disappearing into a dark void, was yanked towards the center of the lab where the shadows were the thickest. Firelight flickered against his glasses as he looked at his fate, his face white with terror.

“Please,” he begged with some unseen being. “No, please… Have mercy…”

When he was inches away from the mass of darkness, he could see how it moved like light-less fire. He couldn’t see beyond the outer layer, but he didn’t need to in order to know what was behind it. Suddenly, a gloved hand shot out and grabbed him by the color of his shirt. He half expected something otherworldly, but to his surprise the arm belonged to a human—a mere boy. Yet the strength he exerted to lift the researcher to his feet was incredible. The scientist prayed that he wouldn’t see the rest of the boy’s face, but this was denied to him as the shadows parted. Now he confronted the child he had so willingly experimented on.

Though he looked human enough, they boy’s skin had a gray pallor to it and his eyes were glowing with an eerie light. The red Ranger uniform he had been wearing before the test was now completely stained black. The expression on his face was coldly consumed with rage as he brought it close to the scientist’s face.

“Where is she?” he spoke, though his voice sounded like a myriad of people—all with different pitches and textures—speaking together at once.

“I-I-I d-d-don’t know,” the scientist mindlessly began babbling while quivering pitifully.

“Where is she?” the boy repeated firmly again, but his time with less patience. As he tightened his grip, the scientist gulped audibly.

“In the kennels,” the scientist caved, spilling his soul. “In the southern section of the building, the last cell on the right.”

The experiment threw the scientist back onto the ground, the shadows around him twitching angrily. “For your sake,” he hissed, “she better be okay.”

Suddenly, the shadows all collected around him, forming a cocoon around him before flattening themselves against the floor. They dispersed like fog, leaving no sign of the boy or any of the other faculty. The scientist was alone in the burning lab, where he collapsed and wept.

Meanwhile, the building was being evacuated. Taken by such surprise, no one could get organized enough to fight the fire. Instead, they fled like cowards for the safety of the valley and left their base for destruction. Some would discover that avalanches blocked their escape, but most were lucky to find safe passage down the slopes, thanks to whatever vehicles they could find. Among the fleeing individuals was a boy, holding in his arms the limp form of a girl as he ran with everything he had.

*****

“Ella?” a concerned voice called through the darkness of her dreams, calling the teen back to reality. As her senses reawakened, she became aware of a chilling breeze nipping at her skin. Why was it so cold? She wondered, but she didn’t bother trying to move. Her limbs felt a little stiff and sluggish, but it really wasn’t too uncomfortable. Lying still like that felt rather nice. Yet when she felt a pressure on her shoulder gently shaking her, she decided to finally open her emerald eyes. A familiar face hung over her, with short black hair and bright blue eyes, but for some reason she couldn’t recognize who it was right away. She blamed the poor lighting, wherever she was.

“Ella?” the face asked again, its expression pinched in worry.

“Tristan?” she asked as the name clicked in her head.

The boy breathed out a long sigh of relief, but he continued to watch her warily. The guy looks so exhausted, Ella thought with a frown. Sitting up, she took in her strange new surroundings. Now she understood where the cold came from. They were in an icy cave with blue-tinted walls and slippery surfaces all around them. The light faintly filtered in from outside, allowing her to see the steam that issued from her mouth as she breathed. She was confused at why she was here, but memories flooded back to her like a tidal wave. The lab, the men, Tristan…

“Where are those people? Where are we? How did we get here?” she started spewing questions with intensity.

“Calm down,” Tristan waved her down, his voice scratchy as if he had just finished a screaming contest. “We’re fine…”

Ella paused, taking a closer look at her friend. She had known him since they were toddlers, and out of all those years together she had never seen him so beaten down. Examining him now, she realized that he had a gray hue to his skin. His face was drawn, and shadows encircled his eyes.

“Are you okay?” she asked, taking her turn to be the concerned one.

“I don’t know,” he answered honestly, leaning back against the cave wall. The cold hardly seemed to bother him. Even though she was starting to shiver, he remained still.

She studied him for a while, growing more and more uneasy about his unusual behavior. Scooting up to the wall next to him, she asked, “What happened, Tristan?”

The boy Ranger sighed, not too keen to explain, but he opened his mouth. “They… they threatened me. They told me that if I didn’t do what they wanted, they would hurt you. So I listened. They strapped me up to this weird machine and… Well, things got blurry after that, but I remember going through a lot of pain—burning intense pain, the worst that I had ever been through in my entire life. Then there were explosions and screaming and… I… I don’t know. I think I hurt people, but I don’t remember…”

He turned to her, his eyes swimming in a confusing pool of emotions.

“You hurt people? How?” she asked. She couldn’t see how that would be possible. The kidnappers certainly did horrible things to them, but Tristan wasn’t vengeful. She couldn’t picture him harming others.

The boy hung his head as he brought his knees up to his chest. Shoulders shaking, he explained, “I don’t know. After the pain cleared, I remember feeling this… this strange energy building up in me, this overwhelming power. I felt like I could do anything. I don’t know what they did to me, but somehow, I’m different.”

Ella fell silent, trying to sort through it out in her head. What Tristan had told her didn’t make much sense to her, but it seemed rather difficult for him to talk about it. She wouldn’t ask questions quite yet, not until he himself made sense of it. She was simply glad that it was over with. Now they could go back home…

“Maybe they deserved it,” Tristan spoke up suddenly, a dark look consuming his expression.

“What?” Ella’s eyebrows lifted, alarmed.

“They deserved what happened to them,” the Ranger went on. “They should have known better than to do the things they did.”

Ella hardly believed her own ears. Didn’t she just get done thinking about how he was never vengeful? She had never heard him sound so wrathful before, so charged and full of anger. What was wrong with him? What did that machine do to him? Half of her wanted to slink away frightened by the transformation, but the overbearing sympathetic part of her kept her by his side. She could sense how hurt and confused he was, and she wanted to help some way…

He was fiercely clenching his fists, but with his head bent she couldn’t see his eyes. With the low lighting, she also failed to see how tiny tendrils of shadows were curling themselves around his body. Hesitantly, she reached out and placed her hand on his. The shadows immediately dispersed as the tension in his body relaxed.

“Everything is okay, now,” she spoke in a low, gentle voice. “We’re both safe. They can’t hurt us anymore.”

Tristan’s eyes gradually moved from her hand up to her face. He looked at her as if seeing her for the first time. After a long moment of sorting through his thoughts, he asked, “What do we do now?”

Ella smiled back, though she was still troubled within. Normally he was the one coming up with the plans. Still, in his emotionally distraught state she didn’t expect him to be thinking straight. She hoped that he would recover soon, however. She would try her best, but she never was a good leader. The teenager stood up, feeling Tristan’s eyes following her as she shuffled carefully over the ice to the cave’s entrance. Peering outside she could see Hia Valley stretching out before them, pure white with a fresh coat of snow. A plume of smoke was rising from the west, which she guessed to be the ruins of Team Phoenix’s base. She frowned, thinking back to what Tristan had told her, but didn’t linger long.

“I guess we should try to find Shiver Camp,” she finally declared. “They have a Ranger Base there, don’t they?”

“I think so,” Tristan replied, still sitting against the cave wall.

Ella shivered, wishing she had a better protection against the cold. It wasn’t going to be a fun trek across the valley, but they had to hurry before it got dark. If they failed to reach the camp before then, they could freeze to death. For the umpteenth time since becoming a Trainer, she wished that she had a good strong Staraptor to fly her around. Currently, all she had was a young Shinx that could hardly provide any assistance out here in the snow tundra. Tristan had lost his styler, so he couldn’t capture any wild Pokémon either.

“Well,” Ella turned around, forcing another smile on, “shall we start?”

“Okay,” Tristan agreed, though he didn’t sound too enthusiastic. He sluggishly climbed onto his feet and stumbled towards her. As he stepped out into the sunlight, he squinted painfully.

“’s bright,” he commented with a weak smile, raising his hand to shield his eyes nonetheless.

“Just a little,” Ella laughed, though she wasn’t as sensitive to the light as he was. She thought that something could wrong with that, but she didn’t say anything out loud. Inside, she was beginning to fear what those men had done to her childhood friend, and what that would mean for them. Was she losing her best friend?

Together, they carefully descended down the slope away from their ice cave and into the valley. Before long, both were uncomfortably wet and cold. The fact that the snow was much deeper than Ella originally thought didn’t help much. Often times she would misjudge and step into particularly deep spots, then she would need Tristan’s help to get back out. Luckily, the skies were clear and bright, allowing the sun to warm their backs and prevent them from freezing. There were times when they had to pass through the shadows of winter-frosted pine trees, and then they would be reminded just how miserable it would be without the sun. Ella was plenty relieved after those stretches when they came out into the sun once more, though Tristan never looked quite as happy. Even after a good long hour of trekking, his eyes still hadn’t adjusted to the snow glare. He constantly stumbled over rocks and fallen branches.

In all honesty, Ella wasn’t sure if she was going the right direction. She had learned some tricks about finding directions from the sun and all, but for all she knew she could be missing Shiver Camp altogether. If only Tristan was himself. He would know what to do.

“Hey, do you hear something?” Tristan suddenly spoke up, pausing.

Ella stopped as well, letting silence fall around them. Without the crunching of snow under their feet filling their ears, they realized how much noise they had been making. She was surprised that Tristan had been able to pick anything out with it. They were currently in a small patch of trees that were widely spread out, allowing stripes of sunlight into their path. It felt peaceful enough, or at least that was what Ella thought before otherwise proven wrong. She picked up on a swishing noise that sounded like wind moving through the bind needles, followed by a long, drawn out crunch.

“What did you—,” she started, but Tristan interrupted her.

“Look out!” he shouted, leaping in front of her.

The events occurring afterward seemed to play out in slow motion. Ella turned to see what was going on, but when Tristan jumped a wall of blackness suddenly rose up before them. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but she heard glass-like shattering noises on the other side. When the attack stopped, the wall lowered, and Tristan and Ella found themselves facing a seven-foot, extremely bulky monster. With a bearded, block-shaped face, it glared down at them with angry purple eyes. Raising its thick, branch-like arms, it roared to prepare another attack.

“An Abomasnow!” Ella gasped, and leapt aside as the arm fell down towards their heads. She started backing away as quickly as possible, but the creature had its eyes on her. Grunting grumpily, it swung its arm again, releasing pointed shards of ice aimed straight for her body.

Once again, shadows leapt from the snow into dimensional forms, blocking the Ice Shards before they reached her. She turned and spotted Tristan staring at her with his hand outstretched.

“Are you doing this?” she asked, stunned.

“I… I think so,” he replied, just as amazed as she was.

They didn’t have much time to wonder over this, as the Frosted Tree Pokémon was charging once more. Instinctively, Tristan whirled around to face it, cupping his hands together. A black orb crackling with electrical, purple light immediately formed in his hand, and as soon as it had grown to the size of a skull it shot off towards the attacking Pokémon. Apparently, it hadn’t been expecting a human to fight back. Its eyes widened in surprise, but it was too late to turn away. The orb blasted into it, knocking it off its feet.

“Shadow Ball?” Ella mouthed, recognizing what she saw but not wanting to believe it. How was Tristan doing this? That was a Pokémon move! Humans couldn’t do that! That was unheard of!

The Abomasnow shook off the attack, getting back onto his feet while clutching its head in its thorny hands. It glared at Tristan for a brief moment, and then decided that it wasn’t going to fall for anymore tricks. Roaring, it ambled forward for another assault. Ella shouted a warning to her friend, but he didn’t move. Instead, he stood his ground—allowing the creature to get close enough to strike. As it brought its arm down in a Wood Hammer attack, the boy simply sidestepped it.

Shadows suddenly snaked forward from the ground as the creature’s fist missed, securely snagging it down. Despite its desperate attempts, the Abomasnow couldn’t free its limb from their grip. Stopping, it stared at Tristan before reaching out its other arm to grab him. With a deft motion, Tristan bent down and dodged that swing as well. As he straightened, he lifted his arms and more black tentacles detached themselves from the forest floor and wrapped around the creature’s only free hand. The Abomasnow was completely flabbergasted. It had just been outsmarted by an intruder! It gaped at the boy emptily, as if all its brains had been swiped out of its head.

Tristan, meanwhile, moved forward with a glossy look and a raised hand. Ella moved closer, trying to figure out what was going on. He looked as if he was sleep walking, only half-paying attention to his actions. His hand was outlined with a glowing pink light, which he placed on the Ice Monster’s forehead. Immediately, the creature’s eyes rolled back into its head, and it collapsed with a heavy thud onto the ground. The forest fell silent once more.

“Is…,” Ella moved forward with a gulp, looking the Pokémon over. “Is it dead?”

Tristan swayed unexpectedly, holding his head in his hand. “No… I think… I think I just put it to sleep. I hypnotized it or something.”

“Tristan? What just happened?”

He lowered his hand, glumly taking in the result of his actions. “Remember what I told you back in the cave? I am starting to think that somehow those scientists… well, it sounds crazy…”

“No, tell me.”

“I think that they gave me Pokémon powers.”

Ella frowned. Was such a thing even possible? How could they do that?

“But,” Tristan continued, his eyebrows knitting together in worry, “the scary thing is… I don’t even know how I am doing it. Whenever they pop up, they seem to do their own thing. I don’t think about any of it. Ella? What if I can’t control them?”

Ella forced herself to meet his eyes. Deep inside she had that same fear, but she couldn’t let him know that. She still had confidence in him. She knew that if he had the courage, he was strong enough to overcome this. “Maybe you can learn to control them?”

“How?”

“Well, even superheroes had trouble controlling when they first got their powers.”

“Superheroes?” he cocked an eyebrow at her doubtfully, bringing back a reminiscent of his former self. Ella was glad to see it, and felt heartened.

“Of course,” she smiled, getting a little excited. “If you think about it… You’re like one now. A real one! And you know—even though those bad guys did this to you—you can turn around and use that power for good. You could really help people, Tristan, more than any other Ranger ever did.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah, and you could do all that typical superhero stuff: fight crime, bust bad guys, stop speeding trains. Hey, we could even make you a nice outfit to wear. Oh, and a nickname! You could be PokéBoy or something.”

Tristan laughed a true, full-hearted laugh. “We could forgo the nickname and uniform. I never was a fan of tights and capes.”

Ella practically glowed, so delighted to hear him joke. Teasing, she said, “Aw, come on! That’d be the funnest part!”

Tristan’s smile faded a little, and as he looked back down at the Abamosnow it completely disappeared. Despondently, he asked, “How do you know I’m not a supervillain?”

Ella knew what he meant. The powers he had been using had obviously been from dark-type Pokémon. Taking a step between Tristan and the Abomasnow, she was going to set him right. Fixing him with a fierce and determined expression, she said, “Don’t even think that. I know your heart, Tristan. You are a good person, of that I have no doubt. There’s no way you could ever be a villain. Look, I know that this stuff you can do seems shady, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do good with them. Darkness is a part of this world as much as light. It’s what you choose to do with it that makes the difference. You got to believe that, okay? No more of this mopey stuff, got it?”

Tristan lifted his head, locking his eyes into hers as he searched their depths. He was overwhelmed by what she had just told him. How could he have so much faith in him? He wanted so bad to believe her words, but he still doubted himself. But… if he had to, he would try. He would try for her. Slowly, he nodded.

“That’s the spirit,” she beamed, then paused as her eyes climbed to the top of his head.

“What’s wrong?” Tristan asked, confused.

“Oh, well… there’s a patch of white hair on your head,” she explained, indicating the area on her own head, just above the right eye.

He reached his hands up and grabbed where he thought she meant, but his hair was too short to pull down to see. Nothing felt out of place, but that didn’t reassure him. White hair? What could that mean? What else was going to happen to him?

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Ella saw his sudden panic and tried to dismiss it. “We’d better get going before the Yeti here wakes up.”

“Yeah,” he lowered his hands slowly, ashamed by his reaction.

*****

Ella felt a little uneasy as they began climbing up a slow incline. Of course, it was natural that she should be a little on edge after nearly being mauled by a territorial creature. Yet that wasn’t the source of her anxiety. What irked her was the very fact that they were climbing uphill. She had visited Shiver Camp once before, and she couldn’t recall it being on a hill. Maybe she was just being paranoid, but she hoped that they were going the right way.

Finally, the slope peaked and they could see the valley unravel before their view like a scroll. Directly ahead of them was a lake riddled with ice, looking calm and peaceful as it rested undisturbed in the heart of the valley. Ella felt disheartened at the sight of it. She was certain that she had never seen it before.

“I have no idea where we are,” she let her shoulders droop in a defeated manner. She looked to her friend, wishing that he would jump in and take over. He knew this area better than her, but he still seemed to be struggling, remaining aloof to most of their journey. His eyes were fixed on something in the distance.

“I think I do,” he suddenly spoke up, startling the teenage girl.

“You do?” she blinked, recovering from the shock to allow some hope to resurface.

He nodded once, then pointed ahead saying, “See that?”

Ella followed, and her eyes widened as she saw it: a man-made building erected up from the snow by the shores of the lake. It didn’t look like any modern building she had seen in the rest of the region. Pointed towers built from stone reached out for the skies above, giving it an ancient appearance. Even though the snow was slowly reclaiming it, Ella could tell that it had been standing for some time.

“That’s Almia Castle,” Tristan explained. Thoughtfully, he added, “Shiver Camp would be just southeast from here. But I think we should head for the Castle.”

“Why?” Ella frowned. That place sounded interesting and all, but at the moment she would much rather prefer some warmer clothes and civilization.

“It’s closer than Shiver Camp,” he shrugged, “and we might find some archeologists there. They’ll probably be able to help us out.”

“Okay,” Ella said slowly, thinking it through, “but what if we don’t find anyone? It is getting close to sunset…”

“The castle does have fireplaces,” he smiled, trying to be reassuring. “We could just start our own fire and stay the night there. And…”

“And?”

“Well… you know the legend about that place, right?”

“No, I don’t think so…”

“It’s the same as the Shadow Crystal,” he returned his gaze to the castle. “Long ago, a King ruled over this region from that castle’s throne. He was a noble and kind monarch, but his three sons grew spoiled and rebellious. In the end, he was forced to banish them, but it tore him apart. Grieved by his decision, the King immersed himself in darkness, and from his sorrow the Shadow Crystal came into existence.”

Ella nodded, having heard the tale before. “I didn’t think that his Castle actually existed. But… Why are you telling me this?”

“Remember that struggle the Rangers had with that old organization known as Dim Sun? From that, they discovered all that stuff out about the Shadow Crystal that’s common knowledge around Almia now. But what most people don’t know is that they also discovered that Darkrai is the crystal’s guardian, and could possibly be the King himself.”

“I still don’t see where you’re—”

“That machine they put me in was connected to shards from the Shadow Crystal,” he cut her off bluntly, his face paler than usual.

Ella was taken aback, but managed to ask, “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

“Because,” he sighed, turning his head away from her, “I was scared.”

“Tristan,” she reached out for him, but he jerked away.

“I don’t understand what’s happening to me,” he spoke firmly with determination with his back to her. “But maybe if we looked around the Castle, we could find some answers.”

The brown-haired girl still had her hand outstretched, but slowly she retracted it. “All right,” she softly agreed. “Let’s go, then.”

They started trekking through the snow once more, but this time it was Tristan who took the lead, and Ella who followed behind quietly.

*****

“Are we allowed to go in?” Ella innocently asked, lifting her eyes to gape up at the building that loomed over her. She hadn’t realized just how big it was until she got right up close to it. The arched doors they faced were several hundred heads above them, and she guessed that even Arceus would have been able to pass through.

“Why wouldn’t we be?” Tristan replied without any concerns. After admiring the cathedral-like architecture, he moved forward and—pressing his shoulder to the wood—forced the double doors apart. Then, stepping aside, he said, “Ladies first.”

Ella gave him a strange look before moving inside. There it was again, she thought, a tiny moment when he acts like his old self again. She knew it was too good to last, but she hoped that as time went things would return to normal again. Yet as he slipped in behind her, his grim seriousness had returned like a bad memory. She shivered, but not from the cold.

The moment they stepped inside it felt as if they had walked into a freezer. Everything within was coated with a fine layer of ice, from the sides of the walls to the high vaulted ceilings. Ella found herself wishing that she could just turn back around, but she wasn’t about to leave Tristan. As she continued looking around, she realized that all the details of the furniture and architecture were perfectly preserved. If it wasn’t for the frost and the dominating feeling of loneliness, she would have believed that she had taken a step back through time. The walls and floor were constructed from white marble, and none of it was chipped or broken. Blue rugs were stretched out beneath their feet, stiff but looking fresh as if they were placed just yesterday. Tapestries hung on the walls, though they couldn’t see much of their details due to the thick layers of frost clinging to their fabric.

Speechless, the duo walked across the grand hall deeper into the castle. Despite its potential to house thousandths, there were no other signs of life. A hollow and empty silence enchanted the air, filled with a mixture of emotions. Ella sensed deep respect in it, as if she was entering a cemetery or a church. It helped to clear her head, and slowly she found herself drifting through various thoughts. She nearly ran into Tristan when he suddenly stopped before another unnecessarily massive door.

“Do you think that the throne room is beyond this door?” he asked her in a low whisper, being reverent to the castle’s stillness.

Ella examined the door for a bit, spying the texture the frost created with the wood. Finally, she answered, “Only one way to find out.”

Together, they pushed open the door. For a moment, it resisted their attempts, but after complaining loudly it swung away to reveal a room much bigger than the entrance hall—though just as empty. Windows spanning the entire distance from the four-story ceiling to the floor filtered in the fading winter sun. Ornate chandeliers hung from the roof, but their golden arches were spiked with pin-sharp icicles. Around them was painted cloudy sceneries populated with cherubs and Clefairy, plus the occasional Legendary Pokémon. Ella felt her breath stolen away as she took in the room’s beauty, but Tristan wasn’t as impressed.

“Where’s the throne?” he asked ignorantly.

“I don’t think this is the throne room, Tristan,” Ella put him straight, gliding forward with her head raised to admire the artwork. “I think this is a ballroom.”

Someone clapped.

Tensing up, Ella and Tristan spun around in time to see the door they had just entered through slammed shut by a trio of men dressed in black. The man whose applause was echoing eerily through the air stood in the shadows, leaning with his shoulder against a wall.

“Congratulations,” the hand’s owner spoke coolly to them, surrounded by several other shapes. “You have guessed correctly. This is indeed the Castle’s ballroom.”

“You!” Tristan’s eyes narrowed, recognizing the stranger. “You’re the one! You’re the one who—”

“Please,” the man cut him off short, stepping closer into the light. He wore a white lab coat, proclaiming his status as a researcher. His long, greasy hair was streaked with gray, and tied back into a pony tail. His face was hardened and gruff, looking like a living stone carved to look like a human. Out of any person Ella met, she agreed that this guy had to be the winner of the most unfriendly-looking class. “Call me Doctor Marks,” he spoke to them as if giving them the time of the day.

“I’ll call you what I want to call you, you filthy—,” Tristan started again, but Dr. Marks interrupted him again.

“My, my, what a temper,” the man chuckled darkly. “Perhaps that is one of the side-effects of our little experiment, yes? Most interesting…”

He waltzed up to them, holding his chin in his hand as he circled them, inspecting Tristan as if he was some strange curio he was considering to buy. Ella could feel her friend shaking beside her, and she saw a look of absolute hatred on his face. She didn’t know which she was more terrified of: the man or her friend.

“Tell me,” Dr. Marks lifted his head arrogantly, eyes looking down his pointed nose. “What other changes have you gone through? I can see that your hair is turning white.”

“Shut up!” the boy Ranger spat. “You’re sick! You’re a monster, and you—”

“I am a genius!” Dr. Marks raised his voice, letting it boom across the empty ballroom. “I have done what no other man has dared to do before! I have created the ultimate weapon. The world will know my name and shall fear it for generations to come. You are only the first of many, my boy. With your power, I shall eliminate the Rangers and then the world shall be mine!”

“Not if I can help it!” Tristan growled and took a step forward. Ella shrieked as thick shadows gathered around his feet, hastening across the floor from their hiding places within the corners of the room. They reached up out of the ground and waved around like grass shaking in the wind. Eyes flashing, Tristan cupped his hands together as Ella had seen him do in the forest and formed another Shadow Ball. Doctor Marks impassively stood by, and didn’t even flinch when the dark orb was fired before him.

Before the Shadow Ball could reach him, however, another blue-colored orb shot across the room to meet it. The collision caused smoke to fill the air, but when it cleared they could see a new creature standing between Tristan and the scientist. Though it stood on two legs like a man, it had a canine-like face with tall, pointed ears. The black coloring over its blue fur made it look as if it wore a mask.

“I figured you would end up here,” Doctor Marks began explaining, sticking his hands into his pocket casually. “So while we were waiting around for you to show up, we stumbled upon this rare creature: a Lucario. It wasn’t too pleased with our intrusion, but we quickly contained it with one of our Mini-remo units.”

Ella’s eyes strayed back to the group of darkly dressed men, only to discover that they had completely surrounded them. One of them was holding a laptop-like machine before him, smirking like he had just pulled a clever trick. Was that the mini-remo? She had heard of those things from Tristan before this all happened. Apparently, Team Dim Sun had used them to hypnotize and control Pokémon, but it had been thought that they had all been destroyed. She sure hated to see the Rangers proved wrong.

“Now be careful,” Doctor Marks addressed the Mini-remo operator, walking away. “I want to return the boy to our back-up base in once piece.”

The group of men darkly chuckled, but Tristan found no humor in it.

“Don’t walk away from me!” he shouted, thrusting his hand forward. Immediately, the shadows underneath that arm surged forward like a tidal wave toward the scientist. Once again, Tristan’s attack was stopped short as the Lucario jumped forward, this time emitting a vertical wave that crashed into the shadows, dispersing them like smoke. The Aura Pokémon quickly followed by racing forward with incredible speed and knocked the boy from his feet.

“Tristan, no!” Ella shrieked, but her friend surprised her by regaining his ground. She edged backwards as Tristan growled in an un-human way, his eyes lighting up with blue fire. Cords of blackness began threading up his body, from his legs up to his shoulders. As it touched his skin it faded away its color, leaving him as black as night. His hair was now completely bleached white, and flickering like a flame. Ella was now seeing the pinnacle of Tristan’s transformation, but the worse side of it. Her worst fears were now confirmed. The boy she knew and grew up with was no longer there. Instead, it had been replaced by the ugliest side of human ingenuity.

The shadow’s Master raced forward, tackling into the suddenly tentative Lucario with incredible force. The Pokémon was sent flying across the ballroom, skidding against the marble floor.

“Get it up, you fool!” Dr. Marks barked at his operator, who nearly jumped out of his boots. Finally, the man tentatively tapped a key on the Mini-remo, and the Lucario stood back on its feet with a shake of the head. Tristan didn’t wait for it to completely recover, however. He formed another Shadow Ball, but instead of shooting a single orb several of them rained forward. The Lucario braced itself against their impact, but the force of them slid him backwards across the floor.

“Give me that!” the scientist seized the mini-remo, his patience finally running thin. Once he was at the keys, the Lucario began to retaliate. It shot more Aura Spheres from its paws, then charged forward as Tristan was distracted trying to block them. When it was close enough, it released a series of punches and jab at the boy without holding back. Tristan took every blow until he managed to grab a paw in his hand. With a quick movement, the transformed Ranger twisted the dog’s arm around and flung him across the room—straight towards the mini-remo.

The scientist and his cronies stepped back as the Pokémon crashed into the computer, shattering it to pieces. The men gaped, utterly speechless now that their plans had failed. They stood cemented to the ground staring stupidly as the Lucario stood back up, freed from their hypnotism. The dog-like Pokémon turned and gave them a sharp growl, but deciding that Tristan was the bigger threat, the creature kicked up the wreckage of the mini-remo and prepared its own attack. Dodging the spikes of shadow that Tristan caused to rise out of the ground, the Pokémon lifted its paw and punched the boy with a Sky Uppercut.

With that blow, Tristan flew upward, but the Lucario didn’t stop there. It fired another fury of Aura Spheres and then sent out a brilliant light wave from his mouth. Stunned by the uppercut, Tristan was unable to dodge the other stream of attacks. He absorbed them all, then fell limply back to the ground. Ella lifted her hand up to her mouth with a gasp. He wasn’t… he couldn’t… Tears began welling in her eyes.

The Lucario stood over his fallen foe, panting from the exertion he went through to power those last moves. When Tristan made no movement, he turned his back and began to walk away. Seconds later, the creature regretted that choice.

Tristan’s eyes flashed open, a new rage burning within them. He sat up and raised his arms up in an ‘x’. Throwing them apart again, a wave of dark energy flew from them, rocketing at the unwary Lucario. The creature received the full blunt of the attack in his back, and fell on his face, winded. Ella watched as the shadows writhed in new fury, slowly lifting what was once her best friend into the air. Suddenly, they split out into different directions at the various foes in the room. The ex-Dim Sun gang started screaming as pools of darkness collected at their feet and began pulling them into a nameless void.

Ella herself was spared, but she could see the pure terror on each of their faces. Tears were earnestly streaking down her face now, signs of the conflict stirring within her. Make it stop, she pleaded in her head. Please, just let this all go away. She never asked for any of this. She just wanted to go home, back to a normal life away from all this pain and darkness. Most of all, she wanted her friend back. It tore her apart to see him like this, knowing what his heart was really like within. She knew he was good, but she couldn’t understand what was going on. Why was he hurting these people?

Vatonage, a thought came to surface in her mind, but its origin did not come from her thinking. She froze up, realizing that the word had come from somewhere else, as if a voice was speaking in her head. She felt an urge to glance to her left, and when she did so she could see the Lucario. It was still down, unable to rise up anymore than onto his arms, but it was staring right at her.

Vatonage, the voice spoke again to her, and Ella realized that it was the Pokémon talking to her. It was telepathy.

What? She thought back, baffled.

Vatonage, the creature repeated with a grimace. To rekindle the light lost in darkness… You alone can do this.

Ella shivered as apprehension dawned on her. She knew what it meant, but was she strong enough? Taking a chance, she strode forward.

All that she could see of Tristan’s face as she approached was his glowing blue eyes. He didn’t make any sign of noticing her approach. He only floated there motionless as he stared blankly ahead. The shadows continued thrashing around him like the tentacles of an enraged sea monster, but Ella passed through them unharmed and unchallenged. Finally, she was close enough to touch him. Slowly, as if every second was stretched out into an eternity, Ella raised her hand and grabbed his wrist before it could drift out of her reach.

Immediately, the shadows stiffened. The men’s anguished screaming was cut short as the shadows began retracting, sucking back towards where Ellla and Tristan stood. Those that were half-way through the void were suddenly spat back out onto the solid ground. The tendrils that had been lifting the boy from the air shrunk, and Ella kept her hold on his arm as he was lowered back down. Doctor Marks and his men watched in awe as darkness faded, leaving only the black form of their test subject.

As soon as Tristan’s feet were back on the ballroom’s floor, Ella moved forward and embraced him. With her eyes squeezed shut, she couldn’t see the second transformation her friend was going through. Color was coming back into his skin in full, no longer black or even gray. The white in his hair receded, allowing the natural black to regain its claim. He exhaled a long breath, and would have collapse if it wasn’t for Ella’s tight hold.

“Ella?” his voice whispered in her ear, sounding surprised.

She still didn’t let go, instead holding him closer as her tears continued to fall. Between sobs, she hoarsely whispered, “I thought I lost you.”

Realizing the state she was in, Tristan returned the embrace, “You brought me back.”

“I couldn’t let you go,” she finally turned to look in his eyes. “I… I love you.”

Tristan solemnly looked back, searching her emerald eyes. All the years they had been together, they had always been the best of friends. She had always believed in him, and he knew that he could always count on her. If it wasn’t for her, he would have been lost. Finally, he said, “I love you, too.”

They embraced again, holding each other close. As they did so, a voice spoke in both their minds:

The King, torn apart by his decision, fell into darkness. The people mourned as they seemed to lose their beloved leader, but there was nothing they could do to bring him back. The princes he had banished, however, were deeply humbled by their experiences. They realized deep down how much they truly loved their father, and when they received word of their father’s fate, each shed tears for their loss. But by their love, they invoked the power of Vatonage. The light within their father’s soul was rekindled, and peace returned to the kingdom…

Ella and Tristen broke apart, finding that the Lucario was standing right next to them.

“The Tears of Princes,” Tristen pieced it together, remembering the Rangers’ tale of those precious stones. He had never heard that part before, however. “When brought together, they were able to purify the Shadow Crystal.”

The Lucario nodded once. You two are bound together, sharing the same light in each other. By shedding her own tears, this girl was able to restore the light within you that the darkness of the Crystal had smothered. She invoked her own Vatonage to save you. Looking between the two, the Pokémon added, My Father would be proud.

In a flash on an eye, the Lucario jumped backwards and blurred out of their sight as he moved with such speed that they couldn’t follow him.

“I see now,” Tristan spoke with his eyes still trained on where the Lucario disappeared. “I first thought I’d eventually find the answer by searching. I never knew it was in my soul the entire time.” He lowered his eyes back to her, smiling. “The light that I share with you.”

Ella smiled shyly back, taking moving her eyes to the rest of the ballroom. She stopped as she realized that something was wrong. Doctor Marks and all his men were gone. “Where did they go?” she asked, tensing.

Tristan glanced around the room, but frowned. “It doesn’t matter,” he said. “We should just go home.”

“Home sounds nice,” Ella sighed, relieved to hear the word.

“Ella?” Tristan still hesitated.

“Yes?”

“…Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” she replied, and took her hand in his.

When they exited the building together, they found out exactly what had happened to Doctor Marks and his Phoenix crew. A full regiment of Rangers had been waiting just outside, and as soon as they tried to escape, they ran into the Rangers and succeeded in getting themselves arrested.

“There you are!” a familiar face shouted up to Tristan and Ella, and they turned to see Tristan’s Area Leader, Rallyn, come skipping up the Castle’s entry way to meet them. “We’ve been looking all over for you. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Tristan laughed, happy to see another Ranger.

“What the heck happened?”

Tristan and Ella exchanged glances before the boy replied, “It’s a long story. A really long story.”

*****
The End