Chapter Text
“Wow..this place is beautiful..” Alex said as the two walked, the walls of the canyon towering over them and everything else.
These walls were decorated by small, letter shaped carvings, which the Dark-Type explained were based on Psychic-Type pokemon called Unknown, as well as these small, round shaped holes that looked like they had bird’s nests inside them.
The vampire then explained that Natu lived in this canyon alongside Xatu, so they made these holes and nests to give them a place to sleep at night.
Darkrai nodded in agreement, pulling up the hood on his robes. “That it is,”
This didn’t go unnoticed by the human, who gave a small smile. “…Whats up? You don’t like the sun here?,”
“I can normally tolerate it, but here it feels like someone has cast Sunny Day, over the entire canyon”
Alex raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Sunny Day? Is that some kind of pokemon move?,”
The dark-type nodded. “Its a Status move, it basically intensifies the sunlight, and that gives a boost to fire types and any fire-type moves that are used,”
The human nodded. “It does? Well, i don’t really feel hot or anything,”
“That’s because you’re a Water-Type, due to being able to shift into a Frogadier, and Water-Type’s have an type advantage over Fire-Types,”
“Because water puts out fires?,”
“Exactly, though you’d still get burned or hurt a little bit if you were hit by any moves of that type, the damage would be almost unnoticeable,”
The human nodded and they both continued walking, the sun beating down on them, as well as the Natu was still following after them.
Neither were aware of the little guy doing so, though, the tiny Psychic/Flying type still running on its tiny legs and kicking up tiny clouds of dust as it went.
“…Think we can stop and take a break soon? We have been walking for a while now,”
“Yea, i do need to check the map anyway, make sure we’re going the right direction,”
The human nodded, the two continuing to walk until the reached what looked to be a large natural tunnel, the top of the walls of the canyon having grown outwards to form a roof, however there were what looked to be holes in said roof as they could see beams of sunlight in places.
“Lets take a rest in there, get out of this heat,”
Alex nodded once again as they quickly headed into the tunnel, thankfully not having to go too far before they found a large flat topped rock outcropping which they climbed onto, mainly to keep them off of the tunnel floor.
This was to keep them safe from Skorupi, who were known to live in this Mystery Dungeon alongside several other pokemon, at least thats what Darkrai told him.
Once they got settled in, Darkrai got the map out of his bag and rolled it out, using a few smaller rocks to keep it open as he got a small electric lantern out of his bag and turned it on.
At the same time, Alex took a drink from a small canteen in his bag, putting the cap back on and setting it down.
“Are we going in the right direction?”
“Hmm. From what the map is showing, we are. There is still quite abit to go to get to the far end, but if we keep going we should still reach it by sunset,”
“I’m guessing we’re going to have to spend the night here?,”
“Probably, but it won’t be that bad,”
The human nodded, taking another drink from his canteen, though he let out a small hiss of pain due to still feeling sore in places.
“You ok?,”
“Y-Yea, just still feeling a little sore is all,”
The Dark-Type nodded and dug through his bag, pulling out what he was looking for and tossing it to Alex, who caught it with his cupped hands.
Which was revealed to a red colored, small punching bag shaped berry. “What kind of berry is this??,”
“Its a Chople Berry. It provides protection against Fighting-Type moves when eaten, but Fighting-Types actually use these after they get through training or exercising due to it’s ability to sooth soreness,”
The human nodded and popped the berry into his mouth and began to eat it, swallowing it after a minute or so of chewing.
Once it hit his stomach, he felt a warmth begin to radiate through his body, making the soreness he had been feeling fade away.
“Wow…”
“Incredible, right? I’ll have to teach you about the other berries once we get back to the guild,”
Alex nodded and they quickly got packed back up and headed out, continuing to walk towards their destination.
However, the tiny Natu had finally caught up to them, running out in front of them and them both stop walking to look down at them.
The human kneeled down. “Hey, little guy! Have…you been following us?,”
The Psychic/Flying Type gave a small nod, before hopping a few times in times, though this made Alex raise an eyebrow in confusion.
“Hey Darkrai, i think this little guy is trying to tell us something,”
The Dark-Type gave a nod in agreement with Alex’s words. “I’d say he is, though it seems like he can’t speak like we can,”
“Wait, i thought all pokemon could talk??,”
“Not all can, Alex. Its confusing, but thats just how it is,”
“Ok, hmm…one hop for yes, two hops for no, sound good?,”
The Natu gave another small nod, which made the human smile. “Awesome! Now, were you following us to accompany to us to Xatu?,”
The tiny bird pokemon gave a single hop in response, before making a small chirp like sound and began to run ahead of the two, stopping and then hopping in place several times while making the same small chirp like sound.
“Come on, lets follow them,”
“After you,”
The human smiled and started walking, with the Dark-Type following after him, and the duo followed the Natu as it lead them deeper into the canyon.
————————————————————————————
“…What do you mean they aren’t here??” The Zoroark asked.
“Its like i just told you, neither Darkrai or Alex are here at the moment. Why are you even looking for them in the first place, anyway?,” Incineroar answered.
“I’m a friend of their’s,”
Incineroar chuckled. “A friend of Darkrai’s, maybe. But definitely not Alex, that boy’s too nice to be hanging around someone like you,”
“And what is that supposed to mean?,”
“It means whatever the fuck you want it to mean. Now, unless you’re going to order something, i suggest you leave cause ive got a lot of customers waiting,”
“..Give me the spicy ramen, please,”
The Fire/Dark Type nodded. “Ive got some orders ahead of yours, but i’ll make sure you get it nice and hot,”
The Dark-Type nodded and took a seat at the bar, sighing to himself. “Maybe i should have thought this over more…,”
“Yes, you definitely should have,”
The new voice made the Zoroark turn to face whoever it was, and it was revealed to be Lucario, who took a seat next to them.
“And who are you?,”
“Lucario. You must be Zoroark,”
The dark-type raised an eyebrow towards the fighting/steel type. “Didn’t know i made that much of an impression,”
“Oh it isn’t that. Your aura gave you away,”
“My aura?,”
“Yes. Your aura is similiar to Darkrai’s, so its easy to pick out of a crowd,”
“Why is that, because we’re both Dark-Types?,”
“Nope. It’s because you’re both vampires,”
Zoroark’s eyes widened a little bit as Lucario had a small smirk on his face. Though, before the dark-type could respond, the aura pokemon continued speaking.
“I don’t know why you’re here, but i suggest you don’t cause any trouble, especially towards Alex. Are we clear?,”
The dark-type could only give a scared nod in response.
“Good,”
Before Zoroark could even think of a response, his ramen was set in front of him, followed by Lucario’s being set in front of them.
They both then began to eat, a tension of sorts growing between them, though both did their best to ignore it for now.
Unsurprisingly, the jackal pokemon finished his meal first, putting a small pocket sized bag of poke’ on the bar and standing up. “Just stay out of trouble,”
He then left, giving one last glance to the Dark-Type before leaving.
Ok. Maybe he should have thought this through a little bit more…but, he was here now and he was going to see this through to the end…
Even though he had a feeling it wasn’t going to end well for him.
———————————————————————————
Alex and Darkrai, meanwhile, were still following the Natu through the canyon, the little guy seeming to have an endless amount of stamina as it was a good couple of feet ahead of the duo.
“Man…i really need to exercise more…” the human stated as he breathed heavily, stopping in his tracks to catch his breath.
The dark-type stopped beside him, reaching a clawed hand and gently rubbing his back in an up and down motion. “Once we get back we can focus more on your training,”
Alex nodded as he took a couple of minutes to regain his breath and slowly stood back up when he did.
Though, before either could move, the ground beneath their feet began to shake, drawing their attention towards it.
They began to look around, trying to find who or what was causing the shaking, and Darkrai’s eyes widened when he saw what it was.
“IT’S A TAUROS STAMPEDE!” The dark type yelled as he quickly grabbed both the human and the small flying/psychic-type and disappeared into his own shadow with them in tow.
At that moment, a dozen or so Tauros came stampeding past where they were once standing, the ground shaking like an earthquake as they all went by, and once they were all off in the distance ahead; Darkrai reappeared out of his shadow with Alex and the Natu beside him.
“Holy Arceus. That was…surprisingly nice feeling, like i was being wrapped up in a warm hug,”
The Natu gave a nod in agreement, with the dark-type giving a nonexistent smile in response.
“Though, i wonder whats got them all riled up?”
“Probably a skorupi, if i had to take a wild guess,”
“Im guessing Skorupi are like scorpions?,”
“Essentially, yes. Though they aren’t as dangerous as their evolution, Drapion,”
Alex nodded in understanding as the Natu ran ahead of them once again, and the two continued following it deeper into the canyon, the sun now in its early afternoon placement in the sky above.
Thankfully, by the time the very late afternoon rolled by, they had reached the far end of canyon, the bright orange glow of the sun covering everything as they walked up to the large plateau that lead up to a massive cliff.
Standing near the edge was what Alex could only describe as a brightly colored bird pokemon statue, its head tilted upwards towards the sun, seeming to watch it intently and it also didn’t seem to notice the three’s arrival.
The natu made several chirping noises as it bounced up and down, though the bird pokemon did not turn towards it, instead it spoke.
“Ah, you two have finally arrived.” The pokemon stated.
“…You’ve been expecting us this entire time??,” Alex asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, of course i have. I have forseen your arrival for a long time now,” the pokemon answered.
“Then you know exactly why we’re here,” Darkrai stated.
“That i do, yes,” Xatu said, finally turning around to face the two.
The psychic/flying-type then unfolded its wings, before speaking once again. “You are likely already aware that you two are what is colloquially known as soulmates, correct?,”
“Yes, why do you ask?,” the dark-type pokemon answered.
“Because you’re not just linked to each other, as there is another out there you have yet to find,” Xatu stated.
Alex and Darkrai’s eyes widened before they gave a glance to one another, with the human being the one to speak up first. “So, there’s another soulmate to us that we have yet to find?? Why did we not sense them before if that’s the case?,”
“Because they have not discovered their soulmate mark yet, like you two have,” the bird pokemon answered.
“However, you three are also linked to the fate of the very world itself. As indicated by the symbols on the back of your hands,” they continued.
“You mean these gear symbols??,” Alex questioned, to which Xatu gave a small nod.
“Exactly, which, those symbols represent what are known as the Time Gears, a set of godly artifacts that keep the flow of time in this world running continuously; and, that without them, the flow of time would come to a halt and a world ending apocolypse would occur,”
While Alex looked confused and worried, given the dream he had only a day previously, Darkrai’s previous worries were only confirmed, and it made him feel like his heart had fallen into his stomach.
“Do you know where these Time Gears are..?,” Alex asked, looking down when he felt Darkrai’s hand grab his own.
“Most of them, i do not. But i DO know where one is,” the psychic/flying type answered.
“…And can you tell us where it is??,” the vampire questioned, feeling his eye twitch a little.
“If you would give me a few moments, impatient little vampire, i will,” Xatu answered.
The bird pokemon cleared his throat a few times before he then continued speaking, its eyes glowing a bright blue color. “The Gear is in the lake bound by fog, protected by the one who gave the first life of this world the power of the mind,”
The human raised an eyebrow in confusion, turning his head towards the dark-type. “Uh…Darkrai, you know what this guy’s talking about?,”
“Hmm…i think so…? Anyway, now that we have our answers, we should head back to the guild-,” the dark-type started to answer, but Xatu cut him off.
“You are not travelling back tonight. You both will be staying here until morning,” the bird pokemon stated firmly.
“…Right. Come on, lets go set up camp somewhere where we won’t be bothered by any wild pokemon,”
Alex nodded and followed him, soon finding a good area to set up camp not too far from where Xatu was.
Once they did so, they ate supper, which was just leftovers from both their supper the previous night and breakfast that morning, cleaning up and then getting ready to head to sleep, the human changing into what he usually slept in.
“Goodnight Darkrai.”
“Goodnight Alex,” Darkrai then placed a gentle kiss on the human’s forehead. “Sweet dreams.”
“You too, love,”
They both smiled and Alex was unsurprisingly the first to fall asleep, the dark-type holding the human in his arms as their breathing was slow and calm, indicating he was sleeping peacefully.
This made the vampire smile a little bit, before he too fell asleep, resting his head on Alex’s right shoulder, his face buried into his neck.
Alex awoke first and early the next morning, smiling as he saw Darkrai still sleeping, his chest slowly rising and falling with his steady breathing.
He carefully and quietly wiggled out of the dark-types arms, before getting dressed and sneaking out of the tent, zipping it closed behind him.
However, before he could even put a thought towards what he could possibly do, he got the sudden urgent feeling in the back of his mind that he should check on Xatu, so, grabbing his two knives from his bag, he quickly ran towards where he hoped the pokemon was ok.
——————————————————————————
It thankfully did not take him all that long to arrive where they had left the psychic-flying type the evening previously, however when he got there, Xatu was nowhere to be seen, which only made the human worry more.
The large cliff was completely barren of life other than Alex himself, a soft breeze blowing past which kicked up some dirt, forming clouds of dust against the rocky ground.
The human let out a small sigh. “Maybe i’m just imagining things…i should just head back to Darkrai,“ he then turned around, and his eyes went wide at what, or rather who he saw. “…Who are you??”
Standing at the entrance to the large cliff was what Alex assumed was a grass type, given how green they looked and from what he could the pokemon had blades of grass on its arms.
Most of its reptile-like body was covered by a tattered brown cloak, a belt around its waist which had several pockets attached to it and a golden buckle, while its head was covered by the hood of the cloak, though he could see it had yellow, reptile like eyes.
And yet…Alex felt like the figure was familiar to him, somehow…but he just couldn’t remember how.
And it wasn’t helped by the fact the tattoo on his arm began to glow softly, though he shook his head and ignored that for now.
The cloaked figure shook their head despite being intrigued by the now glowing tattoo. “Who i am doesn’t matter. Now, where is Xatu?,”
“Why do you want him?? If you’re even thinking of hurting him…,”
The figure scoffed. “I’ll be the one asking the questions. And why shouldn’t i? After all, between the two of us, i’ll be the only one who will be walking away from here alive,”
This was followed by the blades of grass on the figures arms extending a little bit and glowing a bright green color, his body moving into a fighting position.
Alex scowled angrily in response as he gripped his dual knives tightly in his hands. “Tch. Guess again!,”
The wind started to pick up a little, with the clouds of dust becoming more substantial as the two rushed towards each other, weapons drawn.
Darkrai, meanwhile, awoke with a start, gasping as he sat up and he put a clawed hand against his bare chest, his own heart beating like he just run a marathon.
“What the fuck. Why…?” His eyes then widened and he looked around, seeing that Alex wasn’t there. “Wait, where’s Alex?!”
He quickly slipped on his clothes and got out of the tent, his panic growing as he saw that the human, no…HIS human was still nowhere to be seen.
“Where could he have gone?? There’s no way he couldve walked back through, could he??” He quickly smacked the cheeks on his face with his hands a few times to center himself. “Focus, Darkrai, focus! Ok, if he didn’t go that way…then he likely went to Xatu.”
He then felt a shiver go down his spine, making his eyes widen a little bit. “I’d better hurry, cause i just got a really bad feeling..”
He then started running towards where Xatu was, hoping to Arceus himself that he didn’t get there too late.
———————————————————————————
Speaking of which, Alex was thrown backwards by the grass-type’s leaf storm, knocking him back a good few feet and causing him to slam into the ground in a heap, his body covered in cuts and bruises from their fight; while his knives clattered onto the ground a foot or so behind him.
He then tried to lift himself up, though didn’t get far as he fell back down, letting out a small squeak of pain as he did so. “Ow…”
The figure smirked as he walked towards the human laying on the ground, making a ‘tsk’ noise as he did so. “Is that really all you’ve got..? Cause i didn’t even break a sweat,”
Alex attempted to raise his head once again, managing to get it high enough to glare up at them though said nothing.
Though, a large will-o-wisp like fireball then fell from the sky and exploded in between both of them, making the human duck down and cover his head with his arms while the grass-type backflipped away before it could even touch him.
This was followed by Darkrai landing in front of Alex, the human looking up and smiling a little bit once he saw him. “Darkrai!,”
The dark type turned around and kneeled down before putting a clawed hand beneath the human’s chin, gently lifting up his head and placing a kiss against his forehead.
However, this was immediately proven to not be a normal kiss, as Alex felt re-energized and the deep pain that was going through his body almost instantly faded away, though before he could ask what they just did, Darkrai stood up and turned around to face the grass-type.
“Now, who the hell are you, and why did you attack Alex?,”
“Hmph. Like i told your little boyfriend, who i am doesn’t matter. As for why i attacked him…Heh well, it’s simple, really. He got in my way,”
The dark-type clenched his fist, before summoning his shadow scimitar to his hand, gripping the handle tightly as he glared at the figure. “I’ll show you what happens when you fuck with what isn’t yours,”
“We both will!,”
This made Darkrai turn his head to the side, seeing that Alex was now back up on his feet, having run up to beside him and was holding his knives in his hands.
The two then nodded to each other before facing the cloaked grass-type, the grass blades glowing and growing once again.
This was immediately followed the figure leaping forward into the air, spinning and launching a couple dozen leaf like blades towards the two, though they dodged it and ran towards them.
This was followed by a fast flurry of blades, blocking, slashing, and dodging, and if anyone were watching their battle unfold, they likely wouldn’t be able to keep up.
The enemy pokemon smirked, however, and suddenly rushed towards them, looking as though he was aiming straight for the man, however he changed direction aimed for Darkrai; but Alex quickly jumped in front of him and crossed his arms to defend against the surprise attack.
All three were shocked when a small barrier of water suddenly appeared where Alex had held up his hands, blocking the attack as it shimmered, before the human smirked and countered, the barrier shattering and him delivering a hard kick to the grass-type’s abdomen.
This kick sent them skidding across the ground as they gripped their stomach, their body trembling a little though they managed to stay standing.
“Eugh…OK. You want to play hard ball? Lets see how you two do against THIS,” he pulled out a blueish-grey colored metal plate, and smirked at Darkrai. “Looks familiar, doesnt it~?”
Darkrai’s eyes went wide, before an angry scowl crossed his face. “How do you have that?!,”
The grass-type didn’t answer, simply tightening his grip on the plate as a dark energy flowed out from it and into their arm and body, a chuckle escaping them as it did so.
“Is that one of Arceus Plates, Darkrai?,”
The dark-type nodded. “It is, yes. It is called the Dread Plate, and it is of the same type as i am,”
The human nodded, though before either could react, the grass-type leaped into the air towards them and moved his arms, causing several bolts of dark electricity to shoot out and hit both of them.
It did however hurt Alex more than it did Darkrai, due to him having a weakness to Electric-Type attacks and all, but he quickly shook it off and got back into the fight.
To his credit, the human managed to land a good few hits, though he was caught off guard as the grass type seemed to vanish into thin air, before reappearing above him and attempting to slam down onto him, but thankfully he managed to dodge roll out of the way.
Darkrai would, of course, get his own hits in, and it was clear he was the better of the two when it came to combat, but he knew as long as Alex continued training, he would be as good as him in no time.
Back to the point, it had rather quickly turned into a flurry of movement, the two dodging both his lightning attacks but also him creating dark fireballs; which he launched at them though they were caught off guard several times by them splitting into multiple smaller ones, but the two still managed to pepper him with hits when they saw an opening.
And it didn’t take long for the duo to gain the upper hand, with the grass-type ending up slamming into the ground once Alex knocked him up into the air twice, going higher with each hit but knocking him back down to the ground with the third and final hit.
The human, meanwhile, landed on the ground next to Darkrai, who had wide eyes and a mixed look of surprise and proudness on his face.
Alex gave a smile and a thumbs up to the dark-type, the two watching the still form of the grass-type as they laid on their back on the ground, though they quickly jumped back onto their feet, the two preparing to fight again if necessary.
The grass-type however, did not move from where he stood, instead pulling out a smoke bomb from his cloak. “Hmph. You win this time…but consider yourselves on probation from now on.”
This was followed by him then throwing it down onto the ground, where it exploded in a large and dense cloud of smoke, making Alex and Darkrai cough for around thirty seconds before it completely faded, but left the oddly mixed smell of sugar and gunpowder in the air.
And once it faded, it was revealed the cloaked figure had vanished into thin air, not a single trace of them left behind.
However, the human suddenly fell onto his hands and knees after his legs buckled beneath him, and the dark-type acted quickly and kneeled down beside him, a look of concern heavy on his face.
He then began to gently run a clawed hand up and down Alex’s back in a slow pattern, sometimes stopping to rub a small circle in a certain spot before returning to the previous movement. “That fight took a lot out of you, huh?”
Alex could only nod, due to feeling so physically exhausted, but it was enough for the dark-type to understand.
“Come on, lets get you back to camp and into a nice, hot shower. Then, i’ll cook a good breakfast,” he placed a kiss onto the side of the human’s head. “Does that sound good, hmm?,”
The human nodded once again, before the dark-type snapped his clawed fingers and shadow tendrils formed, gently lifting and flipping him onto his back and allowed the pokemon to scoop him up into his arms.
He then lifted Alex’s head up and placed another kiss against his forehead before carrying him back to their camp nearby.
Unbeknownst to them, however, was the fact that Xatu, as well as a good dozen or so Natu were standing on the cliffs above the entrance to where the former usually stood, simply watching as everything unfolded..