Through the Portal

"It'll be alright, Kiro. I can restrain him just fine, stop worrying for a while and go to sleep." Strify said softly to the weary bassist. And surprisingly, that made the shorter man sigh and nod, as if too tired to argue anymore.

"If something, anything happens, Strify, wake me up, no matter what, got it?!"

"I will, Kiro." Strify answered, having expected those words from Kiro. Kiro nodded and let sleep finally take him.

~Meanwhile with Yu and Romeo~

The best friends finally found a book that contained information on which blood to use in the cure. But there was one problem, neither were tall enough to get it and they didn't know if it was a good idea to take it in the first place as it could attract unwanted attention to them and both of them were injured.

"I have an idea! Let's send Sigilyph to get the book with his Psychic!" Romeo said suddenly, perking up.

"That's a very good idea, Romeo! Go, Sigilyph!"

"Sigi~!" The Avianoid Pokémon cried out before Yu and Romeo shushed him.

"Sigilyph, I want you to use Psychic on that book and bring it to us as silently as you can, understood?" The guitarist said, very serious. His trusted partner immediately nodded and flew to the pointed bookshelf, slowly using Psychic on the needed book. But when Yu took it into his hands, thanking Sigilyph, two people came inside the library, making them freeze.

"Oh crap..."

~Meanwhile with Luminor and Bill~

"Bisharp, use Assurance again!" Kyo said, pointing at Chandelure.

"Chandelure, dodge it!" Luminor said, frowning in concentration. This wasn't going exactly like he wanted. Bill butted in with his hand in the pocket that contained the Sphere.

"This is going bad, Luminor, are you sure that you don't want me to--"

"Hell yes! You're not gonna endanger your humanity, Bill, I'll make sure of that!"

~Meanwhile with Cresselia's champions~

As Shin and Kiro slept, Strify sat beside them, looking weary.

"Aren't you going to go to sleep too, Strify-san? You look so tired." Hiroto said silently as to not wake up the sleeping duo on the bed.

"No. I'm fine like this." Strify said but was made an instant liar when a yawn made its way through his body.

"Bullshit. Listen, if you don't rest, you are gonna break, Strify-san. And none of your friends need that. Most especially Shin-san." Replied Taizo, frowning at the young vocalist.

"But... But what if something happens?! What would I do then?!" Strify said, rubbing his eyes.

"Look, we're a lot of people here. And while most of us don't have Pokémon yet, the ones who have, are very willing to protect you guys. So go to sleep, we'll wake you up if anything happens, Strify-san." Said Tora calmly. None of them liked to see how much these guys were suffering because of Darkrai.

To their relief, Strify nodded and curled up in his chair and closed his eyes.

~Meanwhile on Pokémon's side~

"Plusle, how did you manage to get out of the hospital?" Asked Zangoose curiously. Plusle shook her head.

"I don't really know, Kiro kept me in the Pokéball for the most of it, actually. He only sent me out when I realized what he was doing."

"He must be hurting so much, isn't he?" Whispered Floette, she was starting to see how much of a match Plusle and Kiro were since they both were stubborn and loyal to a fault.

"He almost fainted twice, Floette. I tried to stop him from coming but he wouldn't listen to even me..." Plusle replied sadly.

"He's just like you, you know. Both of you are way loyal and stubborn as hell." Said Loudred, amused. The other Pokémon nodded much to Plusle's annoyance.

"I kinda agree with them, no offense." Said Luxray not unkindly. She was starting to like the Cheering Pokémon despite only starting to get to know her.

"I'm not that bad. But Kiro, he's the epitome of stubborn, I swear. I tried to tell him many times that Shin wouldn't want to see him this way but he wouldn't listen to me."

"Well, at least both of you are safe and sound and that is what matters right now, right, guys?" Zangoose said, smiling slightly at the Cheering Pokémon

~Meanwhile with Bill and Luminor~

Bill sighed, nothing he could say would ease Luminor's mind after what he'd heard from the Pitch Black Pokémon himself.

"You stay back, Bill, I promise I'll get us out of this." The keyboardist said, putting a hand on the younger man's shoulder and pushing him back slightly.

"Okay..." Bill muttered, looking quite unhappy about the decision he had to make.

"Now, let's finish you up. Chandelure, use Confuse Ray on that Bisharp, he's the biggest threat at the moment."

Shinya frowned at that. He did not like being underestimated either as a drummer or as a trainer.

"Don't underestimate me! Gardevoir, use Hypnosis!"

"Gar~!" Gardevoir looked intensely at Chandelure and sent out light blue silhouettes from her eyes. But her attack missed, making both Bill and Luminor give a sigh of relief. If Chandelure went to sleep now, it would spell disaster for their mission.

"Chandelure, come on! Use that Confuse Ray on Bisharp!" Bill said and thankfully, Chandelure managed to send it out but to the wrong opponent. She sent it into Gardevoir instead and made her confused.

"Damn it..."

~Meanwhile with Cresselia's champions~

"What do you think we should do now, guys?" Asked Hiroto curiously. He really wanted to help the people in Darkrai's castle but they couldn't possibly forget about their own mission given by Cresselia.

"Well, I think we should go about collecting the Spheres like we agreed on. But with an extra, we should search for the ingredients of that cure so they will be safe and sane, away from Darkrai." Replied Sakito his fellow guitarist.

"That's gonna be hard, don't you think?"

"Yeah, but whoever said the right thing is always gonna be easy, right?"

~Meanwhile with Yu and Romeo~

"You're not gonna take that book, we'll make sure of it." Said Georg, glaring at the two as he and Tom came in.

"Oh, really? But I think we'll take it! We won't let Shin go so easily!" Romeo exclaimed at them.

"Yeah! We won't!"

Tom smirked at that. But what he and Georg didn't know was that their opponents had a Sphere of Life with them.

"Let's see how you're gonna be able to take it. Go, Magmar!"

"Go Sigilyph, let's win this for Shin!"

"Sigilyph~!!"

"Go, Muk! We can't possibly lose this fight!" Romeo cried out as he sent out his partner.

"Muk~!"

"Look who's saying that. The traitor himself from what Master told us." Said Georg, smirking. Romeo froze at that, not having expected them to know about it.

"Shut the hell up! Romeo is no traitor!! Sigilyph, let's make him pay for his words, use Air Slash on that Magmar!" Yu immediately came for the younger man's defense, making him glad for having him beside him.

~Meanwhile in the nearest police station~

"Are you sure you want to trade your Absol for my Houndoom, Gordon?" Jenny asked hesitantly.

"Yeah. I'm very sure, in fact."

Absol cried out at that, he didn't want to leave his trainer at all.

"But... He's been with you since the beginning of your career, Gordon, don't you think this is a bit overboard for losing only one battle?"

"He lost to an Eevee, Jenny! I'm not letting a weak Pokémon like that on my team!!"

Jenny sighed, there was no chance of making the older man change his mind, it seemed.

"Alright, here it is then. Come with me, Absol. I'll patch you up better than this." Jenny said, giving Houndoom's Pokéball to Gordon who smiled evilly in return and took the resisting Disaster Pokémon away from his former trainer.

"You're going to help me defeat those criminals, aren't you, Houndoom?" Gordon whispered, still smiling evilly.

~Meanwhile with Bill and Luminor~

"Gardevoir, no! Come to yourself, we can't lose this fight!! Use Hypnosis again on that stupid Chandelure!" Shinya cried out, worried. And his worries became true when Gardevoir hit herself in her confusion and fainted.

"Oh no!! Gardevoir!!" The drummer cried and took his partner away from the battle, concerned. Meanwhile Bill and Luminor both took a deep breathe after seeing that it was now a fair fight.

"Good going, Chandelure. Use Flame Charge on that Bisharp now!" Luminor said, smirking lightly.

"We're not gonna lose to some skinny harpy! Bisharp, dodge it and use Metal Sound and then Night Slash!!"

"Bisharp~!!" The Sharp Blade Pokémon managed to do as his master wanted and then, used Metal Sound, making Chandelure flinch away from the sound.

~Meanwhile with Cresselia's champions~

"But how are we going to do that?! We don't even know the ingredients for the cure." Aoi said, feeling very confused.

"I don't know. But there has to be a way to find it out." Sakito replied, looking at the sleeping men on the bed and chair.

"Well, I think we should find it quickly because I don't know how long those guys can hold on anymore, to be honest with you guys." Yuura said.

"I totally agree with you. We should get that cure and fast."

~Meanwhile with Yu and Romeo~

"Let's go, Sigilyph, use Psychic on that Magmar!!" Yu cried, angry at Georg's words. Sigilyph cried out and the eye on his appendage started to grow a light blue along with his body and he sent the blue lining onto the Spitfire Pokémon, making him fly into the farthest wall in the room.

"Good job, Sigilyph." Yu said, smiling at his partner. Romeo smiled weakly as well, having been reminded of what he had done, he couldn't bring out a better smile.

"You're not getting that damn book!! Magmar, come back and use Flamethrower on that stupid Sigilyph!" Georg yelled.

"Magmar~!" The Spitfire Pokémon nodded and ran back to his trainer's side, using the wanted move. But Sigilyph managed to dodge the strong fire-type attack quickly enough.

"We'll see that, won't we? Sigilyph, use Mirror Move!"

Just as he gave out his command, so did Tom.

"Misdreavus, use Shadow Ball on that Sigilyph! We can't let them take that book or Master will kick our asses!"

The Screech Pokémon smiled creepily and sent out a black shadowy blob at Sigilyph, weakening him greatly.

"You'll pay for that! Muk, use Gunk Shot on that Misdreavus!!" Commanded Romeo fastly. Muk cried out in agreement and sent out a glowing black bag of garbage at Misdreavus which exploded when it hit the Screech Pokémon, making her stagger away.

"Why you little! We'll take you out first then!"

~Meanwhile with Luminor and Bill~

"Chandelure, are you alright?!" Luminor exclaimed, worried about his partner. Chandelure nodded weakly and bravely returned to the fight. Kyo smirked evilly as he gave his next command.

"You're done for! Bisharp, use Night Slash!" The vocalist said, still smirking. Unfortunately for Luminor, the attack hit and successfully fainted Chandelure.

"Oh crap..." The keyboardist whispered as he took Chandelure away.

"You're not getting anything, just like we told you now." Kyo said. But just as he finished his words, a shock wave blasted him onto his back.

"Kyo-kun! Are you alright?!" Shinya exclaimed, running to his friend's side concernedly. The drummer helped the older man up and looked around for the cause of the shock wave and froze.

"Y-yeah, what the hell was that!?"

"K-Kyo-kun... I think you should look up..." Shinya whispered, looking at something behind him. Kyo turned back only to find Bill with the Sphere of Death, his eyes glowing a dark purple.

"You dare meddling with my affairs?!" Bill said in a weirdly echoing voice, alarming Luminor and the other two alike. The young vocalist hardly looked human anymore. But before any of them could do so much as move, Bill attacked the nearest person to him which was Kyo and made him hit the shop's Wall behind Shinya, some blood coming out of his mouth.

"Kyo!!"

"Bill, what have you done?!" Luminor whispered in horror.

Bill didn't answer Luminor, slowly, as if he was trying to restrain himself, the vocalist went up to Shinya and held him up by his throat.

"Shinya, no!!" Kyo yelled, frightened for his friend.

"K-Kyo! Run, s-save yourself!"

Just as he said that, Bill only raised his other hand and Kyo was pinned onto the wall as well.

"Bill, stop! This isn't you!!" Luminor yelled, freaking out. He didn't know what to do to bring Bill back to his senses.

"Leave us alone, please!" Shinya whimpered weakly. He didn't want to die here.

"Did you leave us alone when you should've?!" Bill said in that weird, echoing voice as he started to strangle Kyo. Bisharp tried to get him off of his trainer but like Shinya who was released by Bill but still pinned to the wall with the weird energy Bill possessed at the moment, he got thrown away from the two vocalists.

"Bisharp~!!"

"Bill, NO!!" Luminor yelled and then, he managed to sneak upon him and knock the Sphere of Death out of the younger man's hand. That made Bill's unnatural strength go away along with the glowing purple eyes. But it also made Bill sag away from Kyo, exhausted.

"Kyo, are you alright?!" Shinya yelled, finally running to his friend's side.

"Bi, Bisharp!!"

"I-I think so... But we can't let them go..." Kyo said, gasping out. Shinya shook his head.

"We can't fight them like this, Kyo, we need to go! We almost died here, if you haven't noticed!"

~Meanwhile with Yu and Romeo~

"Sigilyph, use Air slash on that Magmar!" Yu commanded his partner Pokémon. The Avianoid Pokémon immediately used the attack, making Magmar finally faint from the overload of attacks that piled upon him.

"Now you pay for what you've said about my best friend!" Yu said, his eyes narrowed. Romeo smiled slightly weakly at his best friend and then, ordered his next attack.

"Muk, use Sludge Bomb on that Misdreavus, let's win this for Marcel!!" He yelled. Muk nodded and sent out a brown sludge at Misdreavus, also managing to poison her.

"Damn it all! Misdreavus, use Payback on that Muk!"

Misdreavus sent the attack but to both Yu and Romeo's relief, Sigilyph took the attack from Muk even though it weakened him greatly. And then, before Yu gave another order, the Avianoid Pokémon used Psychic on Misdreavus, making her faint in one critical hit.

"That's right, you bastards, we're taking this book and that's that." Yu said, taking the book from where he'd put in the battle and taking Romeo by hand, he got out of the room, leaving the two influenced men to fume.

After they arrived back to their room, Yu immediately turned to Romeo with concern as the younger man was very silent.

"Romeo, are you alright? You're so silent." The guitarist asked his best friend who was looking down.

"They're right, you know... If I didn't tell on Kiro, none of this would've ever happened... I'm a traitor." Romeo whispered, trying hard not to cry. He bowed his head so Yu wouldn't see his tears. But the taller man didn't let him do so and gently made him raise his head.

"Romeo, you couldn't have known what was going to happen. Yes, what you did was horribly wrong and dangerous for all of us. But that doesn't mean you don't deserve forgiveness. And I'm very sure Kiro is gonna forgive you, so don't cry anymore, okay?"

~Meanwhile with Cresselia's champions~

Just as Hitsugi said that, Shin woke up, looking around sleepily. Seeing that Kiro was still sleeping beside him, the young drummer smiled.

"How do you feel, Shin-san?" Asked Keiyuu gently. He didn't think the drummer felt any better considering his eye color still was changing, but it was still worth a shot.

"Tired... Where's Strify?.." The young blond whispered.

"He's right here, don't worry about him. He's fine, just asleep." Ruki replied quietly, pointing at the obliviously sleeping singer. Shin took a deep breathe of relief, thankful that the other man wasn't hurt anymore despite the redness of his throat.

"Thank goodness..." Shin whispered quietly, not wanting to wake him and Kiro up.

~Meanwhile with Luminor and Bill~

After Shinya took Kyo away, Luminor immediately made Bill sit down since the vocalist was really weak.

"Bill are you alright?! You shouldn't have used that thing!"

"I'm... I'm okay, Luminor. We should go to the Herbal Shop right now." Bill said, panting. The Sphere had taken a lot out of him.

"No, not right now, Bill. You should take some time out." The keyboardist said, worried about how pale Bill looked. Bill shook his head stubbornly at that though.

"Tom and the others need me to go on right now, Luminor. I can't let them down! So, come on, let's find the Herbal Shop and get the items we need right now."

Luminor sighed, it seemed there was no way to make Bill understand how much danger he had put himself into and how much he needed to rest. With that, he helped the black haired man to get up from where he was sitting and then, asked a woman where the Herbal Shop was.

"Oh, it's right around the corner, young man. But buying those items is a bad idea."

"Why is that, miss?" Bill asked curiously. It wasn't like he was going to give up on getting the items they needed but he wanted to know why it was such a bad idea to buy them.

"Because they cause your Pokémon to really dislike you, that's why. Those things they sell there must be horribly bitter to them."

"Don't worry, we're going to use them for something else, miss. Thank you for your help though." Luminor said as he supported Bill on their way to the Herbal Shop.

~Meanwhile with Cresselia's champions~

Not too long after, Shin went back to sleep, Yasuno turned to the others.

"So, what do we do next? I know we all want to help these guys but we can't right now, obviously since we don't have the instructions for the cure Shin-san needs..." The older drummer muttered, frowning.

"I actually have an idea about that, you guys." Yomi said, making them all curiously look at him.

"What is it, Yomi-san??" Reita asked curiously.

"I think some of us should infiltrate that castle Darkrai has going and the others should keep going on the Sphere hunt. That would be easier to take down Darkrai this way, if I'm right."

Just as he said that, Kiro revealed that he was awake.

"Don't! That's too dangerous, trust me! Darkrai has way too many mindless minions that he can use, most of you don't even have a Pokémon yet!!"

~Meanwhile with Bill and Luminor~

As soon as they turned the corner, they were able to see a shop in the corner saying Herbal Shop.

"Good, we're finally here, Luminor. Now lets get those items and go on our way."

Luminor nodded at that, agreeing with the black haired man. Then he helped Bill to walk towards their goal. And then, they went into the shop to take their much needed herbs.

"Hello dears, what do you need?" The woman behind the counter asked them.

"We'll have... Four Energy Roots and four Revival Herbs please." Said Bill. Woman nodded and went to prepare their orders. While she was doing that, a little girl approached the duo.

"Excuse me, I think you are going to use those herbs on your Pokémon so I thought I should give you this TM, it's very powerful when the Pokémon doesn't like its trainer. I can't use it because I'm too young to get a Pokémon yet." She said, extending a round, white object to Luminor.

"Thank you, little one. But we're not gonna use it on our Pokémon." Luminor said but took the TM anyways.

~Meanwhile with Cresselia's champions~

"Kiro-san, you should be sleeping." Said Kai concernedly. But Kiro was not about to listen.

"What the hell are you guys thinking?! Infiltrating Darkrai's castle?! Mostly without a Pokémon to at least help you the hell out?! That is suicide!!"

"Kiro-san, it was just an idea, really. Don't be upset like this, we know how to take care of ourselves." Yomi said softly. He hadn't expected Kiro to blow up at them at the thought of them infiltrating Darkrai's castle.

"Just don't even think about doing that alright?" Kiro said, shuddering slightly at the thought of his new friends risking their lives so easily like that.

~Meanwhile in Darkrai's fortress - throne room~

"So you have failed." Darkrai said as Kyo and Shinya stood before him nervously. Kyo nodded, starting to feel scared.

"Y-yeah... But if Shinya didn't make us run away like wimpy little cowards, we would've been able to get them out of the way!" Kyo said, trying to get out of the way of the Pitch Black Pokémon's wrath.

"We were gonna die if we didn't, Kyo! How could you just dump the entire blame on me!?"

"Well, it was your fault, if you didn't drag me away, we would've done what Master wanted us to do!!"

"Why did you think you were going to die, Shinya?" Asked one of the minions curiously, knowing the drummer was a brave person and didn't like running away unless it was seriously bad.

"Because that Bill guy used the Sphere of Death against us and almost strangled us to goddamned death!!"

~Meanwhile with Yu and Romeo~

After Yu managed to stop Romeo's distressed crying, he took the book they had gotten from the Forbidden Wing's library.

"Now let's see what that blood thing is all about, right, Romeo?" The guitarist said, smiling at the younger man. Romeo nodded quickly and took the book from Yu's hands, opening its index page.

"Yeah. It's on page 394. That's a lot of pages, isn't it? But we can't stop looking till we find the cure!"

"Then let's turn to page 394 and see what this blood needs to be taken from, right?" Yu said as Romeo flipped through the book to get to the page.

And when he did, he managed to find the blood part right away. He read the part out loud so Yu could hear it as well.

"The blood in the cure of madness needs to be taken from the person infected and their Pokémon and needs to be purified by the force of the Soul Dew under the full moon. If not, the cure will lose all its effect and cause more madness. Oh my God, this is going to be really hard, isn't it. I mean, what the hell is a Soul Dew?!"

"I don't know but we need to find out and soon." Said Yu, frowning.

Just as he said that, Yu's phone rang, making both of them look up in surprise. Yu immediately checked the ID only to find that it was Luminor and sighed in relief. He opened the phone and took it on speakerphone, making it so that both of them could hear what was going on on their side.

"Hey, have you managed to get the Energy Root and Revival Herb?" Yu asked immediately.

"Yeah, we got it. Though there was some trouble while we were getting it but we're okay... Mostly." Luminor said.

"Trouble? What trouble?! Are you two alright?!" Romeo asked, alarmed.

"Yeah, that Kyo guy and his friend Shinya attacked us but we got out mostly alright, thanks to Bill's incredible recklessness." The keyboardist said, sounding slightly exasperated at the vocalist.

"Hey! If I didn't do that both of us would be at least badly hurt considering what happened before I used the Sphere of Death!!" Bill's muffled voice came from the line, shocking the two men on the bed.

"You did what?! It can't be a good idea, Bill!!" Romeo exclaimed in shock.

~Meanwhile with Cresselia's champions~

It became night at last. And while the others were sleeping, one person was staying up, thinking about Yomi's plan. That person was Hiroto. The plan Yomi was talking about was very appealing to him for some reason.

"Luxray~..." His Pokémon cried softly. She knew that her master was thinking of endangering himself alone and she didn't like it at all.

"What is it, Luxray?" The short guitarist asked quietly, not wanting to wake the others up since they all were tired after the long day they'd had.

"Lux, Luxray!"

"I can take the danger, don't worry about me." Hiroto said, smiling at the Gleam Eyes Pokémon. Then, he silently got up and leaving a note, he took Luxray and went out of the cabin. And after walking a whole lot, he found the castle looming in his eye sight.

"We're here, Luxray. Now let's go and help Shin-san, shall we?" Was all he said before sneaking into the castle.

~Meanwhile with Luminor and Bill~

"I'm fine! Have you guys found out what the blood thing is though?" Asked Bill immediately. To his and Luminor's relief, they replied.

"Yeah. But this is gonna be pretty complicated. But it seems like your theory was partially right, Bill." Said Yu, making them both raise an eyebrow.

"Partially?"

"The blood apparently does need to be taken from the infected people and their Pokémon and needs to be purified with something called a Soul Dew under the full moon. So this is totally not going to be easy, right?" Romeo said, frown obvious in his tone of voice.

"It seems like it. Well, I think you guys should now research about the Soul Dew while we bring the Energy Roots and the Revival Herbs, I think." Luminor said, frowning slightly himself.

"Okay. But be careful, Darkrai's minions can be dangerous on your way to the castle, just a warning, alright? We'll call you if we find something before you guys come back safely."

"Okay, we'll be careful, don't worry about us and focus on protecting yourselves as well." Luminor said before closing the phone.

~Meanwhile with Hiroto~

Hiroto went into the first corridor he'd seen once he came into the fortress, undetected by the patrollers on the perimeter thanks to Luxray's amazing ability to camouflage. But little did he know that it was the corridor that went straight into Darkrai's throne room. And once he came closer to the end of the corridor, he heard voices talking. That was then, he realized where this corridor was going because one of the voices was of Darkrai.

"Oh Kami-sama..."

"Luxray, Lux~!" The Gleam Eyes Pokémon cried softly, worried about her trainer. Hiroto immediately turned to the distressed Pokémon.

"Shh, don't cry out in here, Luxray, we can get caught!! And I want to know what Darkrai's planning!!"

Luxray shook her head at her reckless trainer, not wanting to try to say something and accidentally get them caught. But she was not very happy with Hiroto's decisions at that moment.

~Meanwhile with Cresselia's champions~

When the people inside the cabin woke up, they realized one of them was missing immediately.

"Where's Hiroto-san??" Muttered Yuura, confused. Meanwhile Shou paled, having guessed what the younger guitarist might have done. That was then, Strify found the note Hiroto had written and read it out loud.

"'I'm going to Darkrai's fortress. I can't sit still when people are suffering like this. I'll be back soon, don't worry about me. Hiroto.' Holy shit, is he insane?!"

Saga and Tora facepalmed at that.

"He's way too sensitive to hurting people for his own good..." Nao muttered, shaking his head.

"That's crazy! We need to catch up to him before he does something stupid and gets caught!" Shin said, alarmed. He didn't want anyone getting into danger because of him.

"That we should. Though some of us don't have any Pokémon yet, so I think only people with Pokémon should try doing that. The rest of us should stay here and keep an eye on... Things." Said Ni~ya logically.

"That's the safest way we can do it, I guess..." Kiro muttered, unhappy about what the short guitarist had done.

~Meanwhile with Luminor and Bill~

Luminor wanted to let Bill sit down a little longer out of concern about his sudden tiredness. But after sitting a few more minutes, Bill got up slowly, slightly getting dizzy.

"We need to go back, Luminor. I'll be okay like this..." The young vocalist said quietly. He knew that Luminor wanted to make him sit still longer but he didn't want to. Because he didn't think he had the luxury to do so with Tom and his bandmates still in the influence of that serum.

"Bill, you just got out of an intense trance, you need rest. If Tom saw you like this, he'd probably freak!" Luminor replied, worried about how pale the younger man was. But Bill shook his head.

"The sooner we get back to the castle, sooner we can make the cure, Luminor. I... I want my twin and friends back. Because I don't think I can take this anymore..." Bill said, his eyes filling with tears at the thought of what had become of them.

"We'll find a way, Bill. They wouldn't want to see you this way though, you look so pale."

Bill smiled at that. He was touched by how much Luminor and his friends were thinking of his own safety.

"I'll be fine, Luminor. Thanks for thinking my safety though. Let's go back now."

Luminor sighed and nodded, starting to walk behind Bill who had already started walking. It was obvious that the black haired man was not about to listen to his logic.

~Meanwhile with Hiroto~

Hiroto went closer to the door silently with his Luxray coming after him. Then he put his ear onto the door, listening intently. Luxray looked curiously at her trainer. He just signed her to be quiet while staying still in that way to listen in on the conversation.

~Meanwhile inside the throne room~

"So he really did use the Sphere of Death. He will have the consequences of it later." Said Darkrai. Shinya nodded still shuddering at the memory.

"Yeah, the bastard couldn't fight us on his own normal state so he decided to try and kill us with that uncontrollable power instead." Kyo grumbled.

"That is most unfortunate. But given that you have not completed the mission I gave you, you will be punished. Worry not though, it is not the punisment I said I would give out. Instead, one of you will go into an endless nightmare. And the other, will have to redeem himself to bring his friend back."

Kyo and Shinya turned to eachother with shock and fear. Neither wanted to be in a nightmare.

"You can put him into that! He was the one to drag us away from the mission!!" Kyo said quickly, pointing at his drummer, scared.

"What?! Kyo... How-how could you do this to me..." Shinya whispered, his eyes filling with tears at the treachery of his friend.

"Very well. Take him away."

"NO!! Please no!! Kyo, help!!!" Shinya yelled as he was dragged away from the room.

~Meanwhile with Cresselia's champions~

"Well, how do we get to that castle, Strify-san?" Asked Saga, knowing that Hiroto was probably there by now, endangering himself.

"I think we first should find the meadow where Shin tried to hurt that poor Eevee of yours. From then, it should be really easy to find the fortress considering you can almost see it." Strify said, frowning as he thought about the current situation.

"Then where can we find that meadow?! It can't be that far, right?!" Nao said, scared for his bandmate's safety. Since Hiroto was the only one to have a Pokémon from his band, they had decided to let all of his bandmates to come with them. The rest, had stayed with Kiro who was not happy about being left out and Shin who was still sleeping to keep himself from changing again.

"Yeah, it shouldn't be too far, I think." Said Ruka, nodding.

They started to walk quickly, not wanting to waste any time and give Darkrai a chance to hurt Hiroto.

~Meanwhile with Hiroto~

Hiroto gasped at what he had heard. He was in shock since he didn't expect even from Kyo to betray his own bandmate like that. Then he realized that they were coming to the corridor he and Luxray were at. He started to panic but Luxray decided to take the matters into her own hands and made Hiroto fall.

"What the heck, Luxray?!" The blond guitarist said, startled. Luxray just cried softly and managed to drag the confused man out of the way of sight by her teeth. Hiroto took a deep breath and held it as the three men and the still struggling Shinya passed by them, afraid to breathe in case they detected him and his Pokémon partner. Soon enough though, they disappeared through a hidden staircase.

"Thanks, Luxray. You really saved my hide there, buddy." Whispered Hiroto, smiling at the Gleam Eyes Pokémon.

"Lux~."

"Now, let's get down to the business, shall we?"

~Meanwhile with Luminor and Bill~

Luminor and Bill finally managed to get back to the castle, both panting slightly from the exertion.

"Finally!! Now we need to find a way to get back inside the castle cause I really don't think it will be that easy again." Bill said, frowning lightly. He wished he still had his cute little Minun so he could at least have a chance to fight back. But then, he thought of the still hidden Sphere of Death in his pocket and smiled slightly to himself.

"Bill, are you alright?" Luminor asked, sensing what the younger man was thinking. He really hoped he would never have to see that side of Bill again. It was scary to the older keyboardist since he knew Bill wasn't someone to want to kill someone.

~Meanwhile with Cresselia's champions~

After they walked for half an hour, they found the castle looming in front of them, making Yomi and Hitsugi gulp nervously.

"I really hope Hiroto-san's okay..." Hitsugi whispered, not liking the place. It gave him chills.

"Meowth~!" His partner cried nervously, he hadn't liked the castle any better than his master.

"Well, there's only one way to find out, right? Let's go in." Strify said, walking towards the fortress. The others immediately ran to keep the pace the younger vocalist had albeit nervously.

They went into the castle and saw something surprising. There stood Die with his bandmate, Kyo, admonishing him.

"How could you do this to Shinya, Kyo?! How could you betray him like that?!"

"It was either him or me, Die! And besides, he let that mission fail! If he hadn't, we wouldn't be having this talk!"

~Meanwhile with Hiroto~

Hiroto panted slightly as he came into a library. He thought he'd finally found where he was supposed to go to find the cure's ingredients. But just as he went into the room with Luxray following swiftly behind him, he heard someone.

"Hey! There's an intruder!!"

"Oh shit!! What do we do, Luxray?!"

"Lux~!" Luxray cried out, ready to fight. Hiroto nodded at the obvious battle cry of his Pokémon.

"That's right, we'll fight it till the very end!"

"That end is very near, Hiroto-san."

~Meanwhile with Yu and Romeo~

After they closed the phone, Yu and Romeo both leaned over to find out about the Soul Dew in the book they had. They both were curious about what this item was and how they could find it.

"Let's look back at the index, there might be a clue somewhere in there, right?" Romeo said, trying not to get his hopes too high.

"Yeah, there has to be a clue here somewhere. Let's keep looking, Shin needs us."

After that, Yu turned back to the index, looking intently at it to find out about the new item.

"Look, I feel like there's something there!! Open page 269!"

Yu nodded, quickly going through the pages to reach the needed part. Then, both him and Romeo leaned over the book, reading it intently and hoping that they could find something. That was then, something came to Romeo's attention.

"Look, Hannes! This thing talks about the Soul Dew! It says it's the held item of Latias and Latios."

"Wait, aren't they also Legendary Pokémon?! I so doubt they would give it to us easily if they're anything close to Darkrai."

"That doesn't mean we shouldn't try, Hannes! We need to do this so that Shin gets better!" Romeo said, slightly glaring at the other man. The guitarist nodded in acceptance, he was also going to fight till Shin was back to them no matter what.

~Meanwhile with Hiroto~

Hiroto turned to the source of the voice and there stood Toshiya, looking at him arrogantly.

"You're w-wrong! I can defend myself fine!!" The guitarist stammered a little, slightly intimidated by the older man's arrogance and confidence.

"We'll see about that. Go, Absol!!"

"Absol~!" The Disaster Pokémon cried out, making Hiroto's Luxray glare at her.

"Luxray, Lux!!"

"Luxray, use Swagger!" Hiroto cried out, avoiding looking at Toshiya for the reason of slight hesitance. The Gleam Eyes Pokémon nodded and started to glow red, staring at Absol with an intimidating look and it made the Disaster Pokémon's eyes red, obviously confused but stronger.

"Shit... Absol, snap out of it and use Psycho Cut!" Toshiya said, frowning. But too bad for the bassist, Absol hit herself in her confusion.

"Come on, Luxray, we can get these two down! Use Thunder Fang!" Hiroto said, starting to gain confidence in his abilities and in Luxray's capabilities.

That was then, Luxray's fangs started to glow yellow and electricity surrounded them. And then, she bit into the Disaster Pokémon and she became surrounded in yellow sparks. But what both Hiroto and Luxray hadn't expected happened and suddenly, Absol snapped out of her confusion yet she was still stronger than usual due to the Swagger's effect.

"Oh no..." Hiroto whispered.

"Good job, Absol! Let's finish these intruders off, use Psycho Cut!"

"You're not doing that! Zangoose, go!"

~Meanwhile with Luminor and Bill~

Luminor and Bill both managed to hide from the first set of patrollers that Darkrai had no doubt put for them. They both were anxious though, since Luminor hadn't healed his Chandelure yet. If they got caught, that would be a horrible thing for them.

"Well, what do we do about these patrollers, Luminor?" Bill asked, nervous.

"I don't know. I can try to disable them but it might give our hiding place up to them."

"It's fine, I can still use--" Bill started to say but Luminor cut his sentence off with an angry frown.

"No!! You're not gonna use that damned Sphere ever again! I'll make sure of that!!" The keyboardist said. Just as he finished his sentence, a patroller came closer to them, having heard their voices.

"Oh, crap..."

~Meanwhile with Hiroto~

Shocked, Hiroto looked up and saw Strify with his Zangoose, joining the fight. And behind the young singer, was his bandmates and some of the other champions of Cresselia, looking at him with annoyance and worry on their faces.

"W-what?!" Toshiya stammered as Zangoose used Swords Dance to match up with his opponent.

"You thought you could easily beat one of us, did you? Well, you're wrong! Eevee, go!!" Yomi exclaimed, sending the Evolution Pokémon into the battle.

Meanwhile Nao and Saga came beside the stunned Hiroto, worried about him.

"Are you alright, Hiroto-kun?" Saga asked, frowning at the younger man. Hiroto nodded at that. And then, he quickly returned to the battle himself.

"Luxray, use Thunder Fang again!" The guitarist said, determined not to lose now that his bandmates were there. It would embarrass him like no other if he lost in front of them.

"Luxray~!" The Gleam Eyes Pokémon sensed her partner's thoughts and enthusiastically used the move again on Absol while Eevee used Feint Attack at the same time, making the Disaster Pokémon cry out in pain.

"Absol, no!!" The older bassist cried, hating that his Pokémon was hurting. And just as Absol got out of the range from those attacks, there came the attack from Zangoose and Gengar, making her faint successfully. Toshiya immediately got his fainted Pokémon away from the harm's way, albeit too late.

"Don't you dare harming one of us, Toshiya-san. For you will not like what happens to you!" Said Ruka, glaring at the older man. Toshiya turned pale but then smiled eerily.

"Well, you won't like what will happen to you now. Master probably will send reinforcements here soon."

~Meanwhile back at the cabin~

"I really hope they're okay, guys..." Shin whispered, worried about their new friends. His eyes still changed colors but it wasn't as bad as before.

"I hope so too. Hiroto must've been out of his mind to do something like that." Kiro said, shaking his head.

"Well, from what I know of him, he's really a sensitive person. He wouldn't want to see people suffering, especially by the hands of such a cruel Pokémon." Yuura said.

"But it's still way too reckless! How does he think he's gonna bypass those followers of Darkrai!?" Kiro said, seriously worried.

"I don't know, Kiro-san. But we shouldn't lose hope before we see the results." Said Sakito gently, wanting to calm the younger bassist.

"Yeah, especially since Ruka is there. I certainly would pity the retard who manages to piss Ruka off, to be honest." Ni~ya added, shaking his head.

"Really? By Ruka, you mean that short guy with a lot of piercings?" Shin asked curiously and made both of the bandmembers burst out laughing.

"What? What did I say??" Shin asked, sharing a confused look with Kiro.

"Y-you managed t-to actually confuse Ruka and Hitsugi?! That is priceless!" Ni~ya said, still laughing.

~Meanwhile with the others~

"That doesn't mean you will win, Toshiya-san!" Said Yomi bravely. He hadn't liked the situation one bit. Toshiya was way too confident for someone who'd lost a battle like that.

"Yeah, and after what I heard in the castle, don't think some of your friends will be coming for you either!" Hiroto added, making Toshiya frown in confusion.

"What do you mean by that?!" He said, demanding an answer. Hiroto though, only smirked.

"Wouldn't you like to know? Well, I think we're done here. C'mon guys, let's go." Was all the short guitarist said before getting his partner Pokémon and left, making the others run after him.

After they caught up with the guitarist, Strify immediately asked;

"What did you mean by that?"

"By what? The thing about his friends? Well I overheard Darkrai talking to Kyo-san and Shinya-san about some failed mission and Kyo just pushed the entire blame on Shinya-san, letting Darkrai to put him into an endless nightmare."

"Seriously?! Just when I thought Kyo-san couldn't stoop lower, he proves me wrong!" Said Tora, shaking his head.

"And what's even worse, from what I heard, Shinya-san actually had saved his life, aborting the mission! He's really a lowlife, ne?"

"Wow, he's such an awful bastard." Yomi said, shaking his head like Tora.

"Well, I really think we should find that instructions by now because I couldn't find anything in that library." Hiroto said, quickly turning back to the point of the entire problem. Strify nodded while the rest of them shook their heads at the recklessness of the small guitarist.

"Are you sure that you're okay, Hiroto?" Asked Shou, worried about his friend. Just as Hiroto was about to answer, a noise to the left door alerted them.

"Intruders!! There are intruders!!" Someone was yelling. Thinking that it could be them, the group quickly hid into the shadows of the corridor, all tense.

But it turned out, it was Luminor and Bill. They were surrounded and without any Pokémon by their side. Strify gasped at that, immediately getting out of the shadows despite the worried looks he was getting from the rest of the group. He glared at the people who surrounded his friends and sent out his Pokémon.

"Zangoose, go!"

Everyone looked up at the enraged singer, somewhat startled. But he didn't pay any heed to the people staring. Instead, he called out to Luminor and Bill.

"Are you two alright?!"

"Yeah, but what are you doing here?! I thought you were with Kiro and Shin!" Luminor yelled back, frowning slightly, really confused.

"Something came up. Zangoose, use Slash and finish that Arcanine!" Strify said, returning to the fight right on time as the Cat Ferret Pokémon was about to take some damage from his opponent Arcanine.

Meanwhile, from the darkness he and his friends had taken refuge in, Hiroto was about to emerge when Shou grabbed him by the hem of his shirt, shaking his head silently. Hiroto was about to complain but right then, two other people came hurriedly down, one of them limping badly. Seeing this, Strify smiled.

"Sigilyph, go!"

"You too, Muk!!"

"Yu! Romeo! It's great to see you guys!" Then his eyes fell on Yu's wound and he gasped in shock.

"Oh my Gott! What the hell has happened to your leg, Hannes?!"

"Nevermind me, we need to save those two, come on! Sigilyph, use Psychic on that Poliwhirl!" Yu said before ordering his first attack.

"Muk, use Sludge Bomb on that Poliwhirl as well!"

Meanwhile Hiroto still struggled to get out and help them out. But Shou and Nao kept him away so the minions wouldn't know there was another set of intruders in the fortress.

"Let me go you guys! They need help here!" Hiroto whispered furiously.

"No! You were reckless enough already, Hiroto!! We don't need them knowing we're actually here!" Shou whispered back, his tone making it obvious that he was not happy with their youngest member at the moment. Hiroto cringed slightly, knowing that it was never a good thing when Shou got miffed at him.

~Meanwhile back at the cabin~

Kiro sighed as he looked out the window, worried about Hiroto and the others.

"It'll be alright, Kiro-san. They can take care of themselves. Especially if I know Yomi, they will regret ever coming close to him and Ruka. Especially if he whips out Chiba card he has. Trust me, you don't want to know what, or rather who Chiba is." Sakito said, shaking his head.

"Okay... But what if they get caught by Darkrai?! If it happens, they're toast... I never thought that Hiroto would do something that stupidly reckless." The short man replied, still not really convinced. Ruki smiled at his concern.

"Plusle, Plus, Plusle!" Kiro's Plusle also agreed with her trainer, worried as well.

"Trust me, if anything happens to Hiroto, god forbid, Shou would kick their asses to the next millenia not to mention Nao. Shou isn't known as the Demon King in our company for nothing. Don't let his nice image fool you, he can and will be straight up scary if someone messes with him or his friends." Uruha said calmly.

That made both Kiro and Shin's eyebrows rise in surprise. Neither thought of Shou that way. But just as Shin was about to say something, a fireball exploded the window in which Kiro was in front of.

"W-what the hell?! What is going on?!"

Sakito and Ruki immediately helped Kiro up from where he had fallen down. The bassist gingerly touched the side of his face where a huge gash had opened from a splintered glass and winced in pain. And when they looked through the broken window, they saw Gordon Walker coming with his Entei and a new Pokémon they didn't know about.

"Oh shit... It's that Gordon guy again. I bet he wants to recapture both Shin-san and the rest of you as well." Said Ruki, frowning in irritation.

"Oh no... What should we do?! We don't have any choice here!" Shin said, eyes wide with fear. He was afraid that the obsessed older man would take him and his best friends away into somewhere they could do nothing about Darkrai's evil plans.

"Yeah. We don't have any choice but to fight, Shin-san. We're not letting you guys to get hurt, that much I know." Said Taizo calmly, getting ready to fight.

"B-but... You don't even have a Pokémon! How are you gonna fight?!"

Just as the drummer asked that, Plusle and her friends from Darkrai's dungeon cried with indignation. They all were ready to defend them through all of this.

"Y-you want to defend us? Me??" Shin asked, wide eyed with surprise. All of the Pokémon nodded, some smiling at his shock.

"Come on, little ones, let's protect these guys, right?" Said Keiyuu, smiling. They all nodded and Poochyena and Plusle took lead to the Pokémon making Kiro smile at their courage.

~Meanwhile in Darkrai's fortress~

Luminor sighed silently in relief as the fight continued. He hadn't known what to do when Strify showed up since his Pokémon was not conscious at the moment and he didn't want to let Bill use the Sphere of Death again. Not after seeing what it caused the younger vocalist to become. But now, most of the minions' Pokémon were out and things looked brighter for them.

"Sigilyph, come on, let's finish this! Use Synchronoise on that Arcanine!" Said guitarist, pointing at the Legendary Pokémon. The Avianoid Pokémon cried out and sent out a weird looking wave at the opponent Arcanine but it didn't make it faint, although it weakened the fire-type Pokémon greatly.

Meanwhile, Hiroto and the others watched worriedly from the shadows, wanting to help them somehow. But they all knew that showing themselves right then was probably a suicide at that moment.

"What do we do?! We can't let them get hurt! Look at that guy's leg, it needs a serious help by a doctor!" Hiroto said frantically, looking at Yu with worry.

"I actually agree with that there. But there's nothing we can do until Strify-san tells us to get out of here. I don't like this either, Hiroto, but we can't help Shin-san or anyone for that matter if we die, okay?" Said Saga quietly, trying to make the short guitarist understand.

"But... What if something goes wrong?.." He whispered back, worried.

"If anything bad happens, I swear we'll help them. But for now, we should wait till Strify-san calls us back out, okay? It'll be alright, Hiroto-san." Said Yomi not unkindly.

~Meanwhile with the others~

"Plusle, use Charge!" Kiro yelled from the window as Kai and Sakito hadn't wanted to let him go to the battle with a gash on his face. The Cheering Pokémon immediately started charging power and getting ready to unleash her stronger attacks even more effectively.

Then Floette used a move called Petal Blizzard, releasing a flurry of shining heart shaped petals into Houndoom, making it stagger away from Plusle as he was about to use Feint Attack on her. Plusle turned to the Single Bloom Pokémon and nodded her thanks to her.

"Poochyena, use Crunch on that Entei! We can't let him take them!"

"Pooch, Poochyena!!" The Bite Pokémon nodded at Ruki and her fangs started to glow white and she bit down on Entei hard, making him cry out in pain.

"That's the spirit, Poochyena!"

~Meanwhile in Darkrai's fortress~

"Zangoose, use Slash on that Arcanine!" Strify said, pointing at the weakened Legendary Pokémon. His beloved partner didn't let him down and used the attack on the Arcanine, causing it to faint in one critical hit. Then he ran to Luminor and Bill's side, worried.

"Are you two alright?! What happened?!" The nervous singer asked, looking slightly alarmed. Luminor smiled at his concern. As he checked both of them out, Yu and Romeo came beside them with Yu limping more than a little.

"We're fine, Strify. But where are Kiro and Shin?"

"They're safe, trust me on that one. But what the hell has happened to your leg, Hannes?!" Strify asked, turning to the guitarist now that he knew the other two were alright.

"Remember how Darkrai exploded the hospital we were in? Some of the glass fell into my leg. But I'm fine, really!!" The guitarist said, waving his hands slightly nervously. Strify though, just frowned lightly, looking at his injury.

"This doesn't really look fine to me, Yu. I really think you should be in the hospital..."

"I'll be okay. So, where are Kiro and Shin? Are they alright?!" Yu asked worriedly. He didn't like how Strify seemed to be alone.

"They... Are kinda fine. Kiro is injured pretty badly though..." Strify said. Then Luminor turned to the singer, frowning.

"Are you alone, Andreas? Cause if you are, you're getting a smack, just saying." Said the keyboardist, looking sternly at the vocalist. Strify smiled and shook his head.

"Actually, no. Some of the champions of Cresselia are here right now."

"What?!"

~Meanwhile in the cabin~

Just as they beat Entei, their main worry, Gordon smirked evilly at Kiro who was still looking through the window, confusing the bassist and the others in his vicinity.

"Houndoom, use Flamethrower on that boy in that house!" The police officer said and then, snapped his fingers as the Dark Pokémon got ready to use the move his master wanted. And right then, from the underground, came an Onix and another policeman and got inside the cabin. Just as Kiro was about to defend himself from the fire attack, the other cop grabbed Shin.

"Karsten!! Help!!!" The drummer screamed as the cop dragged him away from the bed and onto the Rock Snake Pokémon even though the drummer struggled.

"Marcel, NO!! OUCH!!" Kiro yelled before everything went black.

~Meanwhile in Darkrai's fortress~

"What do you mean some of Cresselia's champions are here?! Are they suicidal or something?!" Romeo asked, shock evident on his face. Strify shook his head, inwardly agreeing with his friend.

"Do you know where they are? Cause I'm pretty sure they'll need help if they want to get the hell away from here." Luminor said. Strify nodded again and called out to somewhere behind him.

"You guys can come out now!" He said and out of the shadows, came the part of the Cresselia's champions. The others' eyes widened at the amount of them.

"Hello there." Said one of the short, blond men, smiling politely at their surprise. His Eevee stood near the blond, making it obvious that it was his partner.

"Eevee~." The Evolution Pokémon nodded at them.

~Meanwhile in the cabin~

Kiro woke up with a pain in his face and chest. He tried to remember what was going on before he fell unconscious and gasped in shock, his eyes flying open as he remembered the scream of Shin before he got kidnapped. He tried to get up but someone restricted him.

"Kiro, you need to stay put so I can patch you up, alright?"

"Chansey, Chan, Chansey~!"

Kiro looked up and there stood Bela, the nurse that had helped him out of the hospital. She had a needle with thread in her hand, looking worriedly at the bassist.

"Bela? What-what happened to me?!"

"From what your friends said, you were attacked by a madman who thought of you as some criminal." She said gently.

She was worried about this young man who kept finding his way to the hospital with bad injuries. Kiro's eyes widened as he remembered his youngest friend's scream for him to help again and he shuddered to think what might've become of the drummer by now.

"Oh Gott! Shin!!"

Just as he said that, Keiyuu came in, looking sad. Seeing that, Kiro had a small hope growing inside him. He knew that these guys wouldn't let them get hurt easily.

"Where's Shin?! Is he alright?!" Kiro asked, frantic. Keiyuu looked so worried that what little hope the small bassist had quickly diminished.

"I'm so sorry, Kiro-san. That madman took him away. Ni~ya-san and Aoi-san are looking for him now. We'll find him, I promise." The short vocalist said, looking really worried about Kiro. Kiro's eyes filled with tears at that. He had let one of his best friends to be kidnapped. At a time like this no less.

"I should've been able to protect him... God damn it!!" Kiro said, shaking with the tears of self-hatred and worry.

"Don't blame yourself, Kiro. I'm sure you can find your friend soon." Said Bela, wanting to soothe him.

~Meanwhile with Shin~

"L-let me go! I didn't do anything, I swear!" Shin was saying as they dragged him to a cell and threw him into it.

"Do not lie! We know you are a dangerous person and as such, you will be kept in here for a long time!" Said Gordon, glaring at the young drummer. Just as he finished his words though, Shin doubled over with yet another wave of pain from the serum. Seeing this, two of the cops came closer to the cell but Gordon stopped them.

"He needs help, lieutenant, sir!"

"He's faking it. I know he is."

But as moments passed by, Shin didn't, couldn't stop writhing in agony. And just as suddenly it began, it stopped. But with the pain, gone was Shin's humanity. He looked up and grinned evilly, his eyes glowing blood red.

~Meanwhile in Darkrai's fortress~

After the darker blond man said that, Bill asked curiously. He really wanted to know the names of their new allies.

"What are your names?"

They smiled at the young vocalist's curiosity and started to introduce themselves.

"I'm Jun, but call me Yomi, please." The man who had talked before said, bowing slightly.

"Nice to meet you, Yomi." Said Yu, smiling politely at the short man. And then, one of the others spoke up. He was a very tall brunette with a look of boredom on his face.

"I'm Ruka. And this is my partner, Gengar." He said.

"Gengar, Gen."

"Nice to meet you guys as well."

Just as one of the others were about to speak up, Yomi's phone rang. Yomi looked at the ID and saw it was Ni~ya.

"Sorry guys, I'll talk to him over there in the shadows." The short vocalist said, going back into the darkness.

~Meanwhile with Kiro~

"You don't know what happened to him! I need to find him before something horrible happens to him yet again!" Kiro said and winced in slight pain as Bela started to sew the wound he had on his face.

"It'll be alright. I told Ni~ya to tell Yomi what happened so they can search for Shin-san as well. We'll find him, I promise." Sakito said, softly. Neither he nor the others wanted Kiro to go off on his own with that chest and face wound by himself. It was simply too dangerous to do so.

Ruki nodded at that, looking really worried. The wound on Kiro's chest was obviously deepened by the bassist's reckless actions. Bela frowned lightly at it.

"I think you'll have to have an operation on that chest wound of yours, Kiro..." She said, worried. Kiro shook his head.

"Not till I'm definitely sure that Shin's alright. Call me an idiot but I can't just let that surgery happen without at least knowing my friend is alright.

~Meanwhile with Shin~

Still grinning, Shin concentrated and shocked the cops by managing to summon Weavile. The Sharp Claw Pokémon cried out with evil joy and slashed at the cell's lock, breaking it in one swift hit.

"Houndoom, go! You're not getting away easily, you filth!"

Shin though was unfazed and only smiled darkly and said;

"Why don't you try and stop me? I'd love to see you bleeding on the floor, dead."

"In your dreams! Houndoom, use Flamethrower!!"

"Weavile!" The Sharp Claw Pokémon managed to disappear and then, appeared next to Gordon.

"Good job, Weavile. Now, finish him!" The drummer said but Gordon managed to throw Weavile off of himself, panting and glaring at the young drummer.

"I knew you were evil, you bastard. You won't be able to run away from law!" The lieutenant said, angry at the attempt at his life.

But just as he said it, Shin walked up to one of the girl polices and slammed his fist into her chest, effectively killing her. The others gasped in shock as she fell lifelessly onto the floor. Then Shin turned to Gordon.

"You still want to take me on?"

~Meanwhile in Darkrai's fortress~

Not too long after he went into hiding, Yomi came back out with a worried look on his face, extending the phone to Strify.

"Apparently, Ni~ya wants to talk to you for some reason, Strify-san." He said and then, turned to his bandmates, talking in Japanese.

"Doushita, Yomi-kun?" Hitsugi asked, looking concerned at the look on Yomi's face.

"Akiraka ni, ano Gordon-teme wa Shin-san wo sarawareta!" The vocalist replied, making them all pale.

"What?!" Came from Strify who obviously had learned the bad news from Ni~ya.

"What is it, Strify? What's the matter?!" Yu asked, worried immediately.

~Meanwhile with Kiro~

After many reassurances that they would find Shin, Kiro went to sleep, his body having gotten too much strain.

"What should we do? We can't sit around doing nothing while Shin-san might be in danger or worse, might've reverted again!" Kai said, very worried.

"If we leave Kiro-san now, Kai-san, I think he'd just run away from here again. I say we wait till we hear from the others first." Taizo replied logically. The others paused at that, thinking. Taizo had a really good point there.

"But if we don't look for Shin-san, something horrible might happen to him too..." Ruki muttered, looking worried. Kai nodded at his bandmate.

"That's exactly what I'm worried about. If we don't help these guys, they will get hurt badly."

~Meanwhile in Darkrai's fortress~

After Strify told everyone about what had happened to Shin, they came to a decision.

"We need to go." Luminor said, frowning in worry.

"Yeah but we just found about the cure's ingredients and some of them as well! We can't leave them here!" Bill said, thinking he'd have to leave his twin and bandmates in this castle.

"Bill, we can still make the cure in somewhere else. We'll get the cure, I promise. But we can't stay here where we can't help Shin and Kiro. Knowing Kiro, he wouldn't stay still at all when one of us is the matter even though he should!" Luminor said. But Bill shook his head.

"If you want to, go. But I am staying right here until I get my twin and bandmates back, Luminor." The young vocalist said, determined.

"Bill-san, that is suicide! Do you think your twin would want that of you?!" Shou said in shock. He hadn't thought that this young man had a twin, much less an influenced one.

Just as Bill was going to reply Shou, fire in his eyes, Darkrai himself came to the big garden they were standing on.

All of them turned to Darkrai with shock and trepidation. None of them had expected the Pitch Black Pokémon to come down from his throne room. And behind him, stood Kyo, Tom, Kaoru and Toshiya, the latter smirking at the champions of Cresselia.

"So it was true. There are some intruders in my castle." The Legendary Pokémon said, glaring at the people in there. Bill paled when he saw Tom though, the other teen glaring at his own twin and his new friends.

"Yeah, and we won't let you hurt these people anymore!" Said Hiroto, glaring bravely at Darkrai.

The others nodded at what the small guitarist said, even though thinking the youngest member of Alice Nine was just too reckless for his own good.

"We will see that, young man." Said Darkrai before motioning Tom to come up. Tom obeyed immediately and knowing what Darkrai wanted him to do, he sent out his Pokémon. Bill paled even more, knowing Tom could potentially hurt them while influenced.

"Go, Misdreavus!"

"You think you'll win, don't you? Go, Gengar!" Said Ruka, sending out the Shadow Pokémon and glaring at his opponent. The others also sent their Pokémon fastly.

"Go, Luxray!"

"Lux~!"

"Go, Eevee~! Let's do it!"

"Go, Meowth!"

Tom looked shocked at the amount of Pokémon that were sent instantly against him. But then, Kyo and the rest of them came beside him, sending their own Pokémon.

"You thought you'd have an easy time, didn't you?" said Kaoru, smirking arrogantly at their opponents. Then he gave his first order to his Banette.

"Banette, use Shadow Ball on that Luxray!"

~Meanwhile with Kiro~

Kiro feigned sleep to listen to what the people around him were talking about. Even though he was tired, he didn't want to go to sleep. Not when Shin's life was in danger.

"We need to do something! We can't let Shin-san get hurt by that lunatic!" Ruki was saying, making Kiro relieved that they were actually thinking of Shin's safety. But as soon as he thought that, Sakito said;

"I know. But if all of us leave here, which would be just stupid as we have no Pokémon yet, Kiro-san totally would run away again. And I don't think any of us wants that."

That made Kiro feel frustrated. He wanted Shin by his side, not in some prison.

~Meanwhile in Darkrai's fortress~

While they fought, Kaoru thought Kyo was hiding something from him. The look of Die that he had given to Kyo before they went with Darkrai, had made that much clear. The guitarist made a mental note to ask Kyo what he was hiding once they won the battle. But just as he thought that, Hiroto gave his next command at his Pokémon.

"Luxray, use Thunder Fang on that traitor's Bisharp!"

"What the hell do you mean by that?! Kyo-kun is no traitor!" Said Toshiya, glaring at the smaller man.

"You don't know? Why don't you ask your Kyo-kun where your drummer is then?" Hiroto said, smirking at the pale Kyo.

But just as Toshiya turned to the shocked singer, Darkrai threw a curve ball in everything and sent a Shadow Ball into Tom, knowing the guitarist wouldn't dodge. But what he didn't know was Bill still had the Sphere of Death and as soon as he saw what the Pitch Black Pokémon was about to do to his twin, he unhesitantly used it, turning into a purple giant and sending a shock wave through the battlefield. And the shock wave went right through Tom, actually cleansing the young guitarist. His Misdreavus screeched as she was reduced to nothing.

"Bill!" Tom screamed, seeing him floating in the middle of air in front of him. Something about the vocalist's transformation scared him.

"You made a huge mistake." The purple giant said in a echoing voice and then, surprisingly attacked Tom.

"Bill, what have you done?!" Luminor whispered as he took the bleeding Tom away from him. The vocalist flew away from the battlefield, shocking everyone alike.

~Meanwhile with Shin~

Just as Shin thought he was about to get away from the police station, having knocked Gordon and his Houndoom out easily, an older man came down there, glaring at him.

"If you think you won't pay for what you did for my underlings, you are wrong, young man."

"Oh? What makes you think that you can make me pay, old man?" He asked sarcastically.

"You might have a strong Pokémon but I have this, go, Regirock!"

~Meanwhile in Darkrai's fortress~

"No... Bill, I'm sorry... No..."

"I think we should do something..." Yomi said, alarmed as he and the others tried to hold onto the thrashing Tom who was still bleeding and unconscious.

"I agree with you, Yomi, but what?!" said Yu, looking at the teenager guitarist with concern. None of them really knew what to do to help either Tom or Bill at the moment.

"Maybe we should take him to the hospital where Kiro-san is as well?" Said Hiroto, looking at Tom with softness in his eyes.

At that, Romeo flinched slightly. He didn't know if he wanted to see Kiro after what he'd done to the small bassist. Strify put a hand on the older's shoulder.

"Romeo, Kiro forgave you. I'm sure he's gonna be relieved once he sees that you're okay." He said, making Romeo look up with shock on his face.

"R-really?!"

Strify smiled at that and nodded.

"Yeah, really. Now let's go before Tom dies of bloodloss."

~Meanwhile inside Bill's mind~

Bill smiled as he held Tom's hand, getting him up from where he had landed while playing a song and fell over trying to do a jumping move with his guitar.

"You shouldn't be trying too hard, Tommy. You're gonna get something broken one of these days!"

"Minun~!"

"It's okay. I just fell over, no need to fret, Bill." Tom said, smiling at his twin.

"Well, if you'd tried anymore, I say you'd be falling a lot more, Tom." Georg teased Tom, grinning.

"You try to do that with your bass and we'll see how well you do, Georg!" Tom said, teasing right back. Behind the drumset, Gustav shook his head, amused at their exchanges.

~Meanwhile in the hospital~

Kiro sighed and dropped the act, looking slightly sad. The others immediately turned to him, understanding.

"Kiro-san, you should sleep more. I promise we'll find a way to bring Shin-san back to you." Said Keiyuu, worried about the small man.

"I can't... I feel like I could've done something..." Kiro said, looking down. Yasuno shook his head.

"No, you couldn't have done anything differently, Kiro-san. You were, are, injured and that insane man wasn't. You did everything you could even if it wasn't enough."

Just as he said that, Sakito's phone rang. The guitarist looked at the ID and saw it was Yomi.

"What is it, Yomi-kun? ... Oh, okay. Is Hiroto-san alright though? ... That's great. Okay, we'll wait for you in the hospital." The guitarist shut his phone after saying that and turned to the others.

"So? Is everything alright, Sakito-san?"

"Yeah, Yomi says they got Hiroto-san just fine, thankfully. But apparently, someone got hurt and they're now coming here soon."

Kiro sighed in relief at the news of Hiroto. He had been worried about the young guitarist after he had gone and infiltrated the castle alone. But then he paled, realizing that someone was hurt.

"Who's gotten hurt?!" The bassist asked, alarmed.

"I don't know, Yomi didn't tell about it." Sakito said, shaking his head. He was hoping none of his bandmates were the ones to get hurt.

Just as he finished his thought, Bela came in, looking slightly concerned.

"What's wrong, Bela-san? Is something the matter?" Asked Yuura, concerned at the look on the nurse's face.

"Yeah, Kiro, you need to have the operation right now. If you wait any longer, your wound is going to get infected even worse than it already has!"

"What do you mean his wound is infected?!" Said Ruki, shocked. Bela went over to Kiro and gently opened his chest, making him blush furiously. But when they saw the wound, everyone gasped in shock. It had greenish edges and was oozing something white in the middle.

"Oh Kami-sama..." Sakito and Keiyuu whispered at the same time, horrified.

~Meanwhile with Cresselia's champions~

They ran through the castle as fast as possible, all of them hoping they would get to the hospital in time before Tom died of bloodloss.

"Come on, Tom, you need to hang on!" Luminor said, worried. He was also very worried about what Bill was up to. Something about the transformation of the teen vocalist didn't add up with him.

"Go... To Bill... Please... Just save him..." Tom whispered weakly. He didn't think he deserved to be saved after what he had tried to do to his own twin brother.

"We'll save him, Tom, he's gonna be alright. But right now, you need to be saved." Said Yu, looking at the horrible wound the younger sported. Just as he said that, Hitsugi exclaimed.

"There, that's the hospital Kiro-san is in! Let's go!" The pierced guitarist said, making Romeo gulp in nervousness. He didn't know if Kiro really would forgive him or not. But there was only one sure way to find out and that was to go inside.

They went inside, Strify immediately going to the information to learn where Kiro was. And as he did so, two doctors took Tom away from Luminor, ready to administer help to the young guitarist.

"I would like to know where Karsten Schäfer is staying."

"Let me check for a moment, mister." The woman behind the counter said, looking through her files and then, turned to the impatient Strify and answered him.

"He's staying at Room 402."

"Thank you. Come on, let's go guys."

Romeo gulped again in nervousness, he half had the mind to bolt away from there rather than to meet Kiro and see the older man. But he didn't seem to have a choice as he was dragged slightly by Yu.

When they came into the room, thankfully Kiro had his wound closed, knowing his friends were going to come soon. Then, he looked up and smiled when he saw all of his friends there.

"Karsten! Are you okay?!" Yu asked as he limped hurriedly towards the bed while dragging Romeo with him.

"I'm fine, Hannes..." He said and then, his eyes fell on Romeo who was squirming with slight fear as to what the older man would say to him.

"Romeo? What's wrong?" Kiro asked with concern, knowing it was the first time they'd seen eachother after Romeo had told on him to Darkrai.

"N-nothing, Kiro. What happened to you?"

Kiro looked down, thinking how he could explain what Shin had done in his influenced state. After thinking a moment more, he sighed and opened his infected chest wound, making them gasp.

"Don't tell me that Shin of all people did this..." Luminor whispered, eyes wide in shock. Kiro looked down and nodded.

"Apparently, they gave him an evil Pokémon, he couldn't stop himself from doing that." Kiro said quietly, remembering how Shin had reacted to having done that.

"It'll be okay, Karsten, we're gonna find a way." Said Strify, knowing how much it hurt the bassist especially knowing that Shin might be in danger.

~Meanwhile with Bill~

Bill slept away in the purple gigantic being, not aware that he was fading away. He thought he was with his twin, his sweet Minun and his bandmates. But in truth, the teenager was fading away with nothing left because Sphere of Death was taking everything he was and shaping him into something he was not. Something though, kept calling for him.

"Bill!! Bill, come back!"

The teen vocalist didn't wake up, but he stirred slightly, recognizing the voice.

"Bill, please! Don't do this to me! To us! You need to wake up!!"