Through the Portal

~Meanwhile with Taizo and Yuura~

Yuura was running so fast that Taizo was having trouble keeping up with the bassist. But the black mass that was chasing them did not disappear, coming very close to catching them if not for the slightly shorter man realizing that and throwing Taizo away from it. But he was caught up in the mass just after he managed to bring Taizo out of the harm's way.

"No!!"

The mass swirled around Yuura, trying to get inside the older man but the bassist resisted with everything he had, knowing that if he fell down to it now, Taizo would never be able to get back on his feet ever again.

Eventually, the black mass covering Yuura's body let up, seemingly understanding that it could not get into the body it had snared. The bassist looked up only to see that Taizo was gone. Panicking, he immediately called for the guitarist, trying to find him once again.

"Taizo!! Where'd you go?!"

His only answer was silence but after listening closely, Yuura could hear the guitarist's soft, silent sobs. Even more worried, he went in the direction of the soft noise, trying not to startle Taizo even more than the guitarist already was.

"Taizo?"

The younger man gave a whimper of fear, not knowing what to expect from Yuura. The bassist immediately kneeled to his level and soothingly ran his fingers across his back, making him flinch, his body expecting pain.

"Hey, it's okay, Taizo. It's me, Yuura, I'd never hurt you. Sshh, it's alright."

"I-I saw it ta-take you! S-stay away from me!!" The guitarist yelled, trying to get away but the older man didn't let him go.

"It couldn't get to me, Taizo-kun. Everything is gonna be okay." He said in a soothing tone.

~Meanwhile in the real world~

"Not a toll of life as you say, young man. But I need help as well. All shall be known after I save your friend." Suicune said before diving deep into the sea. Keiyuu and Yasuno waited in fear as the Aurora Pokémon went into the water, both hoping that their bassist was alive.

"It will be okay. Suicune may look intimidating, but he is a gentle Pokémon. He will save Yuura, I am sure of it." Said Latias, trying to give them hope. Not long after that, Suicune got up to the surface but he didn't have Yuura with him.

"What happened?! Where's Yuura-kun?!"

"The shard of the soul he was holding does not let anyone touch your friend. Only thing you can do is to wait for now. I will be with him and drag him out as soon as I can."

~Meanwhile with Emile~

"Emile!! What's wrong?!" Jon yelled as he saw the younger gamer suddenly fall down. He caught the falling young man and helped Cyrus to bring him to a nearby couch, panicking along with Tim.

"What's happening to him?!" Tim asked with fear. He didn't want to lose their cheerful, kind friend.

"Darkrai's followers did something to him. Did he tell you anything?" Cyrus asked with his calm voice, frowning slightly.

"N-no! He didn't say anything about it! The dumbass, why did he have to hide whatever they did to him!?" Jon said, his voice breaking with fear for his friend.

~Meanwhile with Taizo and Yuura~

"Come on, Taizo, we need to get out of here before we die or something." Yuura said, gently pulling Taizo up to his feet. The guitarist thankfully didn't resist and got up with the older man, thinking hard. He didn't know why but he felt a connection with this young man, wanting to keep him safe.

But just as they were about to walk and try to find the exit of the mansion they were in, the black mass returned, making Taizo squeak in fright and Yuura take the scared guitarist behind him to protect him.

"You're not taking my friend!!" Yuura exclaimed bravely, he wouldn't let the other get hurt in any way again if he had any say in it. The mass suddenly stopped advancing, surprising both of them. But then, it started taking shape. Yuura gently pushed Taizo further back, away from the danger.

"Y-you might g-get hurt too, Y-Yuura!" Taizo said in a soft voice, making the bassist turn to him with a gentle if not slightly sad look.

"It's time for me to take a risk for you, Taizo-kun. It'll be okay, alright? You just stay behind, I've got this." He said softly as he looked at the person that had appeared before them.

"You want to keep him safe, do you?" The man whispered. He looked about as tall as Taizo and had pointy ears like a fantasy elf. And what was the most unsettling thing, was he had five fingerprints on his chest and it bled, looking gross and painful.

"Hai! Taizo is too good to be harmed by something like you!!" Yuura exclaimed, keeping his friend at a safe distance from the creature.

"You are brave, I can feel that. However, I need to feed. For this, a broken soul is just my taste." The creature said, coming closer.

"NEVER!!" The bassist yelled, pushing Taizo away.

"Run!! I'll come to find you, just run!!" The bassist said, looking slightly panicked. Taizo paled at that even more, not wanting to think of what might happen to Yuura.

"Taizo, you need to get away from here!! I can't, won't let you get hurt by this... This thing!!" Yuura said, still trying to get Taizo to run away. But that was when, Taizo remembered something.

~Flashback~

Not too long after Taizo had gone into the chamber Latios had told him to go into, he heard someone yelling his name. Looking up, he saw Yuura running to get to him.

'I'm sorry, Yuura-kun... It's already too late...' He thought right before the chamber started to take his soul away. He yelled in pain as he fell down, weakened immediately. But he didn't stay that way for long, the bassist had found a way to get in and take him out.

"Taizo! Stay with me! Come on, don't you dare die like this! I'm-I'm calling the others, please hang on!" He was saying but the pain was way too much for Taizo to bear and he fainted. The last thing he heard being Yuura's cry of "No!".

~Flashback ends~

Taizo gasped at what he remembered and immediately took a hold of Yuura's arm, pulling him with him as he ran away from the dangerous creature.

"Taizo? Why didn't you leave me?! I'll just slow you down!" The bassist was saying but Taizo did not care. Instead, he smiled at the baffled bassist.

"Because you would've done the same thing, Yuura-kun."

~Meanwhile in real world~

"Do you think Yuura and Taizo will be okay?" Keiyuu breathed tiredly, worried sick for his friends. Latias shook her head, not knowing what to say to the vocalist.

"I don't know. But what I do know is you're in desperate need of sleep. Neither Taizo nor Yuura would want to see you like this and if you collapse, none of us will be able to bear it." Yasuno said, worried about the younger man.

~Meanwhile with Taizo and Yuura~

"Y-you remembered??"

"Yeah. But it's not the time to talk, we need to go, right?" Taizo said, smiling nervously at the shocked bassist. Yuura nodded and together, they started running while the creature behind them turned into the black mass yet again. But it still wasn't fast enough and Taizo and Yuura found the exit, running out of it hand-in-hand.

Yuura gasped and woke up but he was still underwater and he accidentally swallowed a lot of water, trying to get up to the surface to no avail while the soul shard he was holding glowed, obviously reacting to the danger he was in.

"I will take you up." A gruff male voice said inside his head but Yuura couldn't hold on due to the swallowed water and he fainted, the last thing he heard being Keiyuu's panicked voice before his breathing stopped.

"You idiot, look what happened to you!"

Keiyuu and Yasuno tried very hard to make Yuura breathe again, both scared that it was already too late for the bassist. Then Suicune came closer to the panicking duo.

"I can take the water out of his lungs. But you must promise that you will help me in return." The Aurora Pokémon said, looking at the brightly shining shard of Taizo's soul clutched tightly in Yuura's hand.

"W-whatever you want, just save him, please!" Whispered Keiyuu with his last remnants of strength, already at the end of his rope. Meanwhile Yasuno was trying to keep himself from hyperventilating, scared that they might lose Yuura. Suicune nodded at the tired vocalist and focused on the unbreathing bassist. Not even five minutes later, Yuura began to cough up all the water he had swallowed. Then the bassist laid dead still.

"Yuura!! Yuura, wake up, you idiot!" Yasuno said, shaking the younger man. Yuura groaned and opened his eyes, making the other two of his bandmates incredibly relieved.

"Guys... Is Taizo alright?"

His words made Latias facepalm while Keiyuu and Yasuno looked at eachother with worried looks. They hadn't heard anything that Taizo might have said because of the fright of seeing Yuura's unconscious state. Yasuno went to check on the guitarist, hoping for a change in his body heat and sure enough, he found that Taizo's body was almost to his normal heat.

"I... I think he's alright, he's a lot warmer than before. I think you helped him out quite well, Yuura-kun." Yasuno said, sighing in relief. Yuura nodded, relieved himself and remembering how much Taizo was scared.

"He is quite strong. Most people would not even live through the process of ripping one's soul out and breaking it." Suicune commented calmly. At that, Keiyuu lowered his head down, reminded of how much of a danger he had put Taizo through.

"How do we learn where to go next? Taizo didn't say anything..."

~Meanwhile with Ruka~

Ruka tried long and hard to find the answer even while he was insecure about how Yomi might react to the danger he was in, he knew he needed to come through for the younger man. Then he happened to look at the light Litwick were giving off and the answer dawned upon him, making him gasp.

"D-darkness!! The answer is 'darkness'!" He gasped, managing to get up from where he'd landed with much difficulty. He breathed hard, trying to recollect himself and continue on for his friend.

"Very well, Intruder. This is the last riddle you need to solve. 'A certain crime is punishable if attempted but not punishable if committed. What is it?'. You have only a minute to solve this." The voice said, seemingly sure of the failure of the drummer but Ruka had another thing in mind. He simply would not go down when Yomi needed him so much.

~Meanwhile with Alice Nine~

"We need to help those Nightmare members, they might be in a serious trouble!" Exclaimed Shou, worried.

"Mightyena, Might!" His partner agreed with the vocalist, also worried about the note they had received.

"Shou, we need to stay put right now, if you ask me. Both you and Saga need rest. Most especially Saga." Nao said quietly. Part of him wanted to agree with the vocalist but for the most part, he could see how worn down Saga really was and his bandmates were more important to him.

"I agree with Nao-shi there, they can take care of themselves, Kohara-kun." Tora said as he watched Saga sleep the exhaustion off.

~Meanwhile with Kra~

"Maybe he will say it after we bring the shard closer to him?" Yasuno said, unsure. Yuura immediately nodded, coming closer to the guitarist and placing the soul shard he had restored beside him. At that, Taizo groaned slightly and to their surprise, he opened his eyes.

"Taizo!! Daijoubu ka?!" Keiyuu asked but upon seeing the guitarist's blank, lifeless looking eyes, he gasped.

"Taizo-kun?.." Yasuno whispered, looking slightly scared.

"R-Route... 228..." The tall man managed out before falling silent once again. Then Yasuno turned to the other two and said;

"I don't think we should go there next."

"What the hell do you mean by that, Yasuno?!" Keiyuu exclaimed, both shocked and angry at the drummer's suggestion. Yuura nodded as well, frowning in confusion.

"You both need rest, especially you, Keiyuu. Taizo would be so worried if he knew your situation!" The oldest answered, looking honestly worried about his friends. Latias nodded at that as well and even Suicune was agreeing with the tall, slender man. That made Keiyuu and Yuura look at eachother with exasperated looks.

"I'm fine, you guys, I don't need resting! I just need to get out of these wet clothes." Yuura said but Keiyuu shook his head. He wanted to headslap the older man for that comment, having been worried sick for the bassist's well-being.

"You weren't even breathing when Suicune-san brought you back up, Yuura, your recklessness almost cost us your life, I'm not even adding you, Keiyuu. You will rest or I will knock the both of you the hell out!!" Yasuno snapped, shocking the other two.

"Yasuno-kun, we're--"

"No! I've had it with your recklessness, both of you! I will not let you do another dangerous thing if I have any say in it!!" The drummer yelled, looking very angry this time. Keiyuu and Yuura looked at eachother and then, they hugged the angry, shaken drummer.

"Everything is okay, Yasuno-kun. I promise we'll be okay."

~Meanwhile with Hitsugi~

Hitsugi and Meowth barely managed to escape from the dangerous spikes in that narrow room they were in. They looked at eachother to see if anything had happened to the other. Both finding nothing wrong, they sighed in relief.

"We need to find the others, Meowth, Yomi's life depends on us right now." The red haired guitarist said, looking really worried about his friend.

"Meowth, Meow~!" The Scratch Cat Pokémon nodded, hoping that they would get to Yomi in time before the Sphere of Death did something horrible to his body and mind. Just as they were gonna move out of the room, they heard something.

"Hitsugi, wait up!"

~Meanwhile in the hospital - Kyo's room~

After Shinya managed to pull himself together, he went to Kaoru, gently waking him up. Kaoru visibly jumped, looking around with slight fear. And when his gaze fell on their vocalist who was frowning slightly, his eyes widened.

"K-Kyo?"

"Kaoru." Kyo whispered, looking straight at him with a calm look. But on the inside, he was questioning why Kaoru was so shaken. And then, he had the breathe hugged out of him by the lead guitarist, making him gasp in a mixture of surprise and pain.

"I'm so sorry! I should've researched more!" The older man sobbed against Kyo's chest, making him frown.

"Kaoru, I'm okay. I doubt there's any more dangers for me." Kyo said, trying hard to see the guitarist's face. He could see just how much Kaoru was scared of what could have happened. Especially after the harsh words he had said.

"Thank goodness for that..." Shinya said, quiet and still worried.

~Meanwhile with Kra~

After they returned to the hospital, the members of Kra gently lowered the still unconscious Taizo onto one of the beds, covering him with a blanket. Then Keiyuu slowly went into the bed with the guitarist as well, closing his eyes tiredly as Yuura excused himself to get out of his wet clothes.

"You're gonna sleep, right, Keiyuu?" Yasuno asked with a slightly hard tone, but the younger man didn't answer, already fallen into a deep, hopefully repairing sleep. Yasuno smiled at the scene, Keiyuu looked just adorable while asleep, his arm draping over Taizo as if he wanted to protect the guitarist even in his sleep.

"They look so sweet, don't they?" Whispered Yuura who had come back wearing different clothes. Yasuno nodded at the bassist's words, even though he was still not happy with Yuura.

"You need to sleep too, Yuura. I'm not risking either of you two to collapse."

Yuura rolled his eyes at those words, exasperated at the worried drummer. He knew that Yasuno was very stressed after everything that had happened and was in dire need of some affection. But that didn't mean that he could boss him around.

"Look, I'm just fine, Yasuno. I don't need to go to sleep, I feel much better after getting out of those wet clothes. Besides, you don't look that well either to me." The bassist said, looking at the drummer with determination in his eyes. If they were going to have to rest, might as well get Yasuno to rest as well.

Yasuno sighed at that, understanding that he wasn't going to be able to get out of it easily. He shook his head though, not wanting to sleep in case they missed the sun going down.

"Yuura, one of us has to stay awake in order to check when it's night time. And I'll do just that. You don't have to worry about anything anymore, okay?"

Yuura facepalmed at that, realizing that Yasuno was right. But he still had a bad feeling that Yasuno was planning something. Little did he know, the drummer was actually planning to do something very dangerous. Yuura though, finally broke and went to sleep, hoping that the night would come soon.

~At night~

Yasuno looked at his unconscious bandmates and smiled sadly, thinking of how much Mai would've loved to see them now. And then, he looked down in determination, knowing what he had to do now.

"You are planning something, are you not?" Asked Latias quietly as to not wake the two asleep bandmates. The drummer nodded and spoke quietly.

"Hai. I will go to Route 228 by myself. I know I can find the soul shard myself. I can't let either of them to get more hurt, especially Keiyuu."

"But you may get hurt!" Latias said, looking worried about the drummer. Yasuno smiled at her concern though, already having his mind made up and wouldn't back down from it.

"I'll be fine. But please don't tell them I'm going on my own, okay?" He said before taking his hat and getting out of the room before his bandmates had a chance to wake up and stop him from going. Only half an hour after the drummer went out, Keiyuu woke up with a start.

~Meanwhile with Emile~

Cyrus had gently put his hand on Emile's forehead who was laying on the couch unresponsively, ready to probe his mind to know what was wrong with the young gamer. Beside him, Jon and Tim waited anxiously, not knowing what to do to help their friend.

"He's gonna be okay, right, Jon?" Tim whispered, scared that the older gamer wouldn't pull through.

"Of course he will... I hope..."

Just as Jon finished his words, Cyrus woke up and looked around him.

"Well? What's wrong with him?" Asked Jon immediately while the other two looked on.

"They've done something horrible to him! They actually managed to infuse a Dread Plate into his body! If we don't get it out as soon as possible, he might die or worse, become a mindless drone of Darkrai."

"WHAT?!" They chorused, looking shocked.

"Then what do we do?! How do we get it out of him?!" At Tim's words, the psychic looked sad.

"You will have to go to great dangers to remove it. And he may die anyways. Do you still want to do this?"

"Emile would've done the same thing for us, of course we want to save him!! So, what do we do??"

~Meanwhile with Yasuno~

Yasuno coughed slightly as he finally got into Route 228, trying to cover his face from the harsh sandstorm. He hoped that the shard he was looking for was not far away or in some Pokémon nest or he would be in a great trouble. That was then, he heard, to his shock, Taizo's voice.

"Yasuno... Help me... I'm over... Here..." The guitarist's weak voice was saying. It was coming from not too far north and Yasuno just took off, ready to rescue his friend's soul. But when he reached the source of the guitarist's voice, he stopped. It was a nest of a wild, vulture-like Pokémon and it had the soul shard amongst its eggs.

"Kuso! What do I do now?!"

Thinking for a moment, the drummer only found one option; to wait till the Pokémon went to search for prey and then grab the shard immediately after it was gone. So, Yasuno hid nearby to see when the bird went away and sure enough, the Pokémon took off, thankfully not looking behind.

"That's my chance!" The drummer muttered, trying not to cough in case the mother Pokémon returned.

But it was hard because of the fact that sand was getting in his mouth and eyes every few seconds and the young man was hardly even able to see what was in front of him. But he managed to grab the shard and get into the world of Taizo himself, ready to save the younger man.

~Meanwhile in the hospital~

"Where's Yasuno-kun?" Keiyuu asked Latias who looked really uncomfortable. The Eon Pokémon squirmed, not really knowing how to explain the fact that Yasuno had gone without them. But as soon as he saw that it was night-time, it clicked in Keiyuu's brain that their drummer had not waited for them to wake up to find Taizo's soul shard.

"That-That hypocritical ass!! How dare he leave us out of this!?" The singer exclaimed and turned to Yuura and woke him up as well while Latias cringed. She had hoped that the vocalist would sleep till morning but it didn't happen.

"What?? What's wrong, Keiyuu?" Asked Yuura drowsily, not knowing the bombshell the singer was about to drop on him.

"It's Yasuno! He went without us!!"

At that, Yuura shot up from the bed, shocked. Latias cringed, knowing neither of them were going to be happy about the drummer's decision.

"He did WHAT?!"

"Yeah, come on, we need to catch up with him, like right now!" Keiyuu growled, looking mightily pissed off. Yuura nodded and together, they got out of the hospital, not even waiting for Latias to come with them.

"Oh no... They are not going to be happy with me when they figure out that I knew Yasuno went without them..." Latias whispered as she went after Keiyuu and Yuura.

~Meanwhile with Yasuno~

Yasuno suddenly found himself in a dark, dank place, looking around in confusion. He didn't understand why Taizo would have a place like this inside his soul of all places. But little did he know that, he was about to see something that would shake him to his very core.

"You're a murderer." A very familiar voice suddenly rang out, making the drummer jump in surprise.

"No way..." He whispered, recognizing the voice right away. He went silently in the way of the voice, not really knowing what to expect. And when he did reach there, his eyes widened in complete shock.

There stood Mai, of all people, as a ghost and behind him, was Taizo who was bleeding and obviously exhausted.

"Please... I can't take this anymore... Just let me die..." The older guitarist whimpered. Yasuno had never heard such a pitiful sound from the guitarist the whole time he had known him and that scared him to no end.

"You think your death will avenge him?! Oh no, Taizo, you will go through every damn pain that Mai-cho had to go through! You won't get out of it so easily with dying!" Said a replica of Yuura who had appeared all of a sudden and after hearing that, Yasuno couldn't be more glad that he had gone alone. This would destroy Yuura if he knew what was happening to Taizo.

"Why did you let me die? I had so much to live for..." The ghost of Mai asked, looking sad.

"I hate you, Taizo, I hope you rot in here! You don't deserve any forgiveness!!" Said a replica of Keiyuu this time, making the guitarist sob weakly. That, made him decide to act quickly before he saw his own replica hurting Taizo even more. He now understood that this was the guitarist's conscience, obviously being wounded from the death of Mai.

"Stop it right there!!"

~Meanwhile in the real world~

"There you are, Yasuno!!" Keiyuu managed to say after coughing a little from the sandstorms that ravaged the area. The drummer was sitting with his back turned to them and was not moving at all. And Keiyuu was not very happy with their drummer because of what he had done but when he and Yuura came closer, a wild Pokémon cry snapped their heads up only to see a large, vulture-like Pokémon angrily flying towards the drummer.

"Oh crap! Yasuno!!" Yuura yelled but there was no reaction from the drummer as if he had not even realized that he was in a grave danger by getting into a wild Pokémon's nest with nothing to protect himself.

"I... I think he is in a trance to save your friend..." Said Latias who had caught up to them.

"What do we do?! Yasuno, wake up, you idiot!!" Yuura yelled to no avail. Just as the bassist yelled, the wild Pokémon cried out in warning again.

"Man, Mandibuzz!!"

"It's no use, he can't hear us, he'll be a Pokémon dinner at this rate!!" Keiyuu said in panic as the Bone Vulture Pokémon finally dove in towards the oblivious drummer.

~Meanwhile with Taizo and Yasuno~

Every one of the replicas turned to Yasuno who was seething with tears in his eyes. All of them except Taizo whose head was hanging low in shame and exhaustion.

"How did you find here?! This pathetic killer doesn't deserve anyone helping him!" Said the replica of Keiyuu. To make the matters worse, Taizo didn't even seem to have the energy to object to what the fake-Keiyuu was saying.

"You're not our Keiyuu! Taizo doesn't deserve something like this! No one does!!" Yasuno said before crossing the distance that was keeping him away from the guitarist, untying him from the pillar.

"Taizo, listen to me, you're not the one who killed Mai, Darkrai did that. Please, come to yourself, we're all worried for you..." The drummer whispered, holding Taizo close. He felt near tears after seeing how much Taizo actually blamed himself despite not telling the others of his band.

"But... If I had s-stopped him--" Taizo weakly started to say only to stop when Yasuno gently put a finger on his lips.

"You couldn't have known, Taizo-kun. But please, you need to get yourself together. Please, we can't be Kra without you. Just come back." The drummer said, tears in his eyes.

~Meanwhile in the real world~

"Lucario, use Aura Sphere, protect him!!" Keiyuu yelled but before the Aura Pokémon could react and do what the vocalist wanted, the angry Mandibuzz had already sunk her talons right into Yasuno's back but the drummer still didn't seem to be aware of the pain.

"Mandibuzz!!" The Bone Vulture Pokémon cried out again and dragged her long clawed talons on the drummer's back but nothing seemed to wake the oldest member of Kra up.

"Leave him alone, shoo!!" Yuura yelled, trying to shield Yasuno with his own body as Lucario sent his Aura Sphere onto the angry Mandibuzz. Thankfully, it seemed to work as after a few more attacks, the Bone Vulture Pokémon went to perch on a nearby tree, glaring at the people that were in her nest.

"We need to bring him away from here, he needs help quick!" Yuura said as he tried to stop the bleeding on Yasuno's back.

~Meanwhile with Sakito~

"Eevee, dodge it, we can't lose this fight!!" Sakito said in slight panic. He didn't know much about the Evolution Pokémon's moves so he tried his best to stay on top of the fight.

"Eevee~!" Eevee nodded but the Grass-type move hit him anyways, making him fall down a few steps, weakened.

"Are you alright, Eevee?!" The guitarist asked the Evolution Pokémon and the Pokémon in question nodded slightly and then, ate the Wiki Berry that was equipped to him, not knowing what it would do to him.

~Meanwhile with Taizo and Yasuno~

"O-Ow!!" Yasuno suddenly exclaimed, his back felt like something was clawing at it for some reason.

"What's... The matter, Yasuno?" Taizo asked in a weak, low voice. But not wanting to worry the guitarist, the drummer shook his head to indicate that he was fine.

"Come on, Taizo, you need to focus, focus on waking up, please!"

Taizo nodded tiredly and then, Yasuno was suddenly thrown out of the soul shard. Looking around, he found that he was somehow back in the hospital while Keiyuu and Yuura were looking at him with unamused looks.

"Guys? What's going on??" He muttered, confused. Keiyuu just facepalmed as Yuura shook his head while helping the drummer to sit up so that Bela could clean the wound on his back. But as soon as the antiseptic solution made contact, Yasuno cried out in pain, his eyes tearing up.

"Be a little gentle, would you?! That hurts like hell!"

"You kind of deserve it, you know, Yasuno-kun. I mean just how could you leave us out of finding Taizo's soul shard?!" Said Yuura, admonishing the older man even though he was holding the drummer's hand to support him against the pain.

"O-Ouch! I-I didn't want you guys to get hurt, that w-was all! What the hell happened to me while I was in that shard anyways?!" Yasuno whimpered as Bela tried to bandage his wound as gently as she could, trying not to let his tears of agony be seen.

Keiyuu flinched slightly at that, remembering the horrible moment where the dangerous Mandibuzz had dragged her talons right in their drummer's back.

"You were attacked by a Mandibuzz, Yasuno, you are very lucky to get out with your life there." Latias said, looking worried as Bela finished her work on the young man's deep, painful looking wound.

"Yeah, thank Kami-sama we were able to reach you in time so she didn't kill you there and then for entering her nest uninvited! What were you even thinking, going in there without any damn protection?!" Keiyuu asked, looking angry and worried at the same time.

"I... As weird as it sounds, I heard Taizo, calling me to help him... And besides, I'm fine you guys! Calm down, will you?! We still have a job to do to save Taizo!" Yasuno whispered, his eyes filling with tears as he thought of what he had seen in the soul shard. Keiyuu and Yuura's eyes widened at that, not having expected Yasuno to say those words.

"So, you thought it was a good idea to follow it and take it right inside the said nest and go into it in the same place?! What the hell is wrong with you, Yasuno!?" Yuura exclaimed, glaring at the drummer who smiled sheepishly. Then turned serious as he looked over at Taizo's still unmoving body and sighed.

"Nevermind me, did I manage to restore Taizo-kun??"

~Meanwhile with Hitsugi~

"Ni~ya! What are you doing up?! You're injured!" Hitsugi said, shocked as the bassist ran up to him and stopped close to him with his Gyarados coming right after him.

"I can't just let you be in danger, you know that, Mitsuo. Jun needs all of us with him right now and I will not let either him or any of you to be in danger if I can help it at all." Ni~ya said, panting slightly with the exertion.

That made Hitsugi facepalm and shake his head, knowing no amount of words could make the older man to rest. But if he was honest with himself, he was kinda glad that he could tell at least someone what he and his partner, Meowth had found out.

"Okay then, listen, me and Meowth found something big about the Sphere of Death and if we don't restore Yomi soon, he's gonna be as good as gone, so let's go before that happens! We'll meet the others in the throne room." The guitarist said urgently, making Ni~ya's eyes widen in worry.

~Meanwhile with Kra~

At the drummer's words, Keiyuu and Yuura looked at eachother nervously. Neither of them was willing to tell Yasuno that they had taken the soul shard before the drummer could finish restoring it.

"What happened?! Did something go wrong?!" Yasuno asked, looking panicked.

"Ano... Yasuno-kun, we kinda..." Keiyuu trailed off as the older man turned to him.

"Kinda what?!"

"We had to take it away from you before you took any more damage from that horrible attack... I am sorry... But you can still go into it after you've recovered well enough--"

"You WHAT?! Give me that shard right now!!" Yasuno said, glaring at Latias and his bandmates, angry that he couldn't even help Taizo when the guitarist needed him.

"B-but Yasuno--" Yuura started to say only to be stopped by the angry drummer.

"No. Buts!! I do not want to hear it! This is inexcusable!! Now, the shard, please!" Yasuno gritted out dangerously, holding his hand out

"Yasuno, look, that attack almost broke your spine, Taizo would be horrified if he knew that, please, give yourself a rest, we can handle the rest, I promise." Keiyuu said, looking pleadingly at the drummer but it was too late, Yasuno already had made a grab for the shard Latias was holding and went back into Taizo's spiritual world, hoping he wasn't too late.

"Crap! He wouldn't listen to us!" Keiyuu said as Yasuno sat dead still in his bed, his eyes blank and unseeing as his hand grasped the soul shard tightly.

"I... I think it is for the better... Because if Yasuno returns faster than we expect, then we have made a huge mistake on taking the shard from him." Latias said, looking very worried. That made the two of them turn to the Eon Pokémon with shocked and slightly scared looks.

"What do you mean?" Asked Yuura with a worried look.

"If Yasuno returns sooner, this will mean that he failed to restore Taizo's shard and he will probably die without it despite all you have done so far."

"WHAT?!" The two members of Kra chorused, looking really scared now.

"Lucario, Lu, Lucario!!" Lucario also cried, not even wanting to think about the consequences of such a horrible idea.

~Meanwhile with Yasuno~

Yasuno landed on where he had seen Taizo the last time but there was so sign of the said guitarist anywhere, making him fear the worst.

"Taizo!! Where are you?!" The drummer called out, not even thinking of his own safety. There was no answer but a weak sob. Then, to his shock, Mai's ghost appeared out of nowhere.

"He killed me, Yasuno, don't you feel sorry for me? A killer like him doesn't deserve saving, right?" The ghost said and that was when the drummer realized that this was not Mai's real ghost, just the replica Taizo had built from his own guilty conscience.

"You're NOT Mai-cho, he would've never said those words about anyone! Taizo!! Where are you?!"

There was still no answer and Yasuno, fearing that he was too late, just went through the replica of Mai's spirit and ran, looking everywhere for Taizo. He called his name over and over and yet, there was no answer what-so-ever. But then, the drummer found a seemingly locked door and went right up to it, thinking of how to get in. That was then, he heard Taizo's silent, weak sobs and immediately slammed himself against the door to break it.

"Taizo!! I'm here, I'm gonna get you out of there, I swear!!" The drummer called out to the other side of the door, scared for his friend.

~Meanwhile with Ruka~

Ruka thought hard and long to find the answer while his time was running out, ready to drop down any moment. But just as his time ended, he realized that the answer was what Kiro had said to them a long time ago.

"It's-- It's suicide!!" The drummer yelled before falling down on his knees again, really weakened.

"Very well, Intruder. You may have this." The voice inside his head said and then, the room suddenly got bright while the Litwick closed their eyes again and stopped siphoning Ruka and his Gengar's life forces.

Ruka blinked for a few moments to adjust his eyes to the now bright room and saw the empty Sphere of Death right in front of him. His eyes widened at that, remembering how Hiroto had been able to get Saga out of the possession of another Sphere.

"I think I know what to do now..." The drummer whispered, taking the empty Sphere from its pedestal.

~Meanwhile with Taizo and Yasuno~

Yasuno managed to open the door from that one blow and saw something horrible; his own replica was cutting away at Taizo's skin and making him cry.

"Oh Kami-sama... Taizo!! It's not me, I swear it isn't!!" He said as the replica of himself turned to Yasuno. Taizo in the meanwhile, didn't seem to have the energy to look up, much less talk.

"Oh, so you're the one who thought you should save a pathetic, dangerous murderer?"

"Of course I will save him, Taizo is no murderer!!" The drummer cried out and then, went right up to the younger man and tried to support him but it was not possible. The guitarist would simply not open his eyes, obviously too weak to be able to.

"Taizo listen to me, you have to get up! It wasn't your fault that Mai died, I swear!!" Yasuno said, his tears falling at the state of his friend. That was then, Taizo managed to look up at the older man, pain seeping through his eyes.

"Yasuno... Thank you... For everything..." Taizo managed to whisper and then, he disappeared, letting Yasuno out of the shard once again.

Yasuno woke up with a gasp and a deep shudder, looking up at the worried faces of Keiyuu, Latias and Yuura. Beside the drummer, Taizo groaned slightly, obviously still weak but fighting.

"Yasuno! Are you alright?!" Asked Keiyuu in worry. He didn't want to tell the older man about the risk of Taizo not being restored, knowing that Yasuno would freak out.

"M-my back is burning!" Yasuno gritted out, not wanting to tell about what he had seen in the guitarist's soul. The real reason for his tears wasn't the pain even though what he'd said was the truth. The real reason however, was much deeper than that. He would never be able to look at Taizo the same way after seeing how much the younger had blamed himself for what had happened with Mai.

Just as he was going to ask if he had managed to restore Taizo, Latias went near the said guitarist, checking his temperature and sighing in relief when she found out that the young guitarist was finally back to his full body heat. But he was still looking up at the ceiling without any reaction what-so-ever.

"You managed to restore it, Yasuno. Now there's only one more to find and restore..." Latias said, looking worried for some reason. That made both Keiyuu and Yuura sigh in relief, knowing they didn't have to tell Yasuno about the risky situation.

"So, how are we going to know where to go last? Taizo doesn't seem to say anything..."

~Meanwhile with Sakito~

As soon as Eevee ate the Wiki Berry, he became confused, much to Sakito's worry.

"No!! You bastard, you tricked me!! Come on, Eevee, you need to get through this!! Use Bite!"

Yune chuckled as the Evolution Pokémon accidentally hit himself in his confusion, sure of his win. Hearing his laughter, Sakito snapped and just went up to the ex-drummer and punched him, hard.

"Don't you dare laugh, you bastard! Or I will kill you!! Because of you and your worthless so-called Master, one of my brothers is in fatal danger! Don't think I won't follow through my threat, for them, I'd do anything!!" The tall guitarist snarled, very angry. Seeing this, even Eevee came to his senses, looking at the slender guitarist with shock.

"Come on, Eevee, let's finish this before I commit murder, use Bite!"

"Eevee~!" The Evolution Pokémon nodded and bit into his opponent, now even more determined after seeing Sakito's anger and obvious worry for his trainer. Ferrothorn cried out in pain but he still wouldn't go down even though he was quite weakened.

~Meanwhile with Kra~

"I... I do not know, actually. I only know that it will reveal itself at night but..." Latias trailed off, not sure if she should talk anymore and remind them of what they had lost.

"But what?!" Yuura asked, understanding that it was going to be the hardest one they'd done yet, not knowing what to do to obtain the shard.

"But you will have to summon a ghost..." The Eon Pokémon whispered, making Keiyuu's eyes widen in shock. The vocalist had understood whose ghost they had to summon in order to complete Taizo and hopefully bring him back to them.

"Y-you don't mean?.." The vocalist whispered and Latias nodded sadly.

"Yes. I mean Mai, only he can get Taizo out of this now."

"What?!" Yuura whispered, his eyes filling with tears along with Yasuno. Latias only nodded, not wanting to prod the wound further.

"But how? How can we s-summon him?!" Keiyuu asked, looking like he was about to cry. He didn't know how Mai of all people could bring Taizo out of his current predicament while he was dead but if what Latias said was true, then they had the chance to at least say goodbye to Mai properly.

"As I said, it will reveal itself at night. Both the chance to summon your friend and the last soul shard of Taizo. But are you sure you can handle it?" The Eon Pokémon asked worriedly, knowing how hard it must be for the young men with her.

"We need to do this, not only for Taizo, but also for Mai. He doesn't deserve to be trapped in this world..." Yasuno whispered, looking down as the tears in his eyes threatened to spill.

~Meanwhile with Hitsugi and Ni~ya~

Ni~ya nodded and the four of them started to go towards the room where Yomi's possessed body was waiting for them, both of the humans very nervous. But as they were going, neither of them realized that someone was watching them.

"So, what did you find out, Hitsugi-kun?" Ni~ya asked in worry and in response, the younger man gave him the post-it note he and Meowth had found.

"J-just read this... It's horrible..."

Ni~ya nodded with worry growing in his heart even more and his eyes widened at the note.

"'The Sphere of Death takes away one's sanity and soul and destroys them until there is no more of the person's mind and they start to become cannibalistic.' Oh, Kami-sama!! We need to do something!!" The bassist said, in complete shock. Hitsugi nodded at the older man's words, looking pretty worried.

"Gyarados~!" Suddenly, Ni~ya's Gyarados cried out, pointing to an opening door. From it, surprisingly, Ruka came out, looking more than a bit worn out.

"Satoru!! Daijoubu ka?!" Ni~ya exclaimed, running to support him along with Hitsugi.

"I-I'm fine, we've gotta get to Jun, I know how to get him out of this trouble!"

~Meanwhile with Kra - At night~

The three members of Kra gently took Taizo's unmoving body and brought it with them to the open area of the hospital, hoping that the last soul shard was there. But there was no such luck, nothing glittering was there.

"So what do we do now? How do we bring Mai-cho here??" Asked Keiyuu, swallowing nervously. This was it, if they found and restored the last shard, they would bring Taizo back to them.

Just as the vocalist said that, a colorful portal suddenly appeared before them, making them step back cautiously. Shockingly, Mai came out of it, looking sad.

"M-Mai?.. How?!" Yasuno managed to whisper as he and the others looked at the ghost of their old guitarist in shock.

"I could hear you guys calling for me, in your hearts... You need his soul shard, don't you?" Mai said, looking at the pale, weak Taizo.

"Yes. But how do we find it??" Asked Latias quietly to the ghostly young man. Mai smiled slightly at that, obviously knowing the answer. But then turned serious as he surveyed the state of his friends which was heartbreaking.

Keiyuu had his head bowed but his shoulders were shaking, an obvious hint that he was crying. And even harder for Mai, was the state of silent anguish of Yuura and Yasuno. He could see them hurting as well over his death.

"You will find it in Celestic Town. But be careful, he only has a few hours to live. But I'll help you restore him." Mai said. And then, they started to go to the town in question.

~2 hours later~

After arriving in Celestic Town, they searched the place and managed to find the soul shard in the temple of the town. And then, Mai disappeared inside the shard, ready to restore the older guitarist from what he had done.

"He'll... He'll be okay, right?" Asked Yuura sadly as Keiyuu tried his hardest not to sob. Yasuno shook his head, not knowing what to say to the bassist, nervous himself.

~Meanwhile with Taizo~

"Taizo-san." Mai's voice suddenly rang in the empty room Taizo was in. But the guitarist couldn't find it in himself to answer him. He didn't care anymore about what would happen to him.

"Taizo-san, it's gonna be okay." The spirit of Mai suddenly appeared in front of the older man. He crouched down to see if the guitarist was hurt but there was no wound there.

"It'll never be okay... They hate me... Keiyuu... He even said so..." Taizo sobbed, looking so hurt that it broke Mai's heart. The ghost sighed, making Taizo look up despite the taller man not wanting to do so.

"Taizo-san... Keiyuu never hated you, he was just angry about what happened to me. And nor did the others. Come back to them, protect them in my place, please." Mai pleaded, trying not to cry. It was tough to see how much Keiyuu's words had hurt Taizo.

"R-really?"

"Yes. If it weren't for them, Taizo-san, you'd already be joining me in death by now. They're scared for your sake, please stop torturing them like this."

Taizo nodded at that, finally getting up from the floor and smiling slightly at the ghost of Mai and then, they both disappeared.

~Meanwhile in the real world~

All of a sudden, Mai came out of the soul shard, having obviously managed to restore it. But when they put the four shards together, nothing happened. Latias gulped in nervousness as they turned to her at once.

"Okay, what's wrong?! Why didn't it work?!" Yasuno asked, starting to fear that there were more shards but just as Latias was about to tell them the truth, Latios appeared.

"Only the blood of the one who hurt him the most can save him now." The blue Eon Pokémon said, smirking at their horror.

"T-then take mine! I was the one who hurt him so much!!" Keiyuu yelled and then he came near the shards. They were vibrating and glowing like crazy for some reason that the vocalist didn't understand.

"As you wish." Was the only thing Latios said before he shot a pink beam at the short man's chest, blowing a hole in it and letting the blood cover the shards. That, made them levitate and suddenly, become one again only to go right into Taizo's body, making him gasp and wake up. But when he looked around, he saw Keiyuu's unmoving, bleeding body and paled.

"KEIYUU!!"

Taizo ran to the vocalist's body, picking him up with tears in his eyes while the other three came closer to the anguished guitarist. All of them panicking over Keiyuu.

"Taizo! Are you alright?!" Asked Yuura as the other man tried to stop the bleeding on Keiyuu's small body. But it was for nothing as Taizo could see his other hand through the hole in the younger man's chest.

"H-how can I be alright when Keiyuu's like this?! Keiyuu, please, say something!!" Taizo sobbed but the vocalist didn't say anything, his breathing had already stopped. The young man's eyes were staring unseeingly at Taizo who hugged him.

"No!! Keiyuu, NO!!" Yasuno screamed as Taizo sobbed hard while Yuura stood in shock. Latias wanted to say something, anything that would soothe the men in front of her but there were no words to be able to do such a thing. That was then, Taizo noticed Latios who looked very satisfied and another Pokémon just like him close to them.

"YOU!! I trusted you!! Look what you've done!!" The guitarist screamed, making Latias flinch and Latios give out a small chuckle.

"T-there might still be a way to bring him back..." Latias whispered as they turned to her.

"Why should we believe you when you lied to us?! You said you would help us and you LIED, Latias-san!!" Yasuno yelled, standing protectively between the red Eon Pokémon and Taizo with anger in his eyes.

"Just what happened?!" The guitarist yelled, confused and hurting inside. While he said that, none of them noticed that Mai had disappeared, too distracted with pain and anger.

~Meanwhile with Keiyuu~

Keiyuu woke up in a dark, quiet place, not knowing where he was. He looked around only to find that he was alone.

"Where am I??" The confused vocalist muttered, frowning. He got up and tried to walk around but his limbs were too sluggish to keep walking for more than a few steps.

That was then, a brilliant flash of white light came out of nowhere, startling him. From it, Mai appeared.

"Keiyuu..."

"Mai-cho!! Where are we?!" The vocalist immediately asked, not able to understand what was going on.

"We're in a limbo, Keiyuu-kun. You're dying and I came to try and prevent that from happening..."

Keiyuu frowned at that, not remembering what was the cause of his current situation. But in a minute, everything came rushing back to him, making him gasp in shock.

"Oh no, Taizo!!" He said, looking scared.

"He's fine, Keiyuu, that insane stunt of yours actually worked. But he's heartbroken for you right now." Mai said, looking very sad about how the older guitarist looked as he took Keiyuu's unmoving body into his arms.

"I-I... I can't face him, Mai, not after what I've done to him! He'll hate me, I know he will!" Keiyuu said in a shaking voice and tried to hug Mai only for the ex-guitarist to step back from him. Keiyuu looked hurtfully at Mai who looked even sadder.

"If you touch me, Keiyuu, I won't have any chance but to take you with me, causing your death. That's the last thing I would ever want. And Taizo-san forgave you, I promise everything will be okay once you manage to get back into your body."

~Meanwhile in the real world~

"Yasuno, calm down, if we want to save Keiyuu, we need to stay calm! Taizo, we'll tell you when Keiyuu's safe and sound, okay?" Yuura said as he rubbed Taizo's back, trying to soothe the younger man and also to make the air less tense.

"I never wanted this for any of you..." Taizo whispered, tears running down his face unbidden.

"We know, Taizo, we know that very well." The bassist said gently and then, turned to Latias who was watching the scene unfold with tears in her eyes.

"What do we do to bring him back, Latias-san, and don't you dare fool us again or you will pay for it!"

~Meanwhile with Sakito~

After Eevee used Bite and successfully weakened Yune's Ferrothorn, the ex-drummer growled in frustration and ordered his Ferrothorn to use Power Whip once again so that the Evolution Pokémon would faint in one swift hit.

"No!! Eevee, please, you're Yomi's only hope right now, don't you dare faint like that!!" Sakito exclaimed, trying not to panic.

"Eevee~!!" The Evolution Pokémon nodded as he dodged the Thorn Pod Pokémon's attack by mere inches and then, before Sakito could say anything, Eevee used another Bite attack and managed to knock Yune's Pokémon out.

"You-- How?!" The other man growled angrily as Sakito came closer to him with danger in his eyes.

"If you don't tell me what to do right now, you'll be wishing Darkrai got to you first instead of me!" The guitarist growled and Yune gulped, not knowing whether he was bluffing or not.

"Well?! I do not have all day here, Yomi needs me!"

"Y-you need to find the seal of the spirit of the S-Sphere! O-only someone w-with pure w-willpower can bring the spirit out of him now!" Yune stuttered, looking scared at the look in Sakito's eyes.

"Good. Now you'd better stay out of our way or I won't hesitate to kill you if I need it!"

With that, Sakito gently took Eevee into his arms and petted his back, avoiding the slight wounds on his body because of the tough fight he'd been in.

"Come on, Eevee, let's go and save Yomi now."

~Meanwhile with Kra~

"You cannot do it alone. We will have to summon another Legendary Pokémon. I know he'll be happy to help you." Latias whispered, swallowing in nervousness.

"Then what the hell are we waiting for?! Let's summon whoever we need to bring Keiyuu-kun back!" Said Yasuno, still glaring right at the Eon duo with mistrust.

"B-but--"

"No buts!! You brought Keiyuu into this mess and you will take him out of it!!" Taizo yelled while still crying. He didn't know what had happened to their sweet vocalist and how they could fix it. At his words though, Latios chuckled.

"Funny, that is what your beloved friend said when he thought I had managed to kill you." The blue Eon Pokémon said, smirking at the guitarist's anguish. At that, Taizo's eyes widened.

"What?!"

~Meanwhile with Keiyuu~

"B-but Mai... What if he doesn't f-forgive me?! I mean, it was my fault that he got hurt! My death would be better for h--"

"I did not die just so you can follow me, Keiyuu!!" Mai suddenly yelled, looking very angry at the vocalist who flinched in surprise. At that, Mai softened, looking worried.

"I know it hurts, Keiyuu, but you have to hold on. For Kra at least, you care about the others, don't you?"

Just as Mai stepped back, Keiyuu suddenly yelled in pain, making the guitarist immediately turn back and ask what happened.

"I-I don't know!! It hurts, Ma-Mai-cho!! I can't de-deal with this p-pain!! It's gonna kill me anyways!!"

"Don't let go, Keiyuu! Don't let go of your body!! Oh, how I wish I could touch you!" Mai said urgently, now understanding what was hurting the vocalist. He was fatally injured but he was still trying to unconsciously hold onto his body even though it hurt like crazy.

~Meanwhile in the real world~

After Taizo whispered that, Latias flinched again, knowing how much Keiyuu had cared about his friends and how much he'd wanted to see Taizo up and about once again. Then, she cleared her throat and said;

"I will try to summon Celebi but it will be hard to do so..."

"I-I'll do anything, please get him back to u--"

Just as Taizo was going to finish his sentence, a bright light interrupted the conversation and from it, a big, pink Pokémon came out.

"P-Palkia?!"

Everyone stared at the shocked Latias and Latios and the giant, pink Pokémon that had just arrived, disbelieving and slightly afraid.

"Celebi cannot come right now. Thank Darkrai for that." The Spatial Pokémon said, making Latias gasp and the others pale except for Latios who smirked.

"Why?! What happened?!" Latias asked frantically, worried that if they didn't close the wound soon enough, Keiyuu would die.

"Darkrai has the Time Flute, he now can control Celebi however he wants, unfortunately."

"WHAT?! But if his body gets cold, he will die! How can we save him if Celebi is being controlled by that beast!!" Latias exclaimed, wide eyed with fear for the vocalist.

"Then what do we do?! Keiyuu is dying here, we need to do something!!" Yuura exclaimed, starting to be very afraid that they would indeed lose Keiyuu.

"I will help you in his place. But beware, it might take away something he cherishes for a short amount of time." Palkia said, looking at Taizo and the unbreathing vocalist inside of his arms.

"J-just save him! Please, do whatever you want but just save him..." Taizo whispered, his tears flowing down onto the vocalist's body. Palkia only nodded and then said;

"Then close his eyes, if not, what I will do may very well not work."

Taizo closed Keiyuu's unseeing eyes, trying to keep his sobs in as Yasuno and Yuura crowded around them, both scared for Keiyuu and Taizo both, knowing if they lost the singer, they would definitely lose Taizo as well, despite having collected and brought back all his soul.

The Spatial Pokémon brought his palms onto the wound Keiyuu had and felt for something at first.

"W-what are you doing?!" Yasuno asked, trying not to give into his fears of losing Keiyuu.

"Good, the attack has barely missed his heart. If it had not, there would be no saving him." Palkia said calmly before charging his hands up and placing them right above the wound. Yuura closed his eyes and sighed in relief at the news for a moment along with Latias as Latios frowned, hopeful that they would bring their sweet vocalist back.

~Meanwhile with Mai and Keiyuu~

Keiyuu started to scream louder in pain, making Mai come close to crying with the need to soothe his friend somehow.

"It'll be okay, Keiyuu, just don't let go, alright!? Think of the rest of our band, they would be destroyed if you died like this!"

"M-Mai!! P-please don't le-leave me!!" Keiyuu managed to get out, curling up into a ball near the ghost of his older friend.

"Of course not, Keiyuu, I'll always be with you, in your heart that is. As long as you remember me, I will never go away, I promise." Mai said quietly. He really didn't want to leave his best friends, his family but he did not belong to the world of the living anymore. That was then, Keiyuu screamed again and started to fall apart little by little.

"Oh no... Keiyuu!!"

~Meanwhile with Emile~

"Yeah, we can't let him down like that." Said Jon quietly. He felt guilty for being easily kidnapped by Darkrai's minions. Just as he said that, Tim came back into the room from the room they had placed the younger gamer, panicked.

"Emile's gone!!"

"WHAT?!"

"That was what I was fearing..." Said Cyrus, frowning as Jon, Tim and Robin turned to him with questioning looks, all worried about Emile.

"What do you mean?!" Jon asked, very scared about his friend.

"This means, if we don't catch up to him soon enough, the Dread Plate will destroy the free-will of Emile, making him a mindless drone of Darkrai since I am pretty sure it's the one who placed it into him."

"WHAT?!" Screamed both Jon and Tim at the same time, shocked and pale.

"We need to get to him and fast. But beware, Darkrai will probably make him see something different than what really is happening so he might attack you instead. Do you still want to try to get to him?"

At that, both of the gamers looked at Cyrus with deadpan looks, ready to take on any challenge to bring Emile back to them safely.

~Meanwhile with Kra~

As Palkia held his charged hands on Keiyuu's fatal wound, it started to shine and cause Keiyuu's body to shake uncontrollably, making it hard for Taizo to hold onto.

"What is happening?!" Yelled Taizo as he tightened his hold on the younger's body, trying not to let it fall down. But as he said that, he happened to look down onto the vocalist and he saw that even though incredibly slowly, the deadly wound was starting to close.

"Be with him now. He needs his friends close so he does not end up as what happened to you." Said Latias quietly, making Yasuno and Yuura look at eachother and scoot even closer to the two of them, fearing that Keiyuu might break just like Taizo had.

After a long moment, Keiyuu's wound got even smaller under Palkia's charged, strong hands and right when it was about to close, Keiyuu's eyes snapped open and he let out an inhuman scream before fainting again. When he was screaming though, his eyes were full of a white light, scaring the three very badly.

"Keiyuu!! Keiyuu, please, answer me!! Please be okay!!" Taizo said, tears in his voice as he tried very hard to keep himself in check so he wouldn't drop the young man's body from his safe arms.

"He's gonna be okay, right?" Asked Yuura, scared for the younger man's safety. But then, Yasuno realized something that relieved him very big time.

"Hey, he's breathing again! That's a good sign, right?!"

"Yes. But he needs a lot of rest and he will lose his voice for about two or so days." Said Latios, smirking evilly as he knew that Keiyuu was a vocalist and he needed his voice.

"Oh God..." Yasuno muttered, knowing well how Keiyuu would react to such a thing.

"He's gonna be okay, though. We're gonna make sure of that, okay, guys?" Yuura said softly, concerned about all of his friends. Yasuno seemed to be still enraged and distrustful towards Latias and her brother and Taizo seemed to be too shaken about what had happened to Keiyuu. And Keiyuu... The bassist hoped what he said was true, that Keiyuu would come back to them in time.

"Y-you sure??" Asked Taizo in a weak, pained voice that made Yasuno flinch, thinking back at what he had seen in the younger man's soul shard. Yuura smiled and nodded, not totally unaware of their drummer's reaction to Taizo's words. He made a mental note to ask what was wrong later to the drummer.

"Of course, you know Keiyuu, he wouldn't just abandon us. Not like that, at least."

While he said that, Mai suddenly re-appeared close to them. Seeing that, Taizo's eyes widened in shock.

"M-Mai-san?! What the hell?!" The older guitarist stammered, not knowing what had happened so that the young, dead guitarist would suddenly appear in front of them. But Mai didn't answer, instead, he looked at the unconscious and definitely breathing Keiyuu and sighed in relief.

"Good, he's okay... And don't you remember, Taizo-san? I came here so you wouldn't follow my footsteps into death." Mai said, smiling in relief. Taizo frowned at that, not able to remember what had happened to him.

"You may remember later. Well, I have to go now."

When Mai said those words, Yuura and Yasuno looked even more distraught, knowing this would be the last time they would ever see the ex-guitarist. Taizo on the other hand, looked really confused, not knowing how Mai was there and why. But just as he was going to ask more, Keiyuu groaned silently, making all of them turn to the young man, hoping that he was awake now. But it wasn't the case, Keiyuu was still very much unconscious.

"Keiyuu? Are you okay?" Yuura whispered, still hoping for a reaction. But the vocalist stayed still and silent, not responding to his friends' presence.

"He is going to be okay. The danger has passed, you only need to let him rest." Said Palkia, making Yuura breathe a sigh of relief along with the other three.

"Thank goodness for that..." Said Yasuno quietly, very relieved that Keiyuu would live through his dangerous stunt.

~Meanwhile with Jon and Tim~

"How do we find Emile now?! Is he gonna be okay when we find him and take that Plate thingy out?" Asked Tim, really concerned about his older friend. Cyrus shook his head, trying not to scare the two of them more.

"Well?! We need to find Emile now, before he's completely taken by that cruel beast!" Jon said, frowning at the psychic's silence.

"We'll have to track him via the Dread Plate's signature aura. It will not be easy and when we find him, I doubt he'll be very happy to see you since Darkrai can show him anything he wants to show right now..."

"We're gonna find him and that dumbass will be happy to have been saved by us, god dammit!"

~Meanwhile with Ruka, Hitsugi and Ni~ya~

"We need to get to the throne room and fast! Yomi's life depends on us right now!" Said Hitsugi, worried while Ni~ya helped Ruka's Gengar with the Revive he had found while searching for his friends.

"Hai, we need to bring that dangerous spirit out of him before it damages Jun more than it already has! Come on, ikou ze!" Ni~ya said and just as he said that, another door opened and from there, Sakito came out with Eevee in his arms.

"Guys!! I found the way to expel that thing out of Yomi, we should get to him and now!" The slender guitarist said, urgent.

"Great, now, let's go before something bad happens."

When he said that, Ni~ya happened to look at Ruka's pocket and saw that there was something in there.

"What's in your pocket, Satoru-kun?"

At that, Ruka smiled and took out the empty seal of the Sphere of Death, making Sakito and the others gasp in surprise.

"Where'd you find that?!"

~Meanwhile with Kra~

That was then, Mai smiled as well, knowing that Keiyuu was in safe hands now and he would be okay when the guitarist finally found peace.

"Mai, can't you stay at least a little longer?! I know you're dead but... But we'll miss you, please!" Said Yasuno, trying to keep his tears in. At that, the smile on Mai's face dropped and he averted his eyes.

"I... I can't... I'm sorry, Yasuno-kun, but I don't belong in the world of living anymore, staying here hurts me now..."

At that, Taizo winced, thinking that it was his fault that the younger man was not able to stay anymore. Seeing that, Mai came closer to the guitarist and asked him to look up. When he did, he saw Mai smiling gently at him.

"You need to stop blaming yourself for what happened, Taizo-san. It was my own choice that I died. I was not at all happy with being a peon of Darkrai, it was awful. In a way, it saved me, to be honest. I'm at peace now and so you should be as well. Farewell, my family, I will live on in your hearts as long as you remember me." Said Mai before the colorful portal he had come out of re-opened and he stepped onto it, entering the afterlife.

After Mai was gone, much to the rest of their grief, Yasuno helped Taizo to get up and supported him since the guitarist was still weak from everything that had happened to him in the span of four days. Meanwhile, Yuura gently took Keiyuu's unconscious body into his arms and followed Yasuno and Taizo quietly.

"He's gonna be fine, right?" The guitarist whispered quietly, not able to tear his eyes apart from the youngest's peacefully sleeping form.

"Of course he will, Taizo-kun, you know Keiyuu, he cares too much for us to leave us like that." Yuura said softly, not wanting to disturb Keiyuu's hopefully repairing sleep.

"What the hell happened to me that he thought suicide would help?!" The guitarist asked then and immediately, Yuura shuddered, remembering how he had found the younger man nearly dead. Seeing how Yuura wasn't about to be able to talk about the matter, Yasuno piped up quietly.

"What do you remember, Taizo?"

"I... I remember Latios-san bringing me into an abandoned building and telling me to wait there for something but then, only a sharp pain and I remember that you, Yuura-kun, were there, telling me to hold on and then... Nothing... So, please tell me what happened so that Keiyuu almost killed himself!" The guitarist said, very worried.

"It's... It's been four days since I f-found you there, Taizo... Latios-san managed to rip off and break your soul, it was hell to see you so pale and unresponsive..." Yuura said, his eyes filling with tears at the reminder. At that, Taizo's eyes widened in shock and he immediately went over to Yuura, enveloping him in a comforting hug.

~Meanwhile in Darkrai's fortress~

"Trust me, you don't want to know. Now let's go before Jun's hurt even worse." Said Ruka curtly, beginning to walk even though he was quite weakened.

"Gengar, Gen, Gengar!" The Shadow Pokémon muttered, going after her stubborn partner as the rest of the Nightmare members looked at eachother with exasperation and followed the drummer.

And when they reached the throne room, they saw Yomi's possessed body glaring at them, obviously ready to kill anyone who dared to get closer to the vocalist. He also had a dark, menacing aura surrounding him, scaring all of his friends that it was already too late.

"Jun!! It'll be okay, I promise, just come back to us!!" Hitsugi said, trying not to cry, knowing what could happen to the older man if they didn't do something soon enough.

"It's no use, Yomi doesn't have his soul in him, remember?!" Said Sakito, worried and trying to come up with a way to get to his friend. That was then, Ruka growled as Chelsea got into the room with the jar that had Yomi's soul inside. The drummer didn't hesitate on what he was doing and just jumped on top of the younger man, making everyone gasp in shock. And surprisingly, the Sphere of Death was drawn to the drummer, seemingly possessing him.

That shocked Chelsea so much that she accidentally dropped the jar in her arms and Yomi's spirit immediately went into his body, making him gasp out and return to his normal self.

"Satoru!!" The vocalist screamed, trying to see his face.

~Meanwhile with Kra~

"It's alright, Yuura, you can tell me anything, you should know that by now." Taizo said, trying to comfort the distressed bassist. The said bassist nodded, trying to calm himself since he now knew that Taizo was alright and so would Keiyuu be after a while of resting.

"I'll get you a drink if you want, Taizo-kun." Yasuno said, smiling slightly. That was then, the guitarist realized how thirsty he was.

"That'd be great, thanks, Yasuno-kun." He said, smiling back at the older man. Yasuno nodded and got out of the room, hoping that the guitarist wouldn't notice his limping. But Taizo did notice and made a mental note to ask what was going on with that.

"I'll go after him, he might need something..." Said Yuura softly, knowing that Keiyuu was bound to awaken soon and that Yasuno actually did need help thanks to his back injury. Taizo frowned but didn't object, knowing Yuura probably had a reason for going after Yasuno. Just as he went after the drummer, Keiyuu gave a silent groan and opened his eyes.

"Keiyuu!! Oh yokatta..." Taizo said, his eyes filling with tears. At his voice, Keiyuu's head snapped towards him, shocked. But when he tried to say something, no voice came out of his mouth. But then, he thought; 'To Hell with that!' and hugged Taizo tight, his tears of happiness flowing. He said Taizo's name over and over again, despite not being able to talk.

"Keiyuu, it's okay now. I'm okay." The guitarist gently rubbed the younger man's back, carefully avoiding the small scar that was left from his wound. That was then, Yasuno and Yuura came back with the former carrying a tray of juice.

"So you're finally awake..." Yasuno muttered after seeing Keiyuu, all of a sudden cold towards the singer.

Keiyuu stared in confusion at the drummer, not understanding why he was so cold to him all of a sudden. But when he tried to say something, his voice would not work, making him feel panicked. He held his throat, trying to understand why he couldn't talk. Seeing this, Yuura immediately came to the scared vocalist and gave him a notebook and pen, knowing the younger man was very confused.

"It's alright, Keiyuu. Don't be scared, okay?" The bassist said softly while looking at the oddly unaffected Yasuno out of the corner of his eye. He knew why Yasuno might be acting like this but he needed confirmation first.

The first thing Keiyuu wrote didn't surprise any of them. It was;

"What happened to my voice?!".

"We had to save you with the help of a Legendary Pokémon. He said it would return in two or so days, don't worry, Keiyuu-kun, you're gonna be alright." Said Yuura kindly, looking very relieved that the vocalist was up and about after almost dying.

Keiyuu sighed in relief at the news, thankful that he hadn't lost his voice forever. Then he immediately started writing again, making both Taizo and Yuura curious while Yasuno turned away from the youngest to hide his tears of relief. Then, the vocalist turned the notebook to the surprised Taizo, looking slightly shy. When the guitarist read the words that were there though, he shook his head in disbelief.

"I'm okay, Keiyuu, but I am a bit mad at you, to be honest." The older man said, disbelieving at Keiyuu's worry. That made the vocalist's face fall in concern, not understanding why his friends were suddenly mad at him like this.

~Meanwhile in Darkrai's fortress~

"Satoru, look at me! Oh please don't be possessed!" Yomi said, tears in his voice as the dark purple aura around the drummer slowly disappeared.

"Ruka?" Asked Ni~ya cautiously when the oldest didn't answer Yomi, hoping that Ruka hadn't done something that had ultimately ended him. Meanwhile, Eevee came out from where he was hiding behind Hitsugi's legs, eyes full of worry.

"Eevee! You're alright! Yokatta!" Yomi exclaimed before gasping in shock at the wounds the Evolution Pokémon sported.

"What happened to you?!"

"Eevee, Ee, Eevee~!" The Pokémon cried and threw himself into the arms of his finally sane trainer, making the other three smile a little as Ruka slowly raised his head, making them snap back to the drummer with worry.

"Satoru-kun? Are you alright??" Asked Hitsugi with his voice trembling. The older man only managed to nod before falling unconscious, making Yomi barely manage to hold his falling body.

"Ruka!! Ruka, mezamete yo!!" Yomi yelled, shaking the unconscious body of his friend. But try as he might, he could not wake Ruka up, the drummer being simply too exhausted to be able to.

"Yomi, are you alright?!" Asked Sakito as Ni~ya gently took Ruka onto his back to return to the hospital so they could recuperate. Especially Yomi.

"I... I think so, Sakito-kun..." Yomi whispered, trying not to cry at the state of his friends. They all looked so battered and hurt. And his beloved Eevee, he looked like he had been through hell to get his trainer back.

"Then everything is fi--" The lead guitarist started to say only to stop when Darkrai himself appeared right in front of them along with Zannin who was smirking in satisfaction. Yomi gasped in worry, thinking that they wouldn't have much of a chance to get through this.

"You think you are going to escape, are you not? I shall not let it though, you are not leaving here." The Pitch Black Pokémon said quietly, his eyes narrowed. At that, Ni~ya growled in anger and sent out his Gyarados, ready to defend his friends with his life.

Seeing the evolved Pokémon of the bassist, Yomi's eyes widened in shock, not knowing where the big, bright red Atrocious Pokémon had come from.

"Wh-What the hell?!"

~Meanwhile with Kiro~

"So what else do we need to get Shin back to normal?" Asked Strify. Shin tried not to be annoyed at the singer's word choice, after all, he and his friends had gone to such big dangers just to keep him safe.

"We only need two more things. But the thing is... It's gonna be hell to get both of them..."

"What do you mean? Why would it be hell, Hannes?" Kiro asked worriedly as Shin frowned slightly, knowing that he was not going to be able to get away from them now that a strong chance to weaken him had appeared. At Kiro's question, Hannes gave him the list of what they needed to get together to make the cure. Upon reading the last ingredient, Kiro gasped in shock.

"Oh no..."

"Yeah, exactly what we said, Karsten." Said Romeo even though he was still kind of scared that Kiro would be still mad at him.

"Plusle, Plus, Plusle?!" The Cheering Pokémon exclaimed after she glimpsed the item on the list. She knew that it would be very hard to get blood out of Shin in his current state and was worried like her trainer.

"What? What is it, you guys?!"

~Meanwhile with Jon and Tim~

"Okay, do you have anything that Emile has touched with you?" Asked Cyrus, ready to help the two young men. Tim nodded, taking out a shirt from his bag which he had managed to recover from Darkrai's castle before they had brought Jon and him into the cells.

"It's his. I was bringing it back to him when Darkrai's henchmen abducted us so suddenly."

Cyrus nodded and took the shirt out of the gamer's hands and closed his eyes, focusing on the possessed gamer's aura. It took him a few moments to re-open his eyes. Upon looking up, the psychic saw that Jon, Tim and Robin were looking at him with expectations.

"This way. Let's go before something bad happens to your friend."

~Meanwhile with Kra~

Keiyuu tried to say something again but his voice just wouldn't work, making him very frustrated. So instead, he turned to the notebook and quickly scribbled something.

"Why? Why's everyone so mad at me all of a sudden?!"

"Keiyuu, you died for a moment there, of course we aren't happy with you!!" Said Taizo upon reading what the younger man had written.

"Not to mention you didn't even give us a chance to object, to say something that would freaking stop you from killing yourself!! You can't not expect us to be mad at you after that!!" Yasuno yelled, tears in his eyes at the reminder of the horrible moment of Keiyuu's chest getting blown up.

At that, Keiyuu's eyes widened and then, he tried to get up, knowing that Yasuno needed to feel him close now but Yuura and Taizo didn't let him get up, remembering the words of Latios about how the singer actually needed a lot of rest.

That was then, Latias came into the room in her human form, hoping that the rest of the band weren't as mad at her for not telling about the blood part of the saving mission they were on. Seeing that, Yasuno wouldn't let her though.

"You're not coming anywhere close to my friends ever again!!"

"Who's that, Yasuno-kun? She's just a child, just let her in." Taizo said, frowning in confusion at the drummer's actions. At seeing who Yasuno wasn't letting into the room, Keiyuu's eyes widened in surprise.

The vocalist immediately tried to get up again only to be stopped once more by Taizo. While Keiyuu tried to tell the older man who the girl was, Yuura went near Yasuno, trying to calm the angry drummer down and let Latias in.

"I think we should let her in, Yasuno-kun. She wouldn't dare do anything to us." The bassist said looking at the young girl that was Latias' human form with slight suspicion.

"O-of course not! I-I never--"

"Usotsuki!!" Yasuno snarled at the Eon Pokémon as she managed to pass by him.

"O-kay... You need to explain what the hell is going on like right now." Taizo said, looking very confused along with Keiyuu.

~Meanwhile in Darkrai's fortress~

"Gyarados, use Hydro Pump on him!!" Ni~ya growled, not minding Yomi's obvious surprise. The Atrocious Pokémon cried out and immediately sent out a powerful blast of water at Darkrai who merely teleported away and let Zannin take the hit and slam into the previously broken pillar and cripple down to the ground. Not that any of them cared about what would happen to the ex-drummer.

"You will put up a fight then?" Darkrai whispered ominously, glowering.

"You're not taking Yomi in any way!! He's too good for the likes of you!!" Hitsugi exclaimed bravely, making Yomi's eyes widen even more at the boldness of normally soft-spoken Hitsugi.

"Come on, Meowth, let's show him what happens when he tries to hurt one of us!"

"Go, Gengar, we need to get out quickly!" Sakito said while Ni~ya just took Yomi behind gently, knowing that the singer was actually exhausted from having his body possessed by a dangerous spirit for who knew how long. And when Eevee tried to go to the battle, Gengar gently took the Evolution Pokémon back to his trainer, softly chattering to him.

"Gen, Gengar, Gen."

"Eevee??" The Evolution Pokémon chattered back, looking confused as the Shadow Pokémon got ready to defend her friends and human partner.

~Meanwhile with Emile's mind~

Emile was playing a game with Jon and Tim, laughing when Jon's character fell into the empty space beneath him.

"Shut up, Emile..." The older gamer said, looking annoyed. Emile just snickered and nodded. But as they continued playing, he felt the need to go out to get some more snacks.

"I'll be right back, guys."

~Meanwhile with Kra~

"Okay, I'll do that then. Taizo-kun, this is actually Latias-san, the red Pokémon you saw when Keiyuu was... Unconscious. She was the one to help us when your soul was broken." Yuura said, slightly shaky at the reminder of what had happened. Taizo's eyes widened in surprise and just as he was going to ask the Eon Pokémon about what she was still doing there, Yasuno angrily glared at the young-looking Latias.

"She did NOT help!! If she helped us, she would've told us what could've happened in the end!!" Yasuno said as Latias flinched at that.

Keiyuu almost facepalmed at Yasuno's words, seeing how it affected the gentle Eon Pokémon. He knew that Latias had no fault in what he had done. Then he started scribbling something in the notebook, hoping he could make Yasuno talk to him at the very least.

"Yasuno, you need to calm down." Yuura muttered, frowning at the drummer's anger at Latias. Then the bassist turned to the hurt Eon Pokémon.

"Why didn't you tell us that blood needed to be spilled, Latias-san?" He asked, trying to be gentle but even he couldn't keep his annoyance out of his tone.

"Yeah, if you'd told us, we would've at least been able to stop the idiot from what he did!"

Keiyuu threw an annoyed glare at Yasuno at those words, not appreciating his word choice. But the drummer didn't even look his way, still mad at the smaller man. That made Keiyuu sigh in annoyance and silently asked Yuura to bring the notebook to Yasuno with hand motions. The bassist smiled and nodded, giving the still annoyed Yasuno the notebook with Keiyuu's message.

"Yasuno-kun, it was my own choice that I almost died, stop blaming her and talk to me, will you?!. Keiyuu, do you even realize what could've happened to us if you died?!" Yasuno said, glaring at the singer but Keiyuu shook his head, a bit annoyed at the older man.

~Meanwhile with Jon and Tim~

After they departed to find Emile, the four of them all thought the situation was bad. Espeically Tim. He felt scared that their cheerful, nice friend could turn into a heartless, mindless monster in the hands of Darkrai.

"Tim, we'll find him." Said Jon gently, knowing what the younger man was thinking easily.

"Are you sure?.." Tim whispered, his eyes filling with tears at the thought of Emile falling after everything the gamer had faced to save them.

"Of course. We're gonna find him and as soon as we save him, he'll probably make one of his stupid puns and brush it off."

At that, Tim smiled a little, thinking of how many puns Emile would've done if he was with them. Unbeknownst to him though, Jon took a deep breathe, having managed to hide his own insecurity at the matter from Tim. But that didn't mean he wasn't scared for the younger gamer's sake.

~Meanwhile with Kra~

Right after Yasuno said that, however, Taizo turned to Latias curiously. He wanted to know why the Eon Pokémon had come to them even after both him and Keiyuu was mostly okay.

"So, why are you here, Latias-san? Is there something wrong?"

At that, Latias looked down, not knowing if the thing she would want from them was really fair. But thinking about it, she didn't really have much of a choice.

"Yes, it is about Celebi, Darkrai is controlling him and I just have received a distress message from him. Darkrai is keeping him in his fortress and as much as I want to help him, no matter what attack I send Darkrai, it will not work as he is immune to both my and Latios' attacks due to his typing..."

At her words, everyone gasped in shock except for Yasuno who frowned as well, not happy that he would have to help Latias after her hiding the final ingredient for Taizo's broken soul. But even though he didn't want to help her, the drummer knew that he would have to help Celebi for the sheer conscience matters.

"Then let's go. But... Taizo, can you stay here with Keiyuu? I don't want either of you to be more damaged. Me and Yuura can handle it, right, Yuura-kun?" Yasuno said as the bassist's eyes widened in shock. He knew that Yasuno was still injured and needed rest as well. And Keiyuu seemed to think the same because he furiously started to write something on his notebook. But without waiting, Yasuno turned around and left the room.

"Yasuno!! Chotto matte yo!!" Yuura yelled as he ran after him and Keiyuu facepalmed.

~Meanwhile in Darkrai's fortress~

Darkrai chuckled slightly as he surveyed the shocked Yomi and Ni~ya who was smiling at the younger man's surprise. At that, Sakito, Hitsugi and Ni~ya glared bravely at the Pitch Black Pokémon, all angry at the nerve of his.

"Let's just say a lot of things happened while you... Weren't there, Yomi-kun. Now, let's just kick this bastard's ass and go, okay?" Said Hitsugi gently, knowing that Yomi was also tired just like their unconscious drummer.

"Meowth, use Slash!"

The Scratch Cat Pokémon nodded and exctracted his claws. They shone white briefly before he slashed at Darkrai. Then, the others started to attack and Darkrai was soon overwhelmed by the sheer ferocity of them and had to give up Yomi.

But after the Nightmare members went away, Darkrai smirked as he called Emile forth while he opened a portal to where Yuura and Yasuno were.

"Launch the project, I want him to be the second test subject." He said, pointing at Yuura who was struggling to reach Yasuno.

~Meanwhile with Yasuno and Yuura~

"Yasuno! Wait up, will you?!" Yuura yelled as he saw the drummer pause when he was going through the hospital's main gate. He stumbled slightly and managed to get beside the older man.

"Yasuno, what the hell are you thinking, you're still injured!!"

"I just wanted to be away from them, you know. If I didn't, I was afraid I'd blow up or something... Come on, let's go and help this poor Pokémon, okay?" Yasuno said softly, looking down. Yuura sighed and nodded, gently putting an arm around Yasuno's shoulders to support him but the other man just shrugged him off, making the bassist sigh in irritation.

~Meanwhile with Alice Nine~

Just as Shou was about to say something, they saw the Nightmare members come through the doors with Ruka unconscious and the rest very battered.

"Are you guys alright?!" Asked Saga worriedly as Bela took Ruka from Ni~ya's back.

"I think so. We weren't damaged that much, I think Ruka is only exhausted but other than that, we're fine. Thankfully..." Hitsugi said as Yomi slowly dragged himself onto a chair, looking very drained.

"What happened there, Yomi-san? Are you okay?" Asked Hiroto gently, really concerned about the older man. Yomi smiled slightly, thankful for the support the guitarist and his own band was giving him.

"They managed to rip his soul out!" Growled Ni~ya, eyes narrowing as he remembered the vocalist's state when they came into the throne room of Darkrai's castle. The rest of them gasped as Yomi flinched a little, remembering the threat of Zannin right before he'd ripped his soul out.

~Meanwhile with Kyo~

"What happened when I was out?" Asked Kyo with confusion, surprised that Kaoru was so shaken. That was then, Toshiya came in, looking both tired and sad. Kyo's eyes widened at the state of his bandmates. They were in a horrible shape and the vocalist understood that it was because of the life danger he had been in.

"Kyo!?" The bassist whispered, looking like he didn't know if he should believe what he was seeing. Kyo smiled slightly to assure him of his well-being.

~Meanwhile with Keiyuu and Taizo~

"What's up with him??" Taizo said as Keiyuu shook his head and finished what he was writing and gave it to the guitarist, all the while mouthing something under his breath. When he read the words that were there though, Taizo's eyes widened.

"What the hell do you mean Yasuno-kun was injured?!" The guitarist demanded immediately, shocked.

"Yes, Yasuno was very reckless while he was doing his own part on saving you, actually. He went into a wild Pokémon nest with nothing to protect himself..."

"NANI?!" Taizo yelled, his eyes wide as plates. Keiyuu nodded with a deadpan expression on his face. Taizo facepalmed when he realized the reason that Yasuno went out so quickly was to not let him know that the drummer was injured.

~Meanwhile with Yasuno and Yuura~

Yasuno and Yuura made it into the gardens of Darkrai's fortress, ready to save Celebi's life. When they managed to get into the main part, they saw something very surprising. It was an injured Pokémon and they both ran to it, thinking it was Celebi. But upon getting close to it, they saw that it was not a Legendary Pokémon like they had thought. And one of the bird-like Pokémon's wings was injured and seemed to be broken. It had a red body and green-yellow, mask like face with a few tufts of orange hair up on its head. As soon as it saw them, the Pokémon cried out in need of help.

"We should help it." Said Yuura gently and Yasuno turned to him with a raised eyebrow of surprise.

"But if we stay too long here, Darkrai will probably hurt Celebi-san even more."

"I don't know why but I feel like we should help her..."

Just as Yuura said that, a quiet voice whispered;

"Delcatty, use Thunderbolt."

Just as they were going to turn around, the Electric type attack hit Yasuno right on the previous wound from the Mandibuzz attack. Yasuno screamed and fell to his knees in pain.

"Yasuno-kun!!" Yuura yelled, catching the drummer before whirling around to see who had attacked them.

There was no one in the immediate facility but the hurt Pokémon they had found cried out, looking like she knew where the attack had come from.

"Haw, Hawlucha!" The Pokémon cried and with much difficulty, raised her broken wing, looking like she was in much pain and directed Yuura in the way of the attacker. When he went there, however, the attacker was gone.

"Damn it!!" Yuura muttered and went right back to Yasuno's side, trying to see if there was any lasting damage.

"Y-Yuura? Did you find anything??"

"No, the bastard seems to have vanished or something. Are you alright?! Come on, let me help you up." The younger man said gently, giving Yasuno a hand and pulling him up. Yasuno nodded, swallowing slightly to recompose himself and then, he turned to the hurt Pokémon and said;

"We should bring her away from here if we want to keep her, for now, can you hide somewhere?" The drummer asked the Pokémon and she weakly nodded and dragged herself into a shady corner of the gardens, hopefully away from more damage. Yuura smiled and then, he supported Yasuno who wasn't very happy about the fact that he did need supporting now and they went into the castle, unaware of the malicious eyes following them.

~Meanwhile in Emile's mind~

"Guys! Hide behind me!" Emile yelled as four dangerous looking men approached them after they had blasted the room they were playing games in.

"B-but what about you?!" Tim said, obviously very opposed to the idea. But Emile just took the protesting duo behind him as he looked uncertainly at the threat.

"You will not stop us from taking them." The man in front said, looking very determined.

"Over my dead body!!!"

~Meanwhile in the real world~

"Emile, stop fighting us! It's me, Tim!" Tim yelled as he barely managed to dodge a strong punch to the stomach. He didn't know what had happened to the kind, loving Emile but he hoped that they could bring the gamer back soon before he could be destroyed.

While the chaos continued, Robin turned around only to see Yasuno and Yuura hiding in the corner of the room, waiting for an opening to get away and do whatever they'd come in there for.

That opportunity thankfully came faster than either of them had thought when Emile's punch managed to hit Tim and knocked all the air out of him and slamming into the nearest wall. They looked at eachother and made a stealthy run for it and managed to get into a very tidy, organized room with a familiar notebook on the bed and a girl crying over it. They both gasped in shock when they saw the notebook though, recognizing it immediately.

"Oh Kami-sama..."

When she heard Yasuno whisper that, the girl looked up with a tear stained face. Yasuno and Yuura slowly came closer to the bed, not wanting to upset the girl even more.

"Hi, can I ask you where you've got that notebook? Because I... I knew someone who had this very same notebook with him all the time before he... He died." Yuura said gently.

"It... It was my boyfriend's diary... Darkrai murdered him..." She whispered and looked on in bewilderment when both their eyes widened in a total shock.

"Was... Was your boyfriend's name Mai, by any chance??" Asked Yasuno, shock evident on his features and the tone of his voice. Their shock only deepened when the girl nodded and looked down again, trying to control her tears.

"We're Mai's friends but... He never told us about a girlfriend. Not that he got to stay with us for too long but... So, who are you?" Yuura asked softly.

"I'm Chelsea. And you are?" She asked, looking curious about them. At that, Yasuno and Yuura smiled gently.

"I'm Yasuno and this is Yuura, Mai was our bandmate and we loved him. Could we take his diary out of this horrid place when we go back to where we were before? I'm sure Mai wouldn't have wanted his diary to be in this horrid place." The drummer said, his eyes filling with tears as well at the thought of his departed friend.

~Meanwhile in the throne room~

"Tim! Are you alright?!" Jon asked as he barely managed to get out of the way of another swing of Emile's fist. Tim coughed and managed to get up, looking a little worse for the wear but obviously, he was not giving upon the older gamer, he simply cared too much for him.

"I-I'm fine, Jon!" He said as he staggered back to his feet and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

"We need to restrain him if we want any chance of bringing the Dread Plate out of him!" Cyrus said in alarm, knowing that if they didn't do it soon, Emile the two knew would be no more. Jon nodded at that and then, he just jumped on top of Emile and tried to restrain him on his own but the younger gamer was too strong for him at the moment, making Cyrus frown.

"I really wished I didn't have to do this but... Go, Golurk! Restrain him!" The psychic said, looking regretful as he sent the Automaton Pokémon.

"No!! That would crush him!!" Tim yelled but it was too late, under their shocked looks, the psychic's Pokémon punched Emile in the face, making him fall on his knees but obviously still fighting and then, Golurk brought the possessed gamer down on his stomach so that its master could perform his powers on him to bring the Dread Plate out of him.

But just as Cyrus started concentrating, Darkrai came into the view, frightening Jon, Tim and Robin. But Cyrus stayed bravely at his task, even when the Pitch Black Pokémon readied a Dark Pulse on his Golurk, a move that was super-effective on it. Golurk did not stand a chance at the sheer power of the legendary Pokémon and fainted. But not before getting off of the gamer's body.

"W-what do we do, Cy?!"

Cyrus didn't answer, too focused on Emile's now writhing body. That was then, Salamance came out and roared, thinking that Cyrus was the one to hurt her sweet new friend.

"He's trying to help your trainer, Salamance, But could you protect us from Darkrai right now??" Asked Robin worriedly. The Dragon Pokémon only took one very angry look at the Pitch Black Pokémon and started to attack Darkrai with a strong Flamethrower.

~Meanwhile with Yasuno and Yuura~

"How do I k-know you were Mai's friends?! You might be taking the only thing that stays from him to me to that vile Pokémon!" Chelsea said and that, angered Yasuno very big time.

"We would never do such a thing! If I could, I would murder that bastard myself!!" The drummer snapped angrily. Yuura stopped the angry drummer before he could say anything more and possibly hurting the young woman on the bed.

"Yeah, Darkrai, he murdered one of our best friends and caused two of our other friends to almost die as well. We will never forgive him. So, please, when we get out of this horrid place, we'd like to take Mai's diary and possibly you too, if you'd like." The bassist said softly, looking sad at the thought of their old guitarist. Chelsea's eyes widened at those words.

"W-why did you come in the first place? Is it anything I can help you with?? I... I'd like to help my love's friends..."

Yasuno was about to say something but Yuura stopped him once again.

"If you know anything about Celebi-san or the Time Flute, then yes, you could help us."

"T-Time Flute?! Are you crazy?! That thing is being protected at a very dangerous place!!" She gasped, paling as she said those words. At that, both Yasuno and Yuura frowned in confusion at the reaction.

"Where is it??"

"It's in the deepest part of this castle, no one dares to go near there, there's something... Strange about that place, it almost feels like hell itself!"

At that, Yasuno and Yuura looked at eachother with worried looks, not really knowing what to do until Yuura sighed softly.

"Then... Then we're gonna have to split up, Yasuno-kun."

"NANI?! Baka ja nai no!?" The drummer exclaimed, shocked at the words Yuura had said. At that, Chelsea stared uncomprehensibly at the taller man. Not that she wasn't shocked by the bassist's words. She never had thought that someone would be daring enough to go there alone.

"Look, We need to split up if we want to find Celebi-san, Yasuno! We can't stay together if we want to find both the Time Flute and that poor Pokémon, we need to split and search everywhere thoroughly and we don't have much time, you know what Keiyuu and Taizo would think if we don't go back in time, they'd come searching for us!"

"But still... I don't want that bastard to catch us off-guard... And besides, how in the world are we gonna communicate, Yuura?!"

"Through our cellphones of course, duh, Yasuno-kun."

~Meanwhile in the hospital~

"Just what was Yasuno even thinking, going in there on his own without any protection what-so-ever?!" Taizo exclaimed after he learned just what the drummer had done.

"Yeah, he was very reckless and worried about you." Latias said quietly. She now understood why the rest of them had wanted Taizo back so much. The guitarist was such a gentleman. Sweet and caring, so much that the Eon Pokémon felt like strangling her own brother for harming him like he had. At that, Keiyuu started writing again. He soon gave the notebook to Taizo, holding his hand.

"'As we all were.'. Thanks, you know, for helping them bring me back." Taizo said, smiling slightly.

"It was no problem for me." Latias said, smiling back and Keiyuu smiled as well, happy that the guitarist was alright.