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Two swords of light. One fateful encounter. A never ending darkness.
This is the story of a mythical quadruped meeting and joining forces with a hero of multiple worlds, in a quest to save darknened nightmare-filled worlds and retrieve missing lights.
Crossover of Pokémon and Kingdom Hearts, set between “Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance” and “Kingdom Hearts 3”, and between “Pokémon Black / White” and “Pokémon Ultra Sun / Ultra Moon”. Non-canon, but it still has many canon nods.
Rating Warning(s):
⦁ Mild Violence - Features many instances of cartoon and fantasy violence, especially Bloodless Carnage. No gore or blood to be found here.
♡ ⊱ Chapter 1: “Heartbreak” (work in progress)
~•~
A bright red mane.
A lush azure tail.
A noble horn.
Tell me. Who are you?
“Who am I? …Name’s Keldeo.”
What are you?
“I… dunno. I have no idea what my species is…”
Where are you?
“I’m… here, I guess. But I dunno where here is.”
Why are you?
“Why… am I?”
Why are you?
“That question doesn’t make sense!”
So much to learn. So little time. Go on, faller, and find the answers.
“Huh… faller? Wait a sec…”
Falling. Only now did Keldeo realize that he was falling. He attempted to slow down by firing his water jets, but for some reason he was feeling very lethargic and energyless, and only obtained some feeble twitches from his body.
Squinting his eyes, he noticed that he was slowly descending in what seemed to be a black void. Some bubbles were traveling along his skin, which made him think that he was sinking in some kind of liquid. What kind of liquid was that, however, was beyond his knowledge. He could breathe in, though. Maybe it was water, but couldn’t say for certain.
Suddenly, a warm glimmer started emanating from below him, snapping the colt out of his thoughts and prompting him to slowly open his eyes a bit more and to look at the source of that bright warmth.
What he saw was a circular pillar shining with an intense white light, which was quite the sight amidst the cold and limitless darkness. Several glassy mosaics adorned its sides and top, though Keldeo couldn’t figure out what was portrayed on them. He felt his descent starting to slow down and his body starting to take position for the landing, and he instinctively reached out for the platform with one of his front hooves, touching it and making the glass ding with a bell-like sound.
As soon as he did so, he landed on the platform on his four hooves before a small ripple surrounded him, causing something akin to shimmering water to start pouring from the pillar’s borders like a cascade.
The pony suddenly felt his full senses coming back to him and his tiredness vanishing as if washed away by the bright water, and began scrutinizing carefully the now dry surface, noticing a big mosaic of himself in the middle. It looked like he was in a deep and peaceful sleep, which made him very curious and prompted him to walk toward the center of the platform, causing many glassy dings to resound with each step. Among things he could make out about the mosaic was a large rock with three huge slashes on the background, as well as a luxuriant forest surrounding it, which prompted the pony to stop on top of the painting.
“Pledge Grove…” murmured Keldeo, before redirecting his gaze toward something else. He saw three rings close to the head of his painting, which portrayed the three Pokémon that have taken care of him for almost all his life: Virizion with a grassy field and some pink roses in the background, Terrakion with a dark cave and the distant silhouette of a castle behind him, and Cobalion enveloped in a blue aura with a steel-textured heart.
He couldn't help but smile at the sight of his mentors. They were essentially his surrogate parents, who helped him during his childhood by teaching him their techniques and all he needed to survive, and for that he was really grateful.
However, his joy was quickly replaced with puzzlement as he remembered where he was. The pony gazed frantically all around, noticing only nothingness, nothingness and even more nothingness.
He ran toward the border of the circular platform and peered cautiously, realizing that the pillar was pretty much immeasurable in the middle of what seemed a bottomless void. Humming a little, the colt gathered some water in one of his hooves and shot a little stream down the platform, waiting for the water to hit the bottom with a splash. But only silence followed this action.
“…Ok, where am I?” pondered Keldeo, while starting to look for some clue of where he was and of how to get out of that place. Suddenly, some glassy multi-colored stairs started materializing in front of him and above the abyss, which puzzled him even further. “Oh?”
The pony tapped gingerly the first step of the staircase, making sure that it wouldn't fall down. Once assured that it was stable enough, he made a big leap and began climbing the mysterious staircase, as he didn't have anywhere else to go. As he kept going up, his surroundings became darker and darker, making him feel steadily more anxious and in discomfort.
“Um, I really wonder where these stairs are heading,” mumbled Keldeo, shaking his head. “Hopefully not into a trap...”
The road is very long, and you have walked very little.
The colt blinked and stopped in the middle of the staircase, before looking up and trying to find the source of that ethereal voice. It sounded so familiar, yet so unknown. So distant, yet so close.
“Huh... hello? Hello?”
Keldeo waited for an answer, but only silence replied to him. Raising a suspicious eyebrow, he took a few cautious slow steps to see if something else triggered, but once again there was no response. Seeing that he had nowhere else to go, he restarted trotting up the stairs, but stayed alert in case some other mysterious event happened.
Soon enough, a distant shining pillar came into view, which was a quite comforting sight in that dark void and prompted the pony to go even faster. However, just as soon as he reached the platform, Keldeo’s relieved expression was quickly replaced by a horrified grimace, which made him freeze on his spot: a huge portrait of a forest fire welcomed the pony, stunning him with its radiant tongues of fire and the stylized paintings of fleeing and terrified Pokémon.
“W-Waah!?”
Keldeo gawked intently at the painted burning forest, while an immediate sense of anxiety and helplessness starting to take their grip on him, making him shudder slightly.
He began taking a few steps back, but soon found his rear hoof touching only empty air. Quickly glancing behind, he noticed that the stairs were now gone, trapping him on that accursed pillar. Swallowing his own tension and staring at the fiery portrait, the pony took a few steps forward, before stopping at a safe distance from the painting and unconsciously scratching the floor with his front hoof, appearing visibly agitated.
He was so transfixed by the sight of that image that he couldn't see the darkness around starting to take a deep red hue and to pulse with negative energy, while some black spots began materializing from the corners of the pillar. Pairs of yellow eyes glimmered in the dark patches, which quickly took shape of small and black humanoid beings with long antennae and sharp claws, that targeted the distraught pony and crawled toward him while blending with the ground.
The stronger your negative emotions are, the more is your heart exposed to the darkness.
The pony blinked, having finally sensed the sudden influx of negativity, and gasped when he noticed the shadows shuffling menacingly toward him.
“What theー!?” yelled Keldeo, abruptly interrupted by the assault of a shadow, which forced him to leap out of the way just a second before the attack managed to hit its target.
But don’t be afraid. You have a unique weapon.
The colt took a few jumps to distance himself from the shadows, before taking a defensive stance by lowering his head and exposing his long horn, pawing threateningly with a front hoof and glaring at the mysterious creatures. Totally unfazed by their target’s raised guard, the shadowy beings kept crawling toward the pony, with some of them readying their sharp claws and others fusing with the ground.
A sword to vanquish the darkness.
With a loud snort, Keldeo bolted toward the closest shadow, moving his head sideways and rapidly swinging his horn, slashing it across its chest and making it dissipate in a cloud of smoke. However, this didn't deter the other shadows, as a couple of them charged at the colt from behind… and were met by a couple of hooves that kicked them away.
Seeing that the beings were drawing closer, the pony decided to face them head-on to gain ground. Shooting some water jets from his hooves, he swiftly zigzagged amidst the swarm like a violent stream while brandishing his sharp weapon left and right, causing more smokes of darkness to return back to the void.
Unfortunately, due to the heat of the battle, Keldeo failed to realize that the shadows blended with the ground were completely unscathed by his assault, giving them an opening. A creature emerged from the ground close to him and pounced on him, holding onto him on his back. Startled, the colt began thrashing about, in an attempt to shake it off.
“Agh! Get off of me!” cried out Keldeo, kicking and moving around wildly in an attempt to unsaddle the shadow. He winced when he felt the shadow scratching him with its darkness-imbued claws, and the other shadows took advantage of his agitation by assaulting him from multiple sides, causing him to wince and let out a pained yelp with each successful swipe.
“Gah! Urgh! Ngh!”
Gnashing his teeth, Keldeo began whipping the shadow on his back with his tail, while trying to distance himself from the other beings with a few leaps. However, as much as he tried to get the shadow off of him, it kept clinging on top and clawing at him, distracting and hurting him enough for the other creatures to catch up. They soon jumped on the Pokémon en masse, managing to weigh the pony enough to make him collapse to the floor.
“Uuungh…” moaned Keldeo when he hit the floor, before frantically attempting to get back to his hooves. However, he felt himself faltering after being struck so many times, and fell unceremoniously to the floor under the weight of the dark beings, feeling his body sting more and more with each successive slash.
“G-Get off!” shouted the pony, trying to produce some water to repel his aggressors. However, he couldn't aim properly in all that frenzy and his attacks managed to hit only empty air. Soon enough, the pony felt his body starting to sink, and upon looking down he let out a loud gasp: a giant black swirl had formed on the ground, which was slowly swallowing him.
In a panic, Keldeo began thrashing about, swinging his sword and spraying more water, but the shadows kept dragging him downwards and draining him of all his energy.
“N-No… no!” gasped the colt, starting to feel the darkness subduing him and seeping through his whole body, which began taking a faint dark shade. Out of sheer desperation, he kept struggling and fighting, but couldn’t help but feel like he was becoming one with the darkness itself.
Don’t give up.
A great power lies within you.
“Again that voice…” thought Keldeo to himself. By then, his body was almost completely gone, with only his face and his front hooves sticking out of the dark swirl.
The colt closed his eyes as he ran out of energy, while his body kept being drained of its colors and continued the inexorable sinking. It wasn’t too long until he vanished completely in the dark and cold mass, ending up in an even darker void.
“…Am I dead?” wondered Keldeo, feeling overwhelmed by the intense blackness and redness surrounding him. He glanced at his body, and noticed in horror how his previously cream fur was now dark grey, while his hooves and tail had taken a red hue. He couldn’t see how his head mane and eye were, but if he could he would notice that they were now silvery and golden respectively.
“Nightmare… tell me this is just a nightmare!” mentally shouted the pony, shutting his eyes in despair. “I wanna wake up! Wake up!”
Then, just when he was starting to lose hope, three orbs of light tore through the darkness, apparently attracted by the fallen pony, and began circling him while brimming with great power. Slowly, Keldeo opened his eyes again and looked wearily at the orbs.
These orbs…
Orange. Green. Blue.
“They’re so familiar…”
Strength. Speed. Focus.
“Could they be…?”
Keldeo’s chest and horn began glowing with a mystical light blue aura, and he instinctively closed his eyes to concentrate. Just as quickly as they appeared, the orbs faded away, while words from the mysterious voice from before started resonating in his mind.
“Power… within…”
The aura slowly covered his whole body, while the colt took some deep breaths and focused his power on his horn. He kept gathering all remaining energy, while a warm sensation began building up inside of him.
“…I can’t give up! Not like this!”
His aura grew both in intensity and strength, forcing the darkness that had seeped inside of his body to be expelled with great force. The dark colors that previously corrupted him were quickly evaporating, giving back the original colors to the pony.
“I’ll never give up! For them… I’ll do the impossible!”
Keldeo’s eyes sprang open as he felt like something had been triggered inside of him. The warm sensation he had been feeling began growing stronger and stronger, until he saw some white sparkles starting to emanate from his body, as a sign of his magnified power.
“Is this… my light?”
Driven by renewed strength, Keldeo’s body began emitting more and more sparkles, while his eyes flashed with sudden determination.
“Yaaah!” shouted Keldeo to the void, while a massive wave of aura-filled water surrounded him, before exploding around him with a violent liquid blast. He unleashed such raw fury that the surrounding void was ripped in shreds, unable to contain the pony’s almighty power, and blew away the shadows that were previously pinning him.
Drawing power from his great desire of justice, Keldeo began spinning on himself and producing a stream of bubbles all around him, striking the surrounding creatures with furious explosions of water. After that, he sprinted toward the dazed creatures with his shining horn and bursting jets, making quick work of them with rapid and powerful slashes and making all of them dissipate into a black mist.
And once again, he found himself alone on the glassy platform.
Inhaling and exhaling noisily from his flared nostrils, the colt plopped down, trying to recover from the experience and to gather what had just transpired. Glancing around, he saw that the platform had now a massive water-filled hole in the middle, and many puddles were now adorning the parts that were still intact and reflecting the dark surroundings, which weren’t red anymore.
“Huff… Just what were those things?” finally blurted out the pony, before tilting his head in confusion. “They didn't look like Pokémon…”
Without warning, a flash of light shone around the area, forcing the colt to close his eyes and to shield his face with a hoof. When the light faded away, he dared to open again his eyes, peeking carefully around. He noticed that the platform had magically restored itself, while only a blank mosaic replaced the previous burning forest. Astounded by this event, he kept looking to see if something else changed, and found to his great surprise that a big door of light had appeared in the middle of the area.
“Hm?”
Slowly, the pony got up and approached the new element, narrowing his eyes in an attempt to understand how that door had appeared and where it led. He was just about to pry it open, when…
“WAKE UP, KIDDO!”
Letting out a startled neigh, Keldeo rolled away in shock and rapidly found himself sprawling onto some grass, flailing his legs in panic due to the sudden awakening. This reaction was quickly followed by a loud hearty laugh, and the pony began breathing heavily while trying to calm himself down.
“Terrakion, don’t do that!” said a feminine voice, sounding unamused.
“What? I only did ‘im a favor! Didn't ya see how he was mumblin’ in his sleep, Virizion?” retorted a deeper and masculine voice.
Keldeo groaned in annoyance and rolled back on his belly. He shook his head to shake away the remaining bits of sleepiness, before looking at the origin of the two voices, seeing the sleek green Pokémon staring with narrowed eyes at the slightly shorter and bulkier brown one, who had a toothy grin on his face.
“Well, there are many ways of waking somebody up, mon comrade,” responded the Virizion, still staring unamusingly at her companion. “But this isn’t a good one.”
“Sheesh, calm down, will ya? He’s a tough kiddo. Besides, ya ne’er know when someone’s beside ya and ready to attack. That’s still trainin’, ain’t it?”
“But…”
“Hey, Virizion. It’s alright, don’t worry,” interjected the colt, staring at the two mentors. This got the attention of the duo, who quickly looked back at him.
“Ah! Ya’re finally awake, ya lil’ sleeper!” exclaimed Terrakion, still flashing a big grin. “Hopefully ya ain’t tryin’ to skip yer trainin’.”
“Not at all, no,” replied Keldeo, quickly standing up while shaking his head. “I've just had a very strange dream, that’s all.”
“A strange dream?” asked Virizion, looking intently at the pony with a curious expression, which was mirrored by Terrakion. “What kind of dream was that?”
“It’s… kinda hard to explain,” said Keldeo, tilting his head. “I dunno where to start…”
“From dah beginnin’, of course!” replied Terrakion, earning a quick glare from Virizion. “What?”
“…Well, I suppose I could try to tell you…”
And so the pony began talking about his dream by starting with the unexplainable questions and his descent to the darkness, earning a marveled expression from the other two. Then, he described thoroughly the glassy pillar, obtaining a very intrigued look from Virizion while Terrakion eye-rolled at the fawning behavior from the Grass-type. It took him a short pause to start talking about the burning painting, still unnerved by that experience, but after taking a deep breath he reluctantly managed to relay the information, which made the other two look at him in concern as they saw how that part distressed him. Finally, he narrated about his final battle with the shadows and the appearance of the door of light, obtaining an impressed glance from Virizion and a proud grin from Terrakion, who approved wholeheartedly his display of power.
“…And that’s when Terrakion woke me up,” concluded Keldeo, flicking slightly his tail. “So, whaddaya think about it?”
The two older Pokémon exchanged quick glances, formulating their answers and opinions about the matter, before looking again at the colt.
“I’m… not really sure what to think of that, mon chéri,” started Virizion, tilting her head in puzzlement. “It truly is a bizarre dream.”
“Sounds cool, tho! ‘Most like one of dose myths!” exclaimed Terrakion, appearing visibly fascinated by the dream.
“I've got the feeling that it means something, but I dunno what,” said Keldeo, shaking his head in confusion.
“Hmm… perhaps you could consider talking about that dream with Cobalion,” suggested Virizion. “He may be able to enlighten you about that kind of dream.”
“Oh, yah! Good idea, Vizzy! Ol’ Cobsy’s like a big ‘pedia, after all!” agreed Terrakion, giving a slight nod to the pony.
Keldeo hummed softly, considering the proposal. What his companions were saying was true, as Cobalion was very knowledgeable and wise about all sorts of mysteries and facts. “Yeah, maybe I should ask him later…”
“Anyway, we’d better leave now. Cobalion is certainly waiting for us in front of the Stone of Oaths,” said Virizion, looking expectantly at the two boys.
“A’ight! Let’s get goin’, shall we?” exclaimed Terrakion, waving slightly his head to tell to the other two to follow him. As such, the group left the area which was their home, directed toward the borders of the forest.
A new day had just begun, but little did they know that it would have been the last day.
This is the story of a mythical quadruped meeting and joining forces with a hero of multiple worlds, in a quest to save darknened nightmare-filled worlds and retrieve missing lights.
Crossover of Pokémon and Kingdom Hearts, set between “Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance” and “Kingdom Hearts 3”, and between “Pokémon Black / White” and “Pokémon Ultra Sun / Ultra Moon”. Non-canon, but it still has many canon nods.
Rating Warning(s):
⦁ Mild Violence - Features many instances of cartoon and fantasy violence, especially Bloodless Carnage. No gore or blood to be found here.
~•~
{cover coming soon}
Index
♡ ⊱ Prelude: “The Light Within” (this chapter){cover coming soon}
Index
♡ ⊱ Chapter 1: “Heartbreak” (work in progress)
~•~
♡ ⊱Prelude: “The Light Within”⊰ ♡
A bright red mane.
A lush azure tail.
A noble horn.
Tell me. Who are you?
“Who am I? …Name’s Keldeo.”
What are you?
“I… dunno. I have no idea what my species is…”
Where are you?
“I’m… here, I guess. But I dunno where here is.”
Why are you?
“Why… am I?”
Why are you?
“That question doesn’t make sense!”
So much to learn. So little time. Go on, faller, and find the answers.
“Huh… faller? Wait a sec…”
Falling. Only now did Keldeo realize that he was falling. He attempted to slow down by firing his water jets, but for some reason he was feeling very lethargic and energyless, and only obtained some feeble twitches from his body.
Squinting his eyes, he noticed that he was slowly descending in what seemed to be a black void. Some bubbles were traveling along his skin, which made him think that he was sinking in some kind of liquid. What kind of liquid was that, however, was beyond his knowledge. He could breathe in, though. Maybe it was water, but couldn’t say for certain.
Suddenly, a warm glimmer started emanating from below him, snapping the colt out of his thoughts and prompting him to slowly open his eyes a bit more and to look at the source of that bright warmth.
What he saw was a circular pillar shining with an intense white light, which was quite the sight amidst the cold and limitless darkness. Several glassy mosaics adorned its sides and top, though Keldeo couldn’t figure out what was portrayed on them. He felt his descent starting to slow down and his body starting to take position for the landing, and he instinctively reached out for the platform with one of his front hooves, touching it and making the glass ding with a bell-like sound.
As soon as he did so, he landed on the platform on his four hooves before a small ripple surrounded him, causing something akin to shimmering water to start pouring from the pillar’s borders like a cascade.
The pony suddenly felt his full senses coming back to him and his tiredness vanishing as if washed away by the bright water, and began scrutinizing carefully the now dry surface, noticing a big mosaic of himself in the middle. It looked like he was in a deep and peaceful sleep, which made him very curious and prompted him to walk toward the center of the platform, causing many glassy dings to resound with each step. Among things he could make out about the mosaic was a large rock with three huge slashes on the background, as well as a luxuriant forest surrounding it, which prompted the pony to stop on top of the painting.
“Pledge Grove…” murmured Keldeo, before redirecting his gaze toward something else. He saw three rings close to the head of his painting, which portrayed the three Pokémon that have taken care of him for almost all his life: Virizion with a grassy field and some pink roses in the background, Terrakion with a dark cave and the distant silhouette of a castle behind him, and Cobalion enveloped in a blue aura with a steel-textured heart.
He couldn't help but smile at the sight of his mentors. They were essentially his surrogate parents, who helped him during his childhood by teaching him their techniques and all he needed to survive, and for that he was really grateful.
However, his joy was quickly replaced with puzzlement as he remembered where he was. The pony gazed frantically all around, noticing only nothingness, nothingness and even more nothingness.
He ran toward the border of the circular platform and peered cautiously, realizing that the pillar was pretty much immeasurable in the middle of what seemed a bottomless void. Humming a little, the colt gathered some water in one of his hooves and shot a little stream down the platform, waiting for the water to hit the bottom with a splash. But only silence followed this action.
“…Ok, where am I?” pondered Keldeo, while starting to look for some clue of where he was and of how to get out of that place. Suddenly, some glassy multi-colored stairs started materializing in front of him and above the abyss, which puzzled him even further. “Oh?”
The pony tapped gingerly the first step of the staircase, making sure that it wouldn't fall down. Once assured that it was stable enough, he made a big leap and began climbing the mysterious staircase, as he didn't have anywhere else to go. As he kept going up, his surroundings became darker and darker, making him feel steadily more anxious and in discomfort.
“Um, I really wonder where these stairs are heading,” mumbled Keldeo, shaking his head. “Hopefully not into a trap...”
The road is very long, and you have walked very little.
The colt blinked and stopped in the middle of the staircase, before looking up and trying to find the source of that ethereal voice. It sounded so familiar, yet so unknown. So distant, yet so close.
“Huh... hello? Hello?”
Keldeo waited for an answer, but only silence replied to him. Raising a suspicious eyebrow, he took a few cautious slow steps to see if something else triggered, but once again there was no response. Seeing that he had nowhere else to go, he restarted trotting up the stairs, but stayed alert in case some other mysterious event happened.
Soon enough, a distant shining pillar came into view, which was a quite comforting sight in that dark void and prompted the pony to go even faster. However, just as soon as he reached the platform, Keldeo’s relieved expression was quickly replaced by a horrified grimace, which made him freeze on his spot: a huge portrait of a forest fire welcomed the pony, stunning him with its radiant tongues of fire and the stylized paintings of fleeing and terrified Pokémon.
“W-Waah!?”
Keldeo gawked intently at the painted burning forest, while an immediate sense of anxiety and helplessness starting to take their grip on him, making him shudder slightly.
He began taking a few steps back, but soon found his rear hoof touching only empty air. Quickly glancing behind, he noticed that the stairs were now gone, trapping him on that accursed pillar. Swallowing his own tension and staring at the fiery portrait, the pony took a few steps forward, before stopping at a safe distance from the painting and unconsciously scratching the floor with his front hoof, appearing visibly agitated.
He was so transfixed by the sight of that image that he couldn't see the darkness around starting to take a deep red hue and to pulse with negative energy, while some black spots began materializing from the corners of the pillar. Pairs of yellow eyes glimmered in the dark patches, which quickly took shape of small and black humanoid beings with long antennae and sharp claws, that targeted the distraught pony and crawled toward him while blending with the ground.
The stronger your negative emotions are, the more is your heart exposed to the darkness.
The pony blinked, having finally sensed the sudden influx of negativity, and gasped when he noticed the shadows shuffling menacingly toward him.
“What theー!?” yelled Keldeo, abruptly interrupted by the assault of a shadow, which forced him to leap out of the way just a second before the attack managed to hit its target.
But don’t be afraid. You have a unique weapon.
The colt took a few jumps to distance himself from the shadows, before taking a defensive stance by lowering his head and exposing his long horn, pawing threateningly with a front hoof and glaring at the mysterious creatures. Totally unfazed by their target’s raised guard, the shadowy beings kept crawling toward the pony, with some of them readying their sharp claws and others fusing with the ground.
A sword to vanquish the darkness.
With a loud snort, Keldeo bolted toward the closest shadow, moving his head sideways and rapidly swinging his horn, slashing it across its chest and making it dissipate in a cloud of smoke. However, this didn't deter the other shadows, as a couple of them charged at the colt from behind… and were met by a couple of hooves that kicked them away.
Seeing that the beings were drawing closer, the pony decided to face them head-on to gain ground. Shooting some water jets from his hooves, he swiftly zigzagged amidst the swarm like a violent stream while brandishing his sharp weapon left and right, causing more smokes of darkness to return back to the void.
Unfortunately, due to the heat of the battle, Keldeo failed to realize that the shadows blended with the ground were completely unscathed by his assault, giving them an opening. A creature emerged from the ground close to him and pounced on him, holding onto him on his back. Startled, the colt began thrashing about, in an attempt to shake it off.
“Agh! Get off of me!” cried out Keldeo, kicking and moving around wildly in an attempt to unsaddle the shadow. He winced when he felt the shadow scratching him with its darkness-imbued claws, and the other shadows took advantage of his agitation by assaulting him from multiple sides, causing him to wince and let out a pained yelp with each successful swipe.
“Gah! Urgh! Ngh!”
Gnashing his teeth, Keldeo began whipping the shadow on his back with his tail, while trying to distance himself from the other beings with a few leaps. However, as much as he tried to get the shadow off of him, it kept clinging on top and clawing at him, distracting and hurting him enough for the other creatures to catch up. They soon jumped on the Pokémon en masse, managing to weigh the pony enough to make him collapse to the floor.
“Uuungh…” moaned Keldeo when he hit the floor, before frantically attempting to get back to his hooves. However, he felt himself faltering after being struck so many times, and fell unceremoniously to the floor under the weight of the dark beings, feeling his body sting more and more with each successive slash.
“G-Get off!” shouted the pony, trying to produce some water to repel his aggressors. However, he couldn't aim properly in all that frenzy and his attacks managed to hit only empty air. Soon enough, the pony felt his body starting to sink, and upon looking down he let out a loud gasp: a giant black swirl had formed on the ground, which was slowly swallowing him.
In a panic, Keldeo began thrashing about, swinging his sword and spraying more water, but the shadows kept dragging him downwards and draining him of all his energy.
“N-No… no!” gasped the colt, starting to feel the darkness subduing him and seeping through his whole body, which began taking a faint dark shade. Out of sheer desperation, he kept struggling and fighting, but couldn’t help but feel like he was becoming one with the darkness itself.
Don’t give up.
A great power lies within you.
“Again that voice…” thought Keldeo to himself. By then, his body was almost completely gone, with only his face and his front hooves sticking out of the dark swirl.
The colt closed his eyes as he ran out of energy, while his body kept being drained of its colors and continued the inexorable sinking. It wasn’t too long until he vanished completely in the dark and cold mass, ending up in an even darker void.
“…Am I dead?” wondered Keldeo, feeling overwhelmed by the intense blackness and redness surrounding him. He glanced at his body, and noticed in horror how his previously cream fur was now dark grey, while his hooves and tail had taken a red hue. He couldn’t see how his head mane and eye were, but if he could he would notice that they were now silvery and golden respectively.
“Nightmare… tell me this is just a nightmare!” mentally shouted the pony, shutting his eyes in despair. “I wanna wake up! Wake up!”
Then, just when he was starting to lose hope, three orbs of light tore through the darkness, apparently attracted by the fallen pony, and began circling him while brimming with great power. Slowly, Keldeo opened his eyes again and looked wearily at the orbs.
These orbs…
Orange. Green. Blue.
“They’re so familiar…”
Strength. Speed. Focus.
“Could they be…?”
Keldeo’s chest and horn began glowing with a mystical light blue aura, and he instinctively closed his eyes to concentrate. Just as quickly as they appeared, the orbs faded away, while words from the mysterious voice from before started resonating in his mind.
“Power… within…”
The aura slowly covered his whole body, while the colt took some deep breaths and focused his power on his horn. He kept gathering all remaining energy, while a warm sensation began building up inside of him.
“…I can’t give up! Not like this!”
His aura grew both in intensity and strength, forcing the darkness that had seeped inside of his body to be expelled with great force. The dark colors that previously corrupted him were quickly evaporating, giving back the original colors to the pony.
“I’ll never give up! For them… I’ll do the impossible!”
Keldeo’s eyes sprang open as he felt like something had been triggered inside of him. The warm sensation he had been feeling began growing stronger and stronger, until he saw some white sparkles starting to emanate from his body, as a sign of his magnified power.
“Is this… my light?”
Driven by renewed strength, Keldeo’s body began emitting more and more sparkles, while his eyes flashed with sudden determination.
“Yaaah!” shouted Keldeo to the void, while a massive wave of aura-filled water surrounded him, before exploding around him with a violent liquid blast. He unleashed such raw fury that the surrounding void was ripped in shreds, unable to contain the pony’s almighty power, and blew away the shadows that were previously pinning him.
Drawing power from his great desire of justice, Keldeo began spinning on himself and producing a stream of bubbles all around him, striking the surrounding creatures with furious explosions of water. After that, he sprinted toward the dazed creatures with his shining horn and bursting jets, making quick work of them with rapid and powerful slashes and making all of them dissipate into a black mist.
And once again, he found himself alone on the glassy platform.
Inhaling and exhaling noisily from his flared nostrils, the colt plopped down, trying to recover from the experience and to gather what had just transpired. Glancing around, he saw that the platform had now a massive water-filled hole in the middle, and many puddles were now adorning the parts that were still intact and reflecting the dark surroundings, which weren’t red anymore.
“Huff… Just what were those things?” finally blurted out the pony, before tilting his head in confusion. “They didn't look like Pokémon…”
Without warning, a flash of light shone around the area, forcing the colt to close his eyes and to shield his face with a hoof. When the light faded away, he dared to open again his eyes, peeking carefully around. He noticed that the platform had magically restored itself, while only a blank mosaic replaced the previous burning forest. Astounded by this event, he kept looking to see if something else changed, and found to his great surprise that a big door of light had appeared in the middle of the area.
“Hm?”
Slowly, the pony got up and approached the new element, narrowing his eyes in an attempt to understand how that door had appeared and where it led. He was just about to pry it open, when…
“WAKE UP, KIDDO!”
Letting out a startled neigh, Keldeo rolled away in shock and rapidly found himself sprawling onto some grass, flailing his legs in panic due to the sudden awakening. This reaction was quickly followed by a loud hearty laugh, and the pony began breathing heavily while trying to calm himself down.
“Terrakion, don’t do that!” said a feminine voice, sounding unamused.
“What? I only did ‘im a favor! Didn't ya see how he was mumblin’ in his sleep, Virizion?” retorted a deeper and masculine voice.
Keldeo groaned in annoyance and rolled back on his belly. He shook his head to shake away the remaining bits of sleepiness, before looking at the origin of the two voices, seeing the sleek green Pokémon staring with narrowed eyes at the slightly shorter and bulkier brown one, who had a toothy grin on his face.
“Well, there are many ways of waking somebody up, mon comrade,” responded the Virizion, still staring unamusingly at her companion. “But this isn’t a good one.”
“Sheesh, calm down, will ya? He’s a tough kiddo. Besides, ya ne’er know when someone’s beside ya and ready to attack. That’s still trainin’, ain’t it?”
“But…”
“Hey, Virizion. It’s alright, don’t worry,” interjected the colt, staring at the two mentors. This got the attention of the duo, who quickly looked back at him.
“Ah! Ya’re finally awake, ya lil’ sleeper!” exclaimed Terrakion, still flashing a big grin. “Hopefully ya ain’t tryin’ to skip yer trainin’.”
“Not at all, no,” replied Keldeo, quickly standing up while shaking his head. “I've just had a very strange dream, that’s all.”
“A strange dream?” asked Virizion, looking intently at the pony with a curious expression, which was mirrored by Terrakion. “What kind of dream was that?”
“It’s… kinda hard to explain,” said Keldeo, tilting his head. “I dunno where to start…”
“From dah beginnin’, of course!” replied Terrakion, earning a quick glare from Virizion. “What?”
“…Well, I suppose I could try to tell you…”
And so the pony began talking about his dream by starting with the unexplainable questions and his descent to the darkness, earning a marveled expression from the other two. Then, he described thoroughly the glassy pillar, obtaining a very intrigued look from Virizion while Terrakion eye-rolled at the fawning behavior from the Grass-type. It took him a short pause to start talking about the burning painting, still unnerved by that experience, but after taking a deep breath he reluctantly managed to relay the information, which made the other two look at him in concern as they saw how that part distressed him. Finally, he narrated about his final battle with the shadows and the appearance of the door of light, obtaining an impressed glance from Virizion and a proud grin from Terrakion, who approved wholeheartedly his display of power.
“…And that’s when Terrakion woke me up,” concluded Keldeo, flicking slightly his tail. “So, whaddaya think about it?”
The two older Pokémon exchanged quick glances, formulating their answers and opinions about the matter, before looking again at the colt.
“I’m… not really sure what to think of that, mon chéri,” started Virizion, tilting her head in puzzlement. “It truly is a bizarre dream.”
“Sounds cool, tho! ‘Most like one of dose myths!” exclaimed Terrakion, appearing visibly fascinated by the dream.
“I've got the feeling that it means something, but I dunno what,” said Keldeo, shaking his head in confusion.
“Hmm… perhaps you could consider talking about that dream with Cobalion,” suggested Virizion. “He may be able to enlighten you about that kind of dream.”
“Oh, yah! Good idea, Vizzy! Ol’ Cobsy’s like a big ‘pedia, after all!” agreed Terrakion, giving a slight nod to the pony.
Keldeo hummed softly, considering the proposal. What his companions were saying was true, as Cobalion was very knowledgeable and wise about all sorts of mysteries and facts. “Yeah, maybe I should ask him later…”
“Anyway, we’d better leave now. Cobalion is certainly waiting for us in front of the Stone of Oaths,” said Virizion, looking expectantly at the two boys.
“A’ight! Let’s get goin’, shall we?” exclaimed Terrakion, waving slightly his head to tell to the other two to follow him. As such, the group left the area which was their home, directed toward the borders of the forest.
A new day had just begun, but little did they know that it would have been the last day.
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