"As the antithesis of Darkrai, my job is to monitor Newmoon Island, to make sure that its Nightmares do not spread out of control. Had I arrived a few minutes later, it may have taken you into the Dark Void forever, that infernal labyrinth of eternal black. It is good to see that you are safe, but I don't recommend trying to take off again this late at night. Strange things happen in the absence of the day."

Then, she gave me two things- a letter, and the other thing... What was it?

"You'll figure out what's there for you in due time, Riku. Your other gift from me... Well, you'll see it soon enough. You will find it around your neck when you need it most. Now, go on to Sinnoh, and good luck,"

I'll find it around my neck?!

I hold fast to the colored feather, and I wonder if the object is the "other gift" that Cresselia had been talking about. A burst of adrenaline fills me, and I stare Darkrai in the face. It's an odd feeling, because it's almost five times my height, but it's scared stiff of that feather- of me.

"The Lunar Wing...!" Darkrai growls, and its voice deepens at least three octaves,

"Cresselia thinks that she's won, doesn't she?! Now that my Void cannot harm you?! Bah! I'll just take you there, myself!"

The ominous shadow wraps its icy-cold claws around my neck in one quick motion, attempting to steal the Lunar Wing and drag me away- away into that Dark Void.

"Come with me, little Shaymin! You're lost, and I can help you find rest!" Darkrai crows. The immediate lack of air quickly translates into pain, and a terrible cracking sound pierces my ears.

Maxwell attempts to run towards me, shouting,

"Riku! Riku, I'm coming!"

But Darkrai is much quicker than he is. The second Maxwell draws within arm's length of the Pokemon, it grabs him by the scalp and lifts him into the air with its other hand.

"Do you want to test me, boy?!" Darkrai scowls. It hoists Maxwell higher into the air, and I scream , without thinking,

"I'm the one you wanted, right?! I'm the one with the Lunar Wing! And I order you to put him down, right now!"

Darkrai quickly makes a mockery of my bravery, laughing like I'd just committed a small crime and needed to be reprimanded,

"You?! Harm me?! Don't make me laugh! Just b...because you have the Lunar Wing doesn't mean that you can possibly s...stop me!"

"Riku..." Maxwell struggles in Darkrai's grip, and he points at the Pokemon's wrists with his head. Luckily, Darkrai doesn't get the hint, but I certainly do.

"Use Air Slash!" he yells, and I use Darkrai's sudden moment of surprise to wrench a single paw free from its grasp and make a shoving motion in the direction of Darkrai's arm.

The result is immediate- the roaring winds of the storm curl around my paw and stem forward in a mighty gust, so much so that the gale cleanly rips Darkrai's arm from its socket, freeing Maxwell from its shadowy clutches. A poisonous purple substance, most likely the spectral equivalent of blood, drips from the open hole in the Pokemon's adumbral visage.

Darkrai roars in pain and squeezes my neck tighter.

"You dare to resist m...me?! Give me the Lunar Wing, you little wretch!" the Pokemon screams.

Stars dance across what little consciousness I still have left, as my brain struggles to remain functioning, bereft of any and all oxygen. I gasp for precious air, and Darkrai laughs.

"Poor thing," it crows,

"You have all the guts in the world when you're saving your Trainer, but you can't save yourself! How pitiful! Now, be a good little Shaymin and give me that Lunar Wing!"

"No...! Never!" I choke out,

"I'll never give it to you... ghh... Darkrai!"

I curl my paws and wiggle my ears. Anything to keep myself from passing into unconsciousness. Anything to keep me from passing out from a negated air supply. I know that if I give up now, Darkrai will steal the Lunar Wing- and all hope will be lost.

While I struggle against certain death, I swear that I can make out a small buzzing sound come from the still-unconscious N's pants leg.

Is it just me going crazy? Is my brain throwing fantasies into my mind just to keep it preoccupied from what's happ... happening to me...?

"Maxwell..." I gasp, hoping that he may have heard the sound as well.

Unfortunately, he simply clenches his fists and charges the one-armed Darkrai. Except, this time, without its other arm, there's nothing that the Pokemon can do to stop Maxwell's uppercut, which catches it straight in the chest and forces it backwards across the tower. Even still, Darkrai does not release its grip on me.

"Maxwell... Please..." I continue fighting for breath.

He returns my sodden gaze.
"I've got you. Just a few more punches, and I'll..." He begins to run in for another charge at Darkrai, but the Pitch-black Pokemon has already guessed what Maxwell will do. Predicting the next punch, Darkrai uses its one arm to place my broken body directly in the path of the attack, and Maxwell stops mid-strike.

"You wouldn't want to hurt your only friend, would you?!" Darkrai gleams with malice, taunting him by using me as bait.

I can hear the buzzing sound come from N again- this time, much louder and more intense than before.

"Don't you hear it...?" I whisper, barely audibly, to Maxwell. With the last of my voice and spirit, I hope that he'll take the hint and figure it out. Then, the insatiable lack of breathable oxygen finally takes its toll on me- my eyes roll back into my head, and I pass out.

*Maxwell's POV*

"Riku!" I yell, just as the Shaymin goes unconscious in Darkrai's grip. I instinctively ready another punch, but I quickly remember that Darkrai is all-but ready to redirect my attack directly into Riku.

"Give or take five minutes," Darkrai smiles,

"And Riku will be dead. I've already slipped him into a coma, so it will not take long to drain the rest of the life out of him. Then, the Lunar Wing will be mine!"

Panic overtakes me, and I attempt to formulate a plan to save Riku.

What did Riku said just before he passed out? "Don't you hear it...?" Hear what? What am I supposed to be...?

A sharp tonal buzz echoes from right next to N, and I quickly run towards the sound. I quickly identify the source of the noise- a small device, looking suspiciously like a walkie-talkie, although I know that it isn't quite the same. Without hesitation, I press the first button I see, and a large blue hologram of Colress appears in the middle of the tower.

"Ahah! I've finally succeeded in hacking into this thing!" the blued-out frame of the Scientist boasts, before growing extremely serious, much more than I'd ever seen him before.

"N, I needed to warn you about something before you fought Ghetsis at the top of Dragonspiral Tower. Do you remember my Colress Machine, the device that allowed me to temporarily control a Pokemon's mind? I need to tell you this, because I was not able to inform Nathan or Maxwell when we met in the P2 Laboratory. Nathan helped me to destroy my last copy of the Colress Machine, proving to me that mind control isn't the right way to a Pokemon's heart. But one man still has the last prototype of the machine. It must be clear to you who that man is- it's your own father! The last Colress Machine is the cane...! You need to... Losing signal! Get rid of that...! You've... short-circuit it! Before he... unthinkable!"

Ghetsis angrily thrusts his fist through the hologram, shattering it into a dozen fragments of light.

"That traitor! He would have stayed by my side, had it not been for your and Nathan's encounter with him! Yet, even though you now know my secret, I'll still win this battle! Observe!" he crows, and he points his cane at Riku, still being crushed to death by Darkrai. His face is turning a ghastly shade of blue, further deteriorating his frame past what his nightly transformation already does to him. His eyes are bloodshot, and his eyes are still closed.

"You're running out of time, hero!" Darkrai laughs, and its voice shakes the entire Dragonspiral Tower,

"Decide quickly- your Shaymin doesn't have much time left to live!"

The ominous words hang in my head like a death knell, but an idea forms in my head.

"I've had enough of both you and your antics, you disgusting excuse for a father!" I roar, and I lunge at Ghetsis, tackling him to the ground. The older man attempts to resist my assault, but I know that he's powerless to stop me.

"This is for Nathan, Voltflare, and all the times that you've tried to kill us!" I shout, and I throw him as hard as I can towards the edge of the Tower. His body flies across the frame of the emaciated stone, as he struggles to grab hold of anything in the storm- the pouring rain had made finding a foothold near impossible.

Just as Ghetsis is about to fall over the edge of the spire, his free hand catches on a decaying pillar, and he attempts to pull himself back onto the drenched surface. I slowly walk up to him and stare down at him like the criminal that he is.

"What was about 'winning this battle'?" I taunt,

"I could kill you so easily right now. With just the flick of my foot, I could send you right off this tower to the ground below."

I nudge Ghetsis' gnarled hands to prove my point- not enough to send him to his death, but enough to scar him. His other hand instinctively clutches onto his cane, and he waves it back and forth under me, like he's trying to conjure another Pokemon.

Or he could be getting Darkrai to do something... But that thing's only got one arm right now- it can't be a threat to me. But... what about Riku?! I've got to either kill him or get rid of the cane, right now!

"Drop it, Ghetsis!" I bark at him like a drill sergeant,

"You're not escaping this alive if you don't give me that cane!"

"Fufufufu..." Ghetsis laughs, seemingly oblivious to his predicament,

"If I'm not surviving this encounter, then neither are you!"

He suddenly grabs my leg and, to my surprise and horror, musters enough strength to pull me over the side along with him.

...

The sudden rush of air fills my lungs like an unwelcomed gust of wind as the two of us fall, faster and faster, towards the rocky terrain below. I already know that if we touch ground, we're both going to die a very painful death, but, if I'm destined to die here, I'll at least go out in style- in a way that may actually save Nathan.

"Give me that torture device of yours!" I yell at Ghetsis. I leap onto the man like a feral animal and pin his chest between my legs to prevent his movement. Then, in accordance with his nonsensical curses and mutterings, I pry the infernal cane from his hands and thrust it towards the ground far below.

Both of us watch the pikestaff's descent towards the rocks that we both know will be our graves, too- me with an air of superiority, and Ghetsis with a cry of desperation. Out of anguish, he tries to lift a double-handed punch towards my face, but I effortlessly catch his fists in one hand.

"No, no, no," I tease,

"I'm not letting you take my moment of glory away from me."

I smile, looking down at the rapidly-approaching ground under us.

"It was a good run, Ghetsis. I'm afraid that every good time has to come to an end. Yours, and mine too. I'm not angry, though. In fact, I'm almost happy; I can die happy, knowing that I got rid of you in the process!"

Ghetsis scowls, but he knows that any sort of attempt to win my last-second argument is pointless. The ground is only about three seconds away now.

My only regret is that I couldn't say goodbye to Riku. At least he'll be safe from that man's torture. He can't control Darkrai anymore now. And I know that Nathan'll find a way to get out of this without me...

Crack!

Ghetsis' cane splits apart into a million metal fragments, right in front of our waiting eyes.

"Why..." he pauses,

"Why did it all have to fall to pieces?! I was so close! Grah!"

He makes another desperate attempt at injuring me, but I've secured him to the point of immobility. He can't touch me with anything except his words.

I look back at the ground. Two seconds away.

Time seems to slow to a crawl- to stop, almost.

One second away. I could reach out and touch the ground if I wanted to now.

Time slows down even further, and I feel like I'm falling in slow-motion. Then, all of a sudden, our plunge completely halts, only about five feet above the ground.

Ghetsis and I look at each other with bewilderment, but we don't even bother to say a word concerning the strange turn of events.

Is this a dream? Why is...

Then, I feel a tugging at my gut, an impossibly-strong force that wants to pull me upwards. Ghetsis seems to feel it, too, and, as he just stares at me, his eyes reflect the same confusion as me. I take this opportunity to look up, just to see what could possibly be up there, and my jaw drops.

Above us, floating on the air, stands Darkrai in all of its ominous glory. Its tattered claws, previously symbols of torment and anguish, now radiate an aweing power like nothing I'd ever seen before. The white crest above its head now looks more like a courageous knight's plume than a banner of death. And, finally, its one azure eye- bright blue, instead of the red aura that surrounded it before, looks at us with concern. It refuses to let us die, I can tell that much. Somehow, I feel that this is the true face of Darkrai, instead of what Ghetsis had been controlling it to be.

"Come with me," Darkrai beckons, its gravelly voice slightly less foreboding than before, and it points at the peak of Dragonspiral Tower.

In an instant, the force under us triples in intensity, and Ghetsis and I are rocketed up the side of the decrepit monument in seconds to land back on the peak with a sudden jolt that forces the air from my lungs. I test the ground under me with my foot, just to make sure it's not an illusion or something else, and Darkrai reappears in front of us.

One thought rings clear in my mind, and I unconsciously blurt it out before thinking about it.

"Riku... Where is Riku?!" I question Darkrai. In response, the Gratitude Pokemon pokes his head out from Darkrai's wispy shoulders and gives me a nervous glance. His neck is still very much discolored from Darkrai's attempt to choke the life out of him, but he seems to be as hardy as ever. I wonder, for a moment, if he's had any internal injuries from that lack of oxygen, and I silently hope that he hasn't.

Riku leaps off of Darkrai's shoulder and throws his paws around me. A large amount of tears stain my Pokemon's eyes, and, before I can stop them, they invade my own face as well.

"Riku... Riku, you're alive!" I cry out, the first time I'd done so for as long as I remember.

At least Nathan isn't here to see it. I laugh, amongst my tears,

That's the silver lining of breaking down like this. Speaking of Nathan...

I gaze up at the foreboding sky with mixed feelings. Riku latches onto my right arm and refuses to let go, and I wonder, for a moment, if I'll ever see Nathan and Voltflare again.

They're still in the Void, aren't they?

"You must be thinking about your friends, correct?" Darkrai pauses, and it lifts its spectral hands to the sky. The Pokemon's Void begins to slowly shrink, revealing the beautiful starry sky behind it. The storm had moved on, and the entire world, it seems, is already recovering from the damage that had been done.

Ghetsis looks at me with bewilderment. The only word that he can form on his lips is,

"Why...?"

He stumbles slightly without his cane, but I'm sure that he'll get used to the loss of it very quickly. I hold out my shoulder, so he has something to lean on in order to catch his balance.

Even if this guy really is quite the creep, I don't think N would want me to hurt him now. He wanted to "get through to him," didn't he? Well, this is pretty much the only chance that he'll ever get to talk sense into the man.

"The Void is a powerful tool, but it also comes with a great deal of responsibility," Darkrai continues,

"While I don't think I'll ever remember what happened to me before I appeared on Newmoon Island, I can definitely claim one thing for certain- you , your Pokemon, and your friend are much more than meets the eye."

The Pokemon's unmoving blue iris blinks, and it continues,

"Allow me to bring them back to you. You deserve it. And, to the one that I pulled into my Void in my controlled rage, I have a proposition to make to him."

"Darkrai... " Ghetsis moans in pain and reconciliation, while the Pokemon points a clawed hand in his direction to silence him.

"Don't think I've forgotten what you attempted to do with me, human!..." Darkrai thunders,

"Yet, what would my vengeance really accomplish? It would just begin another wave of miscellaneous torment. I've seen what my power can do when controlled and amplified. While I wasn't in control of my own actions, I could see the consequences of them. And, your Pokemon... While I was choking it, I silently wanted it to survive. So I fought back against Ghetsis' control, although I didn't have the power to abate much of it. But that small fraction of resistance, combined with your and your Pokemon's tenacity, is what caused Riku to survive. In any case, before I do anything else, your friends."

Darkrai lifts its voice to the sky, and the Dark Void above begins to slowly collapse in on itself.

"Come, Nathan, Voltflare," it beckons, and the Void explodes into black light, blinding me with its chromatic energy.

When I open my eyes again, Nathan and Voltflare are collapsed on the ground in front of me. Ghetsis and I make a few silent sounds of recognition.

They're back... Phew...

I try to wipe away my tears, but I can't help it. I really did want to see them again.

"Nathan! Voltflare!" I break down and lift my colleage off the ground, embracing him. He quickly opens his eyes and gives me an awkward look, but I didn't really care.

This is the first time that I really feel like I belong. I caused this! I, Maxwell Graves, just stopped Ghetsis and saved those dear to me, in one fell swoop!

I look up at the starry sky and let out a triumphant yell of victory,

"Ahahahaha!"

Immediately, Voltflare's ears perk up like satellites, and he opens his green eyes with an alarmed expression on his face.

"Nathan...:" he whimpers,

"It's so dark...!"

Nathan breaks away from me and stoops down to gently pet Voltflare's crimson head.

"Not anymore," he quietly says,

"Not anymore..."