*Risk's POV*
"So, what do you think happened to the other Ghosts?" Alpha asked me once we were inside the Guild .
"Gengar and a few others escaped from the Supernatural Bastion, but... Where do you think they went?"
"They got away?!" I was immediately stricken with horror, but, then, I remembered,
They don't have anybody controlling them anymore... Von Spectre is gone, and that infernal spellbook was destroyed in the wreckage with it.
"Well," I told him, matter-of-factly,
"Wherever they are, those Ghosts'll sure to be causing mischief, but, without the Dark Arts, I don't think they can really get away with anything more than petty pranks anymore, now that their main source of malicious power is gone..."
"Mmph! Hey, where am I?!"
A muffled voice from inside Beta's horn-jaw startled me- I had forgotten that Riku was still inside there. The Mawile promptly spat him out, and the Shaymin shook the excess saliva off of himself.
"Leave me alone! I don't want to be eaten!" he cried, fleeing up the stairs and out the entrance of the Guild.
"Stay here," I said to the waiting crowd of Pokemon,
"I'll try to figure out what's going on with Riku. Give me one moment."
Disappearing after the Shaymin, I found him outside, cowering behind a large rock- the rock that had probably been my gravestone until I turned up alive again.
"Riku?" I asked, tentatively.
"Are you OK, buddy?"
He nodded and slowly walked over to me, a small smile on his face.
"You seem much nicer than that other Pokemon was. Can we be friends?"
His words, although sweet and delicate, felt like an icy cold dagger through my heart. I remembered what I had seen in my vision of Von Spectre and Dusknoir,
"And, worst of all, you failed to fill Risk's heart with darkness and erase his memory of his friends. While I do admire your success with the closing of Riku's heart, your mistake with Risk will definitely be a costly one."
No! Did he... Did they take his memory from him?! The tears began to fall from my eyes before I could stop them.
I cried out in desperation,
"Riku, it's me! It's me, Risk! Don't you remember me?! Please...!"
"Risk? That's..." At his pause, I silently hoped that he, at least, remembered my name, if nothing else.
"That's a nice name!" he said, still smiling up at me. Then, his stomach rumbled, and the noise did nothing to ease my pain.
"Well, I'll be seeing you around, Risk!" He waved to me.
"It was nice talking to you!" he said, before catching the breeze and taking to the sky.
No! Please, Riku! You've got to remember who I am! Your friend, Risk! Please! Don't go! I ran after him as quickly as I could, but I soon lost track of the Shaymin among the clouds.
"Riku!!! Don't leave me!" I called, as loud as I could, and buried my face in my paws. The tears continued to flow, as all of my memories with him came flooding back to me:
the first time I met him, the first time he healed me, the time he almost fell to his death in a Pitfall Trap in the Aegis Cave, and the images replayed themselves over and over, a constant reminder that I would never see him again.
"Riku...!" I held out my paw in the direction that he had flown off, but no amount of calling his name would bring him back. He was gone, just like that.
My trusted friend... You were always there for me, Riku! Why couldn't I be there for you?!
Another round of tears stained the soil under me, and I soon felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see Photon staring down at me.
"Ahh, there you are! I heard you calling Riku's name, so I came out to check on you..."
"That won't help anymore!" I shouted, not able to contain my anguish any longer.
"He's gone, Photon! He's gone! Riku is... They took his memory away, and now he's gone! They..."
I stopped when a small metal object hit the ground in front of me. I bent down and picked it up.
My Explorer's Badge... I had given this to Riku before... But now... I could barely see it through my tears, but it was definitely there, reflecting the slowly-dimming sunset with its polished surface.
But there's something else attached to it... I pried the piece of paper from the badge and quickly unfolded it.
The first line was enough to force me into another bout of tears.
"To Risk."
I braced myself for the contents of the letter and began to read,
"
'To Risk,
'It's only been a few days since you left me, and I couldn't help but put my overwhelming feelings into a letter. I know you will never get to read this, personally, but I'll put it on your gravestone for you.
Anyway, I just wanted to tell you thankful I am to have a friend like you! Ever since I first met you, when you were attacked by those vicious Weavile, you stood out to me, not just as a Pokemon, but as a friend. You defended me with your life, even against your own team members. You were there for me each and every time I needed support, and you even gave me your Explorer's Badge and gear as a memoir. But, to be honest, I never really felt like I could take your place, Risk. Nobody could! You're you, and I'm me. We are all our own Pokemon, and I take pride in that. I'm struggling to be the leader here- life is kind of tough, and I even had to reconstruct half of Alpha's face! That was pretty disgusting! In any case, I just wanted to tell you that I took the words of your last letter to heart- I never gave up, and I don't plan on starting now! Wherever I go, I'll always be thinking of you, and, like every true explorer, I'm never going to give up!
Goodbye, Risk.
-Riku'
"
...
Riku... Why'd they have to take your memory from you?! Why'd they have to take you away from me?!
I looked up from the letter and refolded it. I could feel another wave of tears cascading over my eyes, but I didn't care anymore. I turned around, and I realized that the entire Guild had gathered. I hadn't noticed them come out, but they had all heard my entire conversation with Photon.
Wigglytuff was the first to speak,
"You know, he wrote that not too long ago. You meant a lot to him, Risk. Be proud of that! Even if you never see him again, be proud that you had those experiences with him. Be proud that Riku could call him a Crusader! And, when you get to see him again, you can tell him all the new things you've done and the new friends you've made! Let that be your motivation to go on! I know this is painful in the moment, but you'll see him again, I'm sure of it!"
He smiled, and I tried to return his gaze as best that I could.
"It's just that... He meant so much to me... I don't know what I'll do without him..." I looked down in despair, until a rushing of wind behind caused me to look up in alarm.
"Well, hello there!" a voice cackled behind Cedric, and the Leafeon let out a sharp cry of terror before fainting from fright.
I turned around and stared at the unconscious Pokemon, and anger burned in my veins. I knew, immediately, where that voice had come from, and my suspicious were confirmed when I saw that the Three Sisters materialize in front of us.
"Eheheh! That never gets old!" Misdreavus laughed.
"Calm yourself, Misdreavus!" Mismagius scolded her, freezing the Ghost in place with Psychic.
"Anyway, we didn't come here to trick you or anything uncouth like that..."
"I still don't trust them! Those Ghosts have been more trouble than... Mmph!" Alpha interrupted her, and I had to hold a paw to his mouth to keep him quiet.
"Why are you here?!" I asked Mismagius, but it came out a little more gruffly than I had wanted it to. The Ghost seemed to be taken aback, but she quickly hid her surprise behind a veil of nonchalance.
"Yes, of course! We came here with a message from Gengar to give to you all!" Mismagius said.
Gengar!... My blood ran hot and thick. Anger bubbled up within me- that Pokemon had been the cause of this, the first vessel of Darkrai. Whenever it showed up, nothing good ever happened, but my curiosity greatly outweighed my anger.
What could Gengar possibly want with us now?!
"What does Gengar need to tell us?" Photon asked, as politely as he could. The Ampharos didn't esteem the Ghosts very highly, either.
"Hm? Gengar now says it wants to talk to you in person." she said, slowly.
"Then let it come here!" I said, staring the Ghosts directly in the eye.
No sooner had I said that, when another Ghost appeared in front of me.
"Kekekek! You called?" Gengar laughed, before instantaneously adopting a more serious tone.
"Now, I need to tell you something, honestly. On my honor as a Ghost, this will all be true," it stated, bluntly.
"Go on," I said, silently wondering if it knew a way to find Riku again.
"Well, I needed to say this, sometime..." Gengar took a deep breath.
"I'm giving up evil. No more- I'm convinced that it isn't all that it's cracked up to be. I've seen, not one, but two dark empires fall, and I hate to admit it, but... Neither of them were that fulfilling once they had vanished. It was all just, I guess, 'in the moment,' as you say. I thought back to all the times I've hurt anyone, and all I see is pain. Back then, I relished in it, because that suffering was the only thing I ever knew. I came to you, Risk, because I wanted to tell you that I'm leaving- leaving on a journey to find out what it really means to be a Ghost. But, before I go, I wanted to show you one last thing..."
Gengar opened its shadowy hand, and a small metal device appeared in its palm. I looked at it for a moment, but I couldn't figure out what it did. Photon gasped,
"It's a compass! But, Gengar, what is it for?" he asked.
"This is the culmination of my powers," it said, handing the object to me.
"This compass was the very same one I used to track you down during all of our previous encounters. As Mismagius said before, after a Pokemon is haunted by a Ghost, their position is visible to the Ghost ethereally. This compass will give you that ethereal vision. It will lead you to Riku, and I wish you good luck in restoring his memory. I regret that things had to end in this way, but I'm glad I could leave with a clear conscience. Kekekek! Nobody's going to tell Gengar who he is anymore! This is my story, and the beginning of a new chapter in my life. Come along, you three, we have work to do!" it said, leading the Three Sisters into the distance.
Gengar turned back to me one last time and said, simply,
"Goodbye. I cannot thank you enough for what you have shown to me, and may we meet again one day. Not as bitter enemies, but the best of friends. And now, I bid you all adieu!..."
I watched, my mind abuzz with thoughts about what Gengar just said, as the four Ghosts vanished into the shadows.
Perhaps Gengar was just misunderstood. Naive, maybe. In any case, I think it turned alright in the end. The tyranny of Von Spectre is behind us all, and a new beginning is afoot...
I turned to the waiting Pokemon, as I felt a new sort of hope manifest itself in me.
"I'm going to leave on a journey of my own." I said.
"Not a journey of pain. Not a journey of regret... But an adventure! I'm going to learn what it means to be a leader!" I said, pinning my Explorer's Badge to my pack once again.
"And I'm not coming back without Riku! I'll bring back his memory, even if it takes every fibre of my being to do it! Photon, Cedric, Alpha, Beta... Team ACT... All of you... Don't ever stop fighting for the peace that we strive so hard to protect! That is our goal as rescue teams! Live like the world's counting on you! Do it for Riku- do it for me!..." I then turned to Photon and Cedric.
"Do it for Sophia," I said, softly, and turned to leave, slowly walking away from the Guild.
"But... Risk..." Beta tried to stifle her crying, but it wasn't working very well.
...
"Never mind," she finally said, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"I understand now. It's OK... Good... Good luck!" She had to force the last two words out, but I knew she would tough it out.
"Good luck, everyone!" I said, waving to the crowd of assembled Pokemon.
Wherever you are, Riku. No matter where you go, I won't abandon you! I won't rest until my Shaymin friend is back to his old self once again! Even if it kills me, I'm going to find you and restore your memory! You can count on me!
With that parting thought, I tightened my scarf and dashed into the forest...