I looked down near Paniola Ranch where I saw smoke. I looked at my friends. They nodded and we ran towards the smoke. Once there, we saw the strange pale people in their space suits on the ground and Cassandra stood over them, smiling.
"Would you look at that," she said brightly. "It seems I've caught some space men. How delightful."
Team Radiance grunts began to surround them and Cassandra laughed. "Nowhere to run now!"
"That doesn't mean they don't have help!" I yelled.
All eyes turned to me and my friends. Cassandra eyes narrowed. "Zeno, we meet again."
She motioned for her grunts to stay around Phyco and Soliera and their two friends. She stalked up to me. "I would just walk away Zeno if I were you."
I cracked a smile. "So your saying you would walk away? Go ahead."
She turned furious. "You will leave now or face the consequences."
I grabbed two pokeballs. The dust wind blew around me as my friends, minus Lillie, grabbed pokeballs.
I stared into Cassandra's eyes. "My fight is here with you, if you stand in my way."
I released Growlithe and Rockruff.
"Fire Spin and Rock Tomb!" I yelled.
Cassandra dove out of Growlithe's path and rocks began crashing next to her grunts, scattering them.
Cassandra released Florges. "Florges, Moonblast!"
I dove out of the way and my friends released their Pokémon. I stood to find myself surrounded by three grunts. The same three from a couple days ago.
"We meet again," the female grunt said.
I cracked my knuckles. "Let's get down to business shall we."
They swung at me and I ducked, their three fists hitting each other. I punched one of the grunts in the jaw and kicked the female grunt's legs out underneath her. The last grunt came at me, but I barreled into him, knocking him down.
They stood back up, ready for more. I sighed. "Well then, time to bring out the big guns."
I tossed it and Gyarados appeared with a mighty roar. I laughed. "Remember the Magikarp you guys stole? Well, here he is."
Gyarados glared at them while they looked fearful. Gyarados roared and fired a Hyper Beam at them. They blasted off into the sky, just a speck on the horizon.
I smiled at Gyarados. "Good job Gyarados."
He gave what looked like a smile at me.
I turned to see the battle raging. My friends had their Pokémon out battling Team Radiance's. Phyco, Soliera, and their two friends were holding off Cassandra's Florges with 4 of the same Pokémon. They looked poisonous with three needles atop their heads.
That's all I registered before I saw a couple Radiance grunts rush off into the forest.
"Oh no you don't," I growled and took off after them.
...
Meanwhile, about 30 feet from the all-out battle, stood a woman of 20 years of age. Her uneven, spiky blue hair that reached down to her shoulders, matched her stunning blue eyes. Her hair looked like it was fresh off the bed, which the girl didn't mind. Her eyes were half open, but there was a calculating force behind them. She wore an Aether Foundation uniform with a name tag that read: "Kamake Kobayashi Head of the Science Division."
Kamake held a clipboard and pencil in her hands and jotted down notes.
She smiled the kind of smile you would get from someone who was studying you as she surveyed the battle.
"So many battle techniques," she thought. "And so many strategies."
Something moved in the corner of her eye and Kamake turned to see a boy in a trench coat running after some Radiance grunts.
Kamake smirked. "From what I've heard, that must be Zeno. I must study his battling skills.
So, Kamake set off after Zeno, but not before pressing a button on her watch she kept on her left wrist. Her Aether uniform shimmered until it formed into a Radiance uniform, showing that she was working both sides.
...
Zeno's POV
I ran after the grunts, determined to take them down. However, they managed to surprise me. One stopped so suddenly I ran into him. His buddy jumped onto a tree and flung himself backwards behind me.
I now stood between them, my fists raised. They both smirked and ripped off their Radiance uniforms and revealed the uniforms underneath.
I backed up into a tree as they put on matching caps. "No! This can't be!"
They grinned at me, their R symbols on their black uniforms haunting me.
"Hello Zeno," said the one on my left. "It's been a long time."
The one on the right laughed. "Team Rocket has missed you dearly."
I clenched my fists. "How'd you find me!?"
They looked at each other, grinning. "Trade secret."
"Team Radiance," I guessed, since they were wearing them a minute ago.
Lefty snapped his fingers. "You always were a smart one."
Righty crossed his arms. "I'm afraid you'll have to come with us back to Giovanni."
"I'm not going back," I spat. "Never!"
They cracked their knuckles. "Looks like we'll need to do this the hard way."
Before they could do anything though, a blizzard came out of nowhere and froze the grunts. A girl with (refer to earlier description) came at from behind a tree, a Glaceon at her heels. She wore a Radiance uniform.
As I reached for Dartrix's pokeball, she raised a hand to stop me. She pressed a button on a watch and her uniform shimmered into a white uniform with a strange symbol on it.
"I'm not part of Team Radiance," Kamake assures me. I read the name tag. "I'm part of the Aether Foundation. We're working against people like Cassandra. I'm on your side."
I didn't drop my guard. "So why were you dressed like a Radiance grunt?"
Kamake cocked a smile. "I'm undercover, assigned to keep track of Cassandra's plans. Lusamine herself gave me this task. The president of the Aether Foundation."
I nodded and lowered my fists, still wary. "Why aren't you helping us fight Radiance then?"
She shook her head. "Sadly, my instructions were clear. Don't engage and take notes."
She patted a clipboard clipped to her waist.
Kamake turned to face where the battle could be heard. "You'd better get back."
She turned to me. "But next time we meet, I want a battle. It's for my research."
I nodded. "That's fine."
Kamake smiled and disappeared into the forest.
...
Kamake, 3rd person POV
Kamake sighed as she leaned against the tree. She wanted to battle Zeno here and now, but it was impractical at the time.
"Maybe another time," she thought. "But I'll have to be careful. I have a feeling he could discover my secret."
Knowing Lusamine would want a report about Team Radiance, Kamake set off towards Heahea City to get a boat. Though, Kamake wouldn't tell the President everything. Just like how Kamake wouldn't tell Cassandra everything. And both were none the wiser. In one sense, Kamake hasn't decided what group she's willing to fully commit to. In the other sense, Kamake's just waiting to see which group would fall first.
...
Zeno's POV
I ran back onto the battlefield and I was pleased to see we were winning. Phyco and his group were pushing Cassandra and some of her Grunts farther away while my friends took out Pokémon after Pokémon. Well, most of it was Gyarados. That thing is a beast. He fired Hyper Beam after Hyper Beam, causing the ground to get ripped apart.
Rockruff appeared at my side as several grunts with two Floettes and an Oricorio, that was yellow, ran up to me.
"Rock Tomb Rockruff!" I commanded.
Rocks were hurtled and a Floette was taken down. As the other Floette was about to attack, a wheel of fire hurtled into it. Growlithe uncurled and his flaming teeth bit down on Floette. Oricorio cut the air with a sharp wind which knocked Growlithe away.
"Use Rock Throw!" I yelled.
Rockruff hurtled a rock into the air and slapped it at Oricorio with his tail.
"Oricorio!" A grunt yelled. "Double Slap!"
Oricorio dodged the rock and began slapping Rockruff.
"Hang in there Rockruff and use Bite!"
Rockruff bit down on one pom-pom, but Oricorio continued slapping with the other arm.
Suddenly, a ray of dusk light hit Rockruff and engulfed him. His body glowed and he began to grow.
...
Cassandra's POV
I held off the poisonous Pokémon barely. I would have to call for a retreat soon. Then I saw Zeno's Rockruff. The dusk light had engulfed him and he was evolving.
"I knew it!" I thought. "That Rockruff is special!"
...
Zeno's POV
When the glow died, Rockruff stood in his new form.
Rotom flew out of nowhere. "A Lycanroc, but I have to data on this one. This is a new form of Lycanroc."
I was surprised. "Do you know his moves?"
He nodded and listed them off. While Rotom was doing that, Lycanroc threw Oricorio into the air and let it crash to the ground.
I grinned. "Lycanroc, use Accelerock!"
Lycanroc sped towards Oricorio, his speed unlike anything I've ever seen before. He smashed into Oricorio and sent it into a grunt.
"RETREAT!" Cassandra yelled.
She and a couple grunts ran off into and the remaining grunts followed suit. When they were all gone, we all met up together.
I returned Gyarados, but left Growlithe and Lycanroc out.
I rubbed Lycanroc's head. "Good job Lycanroc. You did amazing and you evolved!"
He licked my face and I laughed.
"Did you see them run!" Hau laughed.
Alex grinned. "We beat them good."
"I'm just glad that's over," Lillie said, holding her bag tightly and I could see Nebby cowering inside.
Phyco nodded. "They would have had us if it wasn't for you and your friends Zeno. We are in your dept."
I nodded. "I'm just glad we could help. Who are these two?"
I gestured to the two unknown people who were with Phyco and Soliera.
Phyco straightened. "Let me properly introduce ourselves. As you all know, I am Phyco and this is Soliera. This is Dulse and Zossie and we are the Ultra Recon Squad!"
"The Ultra what now?" Hau questioned.
"Ultra Recon Squad," Phyco said. "We were sent here from our world in search of the one who would free us from our eternal darkness."
"Your world?" Robert asked.
Dulse nodded. "Correct. We are from a different world, not planet, but world. A different Earth if you will."
That was confusing, so I asked, "How do I know this is true?"
Phyco twirled his mustache. "Our technological suits are far more advanced than what this Earth can provide, but besides that, you'll have to take our word for it."
I nodded. "I can do that, but my question is, why do we keep running into you?"
Soliera smiled. "That is because we have been keeping track of you."
Alex coughed. "Seriously!? Stalkers much?"
Phyco shook his head. "It's for the sake of finding the one spoken of in the prophecy. And we believe that person to be you, Zeno."
I took a step backwards. "Why would you think me!? And what prophecy!?"
Phyco, Dulse, and Soliera looked at Zossie, who cleared her throat.
"An evil rises in the dark
Only shall it rise from the light
The Blinding One consumed
The Shadow shall return
The gods of old awaken once more
A Hero Born of Darkness shall rise
And confront Alola's darkest night
And through parting of life
Shall the darkness cease."
A shiver ran down my spine. The Hero Born of Darkness. My thoughts flashed back to several times and places from earlier in my journey. When I was on the boat in Kanto, I had been rescued by a Manaphy and it had left a message.
"Go Hero Born of Darkness, to Alola. I may have been able to save you once, but now your destiny lies in your hands alone."
Then when I was rescued by Tapu Koko, he as well left a chilling message.
"Child Born of Darkness. Beware the falling night where light shall meet its end."
My run-in with the Haunting.
"Because you are a threat. You are the one of the Prophecy."
More recently, my dream of the Shadow. He mentioned his rise, myself as the Hero Born of Darkness, and of the gods of old.
As I collected my thoughts, I knew it all fit. The Shadow and the Hero Born of Darkness, which seemed to be me. But the part about parting of life, that scared me.
Everyone seemed to be staring at me, so I regained my composure. "Okay then, I'm the Hero Born of Darkness. I guess that's now obvious because of all the encounters I've had, but what about the rest of the Prophecy?"
Phyco spoke. "We know only so little of the Prophecy, but what we do know is the Blinding One."
Dulse's looked angry. "The Blinding One is why we needed to find you. It had shrouded our world into complete darkness and we hope you can kill it and bring light back into our world."
"What is the Blinding One?" Lillie asked curiously.
Phyco's gaze hardened. "It is the most terrible of all Ultra Beasts. Almost like a Pokémon, but far more superior."
"And you think I can kill it?" I asked in disbelief. "You want to go now or do you want to get some food first?"
Phyco must have not heard the sarcasm, because he said, "No, not now. You're not ready yet. We will bring you to our world once you have grown stronger."
"Well that's good," I said sarcastically. "At least I'll have time to prepare."
Phyco nodded, apparently still not hearing my sarcasm. "We need to get going. We have other matters to attend to. Farewell Hero Born of Darkness and friends."
They did their square Alola greeting/goodbye and left. When they were out of sight, Hau asked, "Zeno, why do you think your the Hero Born of Darkness?"
I sighed. "I've been told things in several different ways that are unrelated to each other. First was the Manaphy in Kanto, then Tapu Koko near the bridge, and finally the Haunting."
I took care not to mention my dream.
Alex crossed her arms. "Care to explain."
And so I did, but I didn't mention anything of my past. No need to tell them that much.
"That's..." Robert trailed off.
"Interesting?" Lillie offered.
"That about sums it up," Alex agreed.
Hau surprisedly was the only one who was thinking about me. "How do you feel about this Zeno?"
I shrugged. "I've always felt that there had to be a big purpose for me in my life. I guess this is it."
In my mind though, I wanted nothing to do with the Prophecy.
"One thing doesn't make sense though," Alex said. "Hero Born of Darkness? That means Zeno would've been born of darkness or be subjected to it."
"Drop it," I said quietly. "Just drop it."
"But," Alex said, but thought better of it.
From their silence, they had no idea of what to think of me.
"This is why I didn't want them to know a thing," I thought. "If they find out my whole past, I'll be alone."
"Sorry," I said to Alex. "But I prefer my past staying where it belongs. In the past."
She nodded, but still looked like she wanted to add something.
Hau broke the ice. "Well, I want to head to the next trial site and we can't do that standing here. C'mon!"
He started running towards Route 6 and we had no choice but to run after him.
...
After heading down Route 6 for a bit, we came across two Team Skull grunts running for their lives from a short gal atop a horse Pokémon of sorts.
Rotom flew out of my backpack. "Mudsdale, the Draft Horse Pokémon. It's heavy, mud-covered kicks are its best means of attack and it can reduce large trucks to scrap without breaking a sweat."
Once Mudsdale was near us, its trainer halted it. The grunts then disappeared into the forest.
The trainer grinned at us. "Hello y'all. Enjoying this fine day?"
I nodded. "Yeah. Why were you chasing them?"
The trainer snorted. "Those Skull boys are constantly making a nuisance of themselves. Luckily we don't have them on Poni Island."
Hau gasped. "You're Hapu! Man, I've heard so many stories about you and your grandfather the Kahuna. Are your his successor?"
Hapu smiled sadly. "Maybe one day."
She jerked a thumb back the way she'd came. "If y'all are heading for Royal Avenue to battle, you're out of luck. The stadium is under repairs right now."
Hau's face became downcast. "Aww man. I was hoping to battle there."
Alex shrugged. "At least we have more time to get to our next trial."
I just nodded. "Thanks for the information Hapu."
She nodded. "Hope things go well in Kiawe's trial. Good luck. You'll want to stay cool if you wish to pass."
And with that, Hapu rode off down towards Heahea City.
I looked at Hau. "What did she mean, "stay cool"?"
Hau pointed towards the mountain in the distance, which I now noticed had a bit of smoke coming out of the top. "The trial is on the volcano."
Lillie frowned. "Is it active?"
Hau shook his head. "Nah, that's just Kiawe's torches smoking."
"Are you sure?" I asked. "There's a bit coming from the side."
It was Hau's turn to frown. "Okay, I'll admit, that is a bit off from normal."
Although the smoke didn't look inviting in the night sky, the fires from what I assumed was the torches, made it look picture worthy.
Hau had the same idea. "Hey guys, let's all get a picture together with the volcano in the background."
Robert nodded. "That would be cool."
Rotom burst out of my pack. "Did someone say picture!?"
We all posed with the volcano in the background and Rotom snapped a picture.
Alex yawned. "C'mon guys. Let's get to that PMC over there and get some sleep."
We all nodded and headed into Royal Avenue. We made our way to the PMC and got two rooms. Once in the room I shared with Hau and Robert, I collapsed on the bed and fell asleep instantly.
...
Once again, I dreamed I was in the Hollow. This time, there was a black crystal in the center. I walked up to it and saw that it was a Z-crystal of sorts. It was pure black and I couldn't see any markings on it at all. As I reached out to grab it, the shadows engulfed me once more. For some reason I could not name, I knew I needed to reach that Z-crystal. It was his. His power. His source...
...
I awoke, breathing hard. I tried to remember my dream, but it was slipping away. It felt like a shadow entered my mind, covering the memory of my dream.
...
Tapu Koko was in his brother's, Tapu Bulu's, library. The library itself was in a secret part of the Ruins of Abundance that Tapu Bulu made himself. It contained hundreds of scrolls only the Tapus or Kahunas could decipher.
Tapu Bulu was pawing through a scroll, his full attention on the task at hand.
"So brother," Tapu Koko started. "What do your scrolls say?"
Tapu Bulu sighed and let the scroll roll close. "From what I could find, they say the return of the gods of old has been coming ever since we defeated them a thousand years ago."
"What about the Shadow?" Tapu Koko asked. "What do your scrolls say about that?"
"That's the tricky bit," Tapu Bulu said. "There isn't much about the "Shadow"."
He pawed the last scroll. "However, I did find one thing."
He opened the scroll again and began to read aloud. "I have received a prophecy. The last prophecy from the Prowler."
Tapu Koko paled. "The Prowler!?"
Tapu Bulu nodded. "Let me finish."
He started reading again. "She told me of the Shadow. The most evil of all entities and older than Arceus himself. Since before even nothing existed, the Shadow was there. The Prowler told me that her brothers and sister would rise again after the Shadow blanketed Alola into darkness. She, the Prowler, and her siblings, the Stalker, the Breaker, and the Crusher would rule over the Islands of alone once more. I fear that others may hear of this so I'll hide this away in Tapu Bulu's library next time I visit the Ula'Ula Tribe. Hopefully, when the time is right, this message will be discovered. I warn you, the Shadow can only be stopped by the Hero Born of Darkness. Perhaps by killing the Hero, the Shadow can be stopped, but if he does before the Shadow rises, Alola will be doomed forever."
Tapu Bulu looked up. "It's marked by the signature of Kahuna Mavrior of the Akala Tribe."
Tapu Koko looked troubled. "We could kill the boy, but be doomed. If we don't kill him, not only will the Shadow rise, but so will the gods of old."
Tapu Bulu closed the scroll. "This could be inaccurate you know."
Tapu Koko shook his head. "No, I believe it is true."
"What do you think we should do then?" Tapu Bulu asked, crossing his arms.
Tapu Koko thought for a minute, then said, "We'll need to make sure Zeno stays alive until the Shadow rises."
"You believe he's strong enough?"
Tapu Koko shrugged. "I'm going to test him."
"How?" His brother asked.
"For his next trial," Tapu Koko began. "I'm going to make sure he battles the Volcano's Protector."
My new philosophy is for the summer, if I'm able to get a chapter done at any given time, publish it. Also, sorry for the mishap yesterday. I accidently pressed the publish button when I wasn't finished, so I had to unpublishe it immediately. Also, Kamake is an OC iiStratix made for this story I decided to add. Credit goes to you iiStratix. Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed this latest installment in the Hero Born of Darkness series and see you guys next time... That doesn't fit for this. I'll change it later on. Toodles.