Chương 103: Steven Interlude (Part 1)

Steven had met many different people back during his tenure as the Champion of Hoenn. He'd met with diplomats, master trainers, leaders of various cities, and even most of the regional Professors spread throughout the world. Every individual he'd met had their own quirks and eccentricities, but most had still been an absolute pleasure to meet with.

Sure, the council of elders in Sootopolis had been rather resistant to any outside influence, and sure, they were far more reluctant to make any major decisions than he'd prefer, but they still had their people's best interests in mind. He wished he could say the same about Baron Alberto. It wasn't that the Baron was necessarily a bad person, but he was highly egotistical and full of arrogance.

When Steven first reached Alamos town, he of course went to the town's leadership to make himself known and hopefully make a connection that would assist with the upcoming foretold events. Unfortunately, things had not gone the way he expected.

".. And over here are the training grounds I had commissioned naught but half a dozen years ago, where Lickilicky and I trained daily to reach the power we wield now." Steven glanced down at the model of the town situated in the middle of the Baron's study. Baron Alberto was pointing at it quite animatedly, and was in the middle of a speech about yet another way his money had improved the town in a way that just happened to coincide with his personal interests.

Steven took a sip of tea as his eyes wandered over to the model train that moved around the city. He felt that it said a lot that the train didn't have a corresponding presence in reality. The Baron, a young man with rose pink hair and a gilded sash around his red princely attire continued to happily gesture at various locations within the model, unaware of Steven's lack of total attention.

"Due to the success we had together, I made sure the Pokémon Center received a sizable grant to add more fields to its own, and, even more, I tried to suggest some as an addition to the gardens behind the Space-Time Towers! Of course, that blasted Tonio resisted the change, stating 'the gardens are everyone's.' Bah, he doesn't understand good design." Steven just hummed and found himself tapping his fingers on the edge of the table.

As the young Baron practically growled at the mention of the man he so despised (yet again), Steven's gaze drifted to stare out the large glass windows that overlooked the town. Alamos town was a rather unique location located just off the main routes of Sinnoh. Not too far northeast of Jubilife and west of Route 206, it was situated between several mountains on a plateau that towered over a large lake that separated it from the rest of the terrain.

A single bridge connected the town to a road that led to the rest of Sinnoh. Due to its relative isolation, a common sight within it was the hot air balloons that the locals used to move to and from its elevated location. As for the town itself, it was modeled after a foreign architectural style with large, cobbled roads for Pokémon-drawn carriages, now repurposed as walkways for the citizens that lived here.

The main point of interest was the imposing Space-Time Towers: two large constructions connected together in a building considered to be one of the tallest in the world. The auditorium behind it at its base was where the town's bi-monthly Pokémon Contest was held, which Steven knew would be the reason Ash and his friends would be arriving here soon. The sounds of notes being played on a booming piano rang out to mark the passing of an hour. Emanating from the tower was a song that spread throughout the town.

Steven closed his eyes to enjoy the music, but a sudden cough drew Steven's attention back to Baron Alberto. The young man's glare was meant to be intimidating, but Steven had seen far more threatening things in his life to be bothered by one annoyed man.

"I apologize," Steven said.

"I have to admit, the Space-Time Towers are quite wonderful. I don't suppose I could get a tour of them?" Baron Alberto's eye literally twitched at Steven's mention of the place, but credit to him, he politely bowed his head then stood up a bit straighter to fix his clothes.

"Of course. If the ex-Champion of Hoenn wishes to see the place, then I might as well provide. Come along, it's not too far of a walk." Baron Alberto swept out of the room, giving Steven hardly any time to set his teacup down. The pair moved through the Baron's expansive mansion, passing through hallways filled with paintings of the Baron and his predecessors, soon making their way out into the streets below and walking towards Steven's requested destination.

"Forgive me, but I do have to inquire, why do you seem to dislike the presence of the Space-Time Towers in this town?" Steven asked as they moved past a few different crowds. Baron Alberto, from where he was leading Steven and waving to the people they passed by, turned back around to face him with a now much more strained smile than before.

"I bear no grudge towards the towers! They're the gems of Alamos!" he said with an eye twitching yet again.

"It's all thanks to the wonderful Godey and his immense wealth that their presence allows us to host Contests and welcome tourists from around the world."

"Yet your eye twitches every time they're mentioned," Steven pointed out.

"Does it?" Alberto asked.

"Indeed." The young Baron frowned and chose not to reply, leaving the pair to continue down the street without much more conversation. As it stood, Alamos was in the middle of a small festival that took place whenever the Contest was scheduled every two months. The streets were crowded with people and vendors making the most out of the wide streets, and Steven had even been told that there were fireworks planned that night in celebration of tomorrow's Contest.

He wished he would be able to take in the sights, but his informant had been clear that some major event was soon to occur. The potential presence of one of Sinnoh's Legendary Pokémon was not to be ignored, though he wasn't sure which one it would be. Steven hoped it wouldn't be Arceus. He hadn't even known that the deity-like Pokémon truly existed before it was outright confirmed by his otherworldly source.

Soon, he and the Baron reached a large open plaza that separated the base of the tower from the buildings around it. Groups of people drifted in and out of the Space-Time Towers' chapel-like base to view the famous carvings and machineries within. A few individuals recognized Steven and sent poorly hidden glances his way, so Steven made sure to smile at them appreciatively.

It took little effort on his part to actually acknowledge a person, and he'd found that people always brightened up after receiving attention from someone as famous as he. He'd prefer to operate far more subtly than he was now, but getting the leadership on his side required him to lean on his reputation. It took until they reached the main entrance of the tower that Steven felt himself lose his balance. It was an unusual feeling.

It was almost as though the ground itself and the air around him had moved over a millimeter or two, forcing him to pause in his movements ever so briefly. Some people around him were less fortunate, not having years of practice with graceful movements like him to stop them from stumbling or even falling to the ground. The Baron paused and looked to the sky.

"I know that feeling," he mumbled almost accusingly.

"I'm sorry?" Steven asked.

"Yes, I apologize, but I must go! The demon lurks about!" Abandoning Steven, Baron Alberto lunged to the side and dashed away, choosing to run around the side of the towers rather than into them. Grabbing a Pokéball, the Baron released a pudgy pink Lickilicky whose tongue flopped about as it jogged at his side. With a shout of "To arms!" the Baron disappeared around the corner, leaving Steven alone in the crowd. Steven could tell this was a sign of what was to come.

"Claydol," he whispered into the air, "can you stealthily bring us after him?" One of Steven's companions, a cylindrical, black, eye-covered Psychic Type, released itself at his side and the pair immediately disappeared, only to reappear on a balcony on the tower nearby. A few gasps rang out in the crowd from his sudden disappearance, but Steven was already too far away to hear them.

"Interesting," he mumbled. From his new elevated position, he easily tracked the Baron as the man ran down a dirt path within a small forest of trees that made up the gardens behind the Space-Time Towers. The direction the man was running was towards a curious Drifblim floating over an open area with a few old stone pillars that had collapsed to their side. No one was present underneath it, but Steven couldn't help but to feel like something was wrong.

"Bring us over," he told his Pokémon. Yet again, Steven and Claydol disappeared only to reappear in a different location. This time, he was in a place he expected to appear: right next to the pillars that no longer stood upright. He kneeled down to better examine what had happened.

"The stone is twisted and warped at the base, almost appearing as if they've been molded like clay," he said out loud for the benefit of his team.

"I would say these pillars were subjected to intense heat, but they're cool to the touch, and they seem to have been built this way." He hummed and ran his finger down the twisted base. His eyes glanced over to where one had completely collapsed and fallen into a half-drained stone pool next to it.

Steven Stone, as his last name implied, was a large fan of stones and other minerals, and from his knowledge of geology, he knew that there was no way these old-looking pillars had been built with the base originally twisted as they were now. He only had a few more moments of analysis before a familiar voice shouted out behind him.

"Steven! What are you doing here?" He turned his head.

"Ash. I didn't expect to see you here as well," Steven lied. Standing up, Steven dusted off his black and purple suit as he returned to his full height. Just as he had been told prior, the expected cast appeared. Ash Ketchum, Brock Harrison, and Dawn, the daughter of the famous Coordinator Joanna, rushed into the clearing with him. Leading their way was a Gallade with a rather worried expression on its face alongside a woman with puffy blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

"This is awful. Did you see who did this?" the blonde woman asked. Steven opened his mouth to respond, but someone else spoke up before he could.

"It was Darkrai," Baron Alberto claimed as he emerged from a plant covered tunnel nearby. His Lickilicky followed him from behind. Steven frowned.

"Darkrai?" Ash asked.

"Yes, Darkrai. The Pokémon responsible for this damage," the Baron continued.

"A Pokémon? I've never heard of it," Dawn said.

"I've heard of Darkrai before, actually. It's a Pokémon that causes nightmares," Brock explained. Steven stopped this conversation before any misinformation was spread. He didn't doubt that the Baron might speak up to slander it based on how the man was behaving.

"Darkrai is a rather reclusive species native to Sinnoh that tends to avoid most human settlements. It's capable of inflicting endless nightmares to those that do it harm, but that only tends to occur when a Darkrai is pushed into a desperate situation. They tend to have bad rumors spread about them due to Canaclave's suffering from one particularly malicious individual."

"Bad rumors? Bah!" Baron Alberto spat.

"Those rumors are true! Darkrai is a demon that must be stopped!"

"Darkrai is an oft misunderstood Pokémon. Leave it alone and it will do you no harm," Steven calmly said right back. In response, the Baron brought his head back in a cackling laugh. Steven hadn't seen him share this level of vitriol before, even when the man talked about his supposed rival, one Tonio.

"Hah! No harm? Just look at what it did to this wonderful garden," the Baron said.

"My lady Alice, perhaps we should retire to our home to keep you safe?"" Our home? I already told you no. Leave me alone," the blonde woman said. Baron Alberto opened his mouth to object, causing Steven to mark off another point against him from that chauvinistic behavior, but then the nearby bushes rustled and drew everyone's attention towards it.

"Darkrai," Baron Alberto stated with the confidence of a man who didn't know he was wrong.

"Lickilicky, Hyper Beam!"

"What? No!" Steven shouted those words to try to stop the Baron, but Claydol was already on it. Moving with Teleport once more, his Champion-level Pokémon appeared in the way of the blast and formed a Light Screen that stopped the attack head on. Baron Alberto and his Lickilicky gasped as they realized they had just inadvertently attacked an ex-Champion's Pokémon.

At the same time, behind Claydol, a man with purple-tinted gray hair, a set of round, wireframe glasses, and a green vest emerged carrying a rather thick, high-tech laptop. The man looked up at the stunned group without even realizing the danger he had just been in.

"Uh, hello?" Alice ran forward with a worried shout of "Tonio!" as Baron Alberto had at least some self awareness to gulp nervously. As she looked over the confused newcomer, Steven sent the Baron a pointed stare.

"What you did was an incredibly dangerous and irresponsible maneuver. Always make sure your target is clear before unleashing an attack, especially with a move as powerful as Hyper Beam."

"It was a simple mistake that anyone could have made!" the Baron coughed.

"Surely Tonio should have realized that sneaking up on us like that might have put him in danger!" Baron Alberto looked away as Steven glared at him. After a few moments of quiet conversation between Alice and Tonio, the pair approached the twisted pillars, and Tonio kneeled down to analyze them with his computer.

"I came here after detecting a space-time anomaly. I believe one may have occurred here," Tonio explained. Steven walked up to the kneeling man and leaned over his shoulder to look at whatever was displayed on the computer. It was hard to tell what was being shown. Steven wasn't a scientist like Tonio was, but as far as he could tell, Tonio was somehow recording a form of spatial waves and displaying them in a three-dimensional graph.

"Space-time, hm?" Steven mumbled as he rubbed his chin. Tonio jumped at the unexpectedly close sound, slamming into the pillar he was kneeling near, and dislodging a piece of crumbling rock that started to fall towards his head. Claydol grabbed it with its psychic powers and brought it to the side so Tonio wouldn't get hurt.

"Uh, yeah," Tonio said.

"There's always been strange readings around these parts, so I've dedicated my studies into finding out why. Recently, the frequency of the anomalous waves have drastically increased, and I'm worried that there will be some kind of breaking point in the near future." Steven didn't consider himself that smart of a person, just someone with the experience and connections to know things others didn't. With everything he had been told, it wasn't hard to put two and two together.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"It's Palkia," Steven stated. Everyone here gasped.

"Palkia is a Legendary Pokémon that has considerable power over the domain of space. It's possible that it's the 'something' that's causing these kinds of fluctuations. Sinnoh's deity Legendaries rarely appear in our plane of existence, showing themselves so rarely that they're only considered myths. If it's going to show up here, we need to prepare."

"Prepare for Palkia, of all creatures? Please," Baron Alberto said.

"There's no need to pay Tonio's wild conspiracies any mind. We simply need to take out Darkrai, and then all of this nonsense will stop."

"You are aware that Darkrai doesn't have the power to distort space on this level, right?" Steven asked. Alberto sputtered at the direct contradiction to his claim and crossed his arms angrily. It was at that point another strange wave hit the area. Once more, it felt as if everything moved over an extremely small amount as space shifted and vibrated in the area. Everyone tensed to prevent themselves from falling, and Baron Alberto had to flail his arms around just to keep his balance.

Alice pointedly grabbed onto Tonio to stop both of them from falling over. Both she and Tonio blushed.

"It's happening again," Tonio said. As the wave continued, a new, unexpected effect came. The sky, while previously lit up with bright blues of a summer day, stayed unobscured with the same color, but the area around them somehow darkened. Shadows extended outwards to cover the ground, and the trees themselves seemed to still despite the soft breeze. Ash, who was standing at the edge of the group, gasped as a nearby decorative stone flower pot broke apart and clattered to the ground.

That drew everyone's attention to it as a darker shadow coalesced within the shade beneath the trees. The shadows shifted and hardened to the point where they seemed like a pitch black gap in relative space. A gravelly, hard to understand voice emanated from everywhere at once, causing Steven's body to feel like it was vibrating, and forcing him to clench his teeth. It was deep and harmonized with itself, speaking with stunted words to share what it wanted to share.

"Do. Not. Come. Here." Emerging from that black void was a new Pokémon that had only been briefly mentioned in passing. It was almost humanoid in form, but its broad upper chest and waist made it clear it wasn't human, especially since it had an unusually thin stomach. It had white hair and tufts of black on its shoulders that drifted in an nonexistent wind and faded away into smoke. Its sole visible bright blue eye contrasted the red tuft around its head.

Dawn, nearby, shivered as its cold gaze moved over the group. Darkrai, the aforementioned Legendary Pokémon itself, floated in place as the shadows around it looked to bend to its will. Baron Alberto smirked and stepped forward.

"See? Darkrai is the one causing all of this! Take it out, and the disturbances will disappear. Now, Lickilicky, Hyper Beam!" Caught off guard by the sudden appearance of a Legendary Pokémon, Steven was unable to shout in time to stop the Baron from attacking first. However, it turned out that action would have been unnecessary as Claydol didn't need to step in to protect it.

Even before the Hyper Beam was unleashed, Darkrai sank back down into the ground, and its shadow dashed forward surprisingly quickly to move out of the trees and into the small clearing with the rest of the group. The Hyper Beam disappeared into the distance and exploded against a far away tree. Baron Alberto cockily turned to face his opponent. Lickilicky, breathing heavily from the powerful attack, turned to face it as well.

"Enough of this. Stop attacking Darkrai!" Steven ordered. Baron Alberto laughed.

"I don't tell you how to do your job, so you shouldn't tell me how to do mine. Again, Lickilicky!" Lickilicky was still recharging after its previous attack, which gave Darkrai ample time to send a pitch black sphere forward. It moved rather slowly for a Pokémon attack, but at the same time, its slow, perfectly constant speed and the way light seemed to be sucked into it made it seem like the attack was completely unavoidable. Lickilicky sucked in its gut and heaved itself to the side.

Steven realized the attack was heading right to Ash before anyone else did.

"Watch out!" he shouted. Steven ran forward to shove Ash out of the way, but he was too late. The ball struck Ash right in the chest and expanded outwards, creating a dark violet sphere that encompassed him as well. Everyone faded away from around them.

"What? What just happened?" Ash asked. Steven let go of Ash and brought himself back to an upright position from where they had stumbled to the side.

"I believe Darkrai hit us with an attack. Considering neither of us experienced any pain, that was not a Shadow Ball. Knowing what is known about Darkrai, I would say that was Dark Void."

"Dark Void?"

"It's Darkrai's signature move. It guarantees that whatever it hits is sent to sleep, and considering Darkrai's innate power..." Steven grimaced.

"We may be stuck in a nightmare." Looking around, both Steven and Ash were still present, but the small clearing they were in was completely void of people. The sky was no longer a bright blue, now existing as a dull purple, and their shadows flickered and stretched out strangely in all directions. It wasn't until Ash took a step forward that their shadows suddenly grew even further out, and they left the ground to extend upwards in the vague shape of Darkrai, complete with a glowing blue eye.

It rushed forward to completely encompass them, sending the pair into pitch black darkness. A faint roar was heard as Ash grunted worriedly.

"Hold," Steven said.

"I have reason to believe this Darkrai is not aggressive, even with this action." Ash didn't respond, choosing to stare straight ahead. Steven appreciated that his sudden companion wasn't questioning his knowledge. He in no way wanted to reveal his source. From a distance away, in the pitch black area they were now in, a strange pink light pierced through the darkness. Ash took a step back nervously, but Steven calmly stared forward.

He was nervous, of course, but it wouldn't be good to reveal just how hard his heart was beating to an impressionable young trainer. The pink light increased in size before it revealed itself to be a complete figure rushing straight at them. Ash yelled as a glowing silhouette of a massive creature moved to float in front of them and pause inches away from their face.

"Palkia," Steven muttered, recognizing the creature from illustrations. Ash's eyes went wide as the image suddenly surged forward to pass right through their bodies. With that movement, the darkness faded to bring them back into the same area they were before. Darkrai was there, floating only a few feet away and staring at them. Ash growled and took a few feet forward.

"Darkrai, you're the one doing this! Turtwig, I choose—""No," Steven interrupted. He turned to face the Legendary Pokémon.

"I assume you are doing this to warn us?" Darkrai's bright blue eye flicked to stare at Steven. As he did before, he simply stared back. The way Darkrai's form emanated mist off its body made it seem like it was a flame made out of darkness.

"My name is Steven Stone," Steven said.

"I am the ex-Champion of Hoenn, and as a result, I still have some influence I can use to assist. You told us to go away. Do you wish to evacuate the city?" Darkrai made no movements outside of glancing towards the Space-Time Towers within the dream. Steven was unsure what it meant, but he could at least tell that was a denial of his question from before. The question now was, if it wasn't telling people to leave, what was it talking about? It didn't take much thought for Steven to understand it meant Palkia.

At that realization, Steven suddenly found himself shooting up in a white bed, breathing heavily. Glancing over, he saw that Ash was doing the same, but he was clutching Pikachu tightly in his arms.

"You're up!" Dawn spoke excitedly at the pair's sudden awakening, and alongside her were Brock, Alice, Tonio, Nurse Joy, and Chansey. A few health monitoring machines were set up next to Steven and Ash's beds, but they hadn't been fully turned on. It seemed while a good amount of time had passed, it hadn't been much more than an hour or two. Steven still felt a little embarrassed that he was no longer wearing his prized suit, but a white hospital gown instead.

"You two were having such horrible nightmares," the nurse said.

"You were constantly turning and shifting around on your beds as if you were in pain. Darkrai's presence is known to cause bad dreams, so we were worried you would never wake up."

"No, that wouldn't happen," Steven said.

"It was a warning. Please get me my PokéNav. I have a phone call to make." The Champion of Sinnoh, Cynthia, was more than disappointed to be too preoccupied to be able to assist. While she was aware of the level of danger present, the historian desperately wanted to see the Legendary Pokémon, Palkia, in person. However, while the city was in danger, she had other duties as Champion to deal with. What duties was she busy with?

Unfortunately, she was currently out of the region on a visit to Johto as part of a co-regional archaeological venture. Johto and Sinnoh had a close connection with one another, and it was even said some of the first people to live in Sinnoh were from Johto. As a result, there was no way she would be able to make it in time without causing trouble with the people she was working with, so instead, Steven was granted the authority to do as he wished to take command of the situation.

However, despite his temporary power, Steven wasn't convinced it was best to start evacuating the town. Darkrai had seemed adamant that evacuation wasn't the solution, and instead, Palkia needed to leave. He had a funny feeling that things might not work out so simply, but at the same time, a full-on evacuation was likely to cause more injuries and panic the people into a frenzy. So, Steven went to visit the one person he actually felt could help. That person was very specifically not Baron Alberto.

"Hello?" he said as he knocked on the door.

"Is this Tonio's lab?"

"Yes! Come in!" the man's voice shouted from within. Entering the room in the basement of the Space-Time Towers, Steven emerged into a somewhat organized mess. The walls were lined with shelves containing old tomes and modern machines, and along the tops of those bookshelves were ornate, cylindrical, clockwork music discs arranged into slots. In the back, sitting in front of several monitors displaying images and readings from around town, was Tonio, currently occupied by an old photograph he held in his hands.

"Tonio, correct? I wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help." Tonio glanced up from his photograph, only to have his mouth hang open.

"Steven? Wha—Why are you here?"

"Like I said, I wanted to help. If Palkia is responsible for these waves, it's best to find a way to send it elsewhere before people can get hurt." Tonio put the photograph down and pulled out a book that had been placed next to a monitor. He flipped it open to a specific page and placed a finger there to find his position.

"I appreciate it, but first I need to figure out what we actually have to do. I have reason to believe that my great grandfather experienced something like this, or at least predicted this, since his journal states that he left something called 'Oración' to stop some disaster in the future. I'm not sure what that means, or even if this is the disaster he feared, but it's clear that it's important somehow."

Steven approached to lean over Tonio's shoulder like before, and he quickly found that the note mentioning Oración was left on a page with a diagram of the Space-Time Towers. From the diagrams, he could clearly see how the towers were actually one large musical instrument capable of playing recorded music devices.

"I'm pretty sure 'Oración' means prayer in an old language," Steven commented.

"I believe it's from the language the people of Paldea used to speak?"

"Well, most of the town is actually based off of Paldean architecture. I'm not surprised my great grandfather used that language." Steven stood back up and hummed. His eyes glanced over the music discs arranged in their spots along the walls.

"Speaking of your great grandfather, was there some reason why Baron Alberto might be against him? He seemed to have a dislike of the Space-Time Towers for some reason." Tonio blinked and adjusted his glasses.

"He does? I can't really see why. Godey, my Great Grandfather, had this place commissioned with his own money. It took most of his wealth, but my family owns the place as well as the gardens around it. Alberto's family owns the town itself."

"Ah, just a petty territorial dispute aggravated by time." Steven chuckled.

"I'm not too surprised." Tonio seemed a bit confused at Steven's comment, but returned to talking about the tower instead.

"Godey also left a few entries where he writes about a recurring nightmare he had showing the town being destroyed. It was part of his motivation to build the Space-Time Towers in the first place. If Palkia is involved, it means most of my readings actually make sense, but that just makes me even more worried that things will get even worse." Tonio's statement was punctuated by the sounds of fireworks going off in the town above.

It was currently late at night and the festival was at its peak before the Contest tomorrow, but neither Steven or Tonio were motivated to join. They stayed silent for a few moments to let the loud noises pass.

"I think we can take Godey's writings as being rather literal," Steven said. Tonio went pale.

"I think the key to this is understanding Oración." Tonio nodded and picked up the photograph he was previously holding once more. Steven glanced at it as well to see a faded picture of an old man sitting next to a young girl. The young girl's puffy hair looked vaguely familiar.

"Is that Alice?" Steven asked.

"No, it's actually her grandmother, Alisia. People always said Alice looked just like her when she was young." Steven hummed and drifted off in thought as he considered the clues put in front of him. A single word mention of "Oración" was not much to go off of, but they were at least confident Palkia was involved somehow. If the tower could play recordings, and "Oración" meant prayer in old Paldean, perhaps it was a recording of a prayer to request Arceus's assistance?

A comment from Tonio interrupted Steven from his thoughts.

"Say, Steven. Do you really think Darkrai is on our side?"

"Of course," Steven responded confidently.

"There's no doubt in my mind that Darkrai is not the one causing these problems. It specifically tried to warn Ash and I about Palkia, after all." Tonio pursed his lips.

"... When I was young, Darkrai saved Alice's life," he said. Steven stayed quiet.

"We were playing in the gardens, and she fell off a ledge far enough away that I would be too slow to save her. I saw a black shadow rush in to catch her in the air, and it placed her safely on the grass below before darting off back into the bushes. Alice had passed out from the shock of falling, and when she came to, she thought I had been the one that saved her. I never got a good look at it, but after seeing Darkrai today, and after your insistence it's working to save us, I'm confident it was Darkrai."

"Well, Darkrai tend to be rather reclusive, like I said earlier. I personally don't know much about them, but from the small amount I could research before coming here, I've learned they tend to prefer to watch from the shadows rather than reveal themselves. I don't doubt it has seen you far more than you've seen it." Tonio shivered.

"That doesn't make me feel much better," he mumbled.

"Well, we'll have to trust it anyway. It's shown it's trustworthy before, so we just have to continue giving it that trust."

"Maybe so," Tonio said.

"Maybe so." Steven was woken up the next morning by the sound of Alice leading Ash and Dawn into Tonio's lab. He quickly blinked a few times to get the sleep out of his eyes and shot to his feet to bring himself into a more presentable pose. Steven was faring much better than Tonio, who had collapsed out of his chair in the night and was currently sound asleep on the cold, stone floor. Alice clapped her hands to get his attention.

"Oración!" Tonio shouted as the noise woke him up. Alice paused at that sudden word.

"Oh, sorry. Good morning," he said.

"Don't sleep on the ground," she chastised. Tonio just chuckled.

"I apologize for taking up so much of your friend's time," Steven said.

"In an effort to solve this upcoming catastrophe, we stayed up all night to try to figure out what something called 'Oración' is." As Tonio pushed to his feet, Alice just hummed playfully and very purposely put a finger to her lips. She smirked and glanced over to Tonio.

"Oración? That's the name of the song my late grandmother taught me," Alice commented. Steven was sent into a stunned silence.

"Yeah! Alice is so cool! The sounds of her leaf whistle causes Pokémon to calm down," Ash said.

"Piplup got into an argument with a wild Shinx, and when she played her music, all the Pokémon relaxed and decided to split the berry instead of fighting over it." Steven blinked at Ash's comment, then turned his head to lock eyes with Tonio. Despite both of them having been asleep from a long night, the news granted them the energy to immediately shoot up and look through the music discs in the slots on the wall.

"Are these labeled?" Steven asked hurriedly.

"We have to find the one labeled 'Oración!'""Partially!" Tonio replied.

"The moldings on the front signify what they are!" As Steven and Tonio scrambled to search through the music discs in the room, Ash, Dawn, and Alice just watched on in confusion.

"Wait, what's going on?" Ash asked.

"Godey's journal mentioned something called 'Oración' being the key to stopping an impending disaster. Considering it came to him in a nightmare, and Darkrai is trying to help us, we're certain that it's going to stop Palkia!"

"Palkia? Are you sure?" Alice asked. Tonio grunted in acknowledgement. As Steven and Tonio continued their search (unfruitfully), Alice walked over to the desk where Tonio had left the journal and the worn photograph from the night prior.

"Huh," Alice said. She picked it up in her hands and turned it over.

"What is it?" Ash asked.

"This is a picture of Godey and my grandmother, Alisia. On the back there's the notes for Oración, too." Steven and Tonio paused. Alice continued to speak.

"There's a symbol drawn under it, too. I think I remember seeing it somewhere."

"There is?!" Tonio rushed forward to move to Alice's side, where he leaned in to get a good look at what she was holding. Steven couldn't help but to notice the blush on her face that appeared as he did so.

"You're right. I wasn't sure what that was before, but now that you mention it, it follows the same design principles that identifies each of these music discs. If we use this, we might be able to find which disc has the song!" Steven felt his heart beat faster with excitement, but his emotions cooled back down once he realized they had no clue where that disc might be. Thankfully, Alice spoke up to provide a suggestion.

"I have some of my grandmother's old stuff in my attic back home. Maybe Godey gave it to her and left it there?"

"Maybe," Tonio said.

"Is it possible for us to go to your home to check?"

"Oh, Tonio. If you want to come over to my place, you don't even need to ask."

"Huh?" Steven cleared his throat before the more innocent people in this room caught on to what was just said.

"Yes, I think that's a great idea," Tonio quickly said, blushing.

"There are a few music discs embedded in the carvings upstairs, too, so I'll check those while you head home."

"The carvings upstairs?" Steven asked.

"Yeah, it's several stories tall! There's a tree and Pokémon and a young girl playing the leaf whistle just like Alice can," Ash said.

"... I must have missed that when I came down here. I will assist you, Tonio."

"Great! Then let's get going. With the rate the waves are increasing, we have little time before the big one comes." The notion of "the big one" did little to help Steven's nerves, so, with a plan set, the group ran upstairs and split up to work on searching for the fabled "Oración." Unfortunately, Steven and Tonio only had a few minutes to look through the sheer number of music discs embedded in the base of a wall carving in the main room before screams rang out from outside and everything turned pink.

More specifically, it was as if someone was shining a pink light over everything at once.

"We're too late," Steven whispered. Rushing outside the open, cathedral-like main room of the Space-Time Towers, Steven and Tonio emerged in the main plaza, where Ash, Dawn, and Alice hadn't even had time to fully leave for Alice's home. The pink coloring faded as they left the building. All forms of panic had ceased. Instead, everyone in the plaza was left in a stunned and terrified silence, staring at the empty sky between the two towers. Whatever happened, Steven could surmise it had originated from there.

"Go. Away." The familiar sound of Darkrai's unusual method of communication echoed around the tower's plaza as shadows formed and coalesced at the base of a fountain in the middle of the square. Emerging from the ground was Darkrai, who stared off at the same position everyone had been just moments before. No one in the square was able to properly react to its presence outside of a single, far too confident man.

"Aha! I knew it!" a voice that Steven was starting to get exceedingly annoyed with shouted out.

"Lickilicky! It's time to take out Darkrai!"

"Don't!" Steven yelled. Darkrai merely glanced over at the Baron's attempts to fight it as Alberto ordered his Lickilicky to rush forward with Gyro Ball. Not willing to give them a chance, Steven chucked forward a Pokéball to send out one of the strongest members of his team.

"Armaldo! Stop it!" Before Lickilicky could even get close, Steven's resurrected fossil formed out of the light from its Pokéball and grabbed the Normal Type with its large blue claws. Lickilicky paled at the sight of the towering Pokémon as it lifted it up off the ground. Lickilicky stared at the armored Bug Type with horror before it tilted its arms and smashed the Normal Type straight into the floor. Baron Alberto lost any determination he had to keep battling. Darkrai turned back to the tower.

"What was that for!?" Baron Alberto shouted.

"Why are you defending that demon?!"

"Because that 'demon' is trying to help us," Steven spat. It wasn't often that Steven lost his cool, but sometimes in the face of such obstinance, he was unable to keep up the image he maintained as a cool and composed (ex) Champion.

"Are there any Ace Trainers present?!" Steven yelled out at the stunned crowd. Baron Alberto gave some indignant yells at Steven, but Steven paid him no further mind. In response to Steven's question, three people ran over: a woman with a red ponytail, a man with blue dreads, and a younger trainer with short green hair.

"We're all Ace Trainers," the woman with red hair said.

"We were here on vacation. What should we do?"

"I've talked to Cynthia, and she's given me command of this situation," Steven said to a response of gasps. Baron Alberto notably suddenly shut up.

"Gather up everyone in the gardens behind the Space-Time Towers. It's too late to evacuate, but I have a feeling they'll be the safest place to stay." He paused, and the Ace Trainers began to move off. However, he added one last thing before they left.

"And by everyone, I mean everyone. This is an emergency situation. The fate of Alamos town lies in the balance." As trained and experienced members of the Pokémon League, the three Ace Trainers clearly knew what an emergency situation entailed. Running out, they released an Infernape, an Empoleon, and a Torterra, and they started to issue orders to the civilians and fellow trainers around them. Brock, who was standing nearby, also rushed in to assist.

As a former Gym Leader, Steven had no doubts that Brock would be able to help.

"Steven!" Tonio suddenly shouted, carrying his high-tech laptop. Steven turned to face him.

"According to my readings, these pulses are coming from another dimension. A space between. It's Palkia for sure." Darkrai was still floating in the center of the square. With the Ace Trainers giving out orders, most people had forgotten it was present, but Steven had not. The Dark Type was tense and the smoke that was coming off of its body seemed to almost flicker much more erratically than normal, but it wasn't attacking. Steven moved closer to speak.

"Darkrai," he said.

"We have a potential solution to stop Palkia. Will you be willing to help us stop it?" Darkrai glanced over to Steven for several long seconds, and Steven couldn't help but to feel a bit nervous under the scrutiny of a Legendary Pokémon. However, Steven had faced down even stronger opponents in the past.

Not only had he and Metagross faced off against Rayquaza, but when he was a child, his father had given him several stern lectures after he "acquired" some of the precious stones from his father's personal collection. Although, Steven did lose in both encounters, so he wasn't confident about his chances against a Legendary with total control over an aspect of reality like Palkia.

Standing with as much confidence as he could muster, Steven finally let out a sigh of relief as Darkrai tilted its head ever so slightly in acknowledgement and returned to its watchful vigil of the skies above. This time, Ash, Dawn, and Alice came rushing over to him. They had to push past a growing crowd, but they managed to safely make their way over to Steven.

"What should we do? Can we help?" Ash asked. Dawn nodded in support.

"For you, there's no change in plans," Steven said.

"Return to Alice's house to search for the music disc. I am unsure what might come next, but it'll undoubtedly be key to solve whatever happens." Ash and the rest acknowledged that with a few soft grunts, then they ran off to do as they were told. Steven moved a bit closer to Darkrai's side, and the pair of them stood at attention, ready for the slightest sign of whatever Palkia might cause next.