I'm pretty sure that my hiatus is over now. :D Can you guys believe that there's only a few chapters left of this fanfic? To be perfectly honest, I think this'll be the first fic I've ever completely finished. Maybe I should just stick to writing short fanfics, they're much easier to pull through with.

Chapter 5

Background Music A light green, fairy-looking creature descended down from above. Kiera shuddered once she caught a view of its blank, unfocused eyes. Even though the Celebi's gaze was pointed straight at her, it looked like the psychic type wasn't really aware of what it saw at all...almost as if pokémon's sight was stuck somewhere far away from its own body. Was this what it looked like when your aura had been absorbed? Unable to look anymore, she turned to see Rahms muttering curses under his breath as he picked himself off the ground. "Let us go!" Shiku suddenly yowled. "Our parents are gonna be really mad if you keep us here, and then they'll come and get you!" Kiera cast a sad glance back at the naïve, little Shinx. She could tell by looking at Shiku that he really believed in what he said—that everything would turn out all right in the end. The costumed electric-type still carried his sense of optimism, even if it didn't make sense to. But the hard truth was that there was no chance of Rahms letting them leave, at least not alive. As for their parents? They wouldn't know to look for their children until it was too late. "Oh come now," Rahms growled while dusting the dirt from off his chest. "You couldn't possible expect me to let you leave without meeting the second legendary, and you haven't been properly introduced to the first one at that. Besides, this is the hour that the Goirgeist come out to sing. I'm sure that your little friend has already learned what that means, even though it won't do her much good, now." At first, Kiera didn't understand what the Lucario was getting at. Then, she remembered Keegan's earlier statement of how Gourgeist sang just before eating their prey. "Ar-are you saying that Maya is....dead?" Kiera could barely ask. After all this time, the horrific possibility had never crossed her mind. "No!" Nola protested. "Maya's strong and she's part flying-type. There's no way a Gourgeist would be able to eat her!" "Oh?" Rahms challenged. "I guess it's just a coincidence that she never turned up after we passed through the Gourgeist territory. Something else must have gotten ahold of her instead." Oddly, it was at that moment that Kiera noticed something was amiss—the bright, glowing, purple light was no longer shining. Glancing up, the Vulpix saw that the coils had vanished....along with the captive Darkrai. Kiera blinked, and looked down to see if Sarch and Noirus had noticed that their prisoner had escaped, yet. But they couldn't have....for both the Haunter and the Cofagrigus were knocked clean out on the ground. A prickling sense of foreboding lay heavily upon her. If both ghost-type's were unconscious and the Darkrai was now free, then that meant— "Behold the TRUE power of dark aura!" roared a voice as a bright ball of blue light cascaded into Rahms. The Lucario was blown back with the impact, crashing into the ground with an astonished yelp. Kiera snapped her gaze upward to see the Darkrai hovering above the ground. His jet black claws glowed an eerie shade of light blue, while his white plume fiercely billowed behind him. "How did you get loose?" Rahms snarled while shakily picking himself up. "You idiotic fool!" the dark-type glowered. "Did you really think that a puny thread of light is all it takes to hold the Great Keeper of Darkness back? If you carried any amount of insight, you might have seen that I was only toying with the lot of you. The truth is that there is no stopping me. I am LEGENDARY! And you shall fall just like all the others who were beneath me." "NEVER!" Rahms screeched. A bright, blue Aura Sphere began forming between the Lucario's black paws. The Darkrai's eyes narrowed, and he dodged the sphere with relative ease. Then, the dark legendary's eyes began to blacken and swirl like an ominous whirlpool that threatened to drown anyone who got trapped within its murky depths. Suddenly, a beam of spiraling, dark energy shot out from the Darkrai's eyes and struck Rahms. The Lucario's eyes widened in horror, but this feat lasted for only a tiny second. Soon, the Lucario crumpled to the ground, unable to fight the summons of sleep any longer. Seizing its chance, the Darkrai's eyes flashed a bright, red color. A ghostly, transparent Darkrai emerged from out of the original pokémon, and then entered the sleeping Lucario. At first, Rahms wildly thrashed and twitched about. However, Dream Eaters effect soon had its toll as the Lucario's struggles gradually weakened until he lay unmoving. Strangely, Kiera found this process to be uncomfortable and somehow painful to watch. Although, she was a bit surprised that the Celebi hadn't yet come to the dual-type's aide. She decided to risk a peek up at it. The Celebi's eyes still held the same blank, unfocused look as before; only this time, they were squinted in pain. The mythical pokémon's light-green hands were tightly clutching its head, the most probable source of pain. If the Celebi was feeling this much pain, the Vulpix concluded that she might be able to successfully burn down the tree roots this time. She didn't have much time to ponder on this because of an outburst from Keegan. "Whew, that was close!" the Poochyena loudly exclaimed. "Thanks for saving us and stuff!" "Hmph," the Darkrai contemptuously grunted. "I'm not saving any of you. Although, it doesn't surprise me that you would think that way, Keegan." Keegan blinked and shot the Darkrai a confused look. "Wait...how'd you know my name?"