*Risk's POV*

Beta turned my head to look at her,

"You're going to be OK! You're just fine..." she chided, but I could tell she wasn't even convinced, herself.

"..."

I tried to respond, but no words would come out of my mouth. Instead, my eyes closed, and an image began to form in my mind...

Two ghostly figures stood in a dark mausoleum-esque chamber, conversing on the platform above an enormous army of Pokemon. Instantly, I realized that the two figures were Von Spectre and Dusknoir, while the army was Spectre's horde of necromanced minions. Among them were a few faces that I recognized- Paul, Tania, and even...

My heart sank. There was my own father, standing among the dead like he fit right in. Tears began to fall down my face, and I tried to open my eyes- to get rid of the horrible image- but my body wouldn't respond.

I watched the Banette turned back to Dusknoir, and I saw that disappointment was written all over its face,

"How could you fail to catch Risk with your mastery as a puppeteer? You did so well fabricating a Risk on Mt. Avalanche and Sophia in my Bastion- why couldn't you do the same with the real Risk?!"

"Sir, I... I didn't have enough time to fully take him with me! That... that Mawile... She..." Dusknoir held up the broken puppet strings.

Von Spectre was crestfallen,

"So they do have the Mawilite... That traitor, Blade, must have killed himself to give it to them... All my plans until now have all fallen flat on their heads. My Serperior was thwarted by Virizion, my maze couldn't kill them... Not even the power of Mega Gengar could stop them. 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. There is not enough darkness within him to fully corrupt him, yet has enough ghostly energy in him to willfully control it; this will very quickly work against us. But... If we can harness it... That's it! I have no options left- it is time to reveal my trump card! Dusknoir, bring me the Seven Treasures!" Von Spectre roared.

The last thing I saw before the vision faded was seven Ghosts bringing Spectre what it asked for- among them were the Three Sisters, and a few of the other miscreant Ghosts that I recognized from our many encounters with them.

Whatever Spectre's planning, it can't be good... Hey! A sharp jolt of pain registered for a split second, as Beta brought me back into reality by nibbling on my left arm.

"Ow!" I cringed. Finally in control of myself again, I yanked my arm away from her. Even though the small mark hurt, I knew that it wasn't very serious because it wasn't even bleeding.

"You're alive! Oh, thank goodness. You scared me so much!" The Mawile hugged me, and the rest of the Crusaders walked over to us, each making sure that I was alright.

"I feel fine. I'm not entirely sure what happened, but I saw a weird vision of Von Spectre talking with Dusknoir, and it felt like it was happening very close to me."

"Well," Cedric said, curiously.

"Fill us in! What happened in this 'vision'?"

I took a deep breath and explained what I saw to them, ending with,
"The more we wait around, the stronger that diabolical Pokemon gets. I know it will hurt to fight against those we love and those that died for the sake of peace, but..."

Photon cut me off,

"Do you think Sophia's going to be there?" he asked, a tear falling down his face at her memory.

"As much as I hate to admit it, I have no doubt that she will be there. Even my own father is in that army. How Spectre reconstructed his body, I have no idea, but the point still stands- if we are going to stop him, we..."

A chill went up my spine. I knew what I had to say next, but every fibre of me wanted to deny it,

"We have to fight against them. I don't want to battle my friends just as much as you do, and it pains me to say this, but I've accepted that 'dead' really means 'dead.' No matter how much we try to bring them back or recreate them, they'll always be dead. Even Blade, in the small time that he was necromanced... I couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't right to separate him from Tania like Spectre did. Now I see what necromancy really does to Pokemon- it separates them from what they care about. This battle won't be against those we love- it will be against the corrupted reincarnations of those Pokemon that Spectre fashioned just for us! Now, let's finish what we came here to do!"

"I agree- this nonsense has gone for far too long!" Photon smiled.

"We can't afford to let it grow any stronger!" Alpha and Beta said, almost simultaneously.

"This Pokemon cannot be allowed to continue with its ghostly treachery!" Felix roared.

"Sophia... No, not Sophia! I've got to remember that..." Cedric mumbled to himself.

"The light that she told me I have within me- this is what she meant! The power to stand up against this darkness!" Photon laid a hand on my shoulder.

"Now, come on, our fight with destiny awaits! It's now, or never!"

*Supernatural Bastion, B5F*

Charging into the next massive room, we were immediately greeted with the voice of Necromancer, itself. The Pokemon was standing in the middle of a large room, the black walls lined with torches, specks of red, and numerous other unidentifiable objects.

"So, it has finally come to this, Crusaders? Well, I hate to the bringer of bad news, but you have absolutely no chance to stop me! Observe!" The Banette raised his hands, and Photon's pendant glowed around the Pokemon's neck. The implication hit me before the overwhelming dark presence of the Pokemon did.

But... Didn't we... Gengar's gone, isn't it?! So how does Spectre have that necklace?! Wait a minute- the Gengar that Beta said she fought didn't have... No!

My worst fears were confirmed when the purple ghost materialized by Spectre's right arm, laughing the entire time.

"Kekekek! Did you really think you could get rid of me that easily?!" Gengar cackled.

Von Spectre crowed,

"At last, my conquest is nigh! Bow before the might of the legendary magician, Von Spectre! With the Seven Treasures, I will unseal the Dark Arts and rule this petty world! Don't worry, I'll be sure to treat you all the same way you did me, Photon! But, without further ado..." The Necromancer opened its hand, and a small marble appeared in its shadowy palm.

That's not what I think it is...

"Oh yes, it is, Risk. This is a Mega Stone! And, best of all, since you are were so nice to contain the limitless power of Darkrai in one tiny little pendant..." it caressed the necklace as it said this,

"I shall use it to amplify the power of this stone to its absolute maximum. Cower in fear at the power of Mega Banette!"

A bright light enveloped Spectre, and I had to avert my eyes. A few seconds later, an indescribable noise from the Pokemon blasted my eardrums. I looked up to see the terrible monster that the Banette had become. Its entire body had been painted a chrome black, and yellow zippers formed on Spectre's hands and feet. An earsplitting tearing sound echoed throughout the room, as the yellow pockets opened up to reveal the most disgusting set of claws I had ever seen. Von Spectre laughed, and its voice was tainted with evil,

"Now, what to do with all of you?! Oh, I know! You can be the first to fall prey to my insatiable army! Let's see how long you can last...!"

The Pokemon pointed at me, and, before I knew what was happening, my body was whisked away through the shadows to another location. The sudden motion made my head spin, and I shut my eyes in pain.

When I opened them, it felt like a knife just went through my heart. None of my comrades were with me, and I immediately recognized the location by its menacing clashes of color.

"This is..."

"Yes, yes it is!" Von Spectre answered, descending from the blackened sky,

"This is the Field of Nightmares! The very same place that your father fought for his life during the Old War! But, this time, there's a little twist- it's not Darkrai, or even Gengar, that he'll be fighting. How about a little reunion between father and son, but this one won't be so heartwarming- it'll be heartwrenching! Enough to get rid of you!" Spectre laughed, maniacally, disappearing like fog.

I lunged at where the Pokemon had been, but my fists wrought themselves upon nothing but air.

It... It really did vanish and leave me here... Guess I just need to...

A voice from behind me tripled my heart rate instantaneously,

"Risk?"

"Father?!" I turned around, ready to embrace him, but I was immediately met with an Aura-backed punch to the face. I crumpled to the ground, my head throbbing from the blow.

Painstakingly, I picked myself up off the ground, and Lucario stared me in the eye. His gaze was nothing like the Pokemon he once was, and he immediately planted his foot on my chest, kicking me with enough force to hurtle me into the nearest tree. The impact forced the air out of my lungs, and I just lay there, gasping for air. But Lucario wasn't done with me just yet- quicker than lightning, the Aura Pokemon grabbed me by the collar and thrust me against the tree. I heard a bone-shattering crack, and I knew something had severed. The pain was almost too much for me to bear, and I practically passed out when he continued to throw me against the tree. However, after the sixth impact against the petrified bark, Lucario's paw stopped moving. He just held me there, and I thought that he may actually relent. Then, his paw closed around my neck, and I knew he would suffocate me.

"D... Dad...?" I barely managed to choke out, before the spots in my vision overtook me, and Lucario backed up, letting me fall to the ground, unconscious...

*Beta's POV*

"You despicable monster!" My entire body shook with rage when Risk disappeared in a ball of black light.

"Hush, now..." Spectre cooed.

"Don't you want to see what he's doing?! Let me concentrate, and I'll show you!"

The Pokemon waved a hand through the air, and a panorama of large, decrepit field came into view. It floated in the air like a hologram, but it looked so real... like I could just reach out and touch it. I could see two blue figures near a petrified tree. One, the substantially taller of the two, was standing over the smaller, bloodied and beaten Pokemon, looking down at it with malice in its eyes. It took a second for me to realize that the unconscious figure on the ground was Risk. Who the other Pokemon was, I didn't particularly care. All I wanted to do was get rid of Von Spectre.

"Why you little...!" Far past irate, I lurched towards the Banette, horn-jaw open to tear its head off, when the Pokemon turned the hologram so it stood directly in my path. My momentum promptly carried me through the hologram, but not in the way that I intended.

Instead of grabbing a mouthful of Von Spectre, I went straight through the portal, ending up, with a jolt of pain and a slight headache, in whatever place that Risk had been taken to.

As soon as I landed on the ground, the other figure turned around, and I saw that it bore an uncanny resemblance to Risk.

Could it be... I thought, as the Pokemon visually sized me up.

That Pokemon is Risk's fabled father, isn't it?... The one that died in the Old War... That's Lucario!

As soon as the realization hit me, so did Lucario's fist. Faster than lightning, the Pokemon slammed into me, and I felt a few ribs crack under the immense force. The blow hurtled me into the ground, but, as Lucario advanced on me, I had a single crazy idea.

I just hope this works... I thought, bringing my Mawilite and Key Stone together as quickly as I could. The familiar pink light enveloped me once more, and, miraculously, I didn't even need to squint- my eyes had already adjusted to its brightness. Obviously, Lucario's had not, and I took the opportunity to grab Risk with one of my horn-jaws and run into the forest.

This won't stall him for very long, but I just need time to heal Risk! The two of us can take Lucario down together, I'm sure of it!

Risk's survival was the only thing on my mind, as I sped off into the surrounding forest, trying not to trip over the petrified wood as I went. However, it only took about two minutes before a maniacal laugh penetrated the air and rang from every tree in my vicinity. Knowing that I needed to be able to navigate this forest better than Lucario, I looked to the sky to see if I could pinpoint where I was by the stars, but all I saw was Von Spectre's ugly face grinning down at me.

"Oh, you think it will be that easy to win? Not with these odds, you won't!"

As the Necromancer said this, its enormous army began to step through the portal and fall into this "world" in which Risk and I were stuck in.

Not good... was my only thought, and I ran as far away from where the Pokemon were falling. To make matters, I heard Lucario's angry roar from behind me, and I dared not look back to see how many Pokemon were gaining on me. Three minutes of running later, I began to hear the sound of breathing behind me, and I knew I had run out of time to escape.

Completely out of breath, I turned to face the horde of pursuers, led by the one Pokemon I didn't want to fight in this cataclysm.

"Riku... No... Not you too...!" I almost shed a tear, as the blackened Shaymin commanded the horde of Pokemon to station themselves around me.

Risk... Please wake up! I need you! My desperate thoughts, combined with the breathing with of hundreds of Pokemon, were the only noises that I could hear.

That is, until a loud, booming voice echoed around us,

"Who... Dares to disturb my domain?! Who tresspasses upon my forest?!"

Riku, Lucario, and the army of Pokemon all scanned the the entirety of the clearing I had been trapped in, but none of them could find the source of the sound.

"Hmph, you won't find me looking there! I'm here... there... I'm everywhere! I am the forest! And you shall pay dearly for hurting it!"

With that, the trees around the clearing began to move, each branch wrapping itself around any Pokemon close enough to it. Shocked and confused, the army began to back up and flee. The voice laughed- a deep, throaty laugh,

"You treacherous cowards! You come here, defile my forest, and expect to leave unharmed?! I will show you what it means to be an Elder Tree!"

The trees began to move faster, ensnaring more and more Pokemon, until the entire army was caught up in a mess of petrified leaves, branches, and roots.

I looked around in surprise.

Wha... What's going on?! I began to tremble, and the voice adopted a more soothing tone,

"Don't fret, little Mawile. You're not dead yet- you still have a life to live. Don't waste it on worrying about the dead..." The voice was interrupted by Tania, still struggling in her prison of bark, setting the entire tree on fire with a Heat Wave.

"Do you dare test me?!" The voice returned to a booming roar, and the tree holding the Flareon dug into her skin with its branches. She cried out in pain, and I almost wept for her. Then, I remembered what Risk had said earlier,

"This battle won't be against those we love- it will be against the corrupted reincarnations of those Pokemon that Spectre fashioned just for us!"

"Anyone else?" the voice questioned,

"Good. Now, where was I? Oh, I remember now... Little Mawile..." the voice regressed to its motherly tone once again,

"Why have you come here? When this place was destroyed by Darkrai, the trees, forest, and the entire Pokemon population were all lost. I exist here, only by the life force of the sole remaining healthy tree. Is your purpose here to finish the job? Or are you a lost soul, looking for a tree to haunt?"

Before I could respond to the voice, I felt Risk moving around inside one of my horn-jaws, and I unconsciously spat him onto the ground. He looked at me, gratitude in his eyes, before seeing all the Pokemon around him and adopting a fighting stance. I didn't think much of it, but the mysterious voice seemed happy with this,

"That Pokemon... That spirit... I know him, and I knew his father very well..." it seemed wistful.

By now, the army of Pokemon had grown restless, and Lucario finally broke out of his "bonds." He ran towards Risk and I with blinding speed, but, before he could lay a punch on either of us, a mass of roots emerged from the ground and grabbed Lucario's ankles. He tried to break his new prison, but, every time he destroyed one, three more roots came to take its place. Soon, he was completely encased in a thick ball of tree flesh.

"And I know one thing for certain! You're not him, you undead minion of Von Spectre!" the voice boomed angrily, causing the roots to close in farther, until the muffled sounds of Lucario gasping for air could be heard. Risk was unnerved by the sound, and obviously so- it was his father after all, even though that wasn't really Lucario.

A chorus of yells and gasps echoed from the mass in front of me, but, within a few minutes, all noise ceased, and the roots crept back into the ground. Lucario's limp body lay there for a brief moment, before it exploded into a ball of orange energy.

"Your entire army means nothing to me! You know nothing of being a Ghost! Where is your sense of honor!" the voice seemed directed to the sky, although Von Spectre's face had vanished from it.

Riku soon began struggling against his own floral prison, and the voice laughed,

"Another one? You look different from a normal Shaymin. Why is that? Who are you?!" The branches around him closed in, and Riku began gasping for air.

Desperately, I shouted at the top of my lungs,

"No! Don't kill him! He... Riku is..." A tear fell from my eye and tainted the ground under me.

"He's my friend!"

Immediately, the branches holding Riku loosened slightly and stretched closer to me, until I was staring the struggling Shaymin in the face. I could tell he was still uncomfortable, but it was better than him being dead. However, the dark color that had taken over his fur still had not disappeared.

"Please... Riku..." I tried to talk to him, but the Gratitude Pokemon only bared his teeth at me and growled.

What did Spectre do to you?! A horrified expression crossed my face, and I fell to my knees.

He's... He's lost all types of emotion! It's like the only thing he knows is death and war! Is this what the Dark Arts does to Pokemon?

"Are you satisfied?" the voice asked.

"This Pokemon is obviously still a threat to you, so I need to get rid of it before it can hurt..."

Before it could finish, I had another one of my split-second ideas.

The voice's comment about Lucario being dead... If I can just... I feel like that's my only chance to prove to it that Riku should deserve to live!

"Wait!" I said, before impulsively biting down on one of Riku's legs. The Shaymin cried out in pain, and Risk looked at me like I had just murdered him.

"Why did you...?" He was interrupted by the loud voice, sounding much more surprised than before,

"Is that... blood?! Yes, yes it is. This Pokemon is still clearly alive. There is no need to further harm this Shaymin..." The branches began to retract from around him.

"But first, there is something sticking out of your friend's back... Here, let me get rid of it for you," the voice said, as branches set to work pulling the now barely-visible spikes out of Riku. As soon as the last one was out of him, Riku closed his eyes, and the dark color on his fur began to fade, being replaced with a vibrant teal-green.

"Now, he should be fine. Here." The voice spoke, and the branches slowly lowered Riku to the ground. I quickly snapped him up in an empty horn-jaw to begin work on closing up his wounds.

"You have an interesting way of caring for your friends," the voice mused, and I almost thought it was laughing.

"Can I ask," Risk tried to find the source of the voice.

"Can I ask what your name is? I don't believe you ever told us..."

"Your father, Risk, was a great Pokemon. Indeed he was. It's a shame that Von Spectre had to create such an ugly impostor..."

"How do you know my name?! Who are you?!" Risk had finally become unnerved with the voice.

"I... I am Trevenant, the spirit of the forest! I have existed since the first trees were planted in this region. But, after Darkrai destroyed all but one of my trees, years ago, I have grown old. Lost most of my power, you see."

"But there's plenty of trees here... You seem to have plenty control over them. I don't understand how..."

"Please, feel the bark on this branch," Trevenant said, and a branch stretched itself in front of the Riolu. He walked over and palmed the bark, shivering as he did.

"It's... Petrified!" he exclaimed in alarm.

"Yes," Trevenant said,

"I control the forest here, regardless of life or death, but my own life force is tied to the welfare of the trees. The only healthy tree that still remains in this place was the one the impostor slammed you into. That is what forced my hand. But... With each passing minute, my power continues to fade. I fear that I only have a few hours left. When that tree dies, so will I..."

"But that just isn't fair!" I spoke up.

"Isn't there something we can do to help?! After all, you did just save our lives..."

"There is nothing more satisfying to the forest than to see its inhabitants prosper. You are among them, and, therefore, I will gladly give my life to help you. With the last of my power, I will bring you back to the battlefield... Please... Stop Von Spectre at all costs..."

The voice began to fade, and I my body felt numb. An overwhelming force came over me, I closed my eyes to try to abate it...

When I opened them again, Risk and I were a completely different place- a place that had turned into the battlefield for the world.