Alex took a good look around him at all of the people in the arena. Every member of the school had been called to the main battlefield and had taken their seats, filling the entirety of the stands. In the centre of the battlefield stood a lone microphone. The large arena echoed with the loud conversations of students, speculating what the assembly could be about. Alex had a good idea about what it was.

"Hey Lenny, do you know how long this is gonna take?" Alex asked his friend sat beside him.

"Dunno." Lenny shrugged. "It's supposed to be really important though so I guess it could take a while."

"But it's not like I'm gonna learn anything." Alex complained. "I might just bunk off and do some training."

"Alex!" Megan cried out from his left, grabbing his wrist as he tried to leave.

"C'mon Megs you know it's just gonna be Cynthia telling us the Darkness Warriors are scary and warning us not to go near them."

"I think it's probably more than that." Megan said, pulling him back into his seat. "I think she's probably managed to get some information out of the captive Darkness Warrior." Alex looked her right in her chestnut eyes before her determined stare beat his own.

"Fine." He sighed, slumping in his seat as Cynthia entered the from the left side of the battlefield, looking stern.

"Good boy." Megan whispered, kissing him on the cheek before the couple turned to pay attention to their headmistress.

"Thank you all for taking time out of your studies to join me here today." Cynthia started. Alex couldn't quite put his finger on it but there was something wrong with her voice. "I need to talk to you about a matter of upmost importance. As you're most likely all aware, we have some uninvited visitors on the island known as the Darkness Warriors. Already, they have attacked a group of students with dangerous intent so I must warn you not to approach any strangers and all suspicious activity must be immediately reported to the police and myself."

"I told you so." Alex whispered to Megan who softly slapped him.

"But why should you take my word for it?" Cynthia asked. "How do I know what these people are capable of? The simple answer is that I have seen what they are capable of. I've encountered them before. They are a group of violent, inconsiderate, selfish, greedy degenerates who do not believe in abiding by the law. When I was in my prime as a trainer, they were seeking to plunge the world into darkness under the misguided illusion that it would make the world a better place. Fortunately I was able to stop their plans and they were locked up in prison for life but now it seems they have escaped and are planning something on the island."

She briefly paused as mutters and whispers flew around the arena. Cynthia had defeated the Darkness Warriors in the past but they'd returned and with Cynthia well past her best as a trainer she probably wouldn't be able to handle the threat a second time. Alex was beginning to see why the hooded maniacs were such a problem.

"But just what are they planning this time around?" Cynthia started again. "I'm afraid I don't know. All I can say is that this island has many secrets and if they have discovered one of these secrets then not only are we on this island in danger but potentially the world is in danger. We must all come together as a community if we are to avoid this threat. We currently have one Darkness Warrior in custody and the police are interrogating him for information. Whilst he persists on stubbornly refusing to tell us anything, it gives us hope that they can be captured before it may become too late. So ladies and gents, please take care and report anything even remotely suspicious. Thank you." Cynthia left the silent arena quickly, not making eye contact with any students. By now, Alex had realised what had been wrong with her voice. There had been a slight quiver in her voice. Cynthia had been scared.

*

In the library after school, Bella was finishing off her homework, thinking about Cynthia's speech earlier that day whilst Alex struggled with simple questions.

"So, Cynthia beat the Darkness Warriors before." She stated, trying to get a conversation going.

"Yeah," Alex nodded as he desperately tried to remember what type Blastoise was. "In her prime though. When even was her prime?"

"Well, probably from when she was around sixteen to..." she paused for a moment, thinking about their headmistress' incredible career. "Well I guess a couple of years ago."

"That's decent." Alex joked. Bella scribbled her name on her piece of paper and put her pen down, her work complete. She glanced over at Alex's work and corrected several silly mistakes. It still amazed her how stupid Alex was outside of battle.

As Alex thanked her and continued soldiering on, far behind Bella. She decided to take a break and use an empty computer to do some independent research regarding the visitors on the island. Typing in her username and password to unlock the machine, Bella was soon on a search engine.

"Hey Bella, what does Ice resist?" Alex asked.

"Ice." She responded in less than a second. The type matchup chart was muscle memory to her at this point. Bella then continued her research, searching 'the Darkness Warriors' on the internet. At first there was nothing so she tried to refine the search by twisting the words around but 'Warriors of Darkness' also gave no results. Realising she had to dig deeper, Bella became crafty, instead looking for Cynthia's accomplishments and after scrolling through the long list of tournament victories, she found what seemed to be the information she wanted.

"What are you doing?" Alex asked, peering over onto her screen.

"Looking for information and I think I've just found it." Bella smiled, victorious. She'd managed to uncover an arrest that happened due to Cynthia's work regarding several hooded figures. "Let's learn a little bit about these Warriors." She clicked the link but nothing happened. Somewhat perplexed, she tried again. After a third time the screen jolted and turned black and red revealing a message spelled out in varying sizes of crimson letters.

Not such a clever girl

"What the-" Bella was cut off when the computer screen switched off completely and something appeared to jump out of the screen, brushing past her and giving her a painful shock, causing her to yelp in pain. She turned, expecting to get a scolding for Mr Tobias the librarian but what she actually saw was a very interesting sight. A small creature with a mischievous grin in the middle of its bright orange body, surrounded by a plasma like material that gave it what looked to be lightning bolt shaped legs. Out of nowhere, a cloaked man appeared, laughing.

"You expect us to allow you to research us?" He chuckled. His voice was deep and husky.

"Bella, it's a Darkness Warrior!" Alex cried out. She'd worked that much out for herself.

"I know that. And I'm going to take him on." Bella said with confidence. Everyone in the library watched but kept their distance. After all, they'd been strictly told not to meddle with them.

"Silly little girl." The Darkness Warrior muttered. Before she even had time to send out her Pokémon, he called an attack. "Rotom use Thundershock!"

"Hey!" Bella cried, only just managing to throw her Pokéball in the way of the electric attack, sending her newest Pokémon Kirlia out which took the full brunt of the attack, dealing massive damage. She'd never used her little green and white ballerina before in battle but she'd had so little time to react that Bella had just thrown a Pokéball without thinking and now she was already at a massive disadvantage.

"Shadow Ball!" The Warrior ordered.

"Confusion, quick!" Bella retorted. Kirlia was soon up on its feet and a flash of pink made the Rotom's purple ball of shadows turn and fire back towards its sender, dealing super effective damage and knocking it to the ground. She noticed Alex giving her a thumbs up. That was a move he often used with his Butterfree.

"Get up!" He barked. His Rotom shook off the attack and zipped around, its grin returning to its face. "Now Thundershock!"

"Block with Shadow Ball!" This time, Bella was ready for the attack. The sparks of electricity were more than matched by Kirlia's own sphere of darkness, causing a small explosion between the two Pokémon. When the disruption cleared, Rotom was gone.

"Attack now with Air Slash!" The hooded figure yelled. For a moment Bella was confused. Rotom surely couldn't use Air Slash, it wasn't a flying type. The answer came from behind her when an ordinary fan came to life, now sporting a face, and twisted, cackling as it sliced through the air, stunning Kirlia and flinching it.

"No!" Bella cried, completely flustered by the manoeuvre. Rotom had taken control of a fan by slipping inside its electric circuits and it had left Bella shocked. She felt a wave of panic rush over her.

"Bella, pull yourself together!" Alex shouted from beside her. "This is where you keep falling down in your battles. You panic and you lose control. So do what we did the other day and think on your feet!"

"I will." She smiled at her friend. "Kirlia, Teleport!"

"Air Slash!" Rotom tried to catch Kirlia with another attack but the elegant Pokémon had already vanished. Before Rotom could hop into another gadget and change form again, Bella called out her attack.

"Shadow Ball!" She grinned as Kirlia materialised out of nowhere before summoning a purple ball and firing it, making solid contact with Rotom, knocking it out and ending the battle.

"No..." The Darkness Warrior moaned, falling to his knees. "Master, forgive me!" He began rolling around on the floor crying out his apologies. He was clearly insane. Despite completely wrecking the library, her favourite part of the school, Bella felt good. Alex was right about her being bad at thinking on her feet but she'd at least pulled of this victory and it was one less Darkness Warrior for people to worry about. That was something to be proud of.