" Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." - Martin Luther King

Darkness. It was like a blade. It would come slicing through ones heart, in hopes that it can contaminate it. Some struggled, trying to break themselves free. Others embraced the darkness with open arms.

Two paths. Each leading to a very different fate.

There was no doubt darkness thrived in the world of Pokemon. Although you cannot see the darkness within, you definately felt it.

Many times had evil spread throughout the many regions, but it was always stopped.

A time of peace would come rushing in, engulfing the regions as they rejoyced. But they didn't realise that deep down, the darkness still lurked inside.

They didn't know that one would rise above, and create the most darkest of times...

-

The Pokemon League. Once somebody heard those words, they would, most likey, go into a fit of excitment. Every year, people would celebrate the Pokemon League. Of course, to some, watching Pokemon Trainers attempt to win the league got a bit boring after a while, but to most, it was their favourite time of year (excluding Christmas, that is.).

It was finally time for the league to start up again, and trainers from Johto all the way through to Alola were flocking to Kanto, where the league was being held. Every year the league was held in a different region. It was considered an honor to host the league.

The Kanto region, for the most part, was seen as one of the safest regions. The traces of Team Rocket even operating there were faint, and sure every once in a while a certain member from the now disbanded team would not get the message and decide to invade a gym or store but they never got away with it.

And the fact that Team Rocket were no longer operating in Kanto was all thanks to a certain trainer...

Red swallowed a lump in his throat. Every single darn year he was expected to take part in the league in Kanto's name and kick ass. Well, more specifically, order his Pokemon to either burn or parylize a couple of Rattata's or whatever a trainer sent out to battle him.

Running a hand through his dark hair, he tried to calm himself. It was just the Pokemon league. Heck, he was nineteen now. He could easily beat the youngsters claiming to be the very best (like no one ever was).

He felt a sudden weight on his shoulder, and turning his head slightly, he simpered at the sight of his pikachu. The small electric mouse sneezed, cocking its head to the side. Red found himself chuckling at pikachu's actions, and petted the mouse - like pokemon's head.

"Red!"

Red pivoted, only to let out a small groan. Brilliant, just brilliant.

"Huh? Not happy to see your old rival Blue? Ah, that's annoying. I was going to challenge you to a battle." Blue grinned.

"Leave him alone Blue. You know how hard it is for him. He's expected to win the league this year. It's putting a lot of pressure on him." A second, female voice joined Blue's, however the voice seemed to be filled with more respect than cockiness.

"Yeah, whatever Leaf." Blue shoved his hands into his pockets, furrowing his brow. "Still silent as ever, eh Red?"

Red glared at Blue, clenching his fists. He has had to deal with Blue ever since the two became rivals nine years ago, and Blue is simply showing no signs of stopping the whole "Ha! I'm you're rival and one step ahead of you! Let's battle everytime we run into each other!" thing.

"Blue, I'm serious!" Leaf snapped, grabbing a hold of his arm. "You were such a gentleman a couple of minutes ago! Why be so rude to Red?!"

It was surprising that Leaf Green would ever refer to Blue as a gentleman. When the two first met, she practically hated his guts, and yet now she was calling him a gentleman and spending three nights a week with him. So much can change in nine years.

"It's called being rivals sweetheart. You need to get used to it." Blue commented.

Leaf wrinkled her nose at this, trying to find the words to say. After several seconds of debating over the words, she finally spoke. "Well, for you information honey, we used to be rivals back when we were younger. You just didn't want to fight me much because you knew I was stronger than you." She smirked.

"Oh yeah?! The only reason why I didn't fight you was because you had the type advantage with your Venusaur! It was unfair! Besides, I beat you a couple of times!"

"Correction. Once."

"Once, yeah, whatever."

"Besides, you had the type advantage over Red, so isn't that unfair as well?"

"Why are you so annoying?"

"Why are you so arrogant?"

"Ah, I give up."

Leaf giggled at Blue's words, and turned her gaze to Red. "I'm sorry about him Red. He's just being difficult."

Red held up his hand to tell her it was okay, a small smile forming on his lips.

Leaf immediately returned to smile, and intertwined her hand with Blue's. "Come on Blue, I heard Lisia, that contest star from Hoenn, is coming here."

"She's terrible."

"She's talented."

"Fine, but can we battle afterwards?"

Leaf nodded, and before Blue could say anything else, she dragged the arrogant trainer over to a crowd of people

Red couldn't help but chuckle. Leaf and Blue were the complete opposites, but somehow they were a perfect match.

He turned his gaze, only to find a raven black haired teenager, no younger than seventeen, attempting to flirt with a fairly tall pinkette.

The pinkette seemed outraged at his words, and rather the teenager recieving a kiss on the cheek or whatever he was expecting, he instead got slapped. Twice.

Red tried not to laugh at this, as the teenager rubbed his cheek and stumbled away from the pinkette.

"Hey, Red!" The teenager called. He ran over to the mute, a grin on his lips. "I didn't expect to find you here!"

Ah, Gold. He was a peculiar guy to say the least. His cocky personality often made him seem like a jerk at times, and lets not forget the fact that he was a total womanizer.

"Say, ready to crush those little kids and show them that we are the champions?!"

Red merely shrugged. He had battled Gold on Mt. Silver, and he was a pretty determined and powerful trainer. But that didn't mean Red didn't send him back to the Pokémon Centre at least once. After a couple of more trips to the Pokémon Centre, and training on Mt. Silver, Gold finally managed to beat Red. But Red did cut him a little bit of slack on that battle.

"We're gonna get into the top 5 for definite. Doesn't mean I'll cut you some slack when we battle, though."

Red rolled his eyes, and Pikachu growled.

"Still mute, huh?"

Red frowned.

"Don't be a jerk Re-!" Gold cut himself off, and his honey yellow eyes suddenly widened. "Holy shit Red. Look at her!"

He pointed in the direction of a girl, who seemed about the age of seventeen.  Her hair was a shade of midnight blue, and her eyes matched the color of her hair, although a tiny bit lighter. She donned a dark amethyst t-shirt, along with a jet black leather jacket. She also wore a fairly short skirt, which was the color of onyx. Under the skirt she wore leggings, which had a gradient from black to magenta on them. Pink high tops finished off her look.

There was no denying that this girl was, well, beautiful. Actually, she was beyond beautiful. Perfect. She was perfect.

She wore a stern expression on her face, and looked around cautiously, as if she had a feeling that she was being watched.

She turned, and her eyes instantly locked onto Red's. She narrowed those dazzling eyes of hers, a frown tugging at the corners of her lips.

She turned on her heel, and moved towards the two. She stopped, and stood almost two metres away from them.

"Hello." She spoke, her tone chilling and somewhat cold.

Gold quickly jumped in to making conversation with this girl. "Hey." He grinned. "The name's Gold." He stuck out his hand, hoping that she would take it.

And take it she did not. She merely glared at his hand, as if it was some disease threatening to infect her. "Yes. Interesting." She said, although she didn't sound interested the slightest.

"What happens to be your name?" Gold wondered, withdrawing his hand and instead running it through his hair, hoping that she would find it attractive? Who knows.

"Dawn. But that by no means has anything to do with you." She replied.

"I'm just wondering. Did it hurt-" He began one of his most cliché, predictable pickup lines, however Dawn was quick to interrupt him.

"Did it hurt when I fell out of the sky? No. I actually used a flying type to help me land thanks. And last time I checked I wasn't an angel. I was just me." Dawn frowned, and clicked her tongue. "You need to work on your pickup lines."

Gold was surprised at her words. She really had an attitude. "W-What?"

She exhaled. "Just stop Silver."

"Silver?! I'm Gold! I'm not that jerk!" Gold exclaimed.

"You're still a jerk." Dawn replied, biting her lip.

Gold scowled at her. Usually girls would slap him or kick him if was getting on her nerves, but Dawn was straight out crushing his ego. Ouch.

Before Gold could open his mouth and either try to impress Dawn or tell her that she was just being a bitch, the bluenette quickly dismissed his presence and turned her gaze to Red.

"Red Sugimori, right?" She asked, her tone switching from cold and sarcastic to blank and unemotional.

Red only nodded, a little bit surprised that this girl had managed to crush Gold's ego in a matter of minutes. A new record.

"I've heard a lot about you. If I'm correct, you managed to take down Team Rocket nine years ago?"

"I finished them off completely!" Gold said, edging towards Dawn. Right, he was having another ago at "Operation: Try to get with this Dawn chick". Somebody save him. And give him a burn heal. Give him tons of burn heals.

Dawn rolled her eyes. "I want you to come with me. There's something which I believe you must know."

...