I waited for a second, wondering what to do, when NightBlade's voice went over the intercom that I didn't know they had.

"Ari, we are ready for you in the training room." I stared up at the ceiling, trying to find the speaker.

"They have an intercom here?" I said, before just going to the training room. "Okay, I'm here!" I walked in, and it was pitch black, save for a few winking lights scattered about.

"Hello, Ari, I hope you're ready." I scanned the room, pinpointing where he stood by sound alone.

"Why do I have a blindfold when the lights are off?"

"Well, here's where you get a choice; One: use the blindfold, Two: Pitch black room." Thinking it over for a minute, I found my decision.

"Pitch black room."

"Heh, okay." He snapped his fingers and the lights went out, leaving me completely blind, and I put the headphones on. "So now, Ari," The sound system went on, leaving me almost deaf, but I heard NightBlade's voice cutting in through the music, "let's dance." Light suddenly flashed, leaving as quickly as it came, about NightBlade, signaling the return of his aqua armor. "You may have the first attack.... If you can find me, that is."

Using the first idea that came to mind, I used my digging claws to scrape up some moist dirt on the floor, as soon as it was over turned, I could smell the damp scent. Swinging around, I flung the dirt around the cavern, and I was able to hear it hit his clothes. He moved ever so slightly, and I was able to smell the dirt waft towards me, and I threw a punch at where I smelt him.

I hit thin air, and I heard a chuckle through my headphones. "You see, the thing about darkness, Ari, while others fear it, I grow stronger in it. By choosing the dark room, you put the test on extremely difficult levels." Something that felt like an intensified static jolt went through me, followed by a rapid fire of others. Using the easiest way I could think of to dodge, I used Dig to slip under the ground. Coldness enveloped me, making me unable to move. "Hmm, just what I hoped." Somehow, he must have caught me in ice, and I could hear my breaths bounce back to me quickly. The air seem to thicken, and I realized he had covered the hole in the small ice encasing me.

"What the?" I gasped out when the ice spread to my waist. I tried to dig upward, but I was stuck, a sitting Ducklett. My breathes came quicker, and the air around me heated up. "Um, hello, I would like to breathe."

"Ha! Do you think your opponent would care? I know how long you can survive down there, if you can't escape with in that time, I'll free you and the exam is over. Free yourself and we continue."

I grunted. "Fine. I hate to do this..." There was only one possible thing I could do now, but it was a great risk. I could use Earthquake to break the ice, but I would also receive a great amount of damage. I took the risk and surged the seismic waves out of my body.

It was much more painful than I expected.

My head rattled in the small tunnel, whacking against the packed dirt off the walls around me. The seismic waves that I had emitted returned to me, though much more intensified than when I exerted it. Though the attack hurt me, as expected, it also did what it was intended to, shatter the ice. Gulping the fresh air, I leaped out of my tunnel, wincing when I landed.

"Rayquaza, that hurt more than I thought it would!" I gasped out the words, my body still lacking oxygen from the enclosed space.

"Hmm... Not how I would have escaped if I where you, but, effective, I'll say that. Now, your choice, either we continue or we end it here and now before you get seriously injured." I sighed. I wanted to continue, but I knew I couldn't. I felt like someone had dropped a feral Wailord on me, followed by a feral Groudon.

"Yeah, we should stop now. A fat load of good I'll do against Arceus dead. Unless I was reincarnated into a Ghost Type, that would actually be useful." I took the headphones of, the music already stopped. The shadows around me absorbed into their pinpoint, NightBlade, and I was able to see his aqua armor evaporate off of him as he transformed into his feral form.

"Well, we have a lot of work to do to prepare you, that was but a fraction of my power. Come, I need to speak with Kel." He padded away without another word.

"Okay." I began my pitiful limping after him, each step a painful jolt through my body. "Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Sheesh, I have a strong Earthquake! Grah, I wish I was a Flying Type right know. Or not have been stuck in that tunnel." Finally, I got smart and decided to Dig in, coming up in only about a minute. "I made it! Ow." Once again, I winced when I lugged myself out of my tunnel.

"Well, I'd like it if you would spar in an exhibition match with me to give Ari a preview of my real strength mainly because I know you can take what I dish better than anyone," NightBlade said to Keldeo once I had come in.

"Sure thing, where do you want to do it?" Keldeo responded.

NightBlade looked over at Kyogre."My Lord, would it be at all possible if we sparred in here?"

"Yes, that's fine." With a wave of Kyogre's hand, the water chess board disappeared. "I was getting a bit bored of chess, anyways."

"We'll do a two stage fight, first stage will be in our true forms, second will be in either anthro or Gijinka, whichever you prefer." The two Pokémon walked into the other side of the room, transforming, one into a feral Absol, the other into a feral Keldeo. Keldeo nodded, and the battle commenced.

NightBlade took the first move and shot a Thunderbolt at Keldeo, who dodged using the water jets in his hooves, then aimed the pressurized water to launch himself at NightBlade, powering up a Secret Sword attack. NightBlade reacted quickly, his horn radiating darkness as he countered with Night Slash. The connection of the two attacks caused an explosion, one that knocked both of them against the wall, though they recuperated quickly.

"Ha! Not bad, dear. I see being a member of the Sacred Swordsmen has been good for you." NightBlade says, and Keldeo responds with a smirk.

"I could say the same about you being the captain of Lord Kyogre's Royal Army."

"Well, this will be a long match. Come, Ari, have a seat," Kyogre said to me before conjuring two chairs out of water. I skeptically looked at the wet form of a chair, before trusting him and sitting in it. I was surprised at the result.

"Uh, okay. Hey, it actually does hold!" It didn't even get me wet. Cool! I turned back towards the match, which was continuing.

"Okay, no more mister nice guy." NightBlade shifted to his anthro form. "You may stay in any form you would like, Kel, but I require this form to unleash my full potential."

"I'll stick like this, it's the best form for combating you."

NightBlade chuckles. "Suit yourself. Time to finish this. Don't worry, Kel, I'll be gentle. Well, as gentle as I can with my finisher move. Sorry if I hurt you."

"Don't worry, man, I won't hold it against you." Keldeo threw him his signature goofy grin.

"Okay..." A translucent black aura surrounded NightBlade, forming a saber on one of his hands and shadowy wings appeared on his back. Suddenly, he took off at a speed that made his figure blur, and a portal formed and closed as quickly as it came, launching NightBlade at Keldeo as he slashed Keldeo with his saber, and flew into another portal, repeating this until finally, Keldeo fell, defeated. NightBlade landed and reverted to his feral form, and sat, panting, next to his equally exhausted lover. "And that's the reason that's a last resort attack, it takes a lot outta me."

"Whoa," I said in wonder. "How does that work?" Suddenly a random wonder popped into my head, and I turned to Kyogre. "Oh, and do you know what phase the moon is in?"

Kyogre stared at me, confused. "I believe tonight is a new moon. Why do you ask?"

I fist pumped. "Yes! I'm going into my speed cycle!" Kyogre just continued to stared at me, confused.

"Speed cycle?"

"Yeah, my speed cycle. For some reason, every moon cycle, my stats convert into different amounts, uping a stat and making it higher than the rest. My order is neutral, attack, defense, downfall, speed."

"What's downfall mean?"

"My stats are all lowered, and they're all terrible. Speed's my favorite, as you can tell." By now NightBlade and Keldeo had come over to me and Kyogre.

"Well, Ari, it's part of my curse, I can enter my sonicshadow form to deliver a powerful endgame blow to my opponent."

"Urrgh," Keldeo let out something between a groan and a gasp of pain. "Yeah, it's powerful, alright."

"Hey, Keldeo, don't gripe, you said go for it."

"Meh."

"How about I fix you up some Oran berry pancakes?"

"Pancakes?!" I jumped back in surprise at Keldeo's sudden outburst. He must really like pancakes.

"You can cook, Night? I never knew that about you," Kyogre said, once again learning something new about a person in this room.

"You kidding me? His cooking is to die for!"

"Then how come you haven't been helping us out in the kitchen, hmm?" Kyogre laughed at his own little joke. Sadness only barely touches NightBlade's eyes

"Well... the last time I cooked, other than once for Keldeo to thank him.... was for my mate Dax..."

"Oh, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, I was just joking around."

"No, no, it's quite alright, I need to move on and come to terms with the fact that he's gone and not coming back." NightBlade looked over at Keldeo. "Sorry for bringing him up when we just got together. I must sound like I don't wanna be with you." Keldeo nuzzled NightBlade.

"No, I understand. I don't think that at all."

NightBlade chuckled. "I even remember the last thing I cooked for him, Tamato berry and beef soup. He always loved spicy food."

"Yes, hold your head high and keep going. There's no reason to dwell on something for so long." Kyogre said.

"Regardless, I'm starving. Who else is with me?" As soon as NightBlade said 'me', Keldeo's hoof shot up, followed by mine and Kyogre's slower hands. "Well, if you'll excuse me..." NightBlade left and returned about fifteen minutes later, four plates with Oran berry pancakes resting on his arms. "Okay, everyone, lunch is served." He handed Kyogre, Keldeo and me plates, each with three pancakes on top, leaving a plate with two pancakes on top for himself.

"Thank you, NightBlade."

"Yeah, thanks!"

"Thanks, hun. But why do you only have two?" Keldeo said once he had noticed this.

"The answer is simple, dear, I'm watching my figure." NightBlade quickly ate his meal, and Keldeo looked to be at a loss for words.

"Night, you're perfect in that sense, in every sense of the word, to be exact. There's no need to eat smaller meals with all the training you do. Eating less could actually be bad for you." Keldeo cut his stack in half with the sword on his forehead. "Now, Night, you take half of this, and I won't take no for an answer." NightBlade actually seemed scared when Keldeo shifted to a mature, serious side of him.

"Y-y-yes dear!" NightBlade said before quickly he polished down the half off the stack.

"You guys are really weird, you know that?" I said, and Kyogre gave a nod in agreement.

"How so?" NightBlade asked.

"You just...are." I took another bite of my pancakes and changed the subject. "These are really, good, you know."

"Why thank you, and this is a simple dish, I can do much better if I really try." NightBlade chuckled.

"Pft, best you could get from me is fresh picked berries."

"Oh, well, you should see what he can do with Basculin and Magikarp.... ah, my mouth's watering just thinking 'bout it."

"Oh, now you're making me crave it..."

"How about I make that for diner?" NightBlade simply responded to our cravings.

"That would be awesome!"

"Yes, that would be splendid."

"It's settled, I'll get Fynn to catch some fresh ingredients." NightBlade was barely able to finished his sentence before Keldeo embraced him in a death grip.

"Yay! THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!" Keldeo's words came out in a single string as he expressed his gratitude. I chuckled a bit at his actions.

"Keldeo, you might want to make sure he can breathe there." Keldeo stopped and blinked, letting go and allowing NightBlade to take a deep breath.

"Oops... hehe, sorry man."

"It's fine, Keldo, just be careful. So, my Lord, up for a game of chess?"

Kyogre shook his head. "I'm chessed out for today. We should really be talking strategy."

"Yeah, you're right, sir."

"Come. Let's go to me private quarters, where the atmosphere will help us think more clearly." Kyogre went to the pond in the middle of the room, and beckoned us towards it. "Dive in, and don't worry about the water." He hopped in and swam downwards, and the three of us followed suit, diving down and following Kyogre into and underwater cave. "We will talk through our minds here, and don't worry about breathing." Kyogre's voice thrust it's way into my thoughts, and I heard him clearly.

When I enter the submerged cavern, my mind seemed to clear completely, ready to concentrate on the situation at hand. I was not breathing, and yet, my lungs didn't crave any; no pain appear with the absence of air.

"Okay, well, I think we should play to our strengths. What legendaries are we going up against? I know there's Arceus and Mewtwo; I've confronted Mewtwo before," NightBlade began.

"Awesome, I'm talking with my brain!" Keldeo thrust his hooves upward in excitement. "Yeah!"

"We have to assume that all legendaries that aren't united with us and aren't Dragon Types are working for Arceus. That gives him a large army," I said.

"We must also consider the numbers of followers he has, which would include mostly his main followers, the Normal Types," Kyogre put in.

"Alright, I have a plan," NightBlade responded. "Lord Kyogre, can you get us a strong Pokémon able to use Psychic?"

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Oh my Rayquaza, there's only about three more chapters left in SlaW! Any ways, please vote and comment, and wish me luck in the Pokémon Watty Awards!