If I was able to chose which castle Mom burned down, I would have pick Darkrai's.

Not only would it have saved me from having to go on this stupid journey in the first place, but his castle, if you could call it that, looked purely ugly. It wasn't black, like you'd expect it, but instead it was grey: and not even the dark kind. It was the grey of someone who wore the same white short for ten days straight. Even the structure was terrible made. It was a box; no towers, no gates, not even a pointed roof. Just a box. Like I said, ugly.

I walked down to the entrance of the caste, where no guards were posted. Easily, I walked inside, where no followers patrolled the corridors. Either Darkrai had no followers, or they were all asleep. Both options wouldn't have surprised me. With the lack of contact with others, I made it to Darkrai's throne room with no problems. If you could call the place a throne room.

The room looked more fit for a mad scientist, or a witch, and Darkrai seemed to want to be both. He stood in the middle of the room, constantly stirring a, get this, large black cauldron. He muttered crazily in the dark, only leaving his creation to grab a different ingredient from the shelves that lined the walls, and on occasion, he'd look up at a poster starring Uxie and smile and cackle maniacally. Ugh. It was enough to make even me shudder.

Walking up to my mad foe, I expected him to notice me, maybe attack me, but he did neither, only stirred his cauldron.

"Hey," I yelled at him, his had snapping up to look into my gaze.

"Yes, what is it?"

My response was an uppercut to the jaw.

"Kid, what is your problem?"

"Dude, I'm not a minion of yours and I just punched you in the face. What do you think I'm doing here?"

He looked at me, his eyes brightening as a realization hit him. "Ohhh, you must be the Dragon Girl, coming for a real fight, one where Keldeo and NightBlade won't be able to assist you!" He assumed the stance of a fighter. "Come at me, fiend!" In annoyance at his muddled mind, I toppled his cauldron, spilling the contents. As the liquid swamp around his feet, he yelped in surprise and possibly from the heat of the liquid. "My creation!"

"I'm not a my mom! Just fight me so I can kill you and get this over with."

He muttered to himself before answering,"Fine. If it will get you out of my sights sooner, then a fight we shall have. Prepare yourself, kiddo." Moments after he began the battle with his words, he unleashed a wave of pure evil. And though I tried to dodge, the attack still hit me, encasing me with fear as I expected to feel my eyes droop and my mind fall into darkness. The only thing I felt was pain as the waves of darkness bit at my flesh. In a quick counter, I sent my self to him with an Aerial Ace, and jabbed him with a Brick Break. Once again, he began emitting the dark aura, and I quickly jabbed him once again with another Brick Break.

"It seems you know your Types," he wheezed, the Fighting Type moves taking effect. "Maybe I'll just have to change my strategy. Maybe, maybe." Once again, it seemed that he was about to unleash another Dark Pulse, though as I tried to dodge, I felt my legs give way, instead. My eyes slid shut, and I felt myself fall to the ground, sawing logs.

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I seemed to have been floating at that point, drifting on oblivion. The sights were black, the world was black, formed in a deep serenity. At once, images appear,  wrapping my self in that moment. Scenes from my childhood danced about, distorted from the real memories they were supposed to be. And then, at once, they soured.

The first to change was an image of my mom. She was holding a knife, chopping vegetables as always. She turned, facing me, and at once her whole demeanor changed. Her eyes darkened in hatred, and she turned the knife, facing the blade upwards, before thrusting the metal into my gut. No words came from her mouth, but her lips still moved forming syllables that I could too well recognize. Failure. She stood keeping the knife in my flesh, and I felt a presence of my dad.

I didn't turn, I couldn't turn, but I knew his eyes were reflections of his wife's. His hand came down upon my shoulder; his grip fierce as he melted my flesh with his bare hands. Move-less. Worthless. I wanted to scream, then, to engulf my and in the energy of a Dragon Claw and show then that I had learned Moves, that I has not worthless. But I could not move. I was paralyzed, as if I was tied to a stake.

As in order, Ariana approached, and I wondered how she would torment me, how she would inflict pain that they seemed to view as the only way to scold me for what I hadn't become before. But the only pain she inflicted was mental. She turned and walked away. Disgusting. Putrid. Worthless. Move-less. Failure. Disgusting. Putrid. Worthless. Move-less. Failure.  As they began to chant soundlessly, over and over on an endless repetition, a figure headed towards me. It was Delta. She moved slowly, to the beat of the chant, wearing a sad smile on her face. She came to me, walking though my mother as if, no, like the ghost she was, and embraced me. The fire of her hair leapt upon my clothes and self, and soon I began to burn like a log. Forever in Death, she whispered. Don't leave me alone in the Dark. 

At the moment in which insanity almost had me at its grasps, the scenes and pain spiraled away. In mere seconds after, I jerked awake, Darkrai licking his lips in front of me.

"Such a great mind to twist with dreams. How glorious it was to watch you writhe!"

In that moment, I snapped.

Lunging at Darkrai, I struck him to the ground, pummeling him with Brick Break after Brick Break as tears streamed down my face. How dare he! How dare he play with my mind like that!

Finally, I had used up my last Brick Break, and I stood, panting, Darkrai kneeling before me at the brink of death. in a flash, he flung his hand at my wrist, and held it with an iron grip. His fingers dug into my wrist, and darkness seeped outwards from fingerprints. I tried to pull my hand away, but to no avail, until finally, he stopped, the last of his life drifting away. I pried his fingers from my wrist, and walked a few steps to the wall, were I sat down and let exhaustion sweep me.