Chapter Text
“Are you sure about this?” Nikko asked, pawing at her Fire Stone nervously. “You know what’ll happen if I become a Ninetales… I don’t know if I could handle living for a thousand years…” She bit her lip, frowning over at her partner.
The Vulpix and Skitty had agreed to finally evolve together. After years of the Luminous Spring rejecting them, they were finally allowed to become as big and strong as they always wanted. The two had gone out to find the exceedingly rare Fire Stone and Moonstone required for their evolution, and now, standing just before the shallow blue waters of the Luminous Spring, Nikko was feeling apprehensive about the whole thing.
When she first heard of Ninetales having an extremely long lifespan, she hadn’t thought much of it. It sounded like a logical improvement, to get such a bonus from evolution sounded like a given in her mind. But when she learnt that when her partner Hana evolved, she wouldn’t be getting any such bonus, Nikko became despondent.
Hana seemed much less worried about the whole thing. She smiled happily, baring her tiny fangs. “Don’t worry about it, Nikko. It’ll be fine, I promise.” She comfortingly nuzzled Nikko’s cheek with her own. “We’ll always be together, no matter what. Plus, with you as a Ninetales and me as a Delcatty, we’ll be stronger than ever!”
She gripped her Moonstone with her tail, waving it around teasingly. “I’ll go first! Then you’ll have to evolve too, because you’ll look like a pretty unimpressive leader with such a tall and graceful Delcatty as your partner!”
With that, Hana giggled, stepping into the water. She stood under the single spot of sunlight that shone through the crown of trees. Nikko frowned worriedly, trying not to rush out there to stop her partner from doing this. It felt like Hana was taking this too lightly. Was she really perfectly fine with her partner outliving her by hundreds of years?
A voice suddenly rang out from somewhere. It echoed mysteriously through the clearing, dancing through the air like a breath of wind. No matter how many teammates Nikko saw evolve here, the voice never ceased to wrack her body with shivers. It felt all too reserved and too intimate at the same time.
You... who seeks awakening… This is Luminous Spring. Do you seek a new evolution?
Hana squirmed excitedly. “Yes! I do!” She stared up at the sky as if expecting to find the source of the voice there. The trees rustled in the breeze. The whole area seemed to grow darker, and the air suddenly went still. The rustling ceased.
Do you require an item to evolve?
“Yep! I have the moonstone required to evolve into Delcatty!”
You… Who seeks awakening... Let us begin.
Hana turned around to face Nikko, splashing through the water. Her front paws laid atop the moonstone. The Skitty smiled at her partner, her squinted eyes upturned as Nikko took in her soft pink appearance for the last time. Nikko held her breath. Hana’s body flashed in a few short bursts of light, making Nikko flinch and shut her eyes.
When the light faded, the Vulpix blinked and gaped at the much larger form that stood before her. Hana blinked too, her eyes suddenly wide and shimmering. Her pink spots were replaced with soft lavender fur and her tail resembled a tulip instead of foxtail grass. She had a cushioning ruff around her neck. Most of all, though, she was beautiful.
You shall return if evolution is what you seek…
The breeze returned, the darkness waned, and life returned to the clearing. Hana seemed breathless for a moment, her mouth slightly agape as she stared back at Nikko. She peered down into her reflection at her feet, blinking incredulously at the sight. But then the moment was over, and she grinned excitedly, baring her larger, more fully developed fangs. Hana bounded towards her partner, flinging water everywhere as she began running circles around the small Vulpix. “Look at me! I’m so tall! And my eyes are so big!” She laughed with relief, stopping to stand in front of Nikko. “You look so small now, haha!”
Nikko collected herself enough to respond. “Y-yeah… you look so... different.” Hana grinned as if that was the greatest compliment she had ever received. “Thank you! I feel different too!” The Delcatty smiled, happily squinting her eyes the same way Nikko was familiar with. The sight calmed her nerves a little.
“You gotta try it, it’s your turn now!” Hana said lightly, as if there was nothing to it.
Nikko sighed. “I dunno… I mean… What about you?”
The question seemed to confuse the excitement out of Hana, the pokemon pausing for a moment and tilting her head. “What about me?” She asked with a confused smile.
Nikko frowned down at her fire stone. “It’s just… What’ll I do without you? When you grow old and I’m still...” She choked on her own words. She couldn’t even say it.
Hana finally seemed to come down from her high, and she crouched down in the grass to be more level with her partner. “I didn’t realize you were this freaked out about outgrowing me.” Nikko shrugged helplessly.
Hana hummed in thought. “I thought you would’ve been excited about being able to live for a long time. Most pokemon don’t get such a chance, and humans definitely don’t live that long. I thought you were happy you were lucky enough to become a Vulpix.”
Nikko nodded with a worried frown. “I was excited, at first. But the more I think about it, the less and less I want to live for so long… especially in a world without you.”
Hana blushed and chuckled lightly. “I had to live for a few months without you, y’know. They were the hardest months of my life.” She frowned sadly at the recollection. “So I understand your hesitance… But,” She smiled again, lifting Nikko’s face to look up at her, “I want you to live as long as you can. I don’t ever want to live in a world without you in it. Never again. And honestly, I think the world wants you in it just as much as I do.”
Nikko smiled sadly. Hana grinned victoriously. “Plus! I still got quite a few years left in me! You can’t get rid of me that easily!”
Nikko laughed. Well, who knew what the future held. Who knew how many times they’d need to save the world before the world finally beat them instead. Maybe Nikko’s new lifespan wouldn’t matter at all.
When the two left the Luminous Spring that day, Nikko had three more tails than she was used to.
---
Nikko busied herself with work every minute she was awake. Not that that was much different from her days with Hana, but now she was much more focused, more reserved, more distant. Nikko was now three hundred and fifty years old, and Team Moonlight was still going strong.
Though the only original members that were left of the team was her and the few legendaries that they had recruited back in the day. This included, most specifically, Manaphy. Apart from them, the team was filled with both young and old pokemon from various generations. The youngest member was a newly hatched Mawile that Nikko had taken upon herself to train.
The team had evolved into a guild of its own, located a long ways away from Treasure town. Nikko had felt pained to leave her old life behind, but it felt good to not be haunted by that fated beach, or the empty wigglytuff guild, or the sharpedo bluff. It felt good to reestablish the team, to move into a more convenient place for newer explorations. The Moonlight Guild grew and changed with the times, as pokemon came and went either by developing their own independent teams or by growing too old to explore anymore.
Nikko had employed Manaphy as her right hand, which was perfectly fine with them. The two of them mourned Hana together, the loss of a mother and partner was something neither could fully move on from. Manaphy’s presence was a comfort that Nikko would always hold near and dear to her heart. She thanked the gods that at least she wouldn’t need to suffer through the loss of her child. Manaphys lived much longer than a thousand years.
Nikko was always busy, but that came naturally. Her job was over encompassing, and often she was unable to explore for months on end. But recently she had gotten used to finding excuses to go out on explorations. As of now, her excuse was training Mawile, since the young pokemon was powerful and promising.
Nikko wanted to guide her in the right direction, but more than anything else, Nikko wanted to distract herself. She wanted to busy her mind with anything that brought substance into her life again. Raising a child always managed to tear her from the cage that was her own mind. It was good for her to not close herself off for too long.
So the Ninetales took Mawile to Foreboding Forest. Nikko lead the exploration, as she usually did. Mawile followed closely behind, while Manaphy trailed behind in case of ambushes. The three had gone on many easy training explorations before, but today was supposed to be more of a challenge. Mawile seemed off put by the places name, and she was right to; the pokemon that resided there were always surprisingly powerful. But Nikko was not disappointed, watching with approval as Mawile managed to take down a Beedrill.
She’d never let Mawile get seriously hurt of course, she would fend off any pokemon that were too strong for the child, and she had an escape orb in her bag just in case.
Mawile dusted off her hands and approached the two victoriously. “I did it! I told you it would be a piece of cake!” Mawile put her hands on her hips and seemed to radiate pride. Manaphy chuckled and grinned slyly. “Didn’t look that easy to me. You think you could take on two Beedrill at once?” Mawile paled. “U-uh, well I don’t-”
Mawile was cut off as the sound of a loud shwooosh! that burst through the clearing. Mawile screamed and quickly scrambled to hide behind Nikko’s back. Manaphy and Nikko stood to attention, alarmed by the odd sound. The two peered around with narrowed, alert eyes.
The noise was familiar somehow… Nikko blinked in realization. It was a sound she didn’t think she’d ever hear again. A Dimensional Hole.
On the far end of the clearing, A dark blue and purple wormhole tore itself open with another screech. For a moment Nikko thought the hole was broken somehow. Nothing emerged and the screeching didn’t stop, instead it grew louder. But as the sound crescendo-ed, Nikko realized that it was actually a scream of pain.
“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!”
There was a flash and a dark figure was flung out of the Dimensional Hole. The pokemon’s body hit the ground roughly, churning up dirt and flinging grass everywhere. The Dimensional Hole immediately shattered behind the fallen pokemon, erupting with the sound of broken glass.
Silence followed, the calm rustling of the wind in the trees being the only sound. If there were any hostile pokemon around, the sound had either shocked them still, or scared them off. Nikko stared with wide eyes at the blackened body lying a few meters before her, clearly unconscious.
Manaphy was the first to speak. “Wh-... what was that?” Mawile poked her head out from behind Nikko’s hind legs, with her arms wrapped around one of them. “Y-yeah! Is it... dangerous?”
Nikko narrowed her eyes, anger flooding through her as she continued to analyse the fallen pokemon. If this was who she thought it was…
“Stay back. Let me handle this.” Using two of her tails, Nikko picked up Mawile and placed her behind Manaphy’s back. She didn’t look away from the fallen pokemon for even a second. “I’ll explain once I know it’s safe.”
Manaphy nodded, reaching back to hold Mawile against them. She cowered nervously, peeking over Manaphy’s head at Nikko as the Ninetales slowly approached the knocked-out pokemon.
Nikko stared down at the pokemon, her eyes narrowed viciously. He was lying on his face, and his white billowing hair was so burnt it looked more like a dark grey, but the identity of the pokemon was undeniable. She was hit with so much anger all at once that she had to hold back the instinct to scream.
Darkrai had apparently decided to travel over three hundred years into the future in hopes of avoiding any more contact with Nikko and Hana. Palkia’s attack had done its job, though. And since Nikko was here, despite his attempt to escape her, she knew what she had to do.
This monster… he thought he could destroy the world and just escape the consequences? Well he was right here, and he was in perfect condition for Nikko to take him out once and for all.
“What’s the situation?” Manaphy called out, their voice serious and stony.
Nikko blinked out of her thoughts. She couldn’t kill him here, not in front of Mawile.
The thought of bringing him back to her guild made disgust twist in her gut, but she definitely wasn’t going to just leave him here. Even if Palkia’s hypothesis was correct, and Darkrai had lost his memory, Nikko wasn’t going to take any chances with him going back to his old evil plans.
“It’s safe. He’s out cold and I know from... experience... that he’s not going to be waking up anytime soon.” Nikko said, turning and eyeing her teammates. “That thing that he came out of is called a Dimensional Hole. It’s for time travel.”
Manaphy blinked in shock and quickly approached, Mawile following in fear of being left behind. “Time travel! Wh-when did this guy come from? Do you know who he is?” Manaphy asked. Nikko remembered Hana once telling the water-type about the ordeal with Darkrai. She wondered if they would remember.
“It’s Darkrai.” She said, unable to keep the venom from her voice as she said his name.
Manaphy’s mouth fell open. “Y-you mean the guy who tried to destroy the world twice?”
“What!?” Mawile yelped, and hid behind Manaphy’s back fearfully.
Nikko shook her head, “we’ll talk about this later. For now we need to get him back to the guild. We can’t do anything about him with Mawile here.”
Manaphy nodded knowingly. “Yeah… We should try and contact Cresselia. She’ll know what to do about him.”
Nikko hummed, grimly peering down at Darkrai’s collapsed form. She had no intentions of alerting Cresselia. It would be much easier to take him out as quickly and quietly as possible. He didn’t deserve a judge or a jury.
Crouching down, Nikko managed to wiggle under his body and lift Darkrai onto her back. Manaphy helped stabilize him, and once Nikko was as comfortable as she could be, Manaphy used their escape orb. The team immediately vanished from the dungeon.
---
Darkrai was softly let down on Nikko’s hay bed. Nikko’s room was exclusive to only her and those she permitted to enter. A bonus of being a guildmaster was extra privacy, and there were very few times she was more grateful for such a luxury than right now. The apprentices were much too curious about the knocked out newcomer she brought home, and she needed them to stay out of this. Not to mention that Nikko didn’t want Mawile to be anywhere near Darkrai.
He hadn’t stirred once since he arrived in their time period, and for that Nikko was thankful. Manaphy stood at her side and stared at him thoughtfully, their arms crossed. “I don’t quite remember what happened to him. He tried to time travel and Palkia attacked him?”
Nikko nodded, her eyes as hard as stone. “Yes. Palkia suggested that he could have lost his memory, like I did when Darkrai did the same thing to me. I was comfortable despite not knowing when he’d be, since I knew he’d be injured and lost. I was... not expecting to ever see him again.”
Manaphy furrowed their brow. “What do we do if he lost his memory?”
It was left unspoken, but both of them knew what they would do if he didn’t.
“...Do we risk him turning out the same as before? Grovyle... he told me that I was... still the same person, despite forgetting everything. I didn’t really lose who I was, just the memories.” Nikko sighed, sitting down heavily.
Her shoulders had felt heavy for decades now, the weight of everything weighing down on her painfully. She was good at ignoring it, but Darkrai being here forced her to remember. Forced her to remember Grovyle, and Hana, and everything that had happened. Everything she had lost. She struggled to breath.
Manaphy seemed to sense her exhaustion. They put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I’ve never killed someone before... but I don’t think you’re in the right condition to do it. So if we have to… I’ll do it.”
Nikko chuckled weakly. “I appreciate it, but… I couldn’t put such a weight on you.” She didn’t look at her child, instead she stared down at Darkrai.
His form had seemed so much bigger when she was a Vulpix. He didn’t seem quite so large now. The scarred, scorched flesh did nothing to help his appearance. He barely resembled the powerful, intimidating monster he was last she saw him; now he looked weak and helpless, and for some reason Nikko couldn’t help but imagine him washed up on a beach, lost in a time he knew nothing about and with nothing to grasp onto but his own name.
The thought made bile build up in her throat. She struggled to hide her grimace.
He was nothing like her.
Before the two could say any more, Darkrai groaned. Nikko jumped visibly, and seeing her so on edge made Manaphy quickly shift into a defensive stance, ready for an attack.
The dark-type sighed, scrunching up his eyes in pain. “Urgh…” He tried to lift a hand up to rub at his head, but he was too weak and it fell limply back onto the hay. He groaned again, twisting and turning in agony, trying to find a comfortable position to lay in. Nikko had half a mind to kick him, just to see if he had the energy to yelp.
She pushed down her anger and took a deep breath. Stepping closer, she leaned over him and narrowed her eyes. “Hello? Are you ok?” She asked softly, trying to sound as kind as possible. There was no replicating Hana’s panicked concern when she had found Nikko collapsed in the sand, but she was trying.
“Uhg… wh…” He squinted his eyes open, blinking up at Nikko blearily. “Where…?”
Nikko had to stifle a wave of hatred at the sound of his voice. She was honestly surprised that over all these years she had managed to fester such a hatred for him. When he revealed all the things he had done, she had been too shocked to really feel anything about him. But after all this time, something had managed to fester. It was dark and angry and it threatened to lash out at any moment.
And yet, Nikko could not force herself to retreat away from the feeling. No matter how ugly and concerning the emotion was, she would not leave Manaphy to take care of this. Darkrai had ruined her past life by paralyzing the world, had been responsible for separating her and Grovyle and destroying her memory, for everything. He was her responsibility now.
“What’s your name? What happened to you?” She asked kindly, her voice so sickeningly fake that Manaphy bit their lip uncomfortably.
Darkrai seemed to be in too much pain to analyse how sincere her words were, as he only stared quietly back at her. She could see the cogs turning in his mind, and could tell before he even said anything that Palkia had been right. He had amnesia.
“D-Darkrai… I think that was my name… but I… I can’t… remember… anything else…” He muttered weakly, once again trying to cradle his injuries with his arms, but was too weak to even move them.
Manaphy hummed. “What do we do now?” They asked softly.
Nikko didn’t respond. She only stared back into Darkrai’s eyes, analyzing him for any glimpse of a lie or maliciousness. All she saw was pain and confusion. She sighed. “Go get some healing items.”
Manaphy compiled without question, but Nikko could see concern and unease on their face.
Something made her want to know how far this amnesia went. She wanted to know how evil he still was, how dangerous he still could be. She couldn’t be sure, but… it was possible that the pokemon she hated with every fibre of her being... was already dead.
She wasn’t sure what she’d do if that was the case. Did Darkrai deserve to die for crimes he didn’t remember committing? Dusknoir would have said ‘yes’ to that. But she wasn’t him, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to do what Dusknoir would’ve done. She shivered angrily at the very thought.
Manaphy returned with a handful of oran berries and a heal seed. “This’ll probably do the trick,” they said quietly.
“Thank you,” Nikko replied, taking an oran berry from them and pressing it to Darkrai’s face. “Eat this. It’ll make you feel better.”
Darkrai blinked up at her in confusion, his eyes wide with surprise. He eyed the berry curiously, and Nikko could see that his vision was clouding. He would faint again soon if he didn’t comply. Luckily for him, he did. After a few moments, the pain and exhaustion in his face seemed to fade a little.
Finally he could move his hands to brace his head, and he groaned, much more aware of himself now. One hand pressed against the ground as he tried to push himself into a seated position. Nikko managed to force herself to help, stepping closer to help lift his back from the hay bed. Once he was somewhat comfortably sitting up, Nikko stepped back. Darkrai eyed the room inquisitively.
“...Where am I?” He asked, spying the treasure chest of priceless items in the corner and the hay bed that he was sitting on. The room was lit by a few raised candles, and he seemed fascinated by their flickering.
Manaphy decided to speak up. “You’re at the Moonlight Guild. We, uh… we found you knocked out in Foreboding Forest, and decided to bring you here to make sure you were alright. Do you remember what happened?”
Darkrai turned to the small water-type and blinked at them. He hesitated for a long moment, trying to recall anything about what happened. “... No. I… I don’t remember anything at all…” He frowned worriedly. “I… I don’t know what happened.” He peered down at his hands, analyzing his claws as if they’d somehow have the answer.
Nikko hummed. “Give him the heal seed and some more oran berries. I’ll be right back.” And with that she was gone, disappearing through the wooden door to her room.
This was worrying. Very worrying. She didn’t think Darkrai was safe to keep around, but at the same time, she wasn’t sure she could bring herself to kill him.
The way he was… he was suffering the same fate he put her through. Didn’t he deserve that? To know how awful it felt to be completely lost, alone and afraid in an unfamiliar world?
But it wasn’t just that. If she were to keep Darkrai around, she knew she’d have to contact Cresselia at some point. The legendary didn’t live in the guild with them, as she had formed her own team separate from team Moonlight. Cresselia was still an ally of course, and Nikko knew she’d be here in a flash if she knew that Darkrai had returned.
But… Nikko knew that she’d try and take control over the situation. Cresselia always did. She was very controlling, always wanting to be the one coming up with the plans and the one overlooking those who played it out. She would tell Nikko what to do about Darkrai and she would take responsibility for Darkrai’s fate. Nikko didn’t want to share that responsibility.
She deserved to have control over what happened to him. He had singled her out. He had ruined her world, tried to assassinate her and then tried to drive her to kill herself. Cresselia might’ve known him better, but Nikko was the one he had wronged the most. If Cresselia was to know about this, then it would be after Nikko decided what to do with him.
Right now though, Nikko needed to tell the guild members what was happening. She could hear them whispering through the walls, and now that she had stepped out into the main foyer of the guild, they were all watching her curiously. A few seasoned apprentices approached her and asked, “who’s that strange pokemon that you carried into the guild?” “Did something happen?”
She stood up tall and addressed the apprentices as a group. “The pokemon we brought home was badly injured. He seems to be suffering from amnesia. We haven’t yet decided on what to do, but he poses no threats to us as he is.”
The apprentices started to talk amongst themselves, arguing about whether they should welcome him into their ranks or not. Mawile was silent from her corner of the room, and continued to stare at Nikko with a hint of fear in her eyes. Nikko urged her over with a wave of her head.
Mawile slowly approached, her head down as she fiddled with her hands. “That pokemon’s really bad, isn’t he?” She mumbled, eyeing Nikko anxiously. Nikko sighed.
“Yes. Or rather, he was bad. I’m not sure what to do with him now that he’s forgotten who he was.” Nikko spoke softly so nobody but Mawile could hear her. Mawile looked down as she considered this.
“W-well if he’s forgot, then that means he can be good, right?” She peered up at the Ninetales with hesitant curiosity in her eyes. Nikko hummed. “I’m... not sure. He was very bad, Mawile. He might still be, and I don’t know if it would be good to help him."
Mawile frowned. “Oh…”
Nikko sighed. The child wasn’t old enough to fully understand the situation. But Nikko could understand why she seemed so conflicted. The child was afraid of him, but she had also seen how injured he was. She hadn’t seen him at his most powerful- at his worst. Mawile was compassionate, even if she didn’t fully understand who she was giving that compassion to. Nikko was glad to see that.
“Go back to your room, Mawile. You can relax for the rest of today.” Nikko said gently, and the steel-type nodded. Nikko turned and made her way back to her room, thinking deeply about her decision. Without Hana here, she knew that this was all up to her. Nikko tried to figure out what Hana would’ve chosen... but she honestly didn’t know.
Still… she knew what she was going to do. If things went well enough, she would try and rehabilitate Darkrai.
Re-entering her bedroom, Nikko was relieved to see Darkrai still sitting on her bed. Manaphy had only one oran berry left. Darkrai seemed to lighten up with her return, interest in his eyes. “Hello...!”
Manaphy smiled at her awkwardly. “I, uh, was just telling Darkrai about our guild, and how you’re the guildmaster. He doesn’t seem to, um… recall anything at all about his past.”
'Good.' Nikko thought. She wasn’t sure how she felt about telling him who they were, but if they were to avoid his suspicion, it would be best that they try to avoid keeping anything too obvious from him.
“Well, we’d be happy to let you stay with us if you have nowhere else to go.” Nikko said respectfully.
Darkrai deflated a little at that, but he appeared to try and hide it. Curious. “Oh, yeah… I don’t remember if I had any friends or family to stay with… I hope nobody is worrying about me.”
'Don’t worry. Nobody is.' Nikko thought spitefully. Outwardly, she smiled. “Well don’t you worry about a thing. I’m sure our guild's members will be happy to have you. We’ll take care of you for as long as you need.”
Darkrai smiled at her. “Thank you... I’m glad I have someone to help me figure this out.”
Nikko blinked. That was... unexpected.
---
Nikko didn’t feel comfortable putting Darkrai in a room with the apprentices. He was still powerful despite his lack of memory, and they still hadn’t confirmed whether his dark personality had managed to survive the amnesia. Nikko was sure he could still be sadistic and cruel, even without the history to back it up.
Not to mention his… ability. She knew from experience that Bad Dreams was a particularly nasty ability to deal with.
So Darkrai had been given his own room, as close to Nikko’s room as possible.
“In case you need me, you’ll be staying in the room closest to mine.” Nikko explained, leading the still weakened legendary out of her room.
He held onto her back as he struggled to lift himself from the bed, unknowingly making her shiver in disgust at the feeling of his claws against her fur. He discovered with amazement that he had legs, and shakily stood on them.
Darkrai blinked in amazement as they walked through the guild. He had never seen anything besides her room since he lost his memory, after all. Nikko tried to ignore how much his curious gazes reminded her of her young self. He was nothing like her. He brought this upon himself.
A small group of apprentices- a Nidorina, Shellos and Roselia- approached as the two travelled to Darkrai’s new room, the youngsters excitedly trying to get a glimpse of the new guy.
“He’s spooky-looking!” Roselia said with a giggle. “Yeah! What type is he? I’ve never seen a pokemon like him!” Shellos said with a tilt of his head. “He looks like a ghost!” Nidorina chirped. Darkrai raised an eyebrow, pausing to peer down at them. “Huh?”
“Actually, he’s a pure dark-type. Now get to bed, there’s roll call in the morning.” Nikko said distractedly. She shooed them off with her tails, and they complied with groans of annoyance. “I just wanted to meet him!” “Can we at least know his name?”
“No.” Nikko growled. “We’ll introduce him to everyone during roll call, tomorrow alright? Now go.” That seemed to do the trick, and the small group finally dispersed.
Nikko and Darkrai reached the room and Nikko held the door open as the dark-type stumbled inside. Unbeknownst to him, the room previously belonged to Manaphy, but the water-type agreed to let him have their room for safety’s sake. Manaphy would move to sleep in Nikko’s room in the meantime instead.
Darkrai plopped heavily onto the bed with a groan, his thin legs weak and disoriented. Even after eating so many recovery items, it would take a few days before he was in tip-top shape again. Nikko was thankful for that. She didn’t need him getting any ideas about leaving.
“Nikko?” Darkrai said, eyeing her in a way that definitely looked like he was analyzing her. She tilted her head wordlessly in response, uncomfortable with the sudden intrigue. “Why are you helping me?” He asked softly.
Nikko furrowed her brows, hoping that she looked genuinely confused. Darkrai sighed. “I mean… you don’t know me. I dunno, it’s just that if I… if I saw some random pokemon knocked out in the middle of nowhere, I definitely wouldn’t just… take them home and help them.”
Nikko wondered what he was implying by saying that. Did he know he was dangerous?
“Are you saying I shouldn’t have helped you?” Nikko asked lightly.
Darkrai shook his head frantically. “No! No that’s not what I… I mean- it’s just that… It’s so nice of you? I don’t… I don’t think I’m… very nice, I guess.” His eyes fell to his hands as he wrung them nervously. “Something about this feels odd, like… I dunno, I just feel like I’m… doing something wrong here.”
Ah. There it was. The darkness inside him had indeed not been eradicated. But, it had been forgotten enough for Darkrai to see no harm in opening up to her about it. He was already figuring out that there was something cruel and selfish deep down inside him. Without proper guidance, Nikko knew he’d just go down the same path of villainy again.
She wouldn’t let that happen. He would either die, or learn to be a good person. There would be no alternatives.
“Darkrai…” She said, trying to choose her words as carefully as possible. “I helped you because that’s what explorers do. We help others. It’s just a part of the job.”
Darkrai frowned. “I don’t have anything to pay you with. Or- I mean… I don’t know if I do.”
Nikko shook her head, stepping closer and making him look up at her. “No no, listen. At first... that was the only reason I saved you. But when I realized that you had lost your memory, I decided that I would take you in. I’ll take care of you, no matter what. No payment required.”
Darkrai blinked at her in wonder. She could see how hard it was for him to comprehend such kindness. “Wh-why..?”
“Because I’ve been through the exact same thing.”
Darkrai’s eyes practically bulged out of his head. He stared at her in amazement. “R-really? You lost your memory too? When?”
Nikko laughed bitterly. “A couple hundred years ago, now. Forgot absolutely everything... and never got anything back.”
Darkrai seemed stunned into silence. He blinked incredulously at her, before looking down at his hands again. Nikko could see the gears turning in his head.
“So… I’ll continue to help you. Because I know what it’s like to be in your position.” Nikko continued, and Darkrai’s gaze rose to look back at her. “I had a good friend with me, to help find a new life for myself. It wasn’t easy, but having somebody who’s there for you makes things so much more bearable. I’ll be that friend for you. I’ll help you all that I can.”
Darkrai continued to be silent. The silence stretched on for so long that Nikko wondered if Darkrai somehow remembered her. She wasn’t up for fighting him; she didn’t have her treasure bag on her. But if she had to, she would take him down.
Instead of announcing his recovered memory (or revealing that he had never lost it in the first place), Darkrai peered up at her hesitantly. “...even if you never got memories back, did you ever… get deja-vu, or intuition, or something... about your past?”
Nikko hummed. “I suppose. Very rarely, though. It was only ever about the most important things. Like past goals dancing just out of reach.”
Darkrai nodded. “I think I’m getting that right now. And it’s… scary.”
Nikko narrowed her eyes. “Why’s that?"
“I feel like… I was bad. Really bad...”
Nikko frowned. This was the moment of reckoning. “Do you still want to be bad?”
Darkrai paused, looking away. He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully, trying to figure out whether his intuition was something he wanted to follow or not. “I don’t know.”
“That’s not enough.” Nikko replied, trying her hardest not to let a growl slip into her voice. Keep calm… Make him feel wanted… “I can’t endanger the members of my guild, Darkrai. I want to help you, but... do you want to be helped?”
Darkrai blinked at her, wide eyed and lost. “I… I want your help.”
“So you will be good.”
“...Okay.”
Nikko sighed, relief drifting onto her face. She made the point of smiling at him, and he brightened up considerably at the sight. “Don’t worry. If you need any guidance, I will always be here.”
Darkrai beamed. “Thank you,” he breathed, “I’ll try my best.”
Nikko didn’t think she’d ever get used to that.