Once again, we found ourselves slowly trekking behind Darkrai as he led the way to an unknown location. I winced as a bout of pain coursed through my leg. I can see Pixie watching me, but I don't want her to worry. I have to walk it off. Behind me Ace yawned I couldn't blame him; we'd been walking a long time. The moon had almost reached its zenith.

"Darkrai. We've been walking a long time; shouldn't we take a break?"

"You've already had a break and yet you want another?"

"What're you talking about?" I asked, tired of his games.

"That leg of yours looks like a serious break to me."

I rolled my eyes. Staring at the back of his head I imagined pummelling his skull with my good paw. It made me smile.

Darkrai sighed. "In answer to your question, no. We can't afford to stop now. We're almost there."

"Almost where?!" Ace exclaimed.

"There." Darkrai raised a shadowy hand and pointed through the trees to where a small patch of open rock could be seen. Darkrai kept floating (he's technically not walking so I can't say walking and it's annoying me!) and led us out of the trees to where we could better see what he'd been pointing at before.

I now recognised our destination as an altar of some kind. Sitting amongst the trees it was riddled with cracks and lay directly underneath the moon. Oh, and it's at the top of a flight of stairs. Thanks author. (You're welcome!)

I awkwardly jump-climbed my way up the stairs in an attempt to keep up with Glair, Pixie and Darkrai. Ace noticed my struggling and waited to help me. "Need a hand?"

"I'd rather a leg."

He chuckled and began doing what he could to ease my struggle.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"You know when we met, you were a bit of jerk. You've changed since then."

"No, I haven't. You've just recognised my charming personality."

"That must be it."

We were both quiet for a moment as I hobbled up the staircase. Then I stopped and looked at Ace. "Really though, thank you."

He smiled at me. "I should be thanking you. It's been a while since I had a friend. It's a nice change."

I nodded, and we continued. "Speaking of friends, how are you and Glair?" I asked slyly.

"Me and Glair? No, it's not like that. Besides, she has Tertle."

"Yuck. Dude, no. Tertle's the fatherly best-friend type. He and Glair love each other but not romantically."

"Oh."

"Oh." I mimicked sarcastically. "So, what're you gonna do?"

"I don't know," he said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

I laughed and flicked him with my tail. He recoiled at the strike and looked at me in surprise.

"Don't forget. We strive. No excuses."

After a moment he smiled. "No excuses."

From the top of the altar Darkrai looked down at us. "Would you two cut the bromance and get your rears in gear already!" He bellowed.

"I'll put his rear in gear if he's not careful," I said before muttering a few choice words. Ace chuckled, and we continued the climb.

Upon reaching the top I stretched and lay down, careful not to hurt my leg.

"About time," Darkrai muttered as he walked towards the centre of the altar. The moon was directly overhead and Darkrai stared up at it before shouting; "Oi! Get your ass down here. You owe me a favour!"

I had no idea who he was talking to but moments later a voice replied.

"I don't owe you anything! Get lost."

"If it wasn't for me you would still be scared of the dark!" Darkrai bellowed angrily.

The moon shone brighter and fell from the sky, at least that's what it looked like. Rather than the moon falling a piece of it seemed to peel away and fly towards us until it was hovering angrily in front of Darkrai.

"You promised you'd never tell anyone," the Moon whispered through gritted teeth.

"You forced my hand. Now, about that favour."

"Ugh... Fine. Whaddya want?"

"Stop you big baby. I might know where Arceus is. I need your help getting to him."

"Why me?"

"Because Lunala, you and Solgaleo are the only ones who can. And I don't know how to get in touch with the sun lion. So, it's up to you."

"Do I have to?"

"Do it or I'll tell everyone you're scared of the dark."

Darkrai and Lunala engaged in an intense glaring competition. Despite Lunala's fierce and terrifying stare Darkrai is literally the stuff nightmares are made of. Try as she might Lunala couldn't win. She gave in.

"Fine, I'll do it. Where is he?"

"He's in a different universe. You can open an Ultra Wormhole and travel there right?"

"Uh... The hell's an Ultra Wormhole?" Ace asked worriedly.

Darkrai groaned and rubbed his temples with both hands. "An Ultra Wormhole is a fancy name for a wormhole that can be opened by Solgaleo, Lunala and Necrozma."

"Ewww Necrozma. We don't talk about... that."

Darkrai groaned again. "Yes whatever. Anyway, the important thing is that Lunala can fly through the wormhole, go to this other universe, find Arceus, and bring him back. You can do that... right?"

"Of course I can. Do you know which universe?"

"Same universe that this one is from." Darkrai pointed at me and Lunala suddenly became interested in the little Eevee with the broken leg. She studied me for a second. It was seriously unnerving. Then she seemed to lose interest and turned back to Darkrai.

"That's not enough. There's a lot of universes out there, I'll need directions, or at least something to recognise the correct one by."

Darkrai and Lunala continued discussing and debating options. I had something on my mind, Pixie could tell. She approached with a curious glance. "Jacob, what're you thinking?"

I smiled at her. "I'm thinking Lunala needs a pilot. Fancy a trip?"

A large smile broke across Pixie's face and she nodded. I stood and hobbled towards the two legendry Pokémon. "Pixie and I ready to go."

Darkrai looked confused. "Ready to go? Go where?"

"To my world," I replied.

"You aren't going."

"What? Why not? I know that world best, I should go."

"No. Only Lunala is going."

"Why? She obviously needs a pilot. Darkrai, are you afraid to ask directions?"

Darkrai ignored my joke and got straight to the point. "You aren't going because I don't trust you."

That slap took a second to process. When it finally registered I was dumbfounded. "Why not?"

"I don't trust you to take this seriously! You don't seem to understand this world is dying. Without Arceus it's doomed! I tried to warn you. I told you to wake up and run. You said five more minutes! I told you she's going to kill you, you said, 'I can live with that'. You don't take this seriously. You have no determination or conviction. You don't have what it takes."

My mouth hung open. Slowly, I looked around. Pixie was staring sadly at me. My gaping maw twitched as I tried to comprehend Darkrai's words. They'd struck hard. I heard a small bark from Pixie and I turned back to her. She sat down, held her head high and puffed her chest our proudly. Damn she's awesome. I smiled at her and turned to Darkrai.

"I have her. That's all I need. Darkrai I will save this planet, for her and everyone in it. I promise you."

Darkrai eyed me suspiciously and hesitated, but eventually gave in. "Fine. You can go, but if you screw this up, if my world dies because of you, I'll kill you."

"Okay, good chat. Let's go Lunala!" (New main series game 'Let's Go Lunala!' involves all regions and free-flights with Lunala airlines)

Lunala cast a disdainful glance in my direction before looking back to Darkrai. He nodded. She sighed before lowering a wing for Pixie and me to step up onto. Pixie clambered onto Lunala's back. I however looked at Glair and Ace.

"While we're gone you guys keep trying to find out what you can. Work out who's behind this. We're all counting on you. No excuses."

Glair and Ace wore confident and determined expressions. I struggled onto Lunala's back and she screeched loudly before taking off into the night. She circled a few times and then a blue hole was torn open in the sky and she flew straight for it. I shielded my eyes from the bright blue light as we were swallowed by the Ultra Wormhole.