Dark Arts and Dark Minds

Prologue: Wishes Have Power

*Risk's POV*

Breathing heavily, I lay down, exhausted from another hard day of a rescue team's work,

The Giant Volcano... We can't afford to take the possibility of missions there lightly- even during a casual exploration, we barely made it out alive... Ugh! I winced, as Riku wrapped a small bandage, soaked with water, around the second-degree burn on my forearm. I had obtained the scar from a large Pokemon that called itself Heatran, the lord of the Giant Volcano. Haunting memories of that encounter would not leave me alone,

When that Pokemon attacked... My gaze narrowed, as the horrible images came flooding back to me- the massive Pokemon, and our confrontation with it...

*Flashback- Giant Volcano, B20F (Risk)*

"The heat is starting to overwhelm me... Alpha, I'm scared- it feels like I am going to melt!" Beta conveyed her distress to her Mawile brother, who gently rested his arm on her shoulder,

"Don't worry, Sis. Look," Alpha consoled her,

"This must be the end of the dungeon- we're almost out of this place!" he said, pointing at the blank wall in front of us.

The end? But we never found our client! That Leafeon said that he would be here, at this place's summit! Where would he... My thoughts were interrupted by an indescribable, ear-piercing sound and a flash of light, blinding the entire team,

"Why have you come here?" a voice asked from the white darkness. I opened my mouth to say something, but the Pokemon continued its rampage without my getting a chance at a rebuttal,

"Foolish thieves- don't you know to come with a proper defense for your actions?! You shall never harm the Fiery Drum!"

"But... We weren't here to..." I tried to stall.

"Silence!" the Pokemon interrupted me,

"Now, I, Heatran, the guardian of Giant Volcano and the Fiery Drum, shall kill you all like the vermin you are! En garde!"

As Heatran finished its ultimatum, the temperature of the room intensified drastically, and I feared that I would quickly collapse from heat exhaustion. I took a nervous glance at the rest of the team- Riku was unconscious, Beta was trying to revive him, Alpha calmly returned my gaze, Tania paced nervously, and Photon echoed my sentiments of survival,

"Well, we have no choice... If it's a fight this 'Heatran' wants, it's a fight it'll get!"

He's right... We can't just stand around waiting for our death! If we're going to go down here, we can at least say we went down fighting! I looked, one last time, at Riku before cupping my paws together, ready for battle.

"Wait!" Tania jumped in front of me,

"This place is home to plenty of Fire-type Pokemon that I can talk to- perhaps I can reason with this one, too!" She turned to the monstrous Pokemon,

"Heatran, may I ask why you labeled us as thieves? We're just here to..." She was interrupted by an angry roar,

"You already stole the Rock Horn from Giratina... The Grass Cornet from Mew... And you still deny your motive for being here?! Hmph- I had misjudged you... You're worse than scum; you're liars!" Heatran's eyes narrowed, and I knew that I had no choice if I wanted to save the team.

"Take this!" I force the words out, sending an Aura Sphere straight at the Lava Dome Pokemon.

Heatran stared at the small blue ball of energy, before laughing heartily,