Disclaimer:

I don't own Pokémon, clearly. Everything official is copyright to Nintendo and their respective owners. Plot, original characters/concepts, etc do belong to me, I guess. This disclaimer is for the entire fic, and will not be repeated on every chapter.

Preface:

It's been a long time since I decided to undertake something so huge. Last time, it was my old Fic series, TKC, but I decided to go a little more mature this time. So… background. Yes, this is a darker Fic, but nothing like the legendary Pokémon Master. shudder I'm just not capable of writing nothing but dark. Basically, I was watching P2K, and I went…that's all the Chosen had to do? What if it wasn't? What if it was just a test? Then the Sages crept into my mind, and boom! Add in a couple of tropes, and I got the idea for Silver Blood. I was also ticked off that we don't get to really meet Silver in the anime. So, I fixed that. And, now, I've got a new, massive, story to work on (And I'm still on Chapter 1 of a different Fic from years ago…sigh). This will be slow, as I'm on dial-up, and I'm also in the process of editing my book. Yes, BOOK! So…some background info.

This is POST Sinnoh. DP is now finished, and I'm catching up to make this as accurate as possible, but some minor changes will be made. Ash, Misty, and Silver (who's gonna wait a few chapters for his true intro), are all 16. Well, Misty is a few months (4/5) older, but it doesn't matter too much. I have ages for others, but they'll be introduced in-plot. If you're confused about an age (or even a character), I apologize, and I'd be glad to answer if you PM me the question. Well, within reason. Don't ask for Spoilers. I'm not giving them. Oh, and it's rated M because of the VIOLENCE, not because there's a sex scene, or because the F-bomb's dropped three times a chapter (Because it's simply not).

And, so, I leave you now. Just note that the real plot doesn't start RIGHT away…I lead into it. I hope you'll enjoy the journey as much as I will and already am. (Reviews are nice, but I don't mind if you don't have the time.)

Prologue:

The Mountain Spirit

The Ninetales sat still as a statue on top of a stump. He was staring silently into the field before him, where a huge flock of Starly were pecking bugs out of the ground, and eating grass seeds, and goodness knows what else. Then, something caught his eye.

Something, maybe a human, stumbled around, and fell, face first, right nearby the flock. The Starly nearest to it all flew up in surprise, and then landed again, continuing their lives as if nothing had happened. In the brief moment that they were in the air, Ninetales noticed that the creature on the ground was wearing a very bloody, and very torn blanket as a cloak and an old, battered baseball cap, backwards.

Mew! What could've happened?

Then, the Ninetales noticed that the figure was moving, barely. It seemed to tense.

Holy Ho-oh!

The creature leapt to life, lashing out at a Starly-scaring the rest away-grabbing it, and biting it on the back of the neck, issuing a horrible crunching noise as the bones snapped. It was a Lucario! A ragged, one at that; its ribs were poking through it's skin, and it was covered in half-healed wounds, the fur around them stained with its own blood. How the hell could such a beat-up, starved beast still be alive? No wonder it was killing, and now eating the dead Starly raw. Hunger must've been driving it mad.

Her, the Ninetales noticed. The Lucario was female. Probably abandoned, too.

"Arceus-damn," the Ninetales, the Fire Sage, muttered to himself.

Deciding that the creature would survive until sunrise the next morning, the Ninetales got up and started off towards the east, to Mount Moon.

"Perhaps the spirits will know what to do," he said to himself. "Or, at least the Night Sage will have some advice…."

The Lucario never noticed any other living thing, as she gratefully ate her prey. She was done with it all! She was going to hide herself away, some place they would never find her, ever again! She grasped the bloody pearl necklace around her neck. No, they would never find her, she decided, the Starly's bones crunching in her mouth. She would never trust another one of them, as long as she lived.

"And," she said in a low voice, almost a growl, "if another human ever comes within my sight again…I'll kill them!"