KKid: Well, it's been a while for this fic, guys. For those of you who don't know the history of Shadow Wood Academy, it first started under the tutelage of Unbiased Abyss as an OC submission fic. He discontinued it, but allowed me a chance to reboot the story. So I did, and I included even more OCs, bringing the total to over 40. But I soon lost the general taste for writing OC fics, and pursued other works. While this was going on, Unbiased Abyss posted a redux of his original story. It got the furthest out of any attempt, but as of now, has yet to be updated. I didn't want to see this fic die, so I gave the authoring job to Sun and Moon Entity (I'm still on board as editor and battle scene writing assistant). With this tag-team tandem, we hope that Shadow Wood Academy version Four is the lucky one that we can finish.

We're reusing all of the old OCs, so for you old followers, that means that you don't have to repost them. For the new guys, I'm sorry, but we're locking submissions until further notice. You can check out the profiles on my personal forum, found on my profile. Also, a lot of the faculty is "borrowed" from other places, including Doctor Who, Code: LYOKO, and Negima, among others. This was done to increase the connection between certain characters, something some OC fics lack. By no means is this a crossover, however; they may be borrowed, they may talk and walk like they do, but their bios have been gutted and changed to fit to the storylines. A few of them even look a bit different!

Well, enough of my notes. I assume SaME wants a chance to speak as well. Or she already has, in which case you want to read the first chapter. Either way, I yield, and hope that you all enjoy, and read and review this fic. Ja ne, everyone!

- Ketchum Kid

SaME: Hey, y'all! Guess who has turned eighteen today~! My author's notes will be at the end of the chapters. So without further ado, here's Chapter 1.

Shadow Wood Academy: The Hybrid Revolution

Chapter 1: Escape to Sanctuary

Welcome to Shadow Wood Academy! This academy stands as a solid community of defense against the force of evil wanting to plunge the world into the blackest shadows of darkness, the deepest depths of chaos, and drag all of Pokémon and humanity to the very depths of fear and madness: the Shadow Virus, the Shadow Pokémon, and their insatiable hunger for destruction. To help vanquish the Shadow Virus, and to make sure that the Shadow Pokémon do not plunge the world into destruction, this academy was founded by the one scientist and self-proclaimed hero of the future, the mysterious person who is known only as The Doctor!

A six-foot man with grey-blue eyes and very curly-brown hair stepped in front of the projection screen, which had been showing various clips of the academy. He certainly didn't look like anyone who was in charge; in fact, he looked more like a hobo than anything else. He was wearing a red-brown blazer with sewn in elbow patches, a dark-brown cardigan with diamond shapes adorning the front, a pair of baggy, gray tweed trousers, and , and a big brown floppy hat. Most ridiculous of all was his long, multi-colored scarf, which dragged along the ground as he walked. A banner reading "Shadow Wood Academy" was projected above the man's head.

"That would be me," the man stated in a heavy British accent. "So basically, we're an organization that exists to restore order and preserve the notions of peace that once permeated throughout the world before the events of the Shadow Virus unfolded." He clapped his hands together. "I guess this isn't your typical academy, isn't it? Oh well, it's time to get to work. Those shadow pokémon aren't going to take care of themselves now, are they? Work hard, make the grade, and once again, welcome to Shadow Wood Academy!" The man ended with a toothy grin.

"Aaannd cut!" a blond-haired teen with black-rimmed glasses announced, having filmed the entire thing. He gave The Doctor a thumbs-up. "That was perfect, Doctor! I can get this put together and published before orientation tomorrow though don't expect me to be awake at the event."

"Excellent!" The Doctor walked away from the green screen behind him. He glanced around the room. There were several other people in the room, but all of them were asleep either on the floor or on the worn-out couch near the window. "Oh dear, is it that late already? Jeremie, what time is it?"

"It's almost two in the morning," Jeremie answered with a yawn, turning off the camera. The Doctor walked over to a cabinet and began to pull out folded sheets of blankets.

"Can you blame them? That one attack last week wrecked our storeroom and half of our supplies. If it wasn't for Topham and his big train sets, we wouldn't have more than a few days' worth of food." He started placing blankets, first over a girl with short pink hair.

"It seems like we've been doing a lot to get the new school year ready: training teachers, restocking on restocked supplies, upgrading the security system, working on your orientation video…and of course, defending the front. We just can't seem to catch a break." They finished with the blankets, and the two walked out of the room, The Doctor turning off all the lights.

"Hopefully, tomorrow marks the beginning of more teams like your Team Dragon's Fang to send out on patrols. I know you, Odd, and the rest of Team Dragon's Fang have been working really hard, knowing that you all have sacrificed your summer to do so...though, how did you get Odd to stay over?" Jeremie chuckled, and held up two fingers.

"Two words: Haruna Sataro." The Doctor chuckled.

"I had an inkling that your Smeargle friend had something to do with it. Fortunately, your girlfriend's father is making sure that nobody will have to go out to possible death. If things work in our favor, we should be able to eliminate the shadow virus within a year or two." Jeremie blushed, and pushed the bridge of his glasses.

"Uh, that's great, but we're not, uh, going out or anything." His friend raised an eyebrow. "Anyway, where are Odd and the others?"

"I've sent them to test the incoming freshmen." Now it was Jeremie's turn to be surprised.

"All of them? Doctor, I'm sorry for doubting you, but didn't you at least have one stay behind? We can't leave the school unprotected with all the Shadow Pokémon running around here. They closed off the Azalea Peninsula for a reason, after all." The Doctor chuckles as he opened the exit door.

"Jeremie, my boy, of course I've taken the academy's security on my mind before sending them off. I had asked Zale Gravestone to stay and patrol the area while the other three went on board. I'm sure he has enough faith in them that they will do just fine."

"So…where is he now?"

"I sent him to take care of some…important business."

I~+*=*+~I

"Yuna, Light Screen!" A Gardevoir placed her hands in front of her, just as a stream of fire came firing at her. Instead of engulfing the Embrace Pokémon, they simply curved off of an invisible bubble, rendering its occupants unharmed. The attack lasted for several seconds, combusting several parts of the surrounding forest. The temperature inside the protective bubble rose drastically, until finally, the attack ceased.

Out of one side of the flames were a white haired teen and his Gardevoir. On the other was the propagator of the flames: a Charizard with odd colorings.

Zale! Are you okay? The teen nodded.

"I'm fine!" Suddenly, an all-too-familiar buzzing noise filled the air. He turned around. "Crap, that fire set off the local neighborhood watch!" Behind them were Bug Pokémon, displaced after the fires had destroyed their nests. Zale recognized a few of them: Ariados, Beedrill, Venomoth…all dangerous Pokémon when angry, which they were. "As if single Shadow Charizard wasn't enough. Yuna, after you make an opening for me, I want you to take care of those bugs! Leave the overgrown lizard to me!"

"A-Alright!" Yuna acknowledged him via telepathy. Zale readied himself as she thrusted her arms forward, releasing a Psychic blast that parted the flames.

"Come at me, Charizard!" Zale charged through the opening, nearly running straight into the Charizard. The Flame Pokémon, caught off guard, swung its claws wildly at him, trying to decapitate the teen with a hasty Slash attack, but Zale ducked under the swinging arm, and actually grabbed hold of it. He threw himself around the Pokémon, and landed on its back. Charizard tried to throw the teen off, but to no avail.

"Hang on, Charizard," Zale muttered, finding a purple, eye-like marking behind its head. "I'm setting you free from your nightmare!" He unsheathed a dagger from his belt, and thrusted it deep into the marking.

The Charizard shrieked in pain, and began wobbling back and forth. Zale hastily pulled the dagger out of its head, jumped off, and landed on the ground, rolling clear of his enemy. The Flame Pokémon crashed to the ground, right where Zale had been a moment ago.. The buzzing around him ceased to silence, as the last enemy retreated into the darkness of Ilex Forest. Zale spotted Yuna, who seemed to be exhausted from the fight, and walked to her.

"Good work, Yuna," he stated, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I knew you could do it."

"You're…welcome…brother…" The Embrace Pokémon wobbled back and forth, before collapsing into Zale's arms.

"Jeez, try not to go all out all of the time-" Zale smiled, watching his Pokémon sleep in his arms. "-though that mentality has saved our skins more than a few times. Return, and have a well-deserved rest." As Yuna's form disappeared into her Pokéball, a soft growling noise was heard. Zale turned his head back at the Charizard. The Flame Pokémon was now normally colored, and showed no wounds on its body. It was standing up, facing Zale. The white haired teen reached for his dagger. "You wanna go another round?"

The Charizard snorted, and shook his head. Zale relaxed, and went over to the Flame Pokémon. His former adversary extended out its arm, its clawed hand balled into a fist. Understanding the gesture, Zale bumped fists with it, smiling.

"Yeah, no problem. Just be careful not to run into more Shadow Pokémon, okay?" The Charizard nodded before beating its wings and flying off into the dark night sky, its flaming tail the only sight of its location. Zale watched the Pokémon fly away for a few seconds, before he turned off into the forest, the dry leaves crunching beneath his feet as he raced off. , Eventually, he came across a small dirt trail, where a black hyper-bike with crimson spider web designs all over it was propped up. The white haired fighter sighed as he mounted the bike and put his helmet on. The engine roared to life, and he soon was on his way back to the academy.

Danger lurks in every corner of the area around the academy, consisting of Ilex Forest, Union Cave, the Ruins of Alph, and the remnants of Azalea Town, where it now proudly stands. The students of Shadow Wood are assigned to patrol and to protect the cities Goldenrod and Violet and their surrounding areas from Shadow Pokemon attacks. Even though the roads running through the area are extremely crude, they serve their purpose quite well. As he passed through Ilex Forest, Zale recalled the incidents that lead to the world being thrown into chaos.

The Shadow Virus's current form appeared about fifteen years ago, but it could really be traced to the First Shadow Pokémon incident about thirty years back in the Orre Region. An organization called Team Cipher attempted to control the entire region by artificially closing the hearts of Pokémon. They implanted a virus into the Pokémon, turning them into "shadows" of their former selves, and made them more aggressive and more violent than they would normally be. Fortunately, a nameless hero and his girlfriend managed to stop Cipher before they set their sights on loftier goals.

Then, five years later, a group of former Cipher executives resurrected the organization and not only restored the team to its former glory, came close to perfecting the process of closing a Pokémon's heart. Using a Lugia captured from the Whirl Islands, they nearly succeeded in taking over all of Orre, with all other regions undoubtedly next. Like the last time, however, a new hero rose to the occasion and, with the help of a Cipher Admin who had a change of heart, thwarted Cipher's plans.

While this was going on, the world saw the introduction of the Pokémon Hybrid. As the culmination of the Mew Cloning Project that had been funded by Team Rocket, these half-human, half-Pokémon were distinguished by two things: their ability to transform into a specific Pokémon and certain features of that Pokémon which stayed with them even in their human forms. With the ability to use Pokémon attacks, they were created to be Team Rocket's super soldiers in their ultimate bid to control the world. They managed to control Kanto, Johto, and parts of Hoenn and Sinnoh until a Pokémon master, a daughter of a gym leader, and their friends squashed Team Rocket out of existence and freed the hybrids.

Within ten years, the former Rocket Hybrids had settled across the world and became productive members of society. However, even though they were no longer under Team Rocket's control, the Hybrids still became subjected to prejudice from human society. Believing that Hybrids were inferior in many ways, many Humans barred Hybrids from several areas and treated the half-human creatures with little respect, even using derogatory names, such as "Morphs." Businesses began setting hours for who was allowed in from what-time to another-time. Some restaurants allowed only Humans to dine while Hybrids were completely rejected or given seats next to dumpsters. Schools became segregated, and, much to Zale's disdain, parents began disowning their own children if they refused to comply with segregation and hang out with their "freak" friends. Segregation soon got so bad that bitter tensions between the Humans and the Hybrids arose. Race riots broke out often, and stories about Hybrids attacking Humans soon became more and more common on the news with obvious amounts of biasness. It took all of the exhaustive effort of the Pokémon Leagues around the world to keep it at just that.

On another note, Hybrids also had the inability to become Pokémon trainers. The problem was not that they could not capture Pokémon like any other trainer or that the Pokémon Leagues banned them from competing (though a few of the less prestigious leagues did). The problem was that Pokémon simply would not listen to hybrids. Apparently, from what scientists had concluded from observing interactions between Hybrids and Pokémon, Pokémon considered hybrids as equals. Consequently, they refused to listen to commands from Hybrid trainers.

The race wars seemed inevitable, ready to explode into international conflict. Then the third shadow incident occurred.

Thanks to Team Rocket and the ongoing discrimination against Hybrids, Cipher managed to keep a low profile for years, regaining strength in order to return for a third and final time. Using gene splicing, they were able to create a foolproof method of creating a Shadow Pokémon, ones that could not be purified through traditional methods. The six heroes already mentioned banded together to stop Cipher once and for all. They almost succeeded when, in the final battle against the head of Cipher, something went terribly wrong. Without warning, the Shadow Pokémon went into fits of rage and refused to listen to even their own trainers' commands. They destroyed the entire Cipher complex. When people finally managed to get to the wrecked facility, all the victims they found were dead, and the bodies of the Six Heroic Trainers were never found.

Since then, one Shadow Pokémon became many. The shadow virus arose from the ruins and began infecting Pokémon from all around. Within five years, the virus had mutated to the point where it could affect even humans and strewed across the globe through migratory patterns in flying Pokémon and water Pokémon. Shadow Pokémon frequently ravaged the countryside, destroying just about anyone or anything within their path. Often, they can be distinguished by the reversal of colors. In other words, where one color should be on one part of the body, another color from another part of the body would be there. In the case of the Charizard that Zane had recently fought, it was cream-colored where it was supposed to be blue, blue where there should be orange, and orange where there was originally cream. In addition to the reversal of colors, Shadow Pokémon had an unusual eye-like purple mark on some part of their body. If something were to penetrate the skin beneath the mark, the Pokémon would heal and turn back to normal, and the virus would disappear from the Pokémon's body.

According to some scientific journals, the virus could be transmitted from either entering a being's body through normal routines, such as eating contaminated project, transfer from mother to offspring, or through physical contact, which was usually in some form of an attack, from a Shadow Pokémon via wounds, if the attacked being managed to survive. If a Pokémon was infected, it would be transformed into a shadow Pokémon in a twenty-four hour period; likewise, if a hybrid was infected, he or she would become a Shadow Hybrid. In contrast, if a human were to be infected, he or she would be forced to endure tremendous amounts of pain on a weekly basis. So far, the only way to cleanse out the virus in Pokémon is to pierce the purple markings, and there has yet to be a human cure.

Sighing, Zale reached the parking garage. He parked the motorbike, and then walked a short distance, pausing beneath a black-iron lamppost. His tired muscles relaxed as he breathed in the scent of freshly cut grass. After a few seconds, he walked along the stone paths lining the courtyard edges, observing the scenery on his way to his dorm, before changing course to the main building. Shadow Wood Academy stands in the Johto Region as the only building adequately protected against repeated Shadow Pokémon attacks. As an internationally opened school, the academy accepts almost anyone who is one-hundred percent willing to find a way to restore order and end the chaos around the world though that did not stop some Professors and students from displaying their own personal opinions (and forcing them onto others). With its Gothic architecture and beautiful gardens, the academy was truly an aesthetically pleasing work of art.

Within the two dormitories on campus, dubbed "Kurt" and "Bugsy" in honor of Azalea Town's most famous heroes, students have their own private wings, based upon the team they get assigned to. Teams are made up of three students and one "Team Leader" from the faculty. Each team member has his or her own studio with a small balcony, which seemed nice to Zale. He didn't want the fact that he slept with a fan on to disturb someone else's sleeping. Each team wing also has a common room, a kitchen for eating outside dining hall hours, and a situation room for taking on tasks.

A common day for students starts out with the opening of the dining hall for breakfast between six and seven-thirty in the morning. Then, from eight to four, students attend core classes mixed with special electives, tweaked to meet their specific fighting needs. When the school day ends, students have the privilege to hang around campus, practice their skills on the training fields, or even visit the nearby towns located about twenty miles away. Even for a school dedicated to research and combat training, Shadow Wood Academy still retained a high school-like feel to it, which Zale found rather pleasant.

The white-haired boy scaled a set of stairs inside the main building, until he reached the apex of the domed structure. He gazed into the horizon and smiled as he viewed the first glows of the rising sun. With one hand, he brushed his snow-white hair out of his face, and watched as the sun slowly rose over the hills. For almost every day of his life, Zale never missed the sun rise at the beginning of the day. He loves to greet the sun from the top of the main building. To him, it signals a new hope for the coming of a new day.

He let another soft smile grace his face, and then looked down, towards the mountains around Union Cave. A plume of smoke steadily moved down the side of a mountain, signaling that the academy's fast-approaching special train, which was returning from picking up new students to the academy, was near.

"Welcome, new arrivals, to Shadow Wood Academy!"

I~+*=*+~I

SaME: Congratulations on making it past Chapter 1! As you guys have heard and can see, I've adopted SWA and am now co-writing with KKid. As he mentioned earlier, I have up to forty OCs in my possession. However, since this is my first time adopting a fic with so many OCs, I'm going to have to demote some of them to lesser roles or extras in the classroom. Some are guaranteed to have more appearances than others while some may have a character-of-the-day role. OCs that have already been featured in the original Shadow Wood Academy will still make their appearances in rewritten versions of the chapters, but that does not guarantee that they will have major roles or major supporting roles. If you are still interested in this fic, please review and PM either me or KKid if you want your OC in here.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and please submit comments to that little box below. Visit Kkid's Discussion forum if you want to help shape the story or throw in suggestions for future scenes? The URLs are both in my profile and KKid's profile. Please note that updates on SWA will be skeptical. I don't publish chapters until I've prewritten at least two more future chapters.

Until then, see y'all later!

-SaME

Trivia: The opening scene is a mimicry of an episode opening of another anime. Anyone want to guess which anime? Hint: Anyone know who Lord Death is?