Chapter 1

The rain fell like arrows from the dark sky as Sonzu the Alakazam strode through the forest. He was alert and ready, his mind clear, and with good reason. His village had been in a conflict with a pack of Pawniards, led by an unusually strong and cruel Bisharp.

Ever since they had moved into the area in search of prey, they had ravaged and slaughtered any who came across their way. It had only been a moon since he had evolved when the Pawniard first ambushed a group of villagers gathering berries. Many lives were lost since then, and the stronger Pokemon of the village had to learn to fight to kill. As the new chief, Sonzu was no exception.

As he moved deeper into the forest, Sonzu scanned his left and right for a possible Pawniard patrol hiding in the shadows.

"Snap."

Sonzu wheeled around, a glowing aura of energy blanketing him. He stood there in dead silence, unblinking as the rain rolled down his face. Moments later, a frightened Venipede skittered out of the bushes and past Sonzu into the tall grass. Sonzu let out a sigh of disgust and lowered his arms, the energy dissipating out of them. This game of stop and go was beginning to annoy him.

Shaking his head, Sonzu turned around and continued on his way. He was to meet with a scout party tonight near the forest clearing, where the Pawniard camp was located. Pushing past the bushes and branches, he heard the cry of a Fletchling echo three times: the signal. Whistling back, he observed several figures dropping from the overhead canopy: the scout party.

A young Gallade stepped forward to meet Sonzu and bowed in salute. Sonzu bowed in return and cracked a grim smile.

"Any news?" he grunted.

The Gallade stood at ease and struggled to hide his enthusiasm.

"Their camp has quieted down sir, though we can still see smoke from their fires. They might be at rest right now," he reported.

Sonzu crossed his arms and looked down in thought. The young scout pressed on.

"Now is the time to move, sir. They've given us no ground for the past 5 moons. This is the perfect opportunity."

Sonzu looked at the scout, then at the other Pokemon gathered around him. They were serious in their confidence and awaited his answer. He didn't need telepathy to sense the eagerness, the faint but shining hope that this senseless slaughter could come to an end, tonight.

Sonzu looked the scout dead in the eye, then announced a single command telepathically to the group:

"We attack tonight."

The sight that struck Sonzu when they charged the Pawniard camp stopped him in his tracks. Pawniard were stretched across the clearing as far as the eye could see, dead.

The village warriors had not expected this; even the hardiest and most experienced veterans among them stared wide-eyed at the red carnage glinting in the rain.

Some Pawniard had their blades snapped and chipped, others had limbs or heads missing. Soil where the grass had once grown so verdantly, then cut down by the Pawniard clan to build their camp, was dark with blood. Blackened rents and craters scarred the ground, and most of the grass huts around the camp had either collapsed or burnt down. Only one was left standing.

Murmurs and frightened whispers began to rise from the gathered Pokémon.

"Who could have done this?"

"This land is cursed."

"Great Arceus have compassion."

"Silence!" roared Sonzu. It was no use having the defenders of his village so demoralized before a possible attack. Whoever...whatever that did this could still be near.

Truthfully, Sonzu was just as shaken as his fellow Pokémon. He scanned the battlefield and sighted a dark object fluttering in the distance. Signaling two Pokémon to accompany him, he made his way to the object, until he saw that it was a flag: a banner of some sort that the Pawniard carried into battle before.

Looking down, Sonzu pressed back in shock and revulsion: the banner had been planted in a pile of Pawniard heads. One of his guards gagged.

Grimacing, Sonzu examined the black banner. A crimson double-pronged diamond was emblazoned in the middle of a red circle: the footprint of a Bisharp. Below it was written characters of the language of Pokémon: Pokéngo.

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." read Sonzu out loud. A perversion of an ancient proverb.

"Lord Sonzu! We've found a survivor!"

Sonzu snapped out of his musings and turned around. A Reuniclus was hovering over a convulsing Pawniard, its legs burnt away to stumps.

Sonzu approached the Pawniard and knelt before it.

"Who did this to you?" asked Marius, staring into the Pawniard's eyes.

The Pawniard took no notice of the question and continued to tremble, coughing up blood.

Sonzu turned to the Reuniclus.

"Look into his mind," he commanded.

"We may find our answer there."

The Reuniclus hesitated, then spoke.

"My lord, Pawniard are of Pokémon that have embraced darkness and shadow. Their minds are shrouded with a veil I, nor you with all your power can cross. We must try to find other-"

The Pawniard sat up screaming, holding its head with its chipped arms.

"Monster! Monster!" the Pawniard screeched.

"The Soulless One! The Unborn! He sees, he hears all!" he screamed.

Sonzu lunged forward and held the Pawniard's face towards him.

"Who did this to you? Speak!" pleaded Sonzu.

The Pawniard shuddered and croaked, "Oh Arceus, had we known...had we...Lord Shredder, if you only knew..."

With that, the Pawniard became still, its yellow eyes glazing over.

There was deathly silence in the clearing; the rain had stopped.

Sonzu took a shuddering breath, then laid down the Pawniard's body gently, brushing its eyes closed with his fingers. A slain enemy, even one such as this, afforded the respect of the dead.

Pokémon warriors had gathered around Sonzu: Gallade, Lucario, Pangoro, and more. All united against a brutal enemy, and now? What would ever become of this? Sonzu had to act quickly.

"Search the clearing," he ordered.

"Find any survivors and get them to a healer. Guards, with me."

With that, the frozen group of warriors set about their duties, while his personal guard accompanied Sonzu. He headed to the lone hut standing among the ashes and corpses. The Gallade from before ran up beside Sonzu and looked at him eagerly.

"Sir? Your orders?"

Sonzu looked the Gallade in the eye. The Gallade's confidence faltered and he looked to the ground, embarrassed. Sonzu smiled; the troops needed morale, and the young ranger reminded him of himself not too long ago.

"What is your name?" Sonzu asked.

The Gallade looked up and regained his spirit, seeing the smile on Sonzu's face.

"Valion, my lord!"

Sonzu nodded and gave his answer.

"We are to find this 'Lord Shredder', and see if he has any answers for us...if he is still alive."

"Understood, sir," Valion intoned, falling back with the rest of the group.

They were now at the entrance of the hut. It was dimly lit from the dying coals left in a fire pit, and there was not much else to be seen in the gloom.

Valion spoke up quietly.

"It appears this could have been a meeting hall or the quarters for a...commander."

Sonzu levitated off the ground, energy humming through his body.

"In that case," Sonzu said, "Proceed with caution. We may yet find more surprises lying in wait."

They entered the hut, branching out from the entrance into the dark, teeth bared, claws ready, and energy crackling.

Sonzu's forehead emitted a soft purple glow as his psychic power grew stronger, and it illuminated the inside of the hut to reveal...

"Eggs," breathed Valion.

"They were protecting their eggs."

Indeed. Yellow shells speckled with green lay scattered across the floor of the hut. Their contents were missing.

The group moved on, each Pokémon fanning out to cover the hall. Valion stopped to peruse another banner draped on the wall, when he spotted movement out of the corner of his eye.

Wheeling around, he saw a mangled heap of metal and flesh crawling towards him on the ground. Scrambling back in shock, Valion raised his arm to deliver a killing blow.

"Stay back!" he shouted.

The rest of the Pokémon came rushing to the sound of Valion's surprise, encircling the ruined figure. Sonzu moved past a burly Pangoro and approached the heaving figure. It was, or at least once was, a majestic Bisharp; even though it's head crest was chipped and scratched, it still shone with the gleam of a well-maintained, and oft-used weapon.

Sonzu regarded the Bisharp with a mixture of pity and revulsion. So this was the face of the enemy that had plagued his people for so long? This, was "The Shredder"?

"C...Gr...grgh..." croaked the Bisharp. It held a bundle in it's arms.

Sonzu slowly descended to the floor but kept his distance.

"Are you the one they call Shredder?" he asked.

The Bisharp lifted his head and glared at Marius with his remaining eye.

"You speak to a lord, prey." he hissed.

The group of Pokémon began to bristle with newfound hostility against the arrogance of the Bisharp. Sonzu paid it no heed and pressed on.

"Who are you?" asked Sonzu, exerting a smidgen of psychic pressure. The Bisharp laughed sarcastically, as if sensing Sonzu's attempts to control him.

"I am Oroku, the Lord Shredder of the Foot Clan, the Blade of War, and the Edge of Sorrow-"

Oroku suddenly broke off and began coughing up blood, collapsing onto the ground once more. The bundle in his arms began to move, and the cries of an infant Pokémon echoed throughout the hall. Oroku squeezed the bundle with surprising gentleness, and the cries died down.

Sonzu eyed the bundle, then shifted back to Oroku.

"What is the meaning of this? We had come to meet you in battle, yet we find a graveyard."

Oroku grinned and barked a harsh laugh.

"Aye! A graveyard! The final resting place of our glorious clan...or...not so final," intoned the Bisharp, gazing at the package in his arms.

Valion stepped forward, his face showing nothing but disgust.

"Sir, we are wasting time. The rest have found no survivors, and whatever did this could

be-"

"Silence, fool. You speak against your commander." sneered Oroku, glancing a mocking nod towards Sonzu.

Valion's eyes darkened and he moved towards Oroku. Oroku watched him with amusement.

"Do it. Kill me where I lie in my own blood and filth. Find your honour in that, fairy. I welcome Death."

Oroku lifted up the bundle and slowly parted the top of it, to reveal a newborn Pawniard, its armour-

"Blue..." breathed Sonzu with reverence.

The Pawniard's armour was not the usual blood-red so akin to his kind, but a dark, navy blue: the colour of a stormy sea. Legend had it that Pokémon who were marked so by the gods were destined to do great...or terrible things.

"The last of my line. The last son of the Foot." said Oroku, lifting a trembling finger to the infant's face. The Pawniard cooed and reached out to hold Oroku's finger. He hesitated, then let the infant hold it, a final moment between father and son.

"Your name is Saido, and you are of my blood: Oroku," he said, his eyes not leaving the face of his son.

"For you will be the first step towards our atonement."

As the astonished Pokémon looked on, Oroku, still gazing into his son's face, laid him down gently onto the ground. He looked up to Sonzu and said a simple word.

"Please."

Sonzu knew what he was asking: with that one word it was a plea of a father, for the life of his son. Sonzu could merely nod in return; there were no other words to be said. He gently took the baby in his hands, the Pawniard crying out at the foreign touch.

If Oroku felt any sadness, remorse, or pain, he didn't show it. Rising to his knees and placing to hands on the blade on his head, he began to growl in pain. The sound of cracking metal was heard, and the blade snapped off of his head. The surrounding Pokémon murmured and cried out in shock. Oroku remained impassive, but Sonzu could sense his immense pain. A lesser Pokémon would have died a long time ago.

Clenching his teeth, Oroku drove the blade into his stomach, delivering a fatal blow to himself. He bent over, his form crumpling to the ground. The Lord Shredder of the Foot Clan was dead.

The baby Pawniard, as if sensing his father's end, began to cry out and struggle in Sonzu's arms. The baby's cries echoed throughout the silent hall. Sonzu quietly commanded the gathered warriors to take up the body of Oroku, and they did so in reverent silence.

As they carried his body out of the hut, the rest of the gathered Pokémon lifted up their bowed heads to gaze at the fallen form of their enemy. The baby Pawniard, Saido, slashed through the wrappings and fell out of Sonzu's arms, landing on the ground. He looked up and bawled, his still innocent eyes taking in the carnage of what remained of his family. Valion looked at Saido with embarrassment and disgust.

"Sir," he began.

"We cannot possibly carry this burden and lay it on our people. We-"

"WHAT ARE YOU SUGGESTING, YOU FOOL!" exploded Sonzu.

"THAT WE ABANDON AN INFANT, OR BETTER YET, PUT IT OUT OF ITS MISERY?! ARE YOU WILLING TO RID US OF 'THIS BURDEN' THEN, VALION?!" raged Sonzu, eyes shining.

Valion stumbled back, his face burning in shame.

"N-no my lord, I merely thought-"

"I shall raise him." a voice said.

Sonzu and Valion turned to see a scarred Pangoro with his arms crossed. The Pangoro spat out the stalk of bamboo it kept clenched in its teeth.

"I shall raise him," he repeated, crossing over to the crying Saido, picking him up with surprising gentleness. As soon as Saido saw the scowl etched into the Pangoro's face, he seemed to calm down, sensing a familiar spirit in the Dark Pokémon. He nestled in the Pangoro's thick fur, dozing off.

"What is your name?" Sonzu sighed, his heart heavy. The Pangoro lifted his head with bravado.

"Goma, village blacksmith," he growled. "I've served your father before you, and now you," he grunted. "I will raise the boy. See to it that he becomes strong."

"Very well," said Sonzu, meeting Goma's challenging gaze. "Raise him as one of us."

"I will raise him as my own. He will be my burden and mine alone," he said, glaring at Valion, who failed to meet him in the eye.

Sonzu nodded, beckoning his guard to move. He left with the group carrying Oroku's body, and Valion trailed behind, shooting a glance of spite and disdain at Goma's turned figure. As the rest Pokémon began to return to the village, Goma lingered behind, lifting up Saido at an arm's length. The young Pawniard met Goma's gaze with a naive, yet disquieting confidence, cooing softly.

"Hmph," scoffed Goma.

"We have work to do."