Hi everyone, I'm back. Sorry for the delay, it's taken me ageeees to write this but now I've started, I hope the ball will start rolling. I hope you enjoy this story.

If you're new to this Fic, please be aware that this is the third story in a series. Please read Akari and Kage before trying to attempt this one :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OCs and Plot.

Chapter One: Dark

The buzz from the city street rung like a melody through Silver's ears. He paused to look down one street, his vision tinted by the black shades but no means hindered. Off towards the distance the road began to dance in the heat. It was summer, a hot summer. Not only that, the traffic was moving at a stand still, gridlocked in a siesta heat.

"I hate summer," Silver muttered. He lowered his head and proceeded to walk across the road. To say he was trying to blend into the crowd, his blood read hair and the fact he was wearing a leather jacket, made it almost impossible for him to disappear. Only a mad man would walk out on the street in a leather jacket with the weather as hot as it was but Silver never claimed to be sane.

Across the road he continued his steady walk, hands in pockets and chunky boots clonking on the asphalt.

"Silver!"

He stopped dead in the centre of the sidewalk. A smirk appeared on his face. His heart stayed at its usual rhythm. His hands slipped out of his pockets and hung by his side tensely before he turned around casually to face the person who had shouted him. His smirked was further cemented as he saw the brunette with an oversized white hat rushed towards him.

"I thought I saw you," she said happily as she jogged up to him. "How are you?"

"Fine," he replied calmly, glad that his voice was so naturally cold towards her. "I'm busy."

"Sorry, I won't keep you waiting long," she babbled. Colour started to rise in her cheeks as Silver stared at her over the top of his sunglasses. "It's just that the last time we parted it was on bad terms. I just wanted to tell you that you were right. Maybe Ethan wasn't the best choice I made but –"

"He's the perfect choice for you," Silver told her, causing her to blush even harder.

"We broke up," she said. Silver didn't even bat an eyelid. His heart didn't do a back flip at this but his eyebrow rose ever so slightly as he fought the need to tell her 'I-told-you-so'. "I know this is pretty bad of me but..."

She went pinker still, settling to a deep magenta colour.

"Do you still like me?" she asked. Silver blinked at her then slowly pushed his sunglasses up his nose with his forefinger. He looked over the top of her head so he couldn't see her blush or the way she bit her lip. Was she really expecting him to still like her after all this time. It had been months, if not a year, since they had last crossed paths and he had seen Ethan and her hand in hand, laughing at each other happily. Silver had known then that it would never be. She was happy with Ethan.

"I don't know what you were expecting, Lyra," Silver replied slowly. When she had broke the news to him she had been cold and snappy, like she just couldn't believe what he was saying. In some way he wanted to be just as cold and cruel as she had been but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He sniffed to himself then turned away from her. "Go back to Ethan. Whatever misunderstanding you had with him, resolve it."

"But-"

"I'm over you," he stated plainly. "I saw how happy you were with him and I knew I couldn't win that battle. So go back to him, beg him for forgiveness or whatever. Then take a holiday far from here. I hear Unova's a nice place. Go there for a while."

"Silver-"

He turned to face her again, sharply whipping round so his hair flew out angrily. The girl shied away from him, biting her lip harder but there was no need for her to be so scared. Instead of the cold glare he would have usually given her, Silver smirked at her warmly.

"I mean it," he told her. "You're far too peppy to be tied down to a grump like me. Besides, I'm taking a good friend's advice and giving someone else a chance."

"You have a good friend?" Lyra asked now sceptical.

"I used to," Silver replied. "But he's dead now."

"Oh, I'm sorry," she added quickly.

"Don't be," Silver told her. "It wasn't your fault."

The two of them paused as a weak breeze blew across their faces. Lyra stared up at Silver as he stared over the top of his head, neither of them speaking a word. She twitched as a smirk settled onto Silver's lips once again and she realised that the pair of them were no longer alone.

"Silver," said another girl. Lyra turned round quickly to see who had joined them only to see an annoyed sort of girl wearing all black, rather like Silver's attire, with her long brown hair tied up into a pony tail. When their eyes met, the girl gave Lyra a pleasant smile before turning to frown at Silver. "What's the hold up?"

"Just an old friend," Silver replied. "Lyra, this is-"

"Sparrow, just call me Sparrow," the girl said to Lyra, holding out her hand to shake. Lyra didn't really want to shake this girl's hand but she felt she had to. Slowly, with her arm trembling ever so slightly, Lyra reached out for Sparrow's hand and shook it. Sparrow gave Lyra a wide smile.

"It's an honour to meet you but we should really get going," Sparrow said, directing the last part of her sentence to Silver.

"That's alright," Lyra mumbled.

"I wish I could talk some more to you," Sparrow went on. "Silver's told me all about you. Honestly, I thought he didn't have people he actually liked."

Here Sparrow let out a warm laugh making Lyra smile. So Silver did like her, even after so much time and what she'd done to him. He did have the capacity to forgive her. This made Lyra let out a sigh, happy tears threatening to pour from her eyes. She quickly went to wipe them away with the back of her hand before they spilled down her cheeks.

"Zume," Silver chided Sparrow but she only beamed at him.

"Zume? You have a nickname for her?" Lyra giggled. "That's so cute."

"Cute?" Silver scoffed. "She's a pain in my ass. It' worse than dragging a ball and chain around with me."

"Silver, we have to go," Sparrow said, not paying any attention to what he had just said. It surprised Lyra that Sparrow could easily turn a blind eye to what Silver had just said but maybe that was what Silver needed. Lyra took too much to heart, Silver didn't have one: that was the reason she could never like him more than a rival. At least they both realised this now, standing on the pavement with this other girl so close to them.

"Right," Silver replied as Sparrow walked round Lyra to stand next to him. He glanced down at her then across to Lyra. "Take my advice."

"Um... OK," Lyra muttered. Silver said a quick let's go to Sparrow, completely ignoring her. Sparrow too only seemed to linger for a minute before continuing after Silver with her head slightly turned as if she was still watching Lyra out of the corner of her eye.

"What happened to your friend? The one who passed away?" Lyra yelled at them. "Why are you in a rush?"

"It doesn't concern you," Silver replied coldly. Sparrow twirled round on the spot, still walking alongside Silver. She waved at Lyra, a serene smile on her face. The look on her face was only one that Lyra could read and understand. Lyra nodded, sniffing the tears in her eyes back to where they should be.

"You better keep him safe," she mumbled to herself as Sparrow turned the right way again. "He may be a no hearted jerk but Arceus knows, he's my friend."

"That was a little rude," Sparrow said to Silver as she placed her hands behind her back. "She really cares about you, you know."

"Jealous?" Silver asked.

"Yeah," Sparrow replied. "I promised until death parts us. She can bump you off whenever she can."

"I'm a bad influence on you," Silver commented.

"Well at least you're not absorbing my clumsiness and ultra-peppiness," Sparrow said. "We'd all be doomed then."

"True," Silver agreed. "So it doesn't bother you? Having someone out there that cares for me like that?"

"No," Sparrow replied. "As long as you promise to not make me a widow, I can't ask for much else."

Silver reached up to take his sun glasses off. He folded them up with his fingers and slipped them into his jacket pocket, not caring if they got smudged or scratched.

"I can't promise you much, Zume," Silver told her. "Even Paul couldn't keep his promises. Now look what sort of a mess we're in."

"In a way it's good what happened to Dawn," Sparrow said. "Unlike when Itsuki died and Urara almost lost the plot in her grief, Dawn can't even remember Paul."

"You think it's better to forget then to remember who you loved?" Silver asked, almost surprised by Sparrow's answer. Since she was such a docile person, Silver didn't expect her to be so detached from emotion. But he found he was mistaken when her head snapped towards him, her eyes over bright.

"If Dawn didn't forget then she would have died inside," Sparrow replied shortly. "She would have been torn apart."

Silver looked at her cautiously as she began to mutter under her breath about how lucky Dawn was have had forgotten about Paul. Sparrow seemed angry, almost irritated by the whole thing. Carefully shuffling one hand out of his jacket pocket, he reached across and carefully placed a hand on Sparrow's shoulder. She flinched almost tripping herself over at the unexpected contact. When she stumbled, Silver's hand tightened around her shoulder in effect steadying her before she fell.

"You misunderstand what Dawn is going through," Silver told her sternly. "She's not lucky. If she was then she'd be dead. She'd still be with him."

He turned his head away from Sparrow, an almost sorrowful expression washing across his face. Sparrow bit her lip, unsure what to do. Had she upset him? How could she? He'd never had a single stirring of emotion like that before so why now?

"It's unfair they were torn apart," Silver concluded to himself. The sorrowful look disappeared off his face as his eyes looked into Sparrow's He let go of her shoulder roughly and strode off leaving her in a dazed state. When she failed to catch up to him seconds later he stopped again, this time annoyance on his face. "Come on. You're so useless."

"S-sorry," Sparrow babbled, jogging to catch up with him. He didn't wait for her, continuing at his brisk pace down the street as she struggled to rejoin him. Growing increasingly frustrated at not being able to catch him up, Sparrow clicked her tongue and turned down the next alley, leaving Silver completely alone. He paused slightly when he realised she was gone.

He found he didn't really mind her disappearance, as it happened. He was rather glad that she had left him since it meant she was less likely to get injured if the Shadows did appear. They had jobs to do, different jobs. He was supposed to be going to the Radio Tower for some lame feather thing while Sparrow checked something out in the City Gym. Despite their training, his being warrior and hers being priestess, they had taken the complete opposite jobs of what they had been trained to do. This worried Silver.

"Damn it," Silver thought to himself. He stopped on the pavement once again to look up into the clear blue sky. "This is what you made me into, Paul: a worrisome husband. I bet you're laughing at me right now. Coward. Why did you have to die?"

He began walking again and didn't stop until he reached the radio sky scraper with the antenna on the top of it. He became aware that as he walked up the few paved steps to the building that someone was waiting for him in the reception area. The automatic doors slid open, closing almost instantly behind him.

The reception area was what he was expecting. Decorated in a gaudy red and white colour, matching carpets and a few plain bits of furniture darted around, the reception was nothing short of ordinary. Perhaps the only thing which made Silver suspect something odd was going off was the cheery looking middle aged man who was stood in the centre of the room. He was wearing a pinstripe suit and a bowler hat with a matching pattern.

"Good afternoon, you must be Silver," he introduced, holding out a wrinkled hand for Silver to take. Silver was hesitant only because he was mystified on how the man's large white moustache moved in time with the man's words. Finally, though, Silver reached out and shook the man's hands.

"Yes, I'm Silver," he confirmed.

~O~

She loved the feeling of the autumn breeze blowing through her hair as the sun set into the ocean. She loved the oranges and pinks in the sky and on the water. So serene. So pretty.

She took in a deep breath, savouring the salty tang from the sea far below her but there was also another smell – bark from the tree she was stood next to. Slowly she opened her eyes, smiling as the orange turned into gold and the pink turned into crimson.

This was the only place where Dawn felt complete since the day she awoke without any of her memories. She had figured out how to use the portal from the Akari Headquarters and transport herself to this place. She had no idea why she felt so attached to this lonely cliff edge but she really didn't need a reason – it was home to her heart.

The wind rippled her hair, tickling her ears.

"Dawn. Dawn. Dawn." It seemed to whisper.

In a world where Ninjas were real, where Pokèmon walked and fought alongside humans, what was there to say the wind wasn't calling her? What wasn't to say she was being called? The voice she imagined – no she heard it – sounded familiar, like a dream long gone from memory.

"Dawn. Dawn. Dawn."

Reluctantly, Dawn let out a long sigh and gave up trying to figure what the wind was saying. What did it mean? Who was calling her?

"Just a bit longer," she muttered. "That's all I need."

"Dawn. Dawn. Dawn..."

Then the voice died out, suddenly drowned out by the sound of the portal activating. Dawn didn't waste any time. She was up the tree, hiding in the leaves, before anyone appeared. She peered through the blanket that covered her seeing two warriors step out of the portal, hands on their swords.

Dawn bit her lip as the warriors walked towards the tree. They were heavily clothed with hoods right over their faces, a glint of goggles over their eyes. Not one millimetre of skin was exposed to the air. She knew these were dangerous people, very dangerous. They were the shadow warriors.

Kiboji, the leader of the Akari, had told her about them. They did not die easily and they would kill anyone without mercy. The Ninja Clans had waged war on the Shadow Warriors a year ago but neither were any closer to winning or losing. Many people had died, the first major casualties being Isamu, Akiko and Shinji from the Akari Clan, but Dawn had no clue who these people were. She had never met them.

While watching the Shadow Warriors below her, Dawn felt a hint of familiarity creep up on her. She relaxed ever so slightly, tilting her head to get a better view of one of the warriors as they knelt down and began digging into the ground with their hands. For a few moments they scraped at the dirt then they deposited a small clear stone into the hole then covered it up, patting it gently.

The warrior straightened up and turned back towards the portal with his partner in tow. Then they disappeared.

Dawn waited a few minutes before she climbed down from her hiding spot. She scurried over to the small mound of dirt and quickly uncovered the gem. Once in her hand, she cleaned it with her thumb, her eyes staring at the gem hungrily.

"What is it?" she muttered. "It's like... a diamond?"

Dawn bit her lip again then quickly slipped the diamond into her pocket. She hastily filled the hole and stood up, patting her pocket.

"Why would the warriors bury a diamond?" she asked herself. "I should give this to..."

She was going to say Kiboji but all Kiboji would do is shout at her for leaving the headquarters when she shouldn't have done. Besides, she had found it so she should keep it. She patted the pocket again deciding that the diamond was hers and this would be a secret she would keep all to herself.

After all, it was only a diamond.

Yup, not giving up anything in this first chapter, am I? Hehe. Keep tuned!

Please review me with your thoughts etc.

RSx