Welcome to the rewrite of Dark and Light, Dark and Light: The Journey! Many things have changed from the original. It's honestly a completely different story to be honest. I still hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing it!
I woke up to the sound of birds chirping and the nearby river flowing through the heart of the forest. Sun shone through the forest canopy, blinding me in my early morning slumber. I try several times to fall back asleep, only to be awoken by the noise of the forest. I rose up and glanced around me. I was surrounded by tall trees, housing many pokemon. A river I use for hydration was behind me, flowing undisturbed.
"C'mon, I'm sure it's around here somewhere."
"… I don't know about this..." I heard voices coming from my right, young I presume, coming towards me. I dropped to a fighting stance.
Two pokemon emerged from the shrubbery, a patrat and a sneasel. They didn't pay me much mind, as they were chatting with one another.
"They say it has fur as dark as the distortion world, with eyes as red as fresh blood, and a personality so mean and sour it sucks the soul right out of you!" The patrat said to the sneasel, who was starting to get scared.
"B-But then it's just an umbreon, isn't it?" he asked worriedly. The patrat shook his head.
"That's the weird part! He's not an umbreon, he's a riolu!"
"What! But that's impossibe!" The sneasel exclaimed in disbelief.
"I know, right? And his name is-" They didn't see where they were going, and the patrat suddenly bumped into me. I could have easily dodged him, but this would be amusing. He turned to me, eyes wide and all color drained from his face, his friend the same way.
"T-t-t-the Black Demon!" He screamed in disbelief, before falling down and looking down at me in fear. His friend following his lead.
"Black Demon? I don't like that name." I said to them. "Aren't you kids a little far from the village?" I asked them. They nodded in fear.
"P-p-please don't kill us." The sneasel said quietly, terrified. I smirked, then drew back my paw in a fist. Their eyes widened even more.
"A little too far!" I yelled at them, and my fist flew forward. I stopped it right before it hit them, but that didn't matter, as they were both out cold. I sighed, then lifted both up over my shoulder and started walking towards the village.
"Hell of a morning."
After two hours of walking, I finally arrived at the outskirts of the village. It was a quaint little town, with many houses and shops. I came to the back of the nearest building, two stories, and climbed up onto the roof with the unconscious kids on my shoulders. I looked around from the top of the building, until I saw a large crowd near the village square. I made my way over to the buildings surrounding the square to see what was going on.
Two adult pokemon, a Weavile and a Watchog, both female, looking very worried.
"Please!" The Watchog exclaimed.
"Have you seen our sons!?" The Weavile asked. "They went missing this morning! Towards the Northorn Woods!" The mention of the Northern woods caused worried murmuring in the crowd.
"The Northern Woods, huh?" A snobby voice said. A male servine stepped out into the middle of the crowd. "Then they're probably dead, then." The two mothers winced, then started to tear up.
"But-"
"You know who lives in that forest!" The servine exclaimed. "You'll never see your kids again if they chase after the Black Demon!" The mothers started sobbing at their loss now, while the bystanders looked down at the floor.
Suddenly, the servine was sent flying as he was blasted by my forcepalm.
"I don't really like those rumors, you know." Everyone looked up at me and gasped. "There's no basis to it." Everyone was so shocked by my appearance that they didn't notice the servine get up and lunge towards me, with no attack ready. I shot an aura sphere straight at his face, which exploded on impact. He was knocked out instantly.
I walked back to the building I was at, and picked up the two kids lying in the floor. I then carried them past everyone and handed them over to the two mothers.
"Please be careful watching them next time. They're only kids and can get hurt." I said sincerely, smiling at them. The townsfolk started to throw ranged attacks at me.
"It's the Black Demon!"
"He's real!"
"Get him!"
"He hurt those children!"
"He's here to kill us!"
The townspeople were blinded by the false rumors about me. I turned and ran away, still smiling, not looking back.
"Back to normality, I guess." I said while eating some berries a couple of hours later. The sun was in the middle of the sky, which meant it was midday. Living far from civilization was nice and all, but it really got boring sometimes. I didn't particularly like company, but it wouldn't kill to have a friend or companion to talk to sometimes.
"Huh… companion… friend."
5 Years Ago…
"Slow down, Dark!"
"Then catch me!"
My friend and I were playing in a nice flowery field. The spring day was amazing, warm with a slight cool breeze. The grass and flowers were swaying with the wind as my friend and I played tag while our parents watched.
"Their so cute together!" My friend's mother said.
"They'll surely be good mates for each other." My mother said. As the mothers had their girl talk, the fathers were a bit more competitive.
"Dark's the better fighter, no contest!"
"Wrong, my Light will whoop his ass!" The grit their teeth and glared at each other.
Light finally tackled Dark after he slowed down for her. The tumbled to the ground and wrestled each other, the black fur and the white fur became a blur until they were hidden from their parents by the tall grass. Both exhausted, they sat up and looked at each other.
"You know, we are only one year old but..." Light started before stopping herself, she was red in the face.
"But what?" I asked
"Let's be mates!" She exclaimed. She realized what she said and covered her mouth, embarrassed. "At least, when we're older."
I smiled at her, caring. "I would love to." She opened her eyes and looked into my blood red eyes and me into her sky blue ones. She leaned forward, then kissed me on the nose.
"Then it's a promise! We'll be mates when we're older." She threw out her hand for a high-five.
I accepted her offer.
1 Week Later…
I woke up in a cage. A cold metal cage.
I sat up and looked around, worried and confused. There were multiple other cages, filled with different types of pokemon. We seemed to be on a large wooden boat being pulled by multiple lapras.
"Where am I? Where's Mom and Dad?" I asked a Persian who wasn't in a cage. He looked at me with fake kindness, but I fell for it.
"They gave you to us, kid. You've been chosen to go on a special vacation." He said.
"Vacation?" He nodded. "Where?" I asked.
"You'll see soon enough." He took out a berry from the pouch around his neck and handed it to me. "Here, you must be hungry, eat this." I took a bite out of the berry and immediately felt drowsy. I fell asleep.
1 Week Later…
I woke up in a large, stone room with many pokemon tied to shackles, unconscious. I tried to rub my eyes, but found my hands and feet also shackled. I was starving. They barely fed us anything. They never talked to us or gave us entertainment. I was far, far away from home now.
There was no one to my right, but a massive Mamoswine was chained down to my left, asleep. Hours passed since I woke up, every now and then a high class looking pokemon would come in and browse us like we were items at a store. One of us would be taken out along with them. They didn't come back.
The Mamoswine woke up and looked around. He didn't seem surprised, until he saw me.
"A black riolu, and a kid at that." He said, starting to get angry.
"Excuse me," I asked politely. "Where am I?" He looked at me, sad, then replied.
"We are in an underground slave shop." He responded. "Pokemon sell other pokemon into servitude here. Did they say you were being taken on a vacation?" I nodded. "That's how they lure you. All of us here are adults, but if they brought in a kid because he's a special color, they've really crossed the line." He looked at a Sceptile farther down and nodded to him. He nodded back.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"The name's Smasher and don't worry, kid, we're getting out of here soon enough."
1 Month Later
Everything was fire. The slave camp and the shop were ablaze, caused by the slave rebellion. But something was wrong. No one was running like the plan said. Everyone was fighting, except for me.
"Run, kid!" I looked over, and saw Smasher fighting five slavers at once.
"But-"
"You live on the southern continent, right!?"
"Yeah, so?"
"We're on the Northern Continent, kid! You have to travel around the world to go back!" He ice beamed a slaver, then bashed another one one the head. "This is for you, kid! We've lived our lives, but you haven't! Get stronger! Train! Become the greatest fighter you can be! Then go home to your loved ones!" He headbutt another slaver.
"But what about everyone!" I yelled to him while starting to cry. "We're supposed to go together!"
"Our plan was to set you free all along! Now run!" He turned towards me and smiled. "Go be with your family."
So I ran. Through forests, over mountains, across rivers, I ran.
6 Months Later…
A Diggersby was walking through the Northern Woods one day, trying to find a toy his son dropped earlier. He was whistling along, scanning the woods until a shadow-like figure came into view. He looked closer and saw that it was a young riolu, with black fur and red eyes.
The riolu suddenly leapt at him with a feral growl, almost striking him. The Diggersby screamed and started sprinting back to town, screaming the whole time.
About a week later the rumor of the Black Demon of the Northern Woods spread like wildfire.
Present Day…
I winced at the remembrance of my past. So many pokemon sacrificed themselves for me to be here. I wanted them to be alive, but I was sure they didn't survive the night. I'm only six years old, so it's been five years since I've seen my family. I still remember the promise Light and I made when we were kids. I always wonder what she's doing right now.
Man, I want to see her again.
The Next Day…
I was sitting down, eating an oran berry, when I heard rustling in the bushes behind me. I jumped up and turned around, ready for a fight. I was surprised, though, when the sneasel's mother stepped out. She looked at me and smiled.
"Hello." She said. I was confused.
"What are you doing here?" I asked her, narrowing my eyes in suspicion.
"I'd like to thank you for bring my son back, he always does the craziest things with his friend, you see. But, we're not a family without him, so thank you very much."
"I did what was right." I answered. She nodded, then walked away.
"Family..." I said quietly. Then, I made a decision.
3 Hours Later…
I looked behind me at my home for the last five years. I was sad to finally leave, but I had an adventure I needed to go on. One that would lead me back home.
The Southern Continent…
I looked up at the wonderful blue sky. There were barely any clouds out today and the sun was shining brightly. They say this day was the best in years.
"Make sure your home in time for dinner!" My mother shouted from behind me.
"I will!" I responded. I looked down at my white fur, so beautiful in the sunlight. I was the 'gem of the town', at least that's what the townspeople called me.
"Everyone has given up. They think your dead." I clenched my fist in determination. "But I don't. I know you're still out there. Right, Dark?" A tear rolled down from my sky blue eye.
That concludes chapter one! Keep checking back every now and again for any updates! Feedback is appreciated!