Author's Note: The main pokemon is my own creation, and the story is from the pokemon's POV. Not the trainers.

Absence of Light:

Chapter One

I padded through the darkness, my paws making little to no sound. My eyes darted from right to left, searching for any hidden enemy that could be about to pounce. I knew it was a stupid thing to do; after all, nothing apart from me lived down there. But it was an old habit of mine… I guess I did it because I was searching. Searching for anything that could be alive.

I shook my head and continue walking, inhaling sharply. I reached out with my paw and placed it against the side of the cave. A few water droplets fall from the stalactites above, and I scratched my claws over the rough texture of the rock. The action resulted in a harsh, screeching sound. The kind that set your teeth on edge.

For a moment, I stopped, staring straight forward into the endless blackness. I sighed slowly, before sitting back onto my haunches and resting my head against the wall. I closed my eyes, and a sudden rush of emotion washed over me. I thought about the loneliness. The pain. The longing-

Quickly, I shook my head furiously, and snapped back up onto my paws. Stop thinking about it. I scolded myself harshly. You knows it's futile. The darkness is all you've ever known. And all you ever will know.

I continued my pacing, this time with my teeth gritted, and feeling more annoyed and grumpy than I ever had before. Up ahead, I could see through my well practised eyes that there was a faint glimmer of light up ahead: I realised that it was the entrance to the cave.

Now when I say entrance, I'm pretty certain it's not the kind of entrance to a cave that you imagined. I expect you pictured a typical large, circular mouth, with a big radius. No. The only reason I called this an "entrance" as such, is because I knew it was the only way out of the tunnels. What it really was was a small hole in the stone ceiling of the cave. A single beam of sunlight bled in from the upper world of pokemon and pokemon trainers, illuminating the area around it. This is the place that I visited most out of all out of the endless passageways of the cave.

The reason? I liked thinking about what it was like out there.

To be honest, this is again, a little inaccurate. It's not that I didn't know what the world was like outside of the place I had lived for so long. I knew exactly what it was like. Lush green forests and pristine blue lakes. Pokemon trainers, pokemon gyms, other pokemon like myself. What I liked to think about is what it would be like to live out there. Among the trees and beautiful blue skies of Sinnoh.

I bet the humans up there don't know how lucky they are.

Suddenly, there was a rustle of leaves up above, and my ears pricked. It took me a few moments to realise what it was. I couldn't see him very clearly, but it was a young boy. He was wearing the conventional gear of a pokemon trainer, and I could just about make out the three pokemon by his side. One of them was a Grotle. His starter pokemon. I realised. The second one was a Jolteon, the electric evolution stage of Eevee, and his third pokemon was a very impressive looking Heracross.

The boy was walking calmly along with his pokemon. For a moment a bush obscured him from my view, but he passed it within seconds. My eyes followed him as he continued on his path. I had seen so many trainers pass by like this, but I had to admit, this was the first time I had ever seen one of them this close up.

I was just about to turn away and continue further into the tunnels, when there was an almighty scream of shock and surprise, and the trainer crashed down from the forest and into the cave.

For a second, I was too astounded to even move. I just stood there, looking at the boy and his pokemon as they rolled around on the floor of the cave, calling out to each other in confusion.

Then, I regained my thoughts. Quickly, I darted forward, with the speed of a lightning bolt, and ducked behind a large boulder to conceal myself from view. I watched, with a mixture of worry, excitement and totally loss as to what to do at the trainer, waiting eagerly to see what would take place next.

He groaned a little. 'Damn it.' He said, rubbing his legs painfully, before glancing up at the hole in the wall of the cave. 'We must've fallen through that hole.' He commented, mostly to himself more than anyone else.

He got to his feet and I crouched further down. I would never admit it, but I was afraid. This was the first human I had ever seen up close. He was just three metres away from me! Well, actually, it was the first living thing I'd ever seen in the cave apart from me.

He fumbled around in his pockets, before triumphantly withdrawing a pokedex. He inspected it to make sure it wasn't damaged. 'Thank god.' He murmured. Finally, he turned around to look for his pokemon. 'Grotle? Jolteon? Heracross? You there?'

There were a few mild calls, and the three pokemon crawled into the beam of light and out of the darkness. The Grotle seemed pretty much undamaged, and he stood firmly and with dignity beside his trainer. The Jolteon, who I could see was a female, wasn't in too bad shape either, but the Heracross had sustained injuries. I could tell this from his limp. He'll have to be taken to the pokemon centre as soon as they reach Pastoria City. I thought.

The thought of Pastoria made me wonder about how the trainer was going to get out (all the excitement made me forget to think logically). I wasn't able to jump that high to reach the hole, and that was why I was stuck down here. However, with the boosted height of all his pokemon, the boy would probably be able to make it out alright.

I had been so engulfed with my thoughts, that I hadn't been expecting to hear the trainer begin speaking again. As it happens, it was the worst time to be taken by surprise in my life.

'Jolteon, use Flash!' His trainer shouted.

Instantly, the whole cave was lit up with an intense white light. It blinded my eyes, that had been accustomed to the darkness for so long. I let out a pathetic yowl of sudden pain; my paws felt weak beneath me.

The trainer, and his pokemon, were suddenly alert of my presence. He stared at my cover, looking for the source of the sound he had heard. His Grotle let out a warning growl. 'Who's there?' The boy shouted.

I cursed myself silently under my breath. Stupid! What in Arceus' name were you thinking? I made sure to make my frame as small as possible, so as to make it seem like there was nothing there. But it seemed like the boy wasn't going to be fooled like that. He took a step forward, making me uneasy, before dropping down onto one knee and taking a closer inspection.

'Hello?' He called, before letting a small smile contort his face. 'I won't hurt you.' He glanced behind him at his three other pokemon. 'I'm Kai. I'm a pokemon trainer.'

Still I didn't move, but I couldn't help but feel slightly overwhelmed. Everything was happening so quickly. Too fast for me to keep up with. I looked up at the entrance to the cave, and suddenly found myself wishing they had never fallen through, and I wasn't being faced with this problem.

Suddenly, the boy's eye lit up and he backed away slowly from the rock. He whispered down into his Grotle's ear. 'Get ready to go forward.' He said, before hesitating, and then adding, 'I think it's a pokemon. I can see a tail.'

My eyes widen to that of a Hootowl's. Damn it! Quickly, I brought my tail back into my flank. Dread filled my body. Now he wants to bloody catch me!

'Grotle, go on.' He shouted, as if ensuring that I could definitely hear. The grass type pokemon nodded, and jumped forward, anticipation clear in his bulky frame. He and his trainer waited for me to accept the challenge. I saw him remove a poke ball from his belt.

I considered my options desperately, searching for a way I could get out of the situation. But I knew that it was useless. I couldn't run away- that would seem cowardly! But if I fought them, and tried my best, then I knew that I would badly hurt the trainer and his pokemon. They weren't aware of the power that I possessed.

I made my choice.

Slowly, I got to my paws and leapt over the rock and into the now bright cave, clear in the sight of the trainer. Instantly, I heard him gasp a little, as did his Jolteon, clearly puzzled as to what pokemon I was. He once more removed his pokedex, and activated it, hoping that it would give him some information; the only help he got out of it was a simple statement of "insufficient data".

The trainer looked back at me, but there was no fear in his eyes. Now, just determination. I let myself smile. It was grim.

'Grotle, use Mega Drain!' He said. The grass type pokemon bunched up it's muscles, before jumping forward and unleashing the move. I felt the power engulf me, and I moaned a little as some energy was sapped out of my body.

But it did little damage, and soon, I was on the counter attack. I shot forward and let out a roar of fury, unleashing my own move, and because I had already been attacked, Assurance had double the power. I slammed my body ferociously into the pokemon, sending it rolling backwards. But the Grotle recovered fast, as did the trainer. Now, he knew that I tended to go for a more attacking approach.

I went on the charge again, but Kai was prepared. 'Razor Leaf, now!'

From the Grotle's back, leaves with edges tapered down to deadly points flashed through the air towards me. I twisted my body around, dodging the most of the offensive move, but it wasn't enough to stop a few of the leaves from finding their target. One of them slashed deep into my side, and pain boiled within my veins.

I fell down onto my paws, now filled with rage, but I told myself to remain calm. If you wanted to, you could defeat all of his pokemon instantly. I thought. But I won't hurt them. I decided to go on the attack again, but was more careful in my approach. This time, I went for the move Night Slash.

As I moved, the Grotle smirked and got ready, baring it's fangs at me. The trainer's face also held the same smirk of confidence, but I was already ahead of them, knowing what they were going to do. He's planning to reach out and use Bite as soon as I reach him.

The pokemon opened his mouth, revealing some deadly looking fangs, but just when the teeth were about to sink into my leg, I jumped high into the air, performing a graceful arc in mid air before landing straight behind the Grotle. It tried to turn, but I hit down with Night Slash, inflicting damage.

It was good, a critical hit, and the Grotle shot backwards, going on the retreat. But it was soon after that I realised that I had hurt the pokemon a lot more that I had planned to do. I had almost fainted him! Shadows leaked out of the wound, and he let out a terrible moan.

My eyes contracted with worry, and I stepped forward, speaking to the Grotle. 'I- I didn't hurt you that bad, did I?' I said, guiltily.

It was a stupid thing to do.

'Grotle, let's use our last resort.' The trainer shouted, in my moment of weakness. 'Earthquake!'

I discovered that to my own terror that I was in a terrible position. I wasn't ready to reform any defensive manoeuvres, and I couldn't attack him, so the force of the incredibly powerful Earthquake hit me straight on. I flew backwards, and my head hit the back of the wall, inflicting even more damage. My limp body dropped to the ground, and I saw dizzy stars in front of my vision.

When the poke ball hit my body, I couldn't do anything to stop it. I was trapped inside the capsule, where I was given a few moments to break free of it, which I could've done easily if I wasn't in such a bad state.

So when the ball clicked, signalling that the trainer had successfully caught me, I felt a few moments of helplessness.

Before everything faded to black...