This is the second chapter of my second story. Read on, and tell me what you think. If you guys have Original Characters you'd like to submit, I'd happily accept them and give you credit. Just PM me and I'll ask you questions and things... READ ON!
I do not own Pokemon or anything of the like. Just my Platinum, Pearl and Pokemon X cartridges.
- - - Importance of Freedom: Chapter Two: Shard's Remorse - - -
I wake to find myself buried in a large bank of snow, concealing me from being seen by passers-by. The wind is blowing softly, and snow is drifting across the outlook.
"Darkstar!" I breath as I remember what had happened just before I fell unconscious, and burst out of the bank in fear.
"Darkstar? You there?" I call, hoping for a reply, though I get none.
I look to where he was when I was knocked out, and he's not there. I see two going sets of tracks going straight to and from where he lie who knows how long before. I trace them, and I see the indent of something round in his body print, snow swirling around the perfectly spherical hole.
"No... Darkstar..." My feet collapse underneath me when I realize Darkstar is now living his worst nightmare, being captured by humans to fight pointless battles. He never liked fighting, and avoided it whenever he could. That's what brought us together.
I was walking up path towards the summit one day when I was attacked by some Pokemon who'd just gotten away from their trainers. I was trying to talk myself out of fighting, but that was a hard thing to do when you're talking to Pokemon who knew nothing but fighting. Then Darkstar, who was headed the same way, heard the dispute and came to my rescue, blasting snow in their eyes with Razor Wind and had me follow him as we ran along a side-path.
Once we got away from them, we stopped and I thanked him. It was upon this very ledge, actually, that I insisted my dept to him be repayed.
"Thank you for saving me. I owe you one." Staring the stranger in the eyes, I see nothing but an empty stare. He must not have any kind of life to follow.
"No, it's what we do to survive. That was nothing." He says flatly.
"But, I can't just walk away. It wouldn't be right." I counter. I'd never forgive myself if I didn't repay a dept.
"I'm not one for debts. I do what I must, and leave it at that." My savior says, then turns tail and walks off.
"Please, ther-" I try to ask, but he predicts my question.
"Isn't anything you could do but leave me alone. I'm a loner." He cuts me off, looking back at me.
"I-..." I didn't know what to say. I just followed him as he walked around for days. Eventually he softened up and let me walk alongside him, rather than trying to evade me like he was.
Suddenly he opens up to me. "I've never liked fighting. I'd rather just be on my own, surviving. This is the way I want to live. Simple life, nothing complicated. Those trainers would be the death of me. I wouldn't be able to live like that. Too complicated, too busy, too much pointless fighting."
I get this feeling like we were ment for each other. "I'm the same way. I want to lead my own life, not be bossed about by a human with a dream."
He smiles in approval, then his expression goes dark. "All those humans want us Absol for is because they like how we look. Sure, it's somewhat of a compliment, but it's sad that that's the only reason they capture us. Then there's that stupid belief they have. We're trying to help them, but they just kill us because they think we're causing disasters, not warning them of the danger they face."
"I... we have a lot in common." It's too obvious for me now. We were ment for each other.
"What's your name?" My hero asks, apparently accepting his fate with me.
"Shard, named by my mother for the last shard of hope we have for our species."
"Hmm. The last shard of hope. I'm Darkstar, named by my father for the darkness of the sun when the moon covers it. He says it'll happen one day, and he says it'll be my day of fate. Not entirely sure what it means, but I don't question him. He was a wise leader."
"Leader? Were you in a clan?"
"Yes, but I couldn't stay there without causing problems. Someone would always do something to irritate me, and my father finally said to go out on my own. He said 'You are not one for groups, son. You are ment to be alone for happiness to come to you. Leave the clan, and lead your own life, Darkstar.' Those were the last words I heard from my father. I've not seen him since."
"That's horrible! You should go see him!"
"Impossible. He's always moving the clan. We'd move camp every second full moon, to avoid raids by trainers. It was his solution to being free."
"Hey! Hey, you okay?"
"You know, I never repayed that dept to you. We should find your fathers clan, together." I tell him. It would be great fun, and would give us purpose for a while.
"Are you OK? You're just sitting there! You should find some shelter, there's a blizzard going on here!"
"No, that was common courtesy. You don't need too-"
I'm jolted out of my dream when I finally realize someone is calling me.
"Follow me! I'll take you to safety!" A voice shouts.
I come to my senses, and notice an icy wind tearing at my fur. I find myself curled up in a ball, beside where Darkstar's now filled-in body print.
"What...?" My mind is still filled with remorse for letting Darkstar down weighs heavily in my mind. Now I owe him double.
"Come on!" It yell again.
Finally, my ears register what the voice was saying. "Ugh... coming." I stiffly get up and walk to where I heard the voice come froms.
"There, now come, we'll get you some shelter at home." The voice sounds right in my ear.
"'We'? Don't you mean 'you'?" I probe. I don't see anyone else around. The only one I see is the Absol beside me. He looks experienced, like he knows what you're gonna say before you say it.
"No, I mean 'we'. I lead a clan, you see. I'm looking for my son. Caught a light whiff of his scent down the path, and came up here to see you laying in the snow, unsheltered."
He starts walking away, and I follow beside him. We walk North, going towards what Darkstar expected to be a campsite on a rounded clearing upon a curved ledge, half covered by overhanging rock. Now that I see it from this perspective, it looks like an Absol's face from the side, looking straight West. The clearing imitating the top of its muzzle, the overhang representing the bangs below the oval crown on our foreheads, and curved underside being the jaw.
"Your son? What was his name?" It can't be... this just can't be who I think it is...
"Darkstar." He says, a hint of sorrow in his voice.
I stop, dead in my tracks. I just found Darkstar's father, and I let him get captured by humans just prior? Now I'm angry at myself for being so careless. We were that close to finding his father, and juust after he'd finally admitted that he missed him, too.
"Hey, you okay?" The wise Absol asks again, peering at me with a knowing look.
"Your son... he was with me, and got captured by tr-" I was right, he did know. He cut me off just as I started saying what may as well be Darkstar's personal Giratina.
"Don't say it, you'll alert the clan. Sound travels far here." He hushes, indicating an opening in a wall of brambles.
I nod my head. "He was with me, looking over the cliff at the city. Then they came. We couldn't run, we were trapped. I was knocked unconscious by a Lucario, and he was... you know... by a-" I nod my head to replace the word, he understands."...and I found myself alone. I'm so sorry for failing you, it's my fault I wanted to see the city."
"Your fault? It's not your fault, it's mine, for not catching up to him in time. Let's get you a bed for the night." I open my mouth to argue, but find myself yawning instead. I give in, defeated. Then I realize we made it to the ledge, I'm now standing on the nose of the giant Absol cliff.
Darkstar's father brings me to the tip of the ledge, and I see a small empty cave underneath us. He climbs down a precariously narrow foothold, and leads me into the cave.
"This is my den. I'll get you some bedding after I tell my clan about the latest events." The Clan Leader climbs out and top of the slightly raised rock, which I now realize to be the nose, and calls his clan around him. After a few moments of footsteps, whispers and shuffling, he starts.
"I have failed at getting Darkstar back. He has been captured by a human, and chances are, we'll never see him again. I've found a friend of his who knows who took him. We must follow her, she is our last hope of getting our clanmate back. We'll be heading out in two days. Good night."
With that, the clan breaks up and eventually the shuffling subsides. He reappears at the entrance to his den with a large bundle of grass in teeth, and lays them in front of me.
"Here is some bedding. I'll help you make a nest while we get to know a little about each other." He says as he began to pull the bundle apart, making the grass splay out across the ground. "Pile it up. So, how did you two meet?"
I began telling him of my encounter with the escaped Pokemon.
I was looking for a spot to sleep overnight...
I have to find somewhere sheltered to rest. If I don't, I'll be dead by morning. Hopefully I can find shelter at the summit with my mother's old friend.
The hail storm blasts around her, the fog is thick and the air is brittle. Without shelter, any Pokemon who wasn't an Ice-type would freeze if they were to get caught in the weather.
As I walk up the path, I hear the crunching of snow up on the path above me. Paying no attention, I continue walking.
"Hey! You down there! Help us out here!" A gruff voice yells from above me. I'm guessing it's someone on the shelf above.
I look up at the voice, and find three Pokemon staring down at me. A bored Mightyena, Kriketune with a lost look and a very burly brown Granbull.
"I can't help you, sorry!" I reply. I get a dangerous look from the Granbull, who I assume to be the owner of the booming voice.
"Oh, you'll be helping us one way or another. Tell us where we are or else." He replies with a warning tone, confirming my thoughts. I don't like the look on his face, either.
"Where you are? Uhh... Mount Coronet is all I can tell you. I've done so many twists an turns I don't know where I'm going now. Sorry." I say sincerely, and resume my walk along the path, being beaten by the frozen ice the whole time.
"So be it. If you can't help us find our way, you'll just have to fight for your life." The Granbull hollers, and slides down the snow-covered rock, landing in front of me. The other two follow suit, and land behind me, blocking any chance of escape.
"W-what do you want with m-me?" I ask as my knees buckle, mind racing to think of the reasons these goons would want to take me down.
As if in response, the Mightyena's stomach growled. The Brown Mutt lifted an eyebrow and glared at the Mightyena.
"There's your responce, I guess." The Mightyena smiled happily. I gulped, hoping he didn't mean it. I think I know how my prey feels now.
"You idiot, all you can think about is your damn stomach and eating food. Why Arceus didn't make you a Snorlax, I'll never know." The Granbull ranted at the Mightyena, then turned to me with a curious look. He raises a paw and brings it down straight for my head when we're suddenly pelted by swirling hail and wind moving so fast it pushes through my thick fur and cuts my skin. If I wasn't already on the ground cowering in fear, I definately would be now. The fierce wind stops and an Absol jumps over my head and lands in front of me.
"Get up, let's go!" He nods forward, urging me as the others get back on their feet.
"You little, I'll pound you into the ground for that!" The Brown Bulldog cries as he rushes forward to hit the Absol beside me. But his blow is parried by the White Pokemon's blade and his weight carries him onward into the other two, slamming them into the ground once more.
"Come on, we won't need to fight if you get up and run!" My defender advises as he nudges me to my feet and we start running up the path.
"After that, I continued to follow him, feeling a need to repay a dept I owed. We later found out that we have a lot of similar beliefs." I finish my story of how we first met. By now the clan leader is curled up in his bed, his horn almost scraping the roof of the narrow cave.
"I see. Well, it's almost moonhigh, so we must get to sleep if we expect to wake up at a reasonable time in the morning." He says. I oblige, and close my eyes, sinking into the grass nest.
"Tell me, what's your name?" I ask Darkstar's father.
"My name is Soul, 'for an Aura pure as snow', my mother once said. Yours?" He replies.
"Shard, for the last hope or our species. My mother always told me that Absol are dying out because of humans hunting us for an idiotic belief." I explain.
"Indeed we are. Not many of us are left in the wild, and I'm certain it won't be long before we disappear into the dust, lost in time." Those are his final words before I hear him sigh and fall asleep. I follow suit soon after, and hope that we may find Darkstar before long.
Well, that's that chapter finished. Review if you liked it, and review if you didn't. Tell me your opinion so that I may make this story better.
The amount of interest depends on when I make new chapters. The more veiws per day, the more inclined I'll be to make chapters.
- - Update Logue - -
12/08/2013: More descriptive content added, along with some character development. Large word count spike from 1'343 to 2'667
27/10/2013: Grammar fixes, small amount of descriptive content added. Word count from 2'667 to 2'708