In lieu of the next arc, which I don't know how to start, here's chapter 2 of Beginnings. Enjoy!
Disclaimer-Still don't own pokemon. Get used to it, I have. I own the characters, not the name Jaster, joint creator of the Blademasters.
Tales of the Blade Chapter 3-Beginnings 2: Secrets
"You caught one?" said Alan.
"Yeah." said Lauren, smiling.
"How? When I tried the ball exploded!"
"Should have tried after the Purity Wave." she said. Alan was quiet as Lauren released the pokemon. They got ready their weapons, just in case. The Sneasel, complete with giant claws, materialised. It looked around, it's eyes normal.
"Snea?"
Mew sighed.
"Let's talk the same, sweeties." She clicks her fingers, and nothing seems to change.
"Well, that was impressive." says Lauren sarcastically.
"I'll say." says the Sneasel.
"What?" says Lauren, quietly, and with a lot of force.
"Or not…" mutters Alex.
"Well." says Alan, first to recover. "Why were you attacking people?" The Sneasel hesitates.
"I don't know. It's like I saw it all through a black film, I don't know. last thing I remember, I was in the street and a black shadow comes out of the sky and hits me, and then the black film appeared and I wasn't in control. Did I… really hurt those people?" Lauren nodded. The Sneasel bowed down on one knee.
"I am so sorry. Could I come with you? I have never been bested before, and I was stronger then…" it said. Lauren smiled.
"Of course. Glad to have you. What's your name?" she said.
"Tsume. In the ancient language, it means-" said the Sneasel.
"Claw." said James.
"Yep." She grinned, and, standing up, saluted with one very large claw to the entire group. Lauren smiled.
"Do you have any other information that can help us track down these… shadows?"
"They found me outside the city, to the north." replied Tsume.
"Thank you. Do you mind pokeballs?"
"No."
"Then I'll return you." she did.
"Lucky bitch." muttered Sam.
"Say that again, and I'll carve you a new mouth across your throat." said Lauren, in a pleasant voice. The two had never been close.
"Look, people, we need to work together here." said Alan.
"Lucky you." said Lauren, turning away. "You get to live another day."
"One day…" He muttered.
"One day I'll kill you." said Lauren with a chilling certainty.
There was an awkward silence.
"Umm… am I interrupting?" said Mew, breaking the quiet.
Everyone was glad that she had spoken.
"We should go and check out the place where the demons appeared." said Celebi.
"Demons?" said Alex.
"I suppose. Do you have a better way of describing them?"
No-one did.
"We should go. Celebi is right." said Alan. They started walking.
"It was here." said Tsume.
"Thanks." said Lauren, returning her. "So, what now, Pixies?"
Mew giggled. Celebi growled with annoyance.
"I wish you'd stop calling us that." he sighed. "Well, look around for anything strange." he said.
They did. Most of them just looked normally. Alan drew his sword, placing it between his hands and sitting down, blade pointed upwards, flat against his face. He reached for his inner strength, and focussed.
"There's something… over there." he said, pointing to a patch of trees.
They walk over. They can all feel it, something dark, scraping against their souls. Evil. They shudder. Then, unwillingly, they walk closer. They find a huge clearing. There are many pokemon there, each pure black, but not mutated to the same extent as the previous five. But it was the thing they were standing around that was the worst thing. A hole in the air. The other side was like space, black, covered in stars, but the feeling of evil, death, pain emanating from it had almost physical force. As they watched, a red spiralling cloud of something crossed the space on the other side. For an instant, a face appeared within it, a face with horns and huge fangs. The cloud stopped, and they heard a voice in their minds.
"What are you lot doing? Kill them! They killed five of ours!"
Said the voice. The corrupted pokemon turned as one, and charged at the group.
"Great." said Alex, as they unsheathed their weapons.
"There are too many of them." said Alan. "If they're as strong as the others, we can't beat them. Unless you can use that Purity Wave thing now?"
Celebi shook his head.
"It takes a while to charge." He says, turning into a human, and, from somewhere, drawing a sword. Mew does the same.
The charging pokemon hit the seven fighters. If they are as strong as they fear, the battle won't last long.
It doesn't.
Within seconds, half the pokemon lie dead, attacking with no skill and all brute force making them easy prey. Each one that dies is followed by a shadow rising from it's corpse and shrieking horribly as it dissipates.
As they fought, they were forced closer and closer to the tear.
"They're herding us." said James, with certainty.
Some of them ended up closer than the others.
It was five minutes before they were all dead. Not because they had any skill, but just because there were so many of them.
"Are you all ok?" said Alan.
"Wonderful." said Lauren.
"I'm fine." said James quietly.
"Excellent." said Alex, sarcastically.
"Great." mutters Sam.
"Fine." says Mew, wiping blood from her skirt.
"Same." says Celebi, looking around with distaste at the havoc.
The face in the tear was furious. It roared with anger, furious at their victory. There was a wave of fury that tore through the clearing, a feeling so strong it hurt, and then a great gust of wind, and then silence. The rift closed.
They looked around.
"Alan?" said James.
"What?" said Alan.
"Where's Lauren?" said James.
She was gone.
Yeah, I gave up on not giving her a big part. Sorry.