Shadow: After re-reading some older works, I've realized something: work I do now seems great to me in the future. Like Captured!

Wth happened to my reviewers? In fact, I received MORE reviews when I wasn't updating than when I WAS! Heh, guess my writing style degraded a bit, huh? Well, it certainly improved... Just seems a bit awkward after the older works, amirite? No worries; after reviewing some of my old work (not literally, I'm not that starved for reviews lol), I decided on which of my old characters I wanted to bring back from the dead- or wherever their degrading OC forms rest. So here's the updated list for those guys:

Skye (who gains more in that he loses his memory, gains an injury to the face that results in him risking permanent blindness in his left eye and also gains a new companion in Wil (Absol))

Asura (who now is stuck between ship-teasing Tempest (the shipping name I wanted for them (Lucario/Absol) would be either
Corruptionshipping or Slashpulseshipping), going on her hyper, zany little quests or plain out causing much mayhem, innocent or otherwise)

Shuyri (who gains the ability to shift forms from human-esque to
Lucario original form, though his hair in human form is a dark magenta (seeing as designing him on Paint (dot) Net lacks bluish red as a not purple), and gains Dragon Pulse in exchange for Shadow Force. The strongest mentally (read: Special Attack) in the entire series, and also still inclined towards Oreos, though more towards the cream than the chocolate bits (and Klondike Bars yum))

The last two to be updated will be Diamond and Pearl, two little
beauties I never got the chance to write on due to procrastination and lack of ideas. They too could be Corruptionshipping-y/
Slashpulseshipping-like, though in all truth, I lack any true pairs,
yaoi, yuri and het. Diamond was the powerhouse of the team mentally and is insanely speedy; what defines him as Diamond were his spikes and eyes, both steel blue in color, and the spikes layered with abrasive diamond shards for the added damage. Pearl's distinctive skills and appearance was magenta/pink eyes and a gem of pearl in place of his Absol head-thing, along with Lucario-like pearl spikes under his wrists, to counter with and cause deadly damage with. They also replaced the head scythe at times, though he still possessed one. They both can change from Poke to human form, just as Diamond's cousin can too. Used to be part of a famous Rescue Team, Team Platinum, and later adds a third member to their little group, in the form of Platinum; a
baby Shinx they find in the river near home one day.

So yeah. This should be a separate chapter itself (lol! No, jk), but I'm just doing some back story.

Enough with that! The disclaimer is now on my Bio from now on, and Enjoy~!
If this is spaced strangely, it's cus I'm typing this on my iPod touch late at night in an attempt to get some work done cus I can't sleep easily.
Characters are Skye and Wil. Gijinka as always.

And yes, the Absol, Wil, his name is spelt just as you see it. It's a nickname, sure, but please don't spell it as you normally would. If it's a mistake, fine, but people doing this on my dA account are starting to annoy me... (Please don't take offense, it's like spelling
Azura's name "Asura." There's a reason it's spelt like that, it
differates them from others! Lol)
Btw, the joke here is that Aniki is a Japanese word for an adopted brother/sibling, I believe.


For every action, there is an effect.

This lesson had been imprinted onto Wil's mind since his birth, and he'd never gotten it out of his psyche for a moment, always spurring on his movements and actions.

When he saved the lone Lucario trapped under the broken tree in the river near his home, the effect was that he'd gained a new companion, a newfound dislike for humans (whom he'd assumed had done this to the poor wolfy) and a new look on his life; a grateful yet curious look.

When he'd fixed the wolf up after he'd nearly drowned to death and had his eye almost gouged out by a stray branch that had caught the wolfy's cheek good, he'd been forced to evaluate how he greeted others and how he might've manipulated others when he found out just how naïve the Lucario (who's name happened to be Skye) was, introducing himself as Wil and as a forest dweller, which wasn't entirely lies, and finding it shocking when he found out the wolfy had lost his mind; specifically, his memory.

With that loss of memory apparently came the lack of judgment too, at least to an almost extreme extent.

Quote: "What's wrong with taking a bath with you? We're both guys, right?"

As true as that had been, it scared Wil for some reason. Another
effect; he was forced to think more on something he had barely even looked at in the past, and also had to make sure he was careful in how he spoke from then on. At least until Skye's memories returned, that is.

It also caused him to view the wolfy (because saying he was a jackal was a bit odd; he just didn't have the form...) in an entirely
different matter than he normally did with others, like one he'd use to judge a child with. It was just because Skye was so child-like and innocent, cuddly and oddly clingy, and he was so strange... It was like living with an actual child; he was just too innocent to treat as he did the rest of his friends.

But he was so sweet, too... Like he constantly told himself, Skye had the mentality of a child. And as such, he had the want to please others, to see them smile, and especially to make them happy; considering he was mostly around Wil, Wil ended up being the recipient of those gifts and affections, much to his confusion and sometimes embarrassment. Especially when Skye did that in front of the others.

He hated it when Zakuro taunted him so much like that. He might've like Skye, but not THAT much, dammit!

And Skye was an empath. Like that wasn't enough to confuse Wil;
apparently, spending so much time with Wil literally rubbed off on the other one so much that when Wil was angry, Skye became irritated; when Wil was joyful (becoming far and in-between these days), Skye was absolutely giddy. And when Wil was stressed, Skye became downright depressed, eyes shining in unwilling despair. In a way, it made it easier for Wil to make the other one stable in this strange environment, his mind frail and threatening to break at any moment if his emotions overtook him too much.

Evidently, in his "past life" (as Wil called it), Skye had been very depressed and scared to live. Perhaps that's where the marks on his body had come from, all the scars that looked like they'd come from a sharp weapon akin to a sword, looking more like bruised cuts than scars.

And it was confusing, because Skye was such a happy person (normally), that it became nearly impossible to identify exactly WHY Skye would've wanted to die.

But the most confusing thing about the littler wolfy was when Skye had proclaimed love for him.

It had been a normal (in Wil's perspective, anyways) day, being called Shorty by Zakuro, taunted about his arms because his always cloak-y outfit made them look abnormally short (he didn't hyperextend like SOME people did all the time...), hacking away stray branches with his machete to make it to the river and back home, and being tagged around by Skye...

It had been when Wil had saved Skye from another falling log (trees seemed to hate the little wolfy... Had he done something to offend them in a past life or something?) that Skye had thanked him, before hugging him tightly, a normal reaction for Skye, then proclaiming a feeling of love for Wil.
Here, Wil had frozen up completely, jolly attitude replaced with one of shock, causing Skye to tense up with worry as well.

Being close to Wil always made Skye's emotions more closely linked to his.

Love? Why love?
He had clearly stated, "I love you, aniki!" hadn't he? And while Wil had no idea what "Aniki" meant, whatever it meant still didn't really change what Skye had said, did it? Love...

Wil was not familiar with the sensation. He hadn't loved his parents because they hadn't been around. He was protective of his friends but didn't love them, and more importantly, he himself didn't know how to love. He'd been all alone his whole life.

Then, Wolfy had to pop up and screw up his mentality and view of life. He'd just waltzed right in, exactly like an unexpected pregnancy, and broken his own icy mask without Wil ever having realizing it. And he...loved him?

Wil was brought out of his thoughts moments later when Skye uttered a whimper, shock turning into fear, and gradually slipping towards depression.

"W-what's wrong Aniki? Did I do something wrong...?"

Wil shook his head, hauling the other one onto his back in a piggyback haul, uncomfortable as it was.

"Ah... No, not at all, Skye. T-tell me something," Wil replied,
cursing inwardly when he stuttered.

Skye's head cocked like a dog's for a moment at the twinge of
annoyance, but went back into a more pleasant, if somber, mood set, having traced Wil's apparently impassive emotions at the moment.

"I don't remember, really... All I remember is calling my née-san that, and... I was really happy. You aren't angry, are you Wil?"

Wil shook his head again, making a mental note to ask Zakuro what the word meant later. For now, he'd take care of Skye once again, digging into his medicine kit for bandages, rubbing alcohol and cotton balls, seeing as Skye had gotten banged up after the whole tree-falling incident, escaping major damage and coming out with thankfully minor injuries.

Wil might've learned his medical skills from the best of the best (a
lost Blissey had given him advice and plenty of supplies after she'd gotten lost and Wil had guided her back out), but he was by no means a miracle worker. Hell, he was still waiting for the day the patch on Skye's eye came off and he was proclaimed blind for Arceus' sake! His confidence in that category was very frail...

After handling the young wolfy with an almost caring and gentle touch, Wil went to go find Zakuro, making it explicitly clear to Skye not to leave the campsite unless he absolutely had to.

Couldn't deal with finding Skye out here after all. Even if Wil knew this place from the inside out, finding Skye would take hours in a place like this. And if the wolf had been injured...

Wil didn't want to imagine what would happen.

Here was when his 'Cause and Effect' mentality came into play, the moment he'd caught up to the Sceptile and gotten mocked for looking all scratched up and muddy.

So he'd failed to take care of himself, he'd do it later!

"Zakuro, be serious. Skye just announced something to me, and I must ask you: what does "Aniki" mean?"

The leaf type paused in his speedy movements among the treetops, almost falling on top of Wil had it not been for fast reflexes and a strong branch to grab onto.

He glared down at Wil, who grinned awkwardly.

"Sorry."

"It's fine. What sentence did he use it in? Tell me his exact words."

Here, Wil blushed faintly, unsure if he should tell him or not.
Taunting, or knowledge and less worry for his sexuality and state of mind...?

Dammit.

"He said... He said, "I love you, Aniki!"" Wil muttered quietly,
cursing when he heard a snort from the Sceptile above, the mega lizard swinging around the branch and sitting on it, long legs swinging in the faint night breeze.

He hummed; a sound Wil always hated because his enhanced sense of bearing registered it as a bees buzzing sound. It was almost as bad as when Zakuro tapped his claws against something, anything; especially trees or stones.

"Aniki? Ah, that..."

Wil was patient for all of five minutes; when that time passed and
Zakuro still hadn't finished his sentence, he'd snarled, "Just spit it
out already!"

The Sceptile had startled, blinking owlishly before he completely woke up.

He'd been falling asleep at a time like this?

"Ah yes, Aniki... It means big brother in Japanese. Usually, one would use it towards an adopted brother figure; someone they're close to and view and love like a sibling, you know? Good to know you've imprinted on Skye so much, Wil. Hey, who knows? In two months, you might just get laid for once!"

Wil nodded, grateful up until the last few sentences, at which point he'd almost flipped out and gone AWOL on the cocky little bastard, until he'd remembered that even from this far, Skye was affected by his emotions, and restrained himself with a growl, fuming. Japanese for a sibling figure, huh?

Skye must've lived very far away at one point... So what was he doing here in the Chrysanthemum Valley? Much less the forest?

He sighed.

"Fine. Thank you for your help, Zakuro, and... Yeah. I'm going now."

The Sceptile nodded, though he looked slightly annoyed at how Wil pronounced his name.

"It's "Zak-ku-ro," not "Zaky-ro," dammit!" he hissed, golden eyes narrowed in anger.

Wil ignored him, heading back to his camp and Skye.

Every action had a Cause and Effect. Wil's one regret was not being able to help his friend recover his memory; at the present, anyways.

There was nothing in the forest that would've possibly reminded Skye of his past, unless he looked at the fire long enough to blind his other eye and gain back a memory or something.

That inability to assist, much to Wil's shame and dismay, had a very positive Effect (as much as Wil hated sounding so selfish).

Because Skye couldn't-didn't-want to recover anything of his past (Wil wouldn't want to either if he was still capable of wanting to die even after losing a "life"), he became very close to Wil and his
companions; he was very kind-hearted, though he did have his off
moments of almost sadistic cruelty. Those were the times everyone, even Zakuro, would attempt to steer clear of the wolfy, with the exclusion of Wil, who would attempt to emit a calming aura.

If it worked three times out of ten, then hey, not TOO bad odds...

Even if Skye never recovered any memories, he didn't seem to mind. He had a family, after all. All males, but he didn't care. He was happy!

And even if Wil felt bad for saying, even thinking it, he was glad
Skye had gotten trapped under that tree that one day Wil was hunting for fish. If he hadn't gone and saved Skye, he'd still be the cold and not as happy Absol he'd been a few years back; if Skye hadn't been saved, he wouldn't have found a stable place to flourish in, as much as HE could, anyways.

Every action, an effect. Every effect, another reaction.

Wil found he quite liked this mentality set. And if it meant Skye
stayed with him longer, however mean the thought may be, he was happy... Though, he really did wish he could help Skye out more than this.

Maybe the next thing he did would have an effective...effect.


TBC...

Shad: TBC! Yup! Might do another chapter for it, but this is the Cause and Effect Theme! Originally named something else, but I may scrap that theme for another chap sometime.
Up next is Shuyri, then D/P, Kagetora and Azure, then whatever someone suggests. So, y'know, stay tuned and all. :D