Chapter 6 ~Shadow~

August 14
2:56 pm
Pokémon HQ Lab
Zack

{Thank you, friend.} I said to the Pidgeot. He had gotten me to the HQ Lab in record time- I'll not tell Ace about that.

{It was… No problem…} he panted, obviously exhausted. {I think I'll… rest up a bit…} He hovered over to a tree, and roosted in its upper branches. I walked towards the Lab, and entered. The lack of guards and researchers was disturbing.

"Where is everyone?" I asked out loud. That's when I noticed two guards near the back door- they were both dead, their throats ripped clean out. "What the fuck…" Small footprints of their blood, slightly incomplete, led me to an elevator. I pressed the button that had a trace of blood on it, following whoever or whatever killed those guards.

They led me to the prison level, where I saw many different Pokémon than before. Mrs. Dakol had obviously been keeping busy. I ended up passing Kiara's cell, but she wasn't in there- probably on a trip to the restroom or something. Farther down the hall, I saw a cell door that was bashed in. The one opposite it had the first two guards, let alone humans, I saw outside of it.

One of them approached me. "Halt, state your business." He said in a gruff monotone.

"I'm here to see what happened. There's blood on the floor, and Mrs. Dakol's transmission cut short." I added on, "As a half-mercenary of Cipher, I think I should know what happened."

"As for what happened, that's an easy one. An Absol came in, went crazy, and he's locked up in this room." The guard said, pointing behind him.

"May I speak with him?" I asked.

"It's your funeral, but I have nothing against it." The guard opened the door, and closed it as soon as I had entered. I looked around the small cell, and spotted a semi-familiar face staring at me in slight shock. He might have had a new scar, but I recognized him all the same.

{Dusk? What are you doing here?} I asked.

{What are you doing alive?} He responded with. Well, that was cheerful. {You said you were headed to the Hall of Origin. Why didn't Arceus smite you?}

{I saved his son, Giratina, from being trapped in the Reverse World. He thanked me, and promised a favor in return, since Kiara wasn't dead for him to bring back in the first place.}

Dusk was… shocked, to say the very least. {He's immortal, that has to be the reason…} He muttered.

I continued, {So, how did you come across this place? I mean, wasn't Talia with you?} He glared at me, obviously not wanting to tell me. {Come on, I told you my half, now tell me yours.}

{Well…} He started to tell me one of the more crazy stories I've heard. The boat they stowed away on had arrived at Gateon Port instead of Slateport. Talia and an Umbreon named Shade were captured by Cipher, and Dusk gave chase, followed by an Espeon named Shine. One crazy plan led to failure as Dusk was placed in the predicament he was in now.

{I'll talk to Mrs. Dakol, sort this out, and get you out of here. With Talia and Shade.} I said, rising up.

{That'll work, sure.} Dusk said disapprovingly, and glared at me as I left. I asked the guards where my parent was, and they pointed to my left. I followed the hallway, and came across another guarded room. They said nothing to me as they let me in, and I saw Mrs. Dakol sitting on the far end of a table, conversing with Kiara.

"Hello." I called out. I got her attention, and sat down next to Kiara.

"Hello, XD-032. I'm glad you could make it after what happened." She said. "We have a stable lab system once more. Now tell me, were you successful?"

"Christopher is dead. I killed him outside of Pallet Town." I said. The words stung as I spoke them. I had killed a childhood friend. All because this monster of a parent wanted science. As I looked around the room, noticing every small detail, I noticed a small charm hanging off Dakol's belt. It was Kiara's luxury ball, hanging next to Talia's dusk ball.

"Good. Now, your next target…" I didn't listen to her any more as I straight-up punched her in the face, full enough force to knock her out. My metal arm felt no recoil as I walked over to her unconscious form.

{Zack! what are you doing?} Kiara cried out. I couldn't answer her, though. My mind was fading to red- another vision. What did Arceus call it- the Dimensional Scream? Yeah, I had forgotten about that aspect of me. I had a dizzy spell, and fell to the ground.

Blackness. Just like one other time, all I can hear is voices. "You'll never defeat me, I am a goddess now!" I heard. It sounded like Mrs. Dakol.

"I won't stop fighting until you die, monster!" That was my voice. I heard another line, a voice that didn't sound like anyone I knew. But the vision faded, and I was brought back to reality.

{Zack! Wake up, Zack!} Kiara was shaking my body, and I woke up. I crawled over to Mrs. Dakol's form, and took the two Pokéballs off her waist.

{I'm getting you out of here, Kiara.} I said. {I'm not killing any more innocent lives to protect you.} I stood up, and unsheathed the blade in my arm. I cut the collar off Kiara's neck, and she rubbed the skin there, obviously rubbed raw from the collar.

{We can't leave Talia, though.} Kiara said. I nodded in agreement.

{Kiara, I want you to stay behind me.} I said, while propping up Mrs. Dakol in her chair, to make it look like she passed out. {I'll have to kill, and I don't want you in the crossfire.} Kiara nodded, and grabbed Mrs. Dakol's necklace. I wondered why, but didn't complain. We needed to move fast.

I kicked open the doors to the room. The two guards were stunned enough for me to slice one's throat with my blade, and cut the other's with a psycho cut. Both fell silently to the ground. I ran, Kiara close behind me. We came up on Dusk's cell, Talia's right across from it. The two guards asked for my business again, but I responded by shoving my blade into the right one's gut. The second one abruptly flew to the ceiling and crashed down, either unconscious or dead from spinal fracture.

I turned to Kiara. {What? I'm not a helpless damsel in distress, you know.} she said, opening Talia's cell. The female Absol walked over to her, and Kiara put the necklace on her. I cut the collar off.

{Thanks.} Talia said, in the Pokémon language. Kiara quickly explained that the necklace translated Pokémon speech.

{That's useful.} I opened up Dusk's cell, and the Absol looked past me to see Talia up and alright.

{What happened to Diplomacy?} He asked as I cut his collar off.

{I'm more of a man of action.} I replied, and Dusk and Talia nuzzled against one another- they must have grown close since I last saw them. Honestly, those two should just admit they love each other, it's plainly obvious. I led them down the tunnel further, and we were stopped by several guards. More filed in behind us.

They called out shadow Pokémon. Talia and Dusk recognized the Umbreon in front of me as Shade- though commented on the odd coloration of purple rings, rather than the usual yellow. Alright, so take it easy on that one. Kiara and Talia attacked the rear guard, while Dusk and I tackled the front.

I leapt over Dusk as he disemboweled a guard to launch a focus blast at a shadow Raichu, knocking it out. Shade had attacked Dusk, who grabbed him with his teeth and threw the Umbreon behind him, knocking him out without hurting him too much. An opening was made, and Kiara grabbed Shade as the four of us ran up the stairs to ground level.

Nobody was up here like before, but we ran outside, and I jumped into a jeep that had its keys still in it- must be either my lucky day, or regulation. Probably the latter. {Come on, get in!} I shouted. Dusk and Talia jumped in the back as Kiara climbed in next to me. Shade was placed in the back with the Absols as an Espeon jumped in the back as well.

{Shine, where were you?} Dusk asked her.

{The air ducts.} She responded. I started up the jeep, and drove out as guards filed out of the building. To my relief, they gave up on the chase.

I was speeding down the desert, and Talia leaned forward to ask, {Zack, you do know how to drive, right?}

{Uhh… more or less…} I replied.

We were approaching a rift in the desert. These things were large cracks in the earth, created when the intense dry heat of the desert proves too much for the earth itself. {WELL, IS IT MORE OR LESS?} Dusk yelled at me.

I turned the steering wheel, and the tires were unable to obtain enough traction. The car flew off the side of the crack in the earth, and fell down it. We fell out of the vehicle, and down into the blackness of the earth. Dusk was falling next to me.

{If we somehow survive, I'll kill you.} He said. We fell farther down into the earth, until we hit something. Water. The liquid saved us, and we floated over to the side of the small lake we had miraculously found. Tired and exhausted, I passed out with everyone else. But not before remembering the last spoken line form my vision.

It was an eerie voice, one I didn't recognize. Fourteen days until the end of the world.

~End of chapter~

Nano: What. The. Fuck.

Librom: What?

Nano: they escaped, fell off a cliff, and the end of the world's in fourteen days?

Librom: that is correct.

Nano: Juuuuuuuuust making sure I didn't miss anything.