CHAPTER 7

When I woke up the next morning, I realized why Slice was denied permission to search for me. It's probably because the Crimson Council thought I was already dead so they didn't bother search for me.

That was typical for them. When they realized I was missing, they probably thought to themselves: "So what if he's dead? We could just replace him." After all, all of us are just their tools.

I arrive at the breakfast table and began to eat. The, I heard an annoying and familiar voice.

"Hey Shady." I turned around and saw Dart.

"What d'you want?" I asked him.

"Well to be honest, I'm actually surprised you didn't die." Dart began crossing his arms with a smug look on his face. "I'm amazed at how a weakling like you was able to survive." He gave a chuckle. I turned back to my meal.

"Hey, I'm not done with you." said Dart. I gritted my teeth and faced Dart again.

"What is it now?" I said.

"Well I just want you to know that we're doing a mission together."

"WHAT!" The rest of my team looked at Dart with shock.

"I wouldn't team up with you if you we're the last team in the world!" Slice said pointing a finger at Dart.

"Well too bad. It's what the council wants and what the council wants the council gets. So shape up Team 0 Kill, I wouldn't want you to bring my team down."

With that, he laughed evilly and walked away. I turned to the rest of my team.

"OK guys," I began. "I know this looks bad..."

"Bad? If the mission doesn't kill us, Dart's team might do it instead!" Scuttle complained waving his pincers around.

"I know and I wouldn't be surprised if they did." I admitted. "But it's just another mission and hopefully, the only mission we'll have with Dart's team."

"Shade's right but if they do try to kill us, let's just run away really fast." Slice said and all of us laughed. Then, the horn sounded and we went over to the gate where Dart's team was.

Dart's the leader of his team and they're all big meanies like him. His teammates were: Ente, a Yanmega; Peter, a Nosepass; Jewel, a Sableye and Cendou, a Spiritomb.

"Hey boss, its Team 0 Kill." Peter said pointing at us.

"Well well well, you guys're late. I expected that from you guys." Dart said. Slice opened his mouth to say something back but I tell him not to.

"So what's the mission?" I asked Dart.

"Well, if you must know, a fresh supply of Water Stones has appeared at the river." Dart began. "The council thinks that a team of Amber Fang Pokemon is being sent to pick them up so…"

"We intercept them." I finished.

"Good to see that you're not as dumb as we thought." Dart said rudely. The gates opened and the ten of us began walking towards the river.

I faced Dart and asked: "So why do we have to accompany you guys in this mission?"

Dart turned his head towards me. "Well, the council wanted it because they were getting sick of you guys not killing anyone so they teamed you guys with us so that you'll kill someone."

"Well that's just great." I muttered to my team as Dart turned away.

"What do we do Shade?" Berg asked.

"I still don't know." I replied.

Still unsure of what to do, we finally left the forest and entered the grasslands. When we got close to the river, Dart spoke to us.

"OK everyone get down." All of us crouched down and slowly got closer and closer to the river. Then, we saw five Pokemon crouching at the river picking up Water Stones and tossing them into a nearby basket. I couldn't identify those Pokemon from my position.

"OK here's the plan:" I whispered. "First someone has to grab that basket and-"

But then, Dart stood up and fired a Draco Meteor at the Pokemon. It didn't hit them but it hit the water and exploded sending a lot of smoke into the air.

"What did you do that for?" I said angrily. The rest of my team did the same. "You just gave away our position!"

"I know but it pays to make a good entrance." Dart said looking at the dust cloud. We could hear voices from it.

"Is everyone OK?" someone from within the cloud asked. They gave a collective reply of yes.

"Levi, blow this cloud away!" another voice from the cloud said. I recognized that voice-it belongs to Rosy.

But if that's the case, then…?

The dust cloud was blown away by a Baltoy. Just as I suspected, standing next to the Baltoy was Rosy along with a Monferno, Marowak and an Espeon.

Shine…

Both of us made eye contact and our eyes widened. Luckily, neither of our teams noticed this. Dart was busy talking to Rosy.

"Well well well, so you guys are our victims today." Dart said evilly.

Rosy gritted her teeth. "Everyone, get ready!" she said and her team assumed battle stances; Shine did hesitantly.

Dart turned to me. "So Shady, since this'll be your first kill, I'll let you pick your target."

I looked at him surprised. I did the same at my team but they didn't say anything. I stepped forward and scanned them.

"I pick the Espeon." I said pointing a paw at her. Shine looked at me shocked while Rosy raised one of her arms to try and shield her.

"Good choice." Dart said to me. "Now, LET THE SHOW BEGIN!"

He unleashed a vicious Sandstorm that covered the entire area. I had a hard time seeing but I heard Dart yell: "CHARGE!" and I ran forward.

As I ran through the sandstorm, I heard the sounds of Pokemon shouting and attacking. I couldn't tell whose voice it was but I kept on running and then, I found Shine.

"Shine!" I yelled running to her.

"Shade…" she said and approached me. Both of us then blushed at the sight of each other.

"Relax, I'm not going to kill you." I told her.

Then, I heard a crashing sound behind me an both of us turned around. Dart had appeared dodging a Poison Sting from Rosy. Rosy tried to punch him but Dart punched her back.

"Hey, she's right in front of you! Waste her already!" Dart yelled at me. Rosy charged at him again and they fought again. This gave me time to talk to Shine.

"What do we do?" Shine asked me.

"We'll fight but we have to make it look convincing." I told her.

"OK…" Shine said before pausing. "I'm glad I got to see you again Shade."

Both of us blushed but then, Dart came into view again so I knew it was time to act. I used Faint Attack to appear behind Shine. She dodged my attack and used Double Team to make several copies of herself.

I knew what I had to do. I looked at all the Shines to find out which was the real one but before I could find it out, I had to dodge a Signal Beam from one of the copies. Then, all of them fired Signal Beams and I had a hard time dodging.

"Who whoa, easy Shine." I said softly so that Dart wouldn't hear me. "Those nearly hit me."

"Well, you said I should make it look convincing." Shine replied. I smirked a little and fired a Hyper Beam at one of the copies and destroyed it.

But then, Dart's Sandstorm ended and I got a view of the surroundings. My team, Dart's team and Shine's team were all still alive but they were all wounded and tired. Shine turned off her Double Team.

"Hey boss, these guys are tough!" Peter yelled to Dart. "We out number them but we haven't killed any!"

"I know!" Dart said clutching a bleeding elbow. "Hey Shady, that Espeon's right in front of you, get her!"

All three teams looked at Shine and me. I had to do something so I used Faint Attack to reappear behind Shine.

"I'm sorry about this Shine." I whispered to her before hitting her lightly. She felt to the ground but I knew she wasn't seriously hurt.

"Shine!" Rosy yelled at her. Dart and his team meanwhile were cheering.

"That's it Shady! Now, kill her already!" Dart yelled excitedly at me.

I just stood there for a few moments. I looked from the excited faces of Dart's team, to the surprised faces of my team, to the fearful faces of Shine's team, and then to Shine. She was looking at me in a way that she knew I would do the right thing.

Slowly, I walked over to her. I whispered to her: "Listen, just play along." and then spoke to Rosy.

"Listen all of you! Do what I say or I'll kill her!" I said threateningly. I put a paw of her head to make them think I wanted to do it but in reality, I wouldn't.

"What the hell are you doing?" Dart yelled angrily at me.

"What do you want us to do?" Rosy yelled at me.

I paused a bit. "Leave right now and don't bring the Water Stones."

"What about Shine?" Rosy asked.

"If you leave, then we'll just take her as a prisoner." Rosy growled angrily. "Don't get this the wrong way." I continued. "She'll be our prisoner but I promise I won't kill her."

Rosy looked at me angrily. She looked at Shine and said: "Don't worry Shine; we'll get you back even if it kills us."

Rosy turned to the rest of her team and they ran away. I waited until they were out of sight before I turned to Slice.

"Get the Water Stones." I told him. He went over to the basket filled with the stones and brought them to me. I spoke to Shine.

"Your name's Shine right?" I asked and she nodded. "We're going to take you as our prisoner. If you resist or try to escape, you'll be killed…

..by Dart's team" I finished my sentence in my head. Shine nodded and I told Slice to bind her feet with ice and he did it. I breathed a sigh of relief because the first bad part was over.

The next bad part was in the form of Dart.