Chapter 10 – Long Night Ahead

I felt something move from near me, and I opened my eyes to see Talia stretching. I looked around and saw that everyone was awake besides Zack and Shade. I looked back to Talia to see she was looking at me. She had a look of pure anger on her face, and I was about to ask what was wrong, but she beat me to it unfortunately.

"I heard what you said to Zack when we were falling. You're NOT going to kill him, got it!" she spat furiously.

I swallowed, and nodded slowly to her. A grin appeared on her face.

"Good," she said, before walking away towards Kiara, who seemed to be building a fire.

She was being completely serious about that one detail. It was an annoyance to me, but I had to respect her wish. Well, I didn't have to, but I have a feeling that if I ignore her, she might get me in my sleep. With her attitude, I wouldn't put it past her.

My shoulder was stinging with ferocity, and I looked at it to see that my wound was looking infected. I went to wash it in the lake, but I had to convince myself I wasn't hallucinating at what I saw. The lake had almost completely dried out. The sand on the ground had absorbed most of it in the time we had slept. It was hard to believe.

I went back to where I had slept and began licking my wound to clean it. It wouldn't help as much as I wanted it to, but it was better than letting it go unchecked. As I did, I saw Zack awake. I questioned his sanity as he began to approach me.

"Need any help with that," he said indicating my wound. I gave him a sharp glare that could cut him in half. If only it was that easy. "What? I'm just offering assistance."

"I've taken care of my own wounds before, and I will keep doing so. I just need to wash this out," I growled at him, barely containing my urge to slice at him, but I saw Talia glance at me, and decided it wasn't worth the punishment I might endure later. He noticed my hostility for once, and I felt a little joy as he cringed.

"Listen, Dusk. We're underground, in a desert. Whatever water we have, we need to conserve for drinking," he said. "I'm just saying my medicine can help disinfect that wound before it rots your shoulder off."

"Why do you even care?" I said returning to licking my injury. The medicine did seem like a good idea, but I wouldn't accept it from him.

"Why do I care? Because I care about all my friends. And I count you as one because you and Talia are so close. No matter how hostile you grow towards me, we've fought together. You're a good comrade, and a good friend to have, Dusk."

I ignored his statement as I continued cleaning. He began to walk away, but couldn't just leave well enough alone apparently as he called back towards me.

"If you were just annoyed at me touching you to administer the medicine, it's in my bag. Feel free to get it yourself."

He left his bag on the ground and walked towards Kiara and Talia. If he thought that's the reason I didn't want his medicine, then he might be dumber than I had previously believed. But, the medicine could do what I couldn't. When I knew he wasn't looking, I quietly snuck over to the bag and looked inside. There was a spray bottle of some kind, and I picked it up with my mouth and carried it back to where I had been previously. It took me a second to figure out how to use the plastic device, but eventually, I got it to work. The spray stung at first, but then the pain completely faded away and the infection appeared to clear up. The wound was still there, but it was definitely better than it had been before.

It appeared everyone was ready to begin moving out, and I got up and stretched for a second. Zack picked up Shade in his arms, who was still unconscious. I began to wonder how hard I had actually hit him. He also sent out a Lucario that could use his aura powers to find a way out of the caves without getting too lost.

How many pokemon has Zack taken from their homes? Their families. Just like all of these humans that saw us as tools to show their strength. It disgusted me that humans thought they could just go out and kidnap whatever pokemon they felt like. My train of thought kept getting broken as the cave would rumble every once in a while. It was probably from our depth. I focused again, and decided to see how Zack's pokemon lived. They probably missed the wild. I know I wouldn't want to live if I was ever captured.

I approached the fighting-steel type that lead us forward. As I went to talk, another rumble shook through the cave.

"So, what's your story?" I asked. I saw his focus shift, and he looked at me.

"What do you mean by it?" He asked back.

"How did that human over there take you from your home?"

"Take me? The Boss didn't do anything of the kind, Dusk."

I was surprised by the answer. It wasn't what I had expected.

"Zack saved my life, and I chose to go with him to repay the debt. After a while, we became really good friends. I'll stay with him, since he is a kind soul." He said.

I thought of another argument quickly.

"The food must be horrid. I've seen that Pokemon food. It looks and smells like Buneary droppings."

"Actually, Zack keeps berries on him for us to eat. He says that he wouldn't give us anything that he wouldn't eat himself." He said calmly.

I stared at him, hiding my disbelief. "Even so, you must yearn for freedom, to live by your own rules. To be a wild Pokemon again."

He stopped to think for a moment. "No, I don't think I do. Zack doesn't have many rules, and the ones he does are rather simple, out of courtesy, like don't attack other trainers, unless directed to. Don't attack each other, unless we're training. That sort of stuff."

There had to be something. Some reason for him to miss life like I lived. The freedom.

"Surely there is one thing you miss from being wild, though," I said, almost pleading for an answer I would be able to accept.

"Hmm..." he thought. "Well, I guess I'd miss the old cave I lived in." I grinned as I finally found something to grasp onto.

"However, that got destroyed and completely trashed by the three Kirlia who attacked me, so I'd be living without that anyway."

My grin faded away, and I retreated back through the group until I found Talia. She seemed to be happy with my not killing of Zack before, because she smiled at me and began to lean on me as we walked.

Why couldn't she just pick a side? It seems like one second she hates me, but then in an hour or so she acts like this. She rubbed her head against my neck as if on cue with my thoughts. I sighed as I began to wonder if it was possible to understand Talia's logic.

We walked for a while longer, before another rumble shook the cave, but this one was much closer than the others had been. Suddenly, Zack's Lucario shouted out.

"WATCH OUT!"

Everyone dropped to the ground, and a large red claw pierced through the ground in front of us before being followed by another. Then a huge body followed, and I couldn't believe what I was staring at. The legendary pokemon Groudon had just appeared in front of us!

"Who art thou to trespass upon my domain?" He growled at us.

"Groudon! Long time!" Zack called out to the legendary. I felt my jaw drop. He was going to get us all killed. "You remember me?"

"Damn it Zack. Shut your mouth." I muttered quietly.

"Yes, now I remember you! You're that half-Pokemon kid who fought Rayquaza and lived! How did you get down here?"

My brain stopped working at this moment. What is even going on?

"It's kind of a long story, and hard to explain, but we need to get to the surface. Can you help us?"

"Sure, all of you can climb onto my claw. Anyone who fights Rayquaza is fine by me!"

I will never know how Zack had just convinced a legendary to help him with such informal speech, but I didn't argue. We climbed onto his claw, and he began to lift us up to the surface of the ravine. The entire time, I was sure he would close his claw and kill us all at any moment.

When we reached the top and climbed back onto the surface, Zack thanked Groudon for his help.

"I'd be glad to help. Anything else you need?" Groudon asked.

"Yeah, ask Arceus to meet up with me. I need to speak with him, it's urgent." Zack responded.

Groudon agreed but seemed to be confused by Zack's odd request. I couldn't blame him though. Nothing had made sense to me for who knows how long now.

The sun was setting, and we began to set up camp. Everything had been quiet after the previous events, until there was muttering from where Zack had placed Shade. I turned towards him, and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Shade slowly worked himself to his feet. His purple rings suddenly became a violet-red mix and he began to speak audibly.

"Must… Kill… Intruder! "He screamed out as he shot towards Zack with speed I have never seen before. Zack punched Shade in the jaw with his metal arm to counter Shade's lunge. Shade recoiled from the hit, but there was no wound on him. It was like he hadn't even been touched. Zack took a battle stance. I didn't know what to do. We couldn't just knock him out again. It would be a never-ending cycle of him awakening and being knocked out again. We needed someone to snap him out of this trance. I saw the way Shade was standing, and I was able to tell what his next attack would be.