This is the second of two chapters today.
I woke up to the sound of Pidgeysong. Yawning, I stretched in midair and used wake-up slap on Darrel's face.
"OW! Good morning, and please don't do that! It hurts!" Darrel said, rubbing his cheek. "I bet that's gonna bruise." Adina glanced at us, then went off to make her preparations. Sadie let her claws dig into the bed, then hopped off to retrieve a brush for Darrel to use on Chip and her. Chip had slept on a rather fluffy blanket on the floor, and woke up to the sensation of his leaves being trimmed.
"Morn, D-Candy," Sadie called, before shaking herself. "There. Much better." She hopped around a little to get height and landed daintily on Darrel's shoulder as Adina finished sorting herself out. She waved a small camera and signaled for us to follow.
"So, Shabboneau is just a little north from here," She worked out. Closing the map that was featured in the brochure, she let out Ember so he could be admitted into the elderly castle. It stood tall but neglected in the small town.
"It's so ancient looking," Adina murmured as we approached the drawbridge. A man in a fighting outfit noticed us and got up from where he had been sitting.
"Nice to see visitors!" he called, waving. "Come on in! I'll show you around!" Adina glanced at Darrel, and he shrugged before following the man inside. I rushed over to his side, and Adina was close behind.
"Wow..." Darrel muttered. The whole place was lit up old-style, with gaseous lamps that looked much like small Litwick, though closer inspection proved otherwise. Pictures were strewn about the castle, and many depicted the man in his younger years, in front of a younger castle.
"This place hasn't seen many visitors in a while - Parfum is all the rage at the moment." He shook his head. "I know it's wrong to be so presumptious, but that place doesn't have anything. All it has is material. There's no real benefit. It's just some golden palace." Chip seemed a little surprised at that opinion, but he began to see the point.
"Over here are the western halls. Over there the eastern. That over there is the private portion, for the residents of this place. Upstairs is the room of our ancestors, where the previous masters of this house slept - nowadays we let people in to get a taste of history, but at the moment we can't go there."
"Why not?" Adina asked, distracted from looking at a painting of the Berry Fields behind the castle.
"A wounded pokémon showed up yesterday, and I decided he would recover better using the bed, so he's there now." Adina nodded and moved in, undeterred.
"Come on, Darrel, we don't have all day!" She called. "We're going to help that pokémon!" Darrel blinked, and after a brief moment he nodded and followed, closely pursued by the man who had lead us around. She went cautiously into the room, and was met by a soft growl from the bedsheets.
"There there, I'm not here to hurt you," she said, trying to be soothing. Ember went quiet and loped carefully into the room, before leaping onto the bed and checking for the pokémon. He glanced about, checked under the sheets, and even under the bed itself, before shaking his head.
"Oh. Oh no. That maid left the window open." he murmured, before walking to the window and looking out. "If I'm correct, he'd probably head for whatever smelled safest... probably Parfum Palace. It would block the other scents." He glanced to the two. "Do you mind? I want to make sure he's okay." Darrel and Adina agreed, and we promptly left the castle.
"It's over this way," He called, trotting hurriedly towards a tree-lined pathway to a much larger estate. "Hurry!" Darrel decided to let out Chip, and he glanced for only a moment at the situation before falling into a steady trot at Darrel's side.
"I would guess it headed for the Gardens." He glanced at the Gatekeeper, and the keeper showed his recognition before standing aside. "Thank you."
Adina couldn't help but look around a bit. The place was far too fancy - and had way too much gold - for my liking. It needed more crystals. Or Opals. Or something. Chip was wary of where he stepped, but he relaxed once they were in the overdone garden, which clogged my senses with the scent of peppermint and rose. Sadie made a face and tried to keep her face pretty while not wincing at the smell. She was not doing so well.
I decided to make a pocket of air around my face, and I felt much better almost instantly. I decided to remember it for if anyone tried to use powder moves on me. Lancing out into the sky, I looked down on the intricate garden and spotted movement at one edge. Moving down to Sadie's eye level, I signaled for her to follow. I went alongside her to let her breathe into my bubble for a few moments before going ahead towards what sounded like a battle.
A guard was behind us, calling out to the sound. "No battling in the Garden!" He cried, a Litleo dogging his heels loyally, and barking the same orders in Pokémon. Darrel glanced behind briefly before returning his focus to the battle presumably happening. He skidded out into a small space and nearly got a charred hat.
LEAVE!
A powerful mental presence made itself clear, although words weren't what we heard, just a strong mental impulse. Darrel resisted it, although Adina stopped and stepped back a little before blinking in confusion, and Sadie cringed as she stood her ground. The guard kept going and found himself looking at a strange scene.
A small Houndour was glaring up at a very strange looking pokémon. Physically the pokémon looked like a slightly powerful Honedge, his bladed body gleaming in the sunlight, but his colour was strange. Most notably, his blade was a bright red colour, As well as the majority of the noble cloth he used as a makeshift arm. He held his sheath in it, and his eye glowed a ghastly purple.
LEAVE! LEAVE THIS PLACE!
It became quite obvious that the mental presence was coming from the reanimated blade. It repeated its pleas to the Houndour to no avail.
WHY?! Suddenly, the voice got quieter, as if it were thoughts, not speech, they were hearing. Why won't you listen to me? All I want is peace...
The Houndour looked confused. It pranced about a bit, but when that garnered no reaction from the saddened pokémon, he approached, his tail in a low wag to show friendliness. He managed to get close enough to the ghost/steel type to nip his cloth curiously. He leaped back as the sword swung out at him, ghostly energy enveloping his blade. He stopped and glared at the Houndour, before approaching, causing the small dog to cower.
"Calm down," A soft voice said, from elsewhere. A tall figure walked in from the castle and approached the Red blade with an ease that made onlookers nervous. "He cannot hear your mental voice. That is how it is with Dark-types." He gestured for the small black-and-red dog, who glanced at Honedge before crawling quietly out of the brush he was hiding in.
You.
"Yes?" The cloaked stranger said, adjusting his scarf. He glanced briefly at me, chortled to himself, and let his eyes wander over to Adina, and then to Darrel. He blinked, as if surprised, before grinning to himself. His black cape hid the rest of his reactions.
I sense a strange oddity in you. Much like an omnipresent voice... it is strange. Like remnants from an outcry long ago... are you a ghost type?
"Yes, that might be so. I fear it is far to personal to explain here, but it is why I work primarily with Dark Types - they can't hear it." He bowed. "My apologies."
No matter. Will the Houndour cause any trouble?
The sword blinked, his one eye refocusing to see Adina treating a wound on his leg. He growled a friendly undertone which showed his appreciation.
I guess not.
"I'm afraid he was lead here by his nose. The scents in Parfum Palace can be confusing," The cloaked one nodded to himself, and the Honedge absorbed it dutifully.
I cannot smell. I presume I must believe your judgement.
"Indeed." He walked over to Adina, who had fixed a bandage onto the Houndour's leg. It yapped as it was lifted, but smiled at the man suddenly, as if in a brief moment everything had been perfectly explained. To the crowd, he said, "I will take responsibility for him, at least for a while. Thank you, Miss, for patching him up." Adina smiled to herself and shrugged before getting up and rejoining us. The cloaked man nodded, and then-
gone.
It was weird, like a whisper of smoke engulfing him and him fading out of existence-
No. It was a dark typed version of teleport. Something like...a version of Dark Void, was it? Something only highly well-adjusted dark type trainers could use? Odd. Darrel blinked momentarily before glancing back at the Honedge.
If only all humans understood me that well. The Honedge murmured. It turned to leave, but glanced back at Darrel. Then at Sadie.
What are you? You seem to have elemental energy locked away within you.
"Why, thank you for noticing! I'm an Eevee. My name is Sadie, and these are my friends." She glanced at us all, listing our names. The Honedge nodded, a strange sight as it involved him wobbling in midair. "About what you said... My trainer can understand most pokémon. Want to try talking to him?"
Alright. He approached Darrel and floated about a foot away from his face. Let's see. Can you hear my voice?
"Uh, yeah. A bit loud actually. You don't have to stay so close." Honedge jumped back, startled, then relaxed, his cloth reassuming its flowing stature.
Impressive.
"I'm glad you think so," Darrel replied, once he was certain that no one was watching. "Sorry, people might think I'm a lunatic if I just start talking to you. Most can't do this." Darrel noted that even the kind man from Shabboneau was gone, and he was alone apart from Adina and his pokémon. Honedge moved back and began to speak again.
Then, trainer, Honedge said, Do you think you could teach me to speak as humans do?
Darrel blinked in surprise. "Well, I could certainly try, but I can't make any promises."
A wise decision. Promises are quite unstable. He moved for Darrel's bag and levitated a Poké ball out of it. I was hoping for this. Allow me to join you.
Click!
The ball stopped shaking and lay dormant on the ground. Darrel stared at it oddly. "I... guess we have a new traveling companion?"
"Gee, I wish that happened to me, I'm terrible with Poké balls." Adina murmured, Ember at her side. "I really need some new team mates." Everyone laughed half-heartedly, and before long we were stolen away by a tour guide to see the rest of Parfum Palace.
"Shoot, it's already dark," Adina groaned, looking out at the sky, after traveling back down the pathway. She glanced briefly at the overcast skies. "Not a day for camping either. Back to Camphrier it is." She pulled her bag and began to run for it, headed back down route 7. Darrel took the time to help Sadie into his bag as they were running to stop her getting wet, and for once he was behind Adina, although he was catching up fast.
Adina stopped at the ceremonious gate to Camphrier which had a slight overhang. Darrel caught his breath, glanced worriedly at the storm clouds brewing, and turned back to see what Adina was looking at.
A large, blue-and-cream bear-like thing was sleeping directly under the overhang.
"I guess he wanted to stay dry?" I said, trying to lighten the mood.
The storm agreed. It said this by pouring down on us in mere seconds.
"Oh great." Adina muttered. "Just what I wanted." A voice floated into my hearing, and apparently hers too. A man was standing outside a small sign, announcing a Berry Farm, and from the looks of it he was beckoning us. We didn't need to decide - we just ran for it, towards him. He showed us to a small cottage near a small farm. He passed Adina and Darrel some towels, and a small girl quickly gave some to the pokémon, except me. Sadie was already dry, so she tossed hers to me and stood protectively in front of what must have looked like a levitating towel.
"Are you all okay? Good. You can stay here the night, it doesn't look like the storm is going to let up anytime soon." The man said. Adina quickly agreed to the offer, and Darrel followed suit once he saw the downpour outside. "I run this here berry farm. I think we have some spare rooms upstairs if you need to stay the night." We all gave him an eager response, and he laughed before going up to set up the rooms.
"Mister? Who was that nice girl who bandaged my leg?" a young Houndour asked the tall, cloaked human next to him.
"Her name is Adina. She is a traveling companion, I believe, of Cresselia's chosen." The wind sped up as the night fell, and Houndour decided to hide beneath the human's large, billowing cloak.
"Why are we on the roof?" Houndour asked, once he was comfortably assembled underneath the protection of a pair of legs and a black cape.
"Well, I wanted to talk to a friend of mine, and people would panic if he was seen on the street." Glancing up, a black figure materialized in mere seconds.
"Shadowcaster," It spoke, its shadowy form mostly visible due to the red ring around his neck and a long, wispy length of what was presumably white hair. "I see you found Darrel. He... is a chosen, much like yourself, correct? One of Cresselia's?"
"Yes. I must say, Darkrai, you make quite a dashing figure in this scenery. Moon rising behind you, and you'd be the thing of fairy tales."
"I...well, I at least know I don't like fairy-types, but I think that was meant as a compliment, so thank you." Darkrai replied. He moved in to stand next to the Shadowcaster, floating next to him and extending two long, surprisingly dainty legs to touch the ground, relaxing as his powers of defying gravity were no longer needed.
"I think it would be wise to watch the two of them. Adina, while not a chosen, also shows promise - perhaps not a shadowcaster or lightcaster, but may very well be qualified to join their ranks in an unofficial way." Darkrai raised an eyebrow, a considerable feat as he did not have any eyebrows, and allowed his two bright blue eyes to be seen.
"I trust your judgement, Tobes, but are you sure? She only has one pokémon with her." Darkrai countered.
"Number of pokémon means nothing. And I asked you to stop calling me that," Tobias said, shaking his head.
"As long as you go around in that ridiculous disguise and wear stilts to be taller, I will call you Tobes." A crooked grin displayed a rarely seen side of the grim presence. "Besides, it is fun."
"Quiet, you." Tobias replied, sighing good-naturedly. "And you know my name isn't Tobias. Or Tobes."
Darkrai shot a look at the Not-Actually-Called-Tobias. "I came for a different matter. We're getting too light-hearted. I wanted to ask for some proper training. I let you down back in Sinnoh, after all." Darkrai looked down at the small Houndour who was still using not-Tobias for a shelter from the rain. "Who is this?"
"I'm Houndour!" Houndour yapped nervously.
"I can see that. I meant where did you come from and the like."
"Oh!"
"You two... Darkrai, this is a Houndour I plan to raise until the next time I see Darrel and Adina. I want him to work with her, but at the moment he's a tad too young. I was thinking you could teach him a few things?" Tobias asked.
"Of course." Darkrai considered. "It would be beneficial for me as well. I can review my capabilities." He shook himself. "I'm still depressed over the Lily of the Valley Conference. That Sceptile of Ash's..."
"It wasn't your fault. I miscalculated the effectiveness of status moves," not-Tobias countered. "Look. Latios was able to sort that out, and we managed to stop a paradox. You know how loosely Ho-Oh ties its wish-granting capabilities, and if I'd been more careful we would have been able to do better. Regardless, I do admit we'll have to brush up a bit if we're ever needed again. Can't let him win a league, after all. That would break his 'forever-journey' wish, and you know how hard Celebi had to work to sort it out last time when he won the Orange Islands thing."
Latios released itself and let out a warning cry. Not-Tobias immediately paid rapt attention. He had to focus more on non-dark types if he wanted to understand.
"To-to, we must check the operations of Team Plasma. I feel the dread from the Altomare incident all over again." Latios cringed.
An Absol almost immediately leaped out of the darkness, though it looked slightly different - most notably, medium sized wings rose from her back. "Indeed. I feel it too. It was a wise decision to follow you, Shadowcaster."
"Alright, don't get your flight-feathers in a knot. Give me a ride to Unova so we can check out what they're up to, and make sure Ash is on the right path to intercept them." He sent Darkrai away and leaped unceremoniously onto Latios. "Remind me to get Zoroark in case we need to make him go in the wrong direction. Gee, we're getting good at this. Remember the time we accidentally sent them to the North Pole to meet Santa?" Latios trilled a light-hearted, laugh-like reply as he prepared for takeoff. In a matter of moments the Houndour joined him, and soon they were a mere speck of colour on an ever-darker horizon.
A/N; Woo! New Chapter done!
I don't know how I managed that thing at the end. I might rewrite this one day, if I get the chance. But it will certainly do. And before anyone asks, no, this isn't going to be a big part of the story - just something on the side. A bit of extra, I guess.