A Glimmer of Hope

A/N: You know what? I think that I won't bother saying whose POV it is at the start of a chapter anymore unless it actually swaps between chapters. Example – this chapter it's still Akiko talking.


"So the Lady of Midnight or whatever doesn't like shinies?" Schwilk sounded skeptical, and everyone else had similar expressions. I'd relayed what the Joltik had just said.

"It would make a certain amount of sense…I mean, back on Earth, if somebody had a shiny Pokemon in a Poke-Ball and they'd released it, the result was a lot of sparkles of light…"

"Yeah, but this isn't Earth," Bridgetta was back to being snide.

I glanced over to my left. That was the best that I could do for looking at the little Joltik inside my ear. I still wasn't sure if that was a boy or a girl; One was a guy, Wooligan was positive about that. "So…do you have a number I can use?"

"…How about you call me Seven?"

"You mean like lucky seven? Works for me; how about you tell me what exactly happened from your point of view?"

After a second or two of silence, Seven replied. "Well…Tremorfluff's screaming had been what had tipped us off that something was wrong, and we actually saw the shadow starting to cover his wool. We started running away from the shadow ourselves, but we knew that we didn't stand a good chance of escaping it. We got to his head-wool well before the shadow, and we were trying to decide what we wanted to try. I remember one of us wanted to try jumping for your tail, even though the odds of actually landing on your tail weren't all that great. Then I noticed the shadow was getting close to, um…a friend."

Seven had probably been about to say the name of one of the other Joltik. "Yeah?"

"I grabbed her and spun around, putting myself between her and the shadow. The shadow touched one of my legs and then that shriek you heard sounded – that was way louder to a tiny creature, by the way, we were almost deafened."

"Ah. So, um, help me out here: are you a boy or a girl?"

A high laugh rang into my ear. "I'm a boy."

"Okay, sorry about that."

"No problem; I knew that was coming – it always does for Joltik."

I relayed his story to the others. Then I asked, "Are you hurt? You said the shadow touched your leg…"

"My friend…we'll call her Fourteen for the sake of convenience…she looked it over while Tremorfluff was shifting into a human. It's fine; maybe a little hair was dissolved away or whatever happens to hair when the shadow touches it, but my leg itself was unharmed."

"So it still comes down to: kya'liin hybrids are immune to the shadows of the Lady of the Underworld. We can work with that."

Branden raised his hand. "Um, problem: we've only got two kya'liins in our team: Starfluff and Seven. And Starfluff's…young – only three attacks to her name."

"How old are you, Seven?" I asked, fighting to not cock that ear and dislodge him.

He was quiet for almost a full minute. Then he spoke, finally.

I stayed motionless for a few. "Seriously? You're thirty-five? I'd have pegged your age at, ah…twenty?"

"Some bugs take longer to evolve than others, Akiko. Joltik evolve at thirty-six; one bug doesn't evolve until it's almost sixty."

"Which is that one? I feel sorry for them!"

"If you hadn't heard of Joltik before, you probably don't know this one, either: Larvesta. Lots of Joltik feel sorry for them, too."

"When's-Seven's-birthday?" Skipper asked. "Might-not-be-familiar-with-evolution-patterns, mine's-a-strange-one, but-evolution-takes-place-on-a-birthday."

"I heard that," Seven wryly spoke into my ear. "And my birthday's the twentieth count of this month."

I still hadn't memorized the hybrid's calendar. They almost never referred to actual days, because of the hours being either always-light or always-dark. A twenty-four-hour span was referred to as a count. "I…lost track of the… 'counts.' When's the twentieth?"

"Is that what he said?" Silvercloud spread a wing and studied the underside, I'm not sure what for. "The fiasco was near the end of the eighteenth count. We traveled for almost a full count after that. If I haven't completely lost something, the twentieth is in another couple of hours."

"And once that happens, we just wait for the right hour!" Springslip sounded excited. "Um, what is the right hour, Seven?"

"Uh…t-t-t-t-t-t-t…"

That little ticking sound did get me twitching my ear, and I had to swing my tail around to catch him as he lost his grip and fell. "Sorry for the interruption. You were saying?" I set him back.

"The fourth."

"Okay, let's see if I can lay out the basic timeline: in another couple hours, the twentieth count will begin. Four hours after that, you'll evolve." I looked about at the others. "Does anyone think we've got six hours at all?"

For almost thirty seconds, nobody spoke. It was Mystike who finally answered.

"I sincerely doubt it. Whatever plan you come up with involving our kya'liin, it has to take place soon…before 'Seven' evolves."

"I was afraid you'd say that." I waved Starfluff over and then plucked 'Seven' back off my ear. "Humor me and take on your true form, would you?" I asked the little guy before setting him down.

After a few seconds, he started growing. When he hit about three feet tall, he stopped.

I studied him. Now I could see why 'One' had said a Joltik was slow in its true form: a Joltik-hybrid's legs weren't exactly legs…more like a second pair of arms. Come to think of it, Skipper's legs were similar. No wonder every time he was going somewhere, it was flying. A Joltik didn't have that option. Besides that, aside from his sleek purple tri-fingered hands he was totally covered with fluffy fur. I'd seen Spinarak-hybrids by then, and his face was…similar – he did have mandibles of a sort bracketing his mouth. The part that was probably the most unnerving was that on his forehead was a small pair of shimmering purple spots that occasionally, right along with his eyes…blinked. Were those a second pair of eyes?

"Thanks…I wanted to be able to look you in the face while we discussed strategy and hear you without you clinging to my ear."

He sat down on the ground and crossed his lower pair of arms, looking up at me. "All right then." His voice had deepened with his growth spurt. It was still a high voice, he was an insect after all; but he sounded more like a teenager now, if not quite an adult.

"Okay, so…what attacks do you two know?" I pointed at Starfluff first.

"Maaa…Tack'a, Graawl, aann'…Thunda Wave."

Tackle, Growl and Thunder Wave. And the other attacks the flock can throw are Thunder Shock and Cotton Spore. I turned my eyes to 'Seven.'

"And my attacks," he didn't wait for me to ask the question, "are String Shot, Leech Life, Spider Web, Thunder Wave, Screech, Fury Cutter, Electroweb, Bug Bite, Gastro Acid, Slash, Electro Ball, and Signal Beam."

Well, I figured there'd be an overlap in attacks. "I don't know…hm…let's see…"

"For the record," he added, "Electroweb, Electro Ball and Signal Beam are my best attacks."

"Good to know. Ah…" My eyes roved over to the rest of our group. "You know, this would be simpler if I knew what you guys could do as well."

Branden shrugged. "I've got Tackle, Growth, Vine Whip, Tail Whip, Leech Seed, Razor Leaf, Worry Seed, Synthesis, and Take Down. Good stuff happens with Vine Whip and Razor Leaf, but…well."

Chance piped up next. "Um…Scratch, Growl, Assist, Sand Attack, Fury Swipes, and Pursuit. I only just learned Pursuit, but it's one of my better attacks."

Bridgetta sighed. "I've got Fake Out, Scratch, Growl and Hypnosis…" she smirked. "…as well as Quick Attack."

"Wow, three different attacks that work well with your strengths and element!" Same type attack bonus wasn't something to sneeze at.

Schwilk stretched his body a bit. "Let's see…I've got Mud Slap, Mud Sport, Harden, Water Pulse, Mud Bomb, Hidden Power, and Rain Dance. Water Pulse is my best."

Allielle chose to speak next. "Bubble, Water Sport, Absorb, Night Shade, Bubble Beam, Recover, and Water Pulse; most of my attacks suit me."

Skipper got the lead out and, naturally, spoke fast. "Tackle, Foresight, Quick-Attack, Double-Team, and-Sonic-Boom;-wouldn't-call-Sonic-Boom-my-best-attack, but-it's-one-of-my-betters."

Kenshin shrugged. "It's not a big list: Scratch, Leer, Fury Cutter, Torment, Feint Attack, and Scary Face. Still, I'm good with Scratch and Fury Cutter, and Feint Attack's my current best move."

Carakka was the next to speak, waving gently to some inner rhythm and creating an odd little noise. "Well…Cotton Guard, After You, Peck, Absorb, Sweet Scent, Growth, Pin Missile, Mega Drain, Synthesis, and…Cotton Spore. Absorb and Mega Drain are my best attacks."

Silvercloud barely glanced up from picking stuff off her wings. "Peck, Growl, Astonish, Sing, Fury Attack, Safeguard, and Mist. I'm better with Peck and Fury Attack than the others, but…nothing's my best."

A lower attack ability to begin with.

Springslip spoke next. "Skipper's not the only one who can use Sonic Boom; I can, too, and I've also got Growl, Water Sport, Quick Attack, Water Gun, Pursuit, Swift, and Aqua Jet. I'm really good at Water Gun, and better at Aqua Jet."

Mystike looked embarrassed. "Um…Scratch, Leer, Pursuit, Fake Tears, and Fury Swipes; I'm good at Pursuit, but not great…"

Troy opened his mouth. Then he closed it again. "Um. My turn? Uh…okay, this is embarrassing. I've always been teased over how long it took me to take the test to find out what I could evolve into ever since I turned nine. I missed the cut-off point for getting the first specialized attack of an Eeveelution."

"Okay, so…" I prompted, "what've you got?"

"Ah…Helping Hand, Growl, Tackle, Tail Whip, Sand Attack, um…yeah, and Swift and Quick Attack. I'm good at Swift and better at Tackle and Quick Attack."

"Troy…what's that last attack? It sounded like there was an attack between Sand Attack and Swift, you hesitated weirdly right there." I wasn't trying to be mean; if I was going to make a decent plan, I needed to know everything.

"That's…the attack that I'm embarrassed about. Look, are you sure you need to know it? It's a status move, not an actual attack…"

I cocked my ears at him. "You might as well."

He sighed. Then he muttered under his breath. But I and everyone else with big ears picked it up easily.

"Baby-Doll Eyes."

Bridgetta started giggling, Chance snorted and covered his mouth, and the whole flock started bleating with laughter. Mystike had only one thing to say. "That's not so bad."

I had a bit of trouble controlling my expression, but I got myself under control. "Okay…let's see, and my own attacks are…Fake Out, Growl, Tail Whip, Tackle, Foresight, Attract, Sing, and Double Slap; and when I came here, I had been taught Shock Wave and Charge Beam." Let's see…do I have same-type-attack-bonus on any of those, or something I'm better at? …Fake Out, Tackle and Double Slap have STAB, um…no, I don't actually get any bonuses on those new attacks. After thinking for a bit, my ears perked up. "Okay, I've got a plan!"


A/N: What's Akiko's plan? Uh…I don't know. Readers, brainstorm for me: what would you do with these Pokemon with these attacks? Yes, Akiko's attacks are slightly outdated and Skitty can't be TM-taught Shock Wave anymore; I'm not going back and changing it. Okay, the setup is the Institute: there are loads of prisons inside, each geared to keep a specific Pokemon element restrained. Your opponents are superpowered Eeveelutions (some you've seen before, some you haven't; in the hybrid universe, every element has an Eeveelution), chaotic Vileplume and Bellossom, and dangerous Beautifly and Dustox. And what kind of game-style description would this be without mentioning the boss: the Lady of the Underworld, a strange shadow-being that can absorb other living beings (defining life fairly loosely, it can absorb ghosts as well) and detests even touching a shiny hybrid. You have one other ally in the Institute – a Zoroark disguised as an Umbreon – but you can't count on finding him right away. (His attacks are Night Daze, Imprison, U-Turn, Scratch, Leer, Pursuit, Hone Claws, Fake Tears, Fury Swipes, Feint Attack, Scary Face, Taunt, Foul Play, Night Slash, Torment, Agility and Embargo.) This note will stay until I get to Pokemon Week again and start writing Chapter 13. Once 13's up, I'll update this chapter and remove the note.