DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokemon.
MESSAGE TO READERS: Have updated this chapter due to a small mistake regarding Shade's stones. I originally put that Dawn Stones could make Murkrow evolve, since then I have realised it is actually Dusk Stones! Whoops!
A SMEARGLE'S TALE
CHAPTER 25: MURKY SKIES
As the Murkrow known as Shade took his perch at the top of the rocky structure that made the ceiling of Union Cave, his underling Bleak looked at the six of us with a strange sense of discomfort. I did not quite know what to do, whether or not to head straight in to attack Bleak or try to whittle down some of the Murkrow flying overhead. Easel had grabbed a hold of her tail in the same way as I had done. Dude, who was still shaking seemed to be trying to think of a battleplan for himself. Nate and Venus both stared at the dark sky above us, whether the rest of the Murkrow were now circling overhead. Whilst Burn, who looked rather guilty for some reason was looking at the expressions on our faces. Bleak then cawed a long cackle, similar to the way a Misdreavus or Mismagius would.
"Do you think that just the six of you can defeat all of us?" Bleak challenged. I stepped forward, unworried by his taunt.
"You'll soon find out!" I snarled, but before I could attack Dude curled himself up and suddenly rolled at a high speed right towards Bleak, slamming into him with brutal force. With that, the Murkrow from above began to spiral down towards us. I shot an Icy Wind at the incoming flock, as Venus spat out a barrage of seeds simultaneously. Easel cowered in fright. Burn himself seemed to wait for the right moment to attack. The Icy Wind and Bullet Seed attacks headed right for the flock, but they suddenly dispersed, each and every one of them avoiding the attacks. Venus and I gasped in shock, before the five of us were suddenly covered by Murkrow, all of which were pecking at us and hitting us hard with their wings. It was an absolute melee. I frantically fired an Icy Wind, only for it to be neutralised by a Flamethrower that had been spat out by Burn. Not one of the Murkrow seemed to be hurt by this. The only one of us who had not been harmed yet was Dude, who was outside of the melee, still using his Rollout to tackle Bleak. The flock then shot back up just as Nate's wings filled with silver, but the Steel Wing attack missed.
"How the heck did all of our attacks miss!?" Burn growled in frustration, before spitting a second Flamethrower from his mouth, this time towards Bleak. The attack connected just as he dodged Dude's Rollout, causing him to shriek out in pain. Dude was able to stop himself just before colliding with Easel. Bleak let out another shriek, but this time took to the air and fired a scattered shot of dark energy towards us. From above, a few of the other Murkrow descended just lowered than the others and fired several Dark Pulses of their own. Each of them exploded around us, literally knocking us all down. Nate in particular seemed to be affected worst of all, but Easel quickly went to restore some of his strength, a role which she had proved to be most useful when the battles were beyond one on one. Dude then buried his hands into the ground and pulled up a giant rock from beneath the surface of the earth, before finally launching it skyward, striking one of the Murkrow. As it connected, I noticed several of the other Murkrow seemed to vanish into thin air.
"What!?" I exclaimed, shocked by this sight.
"Yo, there ain't really as many as they make out to be, man!" Dude called. "Double Team, yo! Boosts evasiveness." We all acknowledged this fact by grinning.
"That's why we couldn't hit them," Burn grinned. "But the more of them we take out, the more likely we are of hitting the real ones.
"That's right!" I nodded. "Everyone attack up above. Dude, take care of Bleak!"
"Radical!" Dude flexed boastfully, before rolling towards the Dark Type once again, this time though he took to the air and began to spin as he plummeted back down, using his beak like a drill. His chosen target was Venus, who let out one of her traditional ear-splitting shrieks as the Drill Peck did super effective damage to her. "Don't worry, babe! I'm coming!" Dude called, summoning some large rocks from the ground below to trap Bleak. However, the Murkrow managed to escape before the attack could be completed, before flying high up into the sky. He then rapidly shot back down to earth, accompanied by several of the other Murkrow, heading straight for Dude, but Venus leapt in the way, her jaws wide open. She crunched down on one of the Murkrow, which vanished into nothingness, whilst slapping her Vine Whip into some of the others. The real Bleak was then caught out by a Brick Break from Dude, knocking it down to the ground.
"How many times have I told you NOT to call me babe?" Venus growled angrily. Dude chuckled a little, before throwing another large rock from under the ground towards the airborne flock of Murkrow. Burn had began to form an orb of strange electrical energy in his mouth, before blasting it towards the sky. It exploded on impact, causing several of the real Murkrow to fall to the ground in defeat.
"What was that?" Nate asked, panting for breath.
"Zap Cannon," the brown furred Flareon replied. "Just because I'm not a Jolteon doesn't mean I can't wield electric attacks."
"Cool!" Nate cawed with delight. "I don't suppose per chance you know Sunny Day, do you?" Burn grinned in his Cheshire-Cat-like manner, before letting out a small beam of light skyward from his tail. With that, the dark clouds that had rolled in began to vanish, instead revealing an intensely bright sunlight, which made several of the Murkrow flinch in the broad daylight.
"Does that answer your question?" Burn asked, a little sarcastically.
"You bet!" Nate smiled. "Now, what's say we take them down?"
"Sounds good to me!" Burn nodded, facing the Murkrow above them. Nate spread his wings far apart. The eye-like pattern on his chest began to glow a pale green, whilst Burn began to swirl flames around in his mouth. Finally, Nate shot a massive beam of solar power skyward, just as Burn spat out a much larger Flamethrower than he had done before. The Murkrow in the sky all shrieked as the two powerful attacks charged from Burn's Sunny Day struck them. The clones created by Double Team disappeared instantly. "Well, that was certainly easier than expected," Burn shrugged, before glaring over to Bleak, who seemed horrified at the fact that we had all managed to knock out his Murkrow underlings. The ones that were still conscious quickly began to fly back the way they came.
"Where do you think you're all going!?" Bleak cawed in disbelief. "You cowards! Get back here!" although his voice was becoming more and more desperate, his calls were in vain. He slowly turned back to face the six of us. Although Venus looked pretty rough, as did Nate and Easel, we had all got through relatively unscathed. "Uhh… yes, well how about we just forget that happened, eh?" Bleak stammered, looking rather worried by now.
"You're even worse than Dude!" Easel stated.
"Hey, I resent that, man!" he protested, looking a little tired himself. All of a sudden, something struck us all from behind. I felt pain shoot through my body. It was one of the worst pains I had felt in a long time, even more than Warhol's Fighting Type attacks. Each and every one of us were knocked down by the attack, with the exception of Bleak, who seemed to have sensed the attack coming. I had managed to get back up to my feet, as had Burn and Dude. Nate managed with considerable difficulty, although both Venus and Easel were both down.
"Easel!" I cried, running over to her and picking her back up, but she was completely limp, yet snoring softly… I smiled when I noticed what she was doing. Nate and Dude had rushed over to tend to Venus, who had already fainted. I then saw that the Murkrow with the two strange stones around its neck had landed next to his comrade. "Attacking from behind? How noble," I stated derisively. Shade simply huffed a small laugh, but not much else.
"When in battle, you use any technique necessary to win," Shade remarked. "And don't start talking to me about pride and sportsmanship. I couldn't care less," he added.
"How did you gain such power with that Dark Pulse?" Burn scowled, rubbing some of the dirt from his fur with his paw.
"Can't you see?" Shade mocked. "I have found a way to mass incredible power with the help of this Dusk Stone."
"A Dusk Stone?" Burn frowned. "I've never heard of such a thing."
"The principle is the same as that of a Thunderstone, or a Leaf Stone or even a Fire Stone. And I'm sure you are aware of what happens to certain Pokemon when they come into contact with these evolutionary stones?"
"Uhh… they evolve?" Dude asked. I smacked my head, grimacing at the Geodude's stupidity.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious!" I sarcastically thanked Dude.
"A Dusk Stone does not affect Eevee in any way, although it does allow Murkrow to evolve into their next form, Honchkrow."
"If that is the case, then why aren't you evolving when it is right around your neck?" Nate asked, tilting his head perplexedly. "Let me guess… it has something to do with that other stone, doesn't it."
"That's right, Xatu," Shade nodded. "An Everstone prevents evolution from occurring. And when I place a Dusk Stone next to an Everstone, the two actions of the stones cancel each other out. However, the energy given off whilst the two stones react is great. And being hung around my neck…"
"…allows you to absorb the dark energy of the Dusk Stone into your body." Burn gasped in realisation.
"Precisely," Shade nodded menacingly.
"Hold on, though," Nate pipped up. "There is only enough energy in a Dusk Stone to evolve a Pokemon once, so therefore the amount of energy you drain from the Dusk Stone would soon diminish what power there is in the stones anyway."
"Right again, Xatu," the Murkrow nodded. "Fortunately, I have colleagues who search for and bring me Dusk Stones on a regular basis. I absorb the power of one stone per day. As time passes, I become more and more powerful!"
"And soon enough, not even Darkrai himself will be able to stand to Shade's level of power!" Bleak added.
"In which case, we will just have to stop you!" I challenged. Shade simply huffed another small laugh.
"I'll admit that you make an admirable foe, but this was simply a frightener mission," Shade exclaimed. "A mission to make sure you do not interfere with our plans again."
"And what plans might those be?" I asked questionably.
"That is none of your concern. All you need to know is that it involves the Natu Colony," Bleak blurted out, before being cuffed round the back of the head by Shade.
"What do you want with our Colony?" Nate cawed, sounding worried.
"Idiot!" Shade squawked to Bleak, who looked a little bit sheepish about spilling some of the beans. "You will find out in time. For now, I bid you all farewell." With that, Shade took flight, dragging Bleak behind him who reluctantly followed. We all waited until they were out of sight. The remaining Murkrow who had been taken out by Burn's Zap Cannon also took off, following their leaders.
"I sense bad times ahead," Nate stated. "We should inform Willow and come up with another plan."
"I still feel this is my fault," Burn sighed.
"Don't think like that," I encouraged. "If not for you, we would not even have known that the Murkrow were planning something."
"I have seen them around for a while now," Nate added. "I had my suspicions of them from the start. Now, they are confirmed. Let us not waste any time." With that, Nate helped Dude pick up Venus, who was still down and out. I picked up Easel, who was still Resting quite comfortably. If only she knew what was happening…
TO BE CONTINUED