Chapter 18: Shadows Lurking
At the edge of Malie City, Moon, Sarah, Erick, and Petra were waiting at the bus stop. Alongside Lillie, who just approached them.
"Hello Moon, Sarah," Lillie said breathlessly, as she had run up in order to catch up with them. "Lord Erick, Queen Petra, it is an honor to see you as well."
"Please, if you are a friend of Moon and Sarah's, you can refer to us as just Erick and Petra." Erick replied. "I get quite tired of being called Lord everywhere I go."
"Yes of course." Lillie said, blushing slightly. "Anyway, I heard that you all met up with the Aether Foundation from Professor Burnett, she's an old acquaintance of the president. She didn't give the names but when she mentioned that they had a Riolu and Kirlia I knew it was you two."
"Not like there's hundreds of Riolus and Kirlias out there."
"Can it Sapphire." Moon muttered.
"Yes, we did meet with the Aether President, her name is Lusamine." Petra said. Moon noted that Lillie seemed to flinch slightly at the sound of her name.
"What did you think of her?" Lillie asked.
"Hard to say really." Erick said calmly. "Coming from Unova, Petra and I aren't exactly too quick to trust people who say they want to help Pokemon."
"They had a lot of questions about Fabby as well." Sarah continued. "Lusamine and Faba also really took turns keeping their eyes on Moon as well."
"Speaking of Faba, he really creeped me out." Moon said. "It was scary, almost like he knew that Fabby had been abused huh."
"I would figure as much." Lillie sighed. "Faba is uh…" she seemed lost in thought, or maybe she was considering something. "Faba is...weird…" she said after a moment. "From what I've heard, he can almost always tell if a Pokemon has had an awful experience with humans. It's why he's such an asset to the president."
The Exeggutor Express bus eventually pulled to stop at the bus stop and the five got on board. Moon sat down on the left side with Fabby propped in his lap, he heard a rustle and turned to see that Lillie had sat down next to him.
"I...I uh...I hope you don't mind." Lillie said, blushing. "I...I just wanted to feel a bit safer."
"What's wrong...have you ever rode a bus before?"
"Well...I have...it's just...Nebby and Nebula would feel safer."
Moon shrugged it off and went back to rubbing Fabby's head as she sat on his lap. Sapphire was sitting next to him, looking out the window at the passing Fearows.
"So...what'd you want to go look at in the library?" Moon asked.
"I was...learning more about Solgaleo and Lunala." Lillie replied. "They're the ones who helped stop the calamity of Darkness long ago. The legendary guardians of the Alola region. The uh...the..."
"The Sun and Moon Pokemon." Moon finished. "Yeah, I've heard about them."
"Yeah...they have some connection to the theory of Ultra Wormholes as well." she continued. "But that's not what's important...I uh...I have something for you. She reached into her bag and took out a package, there wasn't much to say about it, other than the fact that it looked like it shouldn't have even been in her bag. She handed the package to him before stopping to push one of the Cosmogs back down and zipping her bag up once again.
"What...what is this?" Moon asked curiously as Fabby nervously moved off his lap.
"I...don't actually know." Lillie said, blushing heavily. "The package was delivered to your house on Melemele Island. Your mother brought it to Cynthia, who gave it to me. We don't know who sent it or where it came from."
Moon turned the box over, there was a bit of writing scribbled on the front.
Moon Wolfe, Sapphire (Riolu)
You know who.
Moon frowned, he wanted nothing more than to just scream in rage, he recognized the handwriting alright and he didn't like it at all. Instead, he simply pushed the package inside his backpack. "Thanks Lillie." he said. "I'll open it later."
He turned to face his two Pokemon, both of whom looked nervous.
"W-Was...was that?" Sapphire asked.
"Not now buddy." Moon muttered to him. "Not now."
"Vul?" Fabby asked nervously.
"No, Fabby," Moon said. "Nothing is wrong...stop worrying."
Lillie looked at Fabby in a way that Moon didn't really think was necessary, but one that he had picked up on Lillie's time with them. She always looked at Fabby with some sort of regret. While Fabby looked at her with a nervous stare...one that he could almost swear was hiding a bit of anger behind it.
"Moon?" Lillie asked shyly, snapping him back to reality. "Is...is everything alright? You've uh...you've been staring at me for quite some time."
"Yeah sorry about that." Moon replied, blushing slightly. "I was just...lost in thought...about the package. I couldn't tell who sent it."
"I figured as much." Lillie sighed. "Anyway, I should probably tell you about our destination."
"Oh, yes, of course...go on."
"Our destination is Mount Hokulani." Lillie said. "It's the home of a comet observatory, legend has it that a meteor once struck an area near the mountain which extended it's height, you can find all sorts of extraterrestrial Pokemon there, such as Beldum, Clefairy, and Minior. The trial site is in the observatory of course, run by Sophocles, who specializes in Electric types."
"Wouldn't steel be a better option?" Sarah asked, as she popped her head over the bus seat.
"Well, it used to be steel." Lillie said, "but the old totem Pokemon passed away...or something along those lines. Nowadays, the old trial captain runs some mini grand trials for certain trainers."
"Wow...so the Alola League will probably be filled with trainers then." Sarah continued.
"Actually," Lillie said, blushing heavier. "We only have six trainers doing the island challenge this time around, and well, this is the first year we are even going to have an Alola League.
"Gladion, Ruby, Echo, Me, Sarah, and Hau." Moon muttered. "I heard the Alola League area is still being established, despite the stadium already being built."
"Yeah, from what I've heard with Professor Kukui's discussion. The tournament will most likely be the six of you. You'll do a best of two, three way battle, just like you did back at the Iki Town Festival, the two trainers who don't lose their last Pokemon first will then fight each other in a three on three. Then the two winners from both sides will do a six on six to determine the first champion, who will then go about establishing the remaining processes, you know, the Elite four, and the sanctuary that will essentially be their home."
The bus skidded to a halt at the top of the mountain and the five of them got off. They took a moment to gather the looks of the scenery around them as they looked upon the spots from the top of the mountain.
"Wow, just look at this place!" Sarah said as she held onto Lyn. "The view up here is incredible!"
"Ka! Ka!" Lyn growled.
"Excuse me, but are you Moon and Sarah by chance?"
They turned their heads towards a man with dirty blond hair and black eyes. He approached them and gave a small wave, he wore a blue lab coat and collared shirt with gray pants.
"My name is Molayne." the man said. "I'm sure you two are very eager to get to your trial, however, I was hoping you wouldn't mind having a little warm up match while Sophocles gets everything ready."
"Sounds like fun!" Moon said. "Sarah?"
"You betcha!"
"Alrighty then." Molayne took out two gray pokeballs and tossed them up in the air. A UFO like Pokemon with red dotted eyes and two big steel hands with sharp points for fingers, alongside a Dugtrio with golden hair popped out of the Pokeballs."
"Alright Bellatrix, show your strength!" Sarah said.
"Edelgard, battle stance!"
Edelgard popped out of her dive ball next to the levitating Mismagius.
"What...Moon…"
"She'll be fine Sarah." Moon replied.
"Alright, it's been decided, Metang! Bullet Punch!"
Metang charged at Edelgard with an astounding movement speed. It hit her with a couple of rapid jab punches.
"Edelgard! Darkest Lariat!" Moon said.
Edelgards flippers flashed a black aura like flame to them before spun around like a top on her pointed top foot. She deflected Metang's final blow punch and smashed into it with full power. Metang fell back as she stopped spinning.
"Bellatrix! Shadow Ball!"
Bellatrix charged up a purple sphere of light before firing at Dugtrio, the three-headed mole with hair quickly burrowed underground and out of the way. It popped back up and fired a wave of rocks after summoning some. The rocks collided with Bellatrix making her fall down ever so slightly. Metang then flashed a silver color before charging head on at Bellatrix, Metang smashed into her and launched her backwards.
"Edelgard, Heal Pulse!"
Edelgard's eyes flashed green as she fired a green wave of light from her rainbow colored gemstone. The light enveloped Bellatrix who got back up floating, completely refreshed.
"Thanks Moon," Sarah said. "Now, Mystical Fire!"
Bellatrix summoned a ring of flames from her red gems and mouth before sending it towards Metang. Metang was hit by flames and engulfed by the surrounding fire, inflicting a small amount of recurring damage from it's position.
"Dugtrio! Earth Power!"
A couple of cracks appeared below Edelgard before a geyser-like blast flung her up into the air. The Delta Phione landed next to Moon and pushed herself back up.
"Tail Glow, then Hydro Pump!" Moon said.
Edelgard's ribbon-like hair began glowing brightly, the light flashed as she was surrounded by red light. She then launched a gigantic blast of water from her mouth, the water blasted Dugtrio across the battlefield where it fell to the ground with swirls in its eyes.
"Now Metang! Bullet Punch!"
"Bellatrix! Shadow Ball."
Bellatrix fired another purple sphere from her mouth before Metang could reach Edelgard. The ball collided creating a mini explosion, when the dust cleared Metang was also on the ground with swirls in it's red eyes.
Molayne returned both Pokemon to their pokeballs and applauded Moon and Sarah. "Well done, most spectacular." he said excitedly. "You both demonstrated impressive skill and talent. I am most pleased with your performance." he reached into his lab coat pocket and pulled out two silver crystals with a symbol on it and handed it to them.
"This is the Steelium Z-crystal." he said, "I used to be the trial captain here, so don't feel like you're taking this for free. You both earned it, I insist."
"Thanks...you weren't bad." Sarah said, taking hers and placing it in her bracelet, the crystal shrunk down to fit one of the crevices as Moon returned Edelgard to her pokeball."
"Sophocles will see you when you're ready, please, check into the Pokemon Center so you're comfortable for tonight. Then come to the observatory immediately."
Moon and Sarah both nodded, before they, alongside Petra, Erick, and Lillie, entered the Pokemon Center.
(Aether Paradise, a couple hours earlier)
Lusamine walked into a little lookover area, down below and outside there were several scientists, both Aether and Galactic were working furiously. Cyrus was already there, glaring down heavily over the whole operation. Although, to his credit, he was outstanding at picking up on his surroundings.
"What do you want?" he grunted, without even facing her.
"Cyrus, with all do respect," Lusamine said quickly. "Mew, and the Lake Trio have proved to be most helpful in our research. But without the Cosmogs, we still need more time and energy. It would be in our better interest to either send in stronger resources against Moon and Sarah, or simply provide the use of Cresselia, Heatran, Darkrai, and Lugia."
"What about the Dark Ball?" Cyrus asked.
"We are in a state where we can mass produce them now sir." Lusamine said. "The ones used on Cresselia and Hetran worked well, and now we have the ability to mass produce more for the Lake Trio. However, rather annoyingly, we still can't use it on Mew for some reason..But back to my statement, we could really use one of the other four legendaries that you have under your control. Mew and the Lake Trio's power simply isn't enough."
Cyrus's eyes flashed in the reflection. "I have told you, time and time again." He grunted. "Cresselia and Heatran are being used to help take on Dialga and Palkia, Lugia is in Mavis's possession and she will detest having it tested on."
"And Darkrai?"
"Madam President, are you not aware of who Darkrai's keeper is?"
Lusamine's eyes narrowed with a look of anger. "You...didn't kill Darkrai's keeper?" she gritted. "Darkrai of all Pokemon!"
Cyrus finally turned to face her. "Darkrai's keeper was already an ally of mine." he said coldly.
"Yet you trust his loyalty almost as much as you trust in Mavis?"
"Mavis has her own problems to deal with." Cyrus muttered, "I have her in my firm grasp, one where she is truly trapped, should she betray me, she will have no chance in rescuing her family from me. That is simply how I work Lusamine."
"And what exactly do you intend to do with both of them once we capture them...and then of course, what about my own daughter?"
"I already said that your daughter Lillie can have mercy, with no Pokemon of her own, there's nothing she can do to protect the Cosmogs once they are in our grasp."
"And the other two?"
"I must unfortunately let Sarah live and be unharmed, but as long as I can keep tabs on her, I don't really give damn. If I wish to keep Mavis's superb work and have someone who could potentially down Cynthia if necessary, then I must do that. As for Moon-"
A flash of purple light saw a woman with a gray galactic uniform dress and fiery red eyes and hair. "Lord Cyrus, sir." the woman said, saluting him. "I've just gotten the recent word from-" Cyrus shot her a death stare. "Well, anyway, you may just want to take a look." the girl hesitantly said. She handed him a couple stapled together pieces of paper.
Cyrus looked through each one carefully, his face becoming more and more furious as time passed. By the end of his search, his face was stone cold and furious. He clenched his fist together and growled furiously. Roughly, he tore the paper into bits in a blind rage.
"I will put that stupid boy through hell and rip his heart out of his chest if it's the last thing I ever do!" he said coldly. "How dare Saturn hide that from me this whole time!" He glared at a picture on his desk. A picture that showed him, Saturn, and a younger Moon. "All this time…"
Lusamine looked over his shoulder at the papers he was holding, on the front, it showed Moon with the golden Vulpix, Delta Phione, Riolu, and an Ash Greninja, there was also a beedrill with a mega stone collar around its small neck with a couple of question marks around it.
"I must capture and kill that boy." Cyrus growled, "If I could just draw out his own life force and energy from his own Pokemon perhaps I could achieve what Saturn was supposed to do for me. Project Gold, Delta, Aura, Bonding, Mega Evolution, he has it! I know he does!" he pressed a button on an intercom.
"Mars, tell the Shadow Knight he has my permission! I don't care what he does, just tell him to wear that boy down but not harm the girl! Anything he can throw, so long as it's not death!"
(Sinnoh, Six years ago)
Cyrus walked into a laboratory run by Saturn, as he expected, he found his right hand man working behind his laptop with the data he provided. Also in the room, was a younger boy wearing a blue hoodie and baseball cap with short blond hair, he was sitting down playing with a Turtwig Plush. He walked up to Saturn's research table, immediately, the blue haired adult turned around with a salute.
"Lord Cyrus, sir." Saturn said. "To what do I owe this unexpected visit?"
"I was just passing by." Cyrus replied calmly. "I see that Moon is still coming with you."
"My wife was called into work, I didn't really have much of a choice." Saturn replied hastily, his eyes darted nervously towards his son, who still hadn't taken notice of them standing there.
"Well, regardless, how is your research on the artificial bonding heart going?"
"It...it's going alright." Saturn replied. "From what I've discovered, it can work safely inside on a human, however, whether or not it can give the results of specialized bond phenomenon and other properties is unknown at the moment."
"Interesting." Cyrus said, looking over the data. "I see that you have the materials capable, why not use some materials experimentally? Perhaps your son would be of use."
Saturn frowned, and his face became a small amount of anger. "I do not wish to experiment on my son Cyrus, not after the accident that he got himself into with that Cloyster and our research."
"I said I was sorry about the Cloyster thing." Cyrus grumbled.
"I understand sir, children were never your strong suit, that was just poor and hasty judgement on our part, but my wife nearly had a mental breakdown. I do hope you understand that I want to make sure the procedure and process is perfectly unharmful before considering the possibility."
"I do Saturn, your family has been a great help to me, and I hope that Moon will help carry that legacy on for Team Galactic in the future."
"I do too, sir."
(Mount Hokulani Observatory Sanctuary, Present)
"Alright Fabby! Heat Wave!" Moon commanded. "Gojira, Rock Slide!"
Fabby stepped forward and a gust of red wind rushed past her, surrounding a large totem Vikavolt and Togedemaru as well as a Charjabug and Skarmory. The wave of heat pushed them back with burn marks on their bodies. Charjabug and Skarmory were then slammed on by several rocks that fell from the sky.
"Lucky! Use wish! Scar, use Flame charge."
Lucky did a little dance before moving his little nubby hands into a praying position. A shooting star shot overhead. Scar then charged while being surrounded by fire as he charged into Skarmory. He sent the iron bird backwards and it fell to the ground.
Vikavolt charged up an electrical discharge, Charjabug hopped on top of it and plugged its little spikey mouth claws into Vikavolt The powerful electrical discharge struck Togedemaru, who was surrounded by green light while striking all of Moon and Sarah's Pokemon, except for Gojira, who was immune to the attack.
Togedemaru's head flashed a silvery color as it charged at Lucky. Just before the collision, a star of light shone over him and he was healed. Togedemaru slammed into him, but he held firm as he fluttered in place with his tiny wings.
"Lucky! Metronome!" Sarah said.
Lucy wiggled his nubby arms back and forth. In a flash of white light, a small blast of fire shot from his mouth at Charjabug, the flame hit and burst into a wave of several small embers, searing Vikavolt and Togedemaru. Charjabug fell to its side.
"Gojira! Use Fire Punch!" Moon commanded.
Despite not having arms Gojira jumped up in the air and had her head surrounded by fire as she dove at Vikavolt, the bug Pokemon quickly dodged the attack with it's incredible speed.
"Now Scar! Fire Fang!"
Scar landed on the back of Vikavolt and sunk his flaming teeth into its skin. Vikavolt let out a screech as it buzzed around helplessly.
"Fabby, use Fire Blast!"
Fabby launched a star shaped blast of fire from her mouth, the star flame collided with Togedemaru and Vikavolt creating a massive blast of heat and energy. Togedemaru got back up and surrounded itself with electricity as it charged at Fabby, the totem smacked into her, unleashing an electrical discharge making Fabby cry loudly in pain. She moved backwards and off of Fabby, who fell to the ground, she pushed herself back up and started coughing.
"Lucky, Life Dew!" Sarah said.
Lucky turned his head upwards and created a small water fountain from its mouth, the droplets of water sprinkled on Fabby, Scar, and Gojira, surrounding them with green light as it restored and refreshed them.
"Gojira! Dark Pulse!" Moon commanded.
Gojira unleashed the swirls of black and purple light striking Vikavolt. The totem bug fell to the ground with swirls in its eyes. Togedemaru let off a cry and unleashed another discharge of electricity. The bolts struck Fabby and Lucky, who fell to the ground with swirls in their eyes.
"Scar! Use Flame Charge!" Sarah commanded.
Scar started charging at Togedemaru, however, he started to become surrounded by blue light, he slowly became Bipedal and taller and emerged as a flaming tiger with a fiery wrestler like championship belt around his waist.
"Scratch the flame charge!" Sarah shouted as Scar made his way towards Togedemaru, "GIVE IT THE ALOLAN WHIP!"
Scar grabbed onto Togedemaru and flung it backwards a wall of ropes appeared in Togedemaru's line of travel and bounced it backwards. Scar held out his arm and slammed with all his might. Togedemaru was launched into the air and slammed into the ground by another rock slide from Gojira, the other totem landed on the ground with swirls in its eyes.
"Alright we one!" Sarah cheered as Moon gave her a hug while she held onto Lyn. In the back they could hear applause from Erick, Petra, and Lillie.
Sophocles, a rather large but short boy with orange hair and a small face approached them.
"Congratulations Moon and Sarah!" he said. "You both have completed the Electric type trial." he handed both of them a yellow crystal with a black lightning bolt marked in the center.
"This is the Electrium Z, it allows you to use Gigavolt Havoc with any electric type Pokemon that knows and electric move."
"Thanks Sophocles." Sarah said.
"So, uh, when you go back down to Malie City tomorrow, could you take this to the Professor?" Sophocles handed them a multi-colored mask. "It's the masked Royal's mask, I've heard that the Professor is good friends with him, so, yeah, could you take it to him?"
Sarah nodded and, after handing Lyn to Moon, put the mask in her backpack. After taking Lyn back from Moon and returning Scar and Lucky, the two of them looked around the observatory with Erick, Petra, and Lillie.
Sarah noticed that Moon remained relatively quiet as they looked around, they examined a few meteorites, a large Moon Stone, a few comet shards and star pieces. Yet he didn't say much, in fact, he looked uncomfortable, both him and Sapphire.
"Is everything alright?" she asked curiously.
"Um, yeah," he said. "I was just thinking about the package Lillie gave me."
"Rio! Olu!" Sapphire barked.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Erick asked, walking over. "You look a little pale."
"Yeah...I think I just need to lie down, get a little sleep."
"Well it's about that time anyway," Petra added. "We might as well go to the Pokemon center for the night."
"Useless, Evil, Stupid Brat!"
"What type of person are you?"
"Haven't you taken enough from us?"
"Stay the hell away from my sister!"
Moon jolted awake inside of the Pokemon Center on top of Mount Hokulani.
"Dammit, Dammit, Dammit!" He grunted to himself. He glanced up at the clock, it was five in the morning. He pulled himself out of bed and got dressed, no point in sleeping at this time. As he expected, Sapphire had pulled himself awake, probably for the same reason.
"Did...Did you…"
"Yes, obviously," Moon said quietly. "No point in trying to sleep, let's just go for a little walk or something."
Moon suddenly heard more stirring, followed by a soft thud onto the ground, silently groaning to himself, he turned to face Fabby, who was staring at him nervously.
"Everything is alright Fabby," he said calmly, "Just...go back to sleep. Sapphire and I are just going for a little walk."
"Vul Vul Vulpix!" Fabby charged up to him and shook her head, crying and pawing at him.
"No, Fabby, Stay!"
"Vul Vul!" Fabby's cries started getting louder.
Moon let out a sigh and picked her up. He carried her outside, followed closely by Sapphire. He walked around towards the outside battlefield, he looked around nervously, just praying that it wasn't who he thought.
"How Pathetic!" a voice, heavily distorted behind some type of voice modifier boomed at him. He turned to face someone, he was heavily hidden behind a long black suit of armor, he had a black skull mask with blood red eyes looking at him down, he also had a long, tattered, black cape around his neck that flapped in the wind. A Zororak stood next to him.
"What...what do you want?" Moon asked, his voice cracked slightly as tears fell from his eyes. "What the hell do you want!"
"I'm doing my job you bitch." the person cracked.
Moon tried to make a movement away, only to find his legs stuck together, he felt his body surrounded by some sort of weird energy and he was unable to move from his position, thankfully, he was still holding onto Fabby.
"Thunderbolt!" A large lightning bolt struck him and blew him across the battlefield where he slammed into the hard steel that made up the Pokemon Center's walls. Sapphire let out a whimper and ran over to him. The person behind the mask turned to his Zoroark.
"Extrasensory!"
Moon felt himself getting pounded by some sort of force, it had strong impact and bright flashes of light, it startled him and scared him as he just cried silently, holding onto Fabby, shielding her from any danger.
"Why…" Moon cried. "Why are you doing this to me?"
"I told you, I'm doing my job." The Shadow Knight boomed. "I don't know how hard this is for you to understand."
"Haven't you done enough?" Moon cried.
"I am told that you must dance a dance of Damnation, you are a useless piece of shit, betraying the likes of Galactic Control was bad enough on your father, but he took you with him. Just like last time, I will put you down."
"Who are you?" Moon cried weakly, "What the hell are you?"
"I am your worst nightmare, someone who will torture you until you break, there's nothing you can do to stop my watching of you, I will follow you...and I will torment you. But you can make it all stop...you know what you can do."
"NEVER!" Moon shouted. "I won't!"
"Then start preparing your death wish." Moon was slammed against the roofing of the outdoor hangover, he fell to the ground.
"Dance the dance of Damnation, Submit to your life in hell, and DIE!" the person then vanished in a flash of purple light.
"MOON!"
The last thing he saw before passing out was Sarah and Angel running to his side.
That's all for today's chapter, hope you all enjoyed it, I wanted to try as much as I possibly could, and this is kind of just what it led to, how do you all like the Shadow Knight? A bit much probably, but I wanted someone like him in this story. What he ends up doing though, that's a different story.
Anyway, I'm crunched for time, so I hope you'll be alright with this for today, we'll most likely have time for an Omake next week. Leave a review if you want, let me know what you think.
PKMN Teams:
Moon Wolfe:
Fabby - Vulpix
Sapphire - Riolu
Jade - Dartrix
Sammy - Furret
Genji - Greninja
Silver - Weavile
Lancer - Beedrill
Gojira - Pupitar
Edelgard - Phione_Delta
- Eevee
Sarah Jones:
Angel - Kirlia
Snowy - Glaceon
Scar - Incineroar
Candy - Corsola
Bellatrix - Mismagius
Flora - Lilligant
Delta - Dragalge
Lyn - Baby Kanga
Lucky - Togetic
Erick Heart:
Sunny - Espeon
Victini
Petra Gropius:
Ares - Breloom
Meloetta
See you all next time.
