Chapter 21: Shadows of the Past
Moon and Sarah were both resting in their tent while their Pokemon gathered around the little campfire that Fabby had lit, well all of them except for Lyn, who was still sleeping next to Sarah.
"Moon's off his footing." Snowy sighed. "Did you see how uncomfortable he was today...he barely did anything."
"Remember, humans aren't able to withstand stronger Pokemon's power." Genji said, as he sat in a meditating stance. "It can't be easy for him to go around with the likes of the Shadow Knight following us. It is certainly problematic for us."
Sapphire shifted uncomfortably. "That Knight...he's attacked Moon before, not just in Alola, but back when I was living with him in Sinnoh. Each time he gets more brutal."
"Perhaps it was lucky that Sarah was placed under hypnosis from Darkrai then." Angel sighed. "Had she seen what continued to go down it could've gotten much worse."
Fabby looked down in disappointment. "What about Moon is so important?" she asked. "It's because he's bonded with me...now they're after him to unlock my full power."
"Fabby, this isn't all about you stop worrying." Edelgard said. "They're after me as well...isn't that why Jade wanted me to stay out of sight of Dan and Lavender?"
"You learn quickly." Candy said.
"I'm worried." Lancer buzzed. "What is so important about Master Moon? It can't simply be that he holds onto Manaphy...because Sarah holds onto Shaymin...so shouldn't she also be in top command?"
"Lancer makes a good point." Scar hissed. "You'd think that Shaymin would be just as important to Team Galactic as Manaphy is yet, as we've seen, Sarah only appears to be caught in the middle, they've only gone after her because she's here."
"It's all so very strange." Bellatrix muttered. "What will we do about that?"
"I will protect Moon," Gojira hummed. "Moon will be safe with us around."
"What about Edelgard is really special...like...sure the Delta DNA is certainly unique...and she can use Origin Pulse and Dark Void. But...she's still just a baby...and it's not like your strength has been...noteworthy." Scar hissed.
"Perhaps there's more to this story than we could ever understand?" Candy asked. "Moon has been through everything with Team Galactic...and Sapphire, you say that Alola isn't the first time the Shadow Knight has appeared. Could you tell us more about your encounters with the Shadow Knight?"
Lucario shuddered at the thought. "I...I suppose I don't have much of a choice." he muttered as the remaining Pokemon looked at him curiously. "How about let's go back to when I first met Saturn, when Moon took me home from Summer Camp."
(Sinnoh, three years ago)
Moon was busy packing up his stuff with Sapphire standing next to him. Sarah came up to him, holding Angel in her arms.
"Well...looks like it's just the two of us now." She said, giving him a smile. "You said that Cynthia was making sure your father came late...right?"
"Yeah...I suppose it was to not cause a lot of controversy." Moon replied. "Sapphire, are you sure that you don't want to go with Angel and Sarah?"
"Olu!" Sapphire replied, shaking his head.
"Well...alright then...I guess we'll have to see if father is okay with letting me keep a Pokemon then...the only one he kept around the house was the Hochkrow all Galactic admins are required to carry to get out of trouble in a moment's notice...and that bird never liked me."
Sarah giggled as she looked at Moon. "Maybe we can get together sometime...after all, I'm sure Angel and Sapphire would love it."
"Olu!"
"Alts!"
"Moon?" Sarah looked up as a tall man with dark blue hair curved into the shape of a little devil like ears walked into the room. Moon instantly ran over and gave him a hug around his waist. The man smiled down at him and hugged him back.
"Hello Moon." Saturn said. "I'm glad to see that you're still your bright self...I was worried that everyone here would be a bit...much for you. I'm glad to see that everything worked out in the end."
"Olu?" Sapphire approached Moon's side.
Saturn looked at the aura Pokemon with a faint smile. "I see...so you made friends with this Riolu here...I take it?" Moon nodded. "Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to have you keep caring for it...so long as it doesn't belong to the Professor."
"This is Sapphire, I rescued him from Dan."
Sarah thought that Saturn looked disappointed. "Oh...I see." he said with a fake voice. "Well, Sapphire, you are welcome to stay with us."
Sarah walked up to Saturn and looked at him. Saturn looked down at her and her Ralts as he looked her up and down. "Ah, you must be the kind girl Cynthia has told me about, the one who has been so kind to treat my son as an equal here. Truly, I cannot begin to thank you enough. Please, tell me your name."
"Sarah," Sarah replied. "Sarah Jones."
Saturn and Moon were both taken aback by her statement. "You...you're a Jones?" he asked as he closed his eyes. "Oh dear"
"SARAH!" Both Sarah's mother and father ran into the room and yanked her away from Moon and his father. Her father stood in front of her and her mother as he glared at Saturn.
"Step away from our daughter." he said firmly. "You have some nerve enrolling your son in this camp to get close to other children."
Saturn glared back at him. "Just because Mavis fought against me doesn't make me evil." he muttered. "If I had known what Cyrus's true intentions were, believe me, I would've withdrawn earlier."
"Rio!" Sapphire barked as he made his way over to Angel, who teleported out of Sarah's arms.
"Ral...Alts!"
"Listen, Mr. Jones, with all due respect." Saturn continued. "I had nothing to do with the attacks led on your daughter Mavis, I simply worked as an ignorant scientist for Cyrus. I was a foolish man...I swear to you, I was only helping Cyrus because he was an old family friend, my own parents sent me to work with him for money."
"That still doesn't change the fact that you've put our family in danger on countless occasions." Sarah's mother said with a shaky voice. "And...you...you killed MAVIS!"
Sarah flinched, Mavis had been killed?
"I didn't kill Mavis, I swear." Saturn replied, shaking his head. "I tried to save her, honestly, I never wanted her to die."
"You got our daughter killed! And now you look to take our other one away!" Sarah's father growled. "Why would you do such a thing? Where do you find entertainment?"
Saturn put his arm in front of Moon and Sapphire. "Your daughter Sarah was kind enough to let my son have an enjoyable time here...what happened to Mavis was a tragedy, one that I feel terrible about...I swear, I tried to save her."
"Enough bickering." Cynthia walked into the room. "Saturn speaks the truth, I sent Mavis to the ironworks hoping to get information, I should've asked Saturn first, when he found out he went crazy, if you want to blame anyone for Mavis's death, you can blame me."
"Cynthia, you know we can't do that," Sarah's father said.
"Well I'm not going to sit here and let you all criticize the Wolfe Family, I tolerated it with Mavis, only because of how many times Saturn and her crossed paths. But now that Mavis is gone, you two need to learn to get along, like your own children have."
Moon and Sarah both looked at each other, as their families still stood glaring at each other.
"I most certainly do hope that you all can do me a favor and put this on hold." Saturn said. "Moon has had enough problems in his life, which is more than I could say for this, when I heard that he made a friend...I was expecting something other than this."
"Olu," Sapphire barked.
"I don't understand what drove you to this decision." Sarah's mother said, shaking her head. "What drove you to betray the likes of Team Galactic, and join us as a whole."
Saturn shifted uncomfortably, "I...I can't tell you...but I don't want Moon to deal with stuff because of it."
"Mavis wasn't lost in vain." Cynthia replied. "She still managed to get the information we needed in order to get things done."
"So...are we going to be able to meet up with each other?" Sarah asked.
All of their parents shifted uncomfortably. "Well...Sarah...no we won't allow you to visit each other." Cynthia said. "It's too dangerous for you and Moon to see each other."
"Well there isn't much else to say." Saturn said. "Moon...Sapphire...let's go home."
(Celestic Town)
"Well Sapphire old buddy." Moon said as they walked into his house, "This is your new home."
"I do think that this place could use some improvements."
Saturn smiled down at Moon and Sapphire. "You two go enjoy yourselves now." he said calmly. "I'll tell your mother to start making dinner. You two can go play."
Moon took Sapphire outside in Celestic Town. The small quaint town stood in the center of a valley, it was calm and peaceful. Moon walked around the small town with his partner.
"So, what's life gonna be like now that I have a Pokemon." Moon said, sitting down on the grass as Sapphire sat next to him.
"I have a pretty good idea now!"
Moon and Sapphire both jolted around to see the Shadow Knight. Next to him was a Galvantula, staring at them with a weird sort of fashion. The Shadow Knight moved his arm to the left.
"Electroweb."
Galvantula shot the Electroweb at Moon, tanggaling him up and shocking him instantly. Sapphire looked on in horror as the Shadow Knight approached them.
"Moon, my old friend, here we are."
"Rio!" Sapphire jumped in front of his friend, bracing himself for a fight.
"Seriously? Alright then, Galvantula, use Thunderbolt!"
Galvantula launched a thunderbolt attack, shocking Sapphire and making the small aura Pokemon cry in pain. Moon continued to shriek in pain as Sapphire fell in front of him.
"I think you'll see that you're not in such a good spot now uh."
Moon looked up at the armored Knight with tears streaming down his face.
"MOON!"
Saturn ran outside gripping a great ball. "Step away from my son Shadow."
"Saturn, how nice to see you again."
"If you're here for me, then make it quick." Saturn growled. "I'm not going to let you hurt my son."
"I'm not here for you anymore Saturn, as much as Cyrus would love to kill you for betraying the likes of Team Galactic, we are no longer interested in you. We are after your son."
"Then you'll have to go through me first." Saturn shouted. "Heracross! Rock Blast!"
"Hera!" The big beetle Pokemon leapt out of the Pokeball and fired several rocks at Galvantula. The rocks blasted the spider bug across the field and it fell to the ground.
The Shadow Knight looked at his fallen Pokemon with disinterest.
"Saturn, this isn't something I want to do," the Shadow Knight muttered. "Please, just come with me willingly, you and Moon belong with Team Galactic, my own torture devices are left with my own doings, allow me to escort you back calmly."
"You think I want to go back?" Saturn snarled. "I will never go back to the likes of Team Galactic, listen to me, Shado, I swear, Cyrus is only looking to keep a hold of Darkrai, once he has what he wants, he'll just toss you away and take Darkrai for himself."
"SILENCE!" The Shadow Knight boomed. "I don't take advice nor do I have any need to listen to the likes of you Saturn, I have my own ways of getting around, I have my own ways of escaping from any danger, ways that Cyrus can only dream of."
"Please, I'm begging you." Saturn pleaded. "Just leave my son alone, tell Cyrus you can't find out where we are! I'm begging you...from one old pal to another."
"You know I can't do that Saturn, we both chose our own routes."
"Please, Moon was your pal, and your assistant, you know what Cyrus will do to him, if there is any humanity left in you...please. I'll give you anything that isn't my own life."
The Shadow Knight's red eyes narrowed from behind his mask.
"Fine," the Shadow Knight muttered "Five Hundred Thousand Pokedollars payment to me, and you hand over the Griseous Orb...give me the orb now, transfer the money by next week, and I'll spare your son's life until your untimely death"
"Fine, I don't know why you need the Griseous Orb, Giritina's whereabouts and keeper have vanished completely from the radar, making the orb essentially useless, but fine, I'll give you the orb, and I'll have the money ready."
"Fine then," the Shadow Knight boomed "Get me the orb. Now!"
Saturn nodded and quickly ran back inside. Once he had vanished inside, a girl with bubblegum pink hair and soft blue eyes appeared in a flash of purple light, she took one look at the Shadow Knight and slowly walked over to Moon, she leaned down and glared at him, under his electro webbed prison.
"Listen to me, and you listen to me carefully." the girl hissed at him. "If you ever lay a finger on my sister...I will not hesitate to come here and hand you over to Cyrus myself."
"I don't even know who your sister is!" Moon cried.
The girl grabbed him and pushed him against the wall. "Your family is the reason that I'm stuck in this hell! Stay the hell away from my sister."
"So...that's it?" Candy asked.
"Pretty much." Sapphire replied. "Moon would be tortured by him a few more times, mainly when Saturn was out on business with Cynthia, his mother always thought we were just playing rough with other wild Pokemon in the area."
"That sounds so scary." Snowy shuddered. "I can't imagine someone following you 24-7, waiting for the perfect moment to strike at you and torture you. What did Moon do to deserve such cruel treatment? It just doesn't make sense."
"What did Master Moon do to deserve such horrid treatment from Cyrus? It just doesn't make sense."
"Maybe Moon was a secret weaponized project for Team Galactic." Bellatrix hummed.
"We don't need another freaking Sammy you piece of crap." Scar hissed. "Stop talking before I murder you myself. That's just crazy talk...why would a human be some sort of weapons project. It's not like Moon is artificial intelligence like Techno or maybe a Metang or some shit."
"You never know sometimes." Lancer buzzed. "But it is our duty to obey Moon, no matter what he may ask of us...tis the contract between trainer and Pokemon."
"That brings up an interesting question though." Candy jumped in. "If Moon and Sarah ordered us to kill someone...wouldn't we have to do it? Wouldn't that make us evil Pokemon?"
"I believe the way the humans work, is that they believe there is no such thing as a bad Pokemon." Gojira replied. "Pokemon will do bad things because their trainer orders them to. Through thick and thin, it is a Pokemon's solemn duty to obey their trainer."
"So, what if Moon and Sarah turned on each other...and we were to fight on opposite sides?" Edelgard asked nervously. "I wouldn't be able to fight my friends."
"Like it or not...that is the sad reality of Pokemon's lives." Angel sighed. "It's the social contract between trainers, we get a choice."
"So...if our trainers were to turn against each other...you all would be prepared for the possibility to fight each other...to the death?" Fabby cried.
"Most humans, whether they may be good or evil, most of them will provide us with care and compassion. Because they love us, sure, you'll get the occasional nutcases who treat us like tools and abandon us...but in a strange way...even Cyrus's Pokemon are not in the wrong, they are only paying back those that treat them with care."
"Genji? Is everything alright?" Angel asked suddenly, cutting into the conversation. "You've been awfully quiet."
Genji sat with his flippers folded and his eyes closed, then in a flash, he opened his eyes and charged a water shuriken and fired it into the darkness of the night. There was a small explosion of smoke as a Zororak dashed out, followed by the Shadow Knight, with Darkrai floating behind him. The eleven Pokemon all stared in horror before bracing themselves for a fight.
"Don't bother." the Shadow Knight boomed. "It would be a shame if you were to awaken your trainers, then I'd actually have to harm them again."
"This is the Shadow Knight?" Edelgard asked nervously.
"Of course I'm the Shadow Knight little Phione." All of the Pokemon's eyes widened in shock.
"Yeah I can understand what you all are saying." The Shadow Knight muttered "I wear my own translator earpiece, I made it myself."
"You will not harm master Moon, not when we are here to protect him."
The Shadow Knight looked at all of them before turning away. "It matters not. In due time half of you will be on our side."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Angel asked.
"It doesn't really matter what I mean by it." the Shadow Knight boomed. "I think it's blatantly obvious that this is the end of the line for your trainers."
"We won't let you torture Moon." Sapphire growled. "Not without beating all of us in a fight first."
The Shadow Knight stood there, "Do you honestly think that I need to fight you in order to torture your trainer?" he asked. "You all are dumb, much dumber than I first anticipated."
Darkrai floated through all of the Pokemon, making all of them wince a little.
"My presence is no longer needed, it will take effect in a couple of minutes, shall I dispose of the rest of the Pokemon."
"No need...Cyrus needs some of them. Let's get out of here...I think we've worn him down enough." The Shadow Knight returned Zoroark and Darkrai before vanishing in a flash of purple light. Almost immediately after he left, they heard a blood curdling scream coming from inside the tent.
They all ran over to the tent, they saw that Sarah had been jolted awake and she was now hovering over Moon, who was screaming, with a pale face.
"Moon...what's wrong?"
"NO NO NO!" Moon screamed. "STOP HURTING HER! STOP IT!"
"Moon it's okay," Sarah cried. "Nothing is wrong."
"STOP HURTING HER!" Moon screamed. "PLEASE STOP! SARAH!"
"Moon...I'm right here, no one is hurting me-"
"SARAH! I'M SORRY! SARAH DON'T DIE! PLEASE! I'M SORRY!"
"Moon...please...I'm okay!" Sarah looked up and saw all of their Pokemon looking at her. Furiously, she bent over and crushed their lips together, silencing his screams. Moon woke up after she separated from him, then, he hugged her, really tightly by the looks of things.
"He can't keep doing this." Sapphire muttered. "There's gotta be something our trainer is hiding."
I know this is a bit of a shorter chapter then what you all are used to for this series, but I wanted to take some time and reflect on how far this has come. Anyway, I sat down recently, thinking about a lot, just how far this has come. Frankly, I never expected to take up writing as it's something that I used to despise from the constant Essays flung down your throat by your school system. But anyway, that's not what's important, here, take a look at this.
Omake Number 7, Smash Mains; Moon, Sarah, Erick, and Petra all discover why they have such a controversial Smash Relationship.
"PK FIRE!" Moon shouted, pressing side B once again.
"WILL YOU STOP SITTING IN THE CORNER WITH SIDE B!" Erick roared.
"Only when you stop grabbing and giving me a 60% Combo!" Moon replied.
"How the hell am I supposed to do that when we play with Items on?"
"HERE COMES THE PAINTERS!" Petra shouted as the orange Inkling charged onto the stage with roller burying Ness and Luigi in the ground.
"AND WILL YOU QUIT BURYING US!" Erick shouted at Petra.
"I'm an Inkling Main, it's what we do!"
"HYAA!" Hero ran up to the buried players and critical hit F-smashed them.
"Who plays Hero for fun?" Moon asked. "He's too broken."
"Isn't Hero your secondary?" Erick asked.
"TWHACK!" Sarah shouted, pressing the Menu Selection and instantly killing the Inkling.
"HERO...WINS!" The voice announcer shouted showing the victory screen.
"Alright, can we just have a normal 5-stock free for all this time?" Erick groaned.
"Sure, everyone pick another character."
"LUCAS!"
"R.O.B!"
"PALUTENA!"
"ZELDA!"
"For the love of...Moon you can't just switch to the Semi-clone of your main." Petra groaned.
"You can't switch to the damn N-airing goddess either, but here we are." Moon snapped back.
"How come Erick get's to play the Robotic Bastard!" Sarah shouted.
"Says the girl playing with Neutral B, Lightning Kick, Final Smash." Erick snapped back.
"PK FREEZE!" The beam of Ice collided with the three characters, launching them all into the blast zone as Lucas gained his final Smash Meter.
"OH HELL NO!" Petra shouted.
Lucas hopped off stage to the near of the blast zone, a quick zoom in as Kumatora and Boney appeared next to him.
"PK STTARRRRRRSTORMMMMMMM!" Large blue meteors covered the screen sending all of them offstage and into the opposite blast zone.
"WHAT SORT OF FINAL SMASH K.O's EVERYONE AT FREAKING ZERO?" Sarah shouted.
"Marth and Lucina would like to have a word with you." Moon replied.
"LUCAS...WINS!"
"Moon if you pick Ness or Lucas one more time, I will murder you!" Erick muttered, "Pick a different character."
"BYLETH!"
"MR. GAME AND WATCH!"
"MII GUNNER!"
"YOUNG LINK!"
"WHAT THE HELL TYPE OF MATCH IS THIS?" Sarah shouted.
"WHY'D YOU PICK SANS?" Moon shouted.
"WHY ARE YOU PLAYING GAME AND WATCH!" Petra shouted.
"WHO PLAYS YOUNG LINK FOR FUN?" Erick shouted back.
Ah Super Smash Bros, a game where we can get mad at every videogame character in existence, because we suck at playing the video game...hahahaha. Anyway, that's all for today's chapter, and the Omake, I hope you all enjoyed it, next chapter we'll do Po-Town, I just wanted to give the Pokémon their own dedicated chapter with the Shadow Knight's past with Moon and all.
Anyway, Leave a review if you want.
PKMN Teams:
Moon Wolfe:
Fabby - Ninetales
Sapphire - Lucario
Jade - Dartrix
Sammy - Furret
Genji - Greninja
Silver - Weavile
Lancer - Beedrill
Gojira - Pupitar
Edelgard - Phione_Delta
Sparky - Jolteon
Pandora - Absol
Sarah Jones:
Angel - Gardevior
Snowy - Glaceon
Scar - Incineroar
Candy - Corsola
Bellatrix - Mismagius
Flora - Lilligant
Delta - Dragalge
Lyn - Baby Kanga
Lucky - Togetic
Techno - Porygon Z
Pikaboo - Mimikyu
See you all next time.
