Chapter 27: Against The Tide

Blade hadn't stopped moving, he couldn't. Shadow was so close, but he kept getting farther away. Blade ran with all the strength he had, but it seemed to just never be his proper speed, never enough to reach Shadow. And as he ran he kept hearing a terrifying laugh. It was the hateful cackle of Cleave all those years ago.

"You think you can ever be happy, a worthless runt like you? Hahaha don't make me laugh you little wretch." His laughter continued and the louder the laughter got the farther away Shadow was.

"No….no Shadow! Come back! Don't leave me, please! Please please stay with me! Don't go!" He turned back only to be greeted with Cleaves maniacal smirk. But before the fear had a chance to grip him he felt a strange sense of security wash over him. And Cleave disappeared, turned to dust. He leaned back, feeling the sweet embrace of darkness as those ghostly arms enveloped him from behind.

"I will never leave you Blade, you have my word. On my life, I will always be with you." Shadow's voice soothed him greatly.

*A Short While Later*

Blade's eyes opened slowly and he saw Shadow holding him tight as he had before, just as he had in the dream.

"So, you're finally awake my dear?" Shadow's voice was just as cold and monotonous as always, but it carried a strange warmth that cut through that coldness of his demeanor.

Blade yawned and stretched, and Shadow let him go. "Yeah, I'm awake." He reeled in pain as he stretched, the feeling of the wound on his side suddenly exploding with pain bringing him to his knees. Before he could drop further he felt Shadow's clawed hands holding him up.

"You should be more careful, you haven't fully healed yet" Shadow helped him to sit down as the pitch-black pokemon looked over the wound. "It's a temporary fix for now, so please refrain from pushing yourself. Burning your wound shut was far more difficult than one would think. It ran the risk of permanently damaging your fur, so I'd prefer not having to do it more than once." He gently scratched Blade behind his ears to comfort the Sneasel.

"Sneaaaa" Blade let out a happy sigh. "Shadow…..I'm sorry for…for yelling at you, and getting mad. I know nothing else matters to you, besides me. I just couldn't stand that you let them take that egg. I understand that you were more worried about me, but Shadow, that was horrible."

"I do apologize, it simply cannot be helped. Regardless of circumstances, you will always be my number one priority. Because you are my everything." Shadow lowered himself so he'd be in a similar position to Blade. He gently pulled the smaller male until his head was cradled into the pitch-black pokemon's chest.

Blade began to speak softly "Shadow, I…." He stopped himself.

"There is no reason to be hesitant my dear. I ask that you speak your mind."

Blade looked up at Shadow's eye. "I love you."

Shadow glanced away for a moment, then looked straight into Blade's eyes. "And I love you, my Blade."

Blade maintained eye contact with Shadow. "We have to find him….my father, we have to stop him, just look at how he's dragging our species through the mud with his actions. We aren't like that….at least.."

"You certainly aren't like that my dear." Shadow's words sounded almost hollow, but Blade knew he meant every word. "Despite everything that's happened to you, you are rather innocent."

Blade blushed slightly. "Thanks Shadow. Now then, we need to get back to training."

"I believe I already told you that you need rest." The pitch-black pokemon gave his counterpart a stern look. "So, you have to rest, you can't attempt anything dangerous, so we'll not be training until you have recovered. This is not up for debate, so please refrain from arguing with me."

"Fine…..I won't argue." Blade gave a light pout to Shadow.

"You know, I find it quite adorable when you are angry." The darkrai smirked beneath his collar.

"Snea….." the Sneasel blushed and pouted more before a little smile spread over his face. "Sel." The dual type relaxed against the darkrai and shut his eyes again.

*Later*

When Blade awoke next he found Shadow was not present with him. The darkrai was nowhere to be seen. But that was fine, Blade knew Shadow would stop him, so now was the best time to leave.

The Sneasel stood up slowly and stumbled away from where he was. Shadow wouldn't be too happy, but Blade needed to do this, he had to stop Cleave. He just stumbled through the forest keeping himself from collapsing through sheer force of will. He clutched his side and pushed on feeling the pain surging through his body. He just fought against his body as he moved forward. Then the scent hit him. That stench, he recognized it immediately, a weavile had been through here, and judging by the mixture of scents it had a pack. The weavile's scent was undoubtedly Cleave's, thus Blade was on the right track.

The Sneasel accelerated his movements and as his heart began to beat faster, the pain in his side dulled. Then he stopped abruptly realizing that the trail ended there. He wasn't surprised, Cleave was no idiot, so he must have known Blade was following him.

"Well, Arceus be damned, look who's still alive. The worthless little leech that cost me my prized breeder." The familiarly malicious voice called out. The weavile dropped down from a tree right in front of him. He stood to full height leaving the younger pokemon just a bit shorter. The weavile gazed into his eyes a moment. "Hehe, you have your mother's eyes. She looked at me quite similarly once. That was the night I claimed her as my own. You know, the other lesser males don't get to breed," Cleave turned his son's face to look at him as he smiled darkly "They might appreciate a new toy. And judging by this look in your eyes, you'll scream just as loud as your mother did."

As he stood face to face with him, Cleave's words chilled Blade to the bone. Though the Sneasel didn't show it. Just as his tough demeanor was about to crack, he felt as though Shard were with him laying a claw on his shoulder. And yet, the fear in his head refused to subside. Then he saw them, at least a dozen others, four Weavile and eight Sneasel, patiently circling around them.

"I suppose you should greet your brothers properly, on your knees like the worthless little fuck toy you'll soon become." Cleave took his attention again, and before Blade could even think he'd slashed the larger male across the face. Cleave staggered back for a moment, then shook his head and relaxed. "More fight in you than you used to have. Not that it matters, you still shouldn't have been born, but you'll be useful to them. Take him down, and you can use him as you see fit."

The other dual types converged in seconds passing Cleave and attacking Blade almost immediately. Memories flooded Blades mind, the times he'd trained with Shadow. Some of them were swiping in too large an arc and could easily be avoided, others too short and they wouldn't even cut him. Seeing this he reacted in seconds, slashing with both claws in every direction keeping them held back. Each one either hit him or was hit before they could do so, but they made little progress in beating him. By comparison Blade was an absolute tank to them. He caught one weavile by the arm and twisted, throwing him against three sneasel. Without hesitation, Blade pressed a claw to the ground and swung his legs up, kicking another in the face. He brought himself back down and ducked low, sweeping the legs from beneath two more Sneasel.

Cleave was infuriated, Blade was not only more resilient, but faster than them as well. And he was but a sneasel, and a runt at that. "Enough fucking around dipshits, he's not worth capturing, kill him."

They were upon him again with renewed vigor, each face adorned with a psychotic bloodthirsty grin. One stabbed into his side wound and he cried out in pain before turning back and slashing his throat. They stepped back a moment, and prepared another assault, restratitigizing after losing one. Blade was ready this time and charged an ice beam between his claws.

"Are you as braindead as you are weak? Ice won't hurt us dumbass! How have you lasted this long?" Cleave taunted him.

Blade looked up and smirked. The pack jumped at him. Within a split second he slammed his claws down and rolled into his back as ice coated the ground around him. He twisted his body, swinging his legs around, extending his toe claws, and spinning around flipping onto his back, then his front, maintaining the motion to keep his legs swinging and keep them away. They hit the ice and slid in, each getting cut or kicked by him as he moved. He winced, every time he twisted his body the wound opened more and more. Finally they slid back enough for him to stand and clutch his side. The blood seeped from the wound without fail.

"Oh you must be braindead, to think you'd challenge me and my entire pack while wounded, I was right, you should have ended up a stain on the grass. Insolent little wretch."

Blade chuckled a bit. "What's wrong dad? Mad that your worthless runt son is kicking your entire pack's collective asses?" He grunted and winced as the wound pulsated and sent pain shooting through him. The rest of Cleave's pack stood up again preparing to attack once more. Blade couldn't do this with that wound still open. He had to fix that. Suddenly he stabbed his claws into the ground and the ice shot up blocking their line of sight. Acting quickly, Blade climbed up and onto a tree branch.

"The little coward's trying to run! After him!" Cleave pointed him out in the trees before running and climbing up one himself.

Blade dashed across the branch and jumped to another tree, then another. Cleave and his pack pursued him closely with the alpha himself being right behind Blade. Blade ran to the trunk of a tree with Cleave just behind him, and as the smaller male reached the trunk he jumped, turning himself sideways and stabbing his claw tips into the trunk letting the momentum carry him all the way around to kick Cleave off the branch.

"Don't let him escape!" Cleave ordered as he slowly got to his feet.

Blade kept running through the trees, the drops of blood left behind giving his pursuers a trail to follow. Blade jumped through a small opening between a tree and quickly pressed his back to the trunk. "Shadow's gonna be so pissed off" he held his side and began freezing the wound shut. The pack came around the trunk ready to attack him, but he was ready. The trunk was covered in ice and as he slammed his claws back into it, shards of ice shot out in every direction, tearing into them and knocking them down. Blade took a leap over them as they fell and grabbed one, placing his feet to the weavile's chest and twisting them until he was facing upward and kicked off, sending himself to a higher branch and forcing the weavile to hit the ground faster.

The young Sneasel kept running knowing they'd follow him regardless, Cleave knew his scent. So he needed to prepare. He got a short distance away from them and coated a small clearing entirely in ice. That alone took a great deal of his stamina away and he dropped down panting and clutching his side. "Fuck me this hurts! Son of a bitch!"

"You really should watch your language Blade, what would Shard say if she knew you used such language?"

"Oh fuck off Cleave!" Blade called back forcing himself to stand, his overactive adrenaline being the only thing holding him together. He was losing strength fast and his will was wavering with the setting sun. The darkness creeping into him, beckoning still.

The rest of the pack arrived a moment later and was already attacking him again, this time he wasn't fast enough, despite suddenly changing the field into a deathtrap of ice spikes, they managed to maneuver around them safely and began cutting and slashing him all over.

"This was your folly Blade, you came to fight a storm, but you are left to fight alone. Remember, you're reaping what you've sown."

Blade was losing ground every second, and he felt any hope of survival hard to maintain. But that glimmer returned with the rise of the new moon. Enveloped entirely in darkness, Blade felt something empowering him, as though the moon itself were on his side, and he cried out. "SNEAAAAAASELLLLL!" With his cry the spikes shot up again, twice as many, twice as jagged as before, and branching off into a small ice forest. Within moments the forest collapsed on itself sending hundreds of ice shards around. The pack had managed to avoid it, but Cleave was nowhere in sight.

The pack made no movements, but one stepped forward to speak. "Your strength is undeniable, we apologise for attacking you, this battle must be concluded by you and our current Alpha. It's painfully obvious we can't defeat you ourselves but perhaps he can."

"Then where is he?" Blade asked panting.

"Right here" Cleave spoke stabbing through the ice blocking Blade's wound and twisting his claw inside. He twisted his claw again and again, making sure to open the wound as much as possible before stabbing Blade in the back, just barely missing his spine. Cleave dropped him and Blade hit the ground immobile from the pain. "I expected more, but you're just weak."

Blade was filled with sorrow in that singular moment, his fear almost impossible to hide. He felt truly alone in the darkness, left to be crushed, against the tide.

A single dot of red began to glow in the distance as a chill beyond ice swept the area.