Well, I've been gone a while huh? Things have been busy, and as I mentioned in chapter 5, I found the original rough draft of this. But it's over half a decade old! I've changed so much since then, on the characters, on my form, on my writing. I had to rework every detail of this. Not an easy task when you work full time and have other responsibilities to attend to. That said, the rewrite I've taken so long to do is DONE. As in, I have 2 other chapters polished, proofread, and ready to post. I could do all three tonight, but I decided for those who follow this to do this one tonight and the next one tomorrow. Given of course everything works out as planned.
EXPLICIT WARNING: This chapter contains mild graphic depictions of injuries!
This is where the story gets into the meat of the overall. Where characters come to form, and things fall into place. Those changes have a cost however. Like us in real life, the characters here must get knocked down to grow stronger. I truly hope you enjoy this one, as I have worked so many tireless hours on it. And as usual, if you want to come say hi, meet the characters, and chat, hang out, and ask questions, Eevee's Playground on discord is aH3YJE3Pmj
Come on Misty, it's time I show you that the first time was a fluke. I stood on the platform, ready to destroy. Those water types bested me once, and there was not Arceus damn way I was letting them do it a second time. Autumn and I had already planned out everything to do, and with my new typing and a few TMs, I was ready to show these punks who not to mess with.
She sent out the same Staryu from before, the one I had beaten once. The match started and I jumped into the water, confusing the Staryu who expected me to go anywhere but there. I popped up on another platform behind it and launched a shadow ball into it's back, slamming it into a pillar as the ball exploded. The poor thing stuck there for a few seconds before slowly peeling off top to bottom and flopping into the water.
"You went through all the trouble of becoming an electric type, but you stuck to the same tricks? You're going to pay for that mistake!" Misty laughed, sending out her Starmie. It landed on another platform, and it's gem lit up. I felt the grip on me and as expected, I was yanked into the sky. This time I turned and got the beam in the ceiling with my paws, and launched myself back at it. The gem glowed again, ready to counter me, but I was more than ready.
I pulled from deep inside myself, yellow light sparking over my fur and gathering, pooling inside my throat begging for it's release. The Starmie knew something was wrong, because it turned to run. Too late though, I unloaded. A blinding bolt of pure energy erupted from my maw with so much force it slowed my speed to a crawl as it arced through the sky. It caught the Starmie in the back and he lit up so bright I could see the star shaped skeleton through it's purple flesh. Once I cut the flow, the Pokemon emitted smoke from it's body as it flopped lifelessly into the pool.
"Gym Leader Misty is out of usable Pokemon! Autumn Green wins the match with a one hit knock out delivered by Sparkette the Jolteon!" The referee shouted as my platform moved back toward Autumn, who was jumping and cheering. I climbed up on the stage she was on, and she grabbed me and cuddled me tight. "If you do not stop breaking my ribs, I will electrocute you until your hair becomes as fluffy as Shadow's tail." I growled.
Once she had claimed her badge and gotten me checked up at the Pokemon center, she and Tyler decided to spend the night camping outside town. Just a nice night out to celebrate the victory. We ate, played games, and after the sun went down, I decided to go for a short walk with Shadow around the plains, just to relax and enjoy the night air.
"The night is so calm, and yet so angry. Cold, brutal, fearsome. I want to reach out and touch it." he babbled as he walked beside me, looking up at the full moon. "Shadow, you're never going to be a poet." I laughed, listening to his poor attempts. "I'm serious. Can't you feel it? Maybe it's because I'm friendly, or happy, or whatever, but I can almost feel the night. I can taste it on my tongue. Smell it in my head. It whispers to me." he continued, still watching the moon.
Before I could make another comment, I was launched with him into the sky as a rope of rocks exploded from the ground. I couldn't see where he landed, but I could see what was ahead of me. A giant snake made of boulders. It's red eyes locked on me, and I knew right then, I was done. Onix was a ground/rock type, and my electric butt wouldn't last two seconds in a fight with it. I could not possibly be more screwed. I braced as it's tail swung, and was knocked away as a ball of glowing yellow tackled me out of the way and was whipped into the grass.
"That my good miss Onix, was uncalled for. Where do you get off thinking it's fine to attack two Pokemon just having a stroll? What makes you so important that you can attack the innocent? And just what makes you think I am going to let you go after you attempt to harm the people I LOVE!?" a deep voice roared out from my right. The grass parted, and what I saw struck fear into me to every corner. Every fiber of my body told me this creature was pure unadulterated evil.
It was the same height as me, and clearly a vulpine form, maybe canine, but it was nothing I had ever seen. It was packed with tight muscle threatening to spill out. It's fur was short and so black it absorbed the light. Yellow rings marked it's hips, tail, legs, and forehead. But the eyes... they glowed an angry, painful, hate filled rage that screamed danger to the highest of high.
The Onix roared, and it caught a massive purple ball of toxic energy to the face in response. "You dare to challenge me? You think I am a toy? You think this is a game? You come out at night, because you dislike the light. I however, am where the shadows go to hide. Nothing you do will let you walk away from here. You are nothing compared to me! And you are not going to going to get away with this abomination of an attack." the creature said, it's voice filled with malice. Whatever the hell this thing was, it was not pleased.
The Onix charged, and the creature jumped, landing on it's neck and swiping it's paw. A blade of pure darkness cut through stone, muscle, and bone, and the Onix fell without any form of dignity in it's death. This terrible monster had outright killed it, and it showed no remorse. In fact, it seemed to enjoy what it had done, as it sat on the corpse and lifted it's head, letting out a cry unlike any other. A howl to the moon that seemed almost to thank it for allowing it to exist.
And then it fell over, struggling to breath. I by no means trusted it, but I had to be sure it wasn't a threat before I found Shadow. I crept up, keeping a thunder wave charged and ready to paralyze it if I needed to. "You can turn off the light show Sparkette. I would... would never hurt you. I would protect you until my last breath, even if it's coming right now." the creature stammered. That's when I actually got it.
The build, the form, the fact it knew me and and protected me. Whatever this thing was, it was Shadow. My only guess was that he had somehow evolved, but whatever evolution this was, it was nothing I had ever seen. Not a Flareon, not a Vaporeon, not a Jolteon. This was something altogether new. But he was in bad shape. His side was flayed, flesh and fur hanging in flaps where the Onix had hit him with it's tail. I could see the white glint of bone under a larger hole. I grabbed him and set him on my back. He was heavy as all hell, but I ran as fast as my little legs would take me, meeting Autumn and Tyler halfway to the camp. I explained everything and Tyler put him in his ball before we all rushed to the pokemon center.
Nurse Joy was not happy about being woken up this early in the morning, but once she saw Shadow's state, she began shouting orders. Doctors rushed out, putting him on a table and stabbing needles into his legs before wheeling him through a pair of large double doors to an operating room where they hoped to save his life. "You go sit down over there, and you think about what is going to happen to you. I am calling Officer Jenny, and I will make sure you pay for whatever you did to that poor thing." Joy hissed, before vanishing to help the doctor. Please Shadow, please... make it through this.