It has been days since the Darkmon have been eliminated and the nearby forest slowly regained its greenish nature and gradually recovering from the aftereffects of the Forest of No Light for years now. But at the cost of a dear friend, Oshawott who sacrificed his life to save his friends and the world passed away just two days ago.
Everyone was having breakfast in the dining area but had no appetite to really eat well and some had trouble sleeping with the thoughts of the otter's passing. Pikachu and Buneary tried their best to remain happy as they spend time with Scarlet. Others took the chance to move past these feelings in training and spending time with Scarlet as well to get to know her better into the family.
But things were not the same without Oshawott around, they could imagine Oshawott would do something silly or acting tough like the hyperactive goofball he was which would get things lively around here. Just thinking about it, it reminded some about how much they missed him already; a scar in the family that would never heal.
Pikachu excused himself to check around with the others while Buneary put Scarlet in for an afternoon nap. She gave her sweet Pikachu a kiss before he took his leave and started with Piplup and Pachirisu.
"Hey Piplup, Pachirisu. How are things going?", Pikachu asks. The two faked a cheerful glee while replying that they were doing alright. Pikachu sighed and revealed that he saw through their facade.
"Sorry, Pikachu. By the way, how's lil Scarlet?", Pachirisu apologized. Pikachu replied that she was sleeping soundly by now. They both feel a little better hearing Scarlet doing a-okay.
Piplup says, "Great to hear that, Pikachu. By the way, I have got to tell you something."
"What's wrong? Wait, are you talking about...", Pikachu guessed. Piplup and Pachirisu nodded and replied that he was right. Everyone was trying to recover from the lost except for Snivy who had been rarely seen during meals and training. As expected, she has been taking this the worst.
Pikachu and Buneary knew how much Oshawott meant to Snivy and how much she truly cares for him. It was really sorrowful that Oshawott never got the chance to tell how much he loved her as a best friend. Now, they would never see each other again. "Yeah... I have never seen her this upset and heartbroken before. I need to go talk to her, can't just leave her like this.", Pikachu suggested.
"Yeah, that would be helpful. You can find her at the meadows near the forest.", Piplup agreed and wished him good luck before Pikachu headed off in the direction as mentioned by Piplup.
After a few minutes of searching in the meadows, he could hear some sad sobbing and followed it. He found Snivy lying in a distance, as she has Oshawott's scalpchop closed to her chest, embracing it tightly. Pikachu felt he should just leave her to calm down but she called Pikachu over, already aware of his arrival.
Pikachu slowly walked towards her and sat down next to her. He found it difficult to choose what to talk about, hoping not to hurt her feelings further.
"Snivy, please stop crying... Oshawott wouldn't want to see anyone sad... and to see you crying.", Pikachu tried to console her and could understand her pain and sorrow.
Snivy wiped her tears and held on to not cry further, "I know he wouldn't. But... I could never dream of a world without him. I missed him so much and his cheerful personality day in and day out."
She then showed her hands which had scuff marks and signs of straining on them. She said that she had been making wreaths out of flowers from this meadow and she asked Nurse Joy and Audino that she could clean Oshawott's face and body with a cloth before the funeral.
I really missed him, Pikachu... The goofball", Snivy expressed as she started to sob again and Pikachu pulled her close and comfort her.
"I know... A goofball who saved us all...", Pikachu answered as he stared into the crimson red skies as the sunset. Shortly after, he accompanied Snivy back to the center and advised her to join them for dinner after working so hard to ensure Oshawott's funeral goes well.
Somewhere in the forest...
"How are we alive? I thought we would all perished?", a creature asked. The creature then walked deeper into the forest and found more of his kind waiting around.
"Wait, how are we still here? The bulb was destroyed. This is weird?", another creature asked with the same curiousity as the first.
There were six others who had the same feelings of confused thoughts to how they survived the bulb being destroyed. The darkmon still lived on with no direction or goal to go like headless chickens trying to process this strange phenomenon. Then, there was one Darkmon who rallied everyone to calm down and toss aside those useless thoughts.
"Silence all of you, confused lot. Don't you see what this means, it means our job isn't quite finished yet. The survival of our race is within us now.", he shared his thoughts about an opportunity to restore their race.
"But who know how long we can last? It could just be temporary. Without the bulb, the rest will surely die.", one of the darkmonn remnants added.
The darkmon giving the speech nodded that it was just a matter of time before they will die but he inspired that as Dark's closest advisor, he will assume temporary command to carry out the second phase of the plan to which everyone found it confused about this so called plan.
However, deep down in that second in command's thoughts, he believed this was all according to Lord Dark's designs. He needed to instill this faith for an uprising to reclaim their dominion over the world.
"Have no fear, my friends. Put your faith in our lord and in me that we will survive and retake our rule over this world! For now rest, conserve your strength as we will carry out a new goal to revive our race.", he rallied the rest of his darkmon survivors and led them deeper into the forest.
"We shall soon return, you insolent Pokemon wretches. The legion of Darkmon will not rest until we destroy everything you love dearly. Besides, a special help will arrive shortly...", the new darkmon leader whispered to himself as he and his fellow remnants ventured deeper into the forest.
It was already nighttime, Ash and his friends were checking on one another before gathering together for dinner. As we turn to Pikachu and Snivy who were around the lobby wanted to see Oshawott whose body was moved to a different move by the Pokemon center staff who graciously accepted any visits to pay their respects and wishes to him before his funeral day.
"Hey, mind if I join you to see him? Is that alright, Snivy?", Pikachu asked the grass snake pokemon holding a newly made wreath.
"Of course. I wouldn't mind the company.", Snivy nodded as they walked and entered into a room located in the east wing. Inside the room, there was a huge bed with a large glass case with some flowers and the wreaths that Snivy has been making. Pikachu and Snivy took the time to say their prayers and left the wreaths along with the surrounding flowers.
Pikachu knew that it would be some time before we had to leave the center and continued their journey. He wondered whether Snivy could just move on without any regrets. "Snivy, you know... We may have to continue our journey, the Unova League is just a month away."
Pikachu knew Snivy did not take that too well as she sighed and replied that she was aware of that. She was still feeling torn of having to pursue their dream of entering and winning the Unova League with one another. But, she thought to herself, the dream wouldn't be complete without Oshawott. The others would feel the same way about how to go around this.
"Pikachu... How could we just do this without him? It was our dream together, it would not matter without him with us.", Snivy added.
"True but we cannot quit now just because he is gone. He wouldn't be happy if we stop here just because of his death.", Pikachu replied and it was obvious that it must be done.
"But, I can't just leave him... I won't leave him. I..." Before Snivy could finish, Pikachu wanted to tell her that their trainers may be deciding to check in a nearby hotel just a few miles away from the center. Snivy felt even more sad, seeing that the day to move on was not too far away.
Pikachu decided not to push things any further and walked Snivy out of the room to join everyone else for dinner. They wished their farewells and will come visit again.
At the dining hall, the trainers prepared food for every one of their pokemon and most of them were starving and ate their food happily. Some still did not feel like eating not with what happened days ago. Pikachu and Buneary were feeding Scarlet with some baby food. Although it was not as easy as Scarlet was a little picky.
It appeared that the little Pichu seemed to be a handful for the couple but they will get it in time. Everyone just adored the sights of them enjoying and walking through their first steps as a family. Everyone also adores Scarlet and could not help but watch and play with her all day. Snivy felt a little upbeat when seeing them too. Oshawott's hope for them to be a happy family lived on and she found that she should be protecting what Oshawott sacrificed for.
But still, she still felt that she could not let it go easily. She finished dinner early and left to take a walk to get her mind off of things. Then, she coincidentally met with Ryder who was carrying boxes with some tools and looked like he could use a hand.
"Need help with those, Ryder?", Snivy asked until Ryder then noticed her and welcomed the helping hand.
"Thanks for the help, I was wondering where have you been for the past couple of days.", Ryder conveyed his questions. Snivy had trouble finding the words to express her depressed feelings.
"It is okay, I understand now, sorry if I had brought it up. He was a brave one, that knucklehead.", Ryder chuckled and Snivy could not help but giggled at the truth of his silly nature. After moving the stuff over to Hank's room, Snivy was about to leave before Ryder passed her a journal. He did not explained what so she assumed that he would want her to take the time to read it off rather than grieving alone.
She thanked Ryder and took off but Ryder hoped that it would do the trick. "She needs to get over with this soon... Hope she does."
He closed the door and turned to Chloe in another room who was still being recovered.
Snivy sat down in Oshawott's room and began reading the bool Ryder passed to her and it appeared to the histories of Unova. There were so many chapters, she skimmed through them quickly since she heard of these tales before until the last chapter about the story of a girl who belonged to a pokemon tribe that served as templars. They were assigned the duty to slay any demons or monsters that dare to trespass the borders into their lands.
It explained that the girl could not understand why must her people kill demons and monsters as she thought that they could be like us who seek a place in the world but her ideas were regarded as naive. She then met with a demon who was not entirely demon but he shared features of a human boy. He showed her that there were some good and kindness in other races; just misunderstood.
They got along very well until a war was decided from both side seeing that this conflict would have to come to an end. The girl and the demon boy both begged each of their familes and people to cease fighting but none would be willing to stop as it would mean to surrender. During the fight, the girl was too close to the battlefield and was caught between the fierce clash. She almost got killed by a blast until the demon boy shielded her and collapsed upon impact. Everyone gazed upon to what demon would give up their life to protect a stranger.
The girl's people called a truce to stop the war at once and restore peace between the two. But, the demon race refused to accept it, seeing that the demon boy died was regarded as a outcasts rather than as one of them and so continued the fight.
After centuries of war, the templars and the humans were truimphant in repelling the demon army and were casted out of this realm. However, they have always paid their respect to the death of the demon boy who was regarded as a hero; a reminder of showing that it mattered not of ones' origin but their choices that matter.
After reading that, Snivy was amazed with the plot of this tale but taking a closer look, the pictures described were of close resemblance of the Forest of No Light and there was a date on the bottom of the page and it was recorded as of 300 years ago.
Snivy could not help but wondered about the origins of the Darkmon and what connections did this story held with...