Disclaimer: Pokémon is copyrighted by Nintendo, Game Freak, Warner Bros, and Wizards of the Coast. I in no way claim rights to Pokémon; this fic is a non-money-making venture for free distribution on the Web.
Dedication: This fic is for Lightning-Strike. Lightning-Strike is a talented, cool author here, whose user id is 141533. This is her Christmas fic, especially for her! ^!^ Merry Christmas, L-S!
A/N: All Pokémon speech is translated, unless otherwise indicated. Review thank-yous at the end of the chapter.
Light of a Dark Black Night
2: Touchwood
Shadowgleam woke, finding herself facedown in unfamiliar grass. It was a different kind of grass - tough and a bit itchy. Getting up, she pulled at it experimentally - the strand she had grabbed was connected to several others, branching out under the top layer.
Her cheek sacs were fine. They'd replenished themselves - as they always did, quickly. She was in fine condition except that her feet and her tail muscles were a little sore. She'd punished both.
She went to climb a tree - they were shorter here. Fir trees, mostly. Evergreens. She was still in Northern Johto, and the view from the top of the tree didn't give her any more detail. She was in a small valley. The stream wasn't far away. It gathered itself into a pool, a little further down. She went there, carrying her food supplies, to drink and swim.
The sun was high above. Shadowgleam lay on her back in the eddying water and watched the sky.
Her food might last her a week, but if she didn't rely on it completely, it should last longer… The smart thing to do would be to start foraging now, and practise, so that by the time the Pokéchow ran out, she could do without it.
It was breezy, and it was a beautiful day.
She liked this spot, but she didn't want to stay there - not really! She didn't want to make a home anywhere - for now, she wanted to stay on the move.
So - Which way now?
She got out of the water and aligned herself. Another benefit of the powers of electricity - for a Raichu, magnetic North and South were tangible.
Which way now, then?
The voice of a human, coming from - almost exactly - the south west - decided her before she knew she was running, running to meet whomever it was.
As if it was a single frame in a movie reel - zipping by, invisibly, but causing a slight discontinuity - Gavin's face flashed before her. And she didn't realise it.
v v v
She saw the trainer's opponents first.
A Sentret and a Furret stood on one side of the battle, and a Granbull on the other. The trainer, a person with spiky peach hair, stepped forward and pointed. She was trying to get around the Furret to attack the Sentret, but so far she wasn't succeeding, and the Sentret had enough health remaining to block a Pokéball.
"Return Mastiff!" the girl growled. "Go Primeape!"
Smart opponent, going for the type advantage… Most trainers didn't apply challenge rules to wild-Pokémon fights, but that didn't mean it was fair - two against one, since the Sentret was obviously not battling.
"My turn!" announced Shadowgleam, both trainer and Furret looking up at her cry. She bounded into the clearing and unleashed a Thunderbolt on Primeape, which slowed him down - then she used Agility. That allowed her to take out the Fighting Pokémon with an accurate Slam.
"Who's next?" she snarled, back into Battlestance again. She glanced across at the Furret to exchange a wink, but he'd run away.
… Fair enough. She tossed her head. So this would be her battle.
The trainer girl stared at her for a moment, before tossing out a Pokédoll - a remarkably realistic Clefairy, along with synthesised scent, that emerged from a Pokéball with a suitable red flash. Shadowgleam saw the seams - and besides, it landed funny, in a way that would have given a normal Clefairy pain.
Shadowgleam looked up at the trainer, disappointed. She'd thought the trainer would give her a proper fight. She picked up the Clefairy-doll with a paw and tossed it back.
The trainer looked at her, irritated, picked up a rock and threw it, and turned to chase after the Sentret. Hey!
No!
Shadowgleam was angry. Her battle-challenge spurned, she decided to take sides against this girl. It was only a stupid Sentret. Might even be an illegal capture, since Shadowgleam wasn't sure if the little Pokémon was up to Level Two.
A Raichu was faster than a human any day.
And she'd just used Agility, after all.
She leaned to the ground and ran.
v v v
She'd thought of tripping up the trainer when she passed her, but didn't bother in the end. Thinking she was being attacked, the peach-haired girl released her Granbull, then recalled it again in confusion as Shadowgleam left her in the dust.
Ha.
It took her no time at all to find the two fugitives. They were hidden in a rather obvious patch of bush.
"Let's go," Shadowgleam hissed, scooping up the Sentret onto her shoulder - he was a bit of a weight but she'd trained with heavier ones, and he was only a baby - and signalling to the Furret. "Your territory - which is the best way?"
"Thanks."
He took off, darting down a bank. Together, they went sideways and up and down and backtrailed… Shadowgleam wasn't good at this stuff, but she followed the Furret's lead. She watched closely. This was something she'd have to learn.
Barely ten minutes later, they knew they'd lost their pursuers. Taking deep breaths, Shadowgleam lifted the Sentret off her shoulder.
"I'm Touchwood. He's Heartwood," the Furret - Touchwood - said, as Heartwood backed away from Shadowgleam into Touchwood's tail.
"Thanks," said Touchwood again. "His mother would have banished me if I'd let this child get caught." He looked apologetically at her. "I'm sorry you didn't get captured."
Shadowgleam stared at him. "Why would you be?"
"You acted as if you wanted to be." Touchwood pointed out.
"I was just looking for a challenge."
Pretty reckless, then, said the expression in Touchwood's eyes.
She was annoyed again. Watch this, she thought, and launched into a routine of some of her more impressive acrobatics - ending by splitting a small tree in half, just by lightning, while still in midair.
"Okay, okay," said Touchwood. "What level are you, anyway?"
"Thirty-eight."
The ends of his tail fluttered, autonomous of the wind. "You were trained."
Shadowgleam replied without thinking, "So were you."
Touchwood paused, his eyes whipping up to Shadowgleam's. Heartwood paused, looking anxious, sensing tension.
"Does it still show?" said Touchwood.
"No!" stammered Shadowgleam. "I guessed, in a way."
"Intuition," murmured Touchwood.
"It was a while ago," he added, "and I think I've settled into the wilderness." His tail stopped twitching, and drifted back to the ground.
"Well done," said Shadowgleam, more harshly than she'd meant to.
"And you?" said Touchwood. "When were you… let go?" Shadowgleam could see that he chose his words carefully - he must guess that she'd left her trainer recently.
"Yesterday," hissed Shadowgleam. She closed her eyes and briefly pictured one of Gavin's worst defeats in full colour.
She wasn't going to make it easy for him.
v v v
Touchwood stared at her.
"Where?" he asked mildly.
"Where am I now?" retorted Shadowgleam. "I don't know."
"Ah," said Touchwood. He looked back at Heartwood and told the baby softly to go back to home. The Sentret scurried off.
"In what state are your food provisions?"
"They'll last me for a week. I'm starting to forage."
"You're a dark tone," he continued. "Do you know where you were captured from?"
"No. I was born in the wilderness, I believe; as a Pikachu, I remember living in some kind of human facility, and I was traded out to my trainer Gavin." In her mind, the name was a mental shriek. She wasn't going to let up on him.
"You're not actually that old…?"
"About five years."
She felt relieved that he was asking mostly practical questions. She couldn't think about, let alone answer, ones like 'why were you abandoned'.
"I'll help you settle in," the Furret offered.
"I don't want to settle!" Shadowgleam shouted. "Rai ai-la!" That didn't mean anything in any language. It was just a cry.
"You don't know what you want," Touchwood pressed. "That's all right. I can help you with that too."
"No -"
"Raichu, you've got to go somewhere!"
"My name's Shadowgleam," Shadowgleam finally replied. "For the moment, I'm wandering."
She hesitated for a while, until Touchwood got impatient and his tail began to flick again.
"But if you want to wander, too, you can come with me."
Miss Black Dragon: Thank you! I'm glad you like it! I wonder if there's a clue in that irony… as to why Gavin released her? We shall see…
Pikacar/Marle: Thank you! No, Shadowgleam is pretty tough. She might get depressed, she might get vengeful ^^;; but no, she's not going to sink. Gavin, however…
EndoMike: Why, thank you very much. It's nice to be applauded. :)