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
3: Let's walk, let's talk
It was all settled. Shadowgleam sat on a rock, wating for the Furret to come back from making arrangements with his tribe, so that they could be moving again.
Right now she was still, and her mind was wandering. Her thoughts washed like waves over that painful question, trying to erode it.
Why did he abandon me?
Abandonment was surely the right word. It had all been all so deliberate. The pictures, the extra food, placed carefully away from where she'd been left. She wondered if there had been some kind of reason, or even an apology, painstakingly printed in picture-language in those scribblings. But couldn't he have spoken the apology? He'd never abandoned a Pokémon before - as far as she knew.
They were opposites, she and Gavin. She was Shining, she was eye-catching; if he was any kind of light at all, it was a dim one, one that faded until you didn't realise it had gone out... But he wasn't depressed - he wouldn't do something rash?
They were different, but he couldn't have abandoned her because of that difference....
He loved that, thought Shadowgleam. He loved it that I was so bright and eye-catching and flamboyant when he couldn't be - I was free to be. I learned all those acrobatics because of him, and on the battlefield I was flashy, confident, aggressive - I did it for him, not to remind him of what he couldn't have. And he knew it. And he wanted that. I was his surrogate.
What stopped him needing me?
Sometimes my colour and size drew attention to him, but more often, they looked at the Raichu and it stopped them seeing the boy - so I was a shield for attention - what did I do?
A sharp spike of anger was what she suddenly felt.
I did nothing wrong!
A leaf drifted down from a tree. With a burst from one cheek, she incinerated it so that it never reached the ground - a fine stream of ash blew away on the wind.
The last battle I fought for him, I won for him. I won a tournament in Mahogany.
He must be dead, she thought, tail slipping off the rock where it was coiled, to the ground. The Gavin I know might as well be dead - I might as well mourn him. What's left is someone else - a Gavin I don't know.
A Gavin who would abandon me.
v v v
She was in this mood when Touchwood returned. She was staring into space, sparks bubbling over her tail, so Touchwood approached cautiously and from the front.
"Hi - Shadowgleam?"
"Yeah?" - coming back to reality so fast that he wondered if she hadn't known he was there all along.
"Where do you want to go?"
"I don't care. Let's get moving!"
Touchwood sighed and shrugged. He wondered what he'd let himself in for.
Shadowgleam led him off to the southwest. She was heading even deeper into the wilderness. There were mountains where she was going. Touchwood suspected that if she saw them, she'd climb them because they were there.
He hadn't been like this when he'd been abandoned.
Of course, he'd seen it coming. He'd been fed so little that he'd battled pathetically, trying to save his energy, and it wasn't long before he'd been thrown out with a cuff. He'd moped, then he'd found his own kind, then he'd started a life again.
She hadn't yet told him how she was abandoned. He was curious. It would help for her to tell someone, too; it'd helped him. Wild Pokémon had laughed in his face when he was through with his story - they'd never try to understand a dependence on humans. But at least they'd heard him through. He'd hear Shadowgleam through, without laughing. She should tell him.
It would do her good.
v v v
Touchwood had been trekking along behind Shadowgleam for a while. He was quiet. That was good in a way, but it wasn't a peaceful sort of silence. She could tell that he was just bursting with questions he wanted to ask her, and that wasn't what she'd wanted at all. It was irritating. He kept glancing at her, and when she tried to make eye-contact, looking quickly away. His pace wasn't steady, either. He kept bouncing.
"What?" She finally snapped, in spite of herself, when he'd caught up to her again. That was another annoying thing. She wasn't walking very fast, she was slowing down deliberately so that he could keep up, but he insisted on staying a bit behind her, mostly, although going at the same speed. His version of giving her 'space'. It did the opposite - she felt harried.
"What what?"
"What question is currently sizzling your tongue?"
The Furret glanced sideways and back again.
"Er..."
She waited. To hurry him up, she snapped her tail against the ground, releasing harmless electricity. He looked at it, looked even more nervous, and fidgeted.
Shadowgleam had a long tail and a very short temper.
"GO AHEAD AND ASK!"
"I thought it would... maybe be a good idea... if you would talk about how you were abandoned?"
"That's a human idea. All this stupid get-it-off-your-chest stuff. What I want to do is walk. I want to cover the ground. But if you can't keep your mouth shut, why don't you tell me about your sad story?"
Ow - that was possibly too harsh. He'd really asked for it, though.
Touchwood, predictably, winced.
But, healthily for him, he immediately began.
v v v
"I was a very low level when I was captured," Touchwood said. The story, as always, was fresh in his mind. "I'm not sure where I was - some forest near a town. I was part of a small tribe. I got captured the usual way."
Shadowgleam nodded. Her sparks died a bit. He gestured that they should keep walking as they talked, and she looked approving.
She strode on, tail swaying over her shoulders, as he continued, "My trainer wanted to evolve me, but it took a while. She was pretty cheap. She fed us as little as she could without starving us - a little more when we won battles for her. She started to feed me more when she realised that, although I was at the right level, I couldn't evolve. The others were a little jealous.
"She was pretty disappointed when I evolved - I wasn't much stronger. What she did do was load me up with HMs - Cut, Strength, and Surf.
"But HMs are renewable - she could always use them on another Pokémon - and I lost my usefulness to her. I started acting weak in battle, trying to save my strength for things like cutting, but my claws got dull and I couldn't do that either." He looked the picture of health now, and he watched her notice that.
"Anyway, I finally got weak enough that I was abandoned. My trainer must have had a spasm of guilt when she left me - she un-registered me, then she gave me a couple of days' food and walked away from me.
"I was pretty stupid though. I trailed her for a day or two, using up the food, then I came back begging for more. She hit me that time when she threw me out. She would've had one of her Pokémon faint me, but they didn't want to. They had honour. And like me - they were trying to save their strength."
He finished his story. "I moped for a little while, then I found a tribe of my own species. I was useful to them because of my HMs. That's how I've been living."
He looked at her. Shadowgleam wasn't mad now. He must have said the right thing. But maybe he should leave the therapy stuff alone for now. He'd been getting on her nerves - taking things too quickly. He'd let her simmer for now. He did want to help.
Shadowgleam looked at him, gave him a quick, respectful nod, and they continued, walking in a more companionable quiet.
v v v
What Shadowgleam was thinking - I wonder if they all do it like that. With some food supplies. If they all walk away.
Gavin wasn't like that. Gavin was nice. He took good care of me and he actually loved me - but I can picture him, putting my food down, tossing my Pokéball up the hill. And walking away...
Miss Black Dragon: Hey, now that you mention it, that's true… no Pokédolls… how strange. Well - hope you still like Shadowgleam after this chapter! XD
Lightning-Strike: Humour shall be attempted. Remember I'm not very good at it. sigh