Author's Notes: Ah, this is where the story gets interesting. Expect one main event to stem from the actions in this chapter, and, as time goes on, that one effect will branch into several other things. Trust me, they get weirder and weirder…
~Z~ Darkness Doesn't Cast a Shadow~Z~
Chapter Two: Eye of the Storm
"And suddenly a voice, a tired, young voice says as clear as day:
'Thank you.' Them. Their function is in some way to make us evolve.
And now at last I know a little something."
--Whitley Strieber, Transformations
"Hello? Hellllo? Is anyone here?" Ash hollered at the intimidating oak door, hammering at it with a fist in an obnoxious form of knocking. His eyes were frantic, his voice was distraught, and I was situated precariously on his shoulder shaking my head.
The journey had taken us two days, since Misty and Brock had insisted that we stop to rest for at least one night. Ash had acted like the journey to the gym was a race the whole time, running if he could, jogging if he couldn't run, and walking ridiculously fast if he couldn't jog. When he slept, he slept for as little time as possible, and he was up at sunrise, jovial and encrazed with the thought of leaving right away.
Naturally, it had been my job to try to settle him down, since Misty's idea of calming him down was knocking him unconscious and Brock had already tried to no avail. They could only struggle to keep up with his enthusiastic sprinting. Fortunately, I had my perch on Ash's shoulder, so I had to do nothing of the sort.
Finally he gave us some insight when Misty repeated her question of "Why do we have to move so fast?! I'm tired! You've never been this eager to get to a gym…and that's saying a lot!"
Ash grinned maniacally. "Because I wanna be the first one to beat that Gym Leader!"
We couldn't do anything but sigh.
I must say, the sight of the building was a welcome one. It was a cumbersome building, the size of a large Pokémon Center, and it looked very incongruous sitting there on the outskirts of Lavender Town, jammed in between a few scattered trees. It was painted a diluted golden with sizzles of faint black gracing the borders of all the windows and the door, and the roof was bulky and shingled brackish. The single door was a monstrous, burdensome oak block, and there was a vague carving of some sort of unidentifiable pokémon chiseled into it. I could tell on sight that it was a practically ancient building that had seen a bad attempt at restoration.
Ash rushed over and started banging on the door without delay. And that's where we are now.
"They've gotta be here Pikachu…" Ash whispered to me. I nodded and thumped a paw on his shoulder to further voice my concurrence
"Ash, quiet down! Unless they're deaf, I'm sure they heard you already." Misty sighed shortly after.
Misty's assumptions proved correct as the door swung open with no apparent source behind it, and we peered into the strange old building. The lighting was very dim and shadowy and you could just barely make out the stadium, complete with stands rising near into the lofty ceiling.
"Come in, won't you?" A soft voice called out to us from somewhere deep in the darkness, and Ash stepped into the building with no hesitation. Misty and Brock followed timorously. The moment Ash's sneakers touched the shining wooden floor of the gym, the lights snapped on bright, glaring down at us from their view on the ceiling.
If the exterior was disappointing, the interior more than made up for it.
The polished wood stands circled a round stadium that was dyed to look like a gigantic pokéball, while the entirety of the wall and ceiling was one giant mural of blackened thunderheads swirling and lightning clashing. I felt as if I had just entered the eye of a vicious storm.
"Wowww…!" We all gasped in unison, and I could see my companions' wide eyes glittering in awe.
Ash shook off the shock in an exceptionally quick time in order to get down to business. "Where are you?" He called out into the empty stadium, while throwing cautionary glances to the hulking cement doorway we were in. Stands spiraled high above us. His voice echoed an eerie loneliness off the walls.
"I'm right here." A young girl, no older than ten or eleven, peeped out from the last shadow left in the building, an overthrowing from the stands.
"~Pikaaa…? She's awfully young!~" I squeaked as she scuffled out of her cover. The expressions on my human friends' faces more than agreed with my response.
She was not much to look at, admittedly, except for the fact that she was interesting, with shoulder-length shady auburn hair that had glints of an odd yellow sheen sparking off of it. Her eyes, inflated by the magnification of what the humans call 'glasses,' matched the luster of her hair, and were an eerie bright gold that reminded me of livid voltage. On examination I realized that she must've been an electric trainer, judging from her seeming obsession with the color yellow (it was all over her!) and the serrated black stripes racing all over her [yellow] shirt and pants.
"I may be young, little Pikachu, but that doesn't mean you should me differently than any other gym leader." She gave a devious twitch of her lips, walking over to her spot on the other side of the stadium. By her movements and voice I could sense a thick shyness wafting about her like a pungent perfume, and perhaps a slight scent of mystery.
"~You…you can understand me…?!~" I widened my eyes and bounded whimsically down from my perch on Ash's shoulder. I drifted to the floor, then was startled by a thud of a landing. I took a tottery step forward, gawking up at her in an incredulous fashion.
"Yeah. I can understand electric pokémon." She stated in a tone that was unrealistically simple. However, I got the impression that further questions on the subject would be trespassing into dangerous territory.
She directed her eyes away from my questing to stare flatly at Ash, Misty, and Brock. "I'm Stormie. I like electric pokémon the best, and I only have one pokémon."
"How are you a gym leader if you only have one pokémon?" Ash scoffed, crossing his arms, eyeing me and refusing to look at Stormie.
"I suppose he's a special pokémon. But only because that was his fate. He was struck by a stray lightning bolt when he was little. I don't know any more than that." Again, that feeling that any questions were fenced and unwelcome.
Ash listened to her with a mix of what I identified as interest and jealousy. After all, this girl had obviously achieved much more than he had, and she had to be at least 4 years younger than him.
"Anyway. Who's going to battle me?" Stormie had a blunt voice, almost monotonous, like she had practiced and planned every word she said until she was bored with it.
"I will!" Ash piped up. I raced to his side and put on a confident smirk. "I'm Ash Ketchum from the town of Pallet, and I'm aiming to be the Number One Pokémon Master!"
"Pika!" I added.
"Fine. We'll be competing for the BoltBadge, one-on-one. Let's go!" Her last sentence was the first semblance of enthusiasm I had heard yet, and it was so elusive I found myself wondering if I had imagined it.
Ash clenched his fist, watching Stormie and waiting for her to send out her pokémon. However, she did nothing of the sort, and instead pursed her thin lips and emitted a high-pitched, sweeping whistle that stung at my sensitive ears. "Piii-chaaa…" I squealed, muffling the penetrating sound by blocking my ears with my paws.
I peeped out through squinted eyes at where Stormie was standing, and I felt a shiver clutch my body as I watched a sinewy shadow bound out from the same bit of gloom Stormie had emerged from. It padded towards its trainer, utterly silent down to the eerie hush of its paws against the hardwood floor.
"~Perrraar… I am here…~" He mewled, his voice giving away his gender. He lashed his lengthy tail and purred thunderously. He began stalking around his trainer's ankles and then parked himself at her side, still purring and growling like the exotic beast he was. He looked up at her obediently as he stroked his lips with his slender pink tongue. It somehow hurt me deep inside to look at him.
He was a Persian, that I could tell on plain sight, but he was anything but an ordinary one. He glowered at me with eyes the color of a Ho-oh's wing catching the sun, and his bristling fur was the shade of molten gold. An ebony zigzag of a stripe hissed down his back, ending finally with a bit of static streaking near the base of his incessantly twitching tail. A few more veins of meandering black could be seen dancing other random bits of his fur. His frayed ears stood on end, and he had a great black smudge of a nose with some scant striping trailing up towards his nervous ears. In the middle of his forehead, a jewel shone the radiant color of a sunset being watched through a window the syrupy tint of honey. Long, jagged whiskers jabbed out from his face and were shuddering in rhythm to the shaking of his tail.
"StormEye, let's battle." Stormie pointed gradually at the battlefield.
"Piii...ka!" I heckled at the great Persian that was snaking his lean way into the middle of the battlefield, and he glared at me with those creepy eyes, still growling under his breath.
I watched him with a wary eye as I cocked an ear to catch bits of the conversation going on behind me.
"Whoa…I've never seen a Persian like that before!" Brock pointed out. "I'd be careful Ash, pokémon with special traits like this are often much stronger than others of their species. Plus, he looks really well-trained with those bright eyes and that glossy coat."
"Yeah, I know!" Ash gritted, then rolled his hand back into a fist. "But I think I can handle it!"
"I don't know Ash--" Brock responded, but cut himself short to preserve his younger friend's ego.
"Ash, I don't like how that Persian is staring at Pikachu…." Misty shivered. "There's something about his stare…it's almost mesmerizing…"
"Hey, Pikachu…." Ash murmured to me, and I about-faced to look at him. His eyes were gleaming with determination, like they often do in an intense battle, and I could see myself reflecting in their soft brown depths. "Do you want to battle this Persian?" His voice was low and severe, and the seriousness was so poignant in his tones that it almost seemed a material thing.
I stared back at him for a long time. When I blinked, the warnings, the edginess, the mangled face of that Ivysaur…and his sinister words of caution all buzzed around desperately in my mind. But there was another image imbedded in my mind, too, one that was far deeper and more stirring than anything else there.
It was just that look in Ash's eyes when he really, really wanted something. It wasn't a greedy look, just a look of longing, sort of hopeful, like that of a Pidgey fledgling gawking at the sky before it is able to take wing. I made my decision then.
"Pika!" I nodded, meaning a yes.
Ash grinned. "Okay! Pikachu, I choose you! Let's go buddy!"
"Pi pikachu!" I charged up briefly and stiffened my ears as I jogged out on to the battlefield, where StormEye was intently watching me with his jewels of eyes.
I dropped to all fours and waited for Ash's command.
"Let the battle begin." Stormie announced slowly. "You can have the first move."
"Okay, Pikachu, start off with a Quick Attack!"
I coiled the muscles in my legs, then sprung off running straight at the Persian. As I neared him, I heard Stormie call out calmly, "Dodge."
StormEye stepped out of my way and I went hurtling past him. I plummeted down hard on the floor just behind him, but I picked myself up within seconds and leapt back towards him. This time my body knocked against his silky fur, and I flipped in midair and landed on my feet on the floor. StormEye looked unfazed as he blinked at me, his tail flogging back and forth.
"Try to cling to his head!" Ash yelled from the sidelines. Ah, the same strategy we used to beat Drake's Dragonite.
StormEye let his guard down for a moment when he turned to glance at Ash, and I took this opportunity to take a flying leap and latch myself to his head, grabbing his whiskers with my front paws and tugging as hard as I could.
"Prowww!" He yowled, "~You little rat!!~"
I was mad now. Dizzying colors whirred past my eyes as StormEye tossed his head around violently and pitched his body like a crazy rodeo Ponyta. I continued yanking his whiskers and I wasn't surprised as all my power paid off and a few ripped out. I couldn't hold on to the whiskers long, though. My paws were cramping, as were my legs. I tensed my body with everything I had, as Ash yelled behind me, "Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"
"Kaaa chuuu!" Some potent electricity went bursting from my cheeks, and StormEye paused his thrashing for a dim moment.
I hurled myself off of his head, and landed with watery legs a few feet away. Panting hard, I tried to keep my feet under me, awaiting his approach. My vision was still whirling.
"Pikachu, Quick Attack him again! Then try a Tail Whip!"
I gathered my strength and flung myself at the Persian, jutting out my shoulder in ready for the impact. Just as I smacked against him, I let out some extra static, and I probably felt the collision as much as he did. I jumped around in desperation, then thwacked StormEye as hard as I could with my rigid tail. Out of the corner of my I eye, I glimpsed his slight flinch from the combination of my electric Quick Attack and Tail Whip.
Why is Stormie being so quiet? I wondered as I stood and waited for Ash's next command. StormEye isn't doing anything!
"Agility!" Ash ordered.
By this time I was so battered from my own attacks and running around I didn't think I had the strength to try Agility, but I obeyed and took off sprinting in spirals around StormEye.
Finally, I heard Stormie call out something, but I was dashing too fast to distinguish it. I put a wary eye on StormEye, and watched as some golden, dancing voltage burned out of him. Fearfully, I watched as the voltage approached, whirling through the air like an Ekans chasing its tail. I collapsed as the attack hit me full power, sizzling madly at my eyes and tattering my power.
"~Chaaa!~" I squealed, trying in vain to get back up against the overpowering assault.
"StormEye, Bite."
I could only squeak, as, faster than lightning, the Persian's jagged teeth closed on my tender belly. The pain was excruciating. I tried to wriggle free, but I ended up only shredding the skin of my stomach. I felt a muscle split, and I gasped at the air, my head lolling back and forth. The ballooning of my stomach only furthered the searing throb.
"Let go, and Slash it." My hearing and vision were going haywire. Everything was muffled and fuzzy.
There was a frantic cry of…something…from Ash, right as I fell limp to the ground. StormEye had released his clamp on my abdomen. His claws raked viciously across my chest. I rolled away, my tongue dangling from my mouth as I wheezed in vain to get some air…any air….
My eyes rested on the ground, where I could make out a few splotches of intense red through the multicolored spots swimming in front of my vision.
My throat constricted and something slimy slid up it, demanding to be let out. I exerted to revolve on to my stomach to cough it up.
"Stop…!" I heard Ash cry out, but it was nebulous and diffuse in my deserting earshot. The stuff in my throat gargled out from my mouth as my stomach tightened. I figured it was blood. My eyelids were unwilling to stay open anymore. They sagged over my eyes, and Stormie said something about "The battle isn't over," "No surrendering," and "Finish--Headbutt--don't let go!"
Through the red gauze of my eyelids, I could a sense a darkening in the light, for a heavy shadow was overthrowing me.
There was a violent blow against my neck that didn't go away, but by now I was so numb it didn't really matter much to me. The thing that hurt most now was something jagged, something hard, crystal-like…digging…digging into…into my skin…and burning. Burning.
My eyes snapped open as the burning smoldered and twisted at my entire body, and I felt something deep inside me change and wrench away even from my own recognition of myself. Then a glow cloaked my entire body, and the last thing I heard before I blacked out was Ash's hysterical voice, calling, calling my name….
::=*=::
Author's Notes: Yes, I know, cliffhanger…even more so of one than you know (J ). Also, if the fact that Pikachu was bleeding in what seemed an average enough battle seemed out of place, realize that StormEye was being more violent than I let on. This was not a typical battle. Again, I would love reviews! See you in the next chapter!