Author's Notes: Please excuse the delay… ^^;; I just wanted to clarify a few things here. When Pikachu killed the Fearow, it was still in his dream, so he didn't really kill it. Dragoness, I just wanted to say that I was not intentionally trying to incorporate elements of anyone else's fanfics in here, they're purely coincidences. Also, there will be some necessary POV changes to Ash's perspective within some of these chapters. Thanks to all who have been reviewing, you've really made me happy! Now, on to the 'fic!
~Z~ Darkness Doesn't Cast a Shadow ~Z~
Chapter Six: The Shadow Comes Forth
It was still dark when I woke up, but I felt not the security to go back to sleep. The night sky was swirled with stars, like silver glitter on endless black fabric. I found myself gazing at them, trying for the first time in my life to understand them.
I must've been an odd sight; my neck crooked up high enough to see directly above me, so intently fascinated by something that had been there all along. I stayed like that for maybe an hour or two, for the darkness of the world seemed so threatening; I didn't want to look into the shadows for fear of seeing something forbidding. So I waited, and I waited and I waited until the shadows lost their menace, and melted into soft gray of morning. I watched as the sky awoke, stretching pastel hues of light up towards the lonesome heart of the sky itself. The fear in my soul trembled, and then was puffed away, like cobwebs in the wind.
Or so I thought. Within a few moments, I felt a chill roll up my spine. The fur on my neck and along my spine stiffened and stood on end, and my ears curled apprehensively. I was being watched.
I sensed it in the most profound awareness, a physical emptiness of something staring into me, piercing me, stabbing me with their gaze. The simple presence of it seemed to touch my very heart, tainting my soul, poisoning my judgment. My guard went up immediately.
I crouched down on all fours, allowing my fur to shoot up as a warning flag to whoever this presence was, and began to pace slow spirals around Ash, guarding him from any harm. Tense sparks popped from my cheeks, zipping around in my fur and dancing, eerily bright. I could see the dim gold smolder of the sparks rimming my shadow. Teeth chattering aggressively, I growled several times, purring threats beneath my breath as my tension mounted. My body went stiff with electricity, and my lengthy tail coiled and lashed like a bewildered Ekans.
It was then that all the trees within my sight range began to shiver. At first, it was nothing but the eerie twitching of a few leaves, but gradually, the rest of the leaves began twirling, too, until all the trees in the area were shaking as furiously as if they were in a hurricane.
Cautiously, I perked my ears and raised my tail to test a thought that had just crossed my mind. I concluded exactly what I had thought; there was not even the slightest gust of wind blowing to account for the thrashing of the foliage.
The leaves hissed as they shuddered madly, gleaming silvery green. A mix of desperation and frustration began to sink into me, and I slowly began to scoot backwards, still growling occasional "raiii"s. Soon I crouched under a tangled bush on the rim of the field, watching edgily as the rattling and shaking of the trees decelerated, and finally ceased altogether. A sound like a sigh settled on the land.
"Rai…chu?" I inquired to myself, hesitantly stepping out from beneath my hiding place. My gaze flitted nervously about, training on the distant horizon. At first, I wasn't quite sure what had drawn my attention there, but soon it made itself clear enough.
Boiling in the robin's egg sky, in the far eastern horizon, a black, lurching cloud was creeping into my view, obese and so black that the cheery sky darkened with its mere presence. It started out very small; just a brink of bubbling darkness on the edge of the heavens, but it was increasing in mass leisurely, jumbling in giddily like waves against the shore.
Rather than scare me further, however, this odd, nebulous cloud piqued my interest, and I ended up scrambling to the top of a nearby rock to watch its arrival from a greater elevation. My cheeks buzzed and crackled with spark at feeling the storm's escalating weight upon the air.
It soon became apparent to me that the cloud was expanding, not only towards me, but also horizontally. By then it was stretching out across the sky like the great wings of some unimaginable beast, dispersing and swelling, beginning to blot out the blithe light of the morning. And so my tense energy gathered, and I fought to keep it under control. I knew that if I failed to do that, I would likely zip off in the direction of the cloud as fast as I could until I reached its epicenter, then I would become intoxicated by the thick electricity racing through the air. That had happened several times when I lived in the wild, after my first evolution from a Pichu to a Pikachu, and they had been thoroughly strange experiences. It was, I suppose, due to a type of electromagnetic wave that lures electric pokémon like myself, a strong allure that we can all feel in our bodies. I suppose it strengthens after an evolution.
I flattened my ears against my head, wondering when Ash, Misty, and Brock would wake up…at least, the conscious part of me wondered that… Some feral, instinctual part of me almost wished they wouldn't wake up for a long time, so I could be alone…alone with the storm. It was a funny feeling, knowing for sure you want one thing, but also discerning that somehow the rest of you disagrees with that decision. I could tell that the storm was indeed getting to my mind.
The cloud curled out in tendrils, until finally its inky opaqueness took up half of the sky, and was swallowing up the remaining half with renewed vigor. It had already consumed the sun, and so the world went dim and twilighty, and rain commenced pattering down, first in a dawdling, twirling mist, then a deliberate dribble, and finally the silver fizzle of cruel rain.
Thanks to the growling and pounding sounds of the storm, I almost missed the voice. It was a low, grumbling voice that came from nowhere in particular and everywhere at once. From the ground, from the sky, from right next to me, and from far away. It was fleeting and elusive, an echo on the wind, a fluttering in my ears that almost seemed to be an illusion created by my mind. But it was solid. Some part of me screamed inside that it was real, but I still wasn't sure.
I could hear what it was saying, but I couldn't understand what the words meant… "Araa-shi chuu, ara, aara shii, shi chu." No matter how hard I concentrated on the words, they would not form a translation in my head. It was some type of pokémon language, I could tell, and the fact that I could not understand it lead me to believe that perhaps it was an ancient language.
For a moment, the words increased in vigor and volume, and anger was very poignant in the tones of the voice. A crash of enraged lightning strobed nearby, trailed by a roar of thunder.
It was then that I started feeling sick. My head lightened and felt airy, and my vision began to fizzle, sprinkled with brackish spots. Soon, there was a bright glare of black, and all in my view became inverted. I lowered my head and took in a few deep, gasping breaths, but the feeling did not go away. My legs began to sway and give way, and that was the last thing I felt.
::=*POV Switch*=::
I opened my eyes a little, then shut them tightly again. Another bright, sunny morning… The light seeped through my eyelids, though, so I could see a kind of dark reddish color… At first I thought I was still tired and wanted to go back to sleep, but within a few minutes a bout of restlessness came through me, and I couldn't help but sit up. I was forced to expose my eyes to the dazzling light again, and at first it was absolutely blinding, but by the time I had begun instinctively scrounging around for my hat with my unharmed arm, I had gotten used to it.
Forgetting the hat for the moment, I peeked around at my direct surroundings, first at Misty (still asleep), then Brock (also still asleep), then… Hey, where was Pikachu? I glanced around, quickly locating him about ten feet away. He was perched on top of a rock, about two feet tall, watching the sky above him intently, as if there was something wrong with it. He had a look of fierceness on his face, almost anger, which struck me as really weird for him…especially since I know that he's usually pretty cheerful in the morning.
Not wanting to wake up my companions, I decided against asking him what was wrong from where I was situated right then, and instead decided to just get up and go to him.
Suppressing a yawn, I stretched my uninjured arm and unzipped my sleeping bag, grabbing my hat from its perch on top of my backpack and pushing it on to my head. Only then did I make myself get out of my sleeping bag and go over to Pikachu.
"Mornin' Pikachu," I greeted him, in a whisper, but he didn't turn around or even respond in the slightest. "Hey, Pikachu?" I said, this time slightly louder.
His ears twitched at the sound of my voice, then swiveled back in my direction. He finally began to turn around, his tail swishing indignantly, and movements oddly jerky.
That same fierce expression I had seen earlier was still present, but it appeared to have deepened in intensity. When his eyes caught the sight of me, he startled, flinching. His cheeks started flashing with sparks immediately.
"Hmm?" I stopped cold in my tracks.
"Raii," He snarled, stooping low against the rock. His fur was shot up all over the place, so he appeared a good bit larger than normal.
I took one step forward, but stopped when his sparking strengthened.
"What's the matter, Pikachu?" I asked cautiously, beginning to back away from him. He crept down from the rock, crawling towards me slowly and very strangely, on all fours so low that his stomach touched the ground.
For a brief flicker of a moment, I thought that maybe I hadn't given him his medicine, but, thinking back on it…it couldn't be later than eight in the morning, I thought, and I had given him his medicine at…about eleven last night…so that was nine hours. It shouldn't have worn off yet. Plus, that would hardly account for his bizarre behavior, only the sparking.
By the time I had finished thinking about that, Pikachu was crouched at my feet, his eyes wide and bewildered, reflecting a sort of wild confusion and fury. Electricity was coming from him so powerfully that his fur was glowing a golden color and sticking up straight, wavering with static. There was something terribly captivating about the way he looked right then; his eyes so brilliant with vehemence, his whole body luminous with all the rage held within him. His tail swooped out straight from his body, held stiffly erect with its lightning-bolt tip poised just above his head, as sharp as his rigid ears.
I was scared. Scared to move, scared to breathe, scared to make any noise whatsoever. He was watching me with the intensity of a storm, my thoughts were a fearful rush of 'why's, whirling around in my head. As slowly as I possibly could, I allowed my undamaged hand to slink towards my belt, where my pokéballs were still located from last night. Closing my eyes uneasily, I felt my fingers bump one of the cool, solid spheres. I clasped them around it, grimacing at the click of the pokéball unlatching from its perch on my belt. My eyes wandered down to my Raichu, whose electricity was diffusing outward further, diverging and gathering in hissing, forked tongues. He would discharge that shock soon. I knew from experience.
Releasing a breath I didn't realize I had held, I allowed the pokéball to slip slowly out of my fingers, praying to Ho-oh that it would be someone useful. I heard the plop of the pokéball hitting the ground, but only hardly over the frantic thumping of my heart. There was a burst of white light as a rush of energy bounded from the sphere. I was almost too scared to see who it was.
When I did gather the courage to look, I released a sigh of relief.
"Noctowl, Hypnosis, and hurry," I whispered, so quietly that at first I thought he hadn't heard me. It then struck me that perhaps Noctowl wouldn't attack one of his own teammates, but a split second later, the owl pokémon ruffled his feathers, emitting a soft blue light from his eyes.
The electricity burning out of Pikachu dimmed, then stopped altogether, as a haze overtook the expression on the thunder mouse's face, and his body swayed, finally sinking down in a furry heap on the ground.
Overwhelmed, I slumped down to my knees, patting Noctowl on his feathery head in relief. "Thanks Noctowl," I said softly, my eyes fixated on Pikachu, who was collapsed on the ground, sleeping soundly. "He was going to attack me…" I explained, both as clarification to Noctowl and as a puzzled musing to myself.
It was then that Pikachu began to stir, shifting gradually and sitting up, looking drowsy and baffled. I stiffened apprehensively murmuring "Already?!", and taking a stumbling fall on to my back. I reversed away from the rousing rodent; sending Bayleef out with one flick of my wrist.
"Bayleef, restrain Pikachu with your Vine Whip!" I called out to the Brachiosaurus-like pokémon, who arched her neck to stare at me.
"Bayy?" she asked, mystified.
"Just do it!" I commanded, pointing vehemently at Pikachu.
Bayleef's expression turned distressed and reluctant, but she obeyed, bowing back in his direction, extending her vines, and binding them snugly around his carrot-colored body.
I could only watch and wonder as he woke up…
::=*POV Switch*=::
When I awoke, I was unpleasantly surprised by the feeling of being crushed… suffocated… smashed in some warm, pliable grip. At first I was too dreamy to fight it, but soon I commenced an attempt at escape from the limiting clutch. When my muted struggles went without yield, I paused and began to nod off again, but failed due to the fact that my breathing level was inadequate, making me quite light-headed.
Soon I chose to disengage my eyes, which, after the light leaked from my view, explained the feeling of extreme discomfort. Bayleef's vines were twisted around my body, and she was squeezing me with enough forcefulness to be painful.
"~Huh…?~" I groaned, locking eyes with Bayleef and squinting at her quizzically. "~What are you doing Bayleef?~" I asked, shaking my head swiftly from side-to-side to try to clear out the lethargy.
Guilt overwhelmed her features, and she shrank back, her leaf loosening in a way that almost suggested wilting. She flicked her head back towards Ash in an indicative gesture.
He was seated in the dirt about eleven feet away, looking very anxious and twiddling with a sparsely leafed twig, while watching me fixedly all the while.
"~I dunno! He made me do it!~" Bayleef cried, her clench on my body slacking the slightest bit.
I shrugged gratefully, sucking in some deep breaths to make up for the lack of oxygen while I had been tightly pinned down. "~Ash? What's going on here…?~" I queried, demanding an explanation for his apparently sporadic behavior. "~What happened?~" The memory of what had happened before I blacked out shot into my mind like a lightning-bolt. "~Where'd the storm go?~"
Ash scowled back at me, both confused and angry, it seemed. "Whadda ya mean, 'What happened'? You got all mad and almost shocked me! How could you forget that?"
"~Huh?!~" I squeaked, blinking rapidly. "~Ash, that's crazy! I would never do that!~" My eyes caught sight of his arm. "~Not intentionally,~" I corrected myself culpably, and with a trodden tone.
"Well, you did, that's for sure!" He replied edgily.
"~But…I was blacked out! I had fainted Ash, I couldn't have attacked you! I woke up this morning, saw the storm, and it started raining, and then I heard this voice that made me all dizzy and then--~"
"Wait a second…!" Ash said, a bout of confusion striking his eyes. "What storm?"
My gaze shot up into the beaming blue sky, where there wasn't even the most minuscule smudge of cloud.
::=*=::
Author's Notes: Again, I must apologize for the delay. Finals are next week, so I'm swamped with studying, and I don't have any more chapters written in advance. I'll be trying my absolute hardest to get the next chapter up ASAP, but it might be a little while. Luckily, the story's plot is progressing plenty, which may or may not make the next chapters much faster to write. Oh, and please, if you like the story, could you drop me a review? It doesn't need to be detailed or anything (although that would be nice ^^;;), I just like to know roughly how many people like my writing. Arigato to anyone who responds!