This is probably the longest chapter yet, but here it is.
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Chapter 7 - Darkfire and Nightwalker's Stories
written by She Who Walks the Night
*~*~*~*
The hellhound spoke first. "I'm sure you don't know what I am. There can't be very many dark pokemon living in your valley. I am a houndoom."
At this, I barely kept from stepping back in fear. The houndoom was right; there weren't many dark pokemon living my valley. However, the elders had told us horrible stories about dark pokemon, houndoom and sneasel and murkrow and umbreon. Packs of houndour and houndoom on their midnight hunts, umbreon tearing out the throats of other pokemon, murkrow leading pokemon and humans to their doom, sneasel robbing the nests of pidgey and spearow. But the elders had by far made the houndoom sound the worst. If a houndoom's fire touched you, the burn would never go away. You would suffer until you died. I shuddered, recalling this.
"You've heard stories, haven't you?" the houndoom asked. I looked up at her, surprised to see that she was smiling. "Dark pokemon have a bad name, I know. We've been called vicious and evil, spawned from the pits of hell." At my nod, the smile broadened in amusement. "I can assure you that it isn't true. We are dark pokemon, but we are not minions of the underworld."
"I've also heard about a houndoom's fire, that a burn caused by it never heals," I said cautiously.
The hellhound nodded. "Yes, now that is true, but rest assured, Firestorm. I don't burn anyone unless it is absolutely necessary."
"That's good," I said uncertainly.
"I suppose you'll want to hear my story now?" At my nod, she began. "I was a young houndour in a small pack led by my mother, Darkstar, a strong and powerful houndoom. I looked up to her. She was never afraid of anything, and because of this, I felt safe. My pack called me Darkfire since I was born during the dark of the moon, a time when we often made bonfires to light up the night.
"Unfortunately, my pack ranged in a forest near a village of dark-hating humans. We never dared to go near that village, and the humans were afraid to enter the forest because of us. Our eerie howls in the dead of the night kept them well away from us.
"When I was a bit older, there came a human who was very brave. Stupidly brave. He came into our forest with master balls, came for us. My mother, my strong mother, faced him. He released his pokemon, all fighting-types, to weaken the rest of the pack while he dealt with her.
"I was afraid, but I had faith in my mother. No one could defeat her, I thought. What I didn't know was that this human had a gun. He shot my mother, but not before she was able to burn him with a Flamethrower. I ran from the fighting-types, hoping to reach my mother. When I finally did, I found her dead. I was terrified when I realized this. My undefeatable mother had taken the worst defeat imaginable.
"Somehow, that horrible human managed to stay alive. His fighting pokemon managed to faint several of my pack, and then the human would capture them in the master balls. I saw my own brother, Moonhowler, and my sister, Stardancer, captured by the worthless creature.
"After the loss of my mother, and then my sister and brother, I lost it. I became like a demon. I attacked the human, going for the throat, but a hitmonchan punched me off. I fell to the ground, stunned, and was caught in one of the master balls. I don't know what happened after that. Some of my pack may have escaped, or they may not have. I'll never know since I had fainted from the hitmon's blow."
I just stared at Darkfire in open-mouthed, wide-eyed shock. A HUMAN had been this cruel? I knew they could be horrible creatures, but one had done something like that?
"When I awoke, I was in some sort of cage," Darkfire continued. "I saw my captor nearby, and once again I became a raging monster. The human just laughed at me. When I saw how this amused him, I became calm. I would never become some plaything for his amusement. I looked at the cages beside mine. One held a sad-looking beedrill, the other an angry eevee."
"Was that you?" I asked the water pokemon sitting next to her.
"Wait until Darkfire gets to that," she answered, which convinced me.
"The beedrill seemed ill, ignoring everyone and everything. I think that he died a few days later. The eevee, however, intrigued me as I began talking with her. For one thing, she remained defiant and spirited, even with how the cruel human treated us. For another, she didn't fear the dark-type as most pokemon did. In fact, she had dreams of becoming an umbreon one day."
Darkfire paused, looking to the aquatic one. "Would you like to fill Firestorm in on your background real quick?" she asked.
The water pokemon nodded. "I was indeed the eevee Darkfire met while with the evil human. I had been an egg-baby, captive-bred. Soon after, though, I was abandoned in a forest because I was thought to be too weak and runty to amount to anything. I wandered the forest for a while, just barely managing to survive. I was caught the same day as Darkfire, and by the same human.
"For as long as I could remember, I wanted to become an umbreon, loving the night and the moon. Most of the other eevees and eeveelutions criticized me for this, but I held onto my dream. Most of the others were or wanted to be vaporeon or jolteon or flareon; a couple even wanted to become espeon.
"Because of my being born in captivity, I never did receive a wild name. My fellows were called whatever the humans decided to name them. When I was 'released' into the forest, as they phrased it, I still didn't have a name. When I met her, Darkfire remedied that. After hearing how I liked the night and wanted to be an umbreon, she gave me a name, Nightwalker." She glanced at Darkfire. "You can continue now," she told the houndoom.
"The man was very mean to us," Darkfire picked up where Nightwalker had left off. "He would beat us, poke us between the bars of the cages with sharp sticks, starve us, all sorts of things. Most of the pokemon there were broken-spirited before long, but Nightwalker and I held on. Both she and I became angrier and angrier. We no longer let anyone near us.
"At long last, Hailey came to buy pokemon. She seemed to take a liking to us for some reason. Perhaps it was because of how vicious we had become, or maybe she just wanted a houndour and an eevee. Whatever it was, she bought us, and it was a good thing, too, since that man would've been dead soon if she hadn't. I would've made sure of that.
"Hailey seemed to hold the same belief about dark pokemon as you had learned. She nicknamed me Brimstone. Rather stupid name, if you ask me. She didn't nickname Nightwalker for a while, just calling her 'eevee'. Nightwalker knew what Hailey was waiting on, and it was something that she was beginning to dread. Evolution is always difficult for a trained eevee, since the trainer usually makes the eevee evolve into something completely different than it wants.
"We fought for Hailey. I took great pleasure in the battles at first, and so did Nightwalker. They helped us to vent the anger we had built up during our time with the man. But after a while, it wasn't so great anymore. We discovered the hard way the punishment we would receive if we didn't battle well, so we still did our best.
"After a while, I evolved. Hailey was pleased. She seemed to like my terrifying appearance. My evolution made me proud, but I saw the world through even more honest and stark eyes than before. With my evolution, I saw things for exactly what they were.
"Poor Nightwalker didn't understand, but she did soon enough. Hailey bought a water stone and used it on her. In that one moment, Hailey had shattered all of Nightwalker's dreams of becoming an umbreon. She was stuck as a vaporeon, a water pokemon, called Seafoam by Hailey. She hates Hailey now, because of that water stone and what it made her."
Nightwalker nodded in agreement with all this. "I would have told it myself, but Darkfire tells it so much better," she explained.
I just looked back and forth between them for a moment, at a loss for words.
"Because of all of that, we're Hailey's best battlers, something we aren't proud of. And because of all that, I suppose you could say that we've become best friends, despite our contrasting elements," Darkfire concluded. "But cheer up. We have some free time out here, and I suggest you enjoy it."
With that, we all wandered out toward a nearby stream. Nightwalker immediately dove in, and Darkfire lay down near the bank and watched her. Autumnwind fluttered up to a low tree branch, and Rainflight joined her. Moonflower sat down underneath their tree and seemed to be dozing. After a moment, I joined Darkfire by the stream's edge. Lying there in the grass made me remember the streams in the valley I had lived in and loved.
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When it comes to writing battles, I'm really inexperienced since I haven't seen much of the show. Because of this, I have a favor to ask of you, my readers. Could someone email me a list of moves of ponyta, pidgeot, butterfree, gloom, houndoom, and vaporeon, and how they work? I'd really appreciate it. Just send it to jaded_dreams735@yahoo.com. Thanks in advance. I'm also open to ideas, so either review or email me and tell me what you would enjoy seeing happen in this fic.
And remember, I'm dying for reviews for my other two pokemon stories, "Starlight, Moonlight" and "Helpless". Read them and review, please?
And, of course, you can always review this fic, too. ^_^
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Chapter 7 - Darkfire and Nightwalker's Stories
written by She Who Walks the Night
*~*~*~*
The hellhound spoke first. "I'm sure you don't know what I am. There can't be very many dark pokemon living in your valley. I am a houndoom."
At this, I barely kept from stepping back in fear. The houndoom was right; there weren't many dark pokemon living my valley. However, the elders had told us horrible stories about dark pokemon, houndoom and sneasel and murkrow and umbreon. Packs of houndour and houndoom on their midnight hunts, umbreon tearing out the throats of other pokemon, murkrow leading pokemon and humans to their doom, sneasel robbing the nests of pidgey and spearow. But the elders had by far made the houndoom sound the worst. If a houndoom's fire touched you, the burn would never go away. You would suffer until you died. I shuddered, recalling this.
"You've heard stories, haven't you?" the houndoom asked. I looked up at her, surprised to see that she was smiling. "Dark pokemon have a bad name, I know. We've been called vicious and evil, spawned from the pits of hell." At my nod, the smile broadened in amusement. "I can assure you that it isn't true. We are dark pokemon, but we are not minions of the underworld."
"I've also heard about a houndoom's fire, that a burn caused by it never heals," I said cautiously.
The hellhound nodded. "Yes, now that is true, but rest assured, Firestorm. I don't burn anyone unless it is absolutely necessary."
"That's good," I said uncertainly.
"I suppose you'll want to hear my story now?" At my nod, she began. "I was a young houndour in a small pack led by my mother, Darkstar, a strong and powerful houndoom. I looked up to her. She was never afraid of anything, and because of this, I felt safe. My pack called me Darkfire since I was born during the dark of the moon, a time when we often made bonfires to light up the night.
"Unfortunately, my pack ranged in a forest near a village of dark-hating humans. We never dared to go near that village, and the humans were afraid to enter the forest because of us. Our eerie howls in the dead of the night kept them well away from us.
"When I was a bit older, there came a human who was very brave. Stupidly brave. He came into our forest with master balls, came for us. My mother, my strong mother, faced him. He released his pokemon, all fighting-types, to weaken the rest of the pack while he dealt with her.
"I was afraid, but I had faith in my mother. No one could defeat her, I thought. What I didn't know was that this human had a gun. He shot my mother, but not before she was able to burn him with a Flamethrower. I ran from the fighting-types, hoping to reach my mother. When I finally did, I found her dead. I was terrified when I realized this. My undefeatable mother had taken the worst defeat imaginable.
"Somehow, that horrible human managed to stay alive. His fighting pokemon managed to faint several of my pack, and then the human would capture them in the master balls. I saw my own brother, Moonhowler, and my sister, Stardancer, captured by the worthless creature.
"After the loss of my mother, and then my sister and brother, I lost it. I became like a demon. I attacked the human, going for the throat, but a hitmonchan punched me off. I fell to the ground, stunned, and was caught in one of the master balls. I don't know what happened after that. Some of my pack may have escaped, or they may not have. I'll never know since I had fainted from the hitmon's blow."
I just stared at Darkfire in open-mouthed, wide-eyed shock. A HUMAN had been this cruel? I knew they could be horrible creatures, but one had done something like that?
"When I awoke, I was in some sort of cage," Darkfire continued. "I saw my captor nearby, and once again I became a raging monster. The human just laughed at me. When I saw how this amused him, I became calm. I would never become some plaything for his amusement. I looked at the cages beside mine. One held a sad-looking beedrill, the other an angry eevee."
"Was that you?" I asked the water pokemon sitting next to her.
"Wait until Darkfire gets to that," she answered, which convinced me.
"The beedrill seemed ill, ignoring everyone and everything. I think that he died a few days later. The eevee, however, intrigued me as I began talking with her. For one thing, she remained defiant and spirited, even with how the cruel human treated us. For another, she didn't fear the dark-type as most pokemon did. In fact, she had dreams of becoming an umbreon one day."
Darkfire paused, looking to the aquatic one. "Would you like to fill Firestorm in on your background real quick?" she asked.
The water pokemon nodded. "I was indeed the eevee Darkfire met while with the evil human. I had been an egg-baby, captive-bred. Soon after, though, I was abandoned in a forest because I was thought to be too weak and runty to amount to anything. I wandered the forest for a while, just barely managing to survive. I was caught the same day as Darkfire, and by the same human.
"For as long as I could remember, I wanted to become an umbreon, loving the night and the moon. Most of the other eevees and eeveelutions criticized me for this, but I held onto my dream. Most of the others were or wanted to be vaporeon or jolteon or flareon; a couple even wanted to become espeon.
"Because of my being born in captivity, I never did receive a wild name. My fellows were called whatever the humans decided to name them. When I was 'released' into the forest, as they phrased it, I still didn't have a name. When I met her, Darkfire remedied that. After hearing how I liked the night and wanted to be an umbreon, she gave me a name, Nightwalker." She glanced at Darkfire. "You can continue now," she told the houndoom.
"The man was very mean to us," Darkfire picked up where Nightwalker had left off. "He would beat us, poke us between the bars of the cages with sharp sticks, starve us, all sorts of things. Most of the pokemon there were broken-spirited before long, but Nightwalker and I held on. Both she and I became angrier and angrier. We no longer let anyone near us.
"At long last, Hailey came to buy pokemon. She seemed to take a liking to us for some reason. Perhaps it was because of how vicious we had become, or maybe she just wanted a houndour and an eevee. Whatever it was, she bought us, and it was a good thing, too, since that man would've been dead soon if she hadn't. I would've made sure of that.
"Hailey seemed to hold the same belief about dark pokemon as you had learned. She nicknamed me Brimstone. Rather stupid name, if you ask me. She didn't nickname Nightwalker for a while, just calling her 'eevee'. Nightwalker knew what Hailey was waiting on, and it was something that she was beginning to dread. Evolution is always difficult for a trained eevee, since the trainer usually makes the eevee evolve into something completely different than it wants.
"We fought for Hailey. I took great pleasure in the battles at first, and so did Nightwalker. They helped us to vent the anger we had built up during our time with the man. But after a while, it wasn't so great anymore. We discovered the hard way the punishment we would receive if we didn't battle well, so we still did our best.
"After a while, I evolved. Hailey was pleased. She seemed to like my terrifying appearance. My evolution made me proud, but I saw the world through even more honest and stark eyes than before. With my evolution, I saw things for exactly what they were.
"Poor Nightwalker didn't understand, but she did soon enough. Hailey bought a water stone and used it on her. In that one moment, Hailey had shattered all of Nightwalker's dreams of becoming an umbreon. She was stuck as a vaporeon, a water pokemon, called Seafoam by Hailey. She hates Hailey now, because of that water stone and what it made her."
Nightwalker nodded in agreement with all this. "I would have told it myself, but Darkfire tells it so much better," she explained.
I just looked back and forth between them for a moment, at a loss for words.
"Because of all of that, we're Hailey's best battlers, something we aren't proud of. And because of all that, I suppose you could say that we've become best friends, despite our contrasting elements," Darkfire concluded. "But cheer up. We have some free time out here, and I suggest you enjoy it."
With that, we all wandered out toward a nearby stream. Nightwalker immediately dove in, and Darkfire lay down near the bank and watched her. Autumnwind fluttered up to a low tree branch, and Rainflight joined her. Moonflower sat down underneath their tree and seemed to be dozing. After a moment, I joined Darkfire by the stream's edge. Lying there in the grass made me remember the streams in the valley I had lived in and loved.
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When it comes to writing battles, I'm really inexperienced since I haven't seen much of the show. Because of this, I have a favor to ask of you, my readers. Could someone email me a list of moves of ponyta, pidgeot, butterfree, gloom, houndoom, and vaporeon, and how they work? I'd really appreciate it. Just send it to jaded_dreams735@yahoo.com. Thanks in advance. I'm also open to ideas, so either review or email me and tell me what you would enjoy seeing happen in this fic.
And remember, I'm dying for reviews for my other two pokemon stories, "Starlight, Moonlight" and "Helpless". Read them and review, please?
And, of course, you can always review this fic, too. ^_^