Book II: Impending Twilight

Chapter 90: Father and Son

Point of View Black

"Dad?" I said in shock as I stared at the flareon before me. Over the years he hasn't really changed drastically, other than aging a bit, but it didn't make him unrecognizable in my eyes.

"Black, what did you just say?" Kana spoke in surprise.

I looked over towards the side to see Gray and Nia both in a roughed up conditions, and even further off into the distance was Nia's brother, Dante. The leafeon lied unconscious on the ground. The leaf's on his body were withering away as he inhaled and exhaled in a way that made him look like he was in pain or struggling to cling to life.

"Dad," I said with seriousness as I looked the flareon in the eyes, "What are you doing to them?" My father's eyes grew wide in surprise from my question. He took a moment to look back at the three, before looking back at me.

"That umbreon's name isn't nia, her name is Naomi, and she's a criminal," my father responded.

"You," I muttered below my breath as I stomped my way towards him, "You asshole!" I yelled as I swung my right paw into his jaw. The flareon fell back onto the ground, but he didn't show a single sign of pain.

"What the fuck is wrong with you! Not only do you walk out on your family, you're now trying to kill my fucking friends, you piece of shit!" I cried as I began charging up a shadow ball, "Get the Hell away from me!" I added before I shot the shadow ball. A green blur quickly intersected with my father before the shadow ball exploded against the ground. Debris rose into the air and masked the last spot my father was in.

"Thanks, Isaac," my father spoke from another location. My head snapped to the left to see my father standing unscathed next to a grovyle.

"Black, calm down!" Kana shouted at me as I began to dash towards that bastard.

"Black?" My father said in confusion as he looked at me strangely. "Ryder, hear me out for a moment, I know you're prob-" was all my father managed to speak before I barreled at him. Both the grovyle and my father evaded out of the way.

"Hear what out?" I snapped at him, "You walked out on your family, and now look what happened, everyone is dead! Mom, Kaz and Cassie. Vincent also turned into some deranged psychopath, and everything that could go wrong for me went wrong! Isn't a father supposed to protect his family, so where the fuck have you been this whole time!" I screamed at him with everything I had, and by the time I finished I was trying to catch my breath.

"There is a lot of things I didn't tell you to protect everybody," My father responded to me.

"Bullshit!" I snapped back. "Regardless, that doesn't explain what you and these goons are doing to my friends."

"I told you, Naomi is a criminal, Grayson came to help her, and that leafeon tried protecting her as well," My father responded.

Right when my father finished his explanation, Alex finally managed to catch up to us. Alex's face lit up with surprise as he saw everybody in the room that wasn't familiar.

"Great, a trainer," the dewott remarked as he got into a defensive position.

"What's going on in here?" Alex questioned as he panted in an attempt to catch his breath.

"Knock the human out, I don't want him starting anything," the grovyle spoke to the other goons. Kana and Flare both got into defensive positions by Alex as Ebony got into her defensive position behind the two of them.

"You got it," the croagunk spoke as he began to crack his knuckles.

"You touch him and I'll rip your throat out, all of you," I spoke as dark matter particles began to form around my right paw, but didn't quite take its full shape. "You're not touching anyone," I spoke as I showed my fangs.

"Ryder, do you know this human?" my father questioned me.

"I do, he's my trainer. He's been there for me a lot more than you," I spat out as I got ready to move in an instant.

"James, Tyson, hold on a moment," the flareon ordered his two teammates.

"Ryder, I can let all but one leave, that umbreon will not get off free, she's committed a lot of crimes," my Dad stated.

"You're not doing anything to her, I owe her a lot, I wouldn't be alive if she didn't come into my life," I retorted.

"She saved you?" My father said as his left brow rose.

"Twice. She saved me from some mercenaries that are after me twice. If you want to kill her, then you'll have to kill everyone here, including me, because I'm not sitting back while someone close to me dies."

"She's a killer though, don't you know that?" my father questioned.

"I know a lot about her. Yes, I know she was forced to do horrible things against her will, but I know Nia is haunted every day by what she was forced to do. You may as well kill me with her, because I've done bad things as well," I responded to my father.

"Zack," Gray called out to my dad. "Don't do this, you're making a mistake, she's not an enemy, she's a victim of this world's madness. Let's just all take this down a notch and hear each other out," Gray reasoned.

My father remained silent for a moment as he looked back and forth between Gray, Nia and I. "Fine," my father stubbornly said before he looked at Gray, "But don't think this changes my view point. Only because of my son and you Gray."

'Wait, they know each other, but how?' I questioned within my head as the flareon gave a nod to his friends and they all backed away and gave us some room.

"Does Alex have anything for Dante!" Naomi desperately questioned as she ran to her brother. Everyone looked towards the half dead leafeon in surprise. "Please, someone help, he's going to die if this goes on any longer!" Naomi pleaded as she looked at Alex with tears forming in her eyes. Alex got the memo and quickly ran towards the leafeon as he unslung his backpack and placed it on the ground, next to the leafeon. Alex observed the leafeon's status for a moment, and gave a nod, indicating he knew what he was looking at. Alex frantically dug through his bag as he discarded a few items.

"Come on, it's in here somewhere," Alex spoke in frustration as he dug through his bag," got it!" Alex said as he pulled out a syringe. "This'll only slow it down, he needs a pokecenter fast, his condition is too far advanced for me to stop it completely," Alex said as he injected the syringe into the leafeon's back leg. Right after, Alex reached into his bag and wrapped a bandage around the spot that was injected. Alex put everything back into his bag and slung it onto his back.

"I'm going to need to get him to a pokecenter, is that okay with you?" Alex questioned Nia. Nia gave a quick nod, and Alex quickly detached a spare pokeball from his belt. "This'll only be temporary, I promise," Alex said as he tapped the pokeball against the leafeon, and a red light sucked the leafeon into the pokeball.

"Thank you," Nia said as she wiped a tear from her eye, "Thank you so much," Nia repeated.

"It's going to be alright, I'm going to save your friend," Alex replied as he patted Nia on the head and stood up with the leafeon's pokeball in his right hand.

"Human," my father spoke up, and caught everyone's attention. "Follow me; I know the fastest way out of here," my father spoke as he gestured with his head in the direction he wanted Alex to go.

"You want me to follow you?" Alex said in confusion. My father gave Alex a nod. "Alright, but please take me to the nearest exit," Alex replied.

Point of View Flare

We finally made it to shalour, but more importantly, a pokecenter. I waited outside with almost everyone else. Excluding Black and his father. This was all bringing me a lot of anxiety; it's too much to handle for me. Why is WPA here, why did it have to be Black who was related to a member. Why did it have to be that croagunk again. Then again, I can't say I wasn't looking for him and that absol from six years ago.

All of the WPA members went their separate ways after we reached the pokecenter, all that mattered right now was tracking down that croagunk and getting answers. I want, no I need answers on what happened to Annie. It has been six years, six years that I have been separated from my sister. I'm not even sure if she's alive.

That croagunk is going to give me answers; that I can promise, even if I have to burn every inch of skin off his body. But if I confronted him that also brings up another problem, what if he tells everyone who I really am… Surely he had to recognize me, or perhaps he forgot about me? Was the answer really worth the risk of exposing the truth, Annie has been dead to me for years.

"No-no-no, I need to know the truth, I need to see Annie again," I told myself as I shook my head frantically.

"Maybe… Maybe I need to think this through a bit… I need to think everything through, a lot is at stake here," I told myself.

Point of View Black

"Was it really necessary to bring me all the way out here?" I questioned my father as I stood on a vacant, sandy beach.

"Well, I thought this would be a nice quiet spot to talk some things out, after all, it has been about twelve years," my father replied as he sat down on the beach and gave a quick glance out towards the waves of the ocean that repeatedly went back and forth between the shore and the ocean.

"It doesn't change a damn thing. You left us, end of story," I sharply stated.

"Well, I can tell by your resentment that your mother kept things a secret from you, like we both agreed."

"Secrets, about what?" I said with interest as I looked towards me father.

"Are you familiar with an organization called World Peace Association?" my father asked.

"I've heard the name. Isn't WPA a group of hippies or something that preach world peace?"

My father chuckled at my response, "No-no, unlike hippies, WPA members actually do stuff about the world problems, and we don't sit around smoking all day," my dad said.

"Wait, you're with this organization?" I said in surprise.

"I'm not just a part of it, I'm one of the founders," my father said as he held his head up high.

"Bullshit," I snapped back.

"I'm not lying," my father said with seriousness. "Choose to believe it if you want, but I left home for reasons, and your mother and I both agreed to keep this a secret. Kaz was the only one who knew."

"And what reason was so great that you abandoned your family?" I snidely asked.

The flareon let out a sigh as he looked towards the ground, "When your mother became pregnant with Vincent, I decided to take a long hiatus from WPA so I could help raise our family. Before that I was always on trips and I'd visit your mother whenever I had a chance. During my hiatus I left my grovyle friend, Isaac, in charge. Soon our family expanded and I was even considering staying forever," My father told me.

"Then what changed?" I asked him with curiosity.

"Well, I left to protect everyone. Around twelve years ago WPA members were being hunted down by mercenaries. It was too dangerous for me to stay with you guys, if I stayed I would have been targeted, and you all would have been in danger," my father spoke with a hollow voice that only held remorse and sadness in it.

"I never wanted to leave, I wanted to stay so bad. But things just kept getting worse and worse, it was never safe for me to come home, WPA needed me, and the only way for me to return home was to win this war between us and those who hunted us, my father continued to tell me. "Years passed by, and when I finally felt I had a chance to visit I came…" my father stopped speaking for a moment as he looked back towards the ground, "When I came home I couldn't find anyone. I had to ask around to get answers, all I heard was stories of a grisly murder. All the stories were different; no one knew exactly what happened, except for the outcome. Some say it was Vincent, some say there were multiple pokemon in on it, some even said you did it," my father said as he looked up towards me.

"That's… that's a lie!" I yelled back in absolute anger towards me dad, "I know exactly who did it, this organization of psychopaths! There's a quilava, a houndour and Vincent is a part of it to! I had no-" I frantically yelled at him in an attempt to defend myself before I was cut off.

"Ryder, I never once said I thought you did it," My father interrupted, "But what did happen that night, I need to know… What happened to everyone, why were they killed?" My father questioned me as he clenched his eyes shut, "I need to know why everyone is gone, I thought you and Vincent were dead as well, I thought I lost you all." A tear fell from the crevice between my Dad's clamped shut eyes. After he finished up, he reopened his eyes and looked at me for an answer.

"Honestly, I don't understand that night to well, everything happened so fast…" I said with honesty as I felt a brick forming in my throat, "I just remember everything going normal that night until this organization showed up. Vincent… Vincent was with them as well. Vincent killed everyone, that's all I know. I don't know why, but these pokemon are still after me too," I said as I felt my eyes growing heavier with each word I spoke.

"Who are these pokemon, what do you know of them. Vincent really couldn't have done what he did willingly, he's a good-"

"No he's not!" I yelled back at him, "That fucking monster killed everyone and he's now trying to abduct me with a group of psychopath pokemon!"

"That… that can't be true, why would Vincent…"

"I don't know, I've been asking myself that for almost two years now," I replied back. "these pokemon though. I believe they call themselves The Crimson Dawn," I informed my father as I tried to fight back my emotions.

"I've never heard of an organization by that name," my father replied.

"Well, that's not it though…" I said as I looked my father in the eyes, "Are you familiar with Genesis?"

"Yes, but what do they have to do with anything?"

"After this Crimson team attacked me, Team Genesis came after me to… I don't know why, but everyone around me is in danger, and I don't know what to do," I said as I looked at my father for a solution.

"Why does Genesis want you?"

"I don't know, they just do," I lied. Truthfully I knew why everyone was after me, because I'm different from other umbreons, but, I couldn't let my father or anyone know that.

"This is bad, Genesis is a powerful group, if you're on their shit list then you're in trouble. For a matter of fact, you need to get out of public right now," my father ordered me as he began shoving me with his paw.

"Hey, I've survived this long," I argued.

"You're lucky a sniper hasn't taken off your head, Arceus, how are you alive!"

"Well, thank my friend you just tried killing for that!" I rubbed into his face.

Third person point of view

"My-my, the weather is just splendid today," a zorua spoke as he stared at Shalour city from a cliff that gave a perfect view of the whole city.

"Sir, we didn't come here for the weather," a servine replied back.

"Uh huh, just hush up and enjoy life for a moment," the zorua enthusiastically replied back as he took in the view of the city.

"Perhaps I could relax if I wasn't carrying around a bag full of stuff all day," the servine snapped back as she unslung her backpack from her back. The servine unzipped the top of the bag to reveal pokeballs that stuffed every nook and cranny of the backpack.

"Well, we're almost there, we're so close to fixing this whole ordeal," the zorua spoke as he lied down on his stomach and continued to look towards the distance. The servine looked at the left side of the zorua's face, or more specifically, the side of his face that had a giant deformation on it. The fur on that part of his face was scarce, and it looked as if he lost a lot of skin in that area.

"Anyhoo, we should be ready for our operation soon, I look forward to it."

"You do realize what this will do, right?" the servine wryly spoke.

"Of course, but it's worth it if it means preserving the world, it's not every day you get to be a hero ya know?" the zorua stated with a grin.

"For someone ranking so high in Genesis, you're pretty weird… you know that right?" the servine stated.

"I think normal is boring, lighten up a bit."

"Rhys, We should get moving," the servine stated as she slung the backpack onto her back. The zorua let out a sigh as he stood up on all fours and stretched out his body.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt," the zorua responded.

Point of View Kana

Gray, Hesh, Ebony and I all stood on a sidewalk outside of the pokecenter that was in Shalour city. Alex was inside the pokecenter waiting for a status report on Nia's… or Naomi's brother. Alex had no idea that that umbreon was the same umbreon that committed suicide a week ago, and now she's magically alive again, that was something I didn't see coming from a mile away.

"So, any idea on how she's alive?" Hesh asked out loud as he kept his arms crossed in a way that showed he wasn't in a good mood.

"Not a clue," Gray responded, "I just found her being attacked in that cave, I didn't expect her to be there."

"I don't like this at all, she's up to something, I don't trust her, I never have," Hesh spitefully told us..

"I don't think she's bad," Ebony mumbled from a short distance from the circle we had formed. Everyone including myself looked at Ebony with a bit of surprise.

"And why's that?" I questioned Ebony.

The child eevee kept her eyes away from mine as she looked towards the ground in a shy manner, "I just never really felt like she was a bad person at any point, I mean she did help us too," Ebony spoke quietly.

"She's a kid, she wouldn't understand this stuff," Hesh spat out.

"She's also been through a lot of things most adults haven't been through," I said in Ebony's defence.

"So what, you're on her side?"

"Well, I think I want to hear Nia- er Naomi's side of the story first."

"She's a stuck up umbreon with a drug problem, I don't think she's someone we want to be around. Plus, think of all the pain Black went through! What kinda bitch does that to someone? Black was practically silent for a whole week," Hesh said with a point.

"All I'm saying is give Naomi a chance to explain, maybe it has something to do with that leafeon?" I added in.

Gray cleared his throat before Hesh could respond, "I do agree with Kana, I'm interested to hear more from this umbreon, she seems like she has an interesting story to tell, but we do owe her for saving us that one night."

"Weren't you the one who despised umbreons?" Hesh said with a bit of surprise, or perhaps he was looking to use Gray's hatred to his advantage, I honestly couldn't quite tell.

"It's something I'm working on," Gray answered as he looked away.

"Well fine, if you all want to trust her go for it, but don't expect me to be jumping for joy. She and I never got along…" Hesh said.

"Don't get me wrong Hesh, I'm not exactly okay with any of this either, but we at least owe her a chance to explain," I told Hesh.

"Whatever you say, Kana," Hesh responded.

Point of View Stark

Almost every member of Crimson Dawn was now on the move. We were now commencing our next mission, which was also the next step in Mandus's plan to change the world forever. Mandus left before most of us, leaving Scarlett, Vincent, Merrick, Kane, and myself to travel together. Most of us remained silent during the walk, every now and then Vincent would talk between Merrick and me. Our team was now travelling alongside a mountain that would lead us to our destination, Shalour City.

Everyday Mandus's plan came closer to a reality, but our next step was to capture Ryder. I knew at some point I'd end up having to fight Ryder again; it'd be interesting a rematch with Ryder and his friends. I wonder if he's grown since our last fight was interrupted. Although, fighting didn't really interest me at the moment, what interested me was trying to postpone my unstoppable doom.

At least when I am gone, I can look forward to seeing Naomi again, if an afterlife even exists. After all of this is over, we'd only have two have two more Legendaries to apprehend, and then Mandus's plan will go into effect, the world can be changed, if what he says is true. I'm not sure if I believe it completely, but he proved me wrong on the existence of Legendaries, so would it really be anymore unbelievable to believe his plan has a chance at working?

Chapter End

Author Note: Well, hopefully this chapter lived up to everyone's expectations. I am aware there are a few things that I haven't gone over yet, just give me a a bit to get all the info and stuff out on the table with WPA coming back in the picture, there is a lot of content to cover now, and it's a bit tricky to work with all of it. Eh, I'll make it work somehow...

Thanks to everyone that has reviewed and supported this story in any way so far. It means a lot to me.

Thanks to Genericgamer207 for editing this chapter.