Book II: Impending Twilight

Chapter 97: The blue eyed umbreon

Point of View Stark

The quirky charmander finished treating Ryder's wounds. He got them disinfected, bandaged, and gave him an antidote for the poison the servine supposedly had in her vines. Aiden had put a bandage on Ryder's neck and left paw. The fire type was moving onto the servine. I couldn't quite understand why he'd want to help a women who tried to murder him and Ryder. Any wise pokemon or human would have forsaken her, if not finished her off.

The charmander laid the servine on her side as he pulled the kit up next to him. He took out the remaining supplies and began disinfecting her wounds with rubbing alcohol. The unconscious servine cringed from the burning liquid, but she remained unconscious. After that Aiden applied bandages on her injuries.

"Is there a reason to why you found it necessary to save her?" I asked the charmander as I watched him from afar.

The charmander continued to help her and ignored me, it was almost as if he was lost in a trance. "Stupid reasons," he answered with a hollow tone.

"Stupid reasons is right," I scoffed.

"Yeah…" Aiden spoke even more quietly. It took him a few minutes, but that servine was bandaged up. I couldn't guarantee she'd live though, I got her pretty good.

For a while the room remained quiet, it was almost peaceful considering the circumstances of this night. Just as I felt myself growing tired, a loud boom went off far in the distance. My ears perked up from the sound as Aiden and I both swapped glances.

"What the hell was that?" Aiden asked.

"How would I know? Did you see me go anywhere recently?" I asked sarcastically as I walked towards the front door. "I'm going to step outside for a moment, maybe I'll hear it better."

"Wait for me," Aiden spoke as he scurried to my side. The two of us got outside and waited quietly.

"I don't hear an-"

"Shhh," I interrupted him. My ears rose up as I listened carefully. From here I could here I could hear the faint sound of gunshots and other explosion. It sounded like it was pretty far from here.

"Do you hear something, I can't?" Aiden nagged me.

"I hear, gunshots and explosives," I answered as I tried to visualize what was going on.

"You're kidding, right? Maybe it's just fireworks or something. I mean, this city doesn't have any gangs does it?"

"No, I recognize the sound of gunshots from anywhere. And this isn't some little gang shootout either," I told Aiden.

Point of View Ebony

The three of us were now all on the second floor of the pokecenter. We managed to find a room that was safe from any bad guys. Apparently this was the room Dante was staying in while he was recovering. Luckily it had medical supplies for Alex. Alex sat on a chair with his leg bandaged up while he held a cloth against his neck to help stop the bleeding. It had almost stopped, but it wasn't quite ready to be bandaged up. I sat on a chair that was right next to Alex, and made sure to stay close to him in case anything happened again. Dante lazily lay on the bed, while the newly introduced croagunk, Tyson, leaned against the door with his arms crossed.

I have to say though, being an espeon feels weird compared to my old form. For one, I was a bit bigger. My legs were much longer versus how I used to kinda have stubby limbs. My tail was pretty weird as well, I wasn't sure if I liked how it was forked. And lastly, my fur just felt sensitive. I mean, I've heard of espeons having fur so sensitive they can predict stuff. Hopefully I'd get used to all of this, but I guess this evolution did save me.

"Anyways, the human appears to be better. I don't think it'd be wise for us to stick around here if that ghost freak said he'd be coming back with friends," Tyson spoke up, breaking the silence in the room.

"And we'll be safer outside?" Dante asked as he stood up and stretched out his body.

"Well, the pokecenter isn't exactly a safe place anymore. The only doctor is dead. I think right now we should regroup with other WPA members."

"I see. Well, you're the one with experience in this crap, so I'm trusting you not to get us all killed."

"Alright, lets get the hell outta here then," Tyson said as he opened the door and walked out. Dante jumped off the bed and followed him.

"Hey, where are they-" Alex began to say before I tugged on his jacket with my teeth. "Alright, I'll come," Alex said as he stood up. he let out a grunt from the pain of using his leg, but he pushed through it. "I'm fine, don't worry. My leg just hurts a bit," Alex said with a forced smile.

Our small group made our way through the halls on the second floor until we made it to the stairwell. Alex cringed from the sight of the stairs. Dante and Tyson already began to go down the stairs without a problem.

"This is going to hurt," Alex said as he began to slowly limp down the stairs. Every step of the way I followed by Alex's side. Eventually, we made it to the bottom where Dante and Tyson were waiting.

"Come on. The faster we get out of here, the better," Tyson said as he led the way. We entered another hall and made our way towards the lobby. About halfway down the hall to the lobby Tyson froze.

"There are two others here," Tyson spoke up before he ran towards this person I could just barely make out as something white and what appeared to be a charmander. Dante and I both ran behind Tyson as we came into the pokecenter lobby. The two of them stopped in the door frame, which blocked my view.

"You…" Tyson spoke below his breath as he focused on someone. Despite my curiosity, I stayed behind them for safety purposes.

"Aiden, what happened to Black?" Dante called out to someone.

"Wait, Black?!" I said excitedly as I pushed myself through them to see if I could see him. I went between the two and ran forward, but a set of teeth grabbed me by my nape. I stood frozen in place as my tail and ears fell low from the sight of Black. The umbreon laid on the ground bandaged up while unconscious. Aiden took a few steps back from Black as he rose his hands up as if he had nothing to do with it. But that isn't what made me freeze up. Standing on the other side of Black was a white umbreon, one with cold blue eyes that pierced my heart like a needle. Shivers began to run through my body as I felt myself becoming limp.

"Y-y-you…" I murmured fearfully.

"Ebony, are you okay?" Dante asked me as he pulled me further back.

"No… I can't be here, he's going to kill me!" I screamed as I pulled myself free from Dante and took off running as fast as I could.

"Ebony!" Dante called out as I ran past Alex who was just now catching up to our group.

"Ebony, stop!" Alex called out to me, but I continued to run away.

Third person point of View

"Dante, go get her, I'll take care of things here," Tyson ordered Dante.

"Your sure this guy is trouble?"

"Yeah," Tyson said with a nod, "Now go."

"Yeah, I'll be back as soon as I can," Dante said before he took off running after Ebony. Tyson Glanced back to see the leafeon running after her along with the limping human.

"So, I see Genesis took interest in reanimating you of all monsters," The croagunk spoke to Stark. "But I'm not worried about that, I'm just wondering why the boss's kid is right there in that condition?"

"Wait," Aiden interrupted, "He didn't hurt Black, he actually saved him."

"So, is your umbreon friend going to step back then and let me take Ryder to safety?" Tyson asked as he glared at Stark.

"Sadly for you, that isn't the case. I have my own orders to follow," Stark replied.

"I see. Then I guess this can't be helped. Charmander, stand in my way and you'll die with this killer. So I suggest you stand off to the side."

"Do as he says, I'll take care of him," Stark ordered Aiden.

"Wait, can't we talk this out?" Aiden pleaded.

"There is nothing to talk about. He seeks to harm Ryder, and I have orders to protect him. Our missions conflict, so one of us must fall for the other to proceed," Tyson spoke seriously.

"I've seen enough violence for the-"

"Just stand to the side, this'll only take a moment," Stark spoke as he began walking towards the croagunk.

"Indeed, this'll be over quickly for you." Tyson cracked his knuckles as he charged towards Stark. "Let me send you back to Hell!"

"It's not over yet," Stark replied as he dodged a punch from the croagunk. Stark jumped backwards with a shadow ball charging in his mouth. He shot the attack at the croagunk. Tyson lept over the attack and darted towards Stark. Dark matter surrounded Starks right paw as he lashed it out at Tyson. The croagunk ducked below the attack and then jumped up as he kneed Stark in the jaw. A grunt escaped Stark as he flew back and tousled onto the ground, but he carried his momentum and smoothly got back onto all fours.

"Get back over here, we're not done!" Tyson shouted as he came at Stark again. Tyson jabbed his poisonous fists out towards Stark repeatedly and the umbreon moved from each attack. Tyson cocked one of his arms back into a powerful punch, but Stark dodged to the left and quickly clamped his teeth down on his upper arm. Stark then threw the croagunk down.

Just as Stark was about to go in for the finishing blow, Tyson inhaled a deep breath and exhaled a thick toxic mist in the air. Stark clenched his mouth shut as he jumped away from the cloud of mist.

"Hmmf, so close to," Tyson sneered as he pulled himself up. Blood dripped from his arm down onto the floor, but he ignored the wound as if it didn't even exist.

"So tell me Stark, why would you chose to work for Genesis, what are they planning for Ryder?"

Stark remained calm as he stared at the croagunk for a sign of trickery. "I don't work for Genesis. They reanimated me, but I quickly fell into the hands of Crimson."

"Then let me ask my question differently: What is the Crimson Dawn planning?"

Stark stared into the croagunk's eyes for a moment before he said anything, "Even if I told you, you wouldn't understand. Besides, I don't know the plan in great detail. I just know some middle parts and the beginning and end. If you want real answers, pursue our leader."

"It doesn't matter, you'll be dead soon enough."

"If I was to die tonight, it wouldn't mean anything to me, I've been dead since a year ago," Stark spoke bitterly.

"Then accept your death, be freed from your sins," Tyson spoke before he charged at Stark again.

"Sadly, I have given up, but I still have something I want to do before I die," Stark whispered to himself as he eluded a punch from the croagunk and moved behind him. Stark extended his paw out as dark matter formed around it. Stark's paw ripped into the croagunk's lower left back. Tyson let out a pained yell as Stark's paw went further in him, but he withdrew his paw before it went completely though.

"Shit… this wasn't supposed to-" Tyson struggled to say before he fell onto the ground with a pool of blood forming around him.

"Now, accept your own death, and I'll accept mine when the time comes," Stark spoke calmly to the croagunk as he backed away. A sigh escaped Stark as he stared down at the unconscious croagunk.

"You… you killed him…" Aiden spoke fearfully from across the room.

"He's probably still alive... For now," Stark responded.

"But… this wasn't necessary, couldn't you have knocked him out or something!" Aiden yelled in fury. "All this suffering for a fucking umbreon, how is this worth it?!"

"It was him or me. And to answer your question, none of this will probably be worth it. The end goal is to achieve peace by using that umbreon, but I doubt a better world can be made by using such dark methods."

"Fuck you, fuck Crimson, fuck anyone who is taking part in all of this shit!" Aiden yelled as he clenched his fists.

"And what're you going to do? Those who watch it happen are just as guilty as those who do this stuff. You could have stopped the fight if you truly desired, but you stood and watched. If it was me dying on that floor right now, would you resent the croagunk instead?"

"What am I going to do?" Aiden asked himself. "You're right, maybe I should just end all of this now," Aiden spoke as he walked towards Black and stood over him. "Maybe I should kill someone to? I mean, if this one umbreon dies, then all of this violence ends, right?" Aiden asked as he looked down at Black.

"And you have the stomach to do that?"

"No…" Aiden admitted, "It would make things easier, but I'm not killing anyone, ever. Now, move aside from that croagunk, I'm going to do the right thing at least."

"Do as you please," Stark replied as he moved away from Tyson.

Point of View Dante

My chase after Ebony went pretty far through the pokecenter, but she ended up running into a room at the end of the hall. I quickly made my way down the hall until I was standing outside the room. I looked inside a dark patient room as I heard the faint sound of sobbing.

"Ebony?" I calmly called out. The sobbing from inside the room continued without response, so I entered in after her. In a dark corner of the room I made out Ebony hiding in a corner. The espeon shivered uncontrollably as tears streamed down her eyes.

"Hey, you shouldn't run off like that, especially with all this stuff going on. Why did that guy set you off?" I questioned Ebony as I sat in front of her. The espeon just continued to cry as she trembled. A frown formed on my face as I saw her mood not getting any better. I moved a bit closer to Ebony and pulled her against me. I placed her head against my chest.

"Shhh, it's going to be fine," I whispered to her calmly. Her crying continued on for a minute before she began to calm down. After years of dealing with a sister with a lot of problems, I would pray that I could deal with an upset kid. Once I was sure she was doing better, I cautiously moved her away from me.

"Are you ready to tell me what's wrong?" I asked her. "You knew that white umbreon, didn't you?" I cautiously asked her. Ebony gave a weak nod. "Is it alright if I ask what he did to make you like this?"

Ebony looked down as I felt her trembling again. "He…" Ebony began before she stopped herself.

"It's alright, take your time," I said with a smile.

"That umbreon… he… he's the one who killed my older sister."

I remained quiet for a moment as I stood up. "That's not right. Someone your age should never be parted from a loved one," I said as I turned towards the door. "Wait here, I'll be back as soon as I can."

I walked out of the room and headed back towards the lobby. Coming down the hall was Alex, the human limped as fast as he could. I pointed towards the room Ebony was in before I continued on my way. Once Alex passed me, I allowed my tranquility to fade. My teeth gnashed together as I felt an uncontrollable anger eating me away.

"You're going to pay," I growled as I ran back towards the lobby. I didn't slow down for even a moment, after i turned a few corners I saw the entrance to the lobby up ahead. I ran into the lobby and slid to a stop. My eyes widened from the sight of Tyson lying on his frontside with a pool of blood around him. Aiden knelt down next to the croagunk, he appeared to be using some kind of healing kit on the croagunk. I took my eyes off the croagunk and directed my gaze towards the white umbreon.

"You bastard," I snarled at him as I stomped my feet towards him, "How could you kill that espeon's sister? How could you do something so sick twisted!?" I yelled at the white umbreon.

"I don't recall who that espeon even was," the umbreon replied. My growl grew more vicious from his response.

"I don't give a damn, you're going to pay."

Point of View Naomi

Far off in the distance explosions and gunshots could be heard. All of us carefully walked through the streets. We had yet to even find a clue on Black or Kana's whereabouts. After the fight on top of the building we were attacked again, but that time it was just two pokemon, so we all managed without a problem… but then Isaac did his "clean up" thing again. I understood why, but it was so unnecessary.

During our journey Hesh was a bit quiet, it was obvious he was still a bit shocked from killing someone, but he appeared to be taking it well at the moment. Flare seemed to be the most cheerful of the group, although it was obvious he was forcing himself to act happy, from time to time I could see how worried he really was. Gray mostly kept to himself, while Isaac just remained silent most of the time, I found his lack of emotion unsettling.

"It has been a while," Isaac spoke up.

"Yeah, so?" Flare responded.

"So, I think it's time we take a break and check up on everybody at the pokecenter. Plus, this'll give me a chance to check out the chaos we're hearing without putting all of you in danger," Isaac answered.

"So, you want to give up on Black and Kana?"

"No, but at the moment I think it's best if we head back and take a break. We've been in two fights, plus I think your pikachu friend has had enough for the night."

"Hey, I'm fine, don't worry about me, seriously," Hesh insisted as he snapped himself out of his trance.

"Regardless of what you all say, we're heading back. For all we know Black could be there now, or maybe someone else already found him. Either way, I need to see what is going on down in central Shalour, it sounds like a war."

Flare let out a scowl, "Fine, we'll go back so you can go investigate, but after we've rested up a bit I'm going back out."

"Let's just see what happens when we get to the pokecenter," Isaac spoke as he led the way. Without a word, all of us followed Isaac's lead. To be honest, I was a bit happy that we were going to take a break from this constant danger, but in no way was I happy about a break from helping Black and Kana.

Our group made our way through Shalour. Not a word was said while we travelled to safety. After a bit of a walk, the pokecenter came into sight. In the darkness the pokecenter seemed like a light since it was the only building with lights on.

"Wait, something isn't right," Isaac said before he took off running towards the pokecenter. I squinted my eyes to see through the window, but I couldn't make out a clear picture of the inside. All of us followed behind Isaac in a hurry to see what was wrong. Isaac kicked the pokecenter door open just as all of us caught up. Isaac slowly walked into the pokecenter as he looked around carefully. I followed in behind him, until I froze in place.

"Dante!" I screamed at the sight of my brother lying on the floor covered in his own blood. I bumped into Isaac as I sprinted towards my brother. "Dante, what happened?!" I asked as I looked down at my injured brother. A giant gash travelled down his left side with blood pouring from the wound.

"I'm fine… I think…" Dante struggled to say as he barely managed to glance up at me. "We're in a pokecenter at least…"

"He's right," Isaac agreed, "We have all the supplies here we need to treat everyones wounds."

"Aiden," Flare called out as he ran to the front desk to find the charmander leaning against it. Aiden clenched a wound on his shoulder that had blood gushing from it.

"H-hey…" Aiden murmured weakly. Flare's ears and tail lowered from the sight of seeing everyone around him injured.

"Crap!" Flare yelled as he ran to the side of the room towards an unconscious croagunk I hadn't noticed before. "He's not dead, is he?!" Flare desperately asked. The fox buried his snout below the croagunk's chest and flipped him onto his back. Flare placed his giant ear against his chest and listened carefully. "No-no-no, he can't be!"

"Flare, calm down, panicking isn't going to help him," Isaac interrupted.

"I can't hear a heartbeat!" the fox yelled.

"Calm down buddy," Hesh interrupted, "I'm far better at this stuff than you, let me check him out," Hesh said as he ran towards the unconscious croagunk's side. The pikachu placed a finger on the croagunk's neck as he listened for a heartbeat.

"You just missed it. It's faint, but he's clinging on," Hesh stated. Flare exhaled a breath of relief. "And do you know this guy or something? You seem a bit invested in him."

"We can talk about it later," Flare responded.

"And what about the servine, does anyone know her?" Hesh asked everyone.

"She's not one of us, unless I haven't met her," Isaac replied.

"She's just a pokemon who got mixed into all of this," Aiden answered. "I managed to bandage her up… but, I don't think I did a very good job," the charmander finished.

"So, my question is, who did all of this?" Isaac questioned the two conscious survivors.

"It… it was an umbreon," Aiden answered weakly as his head bobbed up and down in a fight to stay conscious. "Black was just here too, but you just missed him… that guy took him."

"We'll catch him, where did he go?" Isaac asked as he quickly ran to Aiden's side and knelt down to listen.

"He… he went out the back exit, he was literally here a minute before you got here."

"That'll do charmander, save your strength on staying conscious," Isaac replied as he stood up.

"Wait," Aiden murmured. Isaac looked back towards the charmander. "I've never been much of a fighter, but this guy… he's strong, he doesn't hesitate. If you fight him, he'll try to kill you."

"That's fine, I wouldn't expect an opponent who caused this much damage to be weak," Isaac said before he walked towards the hall.

"Just… just bring him back… I can't let him…" Aiden began to say before he fell our unconscious on the floor.

"Aiden!" Flare and I both yelled out. The fennekin and I both ran to the charmanders side.

"Give him some space, he'll be fine. But he needs medical help now, same with everyone else here," Isaac stated.

"You all pursue the guy who took Black," Hesh spoke up, "I'm the one here with the most medical skill, just leave them in my hands."

"And you can handle this?" Isaac questioned the pikachu as he gave him a stern glance.

"We're out of options here, unless you're good at doing this stuff?"

"I'm afraid you are our only option then. Don't let them die."

"I won't," Hesh nodded.

"Flare, Gray, Naomi, we need to go, now!" Isaac barked at us.

"Right," Flare agreed as everyone followed behind the sprinting grovyle. A hesitated for a moment as I looked back at my brother.

"Dante… I promise I'll be back soon." I forced a confident smirk on myself.

"Naomi… don't… You'll-"

"I have to, I can't let anything happen to Black," I protested. My brother was about to say something, but I turned towards Hesh, "Please take care of my brother, I know we've had our differences, but please," I pleaded to Hesh. The pikachu froze up for a moment, before he chuckled.

"I may not be fond of you, but even if it was you on the floor right there, I wouldn't just let you die. Now get going, they'll need you."

"Thank you," I said as I bowed my head to him and ran after everyone. I made my way into the hall and navigated until I came along the back entrance. The door was just shutting from everyone passing through as I came by. I barely managed to squeeze through before the door shut completely. Once outside, I found everyone staring at something on the ground.

"What's going on, why'd you all stop?" I asked everyone.

"It seems whoever did all of this was badly injured, he's leaving quite the blood trail," Isaac filled me in as I got a glance at a splatter of blood.

"He won't make it far with a wound like this, unless he abandons Black," Gray commented.

"Let's not leave it to chance, we should hurry," Flare suggested.

"Let's go," Isaac ordered as he followed the blood trail. I followed behind everyone as I followed every splash of blood on the ground. We ran behind a row of buildings until the blood trail took us through an alley. We came out on the other side of the alley onto the main street.

"There," Isaac spoke quietly as he looked down the street. I looked down the street to see Black being carried on another umbreon's back. But this umbreon wasn't an ordinary umbreon, he was white… like Stark. The white umbreon allowed Black to fall off of his back, which he then turned to face us. Blood poured onto the ground from a deep gash in the white umbreon's shoulder. He panted in exhaustion as he held his head low.

"He doesn't have much time left in this condition, that wound is pretty deep," Isaac commented. "I should be able to finish him in one blow."

The umbreon's head rose as his panting ceased. Blue eyes stared back at us with a familiar face. I stood in place as I recognized those blue eyes, but I remembered them always being red.

"Stark…" I whispered to myself, but I frantically shook my head, "No… it's just him!" I said as I remembered who that imposter really was.

The white umbreon's eyes widened as he focused in on me. For a moment he stood frozen in place, but he managed to take a step forward. He opened his mouth in an attempt to say something, but no words left his mouth.

"Stand back, this one's mine," Isaac ordered as he slowly walked towards the imposter.

"Naomi…? but… you're dead..."

Chapter End

Author Note: Heh, I almost didn't make this weekly update. I ended up busy a good chunk of this week, and addicted to a new game XD. It's outta my system now though. Anyways, I hope everyone enjoyed where the end of the chapter was going ;)

Thanks to genericgamer207 for editing this chapter.