Book II: Impending Twilight

Chapter 132: Assimilation

Point of View Black

"Again…" I couldn't help but sigh. Seriously, how many times have I been abducted, captured, taken away? It was almost starting to become a routine. Still, this time was different. It wasn't being captured that I would describe as different, but instead the cell in which I was confined to.

At first it seemed I was free in Snowbelle, I truly believed it as the open grassy fields stretched out. The flowers were in fresh bloom around this time of year, the warmth finally returning from the cold winter. Everything was perfect, but perfect wasn't the reality I had left when Rhys took me.

When I took my first step through the dreamish-land I stumbled forward, barely catching myself. The first thing my eyes caught were two stubby little paws that were a fluffy silver, instead of the usual slender silky black. Even the way my ears perked up freaked me out as I stumbled back in complete shock.

All I could keep reminding myself was that this wasn't right. My head darted around until I found a puddle. Quickly I scurried towards it, not stopping until my paws splashed into it and I was able to gawk down into my reflection. It wasn't an umbreon that stared back at me, but instead a child eevee, one who I felt was a stranger, but the red eyes that peered back were all too familiar. Those cursed eyes.

"No way," I whimpered. "This isn't right, what's going on?"

Point of View Flare

"We've come to a decision," was all I could think to say when the scarred jolteon returned to us late in the night.

"Oh?" He said as if he already didn't know our answer.

"We'll help you," I started, but quickly crossed my arms as I gave a firm stare. "In return though, I expect you're going to hold up your end of the bargain and tell me how to wake up my sister."

The jolteon turned from us and towards the window of the shop, "Then without further ado we must get moving. The others will all be meeting in a park just off of North street. I expect you to leave straight away. Oh, and bring the braixen with, wouldn't be-"

"I figured as much," Zylen scoffed. "Now, you going to tell us how to wake her up or not?"

"In good time," the jolteon shook his head, "I'll tell you what you need to know at our meeting. Whether you can save her or not is completely up to you though, I won't quarrel in your matters."

"Better keep your word, or I'll be looking for you, got that?" Zylen spat as his eyes locked onto the jolteon.

"Of course," he simply replied. "Now then, I must be going. I expect to see you all there." Just as quickly as the words had been spoken the jolteon broke down into the dark energy and disappeared into the night, leaving us only with a place to meet.

"Guy gives me the creeps," Zylen scoffed. "My instincts just scream to stay as far away from him as possible, and trust me I've done a lot of stupid shit, but something about him."

"I know," Naomi joined. "It's more than him defying logic, he just gives off some vibe that makes my fur stand on edge. I don't trust him, even if we do need him for the time being."

"Yeah, I know," I nodded as I leaned up against a shelf.

"If it wasn't for the fact that he could help Annie possibly I would have distanced myself from him long ago. I still plan to once I get what I want."

Naomi sighed before continuing, "Well, he gave us somewhere to meet. Unfortunately, we're kind of at his mercy at this point."

"Suppose you're right," I agreed. "Zylen?" I looked towards the zoroark for approval.

"Yeah-yeah, let's get going," Zylen muttered. "You got to carry her though, it'd be hard for me with a busted arm."

"No, it's fine," I agreed as I walked over towards my sister, taking her from Zylen's lap. "Ready?" The zoroark struggled up onto his feet before giving a single nod.

"Let's do this."

Point of View Aiden

"So, you've finally come crawling back for my help, huh?" I couldn't help but frown at the snivy standing before me. The image of Ivy standing before me setting me on edge as my hands tightened around the vines I was holding. By now I was used to seeing this kind of crazy stuff… but the image of a dead girlfriend was far from what I wanted to see.

"More importantly… what's going on here?" Skully's eyes couldn't leave the tangled up servine I had been dragging through snowbelle like some trophy I had decided to parade around for all to see.

"Oh you know, the usual, just going on a stroll with my friend!" My words drawled as I gave the fakest smirk. "Now, if you don't mind…"

"Right…" Skully said, completely lost for words.

"Help me," Lucy pitifully asked, all her pride drained as she looked at the snivy for help. "He's completely lost it, I swear."

"Wha, no I haven't!" I laughed.

Skully couldn't help but frown, "Aiden… you… you can't do whatever this is. It's not right."

"This isn't right?" I laughed as I threw the vine behind my back. "Jeez, what is right anymore? You color blind by chance, can you not see how messed up I look?"

"That's actually why I'm here," the false snivy spoke up. From behind I could hear Lucy kicking and clawing her vines for freedom.

"What, want an autograph before I start filming in my own movies? With these powers I'ma make it big."

"Actually, what if I told you I know how to reverse the effects of what happened to you?"

"I'd tell you to screw off," I laughed. "I'm actually not too concerned about this transformation. Sure, I've got lots of nasty scars now, but nothing a bit of orange dye won't fix, then I get to keep these cool red eyes and get to look all edgy and stuff. See, problem solved, plus with my solution I also get to keep these bombing powers I got. Check this out!" With an amused smile I rose up both my hands hand locked two of my fingers into a loop.

"Watch carefully," I slowly rose my two looped fingers up and hid them behind my head, but get this, when I pulled them back out into view they weren't stuck in a loop anymore! "Pretty spooky, huh?" Just as I was about to continue on a loud cry from behind startled me. Faster than I could turn around two vines coiled around my neck, tightening. For a moment I felt them tightening, but with a sneer I simply phased through them.

"Pfft, you really think that works on me anymore?" I snorted with my arms crossed as I leered back at the servine. "How can you strangle that which cannot be strangled?"

"Arceus, have mercy…" the servine scowled.

"Then what would you want?" Skully interrupted the argument that was about to take place.

"Nothing from you. You've helped screw with my life enough. It's the manipulative pricks like you that are responsible for the situation I'm in now."

"Or perhaps it was your love for your trainer that got you where you are?"

I couldn't help but scoff in response, "Well, isn't that the bitter truth. Sure, I did a lot to save someone I thought was still alive, who wouldn't? I cared for my trainer, and now he's dead."

"Yes," the snivy had a wide grin growing on her face, but just before the grin could grow disturbingly big I reached out towards it with both hands. A claw on each side of the smirk stopped it and pulled it back down to a straight face.

"Stop that," I hissed at him.

"What are you doing?" Skully scowled towards me, his eyes filling up with anger as he slapped my claws away.

"You always do that!"

"Please elaborate?"

"That creepy grin! Like I know you're planning something messed up in your head, so stop doing it! Everyone knows what those creepy demon smiles mean."

This time the snivy was left gritting hiss teeth in agitation. "I'll keep that in mind. Now, I actually realized I perhaps have one thing you do want from me."

"Wanna bet on that?"

The fake snivy couldn't help but give his malicious smile, "I can help you track down the one's responsible for burning your poor human alive. Help me, and I can give you every name and location of those responsible. What happens after? Well that's up to you. All you have to do is help me with one last thing."

In an instant the mention of David's killers sobered me up from my bravado. I couldn't help but feel an intense heat flaring up inside of me. Whether I was excited to kill those humans or just furious with that gender swapping weirdo for using that on me I wasn't sure. I wasn't even sure if I wanted revenge for what they did to my friend.

"What do you know, how do I know I can trust you?"

"Because, you know that I can learn things that most pokemon can't. When have I ever been wrong?"

"When you told me everything was going to be alright…"

"And maybe in the end everything will be alright. I can't help what happened to your trainer, but I can help make sure that justice is delivered."

"Aiden," Lucy spoke up. I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye. "I just want to say that this is a bad idea, but you should totally pick whatever won't involve me being around you."

"Jeez, thanks for the support," I grumbled before turning back to Skully. "What exactly do you want from me?"

"Simple really, Ryder has been captured by the WPA, I'll need your help rescuing him from-"

"Again with Ryder! When does it end!? When!? This stupid edgy umbreon that I've only met like twice has been the center of my life, and I don't even like him! Why is he so important?! Is it the red eyes, you know I have red eyes now too!" I pointed towards my irises. "See!"

"I'm running out of time," The snivy sighed. "Just know that he's important, it's not about who he is but what his destiny is."

"Don't tell me he's some stupid chosen one or some cliché excuse like that."

"He was chosen," Skully admitted, "But not through some prophecy or anything like that, simply by the luck of his genetics and the time of his existence."

"I'm not even going to pretend like I care about this to be honest. It's beyond me. Now, if I agree to help, you're going to tell me where every one of those bastards are?"

"Of course, I am a pokemon of my word."

"I hardly consider you a pokemon," I responded. "Fine, you got yourself a deal."

"Excellent," it smiled. "Now, I must be going. Right away I need you to leave and head towards North street and find me in the park on that street." Not even giving me a chance Skully's body faded to black. Small specs broke off from his main mass and scattered into the air until he was gone.

"What the fu-"

"He does that a lot," I interrupted the servine.

"Still, what the heck is she?!"

"I go with it, since that's not it's real form."

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked.

"That thing's name is Skull Face, for whatever reason. To put things simply, it's some logic defying pokemon that takes on the forms of dead pokemon."

"Dead pokemon…" Lucy said, her tone becoming quiet as she put two and two together. "If he was a snivy does that mean?"

"Yeah," I shook my head slowly, "That creep was wearing my dead girlfriend's look. It does that to everyone, I've seen it take other forms too."

"Aiden, I don't think you should take that deal. Going after those people won't change anything."

"Do you think I don't know that?" I shot back as my fists tightened. "But what would you do if someone was offering to help get back at the people who burned the person you cared about the most alive?! I know you would go after them too!"

"Still, I can't justify telling you to do that. I can't say I'd be any different either, I'd want the same too, but you know how I feel."

"Good, then we're at an understanding," I scoffed, turning from the servine. "Anyways, I'm probably going to need your help with this, so-"

"I never agreed to anything," Lucy grumbled.

"Really, after everything I've-"

"Everything you've chosen to do on your own," Lucy finished for me. "I never once asked you for anything, we already know what impulse of yours drove you to do everything you've done. Besides, your new missions created a conflict of interest for me."

"Conflict of interest?" I grumbled as I turned back at the servine.

"Yeah," Lucy nodded with her arms crossed. "My interest are primarily with Rhys, and right now Rhys is more than likely working with the WPA, so to go against the WPA would be to go against Rhys, and I won't do that, not for anyone. I won't stop you from doing what you're going to do, but your fate is your fate if you if you go against Rhys. I won't protect you from it."

I let out a sigh as I turned my head from the servine. "And I thought you owed me for saving your ass. I could have left you to die back there you know."

"Don't you even dare try that!" Lucy's temper flared up. "I've had enough headaches from you, and I'm not about to piss off the only real friend I have just to make you sleep easier at night!"

"So be it," I threw my hands up in the air, turning from the snake. "I've tried my best to keep this thing going, but right now this is something that means a lot to me."

"Alright, have fun, don't expect me to show up at your funeral."

"Probably won't have one," I frowned as I departed from the servine, not daring to turn back to her. My fist clenched and my claw dug into my palm, digging into my skin.

"If this is what it's going to take to make things right for David, then so be it."

Point of View Flare

Looking up, the full moon was at its fullest tonight. This was good since most of the park's lighting was out of commission, so the lunar assistance was needed. I might have made a flame in my palm to guide us, but with the WPA out for my blood I couldn't risk such a thing. Instead, the dim lighting the moon casted over the snowy park would have to do.

By now Annie was beginning to feel heavy in my weak arms. It was one workout after another it felt like. This just made me all the more excited to save Black and end this. Plus, once we wake Annie up everything will mostly be back in order, or as good as it can get for a while.

The zoroark that accompanied me seemed to be on even higher alert than me. His eyes darted all around the place, every moving shadow setting him on edge, at times he was ready to pounce on a bush. Turns out it was just a ratatta. It was good to have his eyes on my side, especially since I knew I could count on him to do a good job. Broken arm or not, he was certainly my greatest ally.

"Someone's over there," Naomi's fur stood on edge as her eyes locked onto a pokemon to our left. All of us turned to see the form of a quadruped pokemon entering in the park. It's form was larger than an eeveelution, it's head lacking any pointy ears, but the silhouette did show a nub of something.

"Who's there?" The zoroark's hand opened up, his claws ready to cut into anyone who dared stand in his path. The way seemed so willing to do so made me uneasy. Foe or not, I wasn't ready to kill anyone.

The four legged pokemon stepped out from the shadows, his thick white fur rippling in the wind. The nub I had recognized on his head being the remnants of a nasty wound, leaving the creature without his only horn. It was the two familiar eyes that took me by the biggest surprise. With a perplexed look the absol look as he tried to grasp something in his mind, regardless I was happy to see another familiar face.

"Flare, why are you here? Don't tell me you were called here too."

"So, he came to you too?"

"He's going to contact everyone he can possibly manipulate," Naomi said.

The umbreon walked behind me. I couldn't help but glance back at the umbreon. 'Is she using me as a shield?' I wondered. I knew the two of them weren't on good terms, but did I have to worry about them two trying to kill each other? When I turned back I found Gray's eyes deadlocked on Naomi and I could feel the tension between the two.

"So, he chose you too," Naomi spoke, her words bitter and carrying a venomous ring to them.

The absol didn't falter at her tone, "Right now I'm not worried about past quarrels."

"Quarrels?" Naomi repeated with offense. "You tried to kill us last time we met! You call that a quarrel!" The umbreon hissed with indignation. Dark matter began to form around her paw as she crouched down low to the ground, ready to make a move in an instant. "You won't get any trust from me, not after what you did."

"Did something happen that I'm not aware about?" I meekly spoke as I inched away from the two.

Gray did his best to keep his cool. His body language was tense, but didn't show any vicious hostility like the umbreon did. Instead he took a deep breath and made full eye contact with the umbreon. Naomi only growled in response, perhaps confusing his composure with arrogance of some kind?

"I have no intention of fighting you here," Gray responded, not bothering to give me the answer I wanted.

"Not here? What, you mean you're going to wait until my back is turned? Or perhaps until you have your WPA buddies to back you up?"

"Both of you, enough!" Zylen rose his voice. Naomi jumped from the assertiveness the zoroark gave off as the dark matter around her paws dissipated. Gray's attention was turned towards the zoroark as he looked at him with interest.

"So, is this the zoroark you were looking for, Flare?" It didn't take long for Gray to shift towards Annie, "And her…"

All I could manage was a single nod. Wasn't really wanting to explain what happened over and over, even if Gray knew most of it by now.

"To keep things short we're working with this Skull Face guy because he promised a way to help my sister wake up. The WPA is responsible for her, specifically Isaac," I said, hoping the bland explanation would suffice for the absol.

"I see," he shook his head and walked over to us. "Well, I'm happy you were able to find what you were looking for. Isaac is responsible for this?"

"Afraid so," I nodded. "We're not sure of all the details, but that's what happened."

Gray didn't say a word in response, but the look he gave my unconscious sister said it all as he read her over, trying to piece together as much as possible without prying further. I would tell him the full story, but only if we lived long enough to have a better opportunity to catch up.

Just as a silence was beginning to linger in the air, a voice broke through the silence, shattering the serious mood with its pep. We all turned towards a charmeleon giving us all a toothy grin.

"Quite the crew Skullies been putting together, and all for some edgy umbreon," the lizard shrugged. "What-ev, so long as I get what I want. Anyhoo, long time no see to you all, I guess."

To his surprise, his sudden introduction did little to relieve the bitter silence, but did manage to turn it over to an awkward silence. His creepy red eyes reminded me of Black, but the way they mixed with his pale purplish-grey scales made him look rather ghoulish in a way. The flickering of his omniscient blue tail flame being all the proof I needed to know he wasn't purple for appearance purposes.

His toothy grin formed into a deep frown as he glanced back and forth between a few of us. "Really, not going to greet me, say I look well even though I don't? Anything?!" The fire-type piped up.

"I'm just more curious who you are," I blatantly spoke, although admittedly something about the ghostly charmeleon was familiar.

"Naomi, you too?"

The umbreon had to stare at the charmeleon for what seemed like a minute before her face lit up, "Aiden?" She asked, almost sounding fearful.

With the name spoken I was reminded of the charmander I had barely gotten to know. I couldn't help but stare at the poor guy even more. What had happened to him to make such a mess of him? He didn't even look like his species anymore, more like something that came back from the dead.

"Heh, well I know what you're all thinking, and if you're wondering, yes, I did start working out a bit," The charmeleon joked before uttering a set of words, "Also I've been spliced with a ghost…"

"Wait?" Naomi cocked her head to the side, "What exactly was that last part?"

"Oh, yeah, Genesis kind of abducted me, then they fused me with a sableye I think, and now I'm really ugly but really awesome at the same time."

"How did they…" Naomi couldn't bring herself to finish the question.

"Well, that's a good question," he said thoughtfully as he scratched his chin, "I'll be sure to ask that as I'm beating the face of whoever did this to me. Didn't really have a chance to ask as I was high tailing it out of there. Kind of funny, these cool powers I got are actually what helped me escape, they screwed themselves over in a way." The charmeleon couldn't help but chuckle at the irony.

"Are you going to be alright?" Naomi continued to pry, her eyes stuck on the deformed charmeleon.

"Not sure," he gave a simple shrug, "But hey, no need to worry about me, I've somehow managed this far, so I'll find a way to keep going."

Naomi was hesitant with her response, the words seemed to be caught in her throat.

"Well, good to hear you're holding out," I said for the umbreon, even though he didn't look that way.

"I guess," the charmeleon turned from us, his tone suddenly becoming more forlorn. "I'll be more alright once I'm able to get as far away from all of this as possible."

"If you're sure," Naomi said with doubt.

Only silence followed. Aside from a few attempts of lightening the mood hardly anything was said between us. I eventually found my way to a dried-up water fountain and leaned up against it. I rested my sister's head on my lap. Zylen joined in next to me. Soon Naomi and Gray did the same but were more than sure to make sure they were on opposite sides of each other. Aiden kept the most distance from our group, finding a tree to lean up against. With his arms crossed he stared out into the abyss of the night sky looking as if he was lost in thought.

About a half hour passed before another showed up. This one upsetting me a bit as I saw the two blue eyes through the umbra of the night. The white umbreon stopped halfway through the park, his eyes instantly drawn to Naomi. Her eyes were stolen away from anything else that may have captivated her attention.

It happened so fast I was barely able to process it, but when the two ran at each other I couldn't help but smile. Especially the way Naomi tackled Stark to the ground. The two nuzzled and embraced each other as the nipped at one another. It was when I realized my warm smile that I felt a chill run through my spine.

What was I thinking?! Cute? Heartwarming? Another ally? This guy tried to kill us! I handed my sister off to Zylen. I hopped up onto my feet by the time the two were finally pulling away from each other.

"I was worried sick looking for you," Stark said with concern. "You aren't hurt, are you?"

"No, not even a scratch, just a lot of stress is all with everything that's going on."

I crossed my arm as my eyes focused on the white umbreon. He might have been Naomi's lover, Maybe I even stuck up for him at one point in Shalour, but nothing in the end could wash away that gut-wrenching fear eating me up.

Point of View Vincent

"So, you really want to trust him?" Scarlet spoke up. The greninja kept to the shadows.

"I don't trust him," I affirmed. "We just simply need him is all. I haven't forgotten everything he's responsible for. There is no chance for reconciliation for whoever's hiding behind those illusions."

Thoughts wandered back to Flynn. So long had passed since anyone had mentioned our fallen comrade. To make things worse our team has been narrowed down to just Scarlet and I. The thought of how many of us we started with was hard to believe when I looked at the only other who I still had.

First it was Flynn when he was murdered by Skull Face. That one really caught me by surprise, don't think anyone expected things to end like that for him. Things went fine for a while, if Stark had to be counted then one could say he deserted us, but to an extent I couldn't blame him considering his circumstances. A while longer and Kane turned out to be a traitor, ended up taking Merrick with him. The one I found the hardest to believe was Mandus getting captured by the WPA. Truth be told, there is no telling whether he's truly alive still or not.

Skull Face might have used our leader as a sweetener for the deal, but one should be more than sure not to trust a pokemon who won't even show his own face. Regardless, my loyalty is towards Mandus and I know what I must do to protect my leader, even if it means deviating from my path to bring him back. I know Scarlet agrees.

"We'll only have a short while before Dawn," I spoke up.

"Noted."

"Let's retreat back to our hideout, I'll take watch first while you sleep."

Scarlet gave a single nod.

Point of View Flare

I had dozed off for how long? I wasn't sure, but with a hand nudging at my shoulder I stirred back to consciousness. My eyes slowly cracked open seeing nothing but blurs, and then a blurry figure, red eyes, blood eyes.

'Black?' Was all I could think before my eyes took in the burnt features, the spiky yellow fur, that malicious look that was always plotting something.

"Everyone has arrived," the creature said with satisfaction. "Good. With all of us assimilated, at long last we'll finally be able to begin our operation to save Ryder."

The TV blared in the background. With everything going on in Snowbelle it was all you could hear. Didn't even have to watch TV to hear it everywhere, simply go out for a walk and it's all the talk. Every other commercial on TV is fundraisers, posters all over Lumiose too. Everyone wanted to make their difference for that unfortunate city.

The TV continued to go on about the attack, everyone in the room besides me taking interest in it. Something something evil, sorrow, you get the point, it's the news it's always depressing. You can understand how I feel about the news, it was never my top pick for a TV station, usually prefer something with action, guns, maybe a big explosion to rumble the house with overwhelming bass. That kind of stuff. Of course, nothing knocked me right out of my dazed state than the mugshot of Black posted all over the big screen.

I only started listening in halfway through, but the guy was going on about him finally being captured and would be facing trial. Worse yet, he played a role in what happened in Snowbelle?!

Without even realizing it at first I was learning at the edge of my spot on the recliner, my claws digging into the cushioning. The shock of the sudden news felt like I had been smacked across the face. How could that useless umbreon play a hand in half the damage they're talking about? Dude had problems, but these more extreme problems were news to me (Hence why it's on the news).

'He's harmless,' I thought in my head at least ten times before I had the unstoppable urge to get up.

"Blacky wouldn't do that," Ebony spoke up, her voice sounding terrified as if she wasn't sure.

"No, he wouldn't," I said with confidence. "That umbreon's too much of a wimp to be a part of that, so don't believe it because something's up. You got that, kid?" I stared down the meek espeon until she gave a weak nod.

"I know he wouldn't, but why would anyone think that?"

Before another word could be spoken between the two of us our human had rose up from the couch. Both his fists tightened as he stared at the images of the umbreon. With his back turned I couldn't tell if he was repulsed, angry at Black or right where Ebony and I were.

"Guys, we're going to Snowbelle, get ready."

Chapter End

Author Note: Looking at the last POV with Flare it seems to be a wee bit short *Shrugs* it'll do.

Thanks genericgamer207 for reminding me to actuall put down a street name instead of putting down "(Something" again and actually update it in a chapter lol. Yes, that's really happened, I'll just put "(Something)" if I don't have a name for something.