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"The Shadow Hunter"

At sundown, a convoy of eighteen Pokémon trudged through a dark forest, dragging behind them a payload of food and supplies.

A Chesnaught and a pair of Gogoat pulled the wagons, and a trio of Kabutops stood vigilant guard at the front of the procession. The rest of the herd followed solemnly behind in silence, keeping watch into the darkness.

The world had become a savage place, and nobody was quite sure how it had happened so fast. News of the plague demons and their genocide had come from western Shiron over the months, but nobody had taken them seriously at first; everyone thought that surely it was just something blown out of proportion, or some ill-fated vigilante group that hadn't a chance to cause any real damage. But the news kept coming, and far-off acquaintances were reported dead in staggering numbers, and entire cities were said to have been gutted by the swarms of demons. The breaking point came when the cost of necessities rose to overbearing levels, and merchants began disappearing entirely. Soon, it became impossible for cities to provide their people with the supplies needed to live comfortably, and entire communities of Pokémon began to fracture, walling themselves into fortresses and burrowing underground in one final effort to survive the impending doom and the demons who had brought it.

Even in Anderon, one of the last remaining places of refuge on the continent in Eastern Shiron, hope was at its lowest. Society had turned against one another. Scavengers ran wild and looted whatever supplies they could find. It was not uncommon to find corpses of civil Pokémon who had been robbed and murdered, or worse, eaten; the caravan had run across four fallen civils in one day alone. All that was left of the once mighty Anderon region was perhaps a dozen tiny strongholds scattered along the eastern mountains where the most resilient of the Pokémon laid low and worked together to stay alive. Their exact number was unknown, as the factions made contact with one another as little as possible; any movement out in the open could give away their position. The necessary supply runs were made with careful planning and extreme caution.

The sages said that Anderon had no more than a year left before the plague would hit the eastern coast, and that was only a generous estimate. It was assumed that the rest of Shiron was already taken over by the demons, and everyone knew that it was only a matter of time before the plagued ones would be sighted crossing the mountains and bring doom upon everyone.

Though the travelling Pokémon kept watch for ferals and bandits who might attack from the side of the road, they understood that they didn't stand a chance against the plague demons who would swoop down from the sky. None had ever defeated them. None had ever fought a plague demon and lived to brag about it. The only stories that spread were about witnesses who had seen their slaughter and somehow escaped.

Shiron had fallen, and they were next. All that remained was to live out the remainder of their lives in peace, by whatever means necessary.

The lead Kabutops hissed, drawing her claws. One second later, the entire procession was frozen in their tracks, holding their breaths.

"Akka? Something wrong?"

She cocked her head.

"I'm not hearing things… am I?" she whispered to her companions.

"There was something," the other Kabutops affirmed. "Up ahead."

"Can't see anything. Maybe just a Rattata…"

"No… too heavy."

"Traveler?"

"Traveler wouldn't be so quiet."

"Spy?"

"Spy wouldn't attack from the front…"

"So… this is a foe," she realized, darkly. "Someone who thinks they can take us down."

With the revelation sinking in, the three brown creatures exchanged glances and lowered their heads, preparing to forage forward to locate the foe and protect the caravan… But there was no need, for the foe showed itself.

It stopped walking and stood still and confidently in the middle of the road, blocking the carvan's way: a tall humanoid silhouette, darker than the night sky, with gleaming yellow eyes. Its body was like an amorphous living shadow, twisting and moving with spiritual energy, as though engulfed in a dancing black fire. It had no clear form, no expression upon its face, no emotion; it only stood like a watchful beast, its stare locked with the bladed Pokémon who stood in the way of the first wagon.

"This is bad," Akka whispered, already trembling in fright. "Its…"

"The shadow hunter," her right-hand companion said.

Rumors of a figure called the "shadow hunter" had spread through Anderon. Said to be a living shadow, or even a plague demon, the shadow hunter appeared at various places throughout the world, killing Pokémon effortlessly and taking from them whatever it desired. The stories said that the hunter had never lost a battle with any of its challengers.

The Kabutops leader stopped to think for a moment. "We need this food," she hissed bitterly to her companions. "Charizard's clan is already starving to death. We need to get this through. We can't let this shadow thing have it."

The other Kabutops nodded in understanding. The other guards couldn't help them in case it was an ambush; it would only be up to the three of them. They would fight.

The shadow hunter took a step forward, the wisps dancing upon its shoulders and its head. The guards tensed, baring their blades in a threatening display.

In a warbled, nightmarish voice, it spoke: "Show me to your clan leader."

Akka gave the signal, and her two companions darted forward to flank the creature on both sides at once. The creature did not flinch as their curved blades sank into its flesh with an unsettling schlunk. The guards were immobilized immediately, their blades stuck inside of the creature's flesh as though it were a pile of tar.

A chill went through the leader's bones as she watched her companions struggle for freedom. They did not dare attack with their remaining blades. They writhed and pulled to set themselves free, but the tar-like substance only crawled farther up their claws, until it reached the shoulders. The stunned Kabutops began to cry in terror as the shadow encroached so close to their heads…

"Show me to your leader," the creature said again, emotionless.

The last free guard stepped forward with a façade of strength and confidence, pretending not to be bothered by the plights of her cohorts. "You want to see Charizard?" she inquired. "If we take you to him, will you let my brothers free?"

The shadow hunter responded by retracting his hold on the clawed creatures, sending them tumbling to the ground. The oozing tendrils disappeared into its form.

"If you take me to him," the shadow hunter replied, "I will ensure that all of you arrive safely, and your food will not be stolen on the way."

"How can we trust that you won't betray us once you know where Charizard lives?" she said pointedly. "How do we know that you won't kill him and loot all of our homes?"

"I can't make you trust me," the demonic being simply said. "But I leave you a choice: take me to see Charizard, or do not return home at all. Your party is not strong enough to defeat me."

There was a burning silence, broken only by the rustling of nearby leaves as the Kabutops climbed back to their feet and returned to the leader's side. She glared at the shadowy figure, stared into his golden eyes, and thought for a moment.

"Fine, come with us," she finally said, subtly bowing her head. "We'll betray Charizard for you. We'll take you to see him, but… there really isn't a lot there… There won't be anything to keep you from killing him and everyone in the clan if you wanted. But I suppose… it's not as though we have a long time left to live, anyway."

The shadow hunter stepped closer to her, plainly and unthreateningly. It approached her so closely that she thought she could feel a powerful dark energy radiating from the amorphous black vapor that seemed to cover its body.

"I am not your enemy," the hunter said quietly, so that only she and her companions could hear. "You and your company would do well to remember that. Now order the wagons to keep moving, I am not patient."

The surrounding land had gone silent at the shadow hunter's arrival, as though the wild creatures had all sensed his presence and cowered from him. Akka and the other guards felt a very strange sense of security travelling under the protection of this notorious creature, and almost wondered if they needed to continue keeping watch at all. But they chose not to consort with him; after all, he would soon know the location of their hidden clan, and would have great power to betray them all if he so chose. Instead, the Kabutops only kept the caravan moving in the correct direction, and did not speak a word to the mysterious traveler.

Although it took two days, the caravan arrived safely its destination: a ghost town, entirely deserted. Nearly a dozen brick buildings were eerily left standing, most with vacant windows and doors left swinging open, and not a single possession or object left within. It had once been a thriving little town of gardeners and bricklayers and crafty merchants, but when news of the spreading catastrophe from the west became impossible to deny, a decision was made to permanently hide underground. Each building had been constructed with a large and spacious cellar, and ground-types quickly connected them all with underground burrows, while the architects sealed off all access to the outside world, creating an elaborate underground dwelling hidden from any prying eyes. There was only one entrance to the underground world and it only opened for shipments; everyone else who wished to travel the barren lands above needed the assistance of a teleportation user, or a ghost-type who could help them phase through walls.

A fake patch of grass was removed and large steel block descended into the ground, opening the way to the hidden hideout. While a few humanoid workers began making hasty trips to unload the carts, Akka and her brothers led the shadow hunter through the tunnels of the base. Several Pokémon sent them startled glances, others cried out and demanded an explanation, but the Kabutops didn't respond. The sooner she could appease the intruder, she figured, the sooner he would leave, and the sooner everyone would be at peace – whatever peace really meant anymore.

They took the shadow beast to the chamber where Charizard dwelled. There, he spoke an order to Akka, saying "I must ask him an important question. Stay here, and ensure that no one bothers us." Akka winced at the forcefulness of the creature's demand, and the assumption that he could give orders which superseded Charizard. But she didn't protest, and instead rapped on the stone door and called to the Pokémon within.

"Is it an emergency?" called a strong male voice from within.

"Yes, I would say so," Akka replied. "There is… someone who urgently needs to speak with you."

"Fine then, come in," the voice said in a sigh.

Akka wedged her claw between the wall and the door, and slid it open. The shadow hunter didn't hesitate to step inside. "Close the door," he commanded, once on the other end. Akka obeyed, and the shadow found itself alone in the room with the clan's leader.

A Charizard was laying face-up on the opposite end of the room, the end of his tail dipped into a live fireplace as though for comfort. He wore on his body a great amount of prestigious things, from a golden-chained necklace adorned with jewels, to a spiked silver crown upon its head, to multiple bracelets upon each arm. Even more bracelets lined the base of his tail, and he wore a black cape around his folded wings, fastened with an emerald broach.

"What's your business?" the Charizard muttered, not even glancing in the direction of the doorway.

After there was no answer, the lizard groaned and his eyes fluttered open. He gave a gasp of apprehension and rolled to his feet, his jewelry clinking as he straightened himself in the presence of the odd visitor.

"Ahh… the shadow-slayer, if I'm not mistaken?" the Charizard said, feigning keenness and bowing his head. "To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit? I assume you are not here to… merely wring us out for all we've got. I certainly hope that isn't the case. We do not mean harm to anyone. I'm only a humble old dragon who wants nothing more than to make sure my people and I live out the remainder of our lives with shelter over their heads and food in their stomachs. As long as you continue to let me do that, I'm sure we could come to some sort of arrangement, whatever you're here for."

The dark creature remained silent, staring at the dragon intensely. The dragon bowed away and paced across the room.

"I know I might seem like a pompous old emperor, with all of these frivolous gemstones and such," he said, extending his arm to indicate the bracelets he wore. "Truth be told, I wear them to remind me of my mistakes. There was a time not so long ago when you could barter for things with these… worthless rocks. Like this emerald here, probably was enough to trade for a whole cart of steaks and fresh rainwater. 'Course, that was five years ago… Nowadays you're lucky if you can poke your head out on the surface without getting it sliced off by someone. But I'm sure that's not a problem for you. I'm sure you can walk around and do whatever you'd like up there in the surface world. So tell me, what makes you go through all the trouble to find me?"

"I am looking for the fire sphere," the dark one said plainly. "I was told that it was in your possession."

The old Charizard seemed to perk up, giving a sigh of relief. "Very astute of you," he said, turning around. "Yes, whomever had told you that was correct. The thing had passed through my claws not so long ago. But you see, it is no longer here… I found a buyer for it. Traded it for two tons of dried berries and pinesap. Should be arriving as we speak, in fact, if it isn't already here."

"Where can I find the one who now owns it?" the shadowy figure inquired.

"Hmm. Hmm-hmm, ah, well, I'm willing to tell you, I suppose," the dragon said with a distant smile, pacing back across the room and picking up a gem from a nearby desk. "But in exchange for something. See, while I regret that these treasures I have are now worthless, there is still something in this world that is valuable, and that, my dear hunter, is information. All the other clan leaders are always thirsting to be told things they don't know. And if the information is… powerful enough, well, anyone's going to pay for it through the nose."

"What do you want to know?" the hunter asked, not seeming to grow irritated.

"Why, about you, of course," the Charizard replied, grinning. "Everyone wants to know about you. There have only been rumors! Some say that you've fallen into a pit of lava and survived. Some say that you were sliced in half... and survived. Some say that you can slay a dozen mercenaries with a twitch of your finger. You've been sighted by all the clans in Anderon, for crying out loud. Everyone's seen you. Everyone wants to know how about you. But now, I finally have the chance to meet you, and hear your story. So tell me… what drives you, shadow hunter? What's going on in that mind of yours?"

"I already told you," he replied. "I am looking for the fire sphere. That is my only goal."

"I suppose you did. Well, in that case, at least tell me this," the Charizard said, leaning against the nearest table with an intrigued smirk. "Where does your power come from? You certainly don't look like any ghost-type or dark-type I've ever seen."

The shadow hunter remained silent.

"Are you even a Pokémon at all?"

Still, no reply.

"Hmm, I suppose I need to ask the right questions if I want you to reply," the Charizard said thoughtfully, bowing his head and swinging his tail. "I suppose I might tell you my own little theory as to what you are. I've heard that nobody can defeat you. I've heard that when you get in a fight, you don't leave anyone alive. And I hear that you walk around unafraid on the surface. Judging by all I know about you, and all I've heard… I can only come to conclude… that you are a plague demon from the west. See, I have this theory, that the plague demons are taken over, in, how to say, stages… That they don't become mindless killing machines right away. I think there's a phase, before the plague immediately takes over its victim, where they still retain control of their thoughts, and their actions. Looking at you, you even fit the descriptions of them the survivors all say. And seeing you here most likely heralds the end of our era. So, my dear hunter… is this something you'd like to confirm, or deny, for me?"

"I am not a plagued one," the shadow hunter said. "What you see in place of my body is a dark-type technique. I have honed it well to shield me from the attacks of ghosts and psychics. I despise the plagued ones… I kill any of them which I encounter. It is how I earned my title."

The Charizard's grin grew wider. "You fight the demons? And you win?" he said, touching his chin. "Now, this is a bold claim. Every last source that I've heard says that it's impossible to destroy them. They can regenerate moments after they are killed. Care to explain yourself?"

"I have found the key to defeating them," the hunter simply said. The Charizard waited for further explanation, but none came.

"So you claim they can be defeated," he said thoughtfully. "And you claim that you have found the technique. It is no wonder you stand with such confidence. I suppose, I must now ask… want to work for me? I'm certain we could stockpile the whole year's worth of food if you were willing to tag along with the wagons for security's sake. I already have a chief of security – her name's Akka, you've probably met her if you've gotten into this place – but I fear she just doesn't have it in herself to fight the difficult fight, if one were to arise. She… hesitates too much, I think. What we need is someone dependable. Someone… like you. 'Course, I'm likely not the highest bidder, but I could promise you that you'd never want for food or shelter again, if you're willing to protect us from the plague demons."

"I cannot stay here to protect you," the hunter growled, agitation now apparent in its evil, distorted voice. "I search for the fire sphere."

"Oh! Oh, yes, that again," the Charizard laughed awkwardly. "How typical of me, I must have gotten carried away. Well, perhaps my asking price is nearly paid. I suppose there is just one more question I'd like to impose upon you, before you go of running after that shiny ball."

He wandered very close to the shadowy figure. Leaning in imposingly, his expression grew dark.

"Who do you work for?" he said lowly. "Don't take me for a fool. I know you're not some wanderer. Nobody moves without as much purpose as you unless someone else's swinging the hilt. If there's another clan out there I don't know about, someone I need to be… worried about, I'd prefer they at least don't have the element of surprise. Is that so much to ask?"

There was a deafening silence. The hunter's fire-like wisps seemed to dance with intensity.

"I work for one named Erebus," he said simply.

"Erebus," the Charizard echoed, staring far away. "Erebus… Erebus… Funny, I could've sworn I know that name. Big name. Eludes me at the moment…" He paced in a semicircle around the visitor.

The hunter flinched. "Perhaps it will jog your memory," he said warily, "if I were to remind you who Erebus works for. Erebus works for… the human."

The Charizard's eyes widened. The flame on the end of his tail flared to four times its size, almost enough to catch fire to a nearby bookshelf.

"The human, you say," he breathed. "You work for the threat."

"I do," the hunter said, twitching uncomfortably.

The fire dragon clenched his fists, and bared his teeth. Something changed in his eyes.

"I suppose I should have known it would come to this," he growled in a lower tone, smoke wafting from his nostrils. "I suppose I should have known why you were here."

The old Charizard stood between the hunter and the doorway, breathing heavily and trying to contain his fire. His pupils narrowed, and became tiny pinpricks which glowed red. A dark aura emanated from his irises.

"You will never find Reshiram," he growled in a demonic voice, almost matching that of the hunter. "You will never find him… because you will never leave this room alive."

Dark voids of spiritual power started to form around his claws. His tail flame flickered with a strange energy.

"Do you know how hard I have searched for the threat?" the possessed Charizard growled. "Do you have any idea how long it took, how many years I spent infiltrating this clan, earning their trust… Just for the chance that the threat might one day find refuge here? Just so we could find that stupid human? So he couldn't interfere with our plans and ruin everything we have worked so hard for?"

"On both accounts, you are wrong," the hunter said plainly. "I will leave this room alive. And I will find the sphere. This much is certain. But perhaps the same things could not be said about you…"

The strange humanoid figure, burning with mysterious blackness, began transforming.

Its flames grew wider and taller, its arms extended and became tendril-like appendages. Its red eyes split into four, and then six, tiny pinpricks of yellow light.

A long cone of darkness, almost like an upside-down tornado, rose from the hunter's back. It grew tall and wide, greater in size than the hunter itself, extending up to the ceiling of the room. At the top of the funnel, there came a face. A head. The shadow morphed into a fearsome serpent-like figure with a glowing row of teeth.

The Charizard staggered.

"I never leave them alive," the hunter said simply.

The terrified fire dragon tried to lunge at the door, but it was too late: the massive column of darkness, the demonic creature, descended upon him. It coiled around the Charizard's body, wrapping around it once, twice, and then squeezed with astonishing strength, audibly breaking the Charizard's bones. The Charizard couldn't draw enough of a breath to scream.

"What's going on?!" a voice demanded from outside. "Something wrong?!"

The serpentine figure then lunged its massive maw down upon the hapless Charizard, snapping its teeth into his neck and biting his head off.

As soon as the lifeless form of the fire dragon slumped to the floor, and the flame at the end of its tail simmered down into only an ember, the hunter retracted the fearsome apparition back into itself, and stood over its kill.

The door was forcibly opened, and Akka rushed inside.

"You… you…"

She looked down at her fallen clan leader.

"You killed him!" she wailed, lunging upon his dead body and crying profusely "You demon! You slaughtered him!"

"Yes," said the shadow hunter. "I kill every plague demon I encounter. Your Charizard had already become one of them long ago."

The shadowy figure bent down and touched one of the large bracelets that adorned the corpse's tail. He slid it off, and within the inner rim of the silvery ring, there was a particular object latched into place.

He tossed it in the direction of the mourning Kabutops.

"The mark of the beast," the hunter said. "Beware any Pokémon who bears a pin like this. For they are plagued ones who disguise themselves. Your Charizard was not as he seemed."

She glared at him with hatred, resent, turmoil…

"Now tell me, the shipment we brought here. Where did it come from?"

"S-S-… Sacrament Lake," she managed to say, her gaze downcast. "There's a… there's a… hidden village… behind… behind the waterfall. In the cave… they…"

Akka's words were cut short by her profuse sobs. She cried upon the corpse of her fallen leader. "No… No… what… what will I do? What will I tell everyone? We can't… we can't survive without Charizard… he was our leader… he… he knew everything. He knew what to do! Without him… how will we survive…? How will we all survive?"

"I suppose you will be the new leader," the hunter said simply. "You can tell them all that you will take his place. There is a hidden strength in you. Perhaps you will come to realize it soon."

"Wait… wait…" she said weakly, reaching to him.

But the shadow hunter was already gone. He left the room, walked quietly out the entrance while the supplies were still being unloaded, and was never seen again by the Charizard clan.

The wandering hunter found Sacrament River and followed it upstream.

The river grew wide, and eventually descended into a creek bed surrounded by two sizable cliffs. Beneath the shade of the cliff were rocks and gravel of all sizes which had been washed downstream over the decades. The hunter leaped down upon the bed of gravel, and sat down to rest on a long, flat slab of rock.

Immediately, he started to change.

The dark wisps upon its form intensified, flying upward into the air. Slowly, bits of the shadow peeled off from the figure, revealing parts of its body. Patches of white fur with lavender bands showed themselves. A long thin tail wiggled free, as did a pair of dainty claws.

The stream of shadow flowed off from the resting figure, arching into the air and reforming into something different at her side. The shadows collected in a long, winding figure – a serpent. It was several times the size of its host.

When the separation finished, the Mienshao breathed a relieved sigh and appraised the dark Pokémon who lay coiled up beside her. It was a Serperior, but it had nearly lost all semblance of normalcy. Stripes of darkness had invaded its green scales, and its eyes glowed an evil red. Dark energy rose from the length of its body, as though the afternoon sun was searing it alive.

"You did well," the Mienshao said. "That was the longest you've ever stayed in shadow form."

"It was tiring…" the great snake admitted, resting its head upon its coiled body. "I really thought I was going to pass out… but Impetus… can we stop to rest here, please?"

"We shouldn't," she said, staring down the river. "The sphere might still be at Sacrament Lake. If we stop to sleep the night, it could be traded away again by morning. But yes, go ahead and rest for a while. You might need to stay in shadow form even longer next time."

The deeply plagued Serperior closed its eyes. "You know, Impetus," he said sadly, "We don't have to keep doing this. Pretending to be this shadow hunter thing, I mean."

"Perhaps not, but it is very efficient," the Mienshao said, beginning meditation upon the flat rock and staring across the running river. "It would be difficult to imagine a more effective plan to hide our identities and to stay safe from the Plagued Ones."

"I can think of one," the mighty Serperior said with a tiny, almost pleading, voice. "You know… you can become like me, too, if you wanted. Then I wouldn't have to stick to your skin all the time. We could go around as two shadow hunters!"

The Mienshao heaved a depressed sigh.

"Syn. I've told you this, but I do not wish to become like you," she said flatly, closing her eyes. "I wish to remain in control of my body and my thoughts."

"But I am in control," Syn said, unwinding his body and slithering towards his companion. "I can do whatever I want! The Plagued One works with me."

"…Does it ever speak to you?" Impetus said with great distaste. "Does it disturb your thoughts with violent ramblings?"

"It talks to me all the time, yeah," Syn said, staring down at his meditating companion. "But it doesn't distract me, honest. It always goes away and lets me focus when I want it to. But it has a lot of good ideas. It came up with the idea for the shadow form in the first place."

Impetus tilted her head downward, as though to ignore him.

"There's nothing bad about it, honest!" he said in a pleading voice, winding around her rock. "The plague is… it's my friend. I even gave it a name. Its name is Willow. It likes the name. We're really close. You could even say… we have a lot of synergy."

Impetus rolled her eyes behind her eyelids. "Don't you find it disturbing, having a voice inside of your head that isn't yours?" she sighed. "Don't you think that your mind should be a haven of privacy for you?"

"But it is," the green-and-black Serperior insisted, lowering his head to the Mienshao's level. "Look, Impetus. I know you're kind of scared of me. It's alright… I'd be scared of me too. I've seen myself. I look like a nightmare. But… when my scales started turning black and I started to look like this, I had to stop and realize something. Willow is me. It's not someone else. It's not Erebus. It's not the Primogenitor. It's me. It's fully, completely me. It's a part of me I've always had in my mind, too. The plague curse just kinda… brought it to life. You know how you talk to yourself all the time in your own head, right? You make-pretend there are different voices arguing over things. Well, it's just like that. Except… except the voice is much smarter than it was before. And… and when you talk to it, you feel a lot less lonely."

Impetus opened her eyes to see her serpentine friend staring right at her, his pointed nose inches from her face. He indeed looked terrifying. His eyes were gleaming red, his flank was stained with streaks of blackness, and she could feel the dark power of the plague demon pulsing inside of him. Sometimes it showed itself briefly outside of the confines of his body, undulating like an ocean tide and releasing dark vapor from his scales.

But in his eyes, and in the expression of his face, she could not ignore the friendliness and concern that filled him, emotions that so clearly belonged to the Synergy she knew since they were both very young.

"Aww… Hey, Impetus. I just want to say… thank you for rescuing me. I know you didn't have to do that. But I owe you everything for what you did. That's why I'm never going to leave you alone. I don't care how much of a shadow I turn into. I'm going to still be Synergy until the bitter end, and I'm going to fight with you."

"I had to find you," she said, reaching out and scratching the snake under his chin, feeling the odd texture of the warped, plagued scales. "My nature demanded that I go out and seek you. My decision to do so was what triggered my evolution."

"Yeah, you told me. It was because you learned what it means to communicate," Syn said warmly. "Pokémon wouldn't be sentient if they didn't support each other. They would never survive long enough to be smart. And they would never learn from things that other species learned. That's what you said."

"Correct," Impetus said, stroking Syn on the forehead.

"But hey, you know… you learned the value of different species of Pokémon communicating to one another, and that's what made you evolve," he said gently. "I bet, if you learned to communicate with your Plagued One, you'd evolve again."

"Mienshao have no known second evolution," she retorted.

"No, I mean, it really is like evolving again, when you connect with the plagued one," Syn said with a little laugh. "You get so much more powerful and smarter, and the world just changes all around you. You can do so many more things. And hey… I bet, if you let your Plagued One help you, it would help you not to be so afraid of me anymore."

The Serperior withdrew from her, his coils unwinding from around her rock. "Now, I really need to go take a nap," he said. "Well, it's kind of a nap, but not really. It helps my strength come back. But… I hope you meditate well. Just let me know when you want to leave, alright?"

He aligned himself with the inside of the cliff, straightening out his long serpentine form as though stretching his muscles. Then, he went limp and relaxed.

"You should think of a name to give it," he muttered. "They like it when you give them names."

The two wayward Pokémon sat in silence for two hours. Syn remained motionless in his trance, and Impetus focused only on the sound of the rushing stream and the wind howling through the curvature of the cliff. Thoughts drifted in front of her, one by one, and she examined each one critically.

She knew her journey was still far from over. Finding the sphere, as Erebus had instructed, was only the easy part. After that, there was no telling what horrors they would have to battle.

And although Impetus had found strength and competence in her evolved form, and liked how it performed so gracefully and nimbly in battle, she knew that she lacked the endurance needed to stand up to the Plagued Ones. She had relied on Syn's power, hiding inside of his shadow form, to confront the evil demons.

All because she didn't want to become one of them herself. She couldn't.

But… what Syn said began to resonate with her. Maybe the Plagued One wasn't necessarily an enemy. Syn seemed perfectly himself, even though he wielded so many arcane, unnatural techniques on a regular basis. He was powerful, he was happy, and he even seemed… more complete, somehow, than before he decided to take off his anti-plaguing pin.

Impetus moved her left paw, reaching beneath the ribbon upon her right arm. She felt the lump underneath where her anti-plague pin remained, fastened to the inside of the ribbon where none would see.

In a moment of courage, she unpinned it.

Hello, Impetus, the voice immediately said. It's been a long time since we've talked.

Don't you remember me? I've always been with you. You've only ignored me.

Who… are you, exactly? Impetus said to the voice, ready to re-attach the pin at a moment's notice.

I am your shadow, the voice replied. I am you; I am all the parts of yourself which you have repressed with distaste.

I am many things.

I am your feral self.

Impetus was stunned. There were times when she had forgotten about her true origins as a wild Mienfoo. She'd always forcefully tried to forget them.

You have nothing to fear of me. I want to help you.

So put the pin down. Throw it in the river if you would.

Come; we have much to discuss. There is much work to be done if we wish to save the world together.

Special thanks to ScytheRider for writing out this very special episode. Now if you need me, I'm going to go on a very small break to prepare for the final arc. See all of you again on September 15.