Sarah was beginning to worry about Shawn's progress. Or, lack of progress, as it were. As she sat by the spring, and transformed into a Houndour, she fought a growing anxiety. Sarah debated whether to go after Shawn. It wasn't that she didn't trust he could do it. Far from that. It was that he hadn't come back that worried her.
She sighed, staring at her reflection and swatting at the water's surface with a paw. She was bored, and that left her mulling over Shawn's delay. As she gazed into the water, she noticed something that didn't quite belong. A reddish trail of some sort was weaving back and forth in the water. As Sarah puzzled over this, she realized the trail was actually a reflection from the sky above. Sarah's gaze shot up and her lips rose in a snarl. Was this another attack?!
No.
As she looked up in the sky, she saw a small Pokémon flying about. Sarah's expression changed from anger to surprise in a moment. It was Victini again. No sooner did Sarah realize that than Victini changed course. Its patterns spelled out more letters: "OMEOVERHERE" Victini swooped down in a flame, making Sarah duck. The fiery Pokémon blazed down the canyon path, leaving a trail of smoke and embers behind it as it took an abrupt turn to the right and out of sight.
Sarah lowered her ears, this time in concern. She was not entirely sure what Victini was trying to say. Something..."OVER HERE"? That was her best, and only guess. The message seemed somewhat incomplete, but Victini had flown off before Sarah even had the chance to speak. Sarah debated again what to do. Victini seemed to be telling her to follow it, but Sarah was loathe to leave here. She told both Shawn and Gloria that she'd be right there. Leaving now was not an option.
A faint scream made her ears shoot up. It came from the direction Victini flew towards. She instantly recognized it as Amber's voice.
She now knew what she needed to do. Howling out a warning, Sarah rushed off down the path, searching for the source of the screaming. As she bounded through the rocks, her tail lashed angrily.
This better not be Silicon's work again!
Amber was trapped. Stuck between these human-like robots and the round ones back in the cave, she even was more afraid than before. She stood shock-still, staring ahead at the steel menaces before her. Their pieced-together mix of human and metal parts and cold, menacing glares horrified Amber to no end. Was this Silicon's plan for her?!
Amber's fears intensified as one robot raised an arm at her. It was not an "arm" like hers, but had a large pistol on the end where a hand should be. She only just had the time to realize that when the machine shouted out "INTRUDER ALERT!" At its call, the other two robots slowly turned, raising their guns at them.
Gloria spun around, diving back into the cave just as the nearest robot fired its gun. The shot struck, hitting her on her tail. She cried out, scrambled back to her feet, and charged headlong behind a bend in the cave wall. Amber's eyes grew wide and she screamed again.
It shot Gloria!
It actually just shot her!
Amber was too terrified to move. Leo grabbed Amber's arm and rushed behind Gloria, yanking Amber back as the three machines slowly made their way toward the cave. Amber saw Gloria holding her tail and gritting her teeth in pain.
"Gloria! You're hurt!" Amber tried to go to Gloria's side, but she held out a hand to stop her.
"It's...nothing. A scratch." Gloria said through clenched teeth. Though she held her injury tightly, Amber could see blood seeping out from between her fingers and dripping down her feathers. It was obvious from the grimace on her face that Gloria was in a lot pain.
"Something's up." Leo said, peering out from the wall carefully, "Those things aren't chasing us...?"
Good point. Now that he mentioned it, it was weird. Why didn't those things come after them? As she considered that, Amber heard sounds from behind. It sounded like the scratching of metal on stone. She turned around to investigate.
One of the round, spider-like robots from earlier had caught up! It was clearly the one Luxray attacked earlier, and the once shiny surface was pockmarked with patches where her lightning had burned it. The robot was still wielding its laser and it was pointed straight at Gloria. She couldn't have seen it; she was still looking back at the cave entrance. Amber realized she was the only one who could act in time. She picked up a rock and threw it with all her might at the robot.
"Go away!" She shouted, hoping to draw it away from Gloria, "Beat it!" Her tactic worked, to a degree. The rock bounced off the robot with a clang, and the "spider" froze in place for a moment. Then, the machine turned its weapon to Amber. She realized too late that this could be a bad idea. She was pinned between the wall and the "spider" with nowhere to run. It raised its gun, emitting a loud "DESTROY! DESTROY!" Acting on instinct, Amber did the only thing she could. She ran forward at full-speed, hoping to throw off its aim.
"Amber! NO!" Amber heard Leo shouting behind her. She looked back and saw Leo staring back at her, wide-eyed in intense horror. Amber had never seen that kind of look on his face before. She was herself shocked at his reaction, and Amber tripped on a stalagmite in her distraction. She fell down on a large rock, winding her momentarily. She shook her head, looking up in a daze. The "spider had aimed its laser right in her face, those green lights flickering like emotionless eyes. There was no way she could evade it this time. Amber screamed again, covering her face and bracing for the shot.
A roar that couldn't have come from any machine caught her by surprise. This, followed by the crunching squeal of metal made Amber lower her arms. What she saw was nearly as frightening as the robot. Shadow was glowing again. He had picked up the "spider" with his black energy and was bashing the robot repeatedly on the walls. Only when it stopped moving did Shadow finally throw the thing down the tunnel.
"NO HURT MAMA!" He roared in a bellowing voice. Then, Shadow turned around, baring his fangs at the three humanoid robots at the entrance. His eyes flashed violet, and the Absol hissed.
"DESTROY ALL INTRUDERS! DESTROY!" The nearest robot fired its gun directly at Shadow, who bull-rushed the offending thing. Amber saw a violet barrier form in front of Shadow, and the bullet meant for him stopped in place. It froze there for several seconds before dropping harmlessly to the floor. Shadow quickly "caught" seven other shots from the other robots in the same way as he bolted into the mouth of the cave.
Amber was stunned. It looked like Shadow had flown into a rage again! Amber took the chance to scramble to her feet. "Shadow!" She called, hoping the Absol could hear her.
Shadow turned his head to her, that black aura forming a hazy cloud around his entire body. "Shadow help mama. Use special power. No hurt mama! No hurt mama friends!" Shadow's eyes narrowed and he turned back to the robots."Shadow hurt bad thing! Bad thing no hurt mama!" Shadow lashed out with the black tendril again, snagging one machine by a leg. He slammed it into the other two with alarming force, crushing all three into a pile. Shadow continued to hiss and glare at the heap of motionless parts for several long, tense moments, flicking that lash of energy to and fro like a whip.
Amber could only stare in stunned surprise. That was twice now she'd seen Shadow's strange power come out. Each time, he seemed to fly into an uncharacteristic fury. Amber wasn't sure she knew what to make of it. It was such an unreal sight, and she was almost as scared of Shadow in that state as the robots.
"Amber you IDIOT!" Leo's shout snapped Amber out of her stupor. He marched over to where she was still laying. He scowled down at her and yanked her up roughly. "What the hell were you thinking?!"
"Leo..." Amber bit her lip. She realized she must have worried him when she charged the round robot earlier. "I...I was so afraid... I didn't think-"
"Damn straight you didn't think!" Leo cut her off, "You scared the hell out of me!"
Amber lowered her head. In hindsight, that was pretty reckless. At the time, she didn't see another option. Besides, that thing was about to shoot her...! She bit her lip, trying to hold back tears as a feeling of guilt overwhelmed her. "I'm sorry everyone..." Her words were quiet. The last thing she wanted was to make her friends angry, yet somehow she'd managed to do just that.
Amber felt a hand on her shoulder. "Amber." She looked up. Leo was looking at her with a rather upset look on his face. "I'm sorry too. I was just scared that you were gonna get shot!"
"Bad Leo! No make mama cry!"
Amber cast a look in Shadow's direction. It looked like he'd settled down again, and he trotted back over to her side. A scowl was plastered on his face, but it wasn't the same vicious-looking snarl he'd been wearing earlier. It was a defensive sort of glare, and Amber couldn't help smiling at his cute little display. It was easy to forget that this silly, naïve Pokémon could be the same one who harbored such scary powers! She smiled, crouching and and hugging Shadow, and she felt him relax a bit in her embrace.
"It's okay, boy. Leo was just scared. Thanks for saving us again."
"No thank Shadow. Shadow do right thing. Mama happy, Shadow happy! All happy?"
"Not really..." Gloria grunted.
Amber looked up in a start. She'd nearly forgotten about Gloria's injury! She stood up and came over to Gloria, this time ignoring her protests as she looked her over. She seemed to have been hit midway up the length of her tail. With Gloria clenching it so tightly, Amber couldn't tell if it was serious. "Is it bad?"
Gloria groaned a little. "I think it just hit my tail. I don't think it got any bones. I'm fine..."
"You still need to get that treated!" Said Leo, his tone becoming more concerned, "You're bleeding a lot!"
Gloria smiled awkwardly at him. "And what kind of doctor would I see, hm? A human one, or a Pokémon one?" She chuckled at the irony, even as she grimaced through the pain.
The sound of paws on gravel caught Amber's attention. She looked back to the cave entrance to find a Houndour racing towards them. Amber shook her head angrily. This was a bad time to get ambushed! With Gloria wounded and Leo without his Pokémon, that left Amber to confront the incoming dog. Shadow saw the Houndour too, and he immediately fell back to Amber's side. Shadow lowered his head, swinging his horn and glaring at the dog. That was when it suddenly stopped in its tracks and yelped.
"No, stop! It's me!"
Amber was surprised yet again. It sounded like that was Sarah's voice. "Sarah?! Is that you?"
The Houndour nodded. "Yeah. I came as fast as I could when I heard screaming. Is everyone alright?!"
"No." Leo shook his head, grabbing Gloria's shoulder and leading her out to the exit of the cave as Amber followed close behind. "Gloria's been shot!"
"What?!" The Houndour transformed back into Sarah in a flash of blue light. Sarah raced to Gloria's side. "Where? Is it serious?!"
"Calm down everyone..." Gloria said with a pained smile, "It's just my tail."
"Let me see." Sarah grabbed Gloria's tail as she released her grip a little. Amber cringed as she saw just how the bullet had hit. It was no glancing blow, and Sarah was equally concerned. "Gloria! That's a deep wound!"
Gloria shot her a look. "No it's not. Stop scaring everyone!"
"Don't be so hard-headed." Sarah looked back at Amber and Leo. "Let's get back to the spring. I'm sure one of us has something..." "I have bandages in my purse." Gloria replied with a smile. "I'm sure if I just put some pressure on it it'll be fine."
"Ha! Leave it to Gloria to be so well-prepared!" Sarah smiled back at a chuckling Gloria.
"Are you sure that's gonna be enough?" Amber was concerned for Gloria. Amber never had to deal with a gunshot injury before! It was both impressive and worrisome that she was taking being shot so well, and Amber had to give the younger girl credit for her toughness. As she made her way back down the path, Amber noticed the smell of smoke in the air. As she looked about, she realized that it was coming from above. Amber looked up just in time to see a trail of fire leading off to the northwest. As Amber followed her friends, she wondered if that could be Victini again.
Just what was it trying to tell them?