(11/7/06-July 11 2006 UPDATE: WAAH- This WAS soo scrappy... I can't believe I left some of my planning stages in AND I didn't update the story summary... 0.o FIXED AND EDITED!)
DISCLAIMER:Pokemon is owned by the owner Pokemon who isn't me.
Hello… I'm really sorry how late this is! Usual reasons plus a new one- Writer's block, being busy and the new reason? I'm depressed. I've been starved of my reviews- I have a feeling everyone's forgotten about this story. Either that or my writing is REALLY taking a turn for the worst…
Anyhow, I guess, that's an incentive to review… I dunno- every time I read a review I get some kind of mental therapy…0.o The more people who review, the quicker the next chapter gets done because I write faster/better if I KNOW that there is a reasonable number of people out there who actually care about this story!
Okies Dokes, that done with, THANKS to Foxyjosh, my very faithful reviewer, AND on with the Chapter…
Moonlight's Shadow Chapter 18:
Before The Fray of Battle
Even if the air was considered to be hot, Shadow felt a chill settle over her and her limbs seemed to be frozen on the spot. She felt like she couldn't move. She was going to die- DIE. Not by old age, not in a time far away, but in a time that would come soon- very soon. The shocking truth made thoughts whirl around her head and made everything seem so surreal…
"Child. Do not worry. The Gods will be with you to the very end." Moltres' deep voice sought to be gentle and soothing, but it did nothing for Shadow at all.
Shadow didn't move even as she contemplated what had been said. What did it matter it the Gods were with her? She was going to die. Nothing, absolutely nothing was going to save her from her fate. Nothing, absolutely nothing was going to reassure that 'things were going to be all right'- no matter how hard she tried to be anti-angsty and positive even...
"Is-is… Is there no other… option?" After what seemed to be an eternity, Shadow slowly met the eyes of Moltres.
"We have searched… and searched. Forgive us, but there seems to be no other option, young one."
Shadow felt like she had been punched in the stomach. Her legs turned to jelly, but somehow, they just wouldn't wobble and topple over. Her body still ceased to function or move. Her eyes tore away from the awesome fiery sight of the God and stared at the ground.
"Are… Are there any further orders, Great One?"
"Only to fight with the Armies of Good in battle. You will receive further instructions when the time is of the essence."
Shadow swallowed and nodded ever so slightly.
"I-" Moltres paused, as if he was uncertain before going on, "I once believed that the whole idea… Of a Great Evil was preposterous. I argued and debated with my fellow Gods, asking them to stop this seemingly fruitless chase."
"Thankfully, my siblings kept on, as did the rest, paying little attention to me. They found evidence, they found…information." A tone in the God's voice warned the Umbreon not to ask anything, "Thus I finally believed in it… The Dark Lord is extremely intelligent and evil as you probably know. Those two put together were the ingredients for this whole…disaster."
The Moltres stopped talking. A wave of nausea overtook the Umbreon and she could see the ground spinning slowly all around her. No! She had to stay calm. She had to take breaths. Deep breaths. Breathe in. Breathe out. But even as she tried, the Umbreon felt her breathing becoming rapid, becoming frantic… She had to control herself, she had to-
A large fat teardrop suddenly rolled down her cheek. And before Shadow could do anything else, another big fat teardrop slid down the other side of her face. It took moments before the ground below her face was slightly damp and she could taste the saltiness of her tears. And, then… she started to cry- really cry. Not the loud crying that a child made over a broken toy or injury nor the tears of one who had disappointment or lost.
She cried because she knew she was going to die. She cried because she was scared. She cried because she knew that she would never meet her mother- or her father. The tears fell because she was frightened that she'd never be on amiable terms with Koja again. They fell because she never had a choice in all of this. She cried because of Akara and her pack and rank, she cried because of who she had turned out to be, she cried because she hadn't cried- in a very long time.
Somewhere along the line, she felt something warm wrap around her shaking body. Even though her vision was blurred by tears, the Umbreon saw Moltres out of the corner of her eye. But the thought that her troubles were so serious and so earth shattering that a God would come into contact with her… only made Shadow cry harder. The wings of the immortal were warm- not with the scorching heat one might expect and gave a small feeling of how it was to be a child in her father's loving arms.
Shadow had no idea how long they both stood there… She only knew that is was quite a long time. By then the ground had developed a fairly small puddle of tears that she stood upon. There was silence for awhile as the Umbreon's tears finally stopped, giving the atmosphere a somewhat peaceful feel- as if were oblivious to the dark looming future ahead.
Moltres finally spoke, his eyes soft, his tone gentle, "In these times of… trouble, it is easy to sink into sorrow."
With one paw, Shadow wiped away the wetness form her eyes and looked up at the Divine Being, waiting for a continuation of what had been spoken. It of course continued.
"But we must- we must go on. For there is an immortal fire that blazes brightly in all of us, a fire that can never be removed. That fire is the soul of all Pokemon- it is our fire to fight till we have nothing left to give and beyond, to fight for what we believe we must fight for. This is what we are to put into action, Young One. For if we let our fires blaze their brightest- our ancient race shall always... prevail."
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Koja tried to remain proud, defiant, and unaffected, trying to give the deception that he was worried that 'they' had found him. The Council- words sounded so much less ominous that the actual thing… The Absol glared at the Jolteon.
"What?" he snarled.
Inside he was feeling scared and frightened- but he knew that it wouldn't do him any good. He had to keep up the bluff.
"I'm just wondering, what someone like you… would be doing here." Replied the Jolteon smoothly.
It didn't take long for the rest of The Council to arrive, Skye trudging after them, unable to meet the Absol's eyes.
"That's none of your business."
"It is. The pack leader gave us permission that we may use this particular area of land for our purposely solely. Thus meaning we have the right to make you leave and inquire exactly what you are doing, intruding on this land."
"Pokemon aren't greedy owners, paranoid over their boundaries and lands- just like the humans are. Unless," Koja paused briefly, "you are implying that you are trying to be like a human."
The deep insult caused dark emotions to flicker across the Jolteon's face, also sending a chill down Koja's spine. He knew power when he saw it.
"We are neither what you call us nor human wannabes, as you could put it." The words were strained, the smooth tone nearly turning into anger, "This is an area of privacy."
The Flareon in the group turned to Skye, "We have no more need of you."
Koja badly wanted to call out to Skye, yell at him, question him… What was going on? But Koja, due to many experiences knew that this would probably just worsen the situation. The Skarmory nodded and flew away- disappearing in an instant due to his high flight speed.
"You don't seem to have any questions at the moment. I will be leaving then."
As expected, his path was blocked by an Umbreon and Vaporeon.
"You haven't answered my colleague's question," The Flareon stated bluntly.
"I seem to have forgotten it- or I do not remember such a question. Please restate it."
Koja's voice changed from rude and uncaring, to a high level of politeness. He had a feeling that good manners just might make these people a little less dangerous. But then not tiny little thing like that would affect anything dramatically anyway…
"What exactly were you doing just now and what were your intentions?" the smooth voice of the Jolteon had changed to cold and business-like.
"I-" began Koja, but what that Absol was going to say, we shall never now.
For just as he began to open his mouth came an intensely cold wind that dropped the temperature to freezing or at least exceptionally cold. Koja recognized the signs of who he was in the presence of immediately and at once felt relief coursed through his body. One of the Elementals, Goddess of Cold and Frost- Articuno had come.
The same recognition spawned on the faces of the others, as they too, like him, immediately bent their heads towards the ground. One Umbreon coughed because of the cold and Koja allowed himself an unseen dark smile- the cold was affecting him, was it? Good- after all, they needed some form of punishment for the whatever evil they did in their lives, even if it was in the form of a minor illness.
"Salutations... There seems to be conflict here."
"The conflict has already been resolved, Great One. We thank you greatly for your concern." The Espeon spoke, quickly masking her emotions under complete placidness.
The Goddess had traces of disbelief on her face, "I think not. I can both feel and sense your emotions at the moment. Some of them are anger and annoyance."
"Oh wise one, I hate to contradict you and apologize for doing so, but we have solved this conflict, even if our minds are still dealing with conflict of our emotions." Interrupted the Flareon, smoothly.
Articuno gave a tiny, nearly unhearable sound of annoyance before going on, "I see. You all should be at the valley by now. We have only a few moments to spare. I trust that you who had lived here all your lives will know where the valley is? It is the largest one."
"We shall go there as soon a possible. Would you like us to take the Young One too?" this time is was the Vaporeon who spoke, her soft voice half echoing in the winds.
Koja gave a start- a tiny start. The voice of the older Pokemon seemed to show genuine concern. Older she may have been, but not that much older as one would have expected. After all this was The Council- a group of wise, dangerous, highly intelligent Pokemon. It seemed unnatural that such a young Pokemon, just barely an adult, should join. The Absol then shook his head slightly- after all, she could be putting on a mask over her true feelings. She only SEEMED concerened anyway.
"No, you need not trouble yourself." The Articuno flashed a brief smile, "I shall take him there myself. Go now, so that you will not be late."
"May I ask… why exactly we must go to this valley?" one the Jolteons asked.
"It seems this large evil is ready to wage war against us. Our forces have gathered and we need all to be there- of course including you. The valley is not a very short distance away- to be on time we must leave now. I bid you to go."
When issued an order from a Supreme Goddess, one of course follows the order immediately. Unless one has a particularly good reason or is reasonably powerful enough to take that Supreme Goddess on. Of course no one in the vicinity had THAT much power, so Articuno's were heeded and followed- instantaneously.
The Council soon became blurs on the horizon and Koja turned to the deity.
"My concern is that those Pokemon have not a…" Koja searched for a word to use, "Those Pokemon seem not to be of a good alignment."
"There is no point wasting thoughts on that. I know what you know and many things you do not know, Absol. This is not the time for that, the time is to now leap upon my back. The time is to go."
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The sight was amazing. Pokemon of every color, every species and every size were there… Packs and herds congregated in their respective groups, while small families huddle together, also amazed at the huge numbers. It had probably been a very long time since Pokemon had gathered together like this. A chill settled over the Umbreon as she once again realized the huge enormity of it all- and her devastating task.
Moltres has already flown to the summit of the mountain, a position seen clearly by everyone in the valley. A large wind blew past Shadow and she watched, awed, as a huge flock of Pidgeys, Pidgeottos, and Pidgeots, raced past her, gliding speedily through the air. Her attention was then taken away from the as she saw exactly WHO was on that mount with Moltres. Shadow had a sharp intake of breath.
There stood Celebi with his almost childlike appearance, Entei with his impressive fur and stance. Latios and Latias hovered in the sky while Kyogre was keeping himself saturated in a small lake of self-provided water. The Elementals, Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres were there of course along with Raikou and Suicune.
Three great figures caught her eye and Shadow gasped again as she realized who they were- Regirock, Regice, and Registeel- Three beings that almost no one, Pokemon, Human, or even God, had seen until now. They kept themselves away from all, hidden in the various spaces of the world.
Ho Oh almost blinded her with his spectacular plumage, the air reflecting on his multicolored feathers to create a rainbow of sorts. Next to him, stood Lugia, his stoic stance indicating probable wisdom and great knowledge. Jirachi was sitting on a particularly large rock, smiling gently at all. Shadow calmed herself once again after starting to hyperventilate.
These were the Gods- and Goddesses: Immortal beings who strived to keep the world in order, immortal beings which she had never ever seen… until now. She could practically feel their power radiating off them and the clash of forces as their energies crackled and spat with the opposing ones around them.
It was like a dream almost- surreal and hazy. Shadow shook her head slowly, unbelieving. If all of them combined together… was worried and even believed that they couldn't defeat this Dark Lord… Shadow swallowed and fear ran through her veins. The Dark Lord had to be extremely powerful- And if, she, a mere young Umbreon, apparently able to defeat this Great Evil- Shadow froze. There had to be something very powerful, very wrong with her. Shadow shuddered deeply.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, the Umbreon's eyes widened as she saw who also who there. The White Paw Pack- she couldn't address it as her pack anymore. But then, of course they'd be there. Each and every Pokemon had been called upon to take up the burdern to fight for good- not every Pokemon came of course, a large number slinking away to join the opposing army.
The pack was advancing towards here, evidently heading for a large space further down in the valley reserved for them. She caught sight of old Winterchill, the Vaporeon still the pack leader from since she was given her outcast rank.
The Umbreon decided hastily to get away from them as quickly as possible. Even if the rules of an outcast stated that one must not come into the pack's terrortory and didn't say anything about just coming near the pack… Shadow highly doubted that the pack would remember that the rule didn't apply in the present… So, time to run-
"It's her!" a shrill high squeaky voice sounded from a young Evee atop of his mother's head, "it's her! It's her! It's herrrrrrrrr!"
A paw was pointed along with the baby's ongoing screech and the pack turned to look at who 'her' was. Shadow swallowed, turned around, and stood her ground, forcing herself not to tremble. It was before the fray of battle, it was right before the time when she would be sacrificed, and she already had enough to worry about- now, into the already catastrophic mix, came back her pack from the depths of seemingly nowhere- and she had to confront that problem now.
Whew... my word processor program was having some MAJOR problems... It was like a horror typing this up! --
Anyway, I'm sorry if this is pretty scrappy- I'm going to be away from my beloved computer sniffle for a few days or so and thus won't be able to go clean this up for ya! Hopefully, that doesn't detract the number of reviews!
-StarDragon X