Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of Pokemon, its characters, locations, or names. All of them, with the exception of the original characters, belong to Nintendo

Credits: The original fan fiction Shadow League was based off, Pokemon Master, was written by Acey. I retrieved permission before starting this the first time. Kiall and Elizabeth belong to me. "Paran" is the property of Elemental Sorceress, who had requested that I include her in my fanfiction.

A/N: Ah, yes, I'm getting over my cold. Much better. Now then, chapter eight. :) Things are getting better and a lot more interesting then before. XD

And since it involves SL, I'll just talk about it here. I want to make an online web manga thing out of SL(T). I posted on dA about it just a bit ago, but I'm not sure if it'll work out or not, since I need an artist for it. / So here we are. If you are interested, just go send me a note or something at my dA account, ShadowMistress.

Warnings: The pairing in this is RivalSibling. This fan fiction has a lot of violence and gore, not to mention some language, and implied rape/sex. Not for kids, that's for sure.

- Chapter 8: Inner Demon -

Stretching his stiffening limbs, Ash blinked sleepily as the dim light from the rising sun stung his eyes. He felt the small form that was Pikachu stir beside him, yawning, and both turned to look at the larger form that was Lance; he was sharing a tent with them, and was snoring loudly on his cot. Otherwise, it was perfectly quiet.

Swinging his legs over to get up, Ash let out a sigh. It was due to be a long day. He had already stalled a day to give the town time to rest before he went in to cause whatever massacre would happen when the Gate was either opened or shut, and it was time to go do what he had to do. "Come on, we need to get going," he hissed, poking the black-furred creature, "We're going to the tower."

With silent footsteps, Ash left the tent, Pikachu clinging to his shoulder. Lance slit an eye open, to look at the empty cot.

- - -

"Ashura! Where the hell are you?" Misty yelled, cupping her hands over her mouth to magnify the sound. She was looking for the black-clad man, and to no avail. When there was a shout behind her, she twisted about to meet the eyes of Paran and Lance. Both of them were pale in the face. "What's happened? What's wrong?"

Paran shook her head, and pointed back the way they had came. "He left!" At the puzzled look Misty got, the Fire Master sighed. "Ash! He left!"

"L-LEFT?" They winced, as Misty advanced on them, her eyes bulging. "What do you mean he left!"

"We mean, he got up and walked away!" Lance said, pulling a hand through his hair, "I think he went to go fight Sabrina. He was mumbling about the tower earlier."

"Why didn't you even try to stop him?" Misty asked, her voice rising steadily. Lance patted the air with his hands to calm the woman, as people started noticing the panic rising in the Masters.

"That would have been a death wish." he answered, keeping to a whisper to keep from alarming any more people, "I'd rather stay in one piece, thanks. You know what he's like just as well as I do, even if we haven't been around him all that long. He will not let anyone stand in his way if he is on a mission."

Defeated, Misty turned to Paran. "Where is May? She'll probably want to help us with this."

"Well…." Paran bit her lower lip, frowning slightly. She glanced around. "…she went after him."

"Say what?" Looking toward the slightly dark horizon, the outline of the tower was visible, contrasting starkly against the sky. "The both of them are lunatics! Crazy!"

"If all of us go, it could cause more problems then just the two of them. We'll have to wait until they return," Lance, hesitantly, said. Misty shook her head.

"If they return, you mean."

- - -

"Come on girl. Return, Fiona." The ice pokemon articuno squawked, shaking her sleek, feathered head. The poke ball had other plans then the ice type, however; a beam of light shot out of the inside, and surrounded the huge bird to suck her inside. Tucking the blue poke ball away, May surveyed the area. She was in the shelter of the trees, several feet from the tower's walls, and with a clearing between them. No pokemon nor animal was around.

Darting through the trees, she came to a spot that was closer to the edge then she had originally been, and ran across, keeping low to the ground. Getting against the wall, she held her breath as she waited for some type of attack by a sentient or Master.

When none came, she edged around to the front, to the large wooden doors. She went to open it, when she felt her mind scream out in alarm, as it felt like the floor had dropped out from under her. May let out a short gasp, as everything went dark and utterly silent.

There was a soft pop!, and everything went into her view again. She had been moved elsewhere – teleported. She was sitting on the floor of a room, which appeared to be several stories up by the look the windows had. Across from her were three of the people she hadn't expected to see so soon, or at all: Kiall, Gary, and Sabrina.

Her eyes narrowed, as she looked at them, one at a time. "Hello, Marian. Long time, no see," Gary sneered at her.

May, staying silent, mentally reached out for some sign of the familiar aura of the Shadow Master. It was, within her range, nonexistent. Something isn't right about this. She knew he surely wasn't that slow a traveler! "What have you done to Ashura? Where is he?" she asked, getting into a crouching position.

"Hm, straight to the point, I see." Kiall, his expression amused, sat back in his chair as he nodded to the psychic. Sabrina's eyes started glowing as her hair floated about her head in dark moving waves, her element being channeled. There was a loud hissing sound of air escaping through a crack, and the door beside Kiall's chair squealed open to reveal a dark, empty room.

Or, as May noticed, a dark, not-so-empty room. There were two points of light in the room, both of them a bright menacing red and frightening to even her. Her eyes widened. A Shadow pokemon?, was her first thought.

Kiall let out a cold, humorless laugh that chilled her already cold bones. "Close, very close, m'dear." he said, with a cruel smile, "Indeed, is that a Shadow pokemon? Shadow, yes, but hardly a pokemon…in fact, he is almost perfectly human."

May's heart felt like it clenched, as a thick dread closed around it. There was light shining in through the windows, more then enough to light both the room she was in and the one through the doorway; it was, however, still extremely dark. No light was able to penetrate the blackness, causing an eerie effect. "No, that can't be…it can't," she said, staring at those narrow blood red eyes.

Her head tilted forward, Sabrina nodded. "Come out. It is time to play, Ashura."

Ash stepped out, staring ahead with those hard, red eyes. May gasped, noticing it wasn't that he was walking, but actually gliding; his boots were several inches off the tiled floor, pointing down. His face was thrown into shadow by the hood that was pulled up, and his cloak swirled around his lithe form making hardly a whisper of noise. In silence, he stood next to Sabrina and Kiall.

"I take it by your question that you already know Ashura." Gary said, going into an explanation, "You didn't know he has a split persona though, did you, dearest sister of mine?"

Shaking her head, May stared between Ash and Gary, her tentative ally and enemy respectively. Gary laughed. "As you know, he joined the League several years ago. At that time he was quite torn up mentally, physically, and emotionally. So much hate, anger, grief had built up inside of him, that it was too much. Not to mention his power was growing steadily and wildly, and it was proving to be more then a lone person could have handled on their own." he said, "So, on all fronts except physical, he was torn into two separate people with very little to no gradual change. Ashura took on being his normal self, as respectful as he could be, loving even, with that zest for life that most wouldn't have thought he could have had before then.

"Then, then there was Mazin! Oh, he is one to reckon with. Unlike Ashura who still had that spark of compassion – which doesn't say much, since most didn't have the honor of receiving it – Mazin didn't. He was evil by all definitions of the word. He despises life like the demon he is."

"Mazin…" May said, letting the name roll off her tongue. Sabrina looked at Ash, who barely even glanced at her, then to Kiall and Gary. The former smiled.

"Ashura." He lifted his chin, alert and attentive. "She's all yours. Do as you wish."

May, alarmed, looked between the group, her eyes wide. The three League Masters grinned evilly, and turned to glance at Ash. Without a sound, his booted feet touched the floor and he crouched down to prepare to pounce. Oh no…oh no, oh great, he's going to try to kill me!

Hurriedly, May scrambled up off the floor and bolted for the door, as Ash leaped out. She dodged out of the way, swatting him away, and flung the door open. Without a second glance back, she ran.

- - -

Surely the tower isn't as tall as it feels like it is…. The stairs seemed to spiral eternally, never ending and never relenting. May peered over her shoulder, looking for the silent man that was following close by. She felt like they were playing some twisted game, in which there was no winning or losing. Just death.

There was a door a few steps down. Taking a deep breath, she jumped down to the landing, and put all her weight into the door, tumbling through. It was a large, empty room. Slamming the wooden door shut, she slipped into the shadows to hide in one of the corners. She slowed her breathing to a minimum, quieting her panting.

Only seconds later, the dim outline that was Ash entered. He looked around, perfectly at ease, and frowned slightly. Please, please don't have night vision…don't be able to see in the dark.

May felt as if some higher being was having a good laugh at the situation, as the Shadow Master narrowed his glowing eyes, and his head jerked to the side to look at her. With a smirk, he slipped off into the room, actually disappearing into the very shadows. Oh no.

She yelped as Ash came up behind her, his sudden appearance startling. May scowled, and bolted across the room, gaining speed. Coming up to the wall, she jumped and struck the stone with her feet to gain extra leverage as she flew toward the ceiling.

Panting heavily, May took a hold of a ceiling beam, and hoisted herself onto it. Looking down briefly, she started along it at a steady pace, hoping to distance herself farther from her stalker. The beam jolted, as the second form landed on it, causing vibrations throughout the wood.

May let out a small moan, as she felt the wall where the beam ended. She turned around, putting her back against it as she looked about the gloom. She fumbled about to let her pokemon out, her fingers slipping on the poke ball that held Fiona, as the beam continued to vibrate with the Master's footsteps. Come on! I need you! Just as she was about to unlatch it from its belt, her wrist was jerked away, a jolt of pain causing a slight spasm in her hand. Defiantly, she stared directly into the red eyes of what was normally to be her ally in the fight against the League.

"No." With a scream, May sank her teeth into the part of his hand that was open to the attack, and she tasted the blood that bubbled up. Satisfied with the distraction, May pulled her own hand free, using her other one to do the motions for one of her Elemental attacks. The beam froze over under their feet, as May jumped and did a flip to land on the floor below. She looked up at the invisible form above – she could feel small specks of the ice falling off the beam, as the Shadow Master fought for his footing on the slick wood. Taking advantage of the time she had, May ran, taking to the staircase again.

The next room proved smaller, and darker. The single window in the room was locked and covered, letting in no light. No matter. May felt around the room's walls, starting in surprise when she felt her knee hit what felt like a mattress, and her heart sank.

She had just trapped herself in Sabrina's bedroom.

Continuing her circuit around the room, she felt around for anything that could be used for a weapon; she didn't feel like using her Elemental weapons, not when she knew how well Ash could track someone using theirs. All she was able to find, however, were a few useless stuffed animals. As she went to search in the closet, she felt a sharp pain in her back, as the breath flew out of her. She fell against the wall, clutching her chest.

"Please, stop it! This isn't you, Ashura! Fight him!" May cried, lashing out blindly, her hands balled into fists. There was a sharp intake of breath, but otherwise no reply or reaction; she hadn't expected to get one from him, not in the condition he was in. She did expect for him to fight back, to counter her punches and put in his own.

Instead, she felt him grab both her wrists – again – and hold her still, his eyes narrowed dangerously. Ash let go then, turning his back on her and stepping back toward the door, his head bowed slightly as if in thought. May blinked, starting toward the wall again, in hopes of at least keeping the tides to her favor, as he turned and grinned. She didn't like it.

In an instant, he darted at her, his fingers curled as if to try to do a slashing attack. May ducked out of the way, edging out from under his swinging arm. At that moment, she realized the error she had made in raising to his bait, as he pulled her over by the neck of her shirt. She squirmed, as the powerful Master put an arm around her waist, his grip around her neck tightening slightly.

She would have laughed, had the situation not became so dire, as he put his head down, nuzzling her; it was an almost playful movement. It was actually intriguing. May yelped, as she was roughly turned about – Ash surely couldn't have done it gently even if he had wanted to, not with how she fought it – and frowned. It was becoming increasingly alarming. Fight it!

Caught between the wall and the Shadow Master, May let out a cry, first pushing then punching at his chest. Ash snapped her hands together with one hand, holding her chin with the other. No. She let out a squeal of pain, as he pressed his lips against hers, the gesture being harsh and anything but kind. "Don't…"

May's eyes widened. She heard, with almost totally clarity, Ash's pained and angry voice in her mind, surprising her: You damned monster! Get the hell away from her!

Sabrina. She realized it was the psychic's doing, giving her the ability to hear into what was happening behind those glowing eyes that were flickering from the inner conflict going on at that very moment. Hoping that it also went the other way around, May flung her arms around his neck, giving Ash her own kiss. Keep at it! Come on, you're getting there! Just a little farther, Ash! Mazin is faltering!, she hurriedly thought out, as she felt him shudder.

Ash backed off, falling to his knees. He was shaking, his shoulders raising and falling as his breathing turned heavy and labored. Letting out a strangled cry, he collapsed.

- - -

Sabrina shrieked, her eyes wide and fearful. She did the same as the Shadow Master, falling to the floor with a shudder. How…how could he do it…, she thought, the pain that had ran through her mind weakening.

When she felt the last of the pain filter away, she Felt around the tower with her mind, looking for the pair that was a mere five floors below. One of them was unconscious, the mental struggle being too much for them, and the other was next to them. Sabrina shut her eyes and took a deep breath, running a hand through her hair. With a sigh, she peered around the room meekly. Her plan to use the internal battle between Ashura and Mazin had backfired.

Instead of scaring the Ice Master, it had just spurred her to cheer the idiot Shadow Master on! Her control had been broken.

- - -

"Come on! Wake up, Ash!" May patted the unconscious man on the cheek, the sharp taps causing nothing more then a slight twitch from him. "Ash!"

She shook him slightly, his head lolling to the side and his black hair falling over his closed eyes. The small pokemon that was Pikachu was at her side, having recovered easier then his Master had. The Shadow pokemon had followed close behind them from the beginning, keeping to the sidelines and watching, with no orders to attack. "Let's see if this'll work."

May let a ball of ice form in her cupped hands, watching the water freeze up. When it finished, she let it melt down, and the freezing water splashed down through her fingers. Ash choked and gagged, thoroughly shocked back to consciousness. She gently rubbed his back, as he rolled over to cease coughing. "Shadow's light, I have a headache," he groaned.

Ash blinked his eyes, which had returned to their normal gold color, and frowned. "I'm sorry." he said, "I'm sorry, May. This…that wasn't right at all. No one deserves that…you don't deserve that."

"Never mind it." May waved her hand airily, giving him a cheerful smile. "Though, what was that?"

He shook his head, fiddling with his cloak uneasily. "I take it Sabrina probably already made it top priority to tell you all about Mazin." It was a statement, instead of a question. "Normally, it's like a black-out period when I switch from myself to him. When I wake up I don't know what happened, how long I'd been 'out,' or what I'd done. I'm not sure why that wasn't the case this time…"

"Sabrina probably thought it would be funny to make you suffer through seeing your opposite…in action, if you will." May commented, "It is the type of cruel joke one of them would pull and get enjoyment out of."

Getting to his feet, Ash whistled for Pikachu. The pokemon jumped up onto his shoulder. "She will not get away with this," he seethed, stomping out of the room, "She will die!"

- - -

Sabrina looked on solemnly, as the door flew open and Ash stalked in. "Anger is a mentally hindering emotion, Ashura. I suggest you hold it in check, before you make any reckless decisions," she said.

"I suggest you run and hide again unless you want to taste your own blood." With a nod to Pikachu, the pokemon started glowing a blue-ish black. He jumped up into the air, and shifted into the long, Elemental sword. Ash took the Shadow Blade up, going into his battle stance. "Since you are such a mighty psychic, I'm pretty sure you'll of saw this-" He thrust forward with the blade, aiming at her shoulder.

Sabrina dodged out the way, putting a leg out to trip him up. Ash did a half jump, half run to keep from crashing down. He went into a roll, coming up on his feet across the room from the woman, and turned on his heel to face her. She had started a chant. Seeing the opening, Ash went into another barreling run, the end of the Shadow Blade sinking into the flesh of her shoulder.

With barely a glance at the wound, she continued her chant, and a blast of Psychic energy was sent at him. Ash fell to one knee, letting a shield of Shadow electricity easily form to deflect it. As the energy dissipated, he pulled his sword across, causing a massive gash across the psychic's abdomen. Dark energy wrapped itself around her form, covering her. She let out a loud, horrified shriek as her life force was pulled violently and painfully out of her body.

As the energy dissolved into the air, she fell to the floor as if she was nothing more then a rag doll that had been played with. Ash flicked the blood off the Shadow Blade, before letting it change back into his faithful Pikachu. He went over to the window, and leaned out of it until he was half in and half out. The sky was a sickening purple, with a dark vortex wailing overhead. It looked large enough to swallow the tower whole if it wished, and shadowy shapes flew about it. Looking down, he saw several more Forbidden encircling the tower; they were the ones that were Earth-bound. "I was too late. It opened already," he said, frowning as he pulled himself back in, "We need to hurry back to the camp and gather the others. I can't let the other one take the same path as this one."

- - -

The windows opened, May stared out at the sick sky, as the vortex filled it steadily. She turned about, frowning, as Ash came to a stop from the run he had been in. He stood in the doorway panting, his eyes bright and glittering. "I take it you killed Sabrina?" she asked.

"Of course not. We actually had quite a lovely time you know, having tea and lunch!" The sarcasm oozed from his voice. May rose an eyebrow.

"Oh?" She snickered, and turned to regard him carefully. She looked disapproving, her mouth turned down in a frown. "Ash?"

"Eh?"

"Next time you go to run off like this, to try to save the world from the harm it's going into…warn me before hand." May said, "I rather not have to go on a blind search again." It was Ash's turn to regard her, his head tilted to the side and his arms folded across his chest.

"I'll make a note to do so," he assured her, waving his hand. There was a small explosion, and a gaping hole in what was once the wall with the window. "Hm, what?"

"The wall…you just blasted a…holy love of light, what is that?" Ash smiled, baring most of his pearly teeth, as the disk that had formed underneath his feet started levitating some inches from the ground. He tapped a foot on it, getting a solid ringing sound from it.

"Shadow Levitation….It's the Shadow Disk. It's like….a form of transportation or a defense for battle, depending on what it's used for." The disk expanded outward, the surface area enlarging enough for another person to jump on. "Come on, we need to get out of here before they swarm the tower."

Pikachu let out a squeal, jumping onto May's shoulder and pointing at the disk. She eyed the dark circle, bending down to touch it; it was solid. With a smile, she stepped onto the hovering thing. "I'm ready when you are," she said, wrapping her arms around his torso to keep from falling off.

- - -

A/N: In the scene when May is approaching the tower, she originally ran straight across to the tower rather then trying to get as close as possible before doing so...I, er, changed that, since it seemed like a stupid move on her part.

There was also a statement Kiall made about Ash being part pokemon. I decided that might make things harder then they had to be, so rather then saying that, I had him say he's 'almost perfectly human.' There was also a point when May asked why Mazin was called..well, Mazin, which I decided was pointless and didn't need to be in it. XD The way Ash goes after her in the room with Kiall and them is also differently. Originally it was actually really robotic what he did (slow steps), and I thought it might be better if it was more like he was lashing out to kill rather then stalk, so... XD

I also added to the part where May is wishing that Ash couldn't see in the dark. I thought it might be more in character for him to do a disappearing act by slipping off somewhere and come up behind rather then just going poof, gone.

Some of the dialog in the scene located in Sabrina's bedroom was changed. Originally May yelled at Ash to stop what he was pulling (which...really made no damn sense.) so I went for having her tell him to fight Mazin. Which is rather redundant considering he probably was anyway. XD I also had May try to attack him, rather then stand and stare at him. I also added in on how Ash caught her. Originally he just grabbed her by the shoulders (real fighter there, eh?) and there wasn't a real struggle; so, rather then that, I went with what I did, May trying to duck away and getting caught up, and then punching him and pushing him to get away and failing.

I also added in Ash's mental intrusion and fight, as it seemed like it'd add more to the story if Ash wasn't totally out of it during the whole thing. XD;; Especially with how Mazin struggles through parts of it. I also had Ash a lot more apologetic when he woke up then he was in the original. In the battle with Sabrina, this time I decided to have Ash be a little more of a warrior and less like some amateur or something. DX