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 fan fiction. "Shadow Fox" is the property of Shadow Fox 05, who also requested that I include him in my fan fiction.
A/N: Nothing to say for now.
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 17: Capturing a Shadow
The small group slowly walked along the dark tunnel, the entrance of Victory Road far behind, as shadows danced across the ground and walls eerily. It was, at best, uncomfortable being so far in the caves, and in the dark; they knew that at any moment, they could be ambushed by either pokemon or humans.
"Watch out," Lance whispered as he felt the ground under one of his feet disintegrate. He hopped forward to catch Ash by the arm. "I just found a weak spot, and I doubt that was the only one."
He could see the face Ash made in response, and didn't like it. "We'll be fine. It's most likely just small pitfalls anyway, since there isn't supposed to be any levels under this. Not yet."
"Well, even though we might not have to worry about that," Paran said, "I think this we might have to."
"Chuuuu..." Lucia's, and Pikachu's, ears drooped as specks of red light started appearing around them, unblinking and evil. "I don't like this..." May hissed at Ash, who snorted.
"You wouldn't. This is my area, not yours." They stood, looking around at their guests inquiringly. Ash rubbed his thumb against the side of his nose, frowning. "Then again, this isn't exactly a good spot to be admiring the scenery either. Let's move o-"
There was a scream, and he spun around just in time to see Paran being swept up by a Machoke as it growled, red eyes glowing. "Paran!" both May and Lance shouted, and Pikachu raced forward to tackle the fellow Shadow Pokemon, followed closely by Lucia.
Before either of them made it, Fox had beat them to it, another pokemon appearing from behind him – Mewtwo. A powerful psychic blast from the latter send the Machoke wheeling around, dropping Paran, and the two Electric mice finished it off with multiple thunder attacks.
"Time to go!" Ash said hastily, scooping up both the Shadow and the Light pikachus, and took off at a sprint as the others followed, and they heard the sounds of the angry pokemon on all sides of them awakening and moving to attack. "This is exactly why I need to get to Indigo!"
His angry exclamation turned into a shout of surprise when the ground gave out under them, and with a loud crack they fell through. Ash landed on his feet, the momentum throwing him down onto his knees, and he sat panting until someone fell into him, and they both rolled across the rocky ground.
Groaning, Ash turned his head to see who was laying on his back, and ended up with a face full of brown hair. "Dammpphhit!" Pushing it away, Ash scowled when he twisted to look at her. "May, get off me. I need to breath!"
"Are you all alright?" Lance asked, pushing himself up off the ground and brushing off. Getting affirmative noises from the two other women and Fox, he looked over at the pair, raising an eyebrow. "Oh, I would have assumed Ash would be on t-"
He jerked back as he felt a shock of electricity; Ash smirked when he saw Pikachu look at him with innocent cobalt eyes, cheeks sparking. "Good boy," he said, and looked at May, shrugging.
"It doesn't look like we were followed," Misty pointed out, looking up at the hole above them. "And I don't see or hear any around here...it might be a good to camp out here and rest?"
"Yes, because we certainly won't get any when we finally get into Indigo City. It'll be swarming with League people." After the nods of agreement, they set out getting their camp together for the night.
- - -
"Hey, Ash, are you all right?" Misty asked, looking up at him. He had been quietly walking around the cavern, looking at the faint carvings in the walls. Pulling his cloak tighter around himself, he nodded.
"I'm fine." The redhead glanced at the others, wondering if any of them had noticed the sudden change of emotion in the Shadow Master; he had seemed quite fine helping to get the fire together, but at that moment was more restless.
"May!" she whispered, pulling on her sleeve, "Is something wrong with Ash? He's acting rather strange."
"I'll go see what's up," the brunette replied, quickly ordering the two pikachus to stay behind, and running to catch up to Ash before he wandered too far off. "Wait up!"
Ash looked back at her, his steps neither slowing nor stopping. Knowing that she wouldn't manage to slow him down by asking, May concentrated on the ground in front of him, and watched it it froze over with a thin layer of ice. The plan, however, backfired when ice skating blades formed from Shadow energy under his boots as he stepped onto the ice; he did a slow turn and stopped, tapping the ice with the toe of his boot. "What's the game, May?" he asked impatiently.
"You've been acting strange today," she said, skating over to be beside him, and Ash turned around, continuing in a new direction.
"I'm not." He scowled as she followed closely behind. "Go away, I don't need a damn babysitter."
"I never said you did!" May reached for his hand, and Ash pulled away from her. "I'm worried about you, all right? You just seem...upset over something, and I don't know why. I'd think that of all times, this would be one when you'd be happy." She looked away thoughtfully, then back at him. "We're nearly to the city! You'll be able to-"
"Wait." Ash slowed to a stop, swinging around to look at her. "You think I should be happy? What the hell for, May? We're nearly there alright, nearly in the place that has caused me more pain that should of ever been possible? Just so I can save this world, because it can't handle what is happening to it, and can't take care of it itself?"
"Ash-" May started, and was cut off abruptly.
"You know, I left the League and Indigo, thinking that I'd never step foot near here again, regardless of the reason, but you know what? That's already being destroyed as we speak." Ash scowled. "And everyone likes to talk about the fact that I left, that I went off on my own against them, always asking why, wondering why, trying to figure it out..but wouldn't you know it, no one bothers to ask. Not a single one."
"Why'd you leave?" He glanced at her, and gently stepped off the ice patch.
"I originally joined the League because it was the only place I could go. I was lucky that Kiall didn't order my immediate capture or death, but I suppose he thought that if he had me under his supervision, that I couldn't cause any trouble. When I was able to I started being sent out on some assignments here and there, usually on the raids that were to keep the towns small and only required us to kill and nothing more." Ash shook his head, taking a deep breath. "I was such a naïve fool back then...I'd ask about the other raids that I wasn't allowed to go on, and they'd just giggle, but I thought nothing of it until I actually followed them to see what they were doing that they didn't want me around."
Ash bit his lip thoughtfully, walking again until he finally reached a dead, looking down the canyon in front of him. "It was normal enough, the violence, the death...but..." He sucked in another breath, the images that flooded back brining with them dread. "I had already had my doubts and was growing tired of the League and having to do as it wanted. But when I saw what I did...I truly started hating it then."
May slipped her hand around his, squeezing tightly as he continued the rambling story. "I've done so much that I shouldn't have, May. I've spilled more blood then all of you combined, I've massacred a whole town, even now when it's all of my own free will and choice I still take lives as easy as I breath. Yet what I saw them do that day made all of it so...insignificant." Ash shook his head. "She was only a child. Just a little girl that'd gotten separated from her parents in the mess they were creating, and one of the Trainers...right there in front of me, he had stooped to such a low level as to rape a child her age. It was bad enough seeing it happening to the grown women and not being able to stop it, but to a little girl?"
May watched him carefully. "And...then here I am, going head on against the very thing that had been my savior from myself back then. And I'm all on my own doing it."
"You're not on your own." May hugged him, her forehead pressed against his shoulder. "You've never been alone. You had Pikachu, and now you have Lance and Misty, and Paran and Fox." Getting up on her toes, she nuzzled him, and Ash tilted his head down. "And you have me and Lucia, too."
He smiled weakly. "I'm sorry. Everything is so screwed up, what with being poisoned before and all. I never thought they could find a way to hurt me that badly."
"It's enough to turn your world upside down, isn't it?" she asked. Ash frowned then, looking at her.
"Yes, pretty much."
- - -
"Be quiet! Do you want to wake any of them up?!" whispered a hushed voice, as they slapped their partner across the back of the head.
"I'm sorry, geez! What're we trying to do here anyway?"
"We're to use this-" he started, holding up a small poke ball, "-to catch that damn traitor and that abomination he calls a pokemon."
"Eh, what? How'll that work out? He isn't a pokemon."
"You'll see." Sneaking around the rock they were hiding behind, he crept into the cavern where the snoozing group was. "Abra, go."
"Aaaaabraaaaa," the small Psychic pokemon cooed sleepily.
"I want you to search out Ashura," its owner ordered, and Abra started glowing dimly as it put its powers to work. After several seconds it pointed in the right direction, and they started walking again. "We need to get that pesky rat out of the way before we do anything. Justin, go make rounds and make sure no one else is awake."
"Yes, Royce," Justin said, padding away quietly. Enlarging the custom poke ball, he crept over to the snoozing Pikachu, and smirked; the Shadow creature had been right where he'd assumed it would be, near his Master.
Royce snickered as he tossed the ball at the still form, and watched as Pikachu was pulled into the black and blue ball, making a quick cry of surprise just as the the orb closed around him, clasping shut with a snap. He flinched when he saw Ash move, and relaxed again when he saw it had only been to turn over.
The ball rolled about the ground wildly, bouncing and banging off the stone, until it finally clicked again and went still. Picking it up and tossing it up in the air once happily, the older of the two League mean pocketed it as Justin returned, frowning. "You got the Pokemon?" the younger of the two asked, and he nodded, "How're we going to get Ashura?"
"The same exact way."
"Everyone will wake up though! He won't go in there quietly, you know that." Royce glared at him.
"No, I never would have thought!" Pulling out the twin of the first poke ball, he rolled his eyes. "Just worry about his girlfriend. She's going to cause more of a ruckus then he'll be able to."
Ash listened to them argue, peeking an eye open carefully. Those bastards captured Pikachu?, he thought angrily, and sought with his mind the traces of his companion pokemon, and found only what had been there before the capture. God dammit.
As the second poke ball was thrown, he swung himself up, batting it away with a sweep of his hand. "Abra!" Royce snapped, "Get it!"
The ball glowed as it floated in midair, and Royce snatched it back before Ash could get it. Giving his pokemon a look, Abra cooed softly, and Ash felt like he'd had a rope tied around him, holding him in place. "Good night, Shadow Master," he sneered, letting the poke ball go.
When it, as with Pikachu, pulled the enraged man into its depths, it wobbled about, clicking coming from it as he struggled to be free of it. For a split second the orb cracked open again, before shutting and continuing to bounce around. "Hold on..." Royce said.
The button flashed as there was a clink. "We got 'em!" Justin shouted, grabbing the poke ball and dancing around.
"You damn fool!" Royce hissed, grabbing it and smacking him. "Do you know what you just did-"
There was a screech, and they were faced by the legendary ice bird. "Ice Beam!" a voice behind it yelled.
"Aw shit, I'm out!" Justin said, scrambling to get away as Fiona opened her beak, and a beam of blue energy shot out and froze him in his tracks. He twitched.
"Abra, Teleport!" Royce and his pokemon disappeared with a pop. There were groans and mutterings from the waking Masters as Justin stood in his half frozen prison.
"What in..what's going on?" Paran asked, rubbing her eyes sleepily as she came up on May, who recalled Fiona to her poke ball. "Where'd Ash go?"
"I don't know...I don't know, but I think this guy does," May said, and Justin shuddered from the cold.
"It's the Shadow Ball! They've been working for years trying to perfect it, even when Ashura was in the League." he said, and they looked at him inquiringly, "They'd planned on using it if he ever went against Master Kiall or against the League, and they only just finished it about two weeks ago."
"It's a poke ball, then?" the Ice-turned-Light Master asked, her eyes widening slightly, "But, how's that possible? Ash is a human, just like the rest of us, he isn't a pokemon."
"I don't know! I guess he is some bit, but I don't know anything else or how it works! Royce and I were just sent to get him and that pikachu of his." He sighed in relief when May nodded to Paran, and she melted the ice with a blast of fire.
"Get out of my sight, before I turn you into an ice statue and not turn you back." Justin ran when the block finished melting completely, looking back at them from over his shoulder. Wearily, May turned to the restless group. "Well, I think we need to find that other man and figure out how to get Ash out of that poke ball, and to get Pikachu too. I'm afraid to find out what'll happen if we don't."
- - -
Royce tossed the Shadow Ball as he walked, catching it, then repeating the process. "Now we can get on with things without being bothered by this fool. He wasn't so tough," he laughed, and smirked.
That was, until the orb started glowing eerily, wiggling in his hand. Eyeing it, Royce looked at it closely to inspect the curious item, and was rewarded with having it bounce up and hit him in the face. "Blargh."
The poke ball dropped and opened, and Royce froze as the energy let out formed back into the irritated Shadow Master. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Ash snapped, advancing on him, "Give me the other one, now."
Shivering, Royce pulled it out, regarding the polished surface, and tossed it toward one of the multiple canyon-like pits. Growling, Ash flung himself after it, nearly sliding over the edge as his fingers clasped around the poke ball. He sighed with relief. "Come on out," he said, letting the pokemon out.
"Chuuuuu!" Pikachu hissed angrily, cheeks sparking. Ash rose to look at Royce, who slowly backed off, clutching the other poke ball tightly.
"Pikachu," Ash ordered softly, "Shadow Blade."
- - -
"Pika..." Lucia followed her Master quietly, peeking around at the dark shadows that covered Victory Road. Her ears perked up. "Chuuu!"
"What is it?" May asked, taking chase after the small white pikachu, and slowing her steps when she came up to a limp body laying on the ground. Lucia poked at it with a paw, wrinkling her nose. "Oh my god...who is this? Who did this?"
Turning him over, she gasped. He was a bloody mess, his face and head cleanly cut in half, and slash marks and electrical burns covering his body, blood flowing from the wounds, forming a puddle below him. Making a face, Misty picked the Shadow Ball out of the sticky mess, regarding the gold band on it carefully. "Is that the..." Lance started.
"Yes, I think so." May frowned at them. Fox was about to point out the fact that it was empty when a glint of light caught his eye, and he glanced up to see Ash sitting discreetly on a high ledge, his legs swinging, and Pikachu sitting on his lap. He smiled vaguely, and looked at them.
"It would seem Ash isn't in there?" Fox asked, and Paran shook her head as she took the poke ball, and cracked it open.
"He got out of the League's grasp once again?" she asked, and they – with the exception of Fox – jumped when they heard laughter.
"You'd be absolutely right about that." Looking up to see the source, smiles broke out on their faces.
"Ash! What happened?" Misty asked as he leaped down to land gracefully on his feet, cloak settling back down around his body.
"Oh, who knows. That guy somehow got me into that ball and when he was here I managed to wiggle my way out and to let Pikachu out, and...well, I don't think it necessary to go on in gory detail about what happened, you can see for yourself," he replied simply, squeezing May when she stepped into his embrace.
"Did you really need to butcher him?" she asked, and he looked at the mutilated corpse thoughtfully.
"Hm. Yes?" May sighed, but smiled nonetheless, listening to the snickers of the others.
"You'll never learn, will you?" she said dryly, "Let's go on to Indigo."
- - -