VT: Okay, nothing new to say here but this: Chapter 36 is on the way.
Matt: VT owns nothing of Pokemon; it belongs to Game Freaks, Inc, and Nintendo. This disclaimer applies to all chapters following this.
Midnight Surprises
Matthew looked over his shoulder as he walked past an alleyway that was jutting away from the road that they were walking on. He didn't see anything, but still something didn't seem right, almost like he was being watched all of a sudden. A flash of light came from the alleyway that Matthew was just looking at, and a net ensnared the group of humans. Amazingly, the Pokemon weren't ensnared. However, this seemed to be what the people behind the net wanted. Five people walked out of the shadows and surrounded the humans, ignoring the growling of Ruth, Firestorm, and Matt, all of which were getting ready to launch attacks
"So, how does it feel to be caught off guard and entrapped against your will?" the man in the middle of the five asked, staying in the shadows, thus hiding his face, his voice giving away that he was a male. "Alas, you are with your family, but what if we take only one of you while we let the others go? Think on that, human, because this is what a Pokemon goes through when someone captures it. Of course, we didn't battle you. Consider this net a Master Ball." The man spat the word Master Ball as if he was speaking some nasty word.
"Let me go or my pals will attack, and I will not be held accountable for their actions," Matthew stated, clear, concise, and not raising his voice. He knew who he was dealing with. "I assure you that I can tell you that your thoughts are not right. I know that my Pokemon desire to be better, to be stronger than when I first meet them. I also know that they will protect me. Already my two Vulpix are preparing some Embers for a warning, and I trust that you do know they don't distinguish the difference between you and Team Rocket." Matthew seemed to have hit a nerve with his last statement as well as his cool-as-a-cucumber talking.
"Quiet, you. I asked not of your opinion, and how are you so sure that you know what your slaves feel? You can't tell what they say, and neither can that poor excuse for a Pokemon Translator given to the Professors. All they can hear is yes, no, and hungry, so in essence, basic words. So maybe I am right and you are wrong." The man had clenched his fist in rage at how he was not scaring Matthew or getting out pleas or whining.
Matthew only smiled, unseen due to the fact that he was in the shadows. "I assure you that you are nothing more then a bully who wants the world to see what you think is a breakthrough, and I can tell you that even if you break my Pokeballs and try and separate my team and tell them some made-up story that they will find me. We have gone through too much for our bonds of friendship mean nothing."
"You mean how you use them to further your own goals? We saw you leave that cursed building; we know that all of you have earned that coveted piece of metal, that symbol of man being dominant over Pokemon. You are a hypocrite."
"DON"T YOU EVER INSULT MY BROTHER LIKE THAT AGAIN OR I WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT HAPPENS!" Ethan roared in a loud voice, his umbreon side showing a little bit in his roar. However, the group leader had turned on Ethan, having gotten a response he wanted. He began laughing as he spoke.
"Yes, yes, yell all you want. You see, no one will hear you. After all, a psychic can block sound if they want, and we have a good psychic with us in our ranks. One that is sympatric to our cause, in fact." He chuckled again as he turned the face the three Pokemon, now really smiling. "Ah, yes, the infidels that are tainted by the confines and chains of a Pokeball. You I will deal with now, and then you are free of this slave driver forever.
"Touch just one piece of my fur or Firestorm's or Matt's and you will be given a shock that will leave you on the ground shaking from the electricity", Ruth growled out, sparks coming from her checks as she readied herself to unleash a bolt of electricity.
Matt only stepped in front of Firestorm, growling as well, "If you come after Firestorm you will have to come through me." Firestorm only shook her head and stepped up beside Matt and growled to him in a low voice.
"Don't worry about me, my personal prince. It is I who has and always will protect you. Besides, someone needs to watch out for you" She then gave a small yelp-like laugh as she used an old pet name for Matt.
"How very touching. I see you have tainted them with human ideas of honor and protection, how to watch out for one another. That is what man is doing, corrupting their societies. Besides, a good mind wipe and all will be forgotten." He then laughed, his back turned towards the humans in the net. "Oh, before I forget," he called over his shoulder, "I have blocked your Pokeballs. They will not work now. So you get to see yourself lose your team, but remember it will be for the better." He then focused on one Pokemon, Ruth, who had closed her eyes and tried to send a bolt of electricity, but it stopped midway in its path and only went off and hit a streetlamp, overloading it and exploding the light in a shower of sparks and glass. He then used his powers to slowly open Ruth's eyes, for then he would get a clear shot into her mind, having already used what looked like hypnosis on the other two fire fox pokemon.
"That's it, you are going down," Ethan growled softly, his voice finally snapping and turning Umbreon, and amazingly the man didn't hear. He was too wrapped up in his concentration. Suddenly the four others disappear; all were phantoms of the man in front of them. Ethan phased out of the net, and next thing anyone could tell, the strange man was knocked over and on the ground, an angry and infuriated Umbreon on top of his chest, growling down at him.
"You think a simple Umbreon will stop me? All right, then, I will show you what I have in my wings," With that he nodded his head, and from the shadows came Pokemon and humans, all having a zombie-like look to them. "Behold my army that will conquer all of Kanto, and you will be a part of it! You see, I have found a way to get past and through the dark's ability to withstand psychic attacks. They can't resist a fellow dark-type… I believe you know whom I mean." He then laughed as a few Pokemon dragged forward another Umbreon bound and tied, still looking tired. Ethan's Umbreon eyes narrow so only red slits can be seen in the dark besides his rings.
"What did you do to her?" Ethan's chest swelled with horror and rage at the way he was treating Eve, his friend since five, along with an outright urge to just end him where he stands.
"Now touch me, and she will go with my ghost to the after realm, but join my ranks and I will spare all here." He smirked, knowing that he had won. He would be victorious in a war that these children know nothing about, with a child of Ho-oh in his ranks. Soon he would be willing to follow orders and all would bow to his might, and soon even the legendaries themselves would be his to control.
I must say you are really not very smart, a Ninetales growled from the shredded net, a second one already having its tails fanned out, ready to do battle. I assure you that I am fully trained and educated in the ways of administrating curses and blessing as a Ninetales of two hundred years can. So leave now, or I will give you something to muse over.
He only laughed an evil laugh as he suddenly and with a strange strength threw Ethan off him and into a side building, knocking him out right away. "You think that I am scared of a Ninetales? You are mistaken, for I, too, know the way of shape-taking, except I have found a power that is stronger than your own magic. You are also bluffing. You are a new one, not even knowing his own powers, and your mate as well." With that, he began to change, taking on a new shape, and the black seemed to flow to him, and soon he became a pure black form with only the red of its eyes showing.
Suddenly Matthew was jolted, almost like something had gone wrong with his nervous system, but it only lasted for a second. Then, when he spoke again, his voice was stronger, deeper, more menacing, When the boy said that he had two hundred years of training, he was calling upon my memories. However, I am over five hundred years, Dark Tail. the Ninetales that had somehow taken over Matthew's body spat out those words with rage. I thought my elder's elder took care of you, the one who dipped his own tails, not one, but all nine, into the stream of evil before our kind could seal it away. Because of you, you Ho-oh had to flee her perch in the Tin Tower. Care you not for the balance of life?
Fool! You are trapping yourself in the ways of foolish teaching of our Alpha's. You see, I can control my old magic, but this as well, and this is stronger than the old. I will show you. Dark tails then flicked all Nine of his tails, and a dark energy with purple tentacles began to swarm around him only to stop. He jerked his head to the left and only growled, We will meet again, White Tail, we will meet, but be warned I will either destroy you, or have you as a general of my army to bring to this world a power that should never have been taken. He then took off, and as he does so, the Pokemon and humans seemed to melt into the shadows. Eve, being awake began to struggle and try and fight what was going on, and at the last minute was able to break out and roll out of the muscle-bound brute that she was in the arms of, a karate master by the look of him. She landed hard on the sidewalk and slipped into sleep as well. Matthew and Becky, along with the three Pokemon, were counting themselves lucky that Dark Tail had been distracted, but they all were looking at the direction that Dark Tail had looked, and they could see two shadows coming their way. All that were out and still conscious were getting ready for a battle if they were enemies.