Disclaimer: Pokemon and all related characters, moves and locations are copyrighted to Nintendo and Game Freak.
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: The Cataclysm of Sinnoh
Chapter 1S
Morning had just arrived to the forests just north of Pastoria City. Within a treehouse just inside the forest, an Eevee was awakening from his sleep.
"Ugh, morning already?" He muttered to himself "I didn't seem that long sin-"
"Since you came back from your nightwalk?" A Mightyena interrupted as he entered the room, his face showing disappointment.
"What! H-how did you…" The Eevee said, stunned.
"I saw you as you were returning, Shadow. You forget that I thrive in the dark."
"Oh…" The Eevee known as Shadow said as he lowered his head.
"You know what your mother would say if she knew this." The Mightyena said as he sat next to Shadow.
"Mom…" Shadow said as he imagined his Vaporeon mother angry. "S-she doesn't know?"
"Not yet. She won't ever know if you want to make a deal with me." The Mightyena said, smirking.
"A… a deal? You're letting me go?" Shadow asked as he jumped in front of his father, tail wagging with anticipation.
"Yes, but you're going to be the one getting the berries this morning."
"That's it? Dad, you're the best!" Shadow said as he unexpectedly jumped on his father, almost knocking him over.
"Easy there, buddy. Better start getting ready." The Mightyena said as he got back up and exited the room.
Shadow breathed a sigh of relief after his father left. He put on his onyx-colored crescent moon pendant, grabbed the basket- which was almost too big for him to carry- and bolted out the door and headed further into the forest toward Lake Valor. His father chuckled to himself as he stood at the doorway.
"It really worked, Volke." A Vaporeon said as she approached the Mightyena.
"It worked this time, Aqua. I don't think it's going to stop that behavior, though."
"Well, he did get it from his father." Aqua said as she nudged him.
"We both know he's going to go for a swim in Valor when he gets there. Guess where he got that from?" Volke shot back, which caused both to start laughing.
Shadow jogged through the forest with a smile on his face. He already knew where to go, since his father told him where to get the healthiest berries. The forest suddenly ended and before him stood the majesty of Lake Valor, rumored home of Azelf- legendary pokemon of willpower. He walked along the lakeside for a while until he came upon a faintly worn pathway. He followed that path to find the berry trees his father had told him about. He collected several of the Pecha, Oran, Cheri, and Chesto berries along with one Sitrus berry. Once he started dragging the basket to head back home, he remembered that a certain someone also lives in the area near the lake. This made him nervous as he started walking faster along the lakeshore, basket in tow. His suspicions were confirmed when a familiar voice rang out.
"Back in our territory again, eh Shadow?"
Shadow looked left of him toward the forest to see a Raichu. Behind the Raichu stood a Golduck and a Shuppet. All three were smirking as they approached the slightly scared Eevee. The Raichu then noticed the basket of berries.
"Looks like you've got yourself a pretty good payout there, Shadow." He said, "I'll tell you what: you give us a fair share of those berries you got there, and we'll let you go like nothing ever happened."
"No way! I worked hard for these. Plenty of berry plants around here, you guys can get your own." Shadow spat back before resuming his walk back home.
"You know… it doesn't work like that." The Raichu growled before unleashing a Thunderbolt from his cheeks, striking the ground in front of the Eevee.
Shadow was slightly shocked from the sudden attack, but quickly regained his composure. He removed the rope he was using to pull the basket and faced the Raichu. Raichu whispered something to his followers and they stayed back while he took several steps forward, grinning. Shadow's face switched from slightly scared to one of determination.
"You sure you wanna fight?" Raichu taunted, "You know you can't win."
Shadow stayed silent as he slowly shifted toward and around the still grinning Raichu. Once he felt he was close enough, he lunged forward in a Tackle. Raichu, however, leaned back and brought both fists forward, as if to punch him with both arms. This caused Shadow to stop and bring his head down as if to brace for impact. Instead of hitting him, Raichu instead hit the ground immediately in front of Shadow, sending pebbles his way and causing him to flinch more. Raichu then immediately followed up by spinning around and slamming the Eevee with his long tail (Slam), sending his victim rolling away along the ground. Shadow was quick to get up, but slow to reset his stance.
"Was that first attack… Fake Out? And I fell for it." Shadow whispered to himself as he readied himself.
Raichu was suddenly already in his face as he was hit with a Quick Attack, sending him sliding back a few more feet closer to the lakeshore.
"No good, he's way too fast for me." He cursed to himself before getting hit with another Quick Attack. "I've gotta… strike back."
He quickly regained his footing just before the rocky lakeshore and looked up to see Raichu running really quickly at him again. Shadow managed to dodge this time, but Raichu followed up by swinging his tail and hitting Shadow back inland. Shadow was slightly slower to get back up this time, but managed to see Raichu Quick Attacking him again. He jumped to his right to dodge the Quick Attack and managed to use Bite to grab a hold of the end of Raichu's swinging tail. Raichu grunted in pain as the Bite sunk in, and started swinging his tail randomly to get the Eevee to release. Once he swung his tail upward, Shadow let go of the tail and flew upwards for a few seconds before unleashing a Shadow Ball from his mouth. The Shadow Ball impacted the Raichu's head while he was looking up to search for the Eevee. Shadow landed from his attack near his basket and watched the smoke cloud he created. The smoke quickly cleared showing an angry Raichu glaring at him.
"You little punk, you're really going to pay for that." He growled before unleashing a massive Thunderbolt.
Shadow dodged the Thunderbolt, which impacted the ground slightly behind where he was formerly standing and made a small explosion.
The explosion from the Thunderbolt alerted two other pokemon- a Lucario and a Houndour- walking inside the forest, and they instinctively went towards the source of the sound. Upon reaching the forest's edge, they ducked behind a tall bush to observe what was happening.
Raichu again tried to hit Shadow with a Quick Attack, but it was dodged with a short hop to one side before immediately following with a Tackle to the Raichu's side. Raichu then used Slam with his tail to swat away the Eevee, but he once again grabbed hold of the large end of the tail with Bite. Raichu then tried to smash the Eevee into the ground, but only smashed his own tail into the ground when Shadow released his Bite and was thrown down the shoreline.
"This battle isn't fair at all." The Houndour whispered from the bushes. "We should help that Eevee."
"Not yet." The Lucario quietly replied, "The Eevee doesn't look like he's in any real danger yet. In fact, this is looking like the human story of David and Goliath."
Raichu stayed where he was and examined the Bite marks on his tail for a bit before searching for the Eevee, whom was getting up slowly and shaking off all the dust from sliding along the lakeshore. Raichu immediately noticed him and fired a Thunderbolt from his cheeks. Shadow immediately, almost instinctively, used Dig to escape the electric attack. Raichu stood there, amazed that the Eevee had disappeared before looking around him to try and find his target. A few seconds passed before the ground underneath the Raichu began to give away. He instinctively jumped back a foot to see what was happening before Shadow erupted from underground and slammed into the Raichu's stomach with his head. The Raichu clutched his stomach and staggered backwards while Shadow reentered the hole and went back underground.
"Sneaky little punk" The Raichu said as he recovered, "but now I know your trick."
Raichu then walked up to the hole he was attacked from and prepared to launch a Thunderbolt into the hole when Shadow burst out of the ground behind him. Raichu whipped around to see Shadow hit him again in the stomach area. Shadow then flew upwards after the attack and unleashed a Shadow Ball from his mouth, which struck the staggering Raichu in the head and sent him sliding backwards on his back. Shadow landed from his attack and resumed his attack stance, panting from exhaustion. When the Raichu didn't immediately get back up, he whispered a "Yess" to himself before walking back to his berry-filled basket. Both Golduck and Shuppet recovered from their shock and ran toward the Raichu. Just as they reached the Raichu, he began to slowly get back up. Rage in his eyes, he saw the Eevee walking away from him.
"Hey!" He screamed, which caused the Eevee to stop and turn back toward him, "This isn't over yet. We WILL get those berries!"
Both Golduck and Shuppet began moving toward the now slightly scared Eevee. Raichu gritted his teeth as he stood back up before moving with them.
"Now's the time." Lucario said to the Houndour next to him as they both jumped over the bush and onto the battlefield.
"Surely it doesn't take three pokemon to bully a single Eevee?" The Lucario said as he stood between the three attackers and Shadow. The Houndour had ran up to Shadow and stood by his side.
"Out of our way. You're not involved in this." The Raichu spat, while the Golduck subtly stepped backward.
The Lucario turned his head, showing his closed right eye with a scar running over it, and frowned. "I'm making it my business. Your Golduck friend already seems to know who I am."
Raichu looked back to see Golduck shuffling back, slightly afraid. "Raichu… That's Luc." He quietly said, "He's the leader of the Rescue Division around here. None of us can beat him. Let's just go."
Knowing who the Lucario was caused the Shuppet to become afraid of him also. Raichu looked back at the Lucario, his eyes showing a mix of shock, fear, and rage. "Fine. Let's go." He said through gritted teeth before leading the Shuppet and Golduck back into the forest.
Lucario observed them walking into the forest to make sure they didn't try any sneak attacks before turning back to the now-relieved Eevee and smiled. The Houndour took the opportunity to speak to Shadow.
"Wow, Eevee, you were awesome out there! I watched as you took on that Raichu. You know some pretty awesome attacks." He said, excitedly.
"Wait… you were watching me? Why didn't you help?" Shadow asked as he looked up at the approaching Lucario.
"Because you first had to be in trouble in order for us to help." The Lucario explained, "You kept yourself mostly composed and made opportunities for yourself. I'm actually impressed. You have a name, young Eevee?"
"My name? It's Shadow. I live nearby, and I was getting these berries for my parents."
"I really wanted to help! My name's Doom!" The Houndour spoke up as they began walking with Shadow back to his home.
"He was renamed because he was a troublemaker at his clan." The Lucario said before letting out a short laugh. "My name's Luc. I lead the local Rescue Division. I'd actually like to talk to you and your parents when we get there. Is that ok?"
"Yea, sure." Shadow simply said as they reentered the forest.
As they continued walking through the forest, Doom and Shadow engaged in some small talk, while Luc walked silently behind them observing the scenery. When they reached Shadow's house, they all saw a Vaporeon outside using her Water Gun to sprinkle water over a flower garden at the front of the house. Luc and Doom remained outside the home.
"I'm back, mom!" Shadow said as he dragged the basket inside.
"There you are, Shadow. I was starting to wonder if something happened." She said before noticing Luc and Doom. "Are these some new friends of yours?"
"Kind of." Luc replied, "Are you Shadow's mother?"
"Yeah, my name's Aqua. Is there some sort of a problem?"
"Oh, no. Quite the opposite. I'd like to talk to you and your mate about Shadow." Luc said as Shadow exited the house and began playing with Doom.
Before the Vaporeon could call him, Shadow's Mightyena father emerged from the house. Luc looked surprised, as did Shadow's father, Volke.
"Luc, is that really you? It's been ages!" Volke said as he approached the Lucario and Vaporeon.
"It has been a long time. I remember you saying you were settling down and having a family. Anyway, I'm here to talk to you about Shadow." Luc replied.
"Are you sure he's not in trouble?" Aqua immediately asked
"No, no, I actually found Shadow while he was in a battle with a Raichu." Luc began
"What!" Both Aqua and Volke shouted in unison, which caused Shadow and Doom to stop playing and listen in.
"That's not the point. He was protecting the berries he got for you two. He actually won over the Raichu trying to bully him." Luc continued, which got a relieved sigh from the Vaporeon and Mightyena, "Your son has some strength and talent, and seeing that his father was one of my trusted comrades, I can see why."
"Kind words from Luc? Never thought I'd see the day." Volke said jokingly, causing Luc to chuckle.
"Now for the reason I'm here." Luc said in a serious tone. "I'd like to ask Shadow to join my Rescue Division."
"R-Really?" Aqua said, which was echoed by Shadow
"I mean it. The region is pretty big, and we're always looking for new skilled pokemon to join." Luc said to the young Eevee.
"It's fine with me. I know you'll take good care of him." Volke answered, smiling
"Well… since Volke knows you and he's ok with it, then it's ok with me too." Aqua said
"Well then, Shadow, you and Doom will come with me to the HQ. We'll get you signed in."
After an emotional departure from his parents, Shadow began travelling with Doom and Luc to the Division HQ: A set of treehouses hidden in the forests northwest of Pastoria City.
Author's Notes: Shadow was created by me. Despite currently only making appearances in this chapter, I decided to name his mother and father, to further drive the family/clan feel. Division Leader Luc's name, I hate to admit, is nothing more than a shortened form of the species name. It's pronounced "Luke" (like from Star Wars).
Since this is the final first chapter, I'd mind as well introduce the final Division Leader here. The leader of the Southwest Division is a Roserade named Ivy. Her name is based off of the Soul Caliber character Isabella Valentine (better known as Ivy) and will make appearances later on. Incomplete character Rose also is in the southwest division.