Chapter X: The Crash
October 1, 2061 9:17 a.m.
"Ketchum, what the hell is going on? I'm hearing quite a commotion!"
"Sir, get everyone out of grid squares 9, 10, 11, and 12!"
Ash lowered his hand from his earpiece quickly so that he could cartwheel past rays of black ice and lightning that cracked the air.
AAIIIEEE!
"Be burned!"
"Be frozen!"
"Be electrocuted!"
"BE DEAD!"
The black, fiery 'mask' over the Moltres's head opened its jagged, crooked mouth wide as sharp, glistening ice crystals the size of footballs tore into the air out of the twitching Articuno's mouth.
Flashes of orange and black in a forming sphere created a high-pitched humming sound, growing more erratic as the ball's energy shined brighter.
The ground rumbled underneath Shadow. He grunted every time he had to flip or jump of another piece of debris that was tossed up from the ground by the massive flaming beam that exploded from the beast's mouth. The intensity of the heat was actually turning Shadow's vision a red tint. Fireballs blasted out in clusters from where the beam ripped through the broken concrete, whistling loudly as they arced upward and then back towards the ground..
The Articuno side extended its wing as far as it possibly could to its side, its twitching ceased for a moment.
Ash's eyes widened as bluish mist rose up around the wing. "Get out of its way!"
AAIIIEEE!
With one, magnificent thrust of its wing, the Articuno side blasted freezing air towards the group, throwing frost over the ice shards that shot along with it.
(*Huff!**Huff!*) Shadow gasped as he sprinted past and over the ruins that lay out in front of him, followed closely by the wave of frost and debris that rushed up behind. Looking back over his shoulder, he eyed a silhouette rapidly becoming more visible within the cloud of diamond dust.
The monster blasted out from the ice with all of their beaks centered in front of their conjoined body, their energies rapidly charging into spheres that formed a multicolored triangle of red, yellow and blue...
Damn, Tri Attack!
Pain struck across his front legs. Before he could even shout a cry of pain, he found himself flipped over onto his back after tripping on a slab of concrete. The birds reared back their heads as Shadow looked up at them, hastily getting up.
(Shadow!) Light called out, seeing her friend directly in the path of the bird's Tri Attack, with no time to dodge.
The birds screeched as the spheres exploded forward with a shockwave, hurtling towards Shadow. Eyes wide, he clenched his teeth for the impact…
AntiShadow fell back into the ground, quickly raising both arms to the sides. Instead of disappearing into a black pit of flame, he left a black silhouette on the ground…
Gritting his teeth, Shadow pushed Light out of the way as the shadow on the ground dashed towards them, exploding with a hail of dark energy as AntiShadow shot back up with his fist up. Landing, AntiShadow chuckled once more and crossed his arms.
(You…) Shadow said as he got up, the dark energy in his paws rampant. On the other side of AntiShadow, Light picked herself up and stuck her paw out, coursing with white energy that was ready to be used against the Antireal.
(That's a technique called Ethereal Spike…)
…It's the only way!
Shadow growled quickly as dark energy rushed up around him, letting himself fall backwards toward the ground as the red, yellow, and light blue spheres made contact with the ground.
(SHADOW!) Light cried out as ice, fire and electricity exploded from where the attack hit. A slight wetness began to bundle under her eyes as the wave of combined energy razed the ground, blasting its way towards her. She raised her arms quickly, staring out to the point where the attack hit as white energy formed a dome over her.
…It feels like I'm flying…
Its cold, it's dark…
…but I can see everything above me. The blast is tearing things up…
…I guess this'll be a good opportunity to get a little revenge.
The whitish-transparent dome flickered as Light lowered her arms, shivering from what she thought she just saw: Shadow's death.
"Damn…wait, what's that?" Ash said to himself. Bolt looked up towards his master as he pointed down from the mutilated car they were standing atop.
A lone silhouette was moving towards the chimera at high speed, getting directly under it a second after being spotted by Ash.
Shadow felt the cold and heat in the air, followed by static that embraced his cheeks as he shot out of the ground in a torrent of dark energy, fist up. It rushed out from within him, from around him, a massive jet of black aura that engulfed the bird's entire body.
(That was…!) Bolt spoke, brow creasing. Ash nodded to his friend as he jumped up from the metal towards the enemy, electricity extending up his arm from his hand.
He shouldn't be able to use attacks like that…
Sure enough, Shadow felt the bird's blood splatter onto his arm and face like drops of hot liquid ruby. Black and silver feathers floated in a bundle, some sprayed by more tiny droplets of scarlet. The sudden, explosive force of the blow had thrown the bird skyward with an ear-piercing scream.
Ash stopped as the birds screamed even more, blood continually raining down as he lifted his arms to the sky, electricity crackling madly over his skin.
The warm red continued to trickle out from their chest. The Zapdos head made a sound like a cross between chirping and screaming, looking down towards the bright, bluish-white cracks of electricity that funneled out of Ash's upraised arms.
Feathers upon its neck stood erect. Extending its beak, the Zapdos quickly caught the beam in its mouth, narrow eyes revealing nothing but raw bloodlust. Meanwhile, the shadowy, fiery mask over the Moltres's head narrowed one eye, smiling madly as bloody red sparks flared from its maw.
"!" Ash withdrew his arms as Shadow ran up by his side, glaring up towards the chimera. "It absorbed the electricity!"
"Yeah…by the way, we need to talk after this, Shadow." Ash responded calmly.
The great bird nosed over in the sky, sweeping its gray and black wings powerfully as it dove back to the ground.
Bolt and Shadow grunted in unison as they jumped back, then once again as Ash jumped forward, all getting out of the way as the chimera swooped in, bashing through the debris on the ground with a mighty force. On top of a concrete slap, Light tensed her hind legs and leapt as far as she could as the Articuno's wing sliced through the air under her and demolished the stone she was standing on. Nosing up again, they winged over as the black Zapdos head swung over the top of the others. Loud humming ripped the air as the electricity in its beak focused tightly into a small, blinding sphere at the tip of its drill-like beak.
AAAIIIIEEEE!
Shadow and Bolt raised their dusty yellow paws, ears pointing straight up as their combined electricity surged into a dome around them. With a frighteningly powerful shake of the ground under them, waves of concentrated electricity pounded their bubble.
…
"Son of a bitch! What the fuckin' hell is that bird thing up to?" Archer ranted under his breath as light traces of static zapped his body, tensing up his muscles like tightening rope. With a grunt, he forced up his wounded left arm, pain flashing through his triceps like magma in his skin.
He managed to punch in some buttons on his radio before his arm swung limply back to his side. He waited with a snarled lip behind cover as the Rockets who had spotted him from the other side of the road began to recover, shouting.
"…This is Tango Sierra Charlie, please ID."
"Screw ID! I want to know the location of nearby units, I've been cut off and I'm bein' surrounded here! I authenticate my clearance level, 3, 9, 5, 7, 0, 4, 28, Suicune, Fish head!"
"…Clearance confirmed. A squad is actually on the next grid square from yours, and they're passing into yours as we speak, I'll send for them to pick you up. What is your status?"
"My left arm is shot right now, and like I said, I have a squad of Rockets convergin' on me. All I have with me is a sniper rifle with no rounds in it and a pistol with a spent power cell!"
Archer could hear the Rockets approaching even closer now, making beads of sweat begin to slide down his dusty forehead. Looking out from behind his cover, he was able to make out their slender, feminine faces, much to his surprise.
He shook his head. "Great. Just what I need. A squad of Rockets that are all women! Call me sexist, but maybe I could just bang 'em all and they'll leave me alone. I was one hell of a womanizer when I was younger…"
"On second thought, Rocket women are probably fuckin' bitchy. They'll just shoot me up." He muttered, reaching under his belt, feeling past his combat knife for a small pouch. Poking two fingers into it, he nodded to himself. "Good thing this little girl ain't a bitch with me."
He looked over the makeshift concrete barrier he was behind, motioning his rifle so that the ten women could see the flash of light reflecting off his scope. As soon as he was sure they saw, they had dropped behind some rubble a distance away. Using this time, he unearthed a black Pokéball with the stylized letters KAM-TS in blue and yellow on top of it. As soon as it expanded, he gave it a short toss to the ground next to him, releasing a beam of red light.
The small, dark gray and red fox looked up at him with light blue eyes, snickering a little. Its translator collar beeped to life. "Hello my favorite old man, what can I do for you?"
"I'm only 45, got it, ya little Zorua? Anyway, I need you to help me make a distraction for your fellow women over there."
…Soon the squad that had been sent to get Archer rounded the corner to the street the sniper was on. Strangely to them, the situation did not appear nearly as dire as he had said; somehow the old soldier had managed to get his hands on a red and black-colored minigun. Twisting barrels fired a massive river of lasers as the Rockets from behind the concrete barricade he was at. He slowly whistled the rhythm of 'Smooth Criminal' to himself as the beams continued to smash and rip up the cover the grunts had hid behind.
"…You've been hit by…you've been shot by…a smooth rifleman…"
…
Ash took a step back; teeth gritted as he looked to the ground beside him and extended his arm, trying to reach for some invisible handle. With a crack, the pavement split open wide to reveal a large leafy bulb that grew out with its leaves opening to reveal four large, pulsing stamens.
Shadow ran by as the master swept his arm from the plant towards the chimera, pointing at it as the tubes retracted upon themselves.
One seed shot out from a stamen towards the birds in the air, barely missing with a whistle, and then another until a massive barrage of the ovular seeds shot out into the air like bullets flying out of a quad machine gun. Some shot close enough to the birds that they actually exploded like flak.
Certainly, it was a shining example of 'Bullet Seed'.
Lightning stretched up from Shadow's body, lashing out at the Articuno side as the bird wheel around once more. and yet again, Shadow could feel air buffet him from above as they dove with the Moltres head's 'mask' blasting a river of flame like burning napalm from its demonic grin.
A barrage of the seeds that continued to shoot from the pod next to Ash exploded right in front of the face, making it seem to disrupt like static on a television, producing a horrid screech as flame continued to shoot out from its dreadful maw, alighting a bright line of the ground on fire as they passed over once more.
Ash grinded his teeth for a moment, his spiky black hair waving in the gale as he dashed away from the bulb he had sprouted from the ground. The heel of his left boot melted slightly as the fire engulfed the place he had been standing in, warping pieces of metal scattered about and incinerating the plant.
The Articuno head screamed again as lighting whipped through its wing, tearing off black feathers and shreds of blood. Eyes alight with malice, it whipped its neck around over the masked Moltres's and recoiled as its powerful Ice Beam shot from its mouth at their attackers.
If only we could reason with it…
…but it's too far gone.
(Light, jump when I say so, and try to latch onto its back!) Bolt yelled moments before the Zapmolcuno was upon them, his ears flailing past his focused, serious façade. With her own appendages flying back, Light braced her legs, her brow creased in her own focus...
Will you let me…?
"Consider my power yours."
(Now!)
AAIIEEE!
Light leapt forward in unison with Bolt, rolling over in the air as the combined strength of a Blizzard, Thunder and Flamethrower attack ripped the wall they had been standing on into burning gravel and frozen dust. Her paws caught onto the spiky edge of the Zapdos wing, feeling the static coming off it was frying her own electricity. Catching her paws onto this side of the Zapmolcuno was definitely a bad idea…
The icy surface of the Articuno's wing wasn't helping Bolt out either. As soon as he landed, one of his legs slipped on the cold feathers. Gritting his teeth, Bolt had to quickly release electricity into his paw, creating an electrical dagger to stab into the bird's wing to hang on.
"Do they know what they're doing?" Shadow yelled over the bird's screeches as it wheeled around again, angling its back towards a burning apartment office in the distance, soaring high up to where the Raichu and Pikachu on its back were barely visible. Ash nodded, though unsure as well. "They've got something going, but we better get over there as well. I doubt Light's going to feel well after being short-circuited."
Ash crouched his legs for a moment, taking off like a bullet into the air, flipping onto the rugged top of a broken, smoking hotel with Shadow close in pursuit.
Bolt heard muscle tendons rip under his electrical knife, staining his paws and face with sprits of crimson. Stems of the cold feathers beneath the skin broke with the static. Over his head, the Articuno head twitched wildly, screaming with agony as Bolt's electricity ran rampant through its dark energy-infused nerves. Though behind the dark mask the Moltres seemed to be recoiling, the face on the veil of dark fire remained calm, just giving a slight frown as they hurtled towards the burning shell of a skyscraper. Looking ahead, Bolt cursed under his breath. (Oh boy…)
The impact alone shook Light's hold on the spiked black feathers. Next came the barrage of flaming wreckage that came down on them with the roar of the roof yawing down on them from above. With little time to spare, she encased herself in a white barrier, still holding onto the Zapdos's wing despite the constant pain from touching it. Static whipped around her paws, like it was drawing out her electricity...
"Stay strong! Push it back!"
A single desk from the building blasted out of the windows before the birds came soaring through with a billow of debris and smoke in their wake. The Zapdos side's wing stayed perfectly still, blood sliding out of the many cuts under its feathers as white aura began to overtake the electricity that was surging out from the white dome.
"Just a little more!"
(rrrrrRRRRAAAAA!)
The whole top of the skyscraper leaned over, explosions racking it height. In seconds, the entire tops had disintegrated from the explosions, beginning to rain down like a burning, rocky avalanche.
Bolt grunted as more debris smacked against his fur. Both of his front paws were numb from the cold under him; he could see his digits slipping on the electrical dagger he had plunged into the Articuno's wing.
"Here they come!"
The air around the bird rippled with energy, bright orange sparks trailing in their wake. The masked Moltres shrieked as the blood-red mouth obscuring its face made motions like it was laughing as black and red fire spewed from its maw and over its back.
"Release it all now!"
High above the ground, the sphere surrounding Light as she held onto the black Zapdos wing collapsed in on itself for a moment, making Light's form visible for a moment. The concentration of energy around her made her fur look a silvery white. One of her paws left the spiky wing, crossed over her upper abdomen. Eyes flashing like stars, she roared as she thrust her arm back out.
Scratches across Bolt's body seared with the icy bird's cold. Even more, the energy surrounding Light was blinding him. Waves of it flashed through the air, passing through himself and the chimera he and her grasped onto.
Damn…at this rate…!
With his paws nearly frozen, Bolt could hold on tightly enough to stop the white waves from ripping his paws apart from each other, disrupting the small lightning dagger he had used to hold on. With a yell, he was blasted off the bird towards the ground. (Aaah!)
(Augh!) Shadow grunted, raising his arm while shutting one of his eyes, shielding himself from the blinding waves of light that exploded into the sky. The black on the bird's body looked like it was being ripped away on the waves that blasted out from Light. The ear-piercing shrieks deafened all who could hear as Zapmolcuno hurtled down towards him and Ash…
Shards of concrete stabbed into his fur and cut across the edges of his body. Even as Shadow was recoiling from this, his eyes went wide as a massive wave of dark and white energy blasted the wind from his lungs.
His cry came out soundless in the way of the power throwing up everything around him. As he was sent flying, the birds screeched again, hurtling down on him…
AAIIIIEEE!
…
There was darkness all around. Unseen scars were searing through his fur, blood running down from them and into the dust…
…
Blurs appeared before him, showing a painting of an orange, black and gray sky. The distant sounds of lasers firing and Pokémon fighting came to him.
High-pitched crooning noises split the air a distance before him. He could hear electricity surging in the air. A thick, jagged strike of lightning burst down from the sky above.
Shadow grunted, quickly putting his paws back to prop himself up. It seemed even with the force of the crash, the mutant bird had not yet been beaten…
(…Dammit…) Shadow muttered to himself.
Ash grasped out towards the Ice Beam attack streaming from the bloodied Articuno's scratched-up beak. Eyes squinting from the force of the cold, he growled as his aura flared up around his arm and ripped his arm back, deflecting the Ice Beam into the sky.
The Zapdos head lay deathly limp on the other side of the bird, blankly staring up into the dusty air with white-out eyes ringed by a thick moss of blood vessels that seemed to leak out into the scarlet streams running down its face.
And finally, the Moltres head was still masked by the demon face, scars running across its neck. Black and purple fog rose out of the cuts along with its blood, creating a dark haze over it. Rearing itself back, the demon Moltres head snapped forward at a battered and bruised Bolt.
(It may not be flying, but it's definitely not down!) Bolt yelled as the face bit down on the chunk of concrete he had just been standing on, instantly blasting it to pieces. Sliding to a stop, Bolt twisted around and let loose torrents of his electrical power at the Articuno.
Its raptor-like call sounded as its Ice Beam met the electricity, sending cold shards everywhere as they grinded against each other with the sound of a buzz saw.
Shadow looked from his elder Pikachu to the Pokémon Master, then all around them. Where'd Light go?
The Moltres's head swung violently to the side as a white explosion caught its neck. Somehow, she was still holding on to its back, eyes white like snow. One paw clasped into the Moltres's blood-ridden black feathers, while the other stiffly stayed pointed at the demon bird's neck, charging another burst of her aura.
A strange fullness slowly pulsed in Shadow's chest. Reaching out to get himself to his feet, Shadow felt another beat of the feeling reverberate through him…
(What the…)
Black sparks popped at his cheeks. The bumps in his chest sent waves of cold through his muscles, his joints stiffening just as he got to two feet. All over him, his fur stood on end where it could…
"I want to have some fun for just a second, me."
Leave…me…alone!
"Oh, I'll never leave you alone. I'm a part of you, after all…"
(… I'm a part of you, after all…) Shadow mumbled, a short burst of red lighting his eyes as the side of his mouth curled into a sinister smile...
(Gah!)
Rough concrete seared across Bolt's back as he scraped against it, gasping for breath after the Moltres slammed its masked head into him. Some of the fiery black aura from the face engulfed a section of the Pikachu's chest with an odd, freezing sensation rather than a burning one. The Articuno's beak opened wide, its screech slicing through the air.
Bolt jumped to his right with barely enough time to avoid the following Ice Beam. His view briefly shifted to Light as she held on for dear life to the Moltres's neck. (Light! Get the hell off that thing!)
Light made no move to show any intention of that. Her paws dug as far as they could into the bird's feathers, constantly and furiously shuddering from the massive amounts of electricity she forced into it. The blood that ran from the cuts in its skin where Light dug her digits roasted as they touched her static, leaving a stomach-churning smell…
The Master's right hand went numb as another burst of fire seared across it. Though he managed to deflect the Flamethrower into the air, he was visibly shaken; both of Ash's eyes were wide with pain, teeth defiantly clenched against the fiery pain.
Augh…fuck! Now I remember why Moltres causes wildfires just by flying over a forest…
…huh?
Ash looked over his shoulder just in time to see a black static-covered Shadow charging towards them at incredible speed. The lust for blood was visible in both of his eyes as he raced past Ash, the whipping energy throwing everything, including, the Master, off the ground.
"Augh!" Ash cried as he hit the ground on his back, raising both arms over his head to try and flip back onto his feet. Meanwhile, Shadow burst straight at the creature, crazed smirk growing as Bolt dodged jumped over another swing of the Moltres's beak and got in his way…
(Out of my way!) Shadow yelled viciously, his voiced somewhat layered.
Bolt looked over his shoulder, just barely seeing a flash of Shadow's blood-red eyes before the Pikachu's arm brutally smashed into Bolt's back.
(HAHK!)
Bolt felt like he lost feeling in his body, his nerves thrown wild by the sheer force of Shadow swinging his arm to slam Bolt out of the path between him and the Zapmolcuno…
Concrete shards had imbedded themselves into his fur, all over him. Blood began to soak his fur in crimson, running down from so many cuts in him. Fang-shaped markings curved down from his scarlet eyes and toward the center of his face.
Light tugged onto the Moltres's neck, her entire body swinging with it as it noticed the demonic-looking Pikachu running up to it. As if on cue, Light saw Shadow jump up in her direction with his eyes full of a strange, gleeful malice and his paws brimming over with dark energy.
His paws smashed into the black and red face over the Moltres's head as it swung back over. The face's eyes widened, its mouth tearing apart under the force and power of Shadow's attack. In a swirl of the combined dark energies, the bloodied, mutilated face of the bird beneath the face was revealed for but an instant, eyes rolled back into its skull before Shadow's paw made contact.
"We do cherish killing…"
"…right, me?"
!
Blood sprayed out of the bird's head like a rosy blossom. As the sound of bone cracking hit Light's ears, so did a wave of black that ripped her from the bird and blinded her with a massive, chilling sensation.
(…Shadow…!)
The faint sound of Shadow laughing as his paw shredded through the Moltres's skull sounded among the chaotic roar of the surrounding area being ripped and blasted apart. The ground swiftly buckled in front of the shockwave, thrown up into the air alongside the fires and smoke.
"What?" Ash gasped as the shockwave blasted towards him. Clenching his teeth, he swiftly raised himself to his feet, looking left to see Bolt still recovering from Shadow's blow.
Shakily, Bolt got to his feet despite the rumbling of the ground beneath him. His breaths were strained, one paw on his chest. Weakly, he put them out in front of himself, static zapping across himself. With a grunt, however, Bolt's arms dropped as pain went through him, falling to all fours.
Ash slid out in front of him, his hands out the mere moment the debris was about to smash them….
"Thunder shield!"
The ground cracked under them as the debris crashed into them like a tsunami of earth. Metal buzzed and concrete shattered off the barrier, darkness shrouded their vision outside the dome. Bolt recoiled a bit, eyes widening as his nose picked up the powerful, choking scent of the bird's blood.
A few seconds felt like hours in that barrier…the power that had been unleashed was almost like when they had first met Shadow many months ago. The air felt cold, lifeless…the electricity running through the shield was the only illumination under the fog of dark energy.
Soon, Ash saw the blackness leave his sight along with the flying debris. Still, the smell of blood radiated around them, entwined with the smoke and dust that hovered above crumbled ruin. Low buzzing sounds ran with the black static sparking from where Zapmolcuno once stood.
"Thanks for the fun."
It looked almost like someone had dyed Shadow's arm, face and torso fur red. His fist shuddered in the pool of mixed blood and guts that remained in the Moltres's hollowed-out skull. Just a skull, devoid of skin and feathers, only a coating of blood from the blackened tip of its beak down to where the neck was still covered in bloody flesh and down.
"Did you enjoy the experience, me?"
He could still feel the vast reserves of his electricity built up in his body, but he felt so drained nonetheless. The amount of the crimson swirling at his feet felt like it strengthened his lightheadedness…
"I may have used a little more of our energy than I should've…I'm sure we're alright with that."
"Shadow! Light!"
Shadow turned slowly to see Ash swinging over a small wall and back onto the debris coating the ground, Bolt held closely in one arm. Though his sight became increasingly blurry, he could see the 'Chu jump down from Ash's arms and run towards him while Ash headed off behind Shadow…
"I'll find Light…check…Shadow!"
Shadow blinked weakly, his increasingly unfocused senses fading as Bolt rushed up to him, his own breathing somewhat forced.
(Damn, Shadow…)
His body was lifted up onto two feet despite the fact that they were dragging, Bolt putting Shadow's arm over his neck as the younger 'Chu blacked out amidst the sounds of continuing war beyond them…
"…It'll get even better soon…"
"Me."
…
This is why I hate having experience as a medic in addition to technological knowledge…
I've had to attend to so many wounded today. One or two of the guys out here had an arm mangled beyond recognition. I can't believe both of them were still alive. Working on the first wasn't so tough, but then we apparently had run out of anesthetic to work on the second. The amount of body bags they've been carrying out of here doesn't help much either, not does the constant sound of screams and explosions…
Then there was a Butterfree that had its wings gone and its entire body covered in third degree burns. If it wasn't the sheer amount of blackened flesh and blood coming off it that made me want to gag, it was the screams that it was crying out to us all. Working in a bombed-out Trainers' School did not make anything easier, I'll tell you. And absolutely nothing is worse than having to put some of these poor souls out of their misery when they're too far gone. The Rockets had tortured some of the men and Pokemon they had captured. I only heard about what they had done to some of the human captives, but I was here to witness the damage they had inflicted on some of these creatures…
An Arbok's fangs and tail were cut off. A Starmie came in that was still sparking from an electrocution. They had blasted a Machop's arms and legs wide open with their weapons.
Then, the worst of the day for me; what I believe was, at one time, a Bayleef.
The two leaves on its head were a deathly black, and barbs adorned their edges. I couldn't tell exactly if it…she was just badly bruised or if her skin was really dark gray. Her eyes were a horrifying black…
Hmph, they had to bring her to me in chains. I can't blame them, though…she looked like she was about to charge at one of us. I doubt we could've stopped her if she did…
…then Ash rushed in, a few bandages shrouding his face and arms. Even when the Bayleef growled at him, he continued towards her. I suppose you could only gain that kind of courage after being through what he's been through. Either that…or this was HIS Bayleef.
I'm sure that I'm correct about that notion. Why else would she stop struggling on the chains we had her in once he got within arm's reach of her? Why else would she lower her head to him and try to nuzzle him with her forehead? Why else would her jet-black eyes become so soft before she began crying in his hands' embrace?
Of course, I'm sure Namba had something to do with her condition. Ash told me that man had forced her to battle him, Shadow, Light and Bolt before they went after the bird monster I've been hearing about.
However, he told me to keep an eye on Shadow. He went berserk again, and I've seen how that turns out…
Well, afterwards I found him and Light in an adjacent room. Of course, after being in the kind of battle they were in, both of them were out cold. The army seems to have run out of beds, so they had them in one bed together. I'm thinking that Shadow heard me approaching, because I could see his ears perk up for a moment. I'm pretty sure his eyes opened for a moment, but he stayed asleep.
Shadow was cut up badly; to me it looked like he had been caught in a shrapnel blast. Despite this, he was sleeping quite soundly. From what I heard from Ash, they had been in one hell of a battle. Namba had them fight a fusion he had created of Zapdos, Moltres, and Articuno. The entire area of where the battle was supposedly fought was razed. Of course, despite the probable power of such a foe, they came out alright, compared to how many others would have been…
Once again I see how resilient he is.
Looking on him, I felt just a little responsible for his wounds. I'm the one who made him who he is, after all. He's fared through the life Team Rocket gave him and all the pain it gave him, all the time thinking their cause was right. Then, in the blink of an eye, it fell down all around him. I can only imagine how much strain and internal suffering that must've caused him…
Was it worth it, though? It was only because of him that I was able to get Giovanni's trust, if only for the time. He has knowledge of so many of the Rocket's practices, and I'm sure he might be able to blend right in with them if he has to. When I was discovered, he managed to save me and Light, while taking down one of the most dangerous Pokémon agents they had at their disposal. Most of all, his experience with Light is maybe the only time he's ever opened up to someone. She's really helping him through most of this, even better than Ash and Bolt are. The way he snapped at Zero when he stabbed her back in the Rocket base tells me a lot about how protective he must be of her.
Well, I hope I can speak with him soon. I've got so much to discuss with him. At least, in the vein of things, he's out of that place and here with us.
His life here will be much better than what it was in Team Rocket.
For a while I've been sitting by his and Light's side now, just keeping an eye on them, maybe talk with them if they wake soon. This little scene I'm seeing of them is just…hm, what's the right word…cute? They're sleeping huddled next to one another, Shadow covered in bandages and Light with a heartbeat monitor on her arm. It looks to me like they've gotten much closer since I last saw them. Every now and then they're nuzzling in their sleep. Hopefully after this war they can settle down somewhere. I wonder what a Pichu from these two would be like…
Of course that certainly isn't my decision to make whether or not they actually commit to such things soon but I believe that as close as they are, it'll happen someday. I just hope that how I've 'contributed' to Shadow won't stop that.
This raises another concern of mine…he lost it again today. Light's fine here, but something must've happened. I wonder what could've possibly et him off…I pray his powers aren't going out of control. I can't bear to think that the dark energy is slipping out of his control. I'll have to watch him as closely as I can to make sure. Hopefully I'll be able to reverse the process, somehow, so someday he might be able to go out as natural as any other Pikachu out there…
Well the battle is still going strong, and I should probably log off now. For now I'll just be waiting here next to them so when they eventually wake up I can see how they've been doing. At the same time...I should be checking the energy readings radar for this 'generator' that Ash told me so briefly about. Apparently it was the main reason why they had gone in and attacked so far ahead of the main force. Until then, this is Xepher, logging off.
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