Hello, not much of an author's note here, I know you want to get to the exciting bit already! But, I have to apologise for the late update becuase my computer crashed, and I was without access to internet for a little while. Well, enough with the excuses, and on with the story!
Disclaimer reader: Moonlite Streak does not own pokemon. But she owns her OC though! :D
Chapter 3: The Shadow
Shaymin's POV
Things happened so quickly, one minute I was resting peacefully in Streak's warm arms, and the next her eyes turned darker than the darkest shade of midnight, with not even a hint of the former chocolate brown that was there originally.
She clawed desperately at her neck before collapsing onto the ground, and at that moment I realised that she was no longer in control of the shadow that still lingered deep in her heart. A sharp smell pierced my nose, an unusual cross between rust and liquorice.
Suddenly she stood up and spread her legs wide apart with her shoulders close to the ground in a protective stance before growling a low, menacing growl.
Her arms were spread wide, and her palms faced upwards, ending with her fingers which were curled towards the ceiling in talons.
She conjured floating black flames in her clawed hands, and made to hurl them at me before a roar at the window diverted her attention.
Streak whirled around, her teeth that were flecked with shadow bared in aggression, towards the sudden interupption at the small window. With a rush of relief I saw that Rayquaza had answered the call of the necklace. The huge green dragon stopped outside the thin glass shield and looked at Streak with disbelief that quickly turned to realization, and his eyes hardened.
~..*..~
Normal (no-one's) POV
The shadow girl whisked around in a blur towards the new, more powerful threat. She bared her teeth at it in an act of defianceand growled at it menacingly, daring it to interrupt the current fight.
Without warning, Streak crouched down on the ground and rocked back and forth. The forest protector and keeper of justice exchanged worried glances before the smaller of the two cautiously approached the lost girl.
~..*..~
Streak's POV
My limbs ached with raw power, and my head split in half trying to contain it. It horrified me that just a few short moments ago I was relishing the thought of killing one of my best friends. Following my instincts, I crouched down on the ground and wrapped my arms around my legs to restrain the leaping shadow inside of me, but even then I still shifted to and fro.
I felt my eyes turn black, then golden, then back to brown and then black again, in a never-ending sequence that lasted for eternity. I kept losing consciousness before going through the agonising physical and mental change of turning from human to shadow. Every shift to and back from the darkness was pure torture, and I wasn't sure if I could stand it much longer.
I could only think basic thoughts, and before I knew it, I was screaming with the pain of the shift, and I was shadow once more. A prisoner in my own body, I could faintly hear Shaymin calling my name, and I was dimly aware of her trying to approach me. Pushing away the burning pain, I shifted once more, sobs racking my weary body and shadow worming its way through my veins.
Stay away from me! I begged Shaymin and Rayquaza through choking sobs that quickly turned to high hisses and low growls.
I clutched at my heart and the liquid goo that was suffocating it, and tried again to push it away from me. It was so hard to stop the unforgiving darkness, but I had done it before, so I would do it again.
I managed to down it for a little while, before I lost my concentration when I looked into Shaymin's green, comforting eyes and it overtook me again. I felt myself rip through the wooden frame of the bed like it was tissue paper.
~..*..~
Shaymin's POV
Stay away from me! She begged us before hissing tauntingly at me as she quickly lost control of the relentless shadow again.
I backed up a couple of steps but didn't stop calling her name. She turned to look at me with staggering speed, and she could easily have killed me that moment, but her eyes betrayed her shadow appearance, looking at me with love and longing.
My voice faltered for a moment or two when she shredded the sturdy, wooden bed frame like it was nothing, but I soon started up again, fuelled by the small spark of recognition that lay buried under layers of pain deep in Streak's black eyes.
Not able to bring myself to harm the human I now thought of as a friend, but unable to prevent the shadow from taking her place, it was all I could do to just shout her name and hope that some better plan would come to me.
I looked at Rayquaza who lingered outside of the window, watching on helplessly, before feeling confusion at his sudden change of emotion. I looked back over to Streak and felt my face change too, when I saw that her frantic eyes had ceased their darting, and that she no longer retained her protective fighting stance, and that she was smiling in amazement, not just at me and Rayquaza, but at herself.
~..*..~
Streak's POV
As the shifts became less and less frequent, and I was able to think more clearly for longer periods of time, I started to feel my way around my changed body, as much as I dared before I changed back to human. I found that, with a lot of effort, I could move my fingers while in shadow form.
My joyous thought was interrupted with the agony of changing and I found myself panting with the effort it had taken. It was like trying to push a cement clock the size of Mount Everest, when I was the size of an ant.
Eventually, little by little, and through blindingly hot pain, I managed to regain the control of most of my body, before I once again reverted back to human form. The shadow I had managed to push back immediately started to attempt to regain ground, and it was hard work keeping it from smothering me completely, let alone drive it from my body completely.
One time I changed to shadow form, I could nearly move all of my limbs, and the next I could do nothing at all. Fear gripped me when, for the third time in a row, I lost control and nearly threw a flame orb at Shaymin.
Then, after an eternity, the spasms of shifting finally slowed to a stop and I was left standing in the middle of the room, looking at myself and at my two friends in amazement. I decided that I would succumb to the shadow willingly, but not completely.
Little by little I let the shadow first take over my main torso, then my neck and upper arms and eventually my whole body, but although my head was swirling with blackness, I found that I was totally in control of my body.
My bare feet were amazingly nimble and agile for all the power they possessed, and I found that I could alter the size and intensity of the shadow orbs that floated in my fists.
I experimented with my speed, darting around the room and with my strength, easily mangling what remained of the twisted bed frame. I closed my eyes and pushed the shadow away, before opening them again and finding that I was back to human form.
This was going to be interesting.
~..*..~
Moon's POV
I ran a sweaty hand through my thick, black, spiky hair, idly wondering where I could get it cut before sighing for the millionth time. Being a shadow hunter was stressful and usually lonely, and the increase in shadow numbers lately wasn't exactly helping my mood.
Due to various circumstances (such as the rumour of a shadow legendary, previously unheard of in the shadow-hunting world,) I had been forced to spend the night at Eterna City's pokecenter. I heaved myself off the bed and I walked slowly over to the small mirror to stare at myself tiredly.
The reflection of a 15 year old boy stared back at me intently, perfectly normal albeit for the two Umbreon ears that flopped about on my head and the faint, luminescent yellow rings that were barely noticeable on my cheeks, but were still there. I continued searching my almost black eyes that hid a hint of crimson red.
At this I smiled, because my sister would always say that my eyes were one of my finer features, if I were hoping to attract any girls. Not that I had any hope of that, I had given up long ago.
I guess it was sort of a routine now, drilled into me continuously by my ever persistent and outrageously stubborn little sister. I felt a slight pang of anxiety at the thought of my young and naive sister.
She had a big mouth that tended to get her into a lot of trouble, and she wore her heart on her sleeve you could say, which meant that voiced everything that she thought. I hoped with all my heart that she was safe in Celestic Town, where I hid her with some retired shadow-hunters for fear the shadows may harm her, seeking revenge against my anti-shadow actions. The shadows hadn't approached there yet, and I theorised that it was because if the ancient ruins that were the heart of that town. Whenever you enter them you can just feel the raw magic and power.
It had been two whole, long months since I heard from that boisterous 9 year old last, and it was starting to worry me.
Trying to think of anything but her, I inspected my eyes once more and I wasn't surprised to see two dark bags appearing to form under them. I hadn't exactly had too many nights good sleep lately, what with all the shadows appearing left and right.
And to top it off, since this whole official 'shadow resistance' thing was still fairly recent, none of us even know how to defeat a shadow! The best we can do is temporarily disarm it while we evacuate citizens and passer-bys, but we can't seem to kill or even harm them!
These thoughts still running through my head, I was about to turn off the light and call it a day when I heard screaming from the room opposite mine. Luckily, there were no other rooms that were occupied as it was a week-day, and the metal doors that connected the dorms to the main pokecenter were closed to prevent thieves from entering during the night, so this also meant that no-one would hear what was going on.
Suddenly the scent of shadow hit my nose and I wrinkled it up in distaste. With my super sensitive eyes, I could see the normally invisible shadow scent snake its way under the door and billow around the room like smoke. Though it was harmless, simply a scent, I felt my adrenaline race at the sight of it.
Another scream made me turn my head around to the source of the noise, which was plainly a girl's voice. I turned my attention to the task at hand. The girl needed to be evacuated from here safely while I distract the shadow, before I erase her memories from today with my telekinetic powers.
Another advantage of being a half-pokemon - I inherit some of the powers and visual traits of the pokemon whose DNA is implanted inside me. I for example can use a version of shadow ball, with I form in-between my two hands. I also have super sensitive/amplified hearing and I have excellent vision due to the fact that Umbreon are able to see in the dark.
The screams intensified as I quickly slipped on my shoes to complete my costume, which consisted of a white inner T-shirt, a black outer T-shirt, black fingerless gloves with white trim on the edges, black trainers with white soles and a belt that hung low on my waist which held my pokeballs.
These clothes were all made from a special material, which helped to repel shadow attacks and increase speed, so I had to (or more like I was forced) to wear them at all times. Bosses orders. Unfortunately the ultra balls that hung at my belt were empty at that moment, because I had left all my pokemon with Nurse Joy. Great.
Silently cursing my foolishness I grabbed my black backpack and slung it over my left shoulder before thrusting the doorknob open with my free hand and running into the next room. Although I have to admit, that while I was prepared for the worst, I wasn't prepared for what I saw.
~..*..~
Normal (no-one's) POV
The boy with Umbreon ears burst through the door before pausing and staring in disbelief at the scene before him. There was a Shaymin on the floor, a Rayquaza out the window but most importantly there was a girl in a nightdress with a shadow flame floating in her hand. The two teenagers stared at each other for a long moment before they said two things, exactly in sinc.
"You're a pokemon?"
"You're a shadow?"
Author's note: Ooh, a cliffie! Well at least I finally introduced a new character to the plot.
This chapter may have been pretty boring but I really needed to introduce Moon nice and thoroughly, or you would have had to endure it later on. *evil gleam in eyes*
Please comment and review, it means a lot to this poor old author! And here is some info about the retired shadow hunters who are looking after Moon's sister. They aren't old because shadow's have only been appearing for 3 months at best.
Basically they retired after they were badly injured in a fight with a shadow. They are only about 20, and while they are not strong enough to be on the front lines, they are more than capable of defending themselves against a shadow attack if need be.
-Moonlite Streak-