Okay, here it is, guys! Chapter six is finished! I'd actually been planning this part of it for another time in Brine Cave, but that was before I put it up here. Besides, I might as well get the actual plot in motion now. XD

…~-CHAPTER SIX: Boss Battle! An Impossible Foe

Solay showed them all around the forest. Besides the Weeping Elder Birch, there were other spectacular sights. She showed them a rainbow with both ends not fifteen feet from each other, maintained only in the single clearing, and a waterfall that fell up instead of down! She explained it was because of the way the ground sloped, but Treecko still thought it was cool.

Now they were taking a break and eating. Shadow leaned back on his hands, looking up at the sky. Mudkip and Solay had their apples in between their paws and gnawed on them. Treecko picked his up with both hands and bit into it.

"Mm, things taste better when you work up an appetite," Mudkip mumbled through a mouthful of apple.

"Yeah," he agreed.

They ate in relative silence until Solay lifted her head and looked behind her. Treecko followed her gaze, but there was nothing there.

"Solay?" he asked quietly.

She didn't turn around until the supposed threat had passed. She met his gaze, blinked, and shook her head. "It was nothing. Never mind. I must be loosing it."

Shadow looked to where she had been staring, then back at Solay. He said nothing, but did this several times.

Treecko and Mudkip were getting worried. Were they being followed by someone or something? But the rest of lunch finished without any ambushing. When Mudkip was finished, Solay stood and motioned for Treecko to take the lead again.

He led them deeper and deeper into the forest. The shadows were getting thicker, but it didn't disturb him. He had Solay and Shadow with him.

Up ahead was a light. He slowed, and when Solay nodded that it was okay to continue, he swallowed and stepped into the clearing. He had to blink several times to adjust his vision, and then gasped at what was in front of him.

In front of him was the biggest tree in perhaps the entire land. If fifty of him were to lay down with their arms and tails touching, they might make it a third of the way around. And if two hundred of him were to stand on each other's shoulders, they might make it to the first branch, which was maybe a fourth of the whole tree. Beside him, Mudkip was also grasping the situation, for she let out a squeak.

Solay giggled behind him. "That's about the same reaction Shadow and I had when we first found this place," she explained, padding past them. "It's huge, isn't it?"

"H-h-h-huge?" Treecko stuttered. "It's…it's…"

"Super ultra mega ginormus!" Mudkip finished loudly.

"That isn't a word, Mudkip," Treecko muttered.

"It is now," she retorted.

"And you know the cool part of it?" Solay called from beside the tree. Treecko looked at her, dwarfed by this huge freak of nature.

"What?" Treecko asked, walking to her side.

Solay raised a paw and struck the tree. A curious note echoed from the wood, almost as if… "It's partially hollow!" she said gleefully. "Do you get it now?"

"Hollow…Hollow Forest, oh, I get it!" Mudkip exclaimed. "Did you guys discover this place or something?"

"Sorta," Shadow replied. "No one knew the tree was hollow until we came, and before we offered renaming the place, it was called Oak Forest." He nodded to the tree. "This is the mighty oak from the legend I told you earlier."

"Wooowwwww…" Mudkip breathed, tilting her head back to look up.

Team Treekip stared in awe at this amazing structure for a few minutes, then their necks started to hurt and they looked back down. Solay was grinning at them. She padded away from the tree and into the sunlight, where she sat and tilted her head to the sun.

"It's warm," she said simply.

Shadow leaned over to whisper in Treecko and Mudkip's ears. "She's in a philosophical mood now. Watch out."

"Heard that," Solay told him, flicking an ear in his direction.

He waltzed over to her, asking in a bored tone, "Is a rock going to fall on my head for whispering, my lady?" He was grinning too, though.
"Mm, maybe," she replied mischievously.

He chuckled and swept her up, dancing around the clearing with Solay flailing in his arms, squeaking like an enraged Pichu.

"Shadow, put me down," she laughed.

"As you wish," he replied regally, setting her back on terra firma.

"Ewwwww, gross," Mudkip whined from beside Treecko. "You two act like my parents!"

They both bent double over, laughing, and Treecko couldn't help but join in. Mudkip looked between the three for a few heartbeats, then started a mad giggling fit too.

When Solay finally caught her breath, and sighed. "Well, I guess the only thing to do now is to wait for the others to show up. Maybe—" Her eyes narrowed, looking off to the side of the clearing. She fixed her stance into a battle one, a growl forming low in her throat.

"Come out of there," she said, deadly calm. "I can feel your need to kill. It's nauseating."

Shadow, likewise, had taken a ready stance. He moved his hand in a subtle motion for Treecko and Mudkip to join him. Scared now, they hurried over behind him.

Solay's growl grew louder, and her calm voice now held a sharp demand in it. "Come out!" she barked. "Right now!"

"Fine." A figure emerged from the shadows slowly, and the light fell upon his form. He was tall and human-like with blades on his arms. As he appeared, he crossed one arm over his chest and bowed, sweeping the other out behind him. "Glad to meet your acquaintance," he said. "My name is—"

"Gallade," Solay finished. "Yeah, I know. You're near the top of my Most Wanted List."

"Well, I'm delighted you've heard of me," he replied, not finding this surprising. He gave a nod to Shadow as well, who drew back just a fraction of an inch. "And hello to Team Treekip as well."

Beside him, Mudkip drew in her breath sharply. "H-how do you know us?" Treecko stammered.

"My employer speaks highly of you four," Gallade answered, as if it was the simplest thing in the world. "I was instructed to attack you all by ambush, ergo taking everyone out quickly, but I guess we'll have to change the plan." A murderous light entered his once gentlemanly eyes, and he took his stance. "A frontal assault was my Plan B."

Solay took a half step back, still growling. "Sorry, Treecko," she said, and before he knew what she was going to do, she turned a light speed and scooped him up on her back. Shadow looped Mudkip under one of his arms and took off after Solay. Treecko clung to her fur for life. Beside him, Shadow was easily keeping up, even at the break-neck pace Solay had set.

"Can we slow down a little?" Mudkip asked, bumping up and down under Shadow's arm. "I think I'm getting motion sickness…"

"Sorry, no time," Solay replied. "We've got to get away from him now. He's only after us at the moment, but if we'd stuck around after he defeated us, he might have gonna after the Guild members. And we can't have that." Treecko felt her hind legs bunch as a fallen tree trunk loomed up above him. It was at least five times her height, there was no way—!

She leaped up. The whole jump was in slow-motion for Treecko. Solay was flying up to the top of the trunk. Her back feet touched, and she immediately pushed off, soaring through the air until she landed a good eleven feet from the trunk. Solay bit her tongue from crying out. Her front paw hadn't landed quite right. But there was no time. She had a second's pause, then started sprinting again.

Treecko was in awe. She could go this far, that fast, with him on her back. But she was forcing herself to keep the pace steady, he could tell. She wasn't putting her full weight on one of her paws. Solay probably hurt it in the fall, he told himself guiltily.

As they reached the Weeping Elder Birch, Solay drastically decreased the pace. "I need to rest," she gasped, and fell onto her side, throat burning. Shadow was likewise doubled over, coughing and rubbing his neck. Solay lifted her forepaw and licked it a few times, then put it back down.

Treecko and Mudkip felt useless. All they could do was stand by and watch as their heroes caught their breath while a powerful enemy was closing in behind. Treecko had a case of walking on coals. He paced back and forth, chewing the inside of his lip.

Shadow was the first to recover, and he looked up at the Elder Birch. Suddenly, he froze up and didn't move. Solay's gaze narrowed, and she stood up slowly. There was silence from Treecko and Mudkip as they watched her go over to her partner.

Treecko didn't know why, but she shouldn't go near him. If she did, it would be bad. No more. She can't go. No…no…no, no, no! He opened his mouth to tell her to stop, but his voice wouldn't come. It was like the world was holding its breath. There was no air to breath. There was only Solay walking to her doom.

She stopped just behind him, off to the side. "Shadow?"

There was no reply.

She made to walk around to see his face. Treecko tried to move, to pull her away, but his feet were stuck to the ground. His legs were too heavy. They wouldn't do what his brain was telling him.

Solay stood in front of Shadow, looking into his face. "Shadow?" she repeated.

It happened almost too fast for Treecko and Mudkip to see. Shadow spun around, raising his leg in the process, and round-house kicked Solay straight to the other side of the clearing. She hit a tree and made a large indent in it. Her limp form slid to the ground, and she lay still.

Treecko wasn't paralyzed anymore, but his limbs were like jello. "S-S-Solay…"

"Arceus above," Mudkip whispered, eyes dilated with fear. "Oh my…Shadow!" Her tone grew fierce. "Shadow, what was that for! You could've killed her!"
He turned slowly, menacingly, and fixed them in his stare. His eyes…there was no white in them at all. It was all red…the color of murder.

"Now, tell me, who's Shadow again?" he asked, cracking a demonic grin.

…~-

O_O I am diabolical, aren't I? 8)