Hidden In Shadows (Sequel to Not All Arrogance): Part 1~ The Desert Region of Orre

((Joyful Note: Woo! Back again and editing things. I am just that awesome. Yes, the sequel has commenced and I can only hope that it lives as something better than the first. Though, judging by the currents laws of sequel quality... well, whatever! We shall try! Enjoy!))

The only city in Kanto with an airport was Saffron. Neither Gary nor Amy ever flew commercially before so this was going to be a totally new experience for both of them, not that Amy could find much excitement in the novelty of the situation. Knowing full well that she was being sent by her boyfriend's possibly senile grandfather into a region where dangerous Pokemon were known to be in order to investigate said evil Pokemon, Amy couldn't help but keep her thoughts riveted to this fact regardless of how fast her Dragonair Selene flew Gary and herself to the city in the center of the region.

After a brief stop at the Pokemon center, the two trainers made their way toward the airport. It was a relatively small structure at the edge of the city when compared to the skyscrapers in the middle, and boasted a fleet of twelve eight-seat passenger planes, each with a flying pokemon native to the region painted on the tail. This was enough to manage the amount of people who wished to travel to other regions in this way. The only people who regularly made a point of leaving their home region were usually Pokemon trainers, and they usually preferred to stick to land and sea routes for those journeys so as to get in as much training as possible while traveling. Gary and Amy however didn't really have time for the scenic route today.

After passing through airport security, Gary and Amy took up seats in the small Pigeot painted aircraft with six other people including the pilot and co pilot. Gary and Amy was in the back of the plane. In front of them seemed to be a family of four, with a mother, father and two girls who looked about thirteen and ten years old and seemed shy. Amy took a quick look out the small window and suddenly felt a wave of nausea at the thought of flying in this tiny tin can of a plane. She looked at Gary in hopes of being comforted.

"Gary, remind me why we agreed to this? Couldn't we have just ridden Selene there?" Amy asked quietly.

Gary let out a short laugh. "What, you don't know? Orre's covered in desert. A Dragonair would dry out and sunburn if it tried to cross Orre by air."

"Um, I guess," Amy muttered, slouching downward. Gary reached across the gap between their seats and grabbed Amy's hand. Amy's eyebrow rose as she looked from their hands to her boyfriend.

"Look, Aims, It'll be fine. You're worrying too much. Gramps wouldn't have given us these tickets if it wasn't safe. But hey, if you're scared, I'm here for you, alright?"

Then the pilot announced take off. As we barrelled off down the runway, Gary kept talking.

"I mean, why would there be a problem? I mean I guess there's probably I small overweight balance on my side of the plane but I'm sure they make up for that with how the baggage is stored and I guess the wings don't look entirely steady but-"

"Gary."

"Uh, yeah?"

"You're kinda killing my hand with your squeezing."

"Oh, um..." Gary quickly released Amy's reddened hand from his grip and flushed brightly, but his hands moved to his arm rests which he now clutched as the plane began to creep into the sky. Amy groaned, hoping that her stomach would settle down before her first plane ride was over.

It didn't seem like that would be for a while, as she had to use her sick bag in the first ten minutes. She might not have any fear while riding Selene, but she somehow seemed more reliable than metal.

Despite her mind and stomach's misgivings, Amy did take time to looked out the plane window when passing over Orre about two hours later. Gary had been researching Orre through brochures at the airport and informed her, green as he did so (and not looking outside), that Orre was only mostly a desert region, having some forested areas near the coat, and apparently it was one of the few places in the world where there were no wild Pokémon anywhere. All Pokémon in the region were owned by trainers. It was easy to see why when Amy thought about it; the ground looked like a wasteland for miles, except for a few isolated towns. There were only two towns in the desert, Pyrite and Phenac according to Gary, and then Agate town was located in the west, in the forested area. Gary's maternal grandparents lived there. Further west was Gateon port, where the Orre Region airport and Seaport were both located. Luckily the whole region wasn't that large, so bus routes could connect all the towns and a person could go from one end of this bus route to the other in about eight hours. There were rumours, according to Gary again, of an underground city but they hadn't been confirmed.

Once over Orre, it wasn't long before they began to descend. In that time Amy determined that if they were going to travel around investigating shadow Pokémon, they would require some mode of transportation more easily accessed than a bus on a schedule. They couldn't rely on Selene in a dry climate like this. What transportation they could use though was beyond her for the moment.

The plane landed without a hitch, but Gary and Amy were still stumbling when they hit the pavement with their shoes. It took all Amy's willpower not to sink to her knees and kiss the ground in gratitude for its continued support in these troubled times. Thinking that Gabriel would enjoy a bit of fresh air, Amy released him from his ball. The little mutant Pokemon looked thrilled by this and hugged Amy's leg. Amy was about to tug away quick before she was cut, only to discover that her Cubone was actually holding the sharp parts at an angle so that they didn't cut his trainer.

"Wow. Looks like he's learning," Gary said, sounding a bit impressed though still suffering from nausea. Amy nodded, but the action made her feel light headed. Gary noticed this. "Pokemon center?"

"Yeah, we have a lot of jet lag to sleep off," Amy sighed, and the two trainers headed for the round roofed building with the giant red P... Gabriel still holding tight to Amy's leg the whole trip. It was dark out, and the stars were shining brightly.

Inside, the two had the biggest shock of their lives. Standing behind the front desk was NOT Nurse Joy. Instead, they were faced with a woman with long, beige coloured hair. She still seemed nice, but after being used to seeing Joys wherever they went it was still a jarring experience.

"Hello, I'm Nurse Hope. What can I do for you today?" the woman asked.

"Erm... well, me and my girlfriend need a room for the night," Gary said after he'd managed to get past the surprising lack of red pigtail...loop... things.

"Alright then, I'll set you up with two single beds. Remember, no shenanigans are allowed!" the nurse said with a small giggle. Amy blushed violently and looked away, causing Gabriel to look up[ at her in curiosity. Gary didn't seem entirely comfortable either and coughed as he took the card key. The two trainers headed off down the hallway to find their room. It had been one long day and they were ready to drop by the time they got inside and sank onto their twin mattresses. As sleep claimed her though, Amy was conscious of some strange, vague feeling of uneasiness about the day ahead.

The next morning, Gary and Amy headed out of the Pokemon Center and decided to get some breakfast before beginning to figure out how to get to Agate Town. They got some food at a nearby beach vendor and they broke out the Pokémon food as well. The two trainers their Pokémon dug in with earnest. Amy watched fondly as Isis and Socrates shared a dish together. Gabriel, who had long since abandoned attempts at picking up food with his claws, was bent over his bowl and scarfing his food so quickly it was a wonder he didn't choke on it. She noted that Harmony was looking at Gabriel with severe distaste and laughed. Gary raised an eyebrow.

Suddenly, a couple of men seemed to appear from nowhere and approached them. They both wore bandannas and sunglasses.

"Hey, you're Pokémon trainers right?" one said grinning, "My name's Folly, and this is my associate, Trudly."

"Are you interested a double battle?" Trudly asked, grinning as well.

Gary and Amy looked at each other. "Are you interested in a double battle?" Amy asked Gary.

"What, right now?" Gary asked, still half a crepe in front of him.

"Aw come on, just a quick one. You two against us two, one Pokémon per trainer, first side to lose a Pokémon loses," Folly said looking insistent. Amy sighed.

"Well, I guess I'm okay with it."

Gary looked a little surprised, and then smirked. "Guess I'll go too!"

"Excellent," both bandanna men said together. The two trainer teams stood apart from each other. Gary and Amy, knowing which two of their Pokemon were best to use in a double battle, ordered their Eevee evolutions onto the field. Both Umbreon and Glaceon stood with fur bristling, ready to fight.

"Alright, go Whismer!" called Folly. The little rabbit Pokémon appeared on the field, looking distinctly non-threatening. Neither had seen such a Pokemon before, but nor could they imagine it would cause much trouble.

"Go Makuhita!" called Trudly. The ball burst open, and Amy's eyes flew wide. The Pokémon released was a short, rotund crewature with a bright yellow colour, but it was surrounded by a black cloudy substance of some sort. A black aura. Amy gave Gary a sideways glance to get his opinion, but he was busy checking his Pokedex about the Pokémon he was facing, without a trace of concern that there was something seriously wrong with one of them. For the moment at least, Amy would try to ignore it and question later. After all, perhaps this aura was normal for Makuhita? She'd never heard of that Pokemon before either, so it was entirely possible.

"Alright, let's get this started! Amy, get Isis to attack Whismer, it's a normal type, so Dark moves won't really work that well," Gary explained. Amy nodded.

"Okay, Isis! Use Swift on Whismer!"

"Makuhita, block him!" Trudly ordered and Makuhita jumped in the way of the stream of stars, getting hit by them but seemed to collect barely any damage at all."Now use Shadow Rush!"

"Shadow Rush?" Amy questioned and Gary looked at her with a similar expression of confusion.

"I've never heard of that either," he confessed. Makuhita's black aura intensified for a moment and he charged toward Socrates, knocking him back hard. The Pokémon struggled to his feet. Whatever Shadow Rush was, it was powerful.

"Isis! Use Blizzard!" Amy called. Her blue Pokémon let loose the blast, but with a call of 'dodge' from their trainers, both opposing Pokémon evaded the attack.

"Use Shadow Rush again!" Trudly yelled, but when he did the Pokémon's black aura suddenly took a red tone and Makuhita let loose a growl, running straight at Amy with a blind rage. Amy stumbled back in shock. Pokémon didn't attack trainers without serious provocation!

"Amy, watch out!" Gary screamed, running in front of Amy and taking the attack. He was knocked into Amy, who fell back onto the ground. She pushed him off before she asked if he was okay.

"I-I think so, what's wrong with that Pokémon?" Gary groaned as they stood up, Gary clutching his side. Both their Pokémon were looking at their trainers in concern.

"Damn, it went into Hyper Mode again," Trudly growled.

"Well call it then, we can always fix the gauge later, I wish head office would fix that stupid bug already," Folly grumbled back. Amy and Gary were obviously bemused by the entire predicament... and more than a little sore. So as Trudly called out his Pokémon's name, which Amy noticed turned the aura back to black, Amy and Gary decided to finish this battle.

"Socrates, use Screech!" Gary called and Umbreon let loose his super powerful lungs. Everyone had to clamp their hands over their ears but Amy managed to get Isis to hear her shout for Blizzard somehow anyway. Isis turned her powerful icy breath towards the opponents and sent both for a loop, knocking Whismer out at least. Makuhita seemed like he could still go on, but the rules set by their opponents only stated that one Pokemon need be knocked out. Socrates stopped and was recalled, as was Isis. Folly and Trudly more than a little annoyed as they recalled their Pokémon, but Amy couldn't help but express her concern over the strange, shadowy Makuhita.

"What was up with your Makuhita? It had a black aura all around its body," Amy said, frowning.

"Oh, that's cause it's a Shadow poke- ouch!" Folly yelled as Trudly smacked him over the head.

"Shut UP!" he hissed.

"Black aura? What do you mean?" Gary asked, looking befuddled and still wincing from his bruised side Amy chewed the inside of her cheek and looked back at Trudly.

"It had something like a black cloud around him, and just before he attacked Gary it glowed red too," she explained. They all stared at her for a long moment. Then their opponents were all grins again.

"You know, you should probably get your boyfriend to a doctor to get that looked at, we're very sorry our Pokémon attacked you, and we'll accompany you there, alright?"

Although Nurse Hope was primarily a Pokemon doctor, she also knew enough about human bodies to diagnose Gary's injury and it turned out that Gary had a big bruise but nothing worse. Folly and Trudly had followed them to the Pokémon center where Amy and Gary left all their Pokémon with Nurse Hope to be checked over, since they were leaving for the bus station soon. The four were loitering around the front entrance (not that Amy or Gary really wanted the other two around anymore) when out of the blue Trudly grabbed Amy's arm.

"Hey wha-?" Amy tried to pull back but she was pushed into Folly by Trudly. Folly covered her mouth with his hand. She looked wildly about but no one was around to assist except for Gary.

"Let go of her!" Gary snapped, rushing forward to tackle Folly, but Trudly punched him in the side where Makuhita had hit him earlier. Gary let out a sharp cry in pain and fell over.

"Don't follow us, if you know what's good for yeah," Trudly growled before he grabbed Amy's legs, lifting her off the ground, and the two ran up the street. Gary tried to get up, winced in pain, and fell down to his knees again. A short ways away, Amy was pulled into an alley, tied up and tape was used to cover her mouth. They stuffed her into a bag and loaded her onto a truck, which the two began driving out of town. Needless to say, Amy's heart was beating its way out of her chest as she stared at the inside of the bag with increasing horror. It had suddenly clicked with her that she and Gary had been sent to Orre in order to discover evil Pokemon. Evil Pokemon named Shadow Pokemon. She herself had thought Makuhita had possessed a shadowy aura.

Makuhita was a shadow Pokemon, she had been kidnapped for discovering this, and now she was totally screwed.

Back at the Pokémon Center, Gary managed to get to his feet and ran after the men, asking whoever he saw (which wasn't many people, seeing as it was close to midday and most people were inside eating lunch) if they'd seen two men carrying a girl. Someone mentioned they saw two men with bandanas tying a girl up, but didn't want to get involved. Gary growled in rage at the lack of motivation in the bystander and kept on with his search. He soon found a guy who said they stole his truck. Gary was about to head to the front of the town, when he heard a loud, male voice that was very familiar to him.

"Gary Oak! Where's my daughter? That's the last time I trust that grandfather of yours, where is she? You're coming home now!" it was Amy's father. Gary turned around, wondering how he was going explain this.

"Um, Amy is..." he could tell the truth. But if he did that, he'd probably never be allowed to be with Amy again. Her dad was really overprotective; to think his daughter was kidnapped would probably send him over the edge. "Shopping," was the first explanation that comes to mind.

Her father relaxed slightly, but only slightly, "That kid... you two should never have come here, Prof. Oak is an idiot, how could he send you here?" he growled, "I called Ash to ask about you two, and he says you weren't with them. Then his friend, Misty I think was her name, smacked him and said Prof. Oak told them to say you were with them, so I wouldn't know you were in Orre! Orre!"

"Erm, what's wrong with Orre?" Gary asked. 'Besides it being riddled with shadow Pokémon.' He added inside his head. Then it suddenly occurred to him they were supposed to be on the lookout for shadow Pokémon. And the two guys actually admitted to having a shadow Pokémon. Wow... just... just wow. This was probably the world's largest brain fart on the part of himself and Amy, and it worked out in the worst possible way.

Amy's father frowned and looked away when he finally answered. "This is where myself and Amy's mother lived, before we went to Kanto to escape this place."

"What do you mean? Why did you have to escape?" Gary asked, momentarily losing his urgency in this new piece of information.

"I, well, I suppose I have to tell someone, but don't tell Amy this, it'll hurt her too much. You might want to sit down," the grey haired man said pointing to a bench. Gary hesitated, and then sat. He couldn't act impatient, or else Amy's dad would know something was wrong. "Here in Orre, there are two criminal organizations. One is Team Snag'em, which is widely known, and another, Cipher, which is far less known, but far more dangerous. When I was much younger, I was in Team Snag'em. The goal of Team Snag'em was to steal Pokémon from trainers. They had a snag machine that turned regular Pokeballs into Snag Balls that captured trainer's Pokémon. I decided one day I didn't want to do that anymore, and destroyed all the snag machines but two, which I took myself in case I might need them. It turned out that I did.'

'I met Amy's mother, Rui. She had run from Cipher. She was a top scientist there, and helped create a way to block Pokémon's inner emotions and turn them into fighting machines. These Pokémon were called shadow Pokémon. Rui discovered she could see an aura around the Pokémon that others couldn't. Peons were sent to find others that could see the aura of shadow Pokémon. There weren't many, but there were some. They were rounded up and killed."

Gary's eyes flew wide and he started to panic. "Th-they were all killed?"

Amy's father nodded solemnly. "Yes, and it seemed be hereditary, so sometimes whole families were murdered. Rui was left alive because she was useful to the organization, and because the ability to see the Shadow Aura was useful to their side. But soon she began to hate the murder they performed, and escaped. She ran, and we found each other. We both wanted to leave the region now; Rui was listed to be eliminated for deserting. We immigrated to Kanto, where we married, and a year later we had Amy. Then a few years after that, Rui was killed by her Ninetails. Her Ninetails was a shadow Pokémon. In a world where Shadow Pokémon were possibly all around, and all who could see them were being killed, any Pokémon could be a killing machine. I didn't know how far Cipher had expanded. I didn't want Amy to leave our hometown. But she did, with you. I just want her out Orre; this is the most dangerous place to be."

Gary stared at him, his chest feeling hollow. Amy might be... no, he couldn't think like that. Though... he had to tell Amy's dad what happened now. "Amy was captured by a couple of guys with a shadow Pokémon. She could see the shadow Pokémon's aura."

"WHAT?"

Suddenly, a man's voice was heard to the right and both Gary and Amy's dad looked up. "Wes? Is that you? You bastard, I thought we ran you out of here seventeen years ago!" it was a guy in a biker helmet, with a group of others in similar attire.

"We have a grudge against you, ya bastard! Your coming back to the base to get beat right!" another growled and they started rushing at Amy's dad, Wes being his name, and Gary. They jumped up and ran. The two darted behind a building and Wes grabbed Gary's shoulder.

"If Amy is captured by Cipher, then you have to save her! Take these," He said, taking off his gloves and putting them on Gary as he looked at the man in bewilderment "These are the snag machines I stole from Snag'em. I used them when Rui was alive to 'rescue' shadow Pokémon because she begged me to. But you must remember that shadow Pokémon are lost to us. Get them away from Cipher if possible, since they are powerful enemies. SAVE AMY! Oh, and take these keys to my old motorbike, it's at the front of town, now go!" Wes gave Gary some keys and ran out to meet Snag'em. Gary saw them pull out a metal crowbar and hit him hard over the head. The man fell before the bikers grabbed him and ran off.

Gary went to find the motorbike and sidecar. It didn't take long to find, as it glittered brightly in the desert sun. It was pretty cool. But this certainly wasn't the time to drool over a cool motorbike. He asked a woman nearby if they'd seen a truck out there.

"Yes, not a half hour ago a truck came barrelling around out here! Nearly ran me over too. They were heading east."

"What towns are east from here?" Gary asked quickly.

"Only Pyrite and Phenac. The boys driving that truck looked pretty rough and tumble, so I'd guess they'd be heading to Pyrite. Why, are they friends of yours?"

"No, they kidnapped my girlfriend, and I'm going to rescue her!" Gary announced striking a courageous pose before digging a helmet out of the sidecar and revving up the engine. He was just lucky his dad had taught him the basics of handling one of these things when he was twelve, he hoped it wouldn't be too hard as he took off over the sandy road in the east direction the woman had pointed out.

Don't worry Amy, I'm coming! Gary thought fiercely as he rode, totally oblivious to the fact that he'd forgotten all his Pokémon and Amy's at the Gateon Pokémon center.

((Joyful Note: I know this chapter isn't spectacular. It was worse on Quizilla, trust me. I'm pretty sure the subsequent chapters in this sequel are better, but for now you'll have to content yourselves with this. I apologise!))