Hidden In Shadows Part 11~ Ninetails

Amy's head jerked up from her stupor as a fiery blast rocked her cell. She dashed to the other side as the door fell forward.

"Aims?"

"Amy?"

"Cail? Jesse? Thank God!" Amy shrieked and ran outside and hugged both boys. Then she felt the coursing Shadow energy and looked down. Her blood ran cold.

"Erm... yeah. Cipher's already turning the Pokémon shadow..." Cail said carefully as Amy dropped to her knees.

"Isis? No... no way..." she whispered, looking at the pulsing aura and soulless eyes of her first ever Pokémon. She felt a hesitant hand on his back.

"A-Amy? I'm... I'm sure we'll find a cure for this," Jesse whispered.

Amy nodded slowly, looking unsure. "Yeah," she sighed and turned to the other Pokémon. "So... did..." she swallowed, "Did Flash burn down the door?"

"Ah, no," Cail shook his head and pointed a few feet to Amy's right. She looked. And she gasped.

She could tell the Ninetails was a Shadow Pokémon. That much was unmistakable. But the aura was really thin, like a film over her body. Nothing like the other Pokémon, theirs were like thunderclouds. Amy wondered... but how...

"Are you..." she began to ask but before she could get the words out the fire fox sent a blast of flame at another cell. The door fell in.

"FINALLY!" Gary snapped and came out of the cloud of smoke. He saw Amy and grinned. "AMY! You're okay right?" he ran over and swept his girlfriend into a tight hug. Amy sputtered and struggled against him.

"GARY! I. Can't. BREATHE!" she managed to giggle out as Gary finally drew back. She sighed and stood on tip toe to peck his cheek. "Gary... Isis and Flash are Shadow Pokémon. Celia's Gligar too, and we don't know where the other Pokémon are."

"M-mi mi," Amy and Gary looked down to see Minin looking up at them, seeming tired, and holding the arm of Plusle. He looked zombie-like, surrounded by aura. Amy's eyes widened.

"Oh... poor Plusle... do you know where the other Pokémon are?" Amy asked. Minin nodded. There was another blast and Celia came out to join the group.

"Hey, you found Gligar!" Celia smiled.

"Yeah but... he's a Shadow Pokémon Ceil," Cail said with a frown.

Celia's jaw dropped. "Aw crap."

"Don't worry, we'll find a cure," Amy said with more strength than she felt.

Celia slowly shook her head. "You guys... Ein told me what the Shadow Pokémon process is. They use magnets and electrons and stuff to totally wreck a Pokémon's thought process. You can get it to relearn things and even lose aggression over time, but it's like... brain damage. The only way to reverse would be to reverse time itself... it's just... not possible."

Amy breathing quickened but she tried to calm herself. "Well... we'll think about that later. For now, we have to get our other Pokémon and get out. Minin?"

The electric mouse nodded and headed into the corridor, followed by the humans and other Shadow Pokémon except for Ninetails and Amy. These two stayed for a moment longer, just looking at each other.

"Were you... did you... know my mother?" Amy asked quietly.

"AMY! COME ON!" Gary yelled, running back and grabbing Amy's hand. Ninetails took off past them into the hall. The two trainers followed.

"UMBRE!" a shout was heard as Cail wrenched open the door to the room. They were met by a chorus of cheers from the Pokémon. Amy went to Selene's case and flicked a series of switches around the edge. The container shimmered and seemed to melt away. Selene unfolded herself and stretched as the other trainers rescued the other Pokémon from their prisons.

"Wait..." Celia said as she hugged her Teddiursa, "We haven't seen any scientists since we broke out..."

"We haven't?" Jesse said, startled.

"No... Celia's right..." Amy said slowly.

"Sounds like good luck to me," Gary huffed as Umbreon looked in horror at Isis.

"Umbre..." he whispered and jumped back as Isis let loose a snarl.

"Ni," Ninetails said sharply. A strange energy passed through the room and Isis released a low growl before turning docile again.

"What was that?" Cail asked raising an eyebrow.

"I-I think Ninetails is using some primal psychic energy," Jesse said in surprise.

"To control the Shadow Pokémon? Weird," Celia commented, then shrugged, "Whatever, let's get out of here before someone shows up."

"Wait a second! The Shadow Pokémon we had before, and Raiku, they're still missing!" Amy said sharply, "We can't leave yet. Besides, even if we somehow found the exit, we're surrounded by an Entie lava moat remember? We can't get out through that."

"Unless we have Suicune," Jesse said quietly.

Gary groaned. "Fine... ask Ninetails. It probably knows where they are, it seems to know everything else."

"I'm not so sure. I mean, she's brain damaged right?" Cail asked his sister. Celia shrugged but Ninetails just looked down. Then she jumped to her feet and took off down the hall. The shadow Pokémon followed, so did the rest of their now much larger group as the Pokémon didn't seem to have their Pokeballs around.

"Okay, this was just too easy," Gary said stubbornly as they came into the room where their confiscated shadow Pokémon were and their Pokeballs too. That really was too easy.

"I'm not going to question anything at this point!" Cail said gleefully. His cigarettes were found as well. He quickly lit one up and sighed contentedly as smoke filled his lungs. They set about recalling their Pokémon. Amy didn't like putting her beloved Flash and Isis away like they were, but she didn't really have much choice...

Raiku also happened to be in the room. Amy quickly put his Pokeball in Jesse's hand.

"Thank you Amy," Jesse sighed, "But we're still stuck here without Suicune."

"Well... Ninetails got in didn't she?" Celia pointed out slowly.

"Yeah, but Ninetails are fire Pokémon themselves. She might be able to withstand the heat enough to get through." Gary said firmly "I still say this is way too easy. Where the hell are all the scientists?"

Ninetails twitched her tails to catch the attention of the young trainers. She then headed into the hall again. Plusle had been placed in a ball, but Minin stayed out and was quick to head after the fire fox. The human group followed as well.

Down a few more hallways, Amy's mind was racing. Firstly, was this Ninetails... THE Ninetails? The one that... that had... her mother's... And also, whether it was or not how did it get here? Who sent it? And why does it know where everything is? Well, if it was her mother's... maybe she just remembered this building? But that still didn't explain what she was doing there.

Ninetails halted in front of one door and there were clear explosions and yells coming from inside. It sounded like a battle.

"Maybe this Ninetails isn't alone!" Celia grinned.

"Then... who?" Jesse asked, catching his breath.

"NIIIIIIIIINE!" Ninetails roared at the door.

"Oh!" a female gasp came from inside and then: "Use Hypnosis, Mimey!"

"... Mimey?" Gary blinked.

Amy's jaw dropped "No. Freaking. Way."

The shouts died down and the door opened.

"Hello Amy, sweetheart! And Gary, good to see you!" Delia Ketchum said cheerily giving a wave from her heat-proof suit.

"D-Delia?" Amy twitched, "H-how... why..."

Delia winked. "Well sweetie, when I heard my new husband was kidnapped; there was no way I was staying at home! Mimey was worried too, weren't you Mimey?"

"Mime Mime!" cheered her Mr. Mime.

"Okay... but how did you get here?" Gary asked.

"Excuse me, who the heck is this?" Cail asked, pointing at Delia.

"My step-mom," Amy explained.

"Oh, really?" Jesse asked, confused.

"Oh, you must be Jesse. Beluh told me all about you!" Delia took the blind boy's hand and shook it carefully. He blushed.

"Oh, erm, good things I hope?" Jesse laughed nervously.

"Of course!"

"Wait wait wait! So you saw my Grandma?" Gary asked in total confusion.

"Oh yes! Well when I got here Mimey helped me sneak in past the border and we went straight to Agate, but you'd already left for the lab by then. It took a while to get here since we had to take a boat to Orre. Anyway, they told me where you went and I came to the lab, but there seemed to be a heat shield up. So Mimey and I took our motorcycle we borrowed from an elder in Agate and went back, and that nice Nett boy whipped up a heat shield! And when we got back this nice Ninetails was outside and seemed to want to help so I thought, the more the merrier!" she laughed.

Amy stared. "So... Ninetails was just outside?"

"Yes!" Delia grinned. "Now I think if we went one at a time with the heat shield we could-"

"No, we have to find Suicune first!" Amy insisted.

"Oh, you mean the big blue Pokémon that lead scientist had? I don't know what Ninetails did to it but it just went straight into the Pokeball again when it saw her. I have it here," Delia took it out.

"Suicune!" Jesse gasped as reached for the ball. Delia gave it to him and Jesse looked very sad "I wish I knew how to reverse this... they all feel so dark..."

"Okay, we have Suicune. Strangely convenient. We have our Pokémon. We have everyone. The scientists are all asleep. Can we GO now?" Gary demanded.

"I don't see why not" Amy said with a raised eyebrow "Why are you so agitated, Gary?"

"Because we're kind of in DANGER here! I thought that was pretty obvious!" the spiky haired teen turned to Ninetails. "So which way is out?"

"Nine," Ninetails chuffed and turned down the hall. Most headed after her but Cail hung back for a moment. He checked the room. Ein was lying on the floor, fast asleep. Cail grinned.

Carefully going up to the sleeping scientist, Cail took his glinting glasses and smashed them. Then he quickly found a marker in his coat pocket and wrote 'I LOVE MY LITTLE PONYTA' and 'Bronytas rule' on Ein's forehead before quickly racing after his group. Evil bastard deserved it.

The group did in fact encounter a few scientists on the top floor who sounded the alarm. Luckily their back-up had already been dispatched of downstairs and they were also easily subdued with Mimey's Hypnosis. The group managed to get outside and faced the wall of heat.

"So... Jesse," Cail said dragging on his cigarette, "Can you get Suicune to cool off a section of this?"

Jesse frowned. "I'm not sure... Suicune is a Shadow Pokémon now, so he might not listen."

"Nine Nine," Ninetails stepped forward and nudged the ball in Jesse's hands. A flash of light and Suicune stood in front of him. It snarled until Ninetails created that same strange energy again. Suicune stared blankly for a moment, then turned to the heat ring and fired a jet of ice. Steam erupted and when it cleared, an ice bridge spanned the gap. It seemed to be sweating, but it should be okay for the moment. The group wasted no time crossing the bridge. And luckily their motorcycles were still behind the rock where they left them. Awesome.

"Oh hey... I just remembered something!" Gary said as Amy got on the motorcycle behind him.

"What?" Amy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Agate has a Celebi Shrine in it!" Gary said excitedly.

"... how is that relevant?" Amy asked dully.

"Celebi is the Time Traveller Pokémon! It's said he has control over time!" Gary explained with a grin.

"... how is that relevant?" Amy repeated.

Gary rolled his eyes. "I'll find out when we get back," he revved the engine.

"HEY! YOU CAN'T ESCAPE! GET BACK HERE!" a yell came from a Cipher Goon trying to cross the almost melted ice bridge. Unfortunately the bridge melted completely when he was part way across... (well I won't disgust you with the adjectives I thought of to describe that little scene of melting horror. I have deemed it way too icky to really present to any audience that reads Pokémon fan fiction.)

"Well. That was a good learning lesson wasn't it kids? Remember, never cross a melting ice bridge over an inferno!" Delia said cheerily.

"I'll keep that in mind," Jesse said, feeling sickened by the sizzling he'd just heard. Ninetails jumped into Delia's sidecar, next to Mimey who seemed a little apprehensive. Soon they took off across the desert for Agate town again.

When they reached the Agate they were quite shocked to see the border being patrolled by old people with rather vicious looking Pokémon. When they approached they saw the man and woman they'd seen the other day, with the Charmeleon and Weepinbell. They never learned the elders' names. But the Pokémon were Charles and Isabella.

"Stop! No Cipher Goons are getting past this line!" chuffed the old man.

Amy waved. "Uh, hi, remember us?"

"NO!" the lady snapped. Amy blinked.

"Um... I'm Eagan and Beluh's grandson? We double battled you?" Gary said carefully.

"No I don't remember you! Now go away!" the lady screeched, "Isabella! Razor Leaf!" she called and the Weepinbell send sharp leaves at the crew.

"Oh dear, barrier Mimey!" Delia said quickly and her Mr. Mime jumped out of the side car and sent up his invisible shield. Ninetails watched this. "Now see here! We've just come from the Cipher Lab and-"

"OHO! So they admit their treachery!" the old man said puffing out his frail chest "Charles! Flamethrower!"

"Light Screen Mimey!" the flames were deflected.

"Now come on! We were all here this morning! The sun's going down and we want to get in! We haven't eaten all day!" Cail snapped.

"OH SO NOW YOU WANT TO STEAL OUR FOOD?"

"Oh geez," Celia rubbed her forehead.

"Um, perhaps we should regroup?" Jesse suggested.

"No! We can get past these geezers!" Gary said grinding his teeth together, "YOU GUYS ARE FREAKING SENILE YOU KNOW THAT?"

"At least we're not Ciphers!" the old man snapped.

"Neither are we!"

"LIES!" the old lady shrieked.

"What the heck are you two doing? That's my grandson and his friends!"

"Beluh!" Amy said in relief.

"... maybe they're Ciphers in disguise?" the old man said hopefully.

"Idiot," Beluh growled, smacking him upside the head with her cane. She then turned a warm smile on the group. "I'm glad you're back! You have to tell us everything that happened. You'll have to excuse the border patrol. We're keeping Cipher out but most of the village, though still physically fit, are getting on in years and... well let's get up to the house anyway."

The group looked at each other, shrugged, then got off the motorcycles to follow Beluh.

"So the only way to reverse the Shadow Pokémon process is to reverse time itself?" Eagan asked Celia who nodded.

"Pretty much hopeless, huh?"

Eagan turned to Gary. "And you believe we can use Celebi to do that for us?"

"Well... wouldn't that be ideal? It would've never happened!"

"Impossible," Eagan shook his head, "Celebi can control pockets of time and time travel, but he can't just turn back time. Only Dialga can do that."

"That's true," Jesse nodded, "But Celebi can control pockets of time as you said. So what if he just turned back time for one Pokémon? It would reverse all damage for that one."

Beluh frowned. "Yes... but all memories gained since they turned into Shadow Pokémon would be lost."

Amy frowned. "Well... for our Pokémon turned today it shouldn't matter too much, right?"

"Yeah," Celia nodded happily, "Gligar can get back to normal, Celebi would only have to reverse a few hours! And the Shadow Pokémon Gary caught could probably be turned back without a big problem too."

"Hey yeah, that's right!" Gary grinned.

"But... what about Ninetails?" Amy asked. The group turned to the fire fox Pokémon. She seemed to have been listening attentively to the conversation. If it was her mother's, that's years of time to rewind. And all memories would be erased. Anything Amy could possibly learn from her would be gone.

"Nine," her tails twitched and she nodded firmly at Minin, who was also listening on the floor and getting excited at the prospect of getting Plusle back to normal. Minin turned to Amy and pointed at Ninetails. He nodded.

"She wants to have time rewound for her?" Amy asked wide eyed. Minin nodded. Amy looked at Ninetails. "Even if you lose all your memories?" the fire fox nodded, eyes determined. Amy frowned, but nodded back, carefully. This wasn't up to her to decide, it was Ninetails' choice. "Okay."

"Wait wait wait!" Cail said throwing up his hands, "Before we get all excited, do we even know for sure if Celebi can do this? Or if we can even get him here? He's travels through time and has shrines all over the world!"

"Well, let's go down to the shrine and see what we can do," Beluh smiled gently.

"I made rice balls!" Delia called from the kitchen.

"Mime Mime!" an eager addition came from beside her, holding soy sauce.

"After rice balls of course," Eagan grinned as Delia came in with a tray. The kids slapped their foreheads in exasperation, but at least now they had something of a plan.

((Joyful Note: I LIVE! To die again... anyway, I need to get back to work on Hetalia fics now! Hope you enjoyed!))