Shadow's POV

We had ventured far through the forest, and Rainbow had never let me down before, and it hadn't just started. We made it to Eterna city, all in one piece. I saw the streets filled with people on these strange two wheeled machines. There were even weirder machines that were on four wheels, and they zoomed fast down the streets. It would have been too hard to cross, so I thought it over.

"Hey Zeke, you want to take a break?" I asked. He was sweating, and then he nodded, too tired to say his answer.

We looked for a good place to hide, but before that, we decided to find something to eat. There were berry bushes alongside some buildings, and some delightful smells came from the dumpster, but the dumpster thing was a revolting thought. Luckily, the entrance we came in from was right next to an abandoned building, and right along the sides of it was berry bushes, and they all seemed to be ripe and ready for picking! Even better, along every edge of the streets at least every few yards was an apple tree!

I assigned Zeke to pick some berries while I went up into the trees and picked out some juicy apples. I tried my best to climb up the tall trees and along each branch were the best apples I have ever seen. They must have been like that since they were being taken care of by humans, but the ones in the forest grew naturally, so they weren't as good. I gathered up two juicy apples from the trees and attempted to climb down, but lost my footing at the very first step and fell down to the rigid yet delicate ground floor and I was forced to let go of the apples in mid-fall. Opening my eyes I saw that the apples weren't bruised from the impact, and I scooped them back up and carried them over to Zeke. I couldn't believe that I was actually ordering around that baby, but maybe it would have been easier that way.

We would leave any extra food wherever we decided to eat them at, and we walked toward the berry bushes, and I saw that one of them was hollow on the inside. The interior had a small space that could let me and Zeke crawl inside, so it was an ideal spot.

Zeke was about to crawl in first, but I shoved him aside. If I was going to let him tag along, I had to show him dominance. I had to be the leader, which meant that I would have to go first on everything and he had to follow my orders. I dropped onto my firm elbows and inched my way forward through the entrance with the delicious looking apples. The floor was surprisingly stiff and the room seemed to be oddly familiar, but it was probably nothing. I beckoned at him to enter, and so he did with the Oran berries in his grasp. We both placed the food down, getting ready to enjoy the buffet. If I needed to be able to travel all across two regions, I couldn't do it with my appetite tearing my insides apart. I was about to take a bite out of one of the bluish Oran berries, but than a deafening noise buzzed out of nowhere.

Metal bars clamped down all around us, and I knew something was definitely wrong. I knew what this was and why it was so familiar to me. It was a trap, and it wasn't a Pokémon trap, I knew that it was the Deluxe Pokémon Capture Mechanism, or that is what the scientists called it. On top of the stainless steel cage was a red siren that flashed with that annoying buzzing sound that made scientists and other people aware of a Pokémon being captured inside this torture box, and I knew that because as a kid, my parents somehow recognized it and pushed me in. Those stupid Pokémon didn't even care about me, just for my color! I let the silver glow reflect off my rocklike tail, and I ran up to the cage bars and thwacked it, hard. I felt immediate pain in my tail that was still wrapped around with the leaf cast.

Damn, I can't believe I forgot about the injury I only had about two to three hours ago. I was flung back to the other side of the small cage, and my head got slammed on the impenetrable steel bars, making me see stars for a second.

I wouldn't give up, not with Zeke in danger again. I powered up my shadow claw on my good arm and ran toward the bars again, and slashed the bars with my dusk stained claws. I struck it with a lot of power, but I didn't even make a dent. This cage must have been made out of some material besides steel that made it impossible to break from the inside. Suddenly, I felt the earth shake and the cage was ripped out of the bush. I saw some dude with cool sunglasses, a lab coat, green rubber gloves, and a mask that covered his mouth and nose; all the classic things that scientists wear, well, besides the sunglasses, I didn't expect that.

I saw him reach into his ragged, white coat and pulled out a rusty old key. He reached it above the padlock to the buzzer and I heard a click, and that stupid siren finally stopped. I didn't think he used the key for the siren, because it sounded more like a button was pushed, or he turned a knob, but definitely not a key. He then reached toward the dangling padlock with the key and pushed it in and turned it, making not a click, but a clank noise. The lock had fallen off and dropped to the ground, and the scientist made that sound when you are annoyed, and it sounds like 'Ugh'.

The scientist had bended over to pick up the metallic lock, and we were in only one of his grubby hands and the lock was about to be in the other hand. This was a splendid opportunity to make a break for it, so I stepped back as remote from the cage door as possible, and ran straight into the where the padlock once sealed, and I head-butted my way out. I flew out of the bar prison, and was even able to make the dangerous man lose his balance and he toppled over, sending the cage flying, with Zeke along with it.

I can't believe I just forgot about Zeke! I ran out of the way, and where I was a few seconds ago was where the cage had landed with a thud. I ran up to the cage with that worried feeling again, when I felt some huge rubber thing clench onto my whole body and lift me off the ground.

I struggled to get out of the human's rubber coated hand that helped protect the guy from germs. I may have been able to protect him from germs, but I don't think rubber gloves protect you from bites…

I bit his hand, but since it wasn't a move, and I didn't have sharp teeth, I secretly powered up my shadow claw and jammed it into his hand in the middle of my bite to make it seem that I had sharp teeth, to make him more intimidated. I heard him wail in pain and instantly drop me and inspected the jab mark; soon going to figure out that it wasn't my teeth that will make his hand need surgery. I dashed over to Zeke, and then another pair of rubber, green gloves picked up Zeke and the cage.

The scientist looked just like the other one that I injured, but he had a satchel hanging from around his shoulder and he looked menacing. He cunningly grabbed a weird kind of Poké ball out of the satchel that these humans called a Luxury ball. It is said to be really hard to escape if they use it to catch a Pokémon.

A Luxury ball got its name from the deluxe plush cushions that were delicately placed in. It is appealing to girls because they say that it is fashionable on the go and it helps a Pokémon become friendlier to its master, but I think that is just a bowl of lies. It couldn't be that comfortable, right?

He chucked the ball at an alarming rate straight at me, and it almost hit me in my right eye, but good thing that the ball opened and the red beam of light shimmered on me before I had it. I felt my whole body squeeze, and get sucked into the ball, and the Luxury ball snapped shut and dropped to the ground, and when I lay down on those deluxe cushions, I knew that the rumors were true.

Distracted from what I thought was a myth was actually true, the ball wobbled once. Scared that I could be caught, I prepared my shadow claw with my good arm and punched the delicate machinery, but my move had failed, and my arm just weakly punched the glass. The ball wobbled again, but I wouldn't stop trying. My arm throbbed, so I tried my leaf tornado, hoping that it would at least make a crack somewhere. I spun around, and I knew that this had to work, but when I stopped spinning, I didn't see a tornado of leaves, I just watched one little leaf gently float to the black pillow that I stood on. Three wobbles attracted my attention, and I knew that somehow a Poké ball made you unable to use moves from the inside. I knew that it was my last chance, and I had only a few seconds, so I backed up as far as I could in the Luxury ball, just as I did in the cage, and dashed forward with all my might in the small container, and head-butted the area where the button had stood. I felt a harsh pain going to my head, and immediately I retreated to the back of the small container, and then I heard a click. I starred through the Luxury ball, and I was barely able to make out a smirk grin on the cunning scientist's face, and I knew that he had captured me.

My eyes were wide in terror as I watched ever so slightly Zeke jump out of the cage and he ran for his life. Unfortunately, the scientist threw an Ultra ball at Zeke, a Poké ball that is spoken to be stronger than Poké balls and Great balls. Zeke was stunned with fear as soon as the weird Poké ball was thrown and made that swoosh sound. The ball did the same thing that it did to me and a red beam of luminous light glistened down on him, and it sucked him in. The dull glass used for the Luxury ball I was in was murky, so I couldn't see Zeke inside his Poké ball. All I saw was it wobbling three times, and then a faint click noise and he was caught and helpless like I was.

The scientists walked toward me and picked me up, and his pale, scrawny finger pressed the button on the front of the Luxury ball, and I felt my body get squished once again, and I felt the ball shrink even more. I could no longer see out of the Poké ball, and it started to feel like I was barricaded in a fine suite of a luxury hotel.

I paced back and forth in the deluxe suite that those revolting two leggers called a Luxury ball. I had never been caught before, so I had begun to panic. I felt some sweat inch its way down my neck and I knew that this couldn't be happening. I wasn't caught; it had to be a dream, no wait, it was a nightmare. I knew that I had to wake up from this horrid nightmare soon enough. I thought about it for a minute, and pinched my good arm that wasn't wrapped up in a cast, and felt a small ounce of pain. It was real, and I had started to panic once more.

What would I have done to get out? I already tried to head-butt my way out, but all that did was giving me a surprising shock from the mechanical instruments used to make this holding cell. Then a sliver of lightning had struck my brain and gave me an idea just like the small parcel of electricity had already done that. As soon as whoever had let me out of this prison, I would break my Luxury ball and run right out the front door!

I knew I had to wait in this prison, so I let my grass snake body slowly fall backward and land on the flimsy surface. It was so comfortable, and relaxing. My eyes settled down and my whole face expression changed. This was beyond a softness that I had ever touched before. Back at my log cabin in Eterna Forest, I lay down on a towel, and that didn't help much. Compared to this velvet bed, that towel on the floor had been unyielding. I thought beastly facts about the flawed towel that I used to call a bed, and thought ravishing things about the unblemished Luxury ball. I imagined staying with whoever owned me, and never having a tarnished dream or an uncomfortable sleep ever again, and being taken care of… NO! I shouldn't have thought about stuff like that! Who knows what they would do after I came out of this misleading place. I could be transferred to an uncomfortable Poké ball, or be forced to work all night, or I might never sleep again due to the warped experiments that they will test on me!

On the other hand, maybe I had misjudged these people. Maybe that the people who had captured me as a kid were evil, and these scientists who captured me today were good hearted. They will take care of me no matter what if I'm tested or not. I will be comforted all the way, and… NO! The rumors about the friendship going up in this prison, it wasn't wrong! I was being brainwashed, and maybe Zeke could have been corrupted by it now since he didn't go through those horrible things I went through. I had to remain strong and fight this urge to stay. People had to be evil, and there was no doubt about it! I knew if I stayed up the whole time, I knew that I would soon be corrupted with ghastly thoughts, so I curled up into a little ball, and drifted off into a light slumber, but then for a second, I felt a sharp shock of lightning before drifting off.

SHADOW'S DREAM…

I was in a white room, with a vanilla colored tile floor and eggshell paint on the wall. It was some sort of lab, but instead of me being frustrated and frightened, I was joyful and excited! It was a disturbing feeling, but I couldn't help it. I saw some girl with light brown hair, a decretive lab coat, and a welcoming smile. The girl was about twenty, possibly thirty years old, and she seemed to be nice. She held out a bowl with some pancakes made out of pancake batter and Oran berries, and she placed it on the floor, I dashed toward the delightful dish, and munched down excitingly.

END OF DREAM…

I jumped up, frightened at the disgusting dream I had. I could tell that the girl was a professor or a scientist, but some reason I was drawn to the girl. She seemed so nice and good hearted, so I thought that maybe some people weren't so bad after all. My reptilian skin was blistering and damp with sweat. How long did I sleep for? The experience was comforting, but could after all these years, the one main fact that I had known was a lie. Wait, I thought I would have no nightmares in that ball, so either I was wrong, or that it wasn't a nightmare! I knew that no matter what, I don't think I would have a nightmare, but it isn't like I could control my dreams. I didn't want to be wrong again, and there was no horrid thing to say about it, and all the facts fitted together, humans were nice, so that must have meant that where ever I was going would be a good place, so I thought about it, and decided to stay with the scientists!

I was exhausted, and even though it was a dream, it was seriously intense. I curled back up in different spot of the Luxury ball, and snoozed off, but into a deep sleep that time.

About four hours later…

I woke up when I heard some person shout four words: "Come on out Dusk!" I snapped awake, and was able to see partially through the somber glass, and I knew they enlarged the Luxury ball. I looked outside, and everything had started to spin and was a confusing blur, and then I saw the ball open, and I closed my eyes, unaware of what was happening. I felt that dizzy feeling in my head settle, and everything seemed to go back to normal, so I carefully opened my eyes, and saw I was on a tile floor. When my brain started to function again, I realized I was just called Dusk. It was my new nickname, and even though I preferred to be called Shadow, what could I do? Talk to someone and ask them to change my name, yeah right.

I saw that I was in a room that looked mostly white besides another room that was about a yard or two away from me. I stood in the white room, but I saw a pair of sandals and a big set of legs on the green carpet floor in the other room. I looked up, and saw scientist, or a professor with light brown hair, wait, it was that nice girl from my dream! She had that same welcoming smile and that decretive lab coat, and I was astonished! My dream had somehow showed me the future, but how was that possible? It could have been some crazy coincidence, but there was no other explanation. That was the first time it ever happened, and probably the last time also. I ignored the thought, and started to greet the human, unsure of what could happen.

I took a step forward, and then slowly her hand reached out in front of my pointy nose. I didn't know what the human wanted me to do, so I reached my hand out, and grabbed hers. She shook my tiny hand, and I remembered that humans called that a handshake, but why did she expect me to know what it was? I ignored this question when I heard her do a gleeful chuckle.

"What a smart Pokémon you are Dusk, welcome to your new home, back in the Unova region," she complimented in a calm and gentle voice. Wait a minute; did she just say the Unova region?! If that claim was true, how was that possible, the next flight for the Unova region wasn't for another five or six days?

I heard a ringing noise from her wristwatch. I jumped back in surprise, but settled back down when I realized it was just some alarm that alerted the human. She moved the wristwatch close to her face and pushed a small green button, and I heard some other person say,

"Hey Jupiter, how's it going with Dusk?" I found out that he was talking to the human, and that the thing the noise came out of wasn't a wristwatch, but some kind of communication device. I also found out that the human with that device was called Jupiter.

"Just fine, thank you Roger for finding this poor critter, this is an extraordinary finding," she replied back into the cellular device, informing me the person on the other line was named Roger, and that he was the one who probably helped to capture me and Zeke. Thinking of which, where was he? I looked around the room, but Zeke was nowhere in sight. First, I listened to the conversation because it could answer my two questions.

"I know right, well we wouldn't be able to bring those snivys back to where they belong if it wasn't for Alejandro, he saved the day."

"Well tell him thanks for me next time you run by him for me."

"I will, also be careful with Dusk, he is a bit feisty. When I picked him up, he bit me." I snickered; still hardly believing he didn't figure out it wasn't a bite yet.

"How is that possible, some of my old research proved that a snivy bite can't break skin till they evolve?"

"Well how do you explain this?" I presumed that he just showed Juniper his hand and it was probably wrapped up in bandages, or he was showing her the mark.

"Well I don't know how to explain that, but come over in that helicopter some time."

"Well first I need to get it more fuel because after I took you from one region to the other, it totally was drained." I found the answer to my first question about how I was over here.

"Well if you are still in this region, you can walk or bicycle over."

"Yeah, I'm still in this region because I have no fuel, but I would have to walk because I'm pretty sure that if I ride a bike, I will fall the whole time with this damaged hand."

"Well I'm expecting you soon, and if you need help getting over, I'll send a friend over to help you."

"Thanks Juniper, how's Shadow going?" I was confused at whom Shadow was, and that was weird since that was my real name but not my nickname, so I listened intently.

"He's great, he is so small and cute, so that snivy is possibly a new born; good thing you found him." Were they talking about Zeke?

"I figured that out too, take good care of him."

"I will, snivys like this are rare and priceless, and good thing we got them before experimenters or poachers got to them first." She was wrong about the experimenters, they already got to me and gave me two great moves, and I found out that Shadow was Zeke's new nickname. I was enraged that it wasn't me, but with great self-control, I was able to ease down my anger, and suppressed those feelings.

"Talk to you later Roger."

"See you later Juniper." I heard a static noise, and then she put her arm back down and started to focus on me again.

"Sorry for the wait Dusk, come with me to the field out back while we perform a test or two," she said in a soothing voice, but the word 'test' made kind of freak out, and I could tell she saw me shivering.

"Oh don't worry, we are just going to watch you battle, and maybe one more test like that," she eased, making me relax. I walked into that carpeted room, and saw a sliding door that was made out of glass so I could see outside. There was a battlefield for Pokémon battles, and it had chalk surrounding the dirt square. The chalk displayed a fainted Poké ball in the middle, so it marked the main place of fighting. I saw four kennel cages, and something was inside each of them, but they were on the other side of the field, so I couldn't tell what. There was a big fence surrounding the battle field with some extra room, like for the cages and scientists and stuff like that. In two corners of the fence in the very back, two huge oak trees stood.

She slid the glass door to the right to reveal that on the other side, it showed a door made out of string, and I believe humans call it a screen door and it is told to be able to keep the annoying little bugs out, and I mean bugs, not bug types. She moved that screen thing to the side as well, and she walked out to the cages, and she beckoned me to come follow her. I slowly walked out to the battlefield and stood to on the right side. Three scientists came out that looked just like the ones that captured me and Zeke, but instead of rubber gloves, they had leather ones. The leather gloves were thick and worn down, like something or someone had been chewing or scratching them a lot. They were holding clipboards and pens, probably going to notes with them. I still stood on my side of the battlefield, waiting for a command.

One of the scientists settled his clipboard down, and walked up to one of the cages and stood next to it, waiting for something. I squinted to see what was in the cage, and saw something edging its way to the back of the kennel cage. Suddenly, a feral blue monkey pounced at the steel grate that separated it from outside. His eyes were bloodshot instead of squinted so it looked like he didn't get much sleep last night. If Juniper didn't torture that angry ape, then who did? He retreated back into the shadows of the crate, hiding himself, waiting for a chance to escape.

"Now Dusk, this is a test that will determine how strong you are," Juniper started. "You will battle three Pokémon, Panpour, Pansage, and Pansear. They are each at the same level and all have an aggressive nature. We just found them last night, but it seems they have been tortured by someone. I need you to help us rally them down my making them wear down or faint so they can get a good night rest. We tried giving them a sedate that would make them fall asleep from a shot, but they are too aggressive right now." Seeing that it wasn't Juniper's fault for them being tortured, I developed trust in her, and took her word for it.

"Now," she continued. "With all important or big Pokémon tournaments, usually there is a prize. For this specific Pokémon battle, I will grant you prizes. I think you have a little friend here. We nicknamed him Shadow, but I don't know if it is okay for you to hang out with him, so I thought you should earn it." When she started to talk about who I think is Zeke, this battle thing was starting to get interesting.

"Now here are the prizes. Each Pokémon you defeat grants you a bigger prize, so if you defeat none of these three, you won't be able to hang out with your friend. Later you will have another chance to earn that right again. If you defeat only one, you can hang out with him, but rarely; like only during breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If you defeat two, you can hang out with him more often, like when you eat your main meals and an hour every other day. If you defeat all three, you will spend as much time with him as you want, and I can tell by the sparkle in your eye that is what you want the most." I didn't want to spend a lot of time with him, but I wanted to be able to protect Zeke. Zeke was at a young age, but that urge that makes me want to be near him and protect him, I had no idea what was causing that, but I knew one thing, and it is I had no way of knowing how to turn it off.

"Now get ready Dusk, and in the fourth Poké kennel has Shadow in it, and you know the deal, so when this scientist releases the Panpour from its cage, the battle will began. And remember, if one of the Pokémon tries to run off, you have to stop it, or else that counts as you losing." I took a gulp of saliva, and concentrated on the scientist that was about to unlock the first kennel with the blue monkey, also known as a panpour. He twisted a weird knob and pulled the metal crate door back. A pair of red eyes illuminated through the shadows of the kennel, and then the vicious primate jumped out in a fit of rage. His blood stained eyes made him even more intimidating, and he gave me a menacing glare. I took a step back, a little freaked out at the moment, but I didn't back down. That terrible urge was tearing at the inside of my stomach. If only I could turn it off with the press of a button…