Author's Note: Sorry about the long time without updating. I know it has been a while. I'm just busy, and now since it is summer vacation, I have a lot of time to type! Hopefully, I'll at least get three chapters of the Shadow Snivy up this summer. Everyone also really likes my other story, "Thunder and Ice," so it was hard to catch up on my other stories. I also rewrote everything in, "The BoltBlast Chronicles," and it used to be called Team ThunderBlast, so it took a lot of editing. Now I'm ready to continue this story, after so long. Well enough about my work, here it is! ~
Shadow's POV
We continued walking, still on our way to our next destination, Nacrene City. It was pretty sunny out, the sun starting to sink out of the sky in the late afternoon. Despite the warm sun, snow was everywhere, a small layer of frost on the ground. Rachel, the lillipup, led us toward the crossroads, a velvet red scarf wrapped securely around her neck. Zeke, the small black-and-purple snivy, walked side by side with Rachel. I was trailing behind them, still thinking about that munna we helped earlier. The munna dragged us into a stupid situation. The munna strayed from its owner, and was too nervous and paranoid to head back, overthinking everything. All we did to solve the problem was push the munna in front of her owner's front door, and it was that easy. The problems some Pokémon have… ridiculous.
We approached the crossroads, finding ourselves in another situation. Which way should we go? One of the paths was lined with Pokémon trainers and the other one seemed to lead toward a cave.
"Well… I think we should go on the trail with all the trainers. Where there are people, there is a city," Rachel chimed in. "Any objections?"
No one spoke. "Well then, the trainer path it is!" Rachel settled. She led the way onto the path, Zeke eagerly ran after her, and I just followed right behind. Rachel then explained how to avoid the trainers, as an evasive tactic. It was that we should just sneak through the tall grass, since it seemed like the trainers were on the path. The tall grass was covered with a layer of snow, making it a bit of a pain to head through the grass.
Trainers weren't in the grass at first. It was pretty easy to get around a few loitering humans, and we had about no trouble evading the people. After a while, we took a break while no humans seemed to be on the path. We walked out of the tall grass, and walked toward a white fence. The fence seemed to perimeter a lake, which looked pretty cool. The lake wasn't frozen with the cold weather we were having. I decided to sit down and lean against the fence, still on the path. Rachel and Zeke decided to climb over the fence and rest at the edge of the lake.
"Don't blame me when you fall in the water," I warned.
"At least we know how to have fun Shadow!" Rachel annoyingly countered. "We may be on what you may call a 'mission', but I like to call it a journey." I rolled my eyes, and continued to look at the path for any trainers. No one came, but I still kept surveying the area.
I heard a loud splash from behind me. When I looked over at Rachel and Zeke, I didn't see Zeke. I quickly got on my feet, knowing that Zeke fell in the water. I climbed over the fence, about to pull Zeke out. When on the other side, I didn't see Zeke or any sign of him falling in, so I looked over at Rachel, expecting an answer from her.
"Rachel, what happened?" I questioned, demanding for an answer.
"He was yanked in, by a… I think a golduck!" Rachel reported.
"A golduck?! Are there even golduck's in Unova?!" I asked.
"Actually, there are, and that's a fact. Well forget about that, save Zeke!" she screamed.
"What about you do it, I'm not a fast swimmer," I suggested.
"I can't swim!" she revealed.
"Seriously?! I thought you would know the doggy paddle!"
"JUST SAVE ZEKE!" she hollered. Quickly, I dived into the water, my vision turning blurry. The lake was bitterly cold; making me wants to scream out in pain but I held it in. Worryingly, I surveyed the area fast, looking for anything black. I saw flashes of color from several underwater Pokémon, but nothing black. Then, a sliver of black popped out of nowhere. I didn't even know if it was Zeke, but it was a lead, so I started to swim toward it. A few seconds later, I had to breathe, so I swam up to the surface, took in a deep breath, and quickly dived down again. About every ten seconds, I popped up to the surface, and every time I head back underwater, the blurry black spot seemed closer. It didn't seem like the golduck was in a rush, which explained why I kept getting closer. As I got closer, I still couldn't classify if the Pokémon who took Zeke was really a golduck or not.
I was freaking out, like crazy. The thing that mostly freaked me out was that the golduck didn't go toward the surface to let Zeke have some air. I was relieved though, that after about half a minute, the golduck let him breathe, and I got much closer while he let Zeke breathe. It seemed like the golduck gave Zeke time to breathe every thirty seconds. That was good, but that interval was just long, especially for a little kid.
My arms felt tired after about a minute of swimming. This lake appeared a bit small when on land, but swimming in it made the lake seem huge. I just kept doing that same routine of going to the surface every ten seconds for about two minutes, and I was exhausted. I seemed to be really close, about five or six meters away, but I couldn't tell who was holding Zeke. I could hardly even tell if it was Zeke the Pokémon was carrying.
About half a minute has passed, and then suddenly, the Pokémon I was tracking had disappeared. It seemed very sudden, and a bit unreal. Confused, I swam over to where the Pokémon was just at. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but then I noticed a huge rock surface. Still confused, and with my lungs burning, I swam up to the surface. While taking in a deep breath, it was like my whole scenery change. First of all, I wasn't outside anymore, but now in a cave, with no snow. Behind me was some sort of small cave entrance, except it is only accessible by water. Also, that huge rock surface was land, inside the cave. My theory was the golduck ran up here and is heading toward somewhere in the cave.
This was bad. Really bad. I had no idea which direction the golduck went, and I had no way to track him. I jumped onto land and frantically searched around for any traces of Zeke or his mysterious kidnapper.
Nothing.
Worried, I tried to think of something in order to find Zeke. The only thing that came to mind was getting Rachel to track him, but she couldn't swim. The only way to get her over here was to carry her over. I tried to think of other ways to find Zeke, but I couldn't think of anything. I groaned at the thought of carrying Rachel all the way over here. Hesitantly, I faced the water, took a deep breath, and dived in.
Zeke's POV
I struggled in the grasp of my kidnapper, the Pokémon ignoring my cries of help and pleading. I had never seen this Pokémon before, or even the species, so why would he snatch me away? It was such a turn of events, from a relaxation at the lake to a sudden drag through the water. I tried to punch the Pokémon, hoping it would let me go, but it ended up that I was pretty weak.
"Let me go!" I screamed for what seemed like the millionth time.
"Shut up! It'll make sense eventually!" it yelled back. His whiskers twitched with annoyance.
"Why can't you tell me now?!" I asked.
"Stop whining! It'd make no sense if I told you now, so zip it! We're almost there anyway."
"Almost where?!"
"SHUT IT!" While he was holding me with his one arm, he slapped me in the face with his beaver tail, and told me to shut up one more time. With a pout, I did what I was told by the stranger, a little annoyed with him as he was with me.
A minute later without any talking, I heard a disturbance in the silence, a sort of moan. I became scared once more, hearing the eerie noise.
"Ghost!" I exclaimed. The kidnapper slapped his forehead, and then I heard him mumble, 'Idiot.'
"He's not a ghost you nitwit," he hissed. "He's my friend, and his name is Braviary. He… I'll explain later." After he talked about the mysterious moaning, he started to walk faster. Less than a minute later, he turned around a corner, and stopped. I wanted to be out of his grip now, feeling uncomfortable.
"Stop squirming," he demanded. I didn't listen, continuing to try and get free. He tried to make me shut up by force, like slapping me with his tail again, but I wouldn't stop. Finally, he offered, "If I let you go, you have to promise and not run away, alright?"
"Of course, Shadow's honor!" I replied.
"Shadow, who's Shadow?" he asked.
"Uh… he's a friend. Anyways, can you let me go now?" I asked. He answered by letting go of me, and fell onto the cool cave ground, landing on my stomach. I got on my feet, wiping some dust off myself, and stretched. The blue Pokémon then started to walk around the area, almost like he was searching for something. After I was done with the stretching, I sat down, waiting for him to say something.
Almost right after I sat down, the kidnapper came close to me. "Come on little one, it's time for me to show you what all the fuss is about." His temper seemed to instantly change, and he seemed a lot mellower. With a shrug, I followed the Pokémon toward a pile of rocks. The rocks were more like boulders, and they were arranged to make some sort of shelter, or den. It looked really wobbly and definitely not made from erosion.
The den was small, but it was big enough to shelter the Pokémon I saw on the inside. The Pokémon was huge, about five feet tall, way bigger than me and the kidnapper. He represented a bird Pokémon, and he had blue and red feathers with huge yellow talons. This must have been Braviary, the Pokémon the kidnapper talked about. His feathers looked real messy, and his brown eyes looked dull and lifeless. His chest heaved with effort, as if it was hard for him to breathe.
"Braviary, this is the one you were seeking for," my kidnapper explained to Braviary.
Braviary lifted his head slowly, and looked over at me. We made eye contact, and he looked like one of those wise elder Pokémon. When he turned, I saw some of his feathers were stained with blood. "Yes, you found him Dewott," Braviary moaned, his voice raspy. My kidnapper, who I now know is named Dewott, looked depressed, most likely because of his friend and how roughed up he was. Braviary looked as if he was in a major battle, and he lost, badly. I even noticed dry blood stained on the cave floor.
"Uh, can someone please tell me what I'm doing here?" I asked, my voice sounding a bit high-pitched. Braviary looked away from me, but he still talked.
"You have something heavy on your shoulders, chosen one." The words, 'chosen one,' made me recall the time when Illusion, that zorua, called me the chosen one. Apparently, it was true.
"What is with this 'chosen one' thing? I never asked for this," I remarked. I clenched my hands into a tiny fist, wishing this prophecy would just go away.
"You have been born with an unchangeable destiny. You have been prophesized from an ancient folklore to face off against evil," Braviary explained, but I didn't want to hear any of it.
"Why me? Why can't it be some other snivy?! Why is there even a prophecy?!" I blurted out, infuriated. Braviary didn't answer.
"Maybe it's for entertainment," Dewott joked.
"I am not sure, but I think the answer is buried deeper within the folklore," Braviary stated. "But forget about that, chosen one. You must carry this with you, and you must hide it from the ones of blue and red."
"The ones of blue and red?"
"They are two strong, vicious Pokémon, who will try to get the Stone of Darkness. Both of them resemble tigers, one blue and one red. The red one looks more canine then feline, though, and the blue one is the one who you will face, as told in folklore." Braviary then reached one of his wings into his messy feathers, before pulling out a weird rock. It was in a perfect sphere shape, and it was a deep dark black. It had small white specks on it, and it looked as if the white specks were floating around inside the ball, as if inside of it was part of space, full of eternal darkness with stars.
"The Stone of Darkness…" I said. I was amazed at how the stone looked like part of space in a sphere.
"You must handle this with care," Braviary warned as he rolled it over to me. I picked it up, watching the little specks float around inside the ball. "And make sure that it never leaves your side. It could lead to disastrous consequences if Team Plasma ever got a hold of it." I recalled that Illusion said that Team Plasma wanted this stone, but he never explained why.
"Why does Team Plasma want the stone?" I asked, still staring at the stone in my hands.
"They will use it on the one of blue, to give it the power to destroy the chosen one. The ones of blue and red work for Team Plasma and they will stop at nothing in order to get it. They also sent out another group, two canines, who will do the same as the ones of-"
"The ones of blue and red, I get it," I interrupted, impatient.
"Please don't interrupt," Braviary pleaded. "They are searching through this region, and they are already cornering you. The canines have already blocked you from the west, getting closer and closer to Castelia City. The ones of blue and red have gone after the stone, but once they realize it's not where I told them it was at, they will be back."
"Back? Are you saying you're all roughed up like this because of the ones of blue and red, and they are on their way back?!" I asked, worried. He gave a solemn nod. No way, if the Pokémon he was talking about could do this to a Pokémon like Braviary, I didn't stand a chance.
"The red and blue Pokémon knew Braviary had the stone. They cornered him in this cave, and then started to beat the cra-" Dewott started, but then Braviary interrupted him.
"Whoa, Dewott, watch the language, he's only about a month or two old."
"Hehe, sorry. Well anyways, he was beaten badly by the two. Then they demanded for Braviary to tell them where the stone was. He lied, saying it was in Mistrailiton city, near the right side of the Pokémon center. They roughed up Braviary so much that he can't fly, and he can barely move, so he can't escape, and he still can't escape. When they first saw Braviary, Braviary told me to hide because he didn't want me hurt. Also, I've been looking for you for two days and luckily I did. Only you can take the stone, and only you can get it away before they're back. We estimated it, and we theory they will be back in less than an hour," Dewott finished.
"Really? I'm like, two months old, and you are entrusting me with all this responsibility? I only know about three moves, all of them weak, and-" I started, trying to reason with him.
"Hurry, we don't have much time. You must go now," Braviary interrupted. I was still a bit shocked about all of this. I mean, how was I supposed to hide it, because I don't think I should share this with Rachel and Shadow. I couldn't win against a battle with Braviary, let alone two strong Pokémon who could easily kill him.
"Didn't you hear Braviary?" Dewott asked, interrupting my thoughts. "Hurry, go, now, now!" Alert, I started to run off, back the way I was carried. If I was supposed to face the ones of blue and red, I had to have some time to prepare. This was… very pressuring. The first thing I had to do was find a way to keep the Stone of Darkness hidden from Rachel and Shadow.
I looked around the area. I saw a rock, another rock, another rock, again another rock, and… another rock. There was nothing in this cave but rocks!
I started to brainstorm some ideas. Rachel has a red scarf, and earlier today in the tall grass, she saw a Rawst berry bush, and picked off some berries. Then, she stuffed them in her scarf, which hid them while carrying them! If I could make something like that, probably out of rocks or leaves, I could store the Stone of Darkness in it. Or maybe, I could just say it was a pretty rock I found, and then cover it with mud to make it look more normal. Also, I could make a sort of woven basket out of leaves and twigs, and just say I made it to store berries.
Narrowing down the ideas, I realized I didn't know how to weave and I had no idea how to make something like a scarf, so I went with the second idea. I grabbed some dirt off the ground, which felt very cold. I started to rub it all over the stone, hoping that it'd look okay.
After I finished smothering the stone with mud, it looked like a brown circle rock. The dirt seemed to harden around the stone, so it seemed good. It was good enough, so I continued to run back the way I came. In less than a minute, I saw light up ahead and some water, so I knew I was almost there. Running faster, I was taking in several breathes as I ran. When I was about ten meters away, I noticed two figures in the darkness, and I skidded to a stop. I nearly dropped the Stone of Darkness while doing so.
I dropped to the ground, the muddy stone tightly secure in my hands. Slowly, I crawled closer, hoping that the figures wouldn't see me. It was going to be the ones of blue and red, I just knew it. Although, they looked a bit smaller than I thought, but it could just be the darkness.
I crawled about two meters, before the figures became clearer. One seemed to be upright, on two legs with a long tail. The other one was on all fours, with a lot of fur. I got a little closer, before I groaned in disbelief. It was just Shadow and Rachel, and they were both soaked, mainly Shadow. I walked over to them, trying to act normal.
"Hi guys!" I greeted, and they both turned their heads to face me. They both seemed happy to see me.
"Zeke, are you okay?" Rachel asked, shaking the water out of her fur.
"Yeah, you had us both worried," Shadow admitted.
"I'm fine guys, safe and sound," I reassured.
"What happened, how did you get away from the golduck?" Rachel asked. A golduck, they must have thought it was a… whatever a golduck was instead of a dewott.
"Oh, it was actually a dewott and…" I realized I couldn't tell them anything about what had happened, so I quickly made up a lie. "…and, and man, this guy was weak. I think he had barely evolved into a dewott. I used my vine whip and smacked him hard in the face! He let go of me, and I tackled him in the stomach while he was still down! Then, after a slap to the face with my vine whip, I made a run for it!" Rachel and Shadow seemed to really like the story, so I decided to drag it on.
"I was running as fast as my little legs could carry me, but I knew he would catch up, since he was most likely way faster than me. So, I saw this huge boulder, and ducked for cover. I did it just in time, because seconds later, the dewott came into sight, and he luckily ran past the boulder. When I was sure he was gone, I started to head towards the cave entrance, when he came out of nowhere. He grabbed me by the tail, and I was dangling in his paws. Then I quickly thought of what to do, and used my vine whip to punch him hard in the stomach. Then when he let go, I wrapped him up in my vines, and banged him against the cave walls till he was nearly unconscious. To finish it off, I tackled him in the stomach twice, and then he passed out. I quickly ran this way, when I saw you two!" Both of them seemed very impressed, and Shadow seemed like he gained some new respect from me.
"Hey, what's that?" Shadow asked, pointing at the stone I was holding.
"Oh, this? This is a… a rock I found on the way back here. It is unusually round, and it may not be that shiny, but it's like a perfect sphere. I just want to keep it," I told, hoping he would think it was a regular rock.
"Well, okay. Doesn't look like any harm can be done with you holding on to a rock," Shadow agreed, making me smile. Now, the Stone of Darkness was safe with me.
"Great!" Rachel exclaimed. "Okay Shadow, carry us back to land!" I heard Shadow groan, angry.
Ended up Rachel didn't know how to swim, the only flaw I know about her. Shadow had to carry all the way over here, and they just barely got here. I also didn't know how to swim, so Shadow also had to carry me over.
It was painful, well, it was for Shadow, but it was okay for Rachel and I. Shadow made two trips, taking Rachel over first, then coming back to get me. By the time we were all over there, Shadow was sweating like crazy. He fell down on some snow, exhausted. The snow helped cool him down, helping his sweating.
After we rested, and we ate the Rawst berries from Rachel's scarf, we continued on the path. It was now sunset, a blend of pink, orange, red, and other warm colors in the sky. We all agreed to reach Nacrene City before we rest, since it was taking so long. All the trainers were starting to head back home, so there were no trainers on the path. We decided to just take the path, and hopefully it would lead us to our destination.
After a bit of walking, I saw another one of these weird buildings, which had some sort of electric bulletin on the inside. I had seen several of these things. One of them was separating the daycare route and Striaton City. Another was bordering Striaton City and a route, and another one with the route and Accumla Town. I think these were everywhere in this region, most likely.
We did what we always did when we approached one of these, we just walked through it. The place didn't have doors that separated it from the outside, and it was just an opening. We all walked inside, and ignored any distractions. No one was inside, except for some sort of receptionist lady that was at all the other walk-through places. When I looked through the exit, I saw buildings and warehouses, and some light from a Pokémon center. Snow had reached this town as well, the ground and buildings covered in a light frost. This had to be Nacrene City, without a doubt.
Out of the walk-through place, we decided to camp out behind the café warehouse. Apparently, Shadow knew a lot about this city. He said there was a museum which was formally a Pokémon gym, and inside it you could take over fossilized Pokémon to have them come back to life. There were also railroad tracks close by, and something called a Challenge Rock. This place seemed pretty cool, but I knew we couldn't stay long. We had to head over to White Forest, and wherever Rachel wants to go, and now there was some sort of prophecy going on, and the ones of blue and red are close. I could only imagine the horror of what those two are doing to Braviary and Dewott.
We walked over to what Shadow referenced as a café warehouse. He said that we could camp out behind the warehouse, since he said that there was some shelter over there. He led the way, leading us behind the warehouse. Immediately, I saw a huge boulder, and the inside of it was carved out. The rock represented a little den, and it seemed like it could shelter all three of us. The boulder had no snow in it, giving us protection from this unusual weather. Rachel ran up to it, entering and lying down first. Shadow followed her, and I went in last. It was cool that Shadow knew this city so well, and we had a great shelter.
Before I drifted off into sleep, I prayed to Arceus that Braviary and Dewott would be alright and would live to see the next dawn, the Stone of Darkness securely in my grip as I slept.