It was only a short jaunt over to the story-teller's log from Cordia's spot near the fire. Still, she took her time, casting a curious lack of a shadow as she walked. A paw was placed to her mouth as she sat, covering a short cough as she looked out at the crowd.

"'Twas not long ago I faced a terrible fate!" Her voice rang out proudly over the crackling fire, a voice clearly meant for speaking at large gatherings… though she hadn't prepared in any capacity for a gathering of this context. "I say Darkrai himself commanded the restless shadows that evening, for there is no other way to explain their.. frankly disgusting actions upon me and my- my family!" A stutter. A sniffle. "I hope to honor them with this tale, wherever their souls may lie today."

"Do allow me to elaborate."

Cordia's Tale: In An Instant

It could have been a dark and stormy night, but that simply would have been too easy. No, this story falls on a rather pleasant cloudless evening. The sun hung low in the sky, casting its beautiful orange glow on everything it touched.

And trundling along below the glowing sky was an ornate carriage, driven by a Bisharp clad in a spiffy black suit and pulled by an elegant Fairy Rapidash. Its destination, set at the end of a loose gravel pathway bordered on both sides by dense forest, was mere minutes away.

The carriage's occupants were a family of three. A young Sprigatito wearing an uncomfortably elegant set of accessories, an older Meowscarada with a look of restrained stress in her eyes, and a burly Cacturne with a constant waxy smile.

"Now Cordia," the Mowscarada said sternly, "what will you say when you meet him?"

Cordia, the Sprigatito, brushed an errant strand of fur out of her eye with a gloved paw. "A pleasure to meet you, Darreth."

"More passion!" The Meowscarada exclaimed. "Surely you want to convince him that it's actually a pleasure?"

"I haven't met him yet, mother. How can I express such passion before I even see this Litten?"

The Cacturne chuckled behind a trunk-like arm. "She's right, Aralia dear… we have done this before."

"Well- still! There's no harm in a bit of practice, surely?" Aralia pressed a paw to her forehead. "Again. Come on!"

Cordia put on her best toothy smile, showing off pearlescent fangs but failing to change her utterly bored eyes. "A pleasure to meet you, Darreth!"

"Almost scary." The Cacturne nodded. "I like it, stick with that."

"No- we don't want to scare him! You've scared off enough suitors already, Cordia!"

"That's not it, mother." Cordia sighed. "We have done this same song and dance so much, it's like I'm meeting the same Pokemon each time. I want to know these 'suitors' for who they are, not the script they've rehearsed that's written by their own parents!"

"Well, maybe Darreth doesn't have a script!"

"Then I shouldn't, either! I am not a set of prewritten lines, I am me. Can't you trust that?"

"I-" Aralia's eyes narrowed, flitting from Cordia to the Cacturne beside her. "... young lady. Has your father put you up to this? Cereus?!"

Cereus simply crossed his arms. "I've done nothing of the sort. But… I also tire of the constant charade. If you want her to find a suitor so bad, surely you can let her try a different way of going about things? Your way has been utterly unsuccessful, and we all know that."

"I… fine!" Aralia, visibly fuming, sat lower in her seat. "Do what you want! If this works, if this young man turns out to be right for you… fine! I was wrong. But if you fail, it's back to my-"

The carriage shuddered, jerking to a sudden stop. All three within looked to the driver, catching his form nearly sailing over the front of the carriage as he gripped on for dear life. He didn't look back at them, only staring ahead as a cry of pain echoed from the Rapidash that had until that point been steadily pulling the cart along.

Each passenger slowly leaned forward, attempting to see what the oddly silent carriage driver saw.

There was a beat. A single moment of shock. Fear. Realization.

The Rapidash, its once beautiful mane now frayed and covered in pebbles, screamed out as what appeared to be its own shadow bent in unnatural ways to wrap itself around the Fairy horse. It had been laid on its side after being tripped up by the shadow, tangled up in the straps that bound it to the carriage as well.

The shadow reared its head back, opening its rendition of the Rapidash's mouth, then bit into the bound creature's neck. It produced no wound, and no blood was spilled, but the Rapidash screamed all the same. If one were to look closer, they could see as the shadow's neck pulsed, clearly draining something from the Rapidash.

The Bisharp, finally finding the words that had lodged in his throat, turned to the family behind him.

"Run."

No one needed to be told twice. Aralia took the time to open the carriage's door, ushering everyone out behind her. Cereus took Cordia in his arms before she could even think to move, leaping from the carriage after Aralia and putting his relatively stubby legs to the test as the three sprinted away from the carriage.

Corida, struggling a bit, tried looking back over Cereus's shoulder to see what would become of the Bisharp.

She saw that the Rapidash had stopped moving entirely, but still its shadow seemed to feed. The Bisharp had also jumped off the cart and was following the trio, but a sudden yank from behind swept him off his feet. He faceplanted into the gravel as his shadow rose up where he once stood. It bent down, arms slowly extending towards the Bisharp's groaning form.

"No!" Cordia screamed out. A nearly pained scream, something her vocal cords had not prepared for that day. The shadow stopped only to look up at her as Cereus carried her off, its featureless face splitting into a ragged smile as it dove down onto the Bisharp.

His screams did not last long, fading quickly as the family burst into the forest beyond the path.

There, they found an uneasy silence. Cereus held his daughter tight as him and Aralia stared out at the path, stopping their run to not draw more attention. The cover of the trees surely hid them from the monsters that had felled their companions. Right?

Cereus was the first to feel something. A sharp tug at his umoving leg. A look down showed movement among the still shadows of the trees, wavering and growing in the somewhat present light of the setting gun. "Wha- agh!" Another much stronger tug yanked him off his feet, jostling Cordia from his arms and sending them both to the mossy, leaf-laden ground.

His smile twitched slightly as he shifted to face a starkly unsurprising sight. His shadow. He pounded the ground with an arm, more frustrated than scared, then swung back at the thing with a quick Brick Break.

The shadow continued to be a shadow, simply phasing around the attack as its arms began to wrap around Cereus.

The Cacturne tried something else, a Spiky Shield forming around his body as the shadow's arms made contact. Nothing. Not even a flinch from the shadow as a jagged mouth formed on its head.

Cordia felt her claws escape her front paws, tearing through the delicate lace of her gloves as she tried to think of something, anything to help her father. But she couldn't move, staring deep into Cereus's eyes as they flashed with sudden pain. He let out no scream, only a pained groan as the shadow began to feed.

"No! I can't- agh!" Cordia yelled out as a paw grabbed her by the scruff of her neck, her mother yanking her into her arms to protect her from the shadow.

"... I'm sorry, Cordia. I- we can't do anything, we saw. We can't- you…" Aralia's words caught in her throat, too terrified to come out. "... We can't."

Cordia, even at this moment, was tired of her mother being the proverbial boss. "... Sh- shut up!" Her voice wavered, but soldiered on. "I can help. We c- can help! What's the point if we just leave them to die?!" She squirmed out of Aralia's grasp, four paws hitting the ground before she rushed over to her bound father.

"Hya!" Her claws glowed white as she reared up and Scratched at the head of the shadow, achieving nothing other than disturbing its image as she swung uselessly through. She growled, finding fury through sudden tears.

"Cordia!" A shout from behind, but Cordia refused to turn around. Instead, green motes of Leafage flew from her open mouth at the shadow. Again, nothing but a quick distortion of the shadow's image.

"Cordia!" Another shout, this time accompanied by the heavy thwump of a body hitting the ground. Cordia looked back to see her mother bound at the waist, her shadow rising up from behind to join in on the proverbial party.

"No… no! No, no, no!" Cordia had no time to be scared anymore. She was angry, furious at her inability to help. But she had already run through both of her moves.

So she sat. Watched as Aralia was bitten, drained. Watched them both as they-

Smack!

Cordia had felt it. A cold touch at her back, and she lashed out and smacked it away with Darkness at her paws. A Darkness she'd felt welling up inside her since the Rapidash fell. Something innate, hiding from her until this very moment.

About time, really.

A shrill hiss filled the air behind her, distracting even the shadow that was on Aralia. It took a moment for Cordia to even register- she hit it. A cold grin formed on her face as she turned to face- you guessed it- her shadow. It hissed again, its back arching like a feral beast as it cast Cereus's unmoving body in darkness.

Cordia's paws shrouded themselves with the same Dark energy again, and she leaped forward to land another blow. She could see it now, it left a visible dent in the thing's head. Like she'd stolen part of its form and made it her own.

Clearly, the shadow didn't like this. As Cordia went in for a third strike, it whipped at her with elongating limbs and tore at her ear. She watched through watery eyes in the split second it pulled away, taking a piece of her into its body. It sent pain through her system, staggering her strike and sending her reeling backwards.

It wasn't quite fast enough to do anything about Cordia's next attempt though, and her Sucker Punch slammed it into the ground where it dispersed into nothing. She had killed her own shadow.

"..." She blinks the tears out of her eyes, looking back and forth between the still-feeding shadows on her parents. She did something. And she could help.

She lunged at Cereus's first, tackling it with a scream as she thrust both paws into its face. It hissed,cried out in pain, as Cordia's darkness burned holes where eyes could have been. Its arms detached from the Cacturne and swung, catching the pearl necklace around her neck and sending its precious beads scattering to the ground.

Again. A second strike, a Sucker Punch driven into its chest. Cordia could feel blood dripping from her ear, but she paid it no mind as the shadow stumbled and fell onto is rear. She advanced on it, padding across her father's stone cold back until her feet met the ground again.

She watched the shadow shrink back, showing apparent fear and trying to back away as Cordia struck again. Her paw met icy, soft matter, and the second shadow dissipated into nothing.

One left.

She turned around just in time to see Aralia's shadow detach from her body. Her wilted, drained body.

Cordia screamed. A cry of rage loud enough for the world to hear, surely. She felt a glove fall from one of her paws as she stormed over to the almost smug-looking shadow, but she never got the chance to hit it. It waved. Waved at her as it sunk into the ground, clearly satisfied with its meal.

Then Cordia was alone. The only heartbeat she felt was her own. The shadows got what they came for. And she only saved herself. In that moment, as the rage left her… she was lost. And weak, feeling the effort of her actions catch up to her quickly. There was only one thing she could do, really.

She had to say goodbye.

She had to dig their graves.

And she did, very slowly. She was not made for digging, just as her body was not trained for fighting. It was simply something that came to her in the moment, as if her wholelife had led to this point. And it had, really. Night had long since fully fallen by the time she was done with a passable trench, and the moon was quite high in the sky when she finished pushing and roling her parents' cold bodies into it.

She could not muster the energy to cover the hole. But she did find a stick and force it into the ground next to the hole. A marker. She tore off a large portion of her cloak with some effort and speared at the top of the stick, where it flapped in the subtle breeze of the night. A symbol.

She did not want to meet Darreth that day, but she would have taken anything over this. Her eyes fluttered as she looked into the trench one last time. Her legs gave out, and finally she found sleep.

Lives can change. Lives can end. All in an instant.