Chapter 2: there is no light.
Summary: the pain sets in for Ash, he can no longer feel happy, it is then he finds himself in a situation where he discovers the truth behind the attack on Twinleaf Town, as the story of the Seven Shadow Lords comes to light.
Ash walked slowly towards Sandgem Town, lonely, not even the wild pokemon were enough to change his mood, after losing everything in one night Ash walked through the grass swept fields and three lined path, he kept looking to the right hoping that Dawn was standing next to him and down to his left where Pikachu always used to be, 'why? Why did this happen?' Ash kept asking himself, hoping that none of the soldiers followed him.
"I couldn't do a thing," Ash looked up to the clouds as the thunder continued to rumble, he clenched his fists in anger not only at the enemies that stole his closest companions from him, but at himself feeling like he let the people closest to him down.
The trainer wondered through until he spotted the lights from the lamps lighting up the small town, it continued to rain, getting closer to Sandgem Town Ash spotted a familiar group of men, "those guys, there were in Twinleaf Town," Ash noticed the men, they walked around casually, also hoping to find something, they walked passed the regional professor's lab as if they weren't interested in him.
"The army of the Seven Shadow Lords must be around somewhere," one of the soldiers proclaimed.
"Yeah, we need to avert the disaster of Twinleaf Town," the other solider replied.
"Shadow Lords? Just what it Is going on, they aren't even interested in Professor Rowan, and now they act like they weren't at fault," Ash whispered, he walked slowly approaching the soldiers from behind.
"They attacked their own town, but then again the Seven Shadow Lords are masterless, they only obey themselves," the first soldier commented.
Ash froze for a moment and listened in on the conversation, but his anger overcame him and he charged towards one of the soldiers, "you, you are to blame for the loss of my fiancé, you bastards!" Ash yelled at the soldiers.
"Calm down, we didn't even fire a single shot, in fact we were set upon and so was the town by the Sinnoh's defence force," the Unova soldier commented trying his best to calm the angry trainer.
"Liar, there is no way the Sinnoh army could destroy their own, that isn't possible!" Ash yelled as he pulled back his clenched fist and let loose a powerful punch full of his rage, the soldier fell to the ground cupping his face, Ash was tackled to the ground, "let me go now!" Ash ordered the soldiers, but they didn't heed his command.
"I am sorry sir, but we cannot do that, you need to calm down," the solider did his best to reason with Ash.
"I will calm down when you lot are dead!" Ash snapped back, trying his best to free himself.
Professor Rowan walked out of the lab to find that Ash was tackled onto the ground, "Ash calm yourself, these guys are here to help us," Professor Rowan also tried his best to reason with the furious trainer.
"Oh they did a fine job helping, if what you call help, I call I lost everything!" Ash announced as he continued to try and free himself.
"Oddish, use Sleep Powder on Ash," the professor called out a small blue pokemon with green leaves growing from the top of the pokemon's head.
"I want to get my revenge don't deny me of it!" Ash yelled as he began to nod off, his resistance started to weaken, he nodded off still muttering for Dawn, "I lost everything," Ash started to cry, falling asleep.
"Professor what do we do with this guy?" the soldier asked the professor calmly. Still recovering from the punch he had taken from the trainer.
"We need to explain to him the situation, we also need to find a way of calming him," the second soldier explained.
"Well then I will do all the explaining, since he does blame us for the loss of his fiancé," a man wearing a blue shirt and pants walked up to his soldiers, "you guys continue searching for the enemy," the commander enforced his command on the soldiers.
Saluting promptly, they stood at attention and in unison, "yes sir!" the soldiers replied.
"Professor Rowan, we had a lot of trouble finding the remaining survivors of the town," the commander regretfully announced.
"A regrettable situation, the Seven Shadow Lords aren't making it easy on us," The regional professor proclaimed grabbing at his moustache.
Another soldier appeared infront of the leaders, saluting promptly, "sirs the Princess of Sinnoh has escaped from her father, reconnaissance tells us she is being chased by one of the Seven Shadow Lords and they are heading towards Veilstone City," the soldier informed the professor and his commander.
"Send a small force to rescue the princess," the commander ordered his spy, he looked down on the sleeping trainer, "we might need to tie him up, explaining the situation isn't going to be easy," the commander repeated what the professor had said with a frown.
(3 hours later)
Ash woke up to find himself tied to a chair, he did his best to break free, but there was no use, he looked around, a table right in front of him and a plate of food, "ah you're awake, good, now I think we can have a chat," the commander stated while Ash glared at him, "I know, you want revenge, but let me ask you what price are you willing to pay? Will it be worth it? And most of all, what will you do afterwards?" the commander asked the young man.
"Why ask me those questions? It isn't like you lost everything," Ash made his retort, he sat back and turned his head away from the commanding officer.
"I see, so you don't want to talk, that's too bad, here I was going to ask you a favour," the commander replied, he grabbed the plate of food and pulled it further away from Ash, "you see, you want information, I can provide it, but you need to do something for the Sinnoh region," the man requested of Ash.
"Just leave in peace, I have no interest in helping anyone," Ash replied, Ash watched the commanding officer leave the room.
Outside the room the commander was talking to one of his trusted advisors, trying to come up with a plan to get Ash to help them, "sir, we cannot delay, the Seven Shadow Lords are hunting the Sinnoh princess down, we need to move her to Canalave City where she will be safe," the advisor explained the situation to her commander.
"Maybe there is something I can do," the commander remarked as he looked back in the room, he opened the door and placed the plate back on the table, "my name is Blake South, I am the commander of this small force, now, how about this, I untie you and you can eat, then you will let me explain the situation," the man known as Blake suggested to Ash who was still unwilling to cooperate.
"I am not hungry," Ash replied turning his head away from the man.
"Listen, unless you want to be force feed, you need to listen to what I have to tell you," Blake informed Ash as he grabbed the fork and placed it on the table, "I am not your enemy, but I can respect the fact that you don't want to be my friend, but right now," the man walked over to the chair and untied Ash's hands allowing him to get his food.
"Shut up, I am going to get my revenge on those who were responsible," Ash sneered at the commander.
"Young man, I know what it's like to lose everything, I know what revenge is like, it isn't worth the cost," Blake tried his best to explain to Ash, but the trainer pushed the plate aside.
"You have lost everything you claim?" Ash questioned the man not even wanting to look at him.
"You see my right hand, well this isn't even a real hand, I lost it while trying to get revenge as well as various other injuries I had suffered, I lost my family because of the people we are fighting against," Blake explained his situation to Ash, he moved the plate back towards the angry trainer, "I know you want to go out there and get revenge, but you need to follow my instructions," Commander Blake instructed Ash as he walked towards the window.
"Why should I? I still blame you for what happened," Ash answered back as he grabbed the fork to eat the food.
"If I were your enemy, would I be happy to give you food?" Blake questioned the trainer with a serious tone.
"No you wouldn't unless this food is poisoned," Ash snapped back at the soldier.
"Okay, we tied you up to keep you restrained, now eat the food and I will tell you everything about the Seven Shadow Lords," Blake ordered the trainer.
Ash ate the food, glaring at the commander, he waited for him to start the story, wondering what was going on, "you know, I want to know more about these people," Ash said with a much calmer disposition. He pushed the plate aside and watched the commander sit on the opposite side of the table.
"Alright, now that you are a little calmer, time for me to explain a little more to you," Blake explained to Ash, placing his hands on the table he pulled out a set of photographs of the people in question, mostly wearing black but with a dark aura around them, "these are the Seven Shadow Lords."
"Wait I only count six," Ash replied as he glared at the pictures.
"Yes, there is one we don't know about, our guess is he is being held back," the leader of the Unova forces replied, he moved a picture forward of a man holding a large bag of money, "this man is named Greed, at the moment this guy is chasing someone, we are doing our best to save this person, because from what we can understand this person is linked to problems within the Sinnoh Royal family," Blake explained the situation to Ash.
"What do you mean?" Ash asked looking at the other photos of the other members.
Blake pointed towards the picture of an attractive woman with long brown hair, wearing a red dress, "this woman is known as Lust, be careful with this one, she uses her good looks to attract men, her teammate is this person," the commander explained while pointing towards the male member of the group, "his name is Envy, they use each other's traits really well, while Lust uses her good looks to attract other people Envy plays on the other people's jealousy to their advantage, then it is all divide and conquer for them," Blake continued to explain to the trainer.
"Okay, so far you have only told me three of them, who is this person?" Ash asked while looking over to the large man, had a lazy expression on his face.
"Sloth, lazy but powerful, don't let this person's lazy demeanour deceive you," Blake informed the trainer. He looked over to the next person, "this is Gluttony, don't let his appearance fool you, he can eat vast quantities of food, but also has an appetite for destruction as well," and then towards the last photo after explaining the previous member to Ash, "this is their leader, his name is Pride, he can dent a person's pride and is rather partial on playing on a person's sense of pride as well," Blake explained the leader of the Seven Shadow Lords.
"Wait a second what Wrath?" Ash asked the commander.
"We know very little about this member, not even a picture of that member was ever taken, we suspect that Wrath is being chained up because his anger is too great for the Seven Shadow Lords to control," Blake replied with a concerned expression. Blake pulled the pictures into one pile, "did you know there are seven deadly sins, and that the people we were talking about are named after those seven sins?"
"So who is Greed chasing after?" Ash asked the commander with a frown.
"Princess Salvia," Blake answered, he looked up to see a shocked expression on Ash's face, "you know her?" Blake asked the trainer.
Ash pulled out a photo of him and Dawn, "this is a picture of me with my fiancé, but the person you are looking for looks exactly like Dawn," Ash replied while pointing at Dawn.
"A doppelganger, so that explains why you lost Dawn, the enemy thought they were killing the princess," Blake placed his hand on his chin, he walked up to the picture and grabbed it, "do you mind if I borrow this picture? Our men need the information to save the princess," Blake enquired, he walked out not even getting a response from Ash who was still upset with what was going on, 'poor lad, I hope he pulls through this,' the leader thought to himself after closing the door behind him.
(West of Veilstone City)
It had been five days since Salvia escaped from her confines in the palace, she looked back hoping that she wasn't being followed by Greed and his men, "I better not stop walking," Salvia tiredly reminded herself, she continued on, seemingly having not slept for some time, as she was walking the clouds in the sky grew dark and the first rumbles of thunder could be heard in the distance. Salvia was on her own following the path that was lined by trees and grassy patches.
"Hmmm it seems like the beautiful young princess has been passed here," Greed looked around trying to find the royal, "she should know that once she becomes a target, there is no escape from the person's demise," Greed shrugged his shoulder with a shake of his head, he looked around again and sighed, "come on Princess make it easy on us, you don't want us to harm the people of Veilstone, don't be so greedy!" Greed taunted the princess as his troops remained silent.
Salvia peered through the tree line hoping that she was able to escape from the pursuers, "this is bad, I am now too tired to even escape," Salvia whispered to herself.
A man appeared behind her, placing her hand over her mouth to keep her quiet, "don't scream, we are here to help, we need to get you out of here," the soldier informed the princess.
The soldier lowered his hand and allowed the princess to breathe, "what do you mean? We are trapped," Salvia enquired as she pointed towards the people pursuing her.
"Come on out Alakazam," the soldier called out a humanoid pokemon with two spoons.
Upon seeing the light Greed approached the area and spotted the princess, "ah nice to see you princess, now you hand her over," Greed smirked at the soldiers, who were preparing to leave the area.
"And what let you assassinate this young royal?" the soldier asked the shadow lord, "not a chance, Alakazam, take us to Hearthome City," the Soldier told his pokemon, the group teleported away from Greed and his men.
Gritting his teeth in frustration the Shadow Lord kicked the dirt off the ground as it started to rain, "man Pride is not going to be pleased, oh well at least we have our puppet in the king," Greed whispered to himself, he turned back towards the city thinking of another plan.
"Pride knew you would fail this simple task," a woman approached her teammate.
Greed looked over his shoulder to see Lust approaching him, "whatever, why did I have to get slugged with a pitiful task of hunting down the princess, don't you think we already have enough to deal with concerning the king?" Greed questioned his comrade.
"Pride also told me, that if you returned without the princess, well I guess you don't want to know what Pride will do if he found out you failed," Lust informed the other Shadow Lord, she turned away from the angry man, "he told me don't show your face without fulfilling your mission," Lust instructed the man, the rain started to get heavier as the woman left with laughter making the other Shadow Lord much angrier than he was previously.
"Damn you Lust and Pride, just you two wait I will stab you both in the back then take lead," Greed hit the tree next to him, he looked over his shoulder to see what was on the horizon, "alright, we move out, we continue our chase of the princess!" Greed informed his men, recommencing the chase of the young royal.
Meanwhile in Hearthome City Salvia and the three soldiers appeared infront of the pokemon centre, "I need some sleep," Salvia informed the soldiers.
"I am sorry ma'am, but we need to take to the air and get to Canalave City next," the soldier refused the request of the princess, he recalled his psychic pokemon, "when we reach our destination, then you can get the sleep you need, even the food you require," the soldier assured the princess as his team called out four Salamence, "now get on Salamence we will fly on either side of you as well as behind to make sure you get there safely," the officer ordered the princess.
"Why do I need to be protected?" the princess asked the soldier.
"You are a marked woman, if the Seven Shadow Lords catch you, you will be killed on the spot," the soldier answered, greatly shocking the young royal.
"Seven Shadow Lords? I have never heard of them before," Salvia confessed still uncertain as to how to react.
"We just call them the Seven Shadows for short, the one that was chasing you is called Greed," the Soldier replied with a frown, the four dragon type pokemon took off leaving the surrounding people in awe at what was going on, "they also said that you needed to hand yourself over, sadly that would have achieved nothing," the man informed the princess who was looking down on the back of the pokemon she was riding on with guilt.
"So, giving up would have been for nothing, then what am I supposed to do?" Salvia asked the soldier with frustration, clenching her fists helpless in the situation.
"We will brief you on the situation when we reach Canalave, thankfully a friend of yours was able to help us find you," the soldier explained to the young royal.
"A friend, was that Lady Dawn?" Salvia asked with a more relieved smile, the soldier shook his head and looked away at the same time, "so it must have been sir Ash, but why so sad?" the blue haired princess enquired about the situation.
"We have received information from this Ash, that Dawn was killed in the attack on Twinleaf Town," the soldier replied much to the dismay of the young royal.
Salvia lowered herself as tears started to fall down her cheeks, "no, it can't be, why Lady Dawn?" Salvia cried as she hit the pokemon overcome with sadness, "why did you attack?" Salvia asked the soldiers as her sadness turned into anger which was directed at the soldiers.
"We didn't fire a shot we were trying our best to rescue the people, as well as reorganise the defence of Sinnoh, the attack came from within your armed forces," the Unova soldier informed the princess much the her displeasure.
"That's not true," Salvia snapped back, but she looked away from the soldiers and turned her attention ahead of the pokemon, "why would the Sinnoh army do that," Salvia cried as she hit the powerful dragon, but Salamence didn't feel the hit and continued to fly on the directed path.
"Listen, we will tell you everything, but you need to realise that the Sinnoh forces weren't exactly on the Sinnoh side at all, in fact we believe that the Seven Shadows were responsible for the attack on Twinleaf Town," the soldier explained while the four people continued riding the mighty dragon on the way to safety.
"Sir, what about Professor Rowan?" the soldier on the left asked his commanding officer.
"Well at the moment, I don't think he has any concerns about his own safety, but the enemy is currently after the princess," the leader of the group informed the subordinates as the princess listened in, still not able to believe in why this was all happening.
(Near Jubilife City)
Ash looked back again, still not believing he was released even after punching a soldier, "I still hate you," Ash reminded the commander, but the leader of the group remained calm and accepted it, "but to tell you the truth, I don't want to even see the princess, not after what has happened," Ash proclaimed as he started walking on his own towards the major city.
"I understand, oh there is one more thing, about Lust, she can shape shift into someone we love the most, be careful," Blake told Ash as he left for the city, "another thing, do not go to any other location other than Canalave City, we need to tell you more about the enemy," Blake informed Ash, the trainer ignored the commander and walked into the city, 'plus you aren't in the right frame of mind to tackle these foes,' Blake thought to himself concerned about the mental state of Ash.
Ash looked to the left again hoping that Dawn would be there for him, he instinctively put his hand on his left shoulder hoping that his partner pokemon was there, but as he did reality soon hit, he was alone, in the busy city that he and Dawn first visited on their journey together, pulling out the photo of Dawn and him spending time together both happy in the picture, "I lost something that I will never get back, those Seven Shadow Lords will be made to suffer for this," Ash announced his intentions, walking towards the western side of the major city.
Thinking back to what Blake was saying about the Seven Shadow Lords, 'remember Ash, these people don't care how many people are in the way, all they care about is twisting the world with their own desires,' Blake's words rang in Ash's mind, 'they also know how to injure a person mentally, at the moment, you are mentally injured,' Blake's words reverberated through his mind.
"Damn you Blake, what am I supposed to do?" Ash kept questioning himself as he looked around to find the people walking through the city ignorant of what was happening.
'Ash I know what it is like to lose people close to you, I lost my family because of those Shadow Lords,' Blake's words continued to play back in his mind, taking a deep breath Ash walked slowly towards the western exit of the city, 'don't throw away your life so recklessly!' the final instruction of Blake played back in the trainer's mind.
"I want to help people out, yet how am I supposed to help others out when I couldn't help the woman I love and her Piplup as well as Pikachu, mom and Johanna?" doubt filled Ash's mind, he looked back over his shoulder, his world completely shattered by the actions of an evil team, 'they did something that not even Team Rocket could do, they stole something that I can never get back," Ash reminded himself as he remembered the harsh reality that Blake stated, "once someone has died, I cannot bring them back to life," Ash told himself as he exited the busy streets of Jubilife city.
After exiting the city Ash walked towards where the sea started, he listened carefully as the waves crashed on the shore, four large pokemon flew over him, heading towards Canalave City, "I guess I better figure out what to do next," Ash commented as he started to think about the friendship between Salvia and Dawn, 'those two were really close friends almost like sisters, how will the princess take the loss of Dawn?' Ash questioned himself as he walked towards the bridge that led to Canalave City.
Heading to the destination, Ash could sense that something was about to happen, the trees started to sway in the sea breeze and the waters gently lapped on the side of the bridge, the Wingulls flew overhead where the flying pokemon shot through the air, Ash was dreading the meeting with the princess knowing that he had the difficult task of telling her what had happened, 'I have a long day tomorrow,' Ash thought to himself looking towards the sea where the sun was setting over the horizon.
The truth of the Seven Shadow Lords comes to light, but the reality hits both Ash and Salvia really hard, their meeting will be full of emotion knowing the truth behind the loss of the person closest to them.
Next up Chapter 3: Short Lived Peace
If you are all interested, I have actually written 6 chapters to this story, that including the final chapter. so parts of this story have basically been written. also this will be the last chapter for the year for any story, I will be releasing chapters for the other stories some time in the first 7 days of the new year.