Using the Griseous Orb

The beach was quiet. More quiet than usually, in fact. On the beach, a young man stood.

The guard sighed as he watched the three ships in the bay. Fortis had put him here to watch, just to be sure that none of those talking pokémon came too close. He didn't notice the unfamiliar mind that entered his mind and heard all these thoughts.

"This is it, then." Shadow said and pulled out the Griseous Orb. Everyone's eyes focused at the shining relic. Shadow closed his eyes and focused. He hoped the guard on the other side of the bush wouldn't notice.

A sudden, golden light embarked from the Griseous Orb and surrounded Shadow. His shape grew into that of a human's.

As the light disappeared, a teenaged human boy stood before them. His shoulder-length hair was yellow and a bit messy, and eventually, when reaching his shoulders, it turned black. He wore a black cloak, and the very same purple scarf.

Shadow's purple eyes were focused at the orb in his hand. He hung the orb around his neck and hid it, along with the Azure Flute, under his scarf.

"All right." he whispered to his teammates. "I'm going to pretend that you four are my... pets, or whatever the humans would call it. Act like non-talking pokémon, okay?"

Whitetail and Mighty both frowned, but nodded. Feather flew up and landed on Shadow's shoulder. Aura walked up beside him, an unusually determined expression on her face.

They stepped out of the bushes.

"Greetings." Shadow said to the guard.

"Who are you?" the guard asked suspiciously. Shadow quickly entered the man's mind and manipulated his memories so that the guard would think that they knew each other.

"It's me!" Shadow yelled out. "How can you forget Umbra, your best friend?" They had made some research and found out that if they wanted a good pseudonym for Shadow, they should use the word Umbra, as it meant the same as Shadow in Latin, the language both Fortis and Draconis had names in.

"Oh. Sorry, Umbra." the guard muttered, as his memories were now telling him that they were good friends. Shadow walked up to the lifeboat on the beach and climbed into it. The others followed. Shadow rowed the boat towards the biggest ship.

"Go on." he told Feather.

"Sure." the pidgey nodded and took off. He landed on the deck of the ship beside another human who was cleaning the deck.

"Whitetail." Shadow whispered. Whitetail grabbed Mighty and used Shadow Force to take them both to the ship, where they reappeared behind some huge wooden boxes.

Nyara was resting peacefully on the sofa. Master Fortis had told her that he would leave for a few hours, which suited her well. The female meowth stretched her body out and purred with satisfaction.

Not that she had anything against Master Fortis. The complete opposite to be honest. When she had just been born, her mother, who had been a normal, non-talking pokémon, had killed her father, who had possessed unusual intelligence and the ability to speak. Nyara had grown up rejected because of her intelligence, inherited from her father. Master Fortis happened to find her and took her to his home.

When Nyara had told him about her father's intelligence, the human had wondered if her father could have come from the legendary land beyond the sea, where intelligent pokémon were rumored to live. Master Fortis was very impressed with Nyara; she was doubtlessly his favorite pet.

Shadow climbed onto the ship, followed by Aura, who still pretended to be "wild".

"Hello." he greeted the man who was cleaning the deck. Feather flew over to Shadow and landed on his shoulder again. Mighty and Whitetail remained hidden, as owning more than two pokémon might seem peculiar.

Shadow looked around. Except for the cleaner, no one was here.

"Where's Fortis?" he asked the cleaner.

"On the other ship. He won't be back for another two hours. They're discussing what to do next."

Shadow didn't ask anything more. He didn't want to blow his cover by asking too much. He simply researched the cleaner's mind on information where Fortis' cabin was. He found that it was located on this ship.

He silently walked up to the door that led inside, opened it and slipped in. Aura and Feather followed him, and Whitetail and Mighty appeared beside him, after yet another Shadow Force.

Nyara rolled over to her back, playing with the golden plate on her red collar, where it was written her name and owner. A part of her wanted to sneak out. She wanted to see this blessed land. Were there really other talking pokémon? Others of her kind? She had heard so many rumors. Were they true?

Yet, a part of her encouraged her to stay here. She wasn't safe in the outside world. She had stayed with Master Fortis for so long that she was nothing more than, well, a pet. She didn't know how to take care of herself, how to find her own food or, most importantly, how to fight. Maybe life was better this way...

Shadow and the others sneaked down the corridor. There were many doors here, Shadow guessed that they led to where the crew members slept.

When they reached the end of the corridor, they found a door with the word "Fortis" graved on it. This was where they might find clues about Giratina. They had reached their destination.

Nyara tensed as she heard the door open. It couldn't be Master Fortis, he never opened the door that carefully. She looked over the sofa's edge and saw the door open. Then, a small pidgey wearing a yellow necktie ran inside.

"There's no one here!" he yelled out. Wait. Yelled? He was a talking pokémon!

"Quiet, Feather!" the mightyena who stepped inside hissed. He was followed by a riolu wearing a blue bow aand an eevee wearing a silver necktie. And the eevee's tail was white! Nyara was amazed. Or maybe it was common for talking pokémon to have different colours. She gazed at the quartet curiously.

Then, a human boy stepped inside. No, wait. A bright light consumed him, and now he was a pikachu with narrow purple eyes, wearing a purple scarf.

Nyara swallowed. The excitement was gone. Now, she realized that these pokémon might be dangerous. They had a kind of unusual energy radiating from them that Nyara had never felt before. She could feel it especially from the pikachu. Luckily, they hadn't noticed her. She crept back.

But she was too curious. She peeked at them again, but accidently slipped down from the sofa with a loud thump and a shocked yelp. Five pairs of eyes focused on her where she lay on the floor. Then the pidgey, who she knew was called Feather, called out, in a surprisingly cheerful tone:

"Hiya!"

A/N: Two things about writing this chapter were really interesting. One was to make Shadow's first transformation between pokémon and human.

The other was to introduce Nyara and write a part of the chapter from her point of view. That must've been the first time ever that Team Saviours were in a part of the story, which wasn't written from one member's point of view! It was really entertaining to write!

And Feather's final comment... It just felt like something he could say.

One final thing... REVIEW, PLEASE!