Chapter 14

Walking with the Dark and Light Cores

Penny wakes up to sounds of rain and lightning. She rubs her eyes looks around the room. No one else was awake. She looks out the window which her bed was the closest to. The dark clouds swallowed the sky with the water beating down on the world. It's still very dark outside. That little breeze is now a howling wind blowing the branches of the trees in every direction. The nest is in the base of the tree trunk. She peeks outside to check on the tree that they are living in. The tree is moving a lot but not enough to worry about it falling and leaving them all in the rain. Penny sighs a sigh of relief and starts to worry less. She now only worries about the small possibility that another tree may collapse on the tree they're living in and forcing the tree to be destroyed with the nest. The sky gives random flashes of light in random patterns followed by a loud boom noise that shakes the ground slightly. Penny checks on everyone to see that they are sleeping soundly through this storm. She is the only one awake. "I should try to sleep some more but this storm has got me a little on edge." Penny thought, "Me staying up isn't going to stop this storm from doing the damage it wants to do." She turns to her bed. She re-checks everyone again. Then lays her head down, closes her tired eyes, shuts out all the noises of the storm, and goes to sleep.

Penny opens her eyes a few hours later. She rubs her eyes and looks around the room at everyone. Dewott is still sleeping. Dash is sleeping but he has rolled out of the bed. Servine is not in the room. Penny gets up and looks outside. Servine is standing by a fallen tree that missed the house by only a few feet. The sunlight gleams on the wet grass and trees from the storm. Penny stands on the tree that is next to servine. They exchange looks at each other and Penny said, "We had a crazy storm last night."

"I noticed." Servine replies, "We almost got hit."

"Yep. Almost."

"Most don't realize how close to death we actually are. We think that we are invincible and before we know it we're laying on our deathbeds."

"Could you imagine trying to move Dash if our tree was hit?"

"Well first we'd have to wake him up." Servine laughs a little, "It would be hard but I would force him to walk."

"Even if he couldn't?"

"Yep. I'll walk at his pace."

"But you wouldn't be going anywhere."

"Sometimes all it takes is a little nudge to get someone started."

"But he wouldn't be able to!"

Servine shakes her head. "You are just so clueless aren't you?"

"Don't forget, I'm you."

"I know me but it's true."

Penny becomes increasingly mad, "Why am I clueless?"

"Do I really need to spell it out for you?"

"Do I need to get it out of you the hard way?"

Servine laughs, "Come on now I'm you. I know all your moves and tactics and you don't know mine. Plus I'm a higher level than you."

"Why should that stop me?"

"I don't know. Why should it? Why shouldn't it?"

"Stop with these riddles!"

"Funny to hear that from you because in these similar situations that you're in, you talk in a very similar matter."

"I know but I use it to help others not annoy others." Penny readies with leaf blade.

"Who's to say that I'm not doing the same thing? Self discovery is good yes?"

Penny doesn't answer. She is only planning on when to strike.

"You refuse to think negatively about yourself so you think negatively on others. You think that because you don't understand that I'm attacking you. It's everyone's nature. We either attack others or attack our selves. You attack others."

Penny puts away the leaf blades. "So you think I'm attacking you because of my nature?"

"Yep. Sparks probably would do the same thing."

"And Dash?"

"You can answer that yourself."

Penny doesn't reply. Dewott walks out of the house. He looks around at the trees. He sees Penny and servine. He walks over to them and asks, "How did you two sleep through the storm?"

They both answer, "Alright."

Dewott stands on the fallen tree, "That's good." He looks at Penny then servine. "So what's our plan today?"

Servine and Penny exchange looks, both waiting for the other to answer. Servine finally said, "We're going to get Dash up on his feet and moving."

Penny is shocked by the answer but remains silent. She is very optimistic of Dash walking. "Dash still has his bandages on and is still recovering from that initial blow." She thought, "He can't walk yet."

Dewott, kind of surprised, replies with, "Okay. But we need to wait for him to wake up."

"He has the most random sleeping patterns I have ever seen." Penny said, "Sometimes he woke up earlier than us and sometimes he wakes up later than us."

Dewott and servine nod. They all walk back into the house one by one. Penny walks over to sleeping Dash. She turns and asks, "Should I wake him?"

Dewott shakes his head no and servine nods yes. Penny looks at them both with an unsure look. They all exchange looks at each other. Dash said, "I'm awake."

Penny quickly turns around to Dash's eyes looking at everyone. "Oh." Penny said.

"You all talk really loud." Dash chuckles and yawns.

"Sorry," they all said.

"It's okay, I needed to wake up anyways." Dash restlessly sits up.

Penny, dewott, and servine all look at Dash in disbelief. Penny starts to think that they have been underestimating Dash's ability to recover so fast. Dewott and servine are not sure how to react. They think that he shouldn't be do these things so soon and doing so well. Dash looks at them all. He smiles and says, "Oh come on now, you really think this little event could keep me down on the ground for this long." Dash looks behind him, "Looks like I rolled off my bed again."

Servine replies, "Little event? Dash you almost died."

"The whole world does not care about one puny little oshawott dying. It's the cycle of life, the big one takes out the little one except if the little ones can out number the enemy. My death would be a little event and I would be forgotten."

Servine, dewott, and Penny all exchange looks passing the reply around until finally Penny replies, "You're right. In a worldwide scale, we're nothing but another dust in the wind. Even in a regional scale we may be nothing but in a community, we may always be remembered. Of course if we do nothing even friends and family will forget our existence. Dash, you have done so much for others but you haven't done much for yourself. Don't forget who you are. Dash, you should do more for yourself so you don't forget who you are. If you don't know who you are then who will know who you are?"

Dash looks away. "So I should do more for myself so I can find myself yet I'm trapped in the bed."

"Today you're not going stay in bed." Servine said.

"What do you mean?" Dash asks.

"We're going to get you walking?"

"You sure I can?"

"Well you sat up by yourself and you're still sitting up."

Dash looks down. "Guess I am sitting up. I totally forgot that I was because I've been laying down for so long."

"You're going to walk a few steps by yourself before this is over."

"You sound very confident."

"I am."

Dash looks at Penny, "And you seem unsure."

"I am." Penny replies, "You're still recovering from this injury Dash. I'm afraid that we're pushing you too hard, too fast, too soon and that we may make your injuries worse to the point to where you can't recover."

Servine looks at Penny, "If we don't take the risk then he may not recover as fast."

"But we might hurt him more!"

"But we might help him."

Penny said in a mad voice, "Fine! Go ahead and hurt him more. When he is hurting more from you guys forcing him too hard, don't say I didn't warn you." Penny storms out.

Dewott and servine watch Penny then they look at each other. "Do you think we should check on her?" Servine asks.

"I'll check on her." dewott said. Dewott leaves the home. He finds Penny walking away in the distance with her arms folded. Dewott walks at a faster speed than Penny. Penny climbs a tree knowing that she'll probably be followed. Dewott walks under the tree that she is in. All he can see is her tail hanging down from the branch that she is sitting on. "Come on down Penny. I understand that you're mad but come down so we can talk."

Penny remains silent. The tail dangles and only the slight breeze is moving it.

"I'll go up there if you don't come down here."

Penny speaks in a saddened voice, "You can't climb trees."

Dewott stays silent. "She's right," he thought, "I can't climb trees."

A few minutes pass with no words spoken. Servine walks in with Dash sitting on her back. She sets Dash down on his feet by a different tree. Dash struggles for a second to gain some balance but he stays on his feet without using the nearby tree for support. Dewott looks at servine and Dash with a worried look. Penny's tail gets eaten by the tree only to be regurgitated in a different area away towards Dash and servine. Servine and Dash looks up at the tail. They hear Penny's voice from the tail, "Why is he out here? He could get hurt."

"He wanted to go outside." servine answered, "So I let him out of bed and brought him outside. Don't worry, he didn't walk here. I had to carry him here." She looks at Dash, "You're heavier than you look."

Dash looks away and replies, "I could have tried to walk."

"Nah, it's alright that I carried you."

Dash looks up at Penny's tail. "Penny, please come down here. You know I can't climb trees."

Penny's tail disappears. There is no movement going towards the ground. Servine climbs the tree. They hear Penny climb higher in the tree to the highest point of the tree. Servine climbs three or four branches under Penny. Any higher and she would risk braking the branches. She looks up at Penny. She can see more than Penny's tail this time. Penny is facing the opposite direction. "Come down Penny." servine said.

"No." Penny answered softly.

"Come on Penny. I'm sorry."

"You say it but do you really mean it?"

"Yes I do Penny."

"Do you really?" Penny turns on the branch and faces servine, "Are you really sorry? Or are you just going to do the same thing that caused me to go up this tree?"

"Yes, yes, and no."

Penny climbs a branch down. "I guess I did overreact." She climbs another branch down. "You were only stating your opinion." She lands on the same branch servine is on and a loud creaking noise from the branch is heard. Both servine and Penny freeze. They look at each other. Penny slowly moves a branch down. Penny firmly stands on the next branch. Servine let's Penny move down another branch before she moves again. They make it to the ground safely. Penny looks where Dash was standing only to see that he wasn't there. Dewott and servine look in the same direction. They all look at each other with puzzled looks. Penny looks at dewott, "Where is he?"

"I don't know." dewott answered.

"How don't you know? He was near you."

"I was wondering how everything was going up there and I kind of got distracted."

"We need to find him."

"How far do you think he could have gone?" servine asks.

"Not far," dewott answers, "he can't walk fast. He also isn't full strength yet."

"But this is Dash we're talking about." Penny said. They all walk around in different directions to search for Dash. After a few hours it starts to rain and they all meet up again. Penny and servine shiver.

Dewott looks at them, "We need to back home." he said.

Penny whispers, "But Dash..."

They all make there way to the home which was hard to navigate due to the visibility being lowered by the never ending drops of rain. They all walked in to see Dash sitting on his bed looking out the window. Penny sits next to Dash and asks, "Why did you leave suddenly without telling anyone?"

"It was going to rain and in reality none of you would have heard me even if I yelled."

"You had dewott there with you."

"Physically but not mentally."

"How could you tell it was going to rain if we couldn't see the sky?" dewott asked.

Dash looks at dewott, "Well, you should know because you're me."

"I don't know though or I don't remember."

"Well, I noticed the air was more moist than usual. The wind was blowing. It was a little bit darker in the forest which was a big indicator that the sun was being covered up by the clouds. So I figured it was going to rain."

Penny, dewott, and servine all look at Dash with amazement. "How did you learn about that?"

"When you have to learn how to survive, you'll use every little bit of information to try to give yourself the best advantage in this world. I learned how to use the moisture in the air, wind blowing, the slightly darkened sky, and the lack of flying pokémon to my advantage. All pokémon that live like the way I do from a young age then these little things are very easy for us to recognize. The rain can be deadly if we're caught without shelter. True it's not one hundred accurate but I get more accurate for every little information piece of information I pull in. And apparently it can be just as easy to lose the ability. I also know that this ability doesn't work in the winter or in snowy areas."

"Maybe I lost touch with nature," dewott said, "and that's why I lost this ability. I wonder what other abilities I've lost."

"Did you walk here?" Penny asked.

Dash nods. Servine looks at dewott and she said, "Dash is recovering really well."

"Yes he is," dewott replied, "better than we hoped for."

"Do you think we should tell them?"

Penny and Dash turn around and look at dewott and servine.

"Do you really-" dewott pauses. Servine had given the look of you're not changing my mind, "Fine we can."

Penny asks, "What are you going to tell us?"

Dewott looks at Penny and Dash, "We're going to tell you fully why we're here."

"Wait! Your mission wasn't to protect Dash?" Penny asked.

"Not exactly," servine said, "but when we learned that Dash was in trouble then we knew we needed to protect him and get involved. We never wanted to get both of you in the mission, but now that we know that Dash is in danger, you both have been force to be involved in our mission."

"What is your mission?"

"Have you heard about the light core and dark core?"

"No." Dash and Penny said.

"Dark core and light core are what helps us use dark magic and light magic. The dark core helps with dark magic and the light core helps with light magic. Now they don't give us more power as they get bigger. What they do is they cut the cost of using the magic?"

"The cost of using magic?" Penny asked.

"When we use magic, we take what many call a cost. Sometime the cost is damage. Sometimes it's a special condition. Sometimes we feel extremely tired physically. Sometimes it's a combination of that. You can use the same magic move twice but receive two different costs. The higher the level of the magic you use the more cost you'll receive. The bigger and more powerful the dark and light cores are the less cost it is to use magic. Since light core and dark core balance each other, if not affected by an outside force, when one grows then the other one grows. The problem is they grow so big and powerful to where the magic becomes so powerful and the cost so little to where it is just chaos. Everyone is fighting each other. There is death everywhere. Blood everywhere too. That's why we came to the past. We had to recover for three days from the cost. Our goal is to destroy both the cores. Of course with a small group like ours we'll need to destroy one than the other. We need to do it quickly too. If we take too long then we'll need to restart because the one that we destroyed first would have grown again. If we fail, this region will fall into utter chaos. We shouldn't delay for too long. We're at a point of time to where the light core and dark core still give reasonable costs. What scrafty attacked you with was minor. Yes it did a lot to Dash, but that was because it was placed in his chest. If he got attacked in the foot or the arm, this wouldn't be so bad. He probably still have to face darkness poisoning because of the added darkness but after that he would be fine."

Dash and Penny look at each other. Dash looks back into the middle of the group and says, "Well we need to do something."

"Servine and I will," dewott said.

"Oh no," Penny said, "You better include us in your plans."

"Ya," Dash agrees, "We're not going to sit around to wonder if you two saved us or not. We want to be there to know."

Dewott and servine exchange looks. "You both could be killed." dewott said.

Penny folds her arms, "Come on now. Dash almost died from these fools. Neither him or I are afraid of death."

"We live close to death everyday." Dash said.

Dewott and servine look at each other. Servine looks at Dash and Penny, "Do you really want to go through with this?" she asks.

Both Penny and Dash answers, "Yep."

"Alright," dewott said, "You are part of our plans." Dewott puts his hand in the middle.

"We will help you both as much as we can." Penny said as she puts her hand in the middle on top of dewott's.

"Let's keep each other safe." servine said as she puts her hand in the middle on top of Penny's.

"Let's not fail." Dash said and he puts his hand on top of everyone's, "We have a region to save. This is our home. Let's not lose it."

They all raise their hands in a confident cheer.