Chapter 18

Up With the Light Core

Dash and Penny wake up not as early this time. With no dewott around to rush them, they had all the time to get up. Although they did lose their supplies, how ever Penny still has the map because she held on to it for dewott before the incident. Dash can read so he won't be able to help to much with map reading, and Penny only knows few words, but she figures that she is the best one out of the two to read the map. She doesn't open the map though. They need to eat before they go and with their food supply gone, they'll actually have to get it themselves. Penny and Dash head out looking for food. They don't go too far from their sleeping area because they want to keep an idea of where they are when they look at the map. After picking a few berries that weren't well known in the part of the forest they lived in, they ate a few of them and Penny had Dash hold the extras. She finally sets the map down on a log and looked at it. Dash looked at it from the other side of the map. Penny looked at the wording slowly realizing that the language was a mix between oshawott evolution line and snivy evolution line. So no one Pokemon could fully read the map, with out another Pokemon's help. They could see the shape the island looked through all the markings. There was a lot of place they could go but they looked for the one that said "light core or some variation of it. After a few minutes of looking for it, they do find the one that reads "light" in the snivy language and "core" in the oshawott language. It does appear to be on a hill with the long wide arches in the area. Dash wouldn't know about the arches, to him this map is a huge picture that so much is going on in that you couldn't understand it, but Penny is able to read the map. She, although considered uncivilized to most of the civilized world, she does know a lot about the two different sides. She shakes her head at the map. Penny grabs the map, looks at Dash, and said, "You ready to find the truth?"Dash nods, even though he really wants to go back home. He does want to find the truth but not as badly as Penny. He just following the girl of his dreams into whatever pit she may walk into. He just wants to be there.

Penny waits for Dash to catch up from his thoughts. When Dash finally does, she is already a good fifty paces ahead. Dash runs next to her while she walks at a slowed paced. Her pace becomes normal speed when Dash catches up. Penny and Dash were following the sun at this moment. They walked at a slower pace as of yesterday. Clearly Dash was just following Penny. If she would have stopped, turned and walked back home, Dash would happily follow but Penny kept walking away from the familiar scenery. Away from home. Away from friends. Neither one really had a family. Penny left her family at a young age because she thought she was ready. When she realized she wasn't ready for the world, she was gone long enough where her family wouldn't let her in the nest again. This was the way of life for the wild snivy. Dash was lived in an oshawott clan before he met Penny. He was kicked out because the dash across his face was thought to be a disease. Fact is, if he had stayed in the clan, he would have been taught that snivy are bad and evil because the oshawott were weak against the snivy clan and they are enemies along with the tepig clan. No one clan could take over the other two clans down because they always had that balance. Dash, being kicked out at a young age, was left out to die, but he didn't because he was able to adapt to his new lonely surroundings.

Penny and Dash didn't speak at all on the trip. Although they exchanged a lot of looks between each other, it was like they were trapped in their own thoughts and they were in different rooms yet they were walking next each other. Every step was a step closer to Penny's goal in finding the truth, in theory. Both wonder if what they were doing was truly good. Penny has her sights on finding this truth to deeply think about this. Dash on the other hand, has been thinking about this from before the death of the dark core. These thoughts have been invading any other thoughts as if someone was putting these thoughts into his head. Very deep thoughts too. The thoughts that you look at it in all directions and feelings yet even after all these angles and thoughts, the path remains unclear and uncertain. His own thoughts don't want him to go but his feelings fight against the thoughts telling him to go. He had to shut them both down because he was tearing himself apart which could cause damage to himself. He's following the one Pokemon that he cares about that is around him and he will do anything to protect that little pretty sparkle.

Penny and Dash two days later stand at the slope of the final hill until the light core, or at least that's what the map said. Penny takes a deep breath as she prepares for probably the worse. She knows that if the skunktank and scrafty are there, then they will resist from telling her the true truth and resist any actions she will make towards the light core. "Are they the blind ones?" Penny thought, "Are they the ones who don't realize that if these cores are not destroyed that the land will suffer? Or are we, Dash and I, the blind ones? Have we been played with? Was that dewott and servine really our future selves? Of course dialga's attack made them disappear and even dialga mentioned that they put holes in the fabric of time but still...Are they who they said they are? Is it possible that dewott isn't Dash and servine isn't me? Have we been misguided? And even if they are who they said they are, will we change for the worse in the future?" Penny looks at Dash, "Poor Dash, he really doesn't want to be here. He's just here for me. How sweet, but... this is really my search" Dash looks at Penny waiting for her to make a move. Penny finally said, "You really don't want to be here do you?"

"Of course I do," Dash answered.

"Be honest with me, if I weren't here and it was just you would you turn back and go home?"

Dash looks away slightly guilty, "Yes, wouldn't be here. In fact, I have made it this far in the trip."

Penny smiles slightly, "Thanks for being honest with me. Sorry for dragging you this far, you can go, I'll be fine."

Dash surprised said, "What? b-b-but..."

Penny interrupts and speaks sweetly, "I'll be fine Dash, I just want to find some stuff out. Go home Dash. I'll see you there soon and we can take care of our kid together."

Dash slowly turns away. He pauses and looks at Penny and asks, "Are you sure?" Penny nods and Dash starts walking the direction they came from. Penny watches him slowly walk away and disappear over a hill. Penny turns away and looks up the hill. She takes a deep breath and starts walking up the hill alone. "Now he won't get hurt if something goes wrong... I hope I can make it back to him." Penny mind races with thoughts as she gets closer and closer to the top, each thought getting faster and faster almost to the point where even Penny can barely keep up with her own thoughts.

At the top of the hill, there the land flattens out and in front of Penny about fifty feet away was this bright ball, so bright that it's hard to look at. Penny blocks some of the light with her hand as she looks in the direction of the light core. "I know you both are there," Penny said, "You can stop hiding."

Skunktank and scrafty walk from around the light cores wearing sunglasses. "We figured you all were smart enough. What happened to the rest?" Skunktank asked.

"Dewott and servine went away and Dash went home."

"So you're alone? Sad. You had your friends behind you and now you're alone."

"It's not sad, this is my search so I'm searching alone."

"Searching for what?"

"Searching for the truth," Penny looks away slightly, "and I feel that your two may be the only ones may give me some pieces of the incomplete puzzle that I want to solve. Although I don't really trust you both, but I'm not fully trusting the dewott and servine but there is a little truth and every big lie to make the story make sense. Their story... made sense to Dash and I but some things just seemed off about it."

Skunktank replies slightly confused, "Why would you turn to us? Aren't you still angry at us?"

"I am angry that you almost killed Dash, but I just want truth right now and you two are the only ones who I know that actually have knowledge of these core things and well I want to know. Please tell me the real truth first time and now. Don't make me search through your story for the truth."

"Good, I'm glad at least you'll listen. We were thinking that you both wouldn't listen and we would have to stop you both. So what would you like to know?"

"Everything."

"Well let's take it in steps. What would you like to know first?"

"That dewott and servine. Who are they? Are they really Dash and I?"

Scrafty and skunktank exchange looks and then look at Penny. "Dewott and servine are you and Dash," Scrafty said, "They were nice and almost like you but something happened and we're honestly not sure what happened. They could have been misguided like you both but we don't think that was it because you both were older and smarter when you both changed. But for some reason, you both changed. You both disappeared and reappeared sometime later changed." Scrafty stops and looks away a little sad.

"We believe that well," Skunktank continues the explanation, "your kid dies for some reason suddenly an-"

"Wait!" Penny interrupted, "Our kid is going to die?!"

"In Scrafty's and mine timeline yes, but in your 's and Dash's timeline well, let's just say your guy's kid isn't on the same timeline as ours so her destiny could be different. You and Dash waited to be a dewott and a servine before having a kid. So their kid dying is a different kid then yours."

"I see... these different timelines are kind of confusing."

"Time itself is a very hard thing to explain. Does it exist or did humans put a unit on something does isn't even there in order to explain something else? Time itself can't be easily explained completely by no one. No one has a good definition for it."

"True... let's not get off topic though can you tell me about these cores?"

"Ah Penny glad you haven't changed." Skunktank smiles, "Any who these cores do give the creatures dark magic and light magic. The bigger they are the less cost every one will have. The smaller they are, the more cost everyone will have. This is common sense."

"So far it seems like the dewott and servine were telling the truth there."

"Yeah but that's usually where the truth ends. They probably told you that they will combine and explode and blah blah blah all that is a lie. A little lie to get others to destroy them both. The truth is that they haven't moved at all but they have just expanded slightly. They expand and contract normally. Almost like they're breathing. It's very important that both do not get destroyed."

"Why is that?"

"Well, honestly were not too sure but it's bad for magic users because the cores made it possible for us to control the dark magic or light magic in your case and if we suddenly couldn't use magic, it would throw us off. To be able to fight off threats and to use magic in order to help us in everyday life suddenly have that taken away from us, it would cause a lot of us to struggle and if we base our lives on magic, we could die because we wouldn't be able to adjust. Of course all of these are just theories and could be wrong."

"So no one is really sure what will happen?"

Skunktank and Scrafty both nods. Penny looks behind skunktank and scrafty to see two other figures behind them. "Who are they?" She ask. Before the Skunktank and Scrafty had a chance to turn in look and examine the two figures the figures rushed behind Skunktank and Scrafty and stabbed them in the back with light daggers instantly killing them both. Skunktank and Scrafty fall on the ground lifeless as the figures jump back and faces Penny. Penny, now not having skunktank and scrafty blocking her view immediately knew who they were. "Sparky! Fireback! What have you done?!" Penny yelled.

"They were getting in the way," Sparky said.

"In the way of what?"

"In the way of you and Dash destroying the cores."

"What do you mean?"

"You and Dash need to destroy the cores. You were suppose to destroy them and save us all."

"I don't want to if it'll cause pain and suffering to others. I won't do it. I may have been misguided at first but now I'm at least not blinded realizing that I should not be touching these cores because I know too little about them."

"But more will be suffering if you don't destroy them."

"I won't do it."

"Oh well, you guys did half of my work, guess I couldn't expect you guys to do all of it." Both Sparky and Fireback turns towards the light core.

"But..." Penny said, " While I'm here, I won't let any one destroy the light core. If I made a mistake with the dark core by destroying it, then I can fix it by saving the light core. I'm no longer any one's puppet. I'm not going to do your work, I'm going against it."

"It's us two against you. You have a type disadvantage. There is no hope for you in defending this core."

"Well, at least I'll try." Penny forms leaf blades in her hands.

Sparky and Fireback face towards Penny. Fireback fires a fire ball at Penny. Penny closes her eyes preparing for the impact from the fire ball. She feels the heat of the fire ball and then the heat slowly disappear but no impact from the fire ball. Penny slowly opens her eyes and sees Dash standing in front of her with his scalchop out. Dash looks at Penny, " I was just making sure you were okay, and saw you needed help." Penny smiles then looks at Fireback with anger. She then looks at Sparky and yells, "Are you really letting him attack me? If you were so nice then you wouldn't let him attack me. Did you order him to attack me?"

Sparky doesn't answer. The little breeze blows through the normally windy hill. Sparky and Fireback form light magic daggers in their hands. Penny holds her leaf blades up in her hands in reply. Dash forms dark daggers but the daggers shatters and give Dash a jolt of Dark magic cost. Even though the cost was painful, Dash grabs his scalchop instead. Sparky runs at Dash and Fireback runs at Penny, clearly taking advantage of the type advantage. Sparky swings at Dash and Dash jumps out of the way remembering what happened last time he tried to block a magic attack. Fireback give a stabbing motion towards Penny. Penny side steps the attack and swings the leaf blade at Fireback. Fireback gets hit but the leaf blades burn from the flames on the back and Fireback seems almost unaffected. Fireback slashes Penny's arm and kicks her backwards. Penny falls backwards on to the ground. Dash sees Penny falls to the ground and starts to run towards her but on his way there, Sparky stabs Dash with the light dagger. Dash falls to the ground with the light dagger in his back. Penny gets up and sees Dash on the ground. Sparky tries to get the light daggers to absorb into Dash's body so he'll get light magic poison but instead the dark magic from Dash blocks the absorption of the light magic and shatter the light magic dagger in Dash's back. Sparky and Fireback surprised back up. Penny runs to Dash to help him up. Fireback runs at Dash and Penny and slashes them both with the light daggers. Then before Dash or Penny could react, Sparky throws a light arrow at Dash which hits and goes through his chest. This time though, Dash stays on his feet and his marking across his face starts to glow again. Dash's fur starts to be stained red from his injuries blood. Penny stands in front of Dash protecting him from any other attacks. Dash breathing hard doesn't move. Both Fireback and Sparky throw multiple arrows at Penny at once. Dash forms a dark magic barrier in front of Penny blocking the light magic arrows.

"That's impossible! He shouldn't be able to use Dark magic because the dark core is down!" Fireback said.

The barrier disappears and Dash engulfs the scalchop in dark magic in his hand. He has razor shell ready but instead of the razor shell being a watery colors the colors were black and gray. Penny trades her leaf blades for light daggers. Dash, still holding him self up, forms a dark dagger in the opposite hand from his scalchop. Fireback uses smokescreen to try to cover their attacks but the little breeze blows the smoke away making the screen ineffective thus giving Penny and Dash a chance to counter their attacks. Penny blocks Sparky's attack with the light daggers and slashes Sparky in the arm. Dash goes under Fireback's attack and swings the dark daggers at Fireback but Fireback quickly jumped back dodging Dash's attack. Dash, falls down from his injuries and loss of blood. That one attack, took all the strength he had to just stand. Fireback see this opportunity and runs at the defenseless Dash to cause the final blow. Penny, being attacked by Sparky couldn't stop the attack. Fireback gives the daggers a thrust straight down on to Dash but a dark barrier forms slowing down Fireback's attack. Fireback gets tackled by a fast moving creature. Penny looks over and sees Sparks with both of his knifes ready. Fireback kicks Sparks off of himself and he stands up. Penny stands in front of Dash again and Sparks stands next to her.

"So we meet again brother." Sparky said.

"So how did you get here? How did you know we were here? Why did you come?" Penny asked.

"Dash sent me a message saying that you two needed help and through that message he teleported me close to the battlefield some how. The dark magic has been dead for a few days and Dash was able to message me and teleport me near some how. I came also to help you friends." Sparks replied. Sparks sneaks a look towards Dash. "Dash isn't looking so good."

Fireback runs at Penny and Sparky flies at Sparks. Sparks sidesteps Sparky's attack and slams her to the with the blunt end of his knife. Sparky skids to a stop on the ground and Sparks jumps on her and breaks one of the light daggers with one of his knifes. Penny blocks Fireback's attack but Fireback blows a little bit of fire in Penny's eyes blinding her temporary and Fireback stabs Penny in the chest. Penny backs up holding the injury and falls to the ground. Dash looks at his fallen mate on the ground very injured. Dash slowly stands up despite his injuries. Sparky struggles on the ground. Sparks hits Sparky in the head with the blunt of his knife. Sparky gets knocked out and a ball of light comes out of Sparky and enter Fireback's body. Cuts appear on Fireback as he took cost from that ball of light. Sparks, who followed the ball of light with his eyes angrily gets up and looks at Fireback. "It was you!" Sparks yelled, " You were controlling my sister! She never was attacking me! It was you!"

Fireback chuckles and replies, "So you finally found out. Too bad it's too late." Fireback jumps on to the light core and slashes it. The light core shatters releasing a huge wave of energy in the area. Dash falls backwards, too weak to fight against the energy.

Sparks holds his ground and runs at Fireback. Fireback runs at Sparks in reply. Sparks swings at Fireback and Fireback blocks with the light daggers but the light daggers shatter, weakened from the destruction of the light core. The knife slashes Fireback's chest. Fireback chuckles from the pain. He feels that the wind has died down so he uses smoke screen. Sparks looks through the smoke but when the smoke leaves, Fireback was no where to be seen. Dash slowly stands up again. Sparks rushes to Dash to aid him. Dash walks over to Penny, who's last breath was spent a few moments ago. Dash stares at Penny's lifeless body as tears form in his eyes. Sparks look away. "I'm sorry, " Sparks said with seemingly no emotion, " I should have saved her."

"No." Dash said, "You couldn't have changed what was going to happen. Just take care of our child because I'll soon be joining Penny in the afterlife."

Sparks nods slowly in agreement of Dash's path towards the end, "I will take care of your child. I'll make sure to take care of it as if the kid was my own."

Sparky slowly staggers to her feet and she rubs her head. Dash slowly grabs his scalchop. "Sis are you okay?" Sparks asked.

"Yeah what happened?" Sparky walks to Dash and Sparks. She looks down at Penny's lifeless body and asks, "What happen to Penny?" Tears form in her eyes.

"Wait how do you remember Penny?"

"I don't know... She was the only one I could truly hear her voice when my mind went away."

"Fireback was controlling you sis. He used you, Dash, Penny, Scouter, and I to get what he wanted, and he succeeded."

"oh."

Dash slowly falls over on to the ground. "I should have saved her." Dash said struggling for breaths, "I should have know this trip was all one lie." He pauses catching his breath, "These supposed truths were all lies and we figured out the true truth but it was too late for us to save ourselves and to fix what we did." Dash slowly pulls out the heart scale and puts it on Penny. Sparky and Sparks watch helplessly as Dash breaths slowly slow down until the last breath happened until no breath was seen or heard from his body.

Sparks slowly looks at Sparky who was crying. Sparks looks at Dash then Penny. "Come on Sparky." He said, "We have to do one more thing." Sparky nods slowly still crying.

"I know what we have to do," Sparky replies. Sparks stands over Dash's body and Sparky over Penny's body. Sparks pulls a dark magic ball from Dash and Sparky pulls a light magic ball from Penny. Both absorb the magic ball they pulled out of the body.

Sparky and Sparks walk away from the bodies down the hill. "Why do we have to do that to every one who knows magic?" Sparky asks.

"Because if we don't then that dark magic and light magic will be released in a wave of uncontrolled dark and light magic which can give light or dark magic poison to anyone in the area." Sparks answered.

"What are we going to now?"

"Well I made a promise and I'm going to complete the promise and watch their egg."

Sparks and Sparky walk to their homes. The egg was still in the warm shelter save and warm. Sparks and Sparky sleeps under the same roof, just as they did many years ago before the separation. The egg rest in Sparks arms being cared for by the pachirsu and making sure no outside dangers harms the egg.