Shining Shadows

Will the Charizard

Chapter 5: Past Shadows

Happy New Year! This chapter took a lot longer to write than I thought it would. I was up until 2 Christmas morning writing for you guys. This chapter's going to be awesome! I also felt that I should mention the inspiration for my story. If any of you have read Karyme: The Perfect Love by Houndude, well, that's what I'm basing my story off of. If you haven't, I suggest you stop reading this at once and read that, as it is better than my story in every way. I'd like to thank him for letting me base my story off his, and giving me advice for my writing. I still don't own Pokémon, (I'm working on that one, though) but Sam, Minney, Jet, and Saboten are mine. All mine. Unless you want to borrow them. Then you just need to ask! Little bit of semi-fluffiness coming up.

I woke up to a soft dim dawn the next morning to find Jet had fallen asleep with her head on my shoulder, whether intentional or not. Then she yawned, opening her eyes. "Is there a problem?" Jet looked at me like there was nothing strange about the situation.

"Well, you're getting crap all over me, but that's not a problem, I guess." This is weird. I thought Jet hated me. Now she's acting like there isn't a problem with her sleeping on me.

"We should get going. The city's very close." Jet quickly got up and looked at me with an impatient look on her face. "Well? Aren't you going to get up and pack up all that useless crap you think you need?"

"It's not useless. I don't have fur, so I actually need clothes. This knife is important to me, too. It was my dad's." Freaking impatient.

"Oh. I didn't know that was your father's. I get why you would keep anything of your family's close. I lost my family when I was very young. I told you that already, though. I have no idea why, but I did."

After I was done packing, I looked over at Jet. "Well, if we're going to the city, you need to get clean." I looked over at the river. On the edges it was nice and shallow, a foot and a half on the edges, but getting deeper closer to the middle. "Perfect. You can get clean right here."

Jet looked at me like I had just suggested she cut her own leg off for fun. "I'm clean enough. I don't need to look good for anyone."

"We're not going anywhere until you get clean. Now are you going to go yourself, or am I going to have to drag you in?"

"I am clean enough, and I will not… Hey!" Jet started squirming and yelling at me as I picked her up and carried her over to the river and started to put her in. "Wait! Wait! Don't put me down!"

"Why not?" I was confused. Wait, she's going to try to jump away! I held on tighter and got ready to put her in the rest of the way when she started screaming.

"Wait! I said wait! I can't swim, don't put me in, please!" I stopped, a huge grin growing on my face. "You honestly can't swim?" Jet clung to my body, a terrified look on her face. "Yes! I'm serious! Why the hell would I lie about this? Do you want me to drown? Put me on land."

I, laughing, set Jet down on a soft bit of grass in the mainly dirt ground. She still clung to me, though, shivering in fright. "Where'd that tough Umbreon go? The one that didn't need anyone's help?" Jet tried to look angry at me, but could barely stop herself from shaking, she was so afraid of the wide but shallow river.

Jet looked at me, still shaking with terror in my arms. "If you have to, will you do it up here? I'm sorry. Please just don't put me back down there."

"Fine, I'll get you clean." I cupped my hands and got a scoopful of water. "You ready?" Jet nodded her head, and I poured the water over her tail end first. Dirt and other things washed off her in large chunks; she was so dirty I had to clean everything two or three times. Then it was time for her head. "I'm going to dump water on your head now, is that ok?" Jet nodded and shut her eyes tightly. "Just get it over with." I poured the water as gently as I could, and then rubbed it in with my hands to get all the dirt off. Jet shivered at the water, trembling in fear. Her fur was matted and crusty, forcing me to be more physical than I wanted to. I finished washing her and dried my hands off in the grass. Jet shook herself off to dry, (Umbreon is based off a dog, I think), swore at me under her breath, then we were ready to go.

We arrived at New Saffron in only an hour and a half (haha inside jokes) and I, being a small town kid, was surprised at how big the city really was. The buildings must have gone hundreds of feet into the air, and the streets were packed and miles long.

"It's huge!" I stood there staring at the enormous city sitting in front of us. There were things going on everywhere you could see. There were huge groups of people converging around any area with food or entertainment, Pokémon alongside them in every part of the city.

"Yeah, it is. Well, I'm going to leave now. We got here, and we don't really need to keep going together. You tell no one about last night, by the way. In fact, you tell nobody we've ever met. Got that sweetheart?" Jet walked off laughing that cold, humorless laugh as I stared in disbelief. I can't believe she's leaving. She saved my life, and now she's just going to leave. Women. (I'm not sexist, Sam just has almost no experience with girls, his hometown was tiny. Please don't hurt me, girls) I shook my head in disbelief and went to go find a hotel.

I had been walking for a little while, just exploring the huge, bright city, when I felt someone watching me. I turned around and caught a glimpse of a black shape dart behind a wide brick building. I turned around, thinking nothing of it, and kept walking for the next few hours.

Around 8:00, I was still walking when I heard some call out to me. "Hey, kid! Come here!" I walked over to a younger, dark-skinned man with an eye patch over his left eye at the entrance to a small one room hotel with a small garage in back. It had painted wood, the dark green paint apparently being old, as it was peeling everywhere. "Are you crazy, kid? You can't stay out in the city at night! Come on in, you need a room."

"I don't think I could afford a room, sir. I don't have much money." I'm probably going to end up sleeping at a Pokémon center…

"Don't worry, the room is on me. I just don't think you know what it's like here at night, and I would feel terrible if anything happened and I could've stopped it." Well never mind.

"Why, what's it like after dark?" I had no idea what he was talking about, but I also had no money, and he offered me a free room, so I stayed to listen.

"People change at night, man. They start stealing from or mugging anyone who doesn't know they shouldn't be out at night. Casinos open up, the druggies come out, it's a shithouse out there. My name's John, by the way. Call me if you need anything. Oh, and lock the door when you get to your room, and don't leave until at least seven thirty tomorrow morning. There's plenty of hot water, I won't run out, so feel free to a shower."

I thanked him and went to my room. It was a two room, with a medium sized bedroom with a full sized bed, light brown walls and a black carpet, and a small bathroom with simple white walls. The paint was peeling from all the humidity the shower had produced, but it would do. I put my stuff down, locked the door like John told me, and went to take a long shower. I sat there in the shower for what seemed like hours, although it only turned out to be 20 minutes or so, hot water running down my back, steam filling the room shortly. I thought about what had happened in the last few days, about Minney, about Jet, about Saboten. That night I had a nightmare. I was back in the forest with Minney.

I saw her standing there in a clearing, looking at me. "Sam, come here. Sam, I need help." I tried to go over to her, but I couldn't move my body. Oh god. Move already! I then watched Saboten appear in the clearing, laughing his insane laugh. I then watched Minney's cruel death, over and over again. "Sam, help me!" she cried over and over. Please, let me move! Goddammit, I need to move! Again and again, Saboten crushed the life out of her again and again, then she returned to normal and everything started again, over and over, time and time again. No! I screamed over and over again, but no sound escaped my lips. I was helpless to save my friend, just like in the forest. "Sam, help me, please. Why don't you want to help me?" I saw Saboten raise his arm up again, his arm glowing with power.

I woke up in a cold sweat. I looked over at the surprisingly clean clock on the old, dirty wall. Damn. Only 5:00. Well, might as well get ready. I went and took another long shower, letting the hot water run down my back. I thought about my dream, and what it meant. After an hour or so in the shower, I got out, got dressed, and lay on the bed to watch television. I turned on the news and quickly saw something I was never expecting. On the news I saw my own face, with a caption saying missing person under it. I then realized I had yet to call my mother, who no doubt had believed that something was wrong after only two days without a call. I picked up the phone next to the bed, put in our home number, and waited. My mother picked up on the first ring.

"Hello? Who is this? Do you have information about my son?" My mother was speaking so fast I couldn't respond for almost a minute. "Mom, it's me. It's Sam. I'm in a hotel in New Saffron. I'm doing fine."

"Oh, Sam! I was so worried about you! Are you alright?" My mother sounded so relived, and so happy I wasn't lost in the woods somewhere.

"Yeah, mom, I'm ok." I then told my mom everything that had happened since I had left. She overreacted to everything, naturally. "Well, maybe you could come back home for a bit, Sam?"

"Mom, I don't think that would be a good idea. I'd have to go back through the forest, and I'm doing ok over here."

"Oh, alright. Just be safe, ok?" Sounding defeated, she gave an over-exaggerated sigh as her sign of defeat.

"I will, mom. Thanks." I hung up and looked at the plain white clock on the wall. It was seven forty five, so I decided to get out and check out the city.

A few hours later, I was staring out at the docks, to try to find the ferry. I immediately saw an older man in a captain's uniform, and walked over to talk to him. He had white hair, and I could tell he was very old, but at the same time, he was still quite strong.

"Hi, my name's Sam. I heard there was a ferry leaving within a couple days, do you know anything about that?" Please don't think I'm some tourist…

The man looked at me, shaking his head. "I'm the captain of the only ferry leaving for the next couple of months, and I'm not taking my boat out for the next three weeks.

"What? But… I thought…" I was stammering with surprise. Three weeks? Why three weeks?

The captain immediately answered my mental question. "There's a huge storm coming in, son. I wouldn't dare take my boat out in this weather. The boat would be destroyed before we were a mile out. I'll take you when the storm passes, but before that you'll have to wait it out, boy. I'm sure you can find something to do here for three weeks. Just keep yourself out of trouble."

"Thank you, sir. I'll meet you in three weeks, then?"

"I suppose you will. Call me Blake, by the way."

I thanked him and walked back into town. It was about twelve o'clock, and I didn't really have anything to do, so I looked for somewhere to go eat. I saw a fairly empty restaurant, and went in for a quick bite. I went in, sat at the bar, and ordered a cheeseburger and a coke. (He's 18. I can't do much better) I looked around the bar, and saw that there were very few people here. There was an older man, a Machoke (did I mention Pokémon were equal to humans? I think I did), and a black man that seemed very familiar. He turned around and I saw it was John, the man who ran my hotel. I got my food and sat next to him.

"Hey John, how's it going?"

He sighed, sounding unhappy. "Oh, I'm ok I guess Sam. Just in for a drink. You ever have whiskey? Stuff's great." He took a giant swig of his drink and started pushing the cup around.

"John. I'm 18, of course I don't drink whiskey. You sure you're ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm going back to the place, need a ride?" John pointed outside to a black 1969 thunderbird, the sun shining off its glossy finish.

"Damn, John. I was going to say I could walk, but if I can ride in that? Hell yeah I want a ride!"

"Great. You're driving." John tossed me the keys and I looked at him in disbelief. "Sam, if you knew how much of what I've been drinking, you wouldn't want to be in the car with me at all, but whatever." He looked terrible, when I really looked at him.

"Why, John, how much have you had? And if it's that bad, why do it?" John ignored my question. The bartender just laughed to himself.

"Just shut up and drive." John seemed irritated, so I went right back to the hotel. When we arrived, I pulled into his garage in the small lot behind the hotel. "Do you need me to stay here, John? I don't need to go anywhere today."

"No, you go have a good time. I'll be ok here by myself." John said, mumbling something to himself about how the damn stairs wouldn't stop moving, and stumbled his way back inside.

I spent the rest of the day going to different stores seeing what they had and thinking of what I actually needed. I didn't have Minney anymore, and I didn't have any way to catch more Pokémon. I didn't get back to the hotel until the sun was almost setting. I came in and saw John putting on a coat.

He saw me as I came in. "Dammit Sam! I was just going to go out and look for you! It's almost dark! I told you how bad this city gets at night. For some reason, it hits this neighborhood really bad, too. Be more careful tomorrow, ok?"

I nodded and went to my room and took yet another hot shower, thinking about what had happened today. When I saw him in the bar, he seemed depressed. But he was perfectly ok when I came back. I'll have to ask him about it before I leave tomorrow.

I fell asleep shortly after flopping myself into the lumpy bed, but my sleep was nowhere near peaceful. I had the same nightmare I had before, only longer. I was still helpless to same my best friend, and I could still hear her crying when I woke up the next morning.

It seemed like every day was like this for the next two weeks. I went and talked to Blake about when it would be safe to leave, or what fish he had caught over his long life, or the storm, then I would go to the bar for lunch, took John back to the hotel drunk, then look for something to do. Come back to the hotel, talk to John, take a shower, have a nightmare, wake up in a cold sweat, repeat. Then, on the 16th day I had been staying at the hotel, Tuesday, the 27th of April, John stopped me when I dropped him off at the hotel. Today had been a bad day, I had found him almost passed out at his table. I drove him home, made sure he got to the couch, and I was about to leave when he started talking.

"Sam, could you.. stay for a minute, or something? I gotta talk to you."

I couldn't say no, he had been giving me a free room for the past two weeks, I considered him a friend, and he had been just about unconscious 20 minutes ago.

John sat down on the couch, holding his head, a look of minor pain on his face. "Sam, have I told you what today is? No? Well, nine years ago today, my family and I were living in this little cabin in the woods. Early that morning everyone was asleep but me. I went to go get wood for a fire, because it was winter, and we didn't have any power. I had grabbed enough from the pile of fallen wood we kept when I heard a scream. I ran back and saw a Cacturne sitting on my front porch. It stood, smiling. 'You're not very good for the forest, are you? I've been watching you, and I've seen it. Constantly burning wood, I have no doubt that you have personally destroyed families of trees. If you don't believe trees have families and homes, trust me, they do. So, I took the liberty of destroying your home and family as well.' I stood there, not believing my ears. 'You… what?' I could barely hear the shit myself, but somehow the Cacturne had heard. 'Be glad you escaped without much pain. On second thought, here's some pain. I have to maintain my image, you know.' The fucker then shot a needle at me, hitting me in my left eye. I barely noticed, because I was already running for the cabin. When I got there, my family was gone."

Sweet Mew. Freaking Cacturne. "Holy shit. That's terrible, John. Do you want me to stay behind today?" I think I know that Cacturne, but I shouldn't mention that now.

He looked like he might pass out again, "That would be good, I think."

John started to stand up, but then he almost knocked over the old maple table trying to keep himself upright. I made him sit down again and got a bottle of aspirin from the bathroom. I made him take a few, then told him "John, you've got to stop this."

John looked up at me and raised his eyebrows. "Really? When did you get the authority to tell me what to do?" he sighed and lay back down. "I suppose you're right though. I can't be a drunk asshole my whole life."

I laughed. "John, you're not an asshole all the time, only when you've been drinking."

John chuckled and closed his eyes. "You know that I can't change shit about myself, and neither can you." Next thing I knew, he was asleep on the couch. I grabbed John's keys from the table, locked up the hotel, and went to bed myself.

As soon as I fell into the soft, lumpy comfort of the bed, I drifted off. Once I was asleep, however, the nightmares returned.

There she is. I have to get Minney. Move, body! I need to help her! Again and again I saw Minney's death. You would think the same dream for two weeks straight wouldn't be bad anymore… Then, the scene changed. I was standing in a forest, as before. There was a cabin in front of me, burning. A man knelt in front, sobbing. He turned around, and I recognized him. John. Oh god, I have to get him out of here! I tried to move, to help John, but again, I couldn't move. "Sam? Is that you? Please, help me save them. Please, Sam! Please!" I watched in horror as the cabin burned bright and high. I saw a shape rise up from the flames, and could do nothing but watch a giant Cacturne shadow laugh with a terrible, booming laugh long into the night.

Yeah. Jet is gone. Sam has a friend. I swear this was the last chapter largely devoted to Saboten being a bad person dude Pokémon thing. On a side note, I want to apologize. None of the previous chapters have been very long, and I find it hard to get into shorter chapters myself. I will attempt to get better at that. Something else completely unrelated, please anyone PM me if you want to know anything, if you have any questions for me, including personal questions, or if you have story suggestions, please, shoot me a PM. Thanks for reading, guys.