Chapter Three: Search and Rescue
Previously on In Dark of Night
-"Good luck on your journey, Shade."
"Thanks, mom."
-"My name is Ace and this is Shadow."
"My name is Shade and these are my partners, Pyro and Psy."
"Pleased to meet you."
-"We would like to join you on your journey."
"Why?"
"You're pure of heart. That's very rare."
-"This is the first gym. The leader is Korra, a Flying type leader.
-"It seems that your Pokémon are capable of earning the Arial Badge."
-"Let's go to the mall."
"Pass."
"I'll go with you, Shade."
-"You're just like me. A Dark being."
"I'm nothing like you."
-"It would seem that you've got a worse problem than me to deal with: your girlfriend."
-"Shadow and Shade have been taken."
"What are we going to do?"
"Get them back."
-"What's wrong? Are you scared yet?"
Shade: *gasp*
"What's wrong, dear sister? Did you miss me?"
In Dark of Night Chapter Three: Search and Rescue
With Shade
"L-L-Luna?!" Shade said, both from pain and weakness as well as from the shock of seeing her older sister standing in front of her, being one of the ones to torture her and take her blood. The other scientist left the two girls alone to talk.
Luna was wearing pink shoes with pink laces. The front of her shirt was yellow and the rest was blue. She had on yellow, blue, and pink pants that matched her shirt. Over that she wore a blue lab coat. She wore pink gloves that were fingerless. Her hair was blond and went down past her shoulders. Her face seemed powerful and strong, but at the same time, dark and more sinister. Her eyes were a light shade of pink, but they flashed a more negatively aligned light.
"What's wrong, Shadey?" Luna said in a mocking voice, kneeling down in front of her chained up sister. "Didn't expect to see me here, doing all these things to you?"
"I thought you were challenging the league." Shade said. "You disappeared six years ago and mom and I thought you had died."
"No, silly." Luna said, stroking Shade's chin. "I was recruited by these guys and I'm helping them with their goals."
"What goals?" Shade asked, struggling to sit up straighter.
"Oh, my dear Shadey." Luna said, leaning in closer to Shade. "Their goals go far above your head. They go far above the head of even the girl that was with you."
"What have you done with Shadow?!" Shade tried to get up the strength to summon her voice to shout at her sister.
"Oh, please." Luna said, chuckling a little. "Even if you were at full strength, you wouldn't be able to stand against me."
"What do you mean?" Shade asked, confused.
"Oh, you'll find out" Luna said, rubbing Shade's head, which Shade moved her head to avoid. "I'll show you firsthand"
With Shadow
"I must admit" The scientist said to his prisoner, who was taking panting from the pain she had been enduring. "you're far more resilient than the others I've "interrogated"."
"You won't get much from me." Shadow said. "I've taken worse pain."
"Well, I'd say so." The scientist said, chuckling to himself. "You didn't even respond to the first five times we took your blood or did anything, and those caused Tyranitar to scream in pain. You are clearly not human."
"I looked like a Clefable earlier." Shadow said. "I'm clearly not human. Or at least what you call human."
"Yes." The scientist said. "You are clearly not. Which is what makes this next part so very interesting."
"What do you mean?" Shadow asked suspiciously.
"This." The scientist said, pulling out a syringe. He injected it into Shadow's arm, causing her to scream in pain.
With Ace, Pyro, and Psy
Ace jolted for a second, causing Pyro and Psy to look at him with confused and worried looks.
"I could feel Shadow." He said, clutching his chest. "She's in pain."
"Then we should hurry" Psy said.
"Let's go." Pyro said, running into the mall. Ace and Psy followed the hyperactive Eevee into the mall.
In the mall
The three friends walked up to the clerk's desk, where the clerk was ignoring them and talking on her phone. Pyro and Psy got up on the desk, waiting for a second.
"Excuse me." Ace said, knocking on the desk. "Can you help us?"
"Hold on, Marcy." The clerk said to her friend on the phone. She turned to Ace with some anger in her eyes.
"Can't you see I'm busy?!" she almost exclaimed.
"I'm looking for someone." Ace said.
"Well, I'm not interested." The clerk said, going back to her phone. Ace grabbed her by her collar.
"This is a matter of life and death." Ace said. "And if you don't help me, it will be your life or death as well."
"Okay, okay, fine." The clerk said, her voice hurried. "What do you want?"
"Have you seen a girl" Ace said, releasing the clerk. "that's about my height in black clothing with a red scarf. She has blue black eyes and black hair and was with a Clefable."
"Oh, I saw someone like that." The clerk said, thinking back. "She walked up to the fourth floor."
"Thanks." Ace said. Pyro and Psy jumped off the desk and followed him up to the elevator. They got in the elevator and rode it to the fourth floor.
When Ace walked out of the elevator, Pyro and Psy right behind him, they noticed that the floor seemed a little trashed.
"What happened here?" Psy asked, looking out over the floor. "It looks like there was a fight."
"I could have trashed this place way better than this." Pyro said, looking over the floor. "Let's look around and see if we can find anything important."
"Right." Ace said. They began to search the floor, looking for anything suspicious.
"I found a guy!" Pyro said, staring angrily at something. Ace and Psy walked over to what Pyro was looking at to find a man huddling back in the corner, hiding. When he saw Ace, he tried to get further back in the corner.
"Wait." Ace said, holding out his hand. "I need to ask you some questions?"
"Are you a detective?" the man asked.
"No." Ace said. "But I'm acting like one right now."
"Wh-what do you want to know?" he man asked.
"I'm looking for a girl." Ace said. "She's about my height and wearing black pants, a black shirt, and a black jacket. She also has a red scarf and has black hair and blue black eyes, and was with a Clefable. Have you seen her?"
The man's eyes widened as he remembered the exact person that Ace was talking about.
"Sh-she was taken" he said, causing Ace, Pyro, and Psy's eyes to widen. "Her and the Clefable."
"By who?" Ace said, grabbing the man by his collar and causing him to shake.
"r-r-raZe Corp" the man said. "They're the ones that did it."
"raZe Corp?" Ace asked, confused. "That company that practically owns and makes everything?"
"Yes." The man said. "Three thugs came and kidnapped both the girl and the Clefable. I could tell they were from raZe Corp because of the Z on their chests."
"What would they want with Shade and Shadow?" Psy asked.
"That's a good question." Ace said, thinking.
"You can understand her?" the man asked.
"Yeah." Ace said. "Why?"
"They lock people up for saying they can understand Pokémon." The man explained. "raZe Corp doesn't seem to like the idea of people talking to Pokémon. I don't know why, but you better be careful. Some of those thugs might still be around here."
"I'm counting on it." Ace said, walking back to the elevator. "Thanks for the help."
"Welcome." The man said.
Mall—bottom floor
"So what are we gonna do if we see one of the thugs?" Psy asked.
"We're gonna kick their asses." Pyro said.
"What will that solve?" Psy asked her best friend.
"It will get me answers." Ace said.
"Look." Psy said, pointing outside of the mall. "There's one of them now."
Outside were two men dressed in blue suits that had large Zs on them. They were scoping out the area, seemingly for peacekeeping.
Ace walked up to them, trying to hide the fact that they made him angry, though his reason was unknown even to him.
"Hello there." He said pleasantly. "Can I ask you two some questions?"
"Go away kid." They said to Ace, waving their hands.
"I'm twenty." Ace said, ignoring them. "Now, I'd like my questions answered."
"Whatever." They said simultaneously, bored at this point.
"I'm looking for a girl." Ace said.
"Take your relationship problems somewhere else, kid." One of the thugs said.
"See" Ace said, a smirk appearing on his face. "This girl is about my height and is wearing black with a red scarf. She had blue black eyes and black hair. She was with a Clefable."
"What does this have to do with us?" the thug on the left said.
"Someone told me that you guys took them somewhere." Ace said, knowing he had them. "I'd like to know where."
The thugs didn't respond. Instead the one on the right took out a Pokéball and threw it on the ground.
Out of the Pokéball appeared a large Pokémon that was as tall as Ace. She (it was a female) had a blue lower half with pink stripes running down her body just inside of her legs. Her legs, which weren't much of legs, had no feet. It appeared as though they were ripped off, leaving a jagged place on the Pokémon's legs. A thick, blue tail with a pink stripe on the underside and a black tip extended out from behind the large Pokémon. The upper half of her body was mostly covered in black fur. Instead of hands, she had two blue mouths with black eyes and pink tongues on her thick, black, furry arms. Six black, fur covered tendrils that resembled wings of some sort extended from her back. Her head had pink frills that went around it like a mane, but not quite. Her head was blue and her eyes were red, black surrounding them. Her mouth opened to reveal her few, but still very sharp teeth. She roared, all three of her heads roaring in unison as a sign of power. Her aura (only visible to Ace and Psy) shone both elements of Dark and Dragon.
"Hmm." Ace said, smirking. "A Hydreigon. They used to be bigger when I was growing up."
"I'm not that small!" the Hydreigon shouted angrily, but only Ace, Pyro, and Psy understood her.
"They were at least a foot and a half taller." Ace said. "But, times were a lot different then."
"I'll show you true power!" the Hydreigon roared, Dragonic power exploding off of her.
"Let's not get hasty." Ace said in Pokéspeak (so the Hydreigon, Psy, and Pyro were the only ones to understand him). "I have some questions. If you answer them, I'll leave you guys alone."
"What questions?" the Hydreigon asked.
"Where's the girl and the Clefable?" Ace asked, his tone firm. "I know you guys took them. Now where are they?"
"You know too much." The Hydreigon said, tensing up, ready to unleash her dreaded Dark Meteor (Dark version of Draco Meteor— there are fake attacks in this fic). "You must be destroyed."
"Let me tell you something." Ace said, stepping forward until he was in the Hydreigon's face. "I want some answers and I am going to get them. Now tell me what I want to know or else."
"I'm not afraid of you." The Hydreigon said, backing up a little from Ace, extinguishing the Dark power in her two smaller mouths.
"Oh, please." Ace said, chuckling a little. "You've already used your Dark powers on me to see what I am, haven't you? You already know what I am and what I'm capable of, don't you?"
"Y-y-you, y-you're…" the Hydreigon stuttered, backing away from Ace.
"Get over there and fight, Hydreigon!" the thugs shouted, clearly not having heard the conversation between Ace and the Dark Dragon.
"It's your choice." Ace said, his tone now Dark and threatening.
"Vineberg" the Hydreigon said before backing up behind the two thugs.
"She's useless." The thug on the left said, putting the Dark Dragon back in her Pokéball.
"Let's report to the boss about this guy." The thug on the right said, pulling out a phone. But before he could dial a number, Ace was right in front of the two thugs.
"You two aren't going to be calling anyone." He said, holding up his hand towards them, a Dark orb forming in it. "You're going to have a fitful sleep while you suffer for your actions."
Ace fired the Dark orb at the two thugs, trapping them in a fitful sleep in which they writhed.
"What was that?" Psy asked, shocked at how the guards were behaving.
"Dark Void." Ace said. "It causes horrendous nightmares."
"why would you do that?" Psy asked.
"We don't need them alerting anyone of our presence." Ace said. "Besides, I never learned how to use Hypnosis or Sleep Powder."
"Fair enough." Psy said. "Now, how are we going to find them?"
"They're in Vineberg." Pyro said. "If that Hydreigon was telling the truth."
"She was" Ace assured the young Eevee.
"Then, how are we going to get there?" Psy asked. "It's a pretty long run, much less walk, to Vineberg."
"And you two are unprepared." Ace said. "I'll need to take drastic measures to make sure you two will be able to handle the route to Vineberg and the retrieval of our friends."
"What kind of drastic measures?" Psy asked.
"Let's go to the woods" Ace said. "And I'll show you."
With Shade
"What do you mean 'you'll show me firsthand'?" Shade asked, growing more and more intimidated by her sister by the second.
"I'll show you just what I can do." Luna said, grabbing Shade by her face and stroking her chin. Shade was both confused and somewhat repulsed by her sister's actions.
"What are you doing?" Shade asked.
"I'm just taking you in." Luna said, her tone strange to Shade. It seemed sad and happy at the same time, like someone who has been reunited with someone they haven't seen in a long time. "You're looking very beautiful."
"What?" Shade asked, confused and a little repulsed. "I'm not really into girls. And you're my sister!"
"I haven't seen you in six years, dear sister." Luna said, kissing her sister on the cheek. "When I left, you were just a child. You've matured very nicely."
"Besides" Luna added, a hint of mischief in her voice. "You're not really my type. I prefer less feisty girls. They're so much more submissive."
"Wait, what?" Shade asked, both confused and shocked at what her sister had just said.
"I'm just kidding." Luna said, laughing (sorry Yuri fans). "I've got a major crush on my boss, Danny Davis. He's sooooo hot, it's like a sauna when I'm around him. I've never been into girls or incest. I'm just having fun with my little sister I haven't seen in six years."
"Uh— thanks, I guess." Shade said. "But, this seems like it's not the right time."
"Actually" Luna said, her tone normal again. "It's the perfect time. See, we're going to do unspeakable things to you to bring about your true nature in a few minutes, so I'm going to live up our reunion while I can."
"What?" Shade asked, her eyes widening.
"Don't worry." Luna reassured her sister. "We'll leave your virginity alone, if that's what you're wondering."
"That wasn't it, but thanks." Shade said, horrified. "But you're my sister. Why are you doing this to me?"
"I'm doing my job." Luna said. "No hard feelings. We tried a number of patients before you, but you actually possess the right qualities to succeed in our experiment."
"What experiment?" Shade asked, truly worried at this point.
"See, what's going on here" Luna explained. "Is the scientists (me included) are trying to find humans with Pokémon traits. See, certain humans have traits similar to Pokémon. The most prevalent one is being able to understand Pokémon. Apparently you fit that bill, little sis. It's said that certain humans even have the ability to turn into Pokémon, like your friend a few cells down."
"Leave Shadow out of this." Shade said.
"Sorry" Luna said, wiggling a finger. "She's part of this too. She's farther along than you are."
"What do you mean 'farther along' than I am?" Shade asked, half guessing in her mind what her sister meant.
"You have Pokémon traits." Luna said. "We expect that you could gain the power to transform soon, at which point we'll take your blood and use it to make more powerful pokéhumans."
"You're just using me and Shadow for our blood?" Shade asked.
"RaZe Corp is a very powerful industry." Luna said, chuckling. "They turned me into the warrior I am today."
"Warrior?" Shade asked, confused.
"I learned to control my abilities and harness them to become very powerful." Luna said. "I'm more than human now. And so are you."
"I am?" Shade asked.
"You talk to Pokémon." Luna said. "You know those other people that said they could talk to Pokémon and were locked up? They ended up here, their blood harvested. They fueled our experiments. As will you and your friend."
"You won't get away with this." Shade said.
"Oh, really?" Luna asked. "Who's gonna stop this? Your two Basic Stage (first evolution) Pokémon? The Gengar? Face it, Shadey, you don't have anyone that can help you. You're just our tool, our experiment."
"My friends will come for us." Shade said, her defiance evident.
"We'll see." Luna said, walking over to the door. "I'll just leave you alone for a while. You know, to help you cope with your current situation."
Luna closed and locked the door behind her as Shade started to truly realize the horror of her situation. But before she could think of a way to try to escape, she heard a voice in her head.
"Shade." The voice said. It was small and quiet, its tone sweet and gentle.
"Who's there?" Shade asked, jolting up, thinking she was beginning to lose her sanity.
"Think, don't speak." The voice said softly. "It's me, Shadow. I'm using telepathy to speak to you."
"How are you able to do this?" Shade asked in her thoughts. "I thought you were a Clefable."
"I'm no Clefable." Shadow said telepathically. "And Ace is no Gengar. I just wanted to let you know I'm alive and not to worry about me. I'll be fine."
"We need to figure out a way to escape." Shade thought. "Do you have enough power to escape?"
"No." Shadow said. "When we were captured, I was knocked nearly unconscious. They sealed the power I could use and I can't call on my hidden powers. We'll have to wait for Ace, Pyro, and Psy to save us."
"Can they?" Shade thought. "Ace doesn't seem like he's powerful enough to stop whatever's going on here."
"Trust me." Shadow said. "Ace is our best hope. He's probably figuring out where we are as we speak."
"What if he can't find us?" Shade asked, her tone pessimistic.
"He will." Shadow said. "He's never let me down before and he won't now."
"If you say so." Shade said, skeptical.
"I know so." Shadow said. "He'll come for us. If I had any strength I'd get us out of here myself, but they've done something to me that temporarily suppresses my healing factor and my physical and ranged power."
"They can do that?" Shade asked.
"It's possible." Shadow said. "They've been doing it since Ace and I were growing up."
"So" Shade said, figuring out what Shadow was saying. "You're unable to help us?"
"Pretty much." Shadow said, her tone a little sad. "Sorry. But I have full confidence in Ace. I'm sure he's trying to figure out a way to find us as I'm telling you this."
With Ace, Pyro, and Psy— Route 1203 (between New Tao City and Vineberg)
"So" Pyro asked, confused. "How are we gonna get stronger so we can go rescue Shade and Shadow?"
"That's what I'm going to try." Ace said.
"Try what?" Pyro asked, wondering how she could get stronger in a short amount of time.
"I'm going to evolve the both of you." Ace said.
"How?" Psy asked.
"Pyro" Ace said. "You want to be a Flareon, right?"
"Yeah!" Pyro said, feeling badass.
"Here's a Fire Stone." Ace said, pulling an orange stone with a fire in it. "You can break it in your teeth and evolve. But I must warn you: if you do this, you'll never be able to go back."
"I want to help Shade." Pyro said, taking the stone. She bit down on it, shattering it. A strange power flowed from the stone, enveloping Pyro's body. It became a huge orb that hid her from view (evolution from a stone or "held" object has different visuals from standard evolution).
When the glowing stopped and the orb disappeared, Pyro was a totally different Pokémon. She was three times her previous size, her current size now three feet tall. Her brown skin turned a fiery orange and her fur bristled and waved like in a breeze. Her brown fluffy brown tail turned a fiery yellow and grew longer than she was. The cream colored, fluffy mane around her neck grew fluffier and turned a fiery shade of yellow. Her orange ears grew bristles and turned black on the inside. A plume of fiery yellow fur sprouted between her ears. It moved like a fire itself. Her eyes turned from a brown to a coal black, but more liquid. Her nose became like a tiny coal smudge on her face. Pyro let out a cry of power and grinned evilly as she felt her power surge (or more like blaze in her case) through her body.
"She looks powerful." Psy said, gasping as her best friend had become much more powerful.
"She is." Ace said. "She's at least three times as strong as she was."
"That's amazing." Psy said.
"Yep.' Ace said, smirking. "It's going to be a big—"
Ace was interrupted by the sound of several Murkrow. Pyro, Psy, and Ace looked over to see what the Murkrow were squabbling about.
"What are they crowding around?" Psy asked.
"It looks like an egg." Ace said, taking a close look.
"Are they going to eat it?" Pyro asked.
"No." Ace said, shooting a blast of Dark energy at the Murkrow, who flew away on the impact of the blast. "They're too busy flying away."
Ace walked over to the egg, picking it up.
"It's cold." He said.
"Need me to warm it up?" Pyro asked, taking a deep breath, Fire appearing in her mouth.
"No." Ace said, shaking his head. "It's an Ice type. It shouldn't be warmed up."
"How do you know?" Psy asked.
"All eggs have different characteristics based on their primary (first) type." Ace explained. "Ice type eggs are cold. Fire eggs are warmer. Steel eggs are metallic to the feel. Poison eggs are a bit toxic to the touch. Rock eggs are firmer than normal. And the list goes on."
"So, this one is an Ice type?" Psy asked.
"Yep." Ace said, summoning a bag from the shadows and placing the egg in it. "now let's get to work on evolving you, Psy."
"Okay." Psy said. "But, back in the gym, I felt like I was evolving, but I didn't."
"And I think I know why." Ace said, taking Psy's right arm. He turned it over to reveal a mark on Psy's arm that looked like a mixture of the Greek Alpha and Omega symbols. "This was on your arm, but was hidden until a Dark type (me) interacted and sensed it."
"What is it?" Pyro asked, feeling a sense of fear from the mark.
"It's a holy mark." Ace said. "It's used to seal away powerful demons and the like. If it's used on an individual, then the demon is bound to them. The demon inside of you must be absorbing the energy you use to evolve, thereby preventing you from evolving."
"Can we get it out of her?" Pyro asked.
"I think so." Ace said. "One concern though is why it was sealed into her in the first place."
"We can worry about that later." Psy said urgently. "We have to get Shade and Shadow back from those people and the only way to do that is if we evolve."
"Right." Ace said. "I can remove it, or at least try. But I'm going to tell you that you will feel more pain than you have ever felt and will probably ever feel again."
"I don't care." Psy said firmly. "I want to help our friends."
"I know." Ace said. "But, I figured I should warn you anyway so it's not a surprise."
"Thanks." Psy said. "But I'm going to do this."
"Fine." Ace said, sighing. "Lay down on the ground."
"Why?" Psy asked, not understanding where Ace was going.
"This will be easier then." Ace said.
Psy shrugged as she lay down on the ground, spreading her arms and legs out.
"Pyro" Ace said to the Flareon next to him. "I need you to stand on top of her."
"What?" Pyro asked, confused.
"Just put one leg on each of her limbs." Ace said. "It will keep her from moving."
"Why does she need to be still?" Pyro asked.
"Because" Ace explained. "She'll be in more, unnecessary pain if she jerks around too much."
"Allright." Pyro said, doing as Ace instructed.
Ace snapped his fingers and two strands of shadowy substance wrapped around Psy's right hand, pinning it to the ground.
"This puts the mark in prime position." Ace explained. "Now, there's one thing I need to do, but I need your consent to clear my conscience."
"What is it?" Psy asked, confusion in her red eyes.
"I'm going to have to use my powers to silence you temporarily." Ace said, kneeling down to Psy and Pyro.
"Why?" Psy asked. "Is it going to hurt a lot?"
"Psy" Ace said, hoping to make his point clear. "When I said you'd feel more pain than any other point in your life, I meant it. This will undeniably be the single worst pain you've ever felt."
"Do it." Psy said, assuring Ace that she was ready. Ace sighed, knowing that Psy would do everything she could to save her best friend.
So, this chapter was much longer, but since making concept art (Which is on Deviantart under this same username btw) unintentionally took up a lot of time, i divided it in half to tide you guys over. The next part is nearly done, however, so just wait for it.