chapter six: helpless darkness

I was never afraid of the dark.

"You'll actually be going out alone," Aimé said with a smile. He grabbed Ampharos' poké ball from the pocket of my hoodie. "Find a pokémon and catch it, good luck!"

"What?" I asked as he placed an empty poké ball in my hand and gave me a light shove out the back door. He slid the door in place and drew the curtain before I could say anything else. I stood alone on the porch, the light from the lamp above me flickering in and out.

I banged on the door with my fist. "Hey! How am I supposed to do this?"

"Figure it out!" Aimé replied.

I turned around and looked into the backyard. It was fenced in. It was a small enclosure, and I couldn't see any pokémon. I could only hear them as they scrambled to find hiding spots in the dark. Finding a pokémon here didn't seem very practical.

And then, as my eyes adjusted to the dark, I realized that a part of the fence was missing. Instead of the two rows on either side of me joining together in the middle along the river, a gate was propped open by a stone, and I could make out a long tree trunk laid across the banks for easy access across to the other side.

I walked forward, trying to get a better view in the moonlight.

Further inspection revealed that there was indeed a fence on the other side of the river, but I only made out the row across the bank. The rest of it was shielded by the pitch black army of trees on the other side.

It seemed daunting, but I wasn't afraid of the dark.

I slowly stepped off the porch, clutching the empty poké ball in my hand. I took a few steps into the yard and paused. The sun had dipped completely below the horizon now, and I couldn't see much, but the stillness brought back memories of the previous night. Cautiously walking into the backyard, I actually felt apprehensive.

But the dark never scared me. There was something so natural about it, so omnipresent. Humanity couldn't harness it like the light because darkness is immeasurable. In the absence of dark there is nothing. It just simply is.

Even still today, I like to be in the dark. I know it sounds weird, but it makes me feel comfortable. Maybe it was for the same reason people are usually afraid of the dark, because they don't know what lurks in its depths. I wanted to be what lurked in its depths. I wanted to hide.

But I guess there was no hiding anymore, not after the previous night. No amount of darkness could conceal me, and that's what I was afraid of.

I began walking forward, digging in my pocket for the key stone that Ampharos had given me earlier in the day. Pulling it out, I ran it through my fingers, feeling its soft, smooth surface. It was small, maybe the size of a marble.

It glinted in the moonlight.

I snapped my head up when I suddenly heard a caw echo throughout the air. I heard a shuffling sound above me, and then something dive-bombed, raking my arm with its talons and scooping up the key stone in the process.

I cried out in pain, and then followed its shadow as it flew across the river. I took off running.

I felt a creeping panic come over me. The fact that I had just lost one of the resistance's precious key stones, one of the key ingredients in the recipe for mega evolution, seemed detrimental. They were for sure going to turn me away now. I had just made a colossal mistake: being careless.

I felt the blood running down my arm. The wound stung, but I didn't pay any attention to it. I had to find this thing before I got turned away from the resistance without even getting a chance to prove myself.

I stopped cautiously at the river bank. Pulling myself up onto the tree trunk and assuring that I had steady balance, I took light, easy steps across. When my feet touched ground again, I stared deep into the depths of the forest and shuddered.

Anybody else would have given up by now, but even though I knew it was probably futile, I couldn't stand the thought of losing it. I had something to prove, and I would have rather died then go back to Aimé and his grand-parents without a pokémon and without my keystone.

I ran into the forest before I could change my mind.

It was thick. The moon struggled to shine through the dense canopy above me, and even with what little help it offered, I could hardly see my hand in front of my face.

But then I heard the same caw echo throughout the trees.

I quickly ran in the direction it came from, stopping as I was again lost in the darkness. I heard more shuffling from above, and it again dive-bombed on me. It raked its talons across my shoulder this time, tearing away pieces of my hoodie. I cried out in pain and then took off after it again.

But I lost it. It was moving too quickly among the treetops.

I tried to focus, but the pain had become extremely unbearable. I closed my eyes and put my head in my hands. As the pain subsided, I didn't hear it caw anymore, but I could still hear the shuffling above me.

I let arms fall to my side and listened to where it was coming from. It sounded like the pokémon wasn't moving, like it had turned its attention from me to something else. I focused on the noise, a slight shuffling, subtle against the wind.

I stepped slowly and carefully, making sure I didn't make any noises as I walked across the floor of fallen twigs and dead leaves. I honed my ears in to where it was. I was really close now.

In the moonlight, I saw various items twinkling at a hole in the bark of a tree. I made out the silhouette of a small bird pokémon rearranging its things, the things it stole.

I couldn't see very well, but I picked up a rock from off the ground and chucked it as hard as I could at the mysterious pokémon. I think I hit it, because it retaliated with a loud caw before it took to the air again.

It was above me again, but I could still hear it flapping against the wind. I had a good clue of where it was, and it was about to dive-bomb on me again.

For an instance, I braced myself for its impact. But I reassured myself that I wasn't afraid of the dark.

I focused all of my senses to pinpoint its location above me, and before it made impact, I reached up and grabbed it by the talon, shoving it as hard as I could against the base of the tree. It hit with a cry of pain before falling onto the ground, and I finally got a good look at it: a murkrow, the bringer of misfortune.

I clutched my empty poké ball in my hand and chucked it against his face.