Secrets of the Night
DISCLAIMER: I Do NOT own Pokemon!
Chapter 65: Passing the Night
The evening winds howled beneath the moonlight as the clear starry sky embraced world of shadows.
Kiba continued westward through the woods, under the guiding lights of little Joltiks. His Nidorino followed at his heels, trudging the forest floor, while, a fuzzy purple bat trailed overhead of them. Having noticed the Noibat following him, Kiba groaned and turned to the dragon bat Pokemon.
"What?!" He snapped. "Your trainer flew off, why are you tailing me?"
The Noibat gazed down at him with his large golden eyes but continued following him. A few Joltiks tossed it an apple and it caught it happily before doing a few loops. Kiba groaned and decided to ignore the unusually cheery bat pokemon.
The group soon reached the end of the woods and came face to face with a giant wall of rock. The horde of Joltiks vanished after a while leaving Kiba under the light of the moon and the company of two pokemon. The Noibat chirped and flew upwards as if wanting the guy to follow.
"At least this guy doesn't have a sense of humor," Kiba mused as he looked at the wall of stone. There were too many trees around so it was unwise for him to fly up on Arrow after the Noibat. Instead he grabbed the moon stone from his bag and looked down at Tyrant. "You up for a climb to test your new strengths?"
Tyrant shook in excitement as Kiba touched the stone to the Nidorino's horn. Instantly a bright light surrounded the Nidorino and the moon stone as Tyrant grew in size within the evolutionary glow as he became taller and thicker standing a good foot taller than Kiba. When the light finally settled the Nidoking roared with power as it looked down to its trainer gratefully.
"That was for what happened in Sinnoh," Kiba said apologetically as Tyrant growled, remembering the encounter. "Don't worry, we'll have our revenge. But for now- we climb.
With Tyrant's newfound strength and size, he climbed the surface of the rugged face of the wall with Kiba holding on to the many spikes on his back. The Noibat flew a bit down and hovered right above Kiba's head, meeting his annoyed glare with big round eyes.
"Purrloin got your tongue?" Kiba asked tiredly as he adjusted himself on Tyrant's back. Reaching one hand into his pants Kiba grabbed two hard round objects and pulled out the two hidden pokeballs he had kept hidden in his pants as he tossed them into his bag.
It hadn't been the first time he had been robbed in a strange territory, but the fact that it had been from a kid and his overgrown arachnids didn't do much to settle his nerves. He remembered the black haired kid call out his name, Kirian? He'd make sure to repay the favor to the little trickster the next time they met. After several more minutes of uneventful climbing the trio finally made it to the top where Kiba dismounted from his Nidoking's back.
What he saw before him made him groan in frustration. It was a massive canyon with a long winding ravine dividing two sides of the landscape. Below, lights littered the various caverns, indicating more inhabitants. Ahead in the west, was a shadowed area with a tall tower rising from its midst. The ominous wind that seem to blow from that direction told him that it was his destination.
Returning Tyrant to his ball, he immediately sent out Arrow, not daring to risk running into more illusions that he was sure covered the tunnels before him, as he suited up his Fearow for what he hoped would be one final flight.
"After this I think we could both sleep for a few days," Kiba muttered as Arrow cawed in agreement. With a powerful flap of its massive wings Arrow took flight above the caverns as they made their way towards the ominous tower.
Oddly enough, the purple bat continued to follow him. Even with Arrow's speed, the Noibat seemed accustomed to flying at a fast pace.
"Is there something I can help you with?" Kiba asked the Noibat exhaustedly as the pokemon flew around him playfully.
The Noibat continued to do as it pleased but after a few rounds, the fuzzy bat chirped and landed on Kiba's head where it let out a screechy purr. Given that evening breeze was chilling, the flying purple ball seemed to have decided that it was the warmest place to rest. That, or it was purposely doing it to troll Semira's newest arrival.
"Well, as long as you're having fun." Kiba sighed, deciding to leave the pokemon alone for the moment.
It was a long and cold flight towards the tower but once Kiba reached the end of the canyon and somewhere that appeared to be the boundary, he came across a giant flying pokemon with a familiar kid riding on its back.
"Noir." The kid with the black hair called. The Noibat on Kiba's head let out a disappointed whimper and flew over to him. The kid ushered the Noibat to his lap before he glared at Kiba with his silver eyes. "Are you really who you say you are?"
"Kiba? Or tired and losing my patience? Because the answer is yes to both," Kiba said as he shivered from the cold of the high altitudes that seemed to chill his shirtless form.
The kid seemed unamused by the answer. "I mean about the Black Scythe."
"Yes…" Kiba replied tiredly for what seemed the seventh time. "I was invited here by some redhead chick and her 'junior' claiming that a guy named Tristan wanted to see me, and you know what I've gotten since arriving here? Soaked, ditched, robbed and freezing to death. Great first impressions you guys make to visitors."
The kid continued to show little interest in his words other than Tristan and a redhead chick. "You think you've got what it takes to be an assassin? Or someone from Semira for that matter?" His eyes gazed down at the Fearow. "Down."
Much to Kiba's surprise, Arrow descended as the kid on the giant black bat followed, landing a few feet from them on the edge of the canyon.
"What the heck was that?" Kiba asked angrily as he dismounted Arrow, first looking at the boy and then at his own pokemon furiously. "Why did you listen to him? You know better than to listen to other trainers!"
The kid's flying mount screeched intimidatingly and then raised its massive wings, casting a dark shadow that blocked away a majority of the moonlight that shone around them. The silver-eyed boy placed a hand on the Noivern's side and another on the Noibat who had perched on his shoulder. "Itzal will take you from here... At this moment, I'm confiscating your Fearow," he deadpanned.
"Like hell you are," Kiba said as he stood in front of his pokemon defensively. "I already lost one pokemon to some brat back in Kanto, and I didn't come this far just for it to happen again."
"Given the place you are heading, you are in no condition to tend to it. Survive for a couple of days and you can see your Fearow again." The kid glanced at Arrow and it hesitantly moved aside from its trainer and inched towards the black-haired boy, much to Kiba's shock. "No harm will come to it. Your Fearow might even come back on its own when it's well enough." As soon as Arrow was in arm's reach, the kid ran a hand along its wings as if to inspect the extent of its condition.
Kiba watched with a silent rage as the boy preened his pokemon, but he could tell by the way that he was treating his wings that he clearly had experience with flying types, perhaps a member of that Sky unit?
"Fine," Kiba spat tossing Arrow's pokeball to the boy. "But if anything happens to my pokemon I won't hesitate to make you pay for it."
The kid caught it without hesitation and returned the brown avian to its pokeball. And then he patted the large intimidating bat's side and it stomped towards Kiba with a glare and a stifled screech. "Itzal. Be nice. Take him to Lord Tristan."
With a snort, the black wyvern-like pokemon lowered itself but continued to eye Kiba threateningly.
"First the Sharpedo threatens to eat me and now the dragon-Zubat thing," Kiba muttered tiredly as he mounted the Noivern's back in the saddle placed on its hindquarters. Itzal, as the kid called it snarled but turned its head upfront and then it spread out its massive wings that were apparently littered with scars.
"Try not to fall off," the kid warned but before Kiba could register the words, the Noivern took off into the night sky.
Kiba held on tightly to the saddle as he was tossed around like a salad. The Noivern was indeed fast, even when it did a series of death rolls and divebombs. For all he knew, the thing was intentionally trying to drop him. But before he spoke a snarky comment about its flying, the giant Zubat dragon landed on the rooftop of the tower. Kiba immediately dismounted the dragon and looked back at it spitefully as he reached into his bag for his now slightly damp shirt and vest.
"Maybe next time you could go a little faster you overweight Golem!" Kiba taunted angrily as he put his shirt and vest on. He then looked around for a door of some sort but couldn't find anything. The Zubat dragon snorted with what appeared to be a smirk and prepared to fly off. "Wait, where am I supposed to go?! HEY!" The Noivern flew off leaving Kiba alone with his angry thoughts as he strung a series of profanities at the pokemon that would have made a ghost-type blush.
Itzal flipped in midair and made a U-turn, his ears glowing bright green. Then without warning, he launched a Boomburst attack straight at Kiba who immediately scrambled away as the attack struck the rooftop. Dust scattered in the air but once it cleared, Kiba saw a gaping hole that led to the inside.
Waiting for the Zubat dragon to disappear from his sight before continuing, Kiba made his way down the newly made door hoping that he'd be able to find someone who didn't think they were better than he was to tell him where he was supposed to go.
Kiba rounded the halls and came across a girl with long white wavy hair and clear black eyes. She was wearing a frilly black gothic lolita styled outfit as she patted her purring Liepard. Her giggling bounced off the walls but didn't contain much cuteness. Instead it made the air tense and eerie.
"Excuse me," Kiba asked in what he hoped was a placating tone. "I'm supposed to meet with a Master Tristan, could you tell me where I could find him?"
The doll-like girl tilted her head and looked at him innocently. "Are you Leiko-nee's hubby?"
Kiba silently thanked Arceus that Leiko was at least courteous enough to tell people at the tower that he was arriving. It was one thing to survive in the wilds. It was another matter to walk inside a tower filled with assassins.
"Yeah, that's me," he said tiredly with a taxed smile.
"Yay~!" The girl ran up and hugged him, almost toppling him over due to his exhaustion. It was then that Kiba saw the silver Vorpal blade on the girl's back. It was partly hidden behind her hair but it was obvious that the oversized knife was a weapon to be feared. "We're gonna have so much fun!"
"Fun… right," Kiba said tiredly hoping that the girls idea of fun wasn't leaving him stranded on another secluded island without his main transport missing. "So are you supposed to take me to your Master?" he asked hopefully.
The girl let go of him and pulled out her long threatening knife and pointed to towards the end of the hallway. It was nearly twice the length of her arm. "Just go straight ahead…" Her Liepard mewed and gazed at Kiba hungrily before walking towards the girl and rubbing herself against her leg.
Why does everything look at me like I'm lunch? Kiba thought to himself tiredly as he went down the direction the white haired loilita had pointed him in. He then came across a large obsidian double door with a pokemon of some sort carved into it. He gazed at it for a moment as the sapphire-studs that served as the eyes looked back at him. Drawing from what strength he had left he raised his hand and knocked several times on the obsidian door as the knocking seemed to echo down the hallway.
"You may enter," a sly voice answered from the other side.
Kiba entered the room as his heart beat erratically, unsure what the leader of the assassins guild would act like upon meeting him. He was slightly caught off guard. The room looked like a regular office with black walls, an expensive rug, an aquarium with small school of Carvanaha, a set of blades for decor, a lounge chair and finally a desk where a redhaired man sat. The man was not as Kiba expected. He wore a white long sleeve shirt with a grey vest, a pair of round black glasses and a white top hat with a bright red ribbon.
"Welcome~" He greeted with a wide smile that sent shivers down his spine. "How did you find the island?"
"Well, Leiko led me here most of the way," Kiba admitted tiredly deciding it was best to be honest with the man in charge of a whole division of assassins. "From there she kind of ditched me near the southeastern side of the island and I had to find my way through some strange maze. From there I flew to the tower."
"My… if you made it here from Trickster's Labyrinth by yourself, then you are more interesting than I had initially anticipated." The redhaired gentleman chuckled amusingly.
"Well, I did run into someone from the Gambit division, I think," Kiba admitted. "I was halfway through the labyrinth when he had his Joltik end some strange illusion over the area."
"Hmmm… is that right? Then how did you manage to cross Sedgwick Valley? Did you fly all the way afterwards?"
"No, sir. My Nidoking climbed up this massive stone wall and we flew from there."
"Odd. Didn't run in to anyone from the Sky division?" The man quirked a brow.
"I'm not sure if he was from the Sky Division… but this kid with black hair and silver eyes met me when I was halfway to the tower on my Fearow. He took it claiming he was going to tend to it and had me ride his Noivern here. Not exactly a smooth ride I might add," Kiba added with discomfort.
A wave of intrigue flickered in the man's grey eyes hidden partly behind his glasses. "You've already met Aeron on your first day? Interesting indeed." He laughed in amusement. "How about you rest for the night? We'll talk more later in the future."
With a wave of his hand, a Beheeyem floated from behind his seat in a greenish glow and floated over to Kiba who flinched at the sight of the Psychic pokemon and reflexively took a step back, a motion that wasn't missed by the Black Scythe commander.
"Aren't fond of psychic-types, are we?"
"N-No," Kiba answered honestly, hating to show weakness. "I… have an uncomfortable past with them. I don't mind finding somewhere to sleep on my own. Sir," he added respectively.
"Oh? Very well." The leader of the Black Scythe waved his pokemon away and it dutifully floated back. "Fair warning of the ones patrolling at night. They can be a little… edgy." He chuckled.
Kiba tensed at the mention of the night patrollers, given he was in a tower that housed assassins. He only hoped that Leiko and the man before him alerted the others of his presence. He nodded his head in farewell to the Assassin leader as he made his way out of the room.
He continued through the narrow and quiet halls, alit by lanterns on the wall. He found a staircase and proceeded down and found himself in another hallway that wasn't much different from the first one. There were some sliding doors but he didn't know where they led or what could be on the other side.
Just then, a dark presence alerted him. He turned around and saw a black fox-like pokemon with glowing golden rings. "Umbre!"
Kiba stared at the Umbreon curiously trying to figure out where he had seen it before, whens suddenly he realized who it was.
"Yue?" He asked to make sure he had the right Umbreon.
The dark-type huffed and raised its head haughtily. Then it passed Kiba and rounded the corner of the hallway. Did it want him to follow? The Umbreon seemed to recognize him well enough.
With nothing more to lose, Kiba pursued the dark-type Eevee and ended up in front of a lit room. The Umbreon sat in front and looked up at the piece of paper stuck to the door. Kiba plucked the sticky pad off and read the message written in red ink, hopefully it was red ink.
Sleep well, hubby~
Sorry I can't stay with you, I have a previous engagement -
No, I'm not cheating on you. Promise!
Lots of love, your darling, Leiko.
Kiba sighed as he looked at the room that Leiko had apparently reserved for him. She may have left him in the middle of nowhere with no clue where he was heading, but he was grateful that she had thought ahead enough to get him a room. Pocketing the note he went to open the door and hesitated as he noticed Leiko's Umbreon still staring at him.
"Do you want to come in?" he asked curiously.
The dark-type huffed and stared at the door. Kiba sighed and opened it, allowing the Umbreon to enter first. The room was quite large and japanese styled with a table against the wall, closed sliding windows, a hanging lantern, a drawer, tatami mats, and a single futon in the middle.
Leiko's Umbreon rounded the bed and pulled out another pillow from the corner where it then settled down comfortably and yawned tiredly. Contagiously yawning, Kiba removed his own shirt and vest and prepared to sleep on the futon but not before sending out the newly evolved Tyrant, who seemed curious to their new lodgings.
"Guard the room," Kiba ordered tiredly. "When you get tired switch with Champ and get some sleep."
Tyrant nodded obediently as it circled the ground on all fours and positioned itself in the middle of the room putting itself in front of Kiba and Yue and whatever might come through the door. Feeling slightly better at a trusted pokemon guarding him Kiba immediately crawled into the bed and fell asleep, hoping that his future on Semira would be better than it had been that day.
Zephyr Pillar (Sky division base)
Aeron got off of his Flygon as soon as they arrived in the landing bay after leaving Itzal with the apparent outsider and making a short pit stop to the avian nesting area in the eastern woods to drop off the Fearow that he took from him. Aeron got the massive avian settled in and fed it well with berries and a nutritional mix his friend, Rozalia from the Rosette division made for him and before taking his leave.
Unstrapping the saddle off of his shiny Flygon, Noir fluttered off his shoulder and circled around, earning an eye roll and a snort from the Zircon. The Noibat caught the look and sneered mockingly at the green, orange and blue insectoid dragon. Zircon retaliated by swatting the fuzzy bat away with his fantail. Luckily, Noir was used to it so he flapped out of harm's way while sticking a tongue out.
"Would you two please get along?" Aeron gave a long exasperated sigh as he leaned against the earthy wall. "The week is almost up." The moment of truth he had been waiting for all his life.
The two dragon-types looked at him worriedly. Noir flew over and landed on his head while Zircon buzzed his wings in a purring manner. Just then a large, imposing, four-legged form arrived at the doorway. It growled disapprovingly, earning an equally irritated growl from the shiny Flygon and a squeak from the Noibat as he shrunk behind the boy.
"I'm back, Fenrir," Aeron informed bluntly as he patted Zircon, cuing him to leave and retire for the night.
Reluctantly, the blue green dragon nodded and turned towards the exit but not before glaring at the Arcanine and giving a warning snarl. As the shiny Flygon flew off, Fenrir snarled back, eliciting a frustrated groan from Aeron who brushed past the feral-looking canine and proceeded to go to his room.
Inside, he let out Vivi, his Servine and ushered him to his bed. Noir and Vivi traded happy grins upon seeing each other, making Aeron partially relieved that at least two of his pokemon were in good terms. And then Fenrir barged inside, circling his usual spot before lying down on the rug. The two smaller pokemon tensed but only for a moment. They were used to it. It was normal to feel cautious of the Arcanine but so far nothing bad had happened to them. So far.
Apparently, for the past days, Aeron was under strict guard. If Fenrir wasn't around, Itzal was. Both of his adopted father's pokemon had been assigned to watch him day and night. Aeron was excused from his duties other than patrol. He hadn't seen Faye Lin over the course of the week either. Maybe it was for the best. He had too much on his mind and he didn't want her to get involved into his personal affairs. His life was too complicated. Besides, he was used to being a loner, except around pokemon.
With a long sigh, he laid his head on the pillow as Noir snuggled against the crook of his neck while Vivi nestled in his arms, his tail curled inward as he leaned his back against the boy's chest. The two mumbled little contented cries and began to doze off.
Aeron was grateful. For the end of the day, his pokemon were there to comfort him. Now, only if every one of them would be as affectionate and calm.
In the middle of the night, Aeron woke up with a start. Fortunately, he didn't disturb Noir who was sprawled behind his head and Vivi who remained curled up in his arms. It was another nightmare, or at least he believed it was. He saw nothing but he could feel the dread, despair and fear around him. As the moonlight enveloped his vision, shedding light into the room, Aeron gave a shaky breath as he collected his composure.
Soon, he told himself. The week was ending. The secret that he had been yearning for was within his reach. Whether or not it was the truth, he didn't know. And whether that truth was for the good or bad, he had no idea either. It was worth the shot with so much to possibly gain but at the same time, so much to possibly lose.
End of Chapter 65
Kiba's first night in Semira and he's already involved with Aeron (as well as Noir)
The tension builds! xD
It's short cause I couldn't cut the other scenes easily.
The next chapter will be longer and will be about Kiba's day in Semira.
Then everything will fall into place. Mwahahahah...
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Aim for 300k+ with 65 chapters (and hopefully 300 reviews)
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