Author's Note: So, just as fair warning, like the last chapter, several chapters to come will also be reworded and basically remade and used from another fic.

I still recommend reading that author's stuff entirely.

Chapter 31: Training With Hikari

Blade watched the humans from a tree not too far away from the battlefield. The two humans, Ash and Cameron were preparing for battle against two other humans. That was not the reason for Blade following them though, no in fact the reason appeared moments before the battle began as Hikari was called out from his pokeball along with the rather nosey Lucario from a few days prior. They were brought against a Steenee and a Krookodile. On the sidelines of the battlefield was the Flareon, Riolu, and a Dewott.

Steenee used an energy ball, throwing it directly at Hikari, however the pikachu intercepted it with an electro ball. Just as Steenee conjured a green orb of energy from between it's paws, Hikari gathered sparks around his tail. Hikari lobbed a ball of electricity just before Steenee could throw the energy ball. The attacks collided exploding in a shower of green sparks. But the shockwave caught Steenee knocking it down.

The battle went back and forth for a moment until suddenly, Hikari was distracted, and suddenly took a hit from the Krookodile. Blade stood up and threw up his arms. "What are you doing! Pay attention to the battle!" His words were unheard from his distance. Then he noticed it, Hikari's eyes were locked onto the Riolu and Dewott. A sudden look appeared, a sour look that hadn't lasted when he'd been hit. And his gaze was fixed on the Dewott. The look of sudden jealousy and anger, washed away by surprise as he was gripped in Krookodile's jaw. In moments Lucario came to his aid, hitting Krookodile and freeing him. Blade noticed the suddenly angry and humiliated look upon his cute yellow face. He had potential, but to Blade it seemed like his trainer wasn't giving him the proper guidance to help him reach his full potential. And something about the way he fought was just wrong. Like he couldn't think for himself in battle.

After a short while the battle came to an end. "Wow. That kids not half bad," Hikari had managed to recover from his brief distraction and together with Lucario they had claimed a swift and decisive victory. "He really is Raiee's son alright." A smile crossed Blade's face as memories of the Raichu came to his mind.

"Reminiscing Blade?" Shadow's voice entered in his head making him groan.

"Ugh. Not now Shadow." He looked around, trying to catch sight of the Darkrai. "Where are you?"

"Close by."

"You gonna show yourself."

"I don't see the need."

Blade rolled his eyes. Lately it seemed like Shadow had become more invested in helping the humans than spending time with Blade. "What do you want?"

"I'm just curious to know why you followed those humans here from the other side of the island."

Shadow's voice was friendly, but there was something, penetrating, about it. Something that made Blade's fur bristle! And yet still he felt an odd comfort, Shadow hadn't simply abandoned his feelings for him.

"I'm supposed to watch them aren't I?"

"You're supposed to be looking for Silvally remember." Shadow pointed out, reminding Blade of what he'd been told to do.

"Yep. And Silvally belongs to one of those kids." Blade replied thinking about the poor synthetically created pokemon.

"Really?"

To Blade's horror shadow began to penetrate deep into his mind. Searching through various memories, thoughts and…fantasies…some very private ones flashed before his eyes. His face burnt knowing the Darkrai could see this.

"Ahhh. It seems you are rather fond of that Pikachu. Is that why you followed them here?" Smirking internally, Shadow taunted his lover.

"Get out of my mind, pervert," Blade groaned, trying to fight Shadow's mind probing, to no avail.

"Interesting! Even after everything that happened you still harbour feelings for Alexis. And Raiee. And those feelings have attached to his nephew. My Blade. It's a good thing I don't get jealous!" Blade was forced to think back and remember them both. He did still care, and perhaps that did affect his desire to be around Hikari, but he did genuinely want to see him again.

The sneasel's face burned red. "I-I don't. It was just. It was just."

"Arceus you're so cute when you're embarrassed," Shadow said tauntingly. "Hey! If you like that Pikachu I don't care. Just keep more of your mind on finding Silvally and less on. Well!" Shadow chuckled at the teasing tone he took with Blade. "I'll leave you be now, to continue following them."

*The next day*

Blade sat on a tree just close to Po Town. And conveniently for him, sitting beneath the tree, seated against the trunk, was Hikari. "Hey Hikari?" He called down to the Pikachu.

After a second the Pikachu realized that the voice was talking to him. He looked up, just as Blade dropped out of the branch and landed in front of him. Hikari could recognize those silver eyes, long claws and dark blue fur anywhere.

"Blade?" He said. "Is that you?"

"Bingo," the Sneasel replied grinning widely at him.

"What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see you again." He stepped over to Hikari and started rubbing his head with his claw. "We didn't really get a chance to talk the last time. Where's ya friend…The Flareon?"

"Oh you mean Sniveon," asked Hikari. "She's sleeping."

"Shame. I liked her. So, you have a trainer now?" Blade did have a soft spot for those who had no reason to lie to him. She had been honest and straightforward when they'd met and Blade found it to be an admirable quality.

Hikari nodded a little confused by Blade's question. "Err…Yeah. He's Ash."

"So. When'd he capture you," Blade asked, curious to know how Hikari had been captured.

"Oh he didn't," said Hikari. "I've always been with Ash."

"What!" For a moment Blade looked deeply confused. He met Hikari when he was a newborn Pichu. Something was off about this, but he had to give him a chance to explain himself. A look of comprehension suddenly dawned on Blade's face. "Oh I see. You don't have any memories of Raiee?"

"Ahhh."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked that." Blade bowed his head, looking somewhat ashamed. "I know it must be. Painful." He then quickly asked, "So. Is Ash a good trainer?"

"Uh yeah," Hikari replied. "He's really nice."

"He's certainly trained you well. I was watching your battle against that Krookodile. Never seen a Pikachu take on a ground type and live to tell the tale." Blade wasn't being entirely truthful, in all honesty, Blade felt that he hadn't been properly trained, his reactions were off, his speed seemed stunted for a Pikachu, and his attacks seemed pulled back. As though he was being restricted, and the reason was more than obvious to Blade. Hikari was a trained pokemon, he could no longer think for himself, he was little more than a mindless drone.

"Mmmhmm. He's a good trainer."

"I couldn't help but notice though that you seem to be having. Errr. Let's say difficulty in battling that Dewott." Blade smirked at the annoyed expression Hikari gave him. In truth he was trying to get him riled up, bringing out his primal, feral, instinct driven side.

"I don't. I just…"

"Hey it's okay. A lot of trained Pokémon aren't great at fighting when they don't have the humans telling them what to do. You just need to get in touch with your instincts." He winked at Hikari.

The pikachu coxed his head. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean that, from what I've seen, that Dewott beats you not because he's stronger than you, but because he's in touch with his instincts," said Blade. He was speaking from experience, acting on instinct had given him an advantage over several trained pokemon. "He can attack without thinking about it. Whereas you probably overthink things…Hey I know. Why don't I train you?"

"Train me to do what?" asked Hikari.

"Use your instincts," Blade replied. "Attack and defend without thinking about it. I can even show you some new attacks."

For a brief moment Hikari wasn't sure. Could he trust the Sneasel? Then after a moment he replied simply, "Alright."

Blade grinned and led him away.

"Right this is how it works," Blade said stretching out for a moment. "Listen up kid cause I'm only saying this once. I blindly attack you. You try to avoid my attacks and simultaneously try to knock me out. Got it?"

"Errr…Got it," Hikari replied, sounding a little uncertain.

Blade noticed the uncertainty, his eyes narrowing. Something told him, this wasn't gonna take long. "You'd better get it cause I ain't going easy on you Hikari."

Hikari readied himself for battle, dropping to his all fours, keeping his legs apart to lower his center of gravity and raising his tail.

Bladed nodded. "That's more like it. Now remember don't think too much. Got it."

"Got it."

"Okay. Three…Two…" Blade attacked on two, launching himself at Hikari with impressive speed.

The electric type tried to dodge, but he wasn't fast enough. The Sneasel was upon him, delivering several blows to his face and chest with those long sharp claws. Quickly slipping down, Blade off balanced the Pikachu.

Hikari used thunderbolt, letting off a powerful electric shock causing Blade to stop and stumble backwards, stopping him from advancing and letting him rebalance.

Blade recovered fast, throwing himself at Hikari and taking another swipe at him with his claws. But this time Hikari managed to parry with Iron tail sending him flying several feet through the air.

A split second later Blade was back on his feet and charging at Hikari once more. Hikari fired thunderbolt again. Blade dodged this time and once again struck hard, slapping him across the face, and then dropping low, once more kicking him hard in the stomach.

Hikari collapsed, winded. He managed to force himself back to his paws before Blade could deliver another blow, and attacked the Sneasel again with thunderbolt. Now it was Blade's turn to fall.

Blade fell to his knees giving Hikari the chance to hit him in the stomach with iron tail, but just as he was about to land the attack, Blade rolled forward passing by the Pikachu in a moment. Before he could react, Blade grabbed him from behind and with an impressive show of strength lifted the Pikachu up and fell back slamming him down, still holding him around the waist. And with that the Pikachu was out cold. Blade let go, and got from beneath him.

"Didn't expect ya to last too long kid, but I expected more." He looked down at the other male. " Well, here, even though I'm sure you can't hear me, just keep this in mind kid. You have ears, if you're ever put up against an opponent who has a trainer, use em. That trainer gives commands and exposes their strategy, you can dodge anything if you know it's coming." Blade chuckled and turned to walk away, "wasting my breath, don't worry, I won't be too far, I'll wait until your friends find you."

Shortly thereafter Hikari was awoken by his friends and trainers. And Blade walked away.

*Later*

"Blade. How kind of you to join me." Shadow's cold voice penetrated his mind as Blade entered the cave. Blade had been waiting to hear him again.

The coldness of the cave enveloped him, but he barely noticed. The cold never bothered him when he wasn't suddenly overwhelmed by it. A large smooth stone stood in the center of the cave, covered in fruit. He chose not to reply to Shadow, but instead help himself to an apple.

"Uh-Uh Blade. You know it's rude to start eating before everyone is at the table!"

Suddenly Blade found himself unable to open his maw. He let out a groan…as much as he could – tossed the apple aside and glared at the Darkrai hovering at the back of the cave. He was pouring like a child.

"We are, of course, still waiting for Silvally. I trust you delivered the invite."

Blade sighed and looked down at his feet, still unable to move his jaw. He shook his head slowly. He hadn't forgotten, but he never had an opportunity to do so.

"Ahh. Well that is most disappointing. What were you doing in Po Town then? No need to talk. I'll have a look."

Blade closed his eyes as Shadow reached into his mind again. He'd never done it this often before, it made him feel strange.

"Hmm. That Pikachu again."

'I thought if I could get close to him, he might help me get to Silvally,' Blade thought, hoping Shadow would hear. 'That human never lets Silvally out of its Pokéball.'

"Interesting. He uses powerful electric type moves, yet not dragon or ground type attacks. Weaker than one would expect too." Shadow wasn't trying to be rude, he simply couldn't stop himself from insulting the Pikachu.

'I thought he was very strong.'

"Weaker than I would have expected from a Zygarde."

Blade shrugged. 'Maybe Dudley's experiments didn't work after all.'

"Perhaps. Do you intend to keep seeing him?"

'I don't know,' replied Blade. 'I kind of like him and. He seems eager to train. Do you disapprove?'

"If it helps you get to Silvally then I don't have a problem with it. But you do need to consider the risks should any of those human catch you." Shadow was trying to maintain an air of professionalism about what he had Blade doing, but he had to admit, he didn't want to see Blade captured for any reason.

'The human's don't scare me.'

"I wouldn't be so confident if I were you. From what I gather those humans are formidable trainers and their Pokémon are quite strong. You need to take caution."

'When do I ever not take caution?'

"Frequently."

'Don't you trust me Shadow?'

"Obviously, however my trust in you doesn't sway my advice. Be careful, it doesn't matter if I trust you, because I don't trust them." Finally, after hearing a brief rumble, Shadow released Blade's jaw. "My apologies, I've been rather hard on you lately. Eat your fill my darling."

"Thanks" Blade took to eating the food, devouring an apple in a few seconds, and suddenly he felt those dark arms envelop him. He didn't stop, he simply ate more and more for a minute before leaning back against the darkrai.

"Just relax my Blade." Shadow pulls him close letting the tired Sneasel rest against him.