Chapter 77: Through The Eyes Of Despair

Shadow felt strange, as though something had happened to him. He vividly remembered cornering that she devil Lusamine, but now he was alone, and she was nowhere in sight. A quick glance around the room showed no signs of any damage to the room. 'A hallucination? Did I not…..' he vividly remembered filling the small room with darkness, and cornering the woman. But as he looked around the room was still well lit, but he was the only one there. Had he really only imagined it? He emerged from within the ground and began looking around the room, aside from the sounds in the distance there was an eerie quietness to the room.

Suddenly, the Darkrai's head snapped to attention. He could feel it in the air, an overwhelming surge of energy. Even if he hadn't been infused with an excess of aura from Pyre, he'd be able to feel this. And the power only grew more and more. Without hesitation Shadow darted from the room and through the facility, he'd felt this energy before, and he was not too interested in standing idly by, knowing how aggressive those things could be. 'Have you finally done it? Do you have your prize? Can you open them at will?' His thoughts raced as the energy grew more thick as he approached.

The closer he got, the more he recognized the auras of the ones surrounding it. 'Of course he's here.' He could sense the Pikachu he'd once held with such hatred. Once the energy reached its apex Shadow fell to the ground, his mind feeling suddenly overwhelmed. In a sudden defensive reflex he teleported away appearing on the roof of the building. That didn't stop his mind. He began to writhe as images flashed across his mind.

They were so vivid. A premonition? No, Shadow knew he couldn't see into the future. It was something else. It was like watching one of those human shows within his mind the same way….

"The same way I view Blade's memories.." he hesitated a moment. He wasn't seeing Blade's memories, it was something else. Like a lifetime of memory flooding into him in a single instant. Wordlessly he let himself fall into these memories.

*Within His Mind*

"I remember this. The day I met Pyre." He spoke as he watched the memory like a movie. But something was off. As he remembered Pyre pestered him for hours to be his friend, but here.

"Please, don't you want a Darkrai as a friend?"

"Ugh piss off tall, dark, and hyper!"

"Come now, don't be that way, open yourself up to friendship."

Shadow watched on in partial horror as he watched himself begging Pyre to be his friend, and showing so much energy.

The memory faded without warning. Another came into view, Shadow felt overwhelmed with pride.

"Shadow! Shadow! Shadow! Shadow!" A crowd of pokemon cheered. Judging by the unconscious bodies beneath himself, Shadow had stopped some sort of criminal group. People…loved him.

The memory vanished, and without watching he felt that same feeling several times. That love. Adoration. It was alien to the Darkrai, and yet these memories showed that he was showered with them.

Another came into view.

"Oh goodness, are you alright little one?". He heard himself speak as he watched. He recognized everything but himself. The day, the season, the tree, and the Sneasel beneath it. "You must be starving, here."

He saw how carefully, compassionately he handed several berries to the Sneasel. Even without the memory Shadow could feel himself blushing, he remembered how this went. He was nervous when they met for the first time. He refused to show it, or any other emotion. He wanted to seem cool to the Sneasel. But as the memory played out, it was obvious that he didn't care.

The Darkrai smiled at the poor Sneasel then pulled the crimson veil from his face and made a goofy face for the Sneasel, making the smaller mon giggle. "What's your name little one?"

"Hehehehe Oh I'm Blade! Uh what's yours?"

"You may call me Shadow."

Something about the way Blade laughed made Shadow's heart skip a beat. It was perfect in every way. "Have I ever made you laugh like that? My love…."

The memory was quickly replaced. By several more. Each one caused the Darkrai's heart to swell. He and Blade, laughing, smiling together, being in love.

Those memories fell away as Shadow felt a sudden burst of irritation and anger.

"You're too reckless! Don't you get that! Your arrogance is endangering all of us!" He spoke coldly, the first time he'd heard that tone from this strange memory of himself. He was directing his frustration at a Charizard, who looked remarkably similar to the one that helped kill him. "You've been punished time and again for acting as you do. I know we've forbidden you from going to that thing in ultra space, but I'm begging you, not as a member of the guild, but as a fellow pokemon, don't go!" There was an uncharacteristic fear in his voice.

The memory seemed to cut suddenly being replaced by a battle of sorts. Through all the memories he'd only just realized he hadn't seen a single human this entire time. And in an instant that changed. What appeared to be an army of humans poured from the crash site of a familiar vessel.

Shadow looked at it with disdain. "The Centurion." He turned his focus back to the battle at hand so much had happened so quickly. Somehow the humans were overwhelming them with sheer numbers.

Before the memory progressed any further another took its place. This one far more recent and one that Shadow wasn't simply viewing.

His eyes were clouded with tears and he felt empty. His arms strained to a ridiculous degree, as if he'd been carrying something heavy. He could barely make out the shape of several pokemon as he collapsed to the ground. They surrounded him. Words of comfort and care filling him. And yet they passed through like he was an empty ghost. The strain on his arms became almost too much to bear. What was he carrying that weighed so heavily on him? His head fell and even through the tears he could see, and he felt his heart shatter. What had weighed him down so much, what had him in tears, what had him of all pokemon so fragile…was the body of Blade. Missing an arm, a leg, and an eye. His entire body was mangled and barely recognizable. But what hurt the most, Shadow could hear it ringing through his ears. The memory of the battle returned momentarily. He was surrounded, fighting for his life and in the distance.

"Help! Please someone help me! SHADOW PLEASE HELP ME! SOMEONE SAVE ME PLEASE! PLEASE SHADOW SAVE ME!"

It was on a loop in Shadow's head. "Shadow, please save me….he was begging me to save him…." The Darkrai heard his voice, but it wasn't his own, it was this other Shadow. "And I…..couldn't." the tears streamed down his face like a waterfall "I'm sorry Blade…I'M SO SORRY BLADE I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY!" He heard the sorrowful apologies leaving his mouth again and again and again.

But suddenly for the first time since he began viewing these memories, he was filled with an unbridled hatred. As his tear soaked eyes cracked open, he saw bright orange, and he felt heat. It was Charizard. Without warning Shadow felt his body burst forth slamming the fire type to the ground and strangling him with one hand as he raised the other, his clawed fingers growing sharper by the second. "YOU ARROGANT PRICK! NONE OF THIS WOULD'VE HAPPENED IF YOU WEREN'T HERE! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Just when he went to strike he felt himself pinned. By the other Pokemon.

"Shadow stop, he'll receive a fitting punishment for the pain he's caused, but not like this!"

The tears returned to Shadow's eyes. "There is only one punishment I'll accept!" He glared with intent beyond murder at the Charizard. "I'm going to make sure you live through it….your arm…..your leg…..and I'll make you watch as I TEAR YOUR EYE FROM IT'S SOCKET YOU BASTARD!"

*In The Real World*

"An entire life….just for that…" Shadow laid where he was, unable to think straight. "Am I simply doomed to suffer for love…I..or that version of me…he never did anything wrong, he was loved by everyone…he loved everyone…and yet.." A tear fell from his eye. "He lost everything…." The building shook beneath him. "I'd nearly forgotten." He lifted himself from the roof of the building. He could still feel the strain in his arms from the memory. 'Please Shadow save me!' he heard it again. "Life isn't fair, even if you're nothing but good. But perhaps..balance will work, I've done terrible things, but I'm trying to make right what I've wronged." He looked down and teleported, finding himself inside the building again. And quickly he sank himself into the ground. He needed to check on Pyre. Fortunately the Charmander was easy to find. He was surrounded by dozens of other Pokemon who were getting tossed around left and right as their trainers threw them into battle.

The Darkrai set himself beneath the Charmander as he spun around, breathing flames all around him. "Alright, what's up?"

"Long story short, the ones I was leaving to you to save are gone, I'm not sure if we can save them now, but I believe the others and their trainers are still here. So just keep doing your thing."

"Okie Dokie!" With that Pyre slammed his fist into the face of a crabrawler sending them flying. "Yeah! Mega punch boooiiiii!"

And wordlessly the Darkrai left.

Pyre caught a machoke's fist just before it hit, pushing him down. The fighting type kept up the offense and continued punching the Charmander. "You definitely hit hard!" With one final powerful punch Machoke's onslaught came to an end. "But I hit HARDER!" The sapphire tailed Charmander was up almost instantly his fists up one wreathed in flames the other swelling with power as he began punching back. But Machoke stood it's ground blocking each hit and responding in kind with a flurry of attacks. "What's wrong, am I more durable than ya thought?"

Machoke kept striking forth, his attacks clearly more honed and refined than the charmanders, and yet the small fire type was holding his own. Pyre kept trading blows for a few moments before they both stumbled back. Machoke began to glow brightly.

"Oh?" Pyre gave a quizzical look as the fighting type became blindingly bright before the light suddenly dissipated. In place of the Machoke was now a more muscular mom sporting four arms instead of two, and a more prominent head crest. Machamp. Pyre's eyes lit up at the sight of him. "Ooooh you're even stronger now! Let's go big guy, round two!"