Disclaimer: Again I don't own Pokémon, all rights go to the respective owners.

Author's note: I warned in the summary but again, warning for brutality near the end. Also you earn a high five if you notice the reference I made.

Chapter 2: The Unorthodox Mentor

Blade followed closely behind the darkrai like a loyal dog following its owner. Shadow glanced back, piercing Blade's very soul with his single, unwaveringly emotionless red eye. Without warning Shadow sank into the ground leaving Blade alone. "S-shadow where did you"

"Time for your first lesson: you need to let instinct take over, just seeing how you walk shows me that you think too much. So let your instincts move you. " A ball of dark energy flew from behind a tree slamming Blade in the back knocking him to the ground. "Listen to the world around you and let your body move on its own." Another aimed at Blade came flying from another tree. This time he managed to move enough to only get grazed by the attack. "Good, but you'll need to be faster again" Shadow fired two this time curving them around to hit from different angles at different speeds. Blade hesitated to dodge and was knocked forward then hit hard enough to flip backward. "Perhaps you'd learn faster a different way" Shadow said appearing from the ground, and pulled Blade to his feet and dusted the Sneasel off "Perhaps I overestimated you. Before you can rely solely on instinct you must learn something else." Shadow covered Blade's eyes in a veil of darkness "I take it you can't see, then before you start panicking relax, the first step to using your instincts to fight, is to rely not on your eyes, but your ears. So for this I'll move slowly and I won't hit you. Now this is a simple exercise: listen, let your ears guide you. I will make a sound, and you will walk to it." Shadow stepped back a decent way and kicked a tree, sending a loud cracking sound outward. Blade stumbled slowly toward the sound. He stepped slowly until he reached Shadow. "Again, but now we'll see just how quiet a sound you can hear" he teleported to another tree and crushed a leaf in his hand. Blade turned to him and started walking toward him. Shadow silently stepped out of the way and crushed another leaf, leading Blade again. It continued like this for hours until Shadow finally stopped and simply swept his clawed hand at the air. Blade's ears had become attuned to sound and he followed the sound to where Shadow stood. "Well done" Shadow wiped his claw over Blade's eyes removing the veil of darkness "Tomorrow, you'll run this exercise and a more advanced one."

Blade blinked his eyes until they were properly open "Okay, I understand Shadow."

"Then follow me, I'll find you a place to rest"

"But what about you"

"I'm physically incapable of sleep so I'll be busy all night planning what your training will be."

"But…..shouldn't you at least relax?"

"Enough questions, this way." Shadow floated his way through the trees with Blade following closely behind. "Hmm, can you smell that"

"Smell what?"

"There is your next lesson, learning to identify scent. You should be able to recognize that something smells different from me. Just let your nose guide you." Blade tilted his head up and sniffed around catching a sweet yet still rather basic scent. He followed the scent up to a tree, letting out his claws he climbed the tree finding the source of the scent, a bundle of Oran Berries.

"Woah check it out!" Blade showed them off grinning proudly at Shadow.

"Not bad Blade, it seems you can differentiate a safe scent from a dangerous one."

"What do you mean?" Shadow pointed to a shuckle leaking juices everywhere and seemingly rabid. Blade landed beside Shadow clutching the berries close. "Maybe we should go"

"Afraid not Blade, but this is the perfect opportunity. Hand me those berries." Blade did as instructed and handed off the berries. Shadow looked at him "Don't think, and don't panic, let your instincts guide you" Shadow whistled loudly at the shuckle and disappeared leaving the ravenous creature staring at Blade. Blade felt fear grip him as the shuckle came barreling at him as fast as it could. Blade jumped out of the way, but the shuckle was upon him in moments grabbing him by the legs, and pulling him down. He kicked the shuckle as it pulled him closer. The rabid beast pulled harder whipping him with his tentacles. "Enough" Shadow pulled the creature up by its tentacles and tossed it aside, "Unfortunate, but not surprising. Well done."

"But it had me if you didn't help it'd probably have killed me"

"Untrained as you are, you fought back better than expected, you weren't immediately overwhelmed so you did well."

"Oh….so you knew I wouldn't win"

"Not at all, I expected you to hold your own, this wasn't about winning. It was to test your survival instinct. You didn't run, you fought even though you were afraid. So I consider that passing."

"R-really?"

"Yes, really. Now here" he handed Blade the berries "There's a cave just over there, get in and get some sleep."

"Okay, thanks Shadow, you're awesome." Blade made his way into the cave with Shadow just behind him.

The darkrai held his hand out engulfing it in purple flames and illuminating the cave "Now rest, tomorrow will be even more difficult." Blade found a decent rock and laid his head against it going to sleep as Shadow left the cave.

*The Next Day*

Blade awoke with a start, his heart racing and his body sweating. He looked around the cave for a moment before settling on the entrance. He stood and walked to the entrance seeing the bright light of day. He looked around a moment trying to find Shadow, then without thinking he sniffed about for the darkrai's scent. He followed the scent walking slowly when Shadow's voice came from behind "Good, you are at least recognizing my scent now. On to business, shall I blind you again or do you think you can keep your eyes closed?"

"B-blind me, I don't think I'd ever voluntarily close my eyes and try to do anything."

"Then you already understand battle. There is no point in planning, the plan never survives the battle."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Regardless of your plan, when the battle begins, it becomes pointless. You plan for what your opponent might do, and when they do something different the entire plan no longer works." Before Blade could respond, Shadow veiled his eyes in darkness. "Now then" Shadow phased himself backwards and lightly waved his claws. Blade's ears picked up the extremely quiet sound and dashed forward, each step echoing in his mind showing him what stands in his way, until he jumped slashing at Shadow. The darkrai dodged with ease, but each small move was met with another attack, and another, Blade was a natural it seems, but his body could barely keep pace with his senses. This went on for minutes Shadow dodged, and Blade attacked, both seemingly increasing in speed as they went. One final slash managed to graze the darkrai and he grabbed Blade unveiling his eyes. "Well done, you hit me. It seems that life saw fit to balance things out for you" Shadow chuckled darkly "I admit I didn't expect you to manage it, at least not yet."

"Wow. I actually hit you?!" Blade tilted his head up at Shadow's statement "what do you mean it balanced out for me?"

"Oh it's simple, you're a runt, smaller and weaker than the others of your race. Normally at a natural disadvantage, but it would seem your senses are far more hightened than other sneasel. Thus a balance, you lack the physical ability of others, but your senses are far superior. But if you continue training like this, the gap in physical ability will shorten immensely. Or I suppose I should say, you can become stronger than any normal sneasel. You can reach their physical capability and because of how you worked for it you will understand it better than they could."

"You really think so Shadow?" Blade asked and the darkrai simply nodded. Shadow nodded at Blade as the Sneasel dropped to his knees exhausted after the constant sustained movement.

Shadow gently lifted him, cradling him like a newborn. "Just rest Blade, we'll continue this tomorrow."

*The Next Day*

Blade awoke once again stretching himself out only to find a bundle of assorted berries beside him and Shadow sitting at the entrance to the cave. "You're awake, excellent, eat your fill, today's training will be pushing you well beyond your limits. Before you question it, life doesn't care that you are young and inexperienced you'll be pushed to the brink of death whether you like it or not."

"I know that!" Blade nearly yelled before he curled himself up devouring the berries "I was about to die the day we met….remember?" Shadow gave a smirk beneath the veil of his face and nodded. In moments Blade filled his stomach with berries and Shadow beckoned him to the clearing they'd been training in.

"Well, from this point on until the sun goes down, don't get knocked out." Blade looked to Shadow seeing the darkrai vanish. Once the darkrai was gone the surrounding area lit up with eyes. Dozens of snarling pokemon came from the forest fangs and claws bared and ready. Mightyena, houndoom, and even a group of sneasel and weavile. They took to attacking him in moments. Sounds rippled around him and his body moved on its own every sense suddenly pouring through him. Sight, scent, sound, touch, and even the air itself tasted of danger. He weaved around his enemies with near ease, but within minutes his body was at its limit. Blade was sweating profusely and panting heavily. He began to slow down and was slowly overpowered. A mightyena bit into his shoulder and tackled him to the ground. The others surrounded him preparing to join in. The deeper the mightyena bit, the louder Blade's cries of pain got, the searing heat and rush of blood from the wound was unbearable to the sneasel. Until suddenly all of the pokemon scurried back at once, all of them inexplicably overcome with fear. All but the mightyena who was digging into Blade's shoulder. Then moments later the pain dropped, blood oozed from Blade's shoulder, but the pressure of the bite was gone. When Blade was finally able to focus and see the sight that greeted him was Shadow holding the mightyena by his upper jaw.

To say it was unnecessary and cruel was, to some, an understatement, to others justified. Nonetheless Shadow grabbed the inside of mightyena's lower jaw with his free claw and slowly pulled down not once breaking eye contact. "I explicitly said, to knock him out, not execute him. I'm very particular with my words" mightyena's jaw was stretched to its limit "Knock out, Kill. Knock.Out.Kill...do those commands sound the same?"

Mightyena and the other pokemon responded erratically shaking their heads in desperation "We lost control" mightyena spoke as well as he could.

"You.lost.control….I gave you all one simple task and yet" Shadow violently yanked down ripping mightyena's jaw off, and his voice became darker and even more menacing "Still, you fail so much, it seems you all must be punished. Don't forget, I can see your very thoughts and memories. Each of you would have joined in if I had not returned." Shadow held his hand over his head and everything went black.