Lune (Chapter update - May 23, 2006)

[Count von Dark]

So Lune and Shockwave have finally decided to turn back... And the clan has some secrets revealed. I think you didn't discribe the way Charisma felt too well. But the rest are fine. I really can't imagine what's it like to eat a Remoroid, though... XDXD

[Charizard04621]

@Count von Dark: Aww, really? I thought I did it okay... So Charisma doesn't seem to come out as the bitter type that is afraid of trusting anyone again, huh? I guess I'll have to work on that later.

Gosh, sorry for the HUGE delay...

Chapter 25
Breaking Bondage

Lune waited until Charisma had finished eating the food that had been saved for her. “The southern entrance Valley is only a few hours away,” he said. “Why don’t we head for it now before the evening fades?”

Élan shook his head. “You and Shockwave can go ahead if you want. I think we would like to stay here a little bit longer.” There was a murmur of agreement from the rest of the clan.

“Well, we were kind of thinking that you could come to the heart of the Sacred Kingdom with us instead of living in exile on its outskirts,” Shockwave explained.

“Ryu can no longer terrorize you,” Lune continued. “There is no reason to continue living as if you were shunted from the community.”

Élan gathered the clan together, deep in thought, and, for some time, they held a serious discussion in whispers. Finally, Élan returned to where Lune and Shockwave were waiting. He neither frowned nor smiled. “We are greatly thankful for the invitation,” he said carefully, “but we must refuse. We have grown accustomed to our lifestyle, and do not wish to change it yet. Thank you for your consideration.”

“This means goodbye, then,” Lune replied. “Perhaps we shall meet again.”

“Perhaps,” said Élan, even as Lune and Shockwave prepared to leave.

“Hey, WAIT,” Luktam screamed, “You’re not just letting Lune break from the clan like this, are you, Élan? Clan members are supposed to stick with the clan! If Lune wants out, he has to defeat you and Ningai first.”

“Oh, no, Luktam, Lune’s not really-” Élan was cut short.

“It’s all right,” Lune said, smirking. “Shockwave…?”

“Yeah, let’s do it.” Shockwave grinned too.

Lune nodded. “We’ll battle you. Let’s make this one count.”

Ningai and Élan exchanged looks, then prepared to battle. Luktam laughed childishly. “Haha! You guys are nuts! You can’t beat Ningai and Élan!” he jeered.

“We’ll see about that,” Lune muttered under his breath, building a more intense dislike for Luktam every time the Slowpoke opened his mouth to speak.

“Caution is necessary, of course,” Shockwave whispered. “Lune, I want to see their reaction when I seemingly disappear and you grow wings and fly.”

“Right now?”

“Right now.”

“Okay, then,” Lune replied. “Ready, Élan and Ningai? Let’s go!”
The rest of the clan members moved a safe distance away to spectate, under the lush foliage of shady, fruit-laden trees.

***

The ground shook with utter ferocity, tearing apart the earth with its violent fits. Shockwave had sprung upwards immediately to avoid Ningai’s powerful tremors, but Lune had not been quick enough; he was thrown off his feet. From that point, all he could do was cling onto the trembling ground tightly, hoping to avoid further injury. The world began to spin around him, and it was difficult to see. Meanwhile, Shockwave, mid-air, had leapt for Ningai, and, hardening his zigzagged tail until it glimmered a metallic silver, sought to strike the Nidoqueen in the face with its iron sting. Ningai dodged, but in so doing, ceased creating the violent tremors, giving Lune and Shockwave the moment that they needed.

“Union of Soul!” Lune cried, barely managing to struggle to his feet. The evening sky flashed momentarily with blinding light. Shockwave, now in his purest state of being, a glorious white radiance, was drawn into Lune’s body. Shining rainbows burst from the Eevee’s shoulders, forming the wings with which he could fly. He laughed as he took to the air, a free being, liberated from the confinements of the ground. He loved the feel of his energy wings as they beat against the sky; it put him at ease, somehow, and yet gave him a feeling of great jubilation.

Élan, who had until now been hanging on to Ningai’s shoulder, safely away from her Earthquakes, slid downwards to the grass below. “Looks like Lune won’t be grounded again,” he said. “At least, not until we make him come down.” Ningai knew that Élan already had a plan. But neither understood where Shockwave had gone; all they remembered was the intolerable flash of light, and the sudden sprouting of wings from Lune’s back.

They seem a little confused, huh? Let’s give them a hint. With that, Shockwave called massive storm clouds into existence high above; the sky darkened as they cast their ominous shadows. The gray forms seemed to throb and swell, threatening at any moment to burst. A roll of thunder followed the frightful flash of lightning, then, the rain, as if answering the urging call, burst forth in torrents. Ningai tried to hide her pain, and did not wince, but it was plain by the look of suffering in her eyes. The water stung her viciously. Then Shockwave made the river waters rise to towering heights, into one massive wave that grew larger as he fed it with the rain. Ningai watched in terror; Élan, horrified, finally understood.

“Ningai,” he screamed, “They’ve combined! An Eevee cannot summon a tidal wave like this, but a Pikachu is capable of using Surf. Shockwave is inside Lune’s body!”

“What phenomenal synergy they must have,” Ningai whispered, “to have special abilities that complement each other! I’ve never heard of something like this in the past.”

“Yes… But the wave approaches.” Élan was right. The river water loomed over the two, ready to come crashing down upon them, to engulf them with its dreadful might. “We both are capable of using Surf, too… Let’s turn it back on them together. Shockwave may be a strong battler, but I doubt he can take two at a time.”

With that, Ningai and Élan focused their mental strength on repelling the tsunami. Inch by inch, they pushed it back, and its overflowing waters slowly receded. Shockwave’s will and the power of the raging river were not alone enough to withstand a double assault. But just as Ningai and Élan began to think that they were winning, Lune snickered.

“You think I’m just going to beat my wings in place and watch you two mentally fight against Shockwave, without doing anything myself, just because an Eevee like me isn’t capable of using Surf any time I want to? What, have you forgotten about one of my obvious options?” Lune called.

Shockwave grinned. Mimic. Too bad you don’t permanently learn the moves you pick up during the battle, though.

“Hey, I like it anyway,” Lune replied. He had been following Shockwave’s thoughts carefully ever since the Pikachu had first begun to build up the wave, and he had enough – at least temporarily – to duplicate the effect. Lune added his newly acquired strength to Shockwave’s, urging the wave forward once more with renewed vigor. The ferocity of the mental assault caught Élan and Ningai by surprise; their control over the river faltered, and in that moment of hesitation, they lost the mental battle. The tidal wave submerged them suddenly, like a starving beast, too impatient to consume its prey slowly, and instead swallowing whole, and all at once. But the waters receded rapidly this time, downhill, back into the riverbed; and the heavy downpour slackened, then eventually stopped altogether. Gray clouds no longer hovered over the sky; the sun was free to shine again and give warmth. The river, now calm once more, seemed as if it could never have been the monster that it just was - never that ferocious. But the bitter sting of the ice cold waters, sharper than a thousand daggers, served as a constant reminder to Ningai that it was no dream; and even now, Élan still coughed violently, at times spewing forth the river water that had forced itself into his lungs. The nightmare was a reality.

Élan knew that it had to stop. Ningai, being a Ground type, suffered horribly from water-based assaults, for their stinging wrath caused her pain beyond the wildest imagination. Although Ningai herself was powerful and could take much punishment, she had not yet fully recovered from the wounds that she had received a month ago from the conflict with Ryu’s dirty officials. Élan could tell that this battle had already put an intense strain on Ningai; it could not continue. “Enough,” he cried in defeat, “We forfeit.” He did not say anything about Ningai’s previous injuries to Lune and Shockwave, who did not know. They were not at fault, after all, and he did not want to make them feel guilty.

Lune lowered himself to the ground beside Ningai and Élan. His wings, folded, slowly faded away, and in their place stood Shockwave, back in his own body. Both were confused, and both smelled disaster.

“SEE? I told you they were nasty! Look what they did to Ningai!” Luktam came running (or rather, in his case, stumbling – he was an extraordinarily fat and lazy Slowpoke, who scarcely got the exercise that was good for him) towards the four, followed by an irritated Charisma and, as usual, a calm but concerned Senryu.

“I… I thought we were just battling,” Lune said, almost half-whispering. He felt small, like a despicable murderer who had taken advantage of some helpless victim. Shockwave gripped Lune’s shoulder tightly; Lune could feel the Pikachu’s hand trembling.

“It’s not your fault,” Élan told them. “It’s mine. I should have been wise enough to stop her from participating in that battle in the first place. Ningai, I-”

“It’s all right,” the battered Nidoqueen said weakly, pushing herself slowly and painfully up to her feet, “I’ll be fine. It’s getting dark,” she observed, looking up at the late evening sky. “Lune, Shockwave, you two should head home. No excuses,” she added sternly. “I don’t want you two travelling too far into the night.”

“Um, okay…” Shockwave answered half-heartedly.

“Sorry,” Lune whispered, as Luktam mocked him with accusing glares. He turned around to follow Shockwave. Their forlorn frames soon disappeared into the darkness.

[Cyrus]

Great chapter.

[Charizard04621]

@Cyrus: vee!

Hmm, this one's not very long, but I like it. ^_^

Chapter 26
The Final Straw

Shockwave had gone to the busy central square to relax. It had a friendly atmosphere, especially in the evening; Shockwave loved to watch as pokémon went by. It was interesting to see what they did. The evening sunsets were breathtakingly beautiful, and somehow, the gentle lavenders, and pinks, and golds, brought upon a sense of calmness and quiet joy. It was unfortunate that Lune, who had needed to work for the Guardians since they arrived in the morning, could not accompany Shockwave.

Grand though the Guardians’ palace was, Lune wished that he could have gone to the central square with Shockwave. He was in a quiet, pensive mood, and would have much preferred to sit in silence while he watched the graceful sunset. But he had been away long enough, and had much to do.

“Since you are alive and well, I suggest that you show up at the general tournament tomorrow,” Lord Yoruno told Lune.

“I’m still in the tournament?” the Eevee asked, surprised. “I thought I would have been kicked off of it a long time ago.”

“You will be if you miss tomorrow’s round,” Lord Yoruno replied. “You were already disqualified from Round Two. You’ll need to battle your way out of the Loser’s Bracket if you can. It’s a double elimination tournament. One more loss and you’re out.”

“Oh, wonderful. I wonder whom I’m up against,” Lune said to himself.

“Find out tomorrow like the rest of the pokémon,” Lord Yoruno snapped. “Stop fishing for advantages.”

“I didn’t ask for an answer,” Lune said quietly, avoiding Lord Yoruno’s gaze. The Umbreon tended to assume that Lune had ignoble motivations for all of his rhetorical comments. Lord Yoruno probably did it to everyone without realizing it, but Lune still hated it. Of all the virtues that Lune valued, honor was what he cherished most. The second in importance was competence. Lune hated being viewed as some sleazy criminal who always had dirty purposes. It hurt his pride.

Lord Yoruno broke the uncomfortable silence. “We have two new Advisers.”

“Finally!” Lune exclaimed, relieved. He was tired of having to deal with all the pokémon who needed an Adviser’s assistance. Although Lord Yoruno and Lady Naien were technically Advisers, too, Lune usually did most of the work. At last he could have help from two others; his burden of duties would be relieved somewhat. “Who are they?” Lune asked.

“You can find out when Lady Naien and I announce it tomorrow,” Lord Yoruno told him.

“I hate it when you do that…”

“Do what?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Lune sighed, turning away.

“Well,” Lord Yoruno continued, “don’t think that this puts you off the hook. You still have to do the work if you want to keep your job as an Adviser.”

“I did not need something that obvious pointed out to me,” Lune snapped, irritated. Lord Yoruno said nothing. “Stop it! Just STOP IT!” Lune yelled suddenly. Ever since he had first met Lord Yoruno, Lune had resented the Umbreon’s attitude of superiority; but he had controlled his burning anger, and bottled it within. Now, way past its due, the volcano that had lain dormant finally erupted. “I will NOT continue being treated like this!” Lune stormed. “You always talk to me as if I am stupid. You always tell me obvious things that I already know, and explain them to me as if I am not capable of understanding anything at all. You always assume that I am some sort of lowly criminal out to fulfill my own selfish, greedy purposes.” Lune roared, and his eyes, mad with fury, blazed with inextinguishable fire. “I have had enough! I am NOT some inferior, sub-intelligent life form! I am NOT an idiotic, sleazy criminal! STOP TREATING ME LIKE I AM!”

Lord Yoruno was taken aback. Amazement was in his face, and he was stung with guilt. He had never realized before that Lune, or anyone else for that matter, felt this way about his manner. “I’m sorry!” he replied meekly, as if he was retreating. “We can talk about anything else!” Lord Yoruno quickly changed the subject, and Lune, satisfied, eventually cooled down.

“Sorry about the outburst, but it was necessary,” Lune said after a while.

“It’s fine,” Lord Yoruno replied. “It’s just your competitive spirit. Use it well, and it will bring you far in life.”

As if drawing from a faraway thought, Lune answered: “I’m afraid I have too much.” With that, he left the palace silently to prepare for the tournament round that would take place the next day.

[Charizard04621]

Vee. And stuff.

Chapter 27
Might Versus Wit

“Shockwave, what on earth happened to the general tournament arena?” Lune whispered, nearly too surprised to speak. What he saw before him was a barren field of cement roughly upturned and blasted full of holes. The marble booth had not been repaired, and few of the once existing bleachers were anything but black charred masses.

“Erk.” Shockwave was just as dumbstruck as Lune. He had left on the morning following Lune’s departure immediately when there was enough light to see, having previously packed all that he had needed for the journey. He, too, had been disqualified from the second round of the general tournament, and did not have the slightest clue about what had happened to the arena.

“I thought you two might be here,” said Lord Yoruno, who had just come up from behind. “Some brilliant pokémon decided to ignore the tournament rules that serve obvious purposes. When it became clear that he could not win, he decided to detonate himself, to the alarm of thousands of spectators. The Explosion reduced this arena to a pile of rubble. It might be a while before it is fixed.”

“Ack! Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Lune cried out in alarm. “We’re late!”

“I suppose there will be no harsh penalty if you leave now and get to the substitute arena as soon as possible. Follow me.” Lord Yoruno dashed eastward, a black streak in the morning sunlight. Lune and Shockwave silently followed.

***

It was dark. The indoor arena was considerably smaller than the original one, and when it became packed with rowdy spectators, the air became hot and stifling. The little light that was provided came from lit torches that were lined up along the walls.

“Isn’t there any electrical lighting here?” Lune asked, surprised.

Shockwave shrugged. “Maybe the power blew out or something. You should go ask someone.”

“Why me?”

“Because I don’t feel like it.”

“Okay, okay… I’ll go find Lord Yoruno or Lady Naien. They should know.” With that, Lune vanished into the shadows.

***

Apparently, there had been a terrible electrical failure: the yellow crystals that were supposed to generate power had been hopelessly shattered. The Guardians suspected vandalism, but they could do nothing about it. Even their backup crystals had been found and destroyed, so there was no choice but to resort to torches until new crystals arrived to replace the ones that were so thoughtlessly smashed.

“Hello, ladies and gentlemen,” called a harsh but clear voice over the blackness, “I, Pukcus the Murkrow, am your wonderful announcer for today. Kento the Farfetch’d, your regular announcer, is sick and unable to attend this tournament round. It’s a pity about his sickness, but you really can’t complain when you’re lucky enough to get a great announcer like me as a sub!”

“On and on and on he goes,” Lune groaned. “Kento, why did you do this to us?”

“So, anyway,” Pukcus continued, “let’s begin! First up, let’s see… The first pairing is: Lune the Eevee versus Shadow the Gengar!”

Lune nearly tripped over when he heard the announcement. “What? That’s weird… I’m battling Shadow again?”

“Crush him,” Shockwave said, giving his friend a thumbs-up.

“It’s really dark in here,” Lune commented softly.

Shockwave caught Lune’s gaze. “Shadow’s the one who should be worried,” he whispered, after being silent for a while.

Lune nodded slowly, then stepped into the arena. Darkness cloaked him almost completely, except for the light of the fire in his blazing eyes.

***

“Shadow, you’ve improved tremendously,” Lune commented, panting. He leapt aside from a flashing surge of lightning, which struck the earthen floor and baked the sizzling dirt. He had been doing this for quite some time, but Shadow did not seem to be tiring.

Smirking, Shadow replied, “Too much for you to handle this time, I think.” The Gengar overtook his opponent with amazing speed and, hovering in front of the Eevee with a large grin spread across his face, arms held out as if to block Lune’s path, asked, “Going somewhere?” With that, he threw his burning fist, red and golden with scorching fire, directly into Lune’s face, sending the Eevee flying backwards through the air, only to come to a crashing halt as he hit the ground.

“Wow!” Pukcus yelled, “That was amazing! Unfortunately, Shadow only hit Lune with a measly Fire Punch, which is a Fire type move that only affects a Normal type like Lune with regular effectiveness. I wonder why he didn’t go for the powerful Fighting type move, Dynamicpunch, which would have been super effective against an Eevee?”

“Because,” Lune muttered inaudibly, rubbing the remaining embers away from his singed fur, “fast though Shadow is now, by the time he finishes charging up enough energy for a Dynamicpunch, I would be ready to dodge.”

Shadow cackled maniacally. “Like my new speed, Lune? When I lost to you the other day, I forced myself into intensive training that increased my agility and endurance exponentially!”

“Geez,” Lune exclaimed, shaking his head, “and I thought you were fast before. Few Gengar can phase immediately while being faced with Quick Attack. That day when we first battled, I thought you had the quickest reflexes of all the Gengar I had ever seen.”

Then it was Lune’s turn to laugh. While Shadow had been distracted by talking, Lune had secretly been gathering ethereal energy around his hidden forepaw, and now it all formed a formidable sphere of power, which would, at its best, cause Shadow brutal torment and indescribable agony. “Eat this!” cried Lune, as he revealed the orb and launched it in a flash. The Gengar, shocked, nearly failed to avoid the treacherous energy, but in the end, his countless hours of obsessive training prevailed. Shadow was able to alter his form into a state of being which seemed almost empty; for a moment, it looked as if he did not exist. In this way the phantom managed, on such short notice, to miraculously phase away from the ghostly orb that threatened him. Little did he know that Lune had expected this, for even Shadow had not expected it of himself. In fact, Lune had not put much strength into that particular Shadow Ball, for it was only meant to provide a distraction that would allow Lune to slip away unnoticed, leaving a persuasive, lifelike copy of himself to act in his place.

“Damn you, Lune,” Shadow cursed, “you nearly got me that time! You crazy little Eevee… I need to watch out for you. Maybe you won’t cause trouble if you take a little nap. Pleasant dreams, Lune! I look forward to eating them.” With that, Shadow locked gazes with the Eevee, casting seducing rays that forced his victim’s eyelids to slowly droop; the Eevee tried time and again to fight off the spell, and at times his eyes would open for a moment, but sooner or later, they would fall shut again. Finally, the Eevee fell into a deep, sleeping trance, helpless while Shadow loomed over him, ready to feast on his dreams.

“Well, well!” Pukcus exclaimed, “Looks like this battle’s almost over. Shadow has successfully used Hypnosis on Lune. Now all he has to do is keep using Dream Eater to feed on Lune’s dreams. He’ll sap away valuable energy for himself while Lune, in his slumber, doesn’t notice as his strength ebbs away.”

Unfortunately for Shadow, the real Lune was far from asleep. He had, from a safe distance behind Shadow, all this time been calling forth the shadow that enveloped him, harnessing all into a single throbbing orb that he held and watched with satisfaction. He waited as it grew, and grew, and grew, into a thing of beauty, a rippling sphere of deep purple that possessed the ability to cause utter destruction.

Shadow was frustrated. He had both hands placed on the sleeping Eevee’s head, but try as he might, could not draw a single dream from his victim’s mind. Either the Eevee was far more cunning than he thought, and could somehow willfully hide dreams, or the Eevee did not dream at all, which was unusual. Either way, Shadow did not want to waste any more time. Since the Eevee was asleep, and could not dodge, Dynamicpunch was very possible. Shadow took his time, charging his fist with as much chi energy as he could muster, making a conscious effort to power up the blow as much as possible. An opportunity like this was rare, and he had to make full use of it in order to give himself a decisive advantage in battle.

This was time dearly spent, for every moment that Shadow spared meant that Lune’s Shadow Ball grew even more powerful. At last, when Lune saw that Shadow was ready, he sent his ethereal orb on its path of annihilation. Just as Lune’s body double crumbled under Shadow’s lighted fist, the Gengar was struck from behind and thrown to the ground; and then, when the orb erupted, shooting forth its searing energy, Shadow shrieked: a long, agonized cry, that of a tormented soul in utter despair.

“I… Uh, I knew it!” Pukcus cried, “I knew it all the time! Lune used Substitute. Shadow fell for it, but I can assure you, I didn’t! Ha ha!” The Murkrow cawed with false amusement, flapping his feathery black wings in a somewhat distressed state, trying to hide his shock. “I knew it all along, but I just didn’t want to spoil it for ya!” he claimed.

Meanwhile, Lune was engaged in a staring contest with Shadow. The two glared at each other unblinkingly, both stubborn and irritated, neither backing down. They stood stationary in the arena, with neither one so much as breathing. Hostility lingered in the air.

“Well you really did get me,” Shadow said after a long while, with a tinge of bitterness. “I won’t let my guard down anymore. From now on, I’m going all out!”

Shadow’s eyes blazed with unbreakable determination. He had come this far, and he refused to lose without fighting with all the strength that he had. It was with this courageous spirit that his face glowed, and he could feel power surge through his veins, as if his blood boiled in anticipation for combat, and all his strength poured forth from his soul.

To his amazement, Lune could see the beginnings of Fighting energy glowing from Shadow’s skin. His heart skipped a beat. Could it be…?

“Here’s where you finally lose, Lune,” Shadow told him. “You can’t stand against my Fighting type Hidden Power!”

“Shockwave, did you hear that?” Lune called. “Shadow has the same type of Hidden Power as you!”

“Whoa!” Pukcus cried, “Looks like Lune really is finished now! Surprisingly, Shadow has a Fighting type Hidden Power, which is super effective against Normal types like Lune!”

“No, I am not through!” Lune shouted. “Shadow, I’m sorry, but I have to do this. I can’t risk being wiped out by your Hidden Power.”

Suddenly, Lune’s expression grew cold. He shut his eyes, and his face displayed a cruel, chilling frown. An eerie breeze blew by, lifting his hair and fur up into the air; and as it left, his fur floated down again, slowly, as if also in Lune’s deep trance. When the torches that surrounded the arena ring were abruptly and simultaneously extinguished, the spectators cried out in terror and fear, not daring even to breathe. A frightened Magby tried, to no avail, to re-light the ring of torches with her tail flame. Each time a torch seemingly caught fire, the flame would immediately die down, sinking into a mass of glowing red embers, and then vanishing forever into gray dust. The only light that existed came from torches at the far walls of the building, and these flames danced eerily; those who saw this felt chills run down their shivering spines.

Darkness rushed from Lune in a wave, and no one could see his face any longer; he was drowned in a black aura of darkness. The shadows about him came to life, towering and formidable in the artificial night. By this time the Gengar was trembling, and, as his glowing energy faded, he cried fearfully, “I forfeit.”

Almost immediately, the sense of impending gloom and fear lifted from darkened hearts, and the shadows fled back into hiding. The Magby, who still had been having no success, suddenly jumped back in surprise as the torches burst into flame.

“What?” cried Pukcus, slowly absorbing the situation. “Although Dark moves are super effective against Ghost types like Shadow, Fighting types are strong against Dark types. Why did Shadow quit?”

Shadow, looking at Lune, shook his head and smiled. “You are full of surprises,” he said. “I couldn’t have fought back that darkness even if I tried. Now that you’ve managed to defeat me twice, I know I can accept the fact that you’re better than me.”

[Cyrus]

Amazing Chapter.

[Charizard04621]

@Cyrus: Thanks.

To everyone: I might be slowing down on the Chapters somewhat; it's approaching the end of the year, and I suddenly am finding a lot of stuff thrown in my face at once. Sorry for future delays.

[Count von Dark]

A silent reader I am, but I've been following every single chappie! I really like the descrptions, but to point out- you use too much language when battling. That's not realistic, instead, the focus should be aroun the fight.

[Charizard04621]

@Count von Dark: Really? Blame it on me watching too much Prince of Tennis. Hehe.

I tend to put commentary in battles to sneak in explanations for stuff that I think might have been confusing, or for stuff that I am purposely trying to stress as important. Sometimes it even helps to develop a character. The commentary I insert is supposed to make a point... If there's too much, I'm sorry, but I'm not sure that I can help it; it's just my writing style. ^_^;

[Charizard04621]

Aiee, a month and stuff... And then I won't be able to post any while I'm off the whole month of June... Sorry, guys. Anyway, here it is...

Chapter 28
Silver Starlight

“Match sixty-four, last one for today,” Pukcus yelled, “Shockwave the Pikachu versus Hyperion the Charizard!”

“That’s no ordinary Charizard,” Lune cried out in alarm, pointing shakily at the shrewd, draconic warrior who stepped calmly into the ring. By this time the magical yellow crystals had been restored, and the brightness of the powerful electrical lights that shone upon his silver coat gave it a sparkling luster, glorious with its starry splendor. Regular Charizard had orange skin, but Hyperion was a rare exception. His largely varied appearance indicated that there was strong magic in his blood, of the most potent sort; Hyperion was born with remarkable cunning. Surge, in comparison, did not possess even half the magic that Hyperion had at his disposal; that was why he was still a normal Gyarados. Only pokémon who were fortunate enough to be born with such a glorious destiny were distinguished through their appearance; their parents were not necessarily equally lucky. It was more a question of fate rather than heritage.

“I remember Hyperion,” Shockwave commented. “He totally owned in a couple of tournaments in the Forgotten Kingdom a long time ago. Not many pokémon could match up to him. I guess he got bored of staying at home and came here, too, where there’s more competition and activity. I haven’t actually met him in person, though.”

Lune stood puzzled. “What’s a silver Charizard doing in the Loser’s Bracket? It’s not like Round 1 or 2 competition is that tough.”

“Got ambushed by the gang of the Feraligatr he beat in Round One,” Lune heard someone behind him say. “Three of ‘em. Big pokémon, too. A Tyranitar, an Aerodactyl, and a Machamp. The Feraligatr couldn’t believe that a Fire type could beat a Water type like him, though. Says he cheated. Poor Charizard got away, but not before they managed to break his left arm. Pity that it happened the day before Round Two started. Poor thing had to sit it out and take an automatic forfeit.”

“Jerks,” Lune muttered under his breath. “Cowards had to make it a four-on-one before they felt safe, huh? Good thing his arm healed in time for this round. Shockwave, be careful.”

“Right,” he said, hastening to the ring.

Since Hyperion did not make any effort to attack first, Shockwave took the initiative, quickly but cautiously. A stalemate was undesirable, but Shockwave suspected a trap. With a quick burst of speed, he darted forth, charging for Hyperion, prepared at any moment to evade at the slightest sign of trouble. The Charizard held no intention of luring his opponent into a trap, however, and merely pulled aside, immediately taking to the air. His massive body was far more mobile in flight than it could have been on the ground.

This was exactly the opportunity Shockwave had been waiting for; the Pikachu jumped and grabbed Hyperion’s tail, emitting a charge of static energy that was meant to lock up his opponent’s muscles. What actually happened, though, was not what anyone would have expected. The faint, silver aura that sparkled on Hyperion’s skin seemed to erupt and swallow the electricity. Then Shockwave felt Hyperion’s tail hardening under him, and the cold, smooth feel of metal. He knew what was coming next. Before the Charizard brought his now metallic tail crashing into the ground, Shockwave released his grip just in time and rolled away from underneath, narrowly escaping the crushing force.

“Wow,” Pukcus shouted, “Hyperion did something weird with Shockwave’s Thunder Wave attack. Somehow he didn’t get paralyzed like he was supposed to. Then, when he was about to smash Shockwave with Iron Tail, the Pikachu jumped off in time! Amazing!”

“What an inspirational explanation of Hyperion’s immunity to Thunder Wave,” Lune muttered inaudibly, rolling his eyes. “The next time I try to sound like a genius, I’ll remember to state the obvious.”

Beads of sweat rolled down Shockwave’s neck. “Is it electricity, or…?” he whispered. He sent crackling bolts of energy surging through Hyperion, who gritted his teeth and clenched his fists tightly, trying not to cry out in pain.

“I think I know now,” Shockwave said, splattering a dark, venomous fluid all over Hyperion. The poison slid off his skin and onto the floor, repelled by his silver aura. “Status effect immunity,” Shockwave immediately stated with complete certainty.

“That was quick,” Hyperion responded good-naturedly, “It took my last opponent a long time to figure that out. You did it with three shots. This is going to be an enjoyable match.” Having said that, Hyperion mentally forced the ground to erupt with seismic fury, throwing it apart with earth-shattering tremors. Groaning, and shoved off his feet, Shockwave reached for Hyperion’s hanging tail and managed to grab it, clinging onto it for dear life. The Charizard, in an effort to remove his little hitchhiker, spewed forth intense turquoise flame, deadly and destructive. As the searing draconic fire met his skin, Shockwave could feel boils rising with knifelike, stabbing pain.

Shockwave gripped Hyperion’s tail even tighter, and, when he felt assured that he could maintain his hold, zapped the Charizard with the most vicious electrical assault that he could muster. Sparks sailed all over the place, and Hyperion jerked suddenly, now no longer containing his tortured cries of agony.

Golden energy gathered in an orange ball inside Hyperion’s mouth. Every moment, as he fueled it, it grew in strength, until it looked as if it might have been able to hold no more. At this point Hyperion released it with his head upturned, shifting its position rapidly as it tore through the ceiling, until he successfully created a hole large enough for him to easily fit through. Threatening sparks flew from the broken wires, and large chunks of dangerous debris fell. While Hyperion took cautious evasive maneuvers to avoid the hazards, Shockwave formed a translucent barrier above his head. As soon as the danger was over, though, he allowed the barrier to fall, for maintaining it cost a lot of energy.

Shockwave took the opportunity presented by the gaping hole in the ceiling to play a Fire type’s greatest weakness: if there was anything Charizard hated more than electricity, it was water. Already gray clouds gathered overhead at Shockwave’s summoning. They throbbed heavily like a live pulse, with lightning occasionally flashing across their swirling mass, and the loud rumble of thunder that sounded terrifyingly close. Rain poured forth in torrents, and, in massive amounts, flooded in through the ceiling like a cascading waterfall. Hyperion’s eyes were shut; the mighty dragon himself was silent, making no noise but for the beating of his great wings. His heart pounded hard in his chest, but he did not feel or hear. He was locked in a deep trance, oblivious of the outside world and of the icy, stinging water that rushed over his skin and dampened his faltering tail flame.

Finally, Hyperion awoke; his expression brightened; his eyes were filled with a blazing fire: of determination, and of hope. Then it was as if he was blessed with starlight; his sparkling skin seemed to dance with celestial radiance, as if the very glow of the heavens now lay upon him. Nothing passed through the glorious light; Shockwave could hear the pounding of the rain on the ceiling above, but as he watched the drops, they seemed to infinitely slow, until they were right before him, frozen in time, and then, as if by magic, gone.

Lune, below, could see Hyperion advancing, flying higher against the rain, effortlessly because of the divine protection. The Charizard seemed to have planned carefully: forcing Shockwave onto him, opening access to the sky, using his special ability to its fullest extent. It was as if… he was preparing for…

“Crap!” Lune screamed, “Shockwave, JUMP!”

Shockwave heard, and tried to let go, but he could not. When he looked down, everything began to spin; he could not see; he was too dizzy. Shadows of memory returned to haunt him at that moment: the thunderous boom of the waterfall crashing against the rocks, the treacherous, slippery surface of his failing hold, the critical loss of his grip as he shot over the edge, and his terrifying fall through the sky… The only thing that Shockwave could do was hold on tighter, for he knew that he could not let go. It was impossible. So Hyperion flew higher, and higher, and higher, until Shockwave could see that thick, dark clouds surrounded them outside the light…

Then suddenly, Hyperion held his arms to his chest and began to spin, as if on an axis: slowly at first, but exceedingly rapidly as time went on. And Shockwave could feel his grip on the Charizard gradually weakening, just like the red rock at the Crimson Falls… The memory of that horror returned to him again, as he found himself failing to maintain his hold: the fear of his fate remaining forever unknown, the tremendous voice of the rough waterfall, the realization that he would die…

But Shockwave snapped out of his fearful state; for this was not the Crimson Falls, and here he knew he was not alone. It had occurred to him that, legally, he could complete his Union of Spirit without being disqualified for receiving outside assistance. All special abilities were legal in this tournament, and the announcer would have to accept the fact that Shockwave’s just happened to call on Lune for help.

Crackling plasma throbbed in a growing ball, threatening, every moment, to explode. It lanced forth in a single pillar of light when Hyperion released it on its path of destruction, ready to annihilate anything in its way. But Shockwave was prepared; a shining, concave barrier was erected before him, and when the beam struck, it glanced off and scattered into many different directions. Hyperion had not failed, however; the sheer intensity of the offensive pushed Shockwave down even more rapidly, and it looked as if nothing could be done to save him.

“Union of Spirit!” he cried, looking at the approaching ground through the hole in the ceiling. A brilliant silver light shot upwards from below, and, with a blinding flash, seemed to be gone. Hyperion raised his guard; he needed to be prepared for anything.

“Lune, I can’t grow wings and fly like you,” Shockwave whispered. “Getting an energy boost is good, but what are we supposed to do now?”

You see that Kadabra over in the bleachers on the right?

Shockwave felt his eyes being guided to a bright corner where the electrical lighting shone from directly above. A calm Kadabra was observing every detail of the battle; she did not blink.

Throw Swift stars at her.

“WHAT?”

Throw Swift stars at her.

“Lune, I can’t attack an audience member!”

Trust me. Throw Swift stars at her.

“Okay…”

As Shockwave fell through the opening in the ceiling, he aimed several sharp shurikens at the Kadabra, who, being alert, immediately responded by diverting their course with her mental powers. She eyed Shockwave in curious amusement.

Got it!

“Lune, the ground! We’re going to hit the ground, damnit!”

Lune snickered. Have faith. Suddenly Shockwave was surrounded by a blue glow, and then time seemed to stop. It was as if he were falling through the air in slow motion; he did not feel it rush sharply at his face, nor did he see the ground reach out to claim him. He was suspended in midair; Lune had quickly imitated the Kadabra’s defensive maneuver, and now he himself possessed enough mental force to slow Shockwave’s fall and clear him for a gentle landing.

“I don’t ever want to fall like that again,” Shockwave gasped.

The battle’s still going, Lune replied, and you’ve got enough energy to cream Hyperion now. But first, let’s surprise him a little. Shockwave allowed his right arm to be lifted, and stood still as the shadows from hidden places of darkness rushed towards its center to form a rippling sphere, terrifying in its ethereal beauty. Hyperion stared at the sailing orb with mouth agape, in somewhat confused disbelief, but at the last minute he pulled aside, and the energy erupted on the ceiling when it crashed.

“So I wasn’t imagining that Shockwave was talking to someone,” Hyperion commented, beginning to understand.

Pukcus flew by, yelling, “What in the name of Ho-oh is going on? What just happened here? I saw this really bright flash of light, and then impossible things started happening.”

Hyperion shook his head and smiled. “Shockwave and his partner, whoever it is, seem to work together with amazing synergy. They’re synchronized; they have to be, if their special abilities focus on helping out each other. I cannot defeat a team like that on my own, and therefore, I forfeit. Shockwave, congratulations. I’d like to see you and your partner battle Tag Team style someday. It would be a fight worth watching.”

“You’ll see us in such a match sooner or later,” Shockwave replied. “By the way, Lune, how’d you know the Kadabra would respond with Psychic?”

I didn’t, Lune answered mischievously. If he could have done it, Shockwave might have zapped the Eevee right then and there.

[Cyrus]

What is a month's wait for something of that quality.

[Count von Dark]

Whoopee! Long time no see, and you're back with an all new, exciting chapter! Feel sorry for Hyperion though, he's so good and got eliminated, but that Feraligatr is doing illegal stuff! He should get banned! Where are those law inforcers!

[Charizard04621]

@Cyrus: Thanks. ^_^;;

@Count von Dark: Yeah, it isn't fair, is it? XD, it would be SO funny if the police caught them. Imagine the look on the Feraligatr's face. He'd be like: "Oh, crap X_X RUUUUUUUN!!!!!!!!"

[Count von Dark]

LOL! The guy would be like, running like hell and yelling:"GANGWAY!"

[Charizard04621]

@Count von Dark: And then he'd trip over a banana peel. That would be classic. ^_^;

Hmm, one more chapter before I leave for a month. Yay?

Chapter 29
False Pride

It was nearly the middle of the night, but the central square was bustling with life. Virtually no one was asleep, and excitement filled the air. It was time for the Guardians to announce whom they had chosen as the new Advisers.

Lord Yoruno held his black paw up for silence, and suddenly all were so quiet that their breaths of anticipation were the only things that could be heard throughout.

Lady Naien, clearing her throat, announced, “There were several qualified individuals, but we’ve managed to narrow them down to the best two. Many congratulations to Shockwave the Pikachu and Haldir the Scizor! Welcome to the team. Please report to Lord Yoruno and me for further instruction tomorrow. It’s time for bed. Goodnight, everyone!”

Excited chatter immediately broke out among the crowd as all the pokémon began to depart. Some, talking between themselves, pointed to Shockwave, while others stole quick glances when they thought he wasn’t watching. Eventually, as more and more pokémon headed home to rest, the noise began to die down.

“Shockwave?” Lune slapped the Pikachu playfully on the back, smirking. “Why didn’t you tell me that you applied?”

“It was kind of a secret,” he said. “We weren’t really supposed to tell anyone. But I guess it worked out, huh?”

“Yeah. Awesome. Now you finally get to be an Adviser like you’ve been wanting to.”

“You’re going to show me some stuff since you’ve been at this longer, right?” he asked. “I guess I could ask the Guardians about lots of things tomorrow, but it would be much easier just getting the answers from you.”

“Mmm, sleepy,” Lune commented drowsily, not paying much attention to a word that Shockwave was saying.

“Go to bed,” Shockwave told him, half-laughing.

Almost everyone was gone by then. The two were about to set off for the Sanctuary when a tall Scizor approached them.

“Hey. I’m Haldir,” he said, kneeling and extending his red metal claw to Shockwave, who shook it. “You must be Shockwave. And you?” Haldir turned to the Eevee, who was falling asleep as they stood there.

“Lune,” he mumbled, still somewhat dreaming. Suddenly, his drooping ears shot up, and he shook himself awake. “Bill?!” he cried.

“Yes, I used to be called that,” Haldir replied, smiling. He seemed amused. “Apparently, someone entered the wrong name under my tournament registration, although I specifically turned it in under Haldir. Ever since the mix up, confused pokémon have been referring to me as Bill. I was finally informed yesterday that the problem has been fixed.”

“Bill from Haldir?” Lune asked skeptically. He frowned. “I wonder if Emperor Ryu or someone similarly absent-minded was charged with the duty of entering data into the Guardians’ computer.”

Haldir laughed. “Well, it only matters that it’s fixed now,” he said. “Wouldn’t want to be known as Bill the Scizor all my life, now would I?” He winked.

“Mmm…” was Lune’s response. He was feeling sleepy again.

“Er… Haldir, we’ll be going now,” Shockwave said, waving goodbye as he pushed Lune forward. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow when we go to the Guardians’ palace for our briefing.” Shockwave stopped to prevent Lune from tripping over a rock. “Damnit, Lune, don’t make me drag you back,” he whispered.

***

Shockwave had gone to be instructed by the Guardians. For the first time in what seemed like ages, Lune himself didn’t have any pressing matters to deal with. All he had to do was help a single Spearow with her special ability, and then he would be free for the morning. He felt relieved, for, usually, if he was left in a position like this, with no Advisers except for himself, he would be overwhelmed with swarms of pokémon who demanded, often impatiently, that he assist them with their special abilities.

When Lune arrived at the grassy forest clearing, he found the Spearow already there. She was a small, rugged bird, with jagged orange feathers sticking out messily from her wings, and a rough pink beak that was hard enough to crack the outer shells of tough berries.

“Are you Ebannaw the Spearow, and did you request an Adviser for today?” Lune asked.

“Yep yep,” she replied. “That’s me, all right.”

“Okay, then. Let’s see… Where to start…”

“You can start by bringing out my hidden psychic powers that will tell me exactly what my opponent is thinking every second,” she told him.

“Uh… That’s what you think your special ability involves?” Lune asked hesitantly, beginning to think that he would have more trouble than he expected, after all. Spearow, being common, violent birds of prey, were not naturally born with psychic abilities. Although some who were exceptionally talented managed to pick up a few of these skills over time, after working extremely hard, such practices could only be performed by those of high mental capacity.

“I have natural psychic powers,” Ebannaw insisted. “It shouldn’t be that hard to make them come out. I’m a very smart Spearow, yep yep. Very smart,” she said. “My dear, sweet Pukcus tells me so.”

Lune nearly choked, but he controlled himself, showing no outward signs of distress. Right then he just felt as if he would rather die than try to help Ebannaw to accomplish something so utterly impossible. In a resigned tone, he said, “Okay, here. We’ll practice with these first.” Lune picked three distinct stones from the earth beneath a large tree root: one a luminescent yellow, another a deep red, and the third a sparkling sky blue. “We do this to test individual pokémon psychic abilities. You will close your eyes, and when I tell you that I’m ready, you will tell me which colored stone I am holding.”

“No!” Ebannaw yelled, “That’s too easy. Are you doubting my special skills? If you are doubting my skills, you are basically saying that for all the time I’ve been here, I haven’t had any psychic skills at all. That means that I’m not special at all and that’s not true. You know, no one has ever told me that I don’t have psychic powers except for you. That to me is a big insult indeed.” She folded her wings across her chest sulkily.

“Have you ever asked for anyone else’s opinion before forcing yours upon them?” Lune muttered disdainfully.

“What? What did you say?”

Lune sighed. “Look, I never said that you didn’t have psychic powers. All I was doing was my job. As an Adviser, I am supposed to take things step by step systematically. Please cooperate so that we can finish up more quickly.”

“If I do this simple exercise then I would be lying about my true potential because I would have to go down to a lower level for you. Then I might as well lie every time to make you happy. What’s the point? Maybe I should get a better Adviser.”

Miraculously, Lune managed to maintain his composure. “Ebannaw, I understand that you believe that you possess high psychic potential, but please bear with me. I need to bring you through this entire process, and this mental exercise is the first step.”

“Fine then!” the Spearow snapped, shutting her eyes. “Hurry up and give me this test so that I can show my true power.”

Lune picked up the yellow stone. “Okay, Ebannaw, which stone am I holding: yellow, red, or blue?”

“Is it blue?”

“No.”

“Red, then.”

“No.”

“Aha! I got it! It has to be yellow!” she exclaimed triumphantly, opening her eyes to see if she guessed right. “You see?” she said, with a smug expression pasted across her face, “I told you I have natural psychic abilities! Now can we do something that’s not a waste of time?”

“I’m afraid not,” Lune answered.

“What? WHY NOT?!” Ebannaw demanded, screaming at the top of her lungs. “You’re useless, you know that? You’ll never change! There is no help for you!” she scolded, beginning to leave.

A winged black figure descended from the treetops, cawing out in surprise. Pukcus landed beside Ebannaw, and they embraced for longer than Lune would have liked.

“Hello. What’s up, my lovely Ebannaw?” the Murkrow inquired.

“That Eevee says I don’t have psychic powers, even after I proved it to him,” she said, pointing at Lune. “He asked me what stone he was holding, so I said red, and he said no. Then I asked if it was blue, and he said no. Then of course I knew it was yellow, but then he told me that I didn’t have any psychic powers!”

“You predicted it right. That’s perfect proof,” Pukcus replied. He turned to Lune. “What’s the big idea, hmm?”

Lune felt ready to puke, but he remained calm. “Pukcus, what Ebannaw did didn’t involve the use of psychic powers; it was just a simple process of elimination.”

“You and your big words.” Ebannaw spat. “You’ll never stop being so arrogant. Come on, Pukcus, I don’t want to see this guy anymore.”

The Murkrow and Spearow flew off together, and Lune waited until he could no longer hear the sound of their wings before he beat his head against the forest floor in frustration.

[Cyrus]

Ebannaw... I hate people like that... Good chapter, I pity Lune for his position. Advisor doesn't sound like an enjoyable position.

[Syberia]

Another great chapter, and good job with the nicknames. I won't ruin anything for those of you who haven't figured them out yet ^_-

[Charizard04621]

@Cyrus: Ooh, goody! I actually managed to get sympathy for a character where I wanted it! ^_^;;;

@Syberia: ^_- If people really wanted to know, they should go check out what Shockwave said to Lune when he was freaking out about two monkeys earlier on... By the way, like my new sig and avatar, Kyle? ^_^

[Charizard04621]

Chapter 30
A Plot

It was a warm afternoon. The hot sun shone brightly upon the Sacred Kingdom. Lune was still left by himself, for Shockwave was receiving Adviser training in the Guardians’ Palace with Haldir. The heat was close to unbearable. Lune was about to head to the Sanctuary to swim in the cool river when he heard familiar voices.

“Looks like there are a couple of new tournaments to choose from, Luktam,” said Élan.

“I’m gonna go for the Azure Championship,” the Slowpoke announced confidently.

Lune rounded the corner, passing the trees hurriedly. “Élan?” he called in surprise. “I thought you wanted to stay near the Hidden Valley?”

The Sneasel laughed. “We still live there. I’ve always come to the main part of the Sacred Kingdom regularly, regardless. You just hardly see me in tournaments – never, in fact – because I’m unfortunate and tend to miss them.”

Luktam had shriveled up in disgust and slinked sulkily away upon Lune’s arrival. He could not stand the sight of the Eevee.

Lune ignored the Slowpoke, whom he did not like very much either. “So, what tournament will you try for this time?” he asked Élan.

Élan’s eyes flashed with a glint of excitement. “The Tournament of Impenetrable Darkness.”

“That one, huh?” Lune replied thoughtfully. “It’ll be held in the Sea of Darkness.” Lune said this is an ominous tone. The Sea of Darkness was well known for its complete lack of light even on the brightest of days. It was a large area of barren earth where not even the hardiest of plants could grow, and it was surrounded by miles of foul-smelling bog, in which the skeleton frames of tall, black trees with thick trunks and evil-looking tangled roots stretched out their many bony branches. The air there was unwholesome, but stronger than the stench of death and decay was the terrible sense of fear that lingered there. Typically, only Dark and Ghost-type pokémon could bear the dreadful atmosphere; even Shockwave could not utter the name of that horrible place without so much as a shudder. Lune, however, was not afraid. This was unusual for a Normal type, but Lune, the master of darkness, had nothing to fear from it.

“Lord Yoruno will be there,” Élan said.

“He will?”

“Yes, and I intend to defeat him this time.”

Lune nodded solemnly. Up to this point, Lord Yoruno had a reputation for never losing a battle, although many pokémon had tried to beat him. Lune had only managed to tie Lord Yoruno before, but he had never won. “Good luck,” he said.

“Thanks. I was so close last time…”

“Élan, are we going to sign up for those tournaments or not?” Luktam asked grumpily.

“Looks like the Slowpoke is getting impatient,” Lune commented, smirking. “Aww, poor thing. Élan, you’d better go before his little brain explodes. See ya.”

“Later,” Élan replied.

***

Two figures sat opposite each other in the darkness. One was tall and slender, and had his thin arms folded across his chest. Between his bony yellow fingers, he held two silver spoons, one in each hand. His long moustache fell past his chest and flared out to the sides. On his forehead he wore a large red jewel wrapped in gold, which formed a circle about the stone and drew around the front in a semi-circle around his ears to point forward: a sign of royalty in his homeland.

The other was a small creature with a tail as long as his body. He resembled a little monkey with large, round eyes and a big mouth filled with grinning teeth.

“Come on,” the Aipom said, “I walked all the way here instead of ordering transport so that your location would stay secret. Remember that the Slith Territories has an alliance with us! You owe us help.”

The Alakazam unfolded his arms and let out a sigh. He stared at the spoon in his right hand, which promptly bent over and folded in half. He straightened it perfectly with mental force, then looked his visitor in the eyes. It was handy to have his spoons as stress relievers, though they served far more important purposes.

“Your request is inconvenient, you understand,” he said. But in his mind, he doubted the stupid Aipom could understand anything remotely logical. “The Slith Territories has no wish to attract attention by committing foolish acts such as the one you are suggesting, especially now, when research for the development of our new weapons is coming to a close, and their actual fabrication has become possible.”

A long time ago, every existing independent State had signed a treaty banning weapons forever. In fact, this was done in response to the Forgotten Kingdom situation, for it was with weapons that Laurelin’s father had disposed of the visiting pokémon. Killings due to these weapons happened very often and almost instantaneously, for the technology behind them was very advanced. And of course, once you have it, it is far more difficult to make technology less effective than it is to improve on it. This strictly enforced rule did not bother the Alakazam (He preferred at all times to remain unnamed, as did many pokémon from the Slith Territories, for they were a secretive lot) at all. The aged wizard had no qualms about ignoring the fact that weapons were forbidden.

“But this is important,” Toidi demanded. “That Eevee is a real troublemaker. And those damn Guardians like him! I don’t know what’s so special about him, anyway. I bet he kisses their asses. The only Guardian who had sense was Emperor Ryu, but he resigned.”

The Alakazam snorted. Very undignified for someone like him, and he would tend to avoid such unrefined public displays, but the monkey’s ridiculous logic was getting to him. He knew the Sacred Kingdom for having high, noble standards, and he hated them for it. All this nobility… Who needed it when evil was the most effective way to go? Of course, those goody goodies in the Sacred Kingdom were very competent as well. Which was why their army managed to beat off this Alakazam’s own twenty years ago, when he had attempted an invasion to steal their fertile land. It did not occur to the Aipom that pokémon who gained favor from high-ranking officials did so because of their own talent. Of course, nothing logical ever occurred to Toidi, anyway. He was a lost case. Most pokémon born in the Savage Wilderness were. Especially the Guardians there, for Guardians in any State were chosen to represent their State’s image. Those of the Savage Wilderness had to be masters of Illogic, Stupidity, and Thoughtless Arguments. Toidi was a leading, well-respected Guardian of the Savage Wilderness.

“Did you say that the Guardians of the Sacred Kingdom like this Eevee?” The Alakazam began to show more interest.

“Yes, yes! It’s so annoying! Emperor Ryu put him under threat of banishment, but when he stepped down, the two Guardians cleared him!” Toidi felt morally wronged.

The Alakazam ignored Toidi’s annoying rants. “There might be no need to wait for our new weapons if we can use this Eevee to our advantage. If the Guardians really care about him, they will not hesitate to come to his rescue. They will not attempt to fulfill the terms on the ransom note sent to them, as those terms will be intentionally absurd. When they try to retrieve him, we will capture and destroy them.” He cackled menacingly. “The Sacred Kingdom will pay for humiliating us. Oh, revenge is sweet.”

“Great! So you’ll send out the ransom note and stuff?” Toidi asked eagerly.

“No,” the Alakazam answered coldly. “We will secure the Eevee. The rest is your own business. What is his name, by the way? We need to make sure we don’t waste our time on the wrong one.”

“Lune,” Toidi replied distastefully, as if he were uttering an unspeakable word.

The Alakazam’s face darkened. “Him? This is going to be more difficult than I thought. He is a Guardian of the Forgotten Kingdom. His capture will antagonize his State, as well. War against two powerful armies will be difficult.” He became silent, as if debating strongly with himself about something important. “No matter,” he sighed, “I will take the chance. I shall send Stealth and Hunter. They are elite Retrievers, more highly trained than the Assassins that nitwit Ryu used to have. They shall not fail.”

[Charizard04621]

Ack! Sorry, guys. My prolonged absence is due to er, ah, some... problems with setting up our new wireless internet connection. Everything's good now, though. ^_^;;; Um, I have four chapters in a row to post for you today. Yup, four.

Chapter 31

So Much to Do, So Little Time

When Lune woke up, light was already pouring into the Sanctuary, a sign of late morning. The Eevee stretched, and, counting to three, plunged into the cold river. He emerged moments later, spewing water and shivering. Lune quickly swam through the waterfall and clambered up onto the rocks hidden behind its veil, immediately shaking the icy water out of his fur.

Lady Naien was ill, Shockwave had told him. It was no surprise. Lune had known that she was susceptible to sickness. He planned to pay her a visit before he started the day’s work.

Lune squeezed himself through the crack in the wall and hurriedly made his way through the dark cave. He smiled as he breathed in the fresh air. The golden, sunbathed stone parkway felt warm beneath his feet.

“Hey, Lune!” called a little Meowth, whose golden charm flashed on her forehead as she waved.

The Eevee stopped. “Hi,” he said. “Need something from me?”

“Actually, yes.” The kitten nodded, embarrassed. “My yellow scarf got blown into this tree, and I’m too short to reach it. I’d climb up myself, but I pulled a leg muscle yesterday.”

“Ah, no problem,” Lune replied, leaping up and grabbing a branch. The bark of the tree trunk was rough and uncomfortable when he pushed against it, but he tried not to grimace with pain. He didn’t want the Meowth to feel guilty for no reason: something she tended to do quite often when she asked for favors from him.

Within a short time, Lune reached the branch that held the scarf, which, unfortunately, was stuck on the very tip. Deciding against trying to reach it, he shook the branch vigorously until the cloth decided to fall.

Now, Eevee are not accustomed to climbing trees. They are typically a little over a foot tall, and do not have a very muscular build. Unlike cats, they do not have sharp extendable claws on their paws to aid them in climbing. Out of necessity, however, Lune had learned to climb in the Forgotten Kingdom simply because there were many trees there, and he felt stupid being the only one who couldn’t climb one properly. There was only one slight problem: although the wings he gained from Union of Soul could take him far into the sky, Lune wasn’t very fond of heights. When he flew, things were all right because Lune would never have to look down. Now, up in the tall tree, however, there was no way to avoid it. Lune felt quite dizzy and very uncomfortable. By clinging tightly onto the tree trunk, however, he somehow managed to make it all the way down, albeit rather slowly.

The Meowth (who was called Ana Lightfoot, by the way; she came from the Sparkling Forest in the south, so named because it was rich with bright precious gems), already having wrapped her yellow scarf around her neck, smiled and said: “Thank you so much. I’m really sorry for bothering you.”

“Oh, no, anytime,” Lune said, smiling back to prevent himself from thinking about his sore feet. “No trouble at all. Never any trouble.” With that, he set off to the Guardians’ Palace.

On the way, Lune passed the house of a particularly old Espeon who needed routine treatments from a pharmacy an hour’s walk away, under the shade of the mountain on top of which sat the Misty Lake. Otherwise, her silver fur would turn unattractive and dull, the skin beneath her four paws would flake off, and she would lose the hair on her two long, thin tails. It just so happened that she needed to collect the herbs from the shop that very day. She was, however, getting too old for long journeys.

“Oh, Lune,” she called as he walked by.

He turned around. “Need me to do you a favor?” he asked.

“Oh, if you would be so kind,” the Espeon pleaded, “I am not as strong as I once was, and long trips are very taxing on me in my old age.”

“What do you need?” Lune asked.

“There’s a pharmacy below the Misty Lake at the mountain’s foot,” she said.

“Yes, I think I know the place.”

“I need to collect herbs from there, but I don’t have the strength.”

“Right. I’ll go get them for you after I visit Lady Naien,” he told her.

“Oh, thank you!” cried the Espeon. “You’re such a dear.”

“No problem,” Lune replied.

***

“How are you feeling, Naien?” Lune asked.

“Ugh… I could be better,” she said. The Houndoom lay on her side with her tail and legs dangling off the soft feather bed. Her usually orange muzzle had a greenish tint to it, and a somewhat dazed look lingered in her eyes. “My lungs have decided that it would be funny to fill up with liquid and make me cough until I feel faint,” she groaned. At that moment, she fell into a fit of coughing so severe that Lune thought she would cough her brains out if she didn’t stop soon.

“Hmm… I’m going to the pharmacy under the Misty Lake. I’ll see if I can get something for you.”

“If you want.”

“I’ll ask the medicine guy about it. See ya later.” Lune nodded and left.

***

The pharmacy was an hour’s walk away from the central part of the Sacred Kingdom. The keyword was ‘walk’. Moving quickly, Lune arrived in slightly over half an hour. The building he was looking for was a simple wooden shack hidden under the shade of leafy trees, with a single painted label on the outside that read ‘Medicine’. Lune knocked tentatively and entered.

Surprisingly, the inside was well lit and quite spacious. Bottles of all shapes and sizes were arranged neatly upon the many rows of sturdy shelves attached to the walls. Strangely, there was no one to be seen.

“Hello?” Lune called. “Anyone here?”

“Oh, pardon me. I was not aware of your presence,” replied a voice. An aged Hypno with faded yellow skin stepped out from behind a tall stack of boxes. He held his suspended pendulum in one hand and a small package in the other. The once thick ring of fur around his neck had grown thin over the years. On his face was a look of wisdom, the kind that made you feel at ease. “I was expecting Hana (he meant the old Espeon), but she has not come for her herbs yet.”

“She sent me to get them for her,” Lune replied. “She’s not feeling up to long journeys these days.”

“Oh, poor soul!” the Hypno exclaimed. “At least she found someone young to collect these for her. She sorely needs them.” He handed Lune the package, which, now, the Eevee realized, was wrapped around dry medicinal leaves.

“Hmm, I’d better not break these,” Lune said to himself, holding the package gingerly.

The Hypno chuckled. “Oh, it’s quite all right. Hana has to crumble them and boil them in water, anyway. You don’t worry about it.”

“Hmm, all right,” Lune replied. “By the way, I need to ask you something about a friend’s condition.”

“Ask away,” the Hypno said.

“Lady Naien’s lungs are loaded with some kind of nasty fluid. Apparently it irritates her body so much that she can’t stop coughing. And I mean, really coughing.”

The Hypno’s eyes grew wide. “You don’t mean Lady Naien, our Guardian?” Lune nodded grimly. “Oh, dear me!” the Hypno gasped. “But I know just the thing that will help,” he said. He rummaged through a drawer, and, after a few moments, drew out a tiny bottle of shocking blue liquid triumphantly, which he gave to Lune. “Take it for free; it’s a pleasure to help Lady Naien. Tell her to drink one drop a day until the potion is finished. No more, no less,” he warned.

Lune nodded. “I understand,” he said, “And… thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Oh, one more thing,” the Hypno said.

“What’s that?”

“Could you please remind Hana that she needs to pay me again? She doesn’t mean to, but the dear thing forgets,” he said.

Any other Eevee would have cursed his luck at this point, but not Lune. He was used to this kind of thing. If a pokémon did not ask him a favor during the course of a day, he would not only be surprised; he would probably get bored, as well. Pokémon asked him to help them, he did the work. It was as simple as that.

Lune knew very well that he would have to make another trip back to the pharmacy, so he put Lady Naien’s bottle temporarily among the dry herbs and made his way back to the heart of the kingdom at full speed. As soon as he reached Hana’s house, Lune extracted the bottle and held it tightly. He did not want to lose it.

“Oh, thank you, dear,” the Espeon said upon receiving the package.

“No problem,” Lune replied. “One thing, though… The Hypno says he wants to be paid.”

“Oh, by Ho-oh, I forgot again!” she exclaimed. “Oh, dear. I feel guilty asking this, but do you mind…?”

“I’ll take it to him,” Lune answered.

“How can I ever thank you?” the Espeon asked. “Oh, I know… Wait here, will you?” She disappeared into her house.

Quite soon she came back out again, carrying a bag of gold in her mouth, along with a curious-looking amulet. She handed both to him and said, “The sack is to pay for the herbs, but this amulet is my gift to you. I don’t need it anymore. The crystal measures the balance of light and darkness in your heart. When it turns black, beware! Do not let the light go out, or there will be little hope for you.”

Lune accepted the amulet thankfully and hung it around his neck. It was a beautiful thing with a sparkling silver chain, and the mystical crystal sphere that hung from it was remarkably clear. At the moment, it looked as if half of the inside blazed with white fire, great and glorious, while the rest was black flame brooding in darkness.

Placing the medicine bottle inside the sack, Lune thanked the Espeon and moved on. As Lune walked to the Guardians’ Palace where Lady Naien lay, he decided to heed Hana’s strange advice, for words of the old were filled with much wisdom. Besides, an ominous feeling crept over him when he gazed into the magical crystal: a warning, perhaps, of the evil that might befall.

When Lune went into the Houndoom’s bedroom, he found Lord Yoruno there. Lady Naien was sleeping. “Oh, so the Umbreon knows how to worry, too,” Lune teased. Lord Yoruno had a reputation for being apathetic.

“It is not pleasant to run a kingdom alone,” Lord Yoruno replied. “Hopefully she will get better soon.”

“What’s this? The Umbreon has feelings? I know your secret now!” Lune winked at Lord Yoruno. “Anyway,” he said, becoming serious, “I brought her some medicine that I hope will work.”

“Let’s see it,” Lord Yoruno said.

Lune produced the bottle. The blue liquid sparked inside it. “Exactly one drop a day until she finishes it all,” he said.

“I’ll be sure to remember that,” Lord Yoruno answered. “By the way, before she went to sleep, she asked me to tell you to watch the two new Advisers and take care of any Adviser business.”

“Will do,” Lune replied, and he set off for the pharmacy, holding the sack firmly between his teeth.

***

Afternoon was already giving way to evening when Lune returned. A pleasant, cooling breeze was blowing, and the sun shone gently from behind a cloud. Lune was happy to make it back so swiftly, for he still had time to tend to Adviser duties, and then some.

Lune found Shockwave taking a late-afternoon swim in the Sanctuary. He popped his head out through the waterfall curtain. “I’m going to do Adviser stuff,” he told the Pikachu. “Wanna come?”

“Er, okay,” Shockwave said, swimming to shore and drying himself.

***

When Lune and Shockwave arrived at the forest clearing where Advisers conducted their sessions, they found Haldir there already finishing up.

“You mean you took care of all of them?” Lune asked in disbelief. There had not been anyone who had made such quick progress since Lune himself was first hired. He was enthusiastic about the job then. Now he found it a painful burden.

“Yup,” the Scizor responded.

Lune shook his head, smiling. “Amazing,” he said. “Thanks. Now I won’t have to deal with any for today.”

“Where have you been, anyway?” Haldir asked. “I haven’t seen you around for the whole day.”

When Lune recounted all that he had done, Haldir was shocked. “Well, at least you can relax now,” the Scizor said.

“Nope, can’t,” Lune said. “Now I’m going to see what I can do to fix the General Tournament arena that some ingenious pokémon decided to blow up in spite of the rules. If Lady Naien and Lord Yoruno don’t have the time to fix it, I will. Shockwave…?”

“Erk… I have a battle scheduled with Élan quite soon,” Shockwave replied. “Really, I do.”

“Okay,” Lune said, “See ya later. Good luck!” With that, he headed to the central square where the arena lay.

Shockwave, seeing the look on Haldir’s face, laughed and told him, “He’s used to it.” The Pikachu left to meet his opponent.

“Well, someone’s got to help him,” Haldir said to himself.

***

“I smell him close,” the winged terror whispered coarsely. “But I may be mistaken. The hair that Toidi brought was a very old one. The idiot. But Master wants this done, so it must be beneficial to the Slith Territories. He doesn’t tolerate idiots for no reason.”

“Hmm. Hunter, I think I see the Eevee down there. Your eyes are sharper. Can you confirm?” asked the Venomoth of his fearsome partner. They hid behind a cloud, so as not to be seen.

The great prehistoric creature slowed his large stone wings and turned his piercing gaze downwards. “It is definitely an Eevee,” said the Aerodactyl, showing his sharp, dagger-like teeth in a sinister grin, “And apart from wearing a golden earring, he has an Everstone stuck in his forehead. He is the Eevee, all right.” Hunter cackled.

“Perfect,” Stealth said, with pleasure. “As soon as I loose my Sleep Powder upon him, he will not stand a chance.”

***

Lune was refilling the holes in the ground with debris and fitting cement coverings over them as well as he could, but most of the relevant pieces had been blown into worthless rubble. He would have to come back the next day with new cement and some tools.

He did not see the large shadows that loomed up behind him, but he heard the rapid movement of a pair of insect wings. “Haldir, is that you?” he asked, but then he heard more wings. Huge wings. He turned around to face the Retrievers and cried out in horror. “Wait, you’re not-”

Lune never finished that sentence. The blue cloud sedated him almost immediately, and he fell to the ground unconscious. Hunter silently scooped the limp Eevee up in his talons, and, nodding to Stealth, headed for the Savage Wilderness.

[Charizard04621]

Number two of four... GAH, does anyone know how I can make words stick to the right? TPM ignores my spacings and empty ubb code thingies, so "The Savage Wilderness Authorities" is STUCK ON THE LEFT! ~_~

Chapter 32

The Savage Wilderness

Haldir blinked. He could not believe what he was seeing. In his hand he held a note that he had removed from the blue Sleep Powder spores on the cement floor. A hasty message had been scrawled onto the piece of paper:

We haff Loon the Iffy. U herd that Lord You’re Uno + Lady Nayen?
We haff ur preshus Iffy. Now give up ur power rite now…
Or else…

~The Savage Wilderness Authorities

“I don’t like this one bit,” Haldir said, and he sped off to find Shockwave.

***

Lune groaned. For some reason, he had a splitting headache, and his body ached horribly. He opened his eyes to discover that he lay in a spherical force field that encompassed his body. There was little room for him to move. He poked at the clear blue energy wall before him, only to find that whenever he did so, it would throw his paw back to where it came from with a vicious jolt of electricity. The shield was impenetrable.

“Ah, so he finally awakens,” said a soft, icy voice. “You slept like a Snorlax, Eevee.”

Lune would have jumped from surprise if he could have. As the room stopped spinning, he saw the Alakazam look at him with cold, cruel eyes. “Who… Who are you?” Lune asked weakly.

“Since you are under my control, I shall tell you,” the Alakazam answered. “I am the sole Guardian of the Slith Territories. I shall not reveal my name, however, and you shall never know where my hidden State lies.”

“Yeah, and you’ll never guess that it’s in the Eastern Marshes, either,” Toidi added.

“Fool!” the Alakazam cried, lifting the Aipom in the air and slamming him into a wall with mental force. “Keep your mouth shut! Stealth, put both the Savage Wilderness Guardians to sleep before they do any more damage.”

“With pleasure, Master,” the Venomoth replied. Elbuort and Toidi began to snore. “It’s a pity Hunter could not fit into this pathetically small room, or he would have enjoyed scaring these two out of their wits. They wouldn’t have dared to utter a word then.” In fact, the Guardian Tower was quite spacious. The only problem was, Hunter’s wings could have spanned close to thirty feet. He couldn’t come through the tiny entrance doors at the bottom of the tower, nor could he hope of squeezing through the flight of pointlessly narrow stairs.

For the first time, Lune realized that the Alakazam was not the only one in the room. His mind was still in a torpid state, and his headache had gotten worse. He looked around. The Alakazam was sitting in front of his prison and looking down upon him, and the Venomoth who had put him to sleep earlier was watching over an unconscious Mankey and Aipom. There was also someone far in the back of the room that Lune could not see very clearly.

“What do you want from me?” Lune asked the Alakazam.

***

“There’s a lot more to this than it looks,” Shockwave said. “Notice how ‘Savage Wilderness Authorities’ is spelt perfectly while the rest of the stuff er… isn’t? Someone wanted to make sure that Lady Naien and Lord Yoruno went there. And there’s no way Savage Wilderness representatives could have kidnapped Lune. They’re too stupid.”

“We’re going to find him now,” Élan said. “Lady Naien and Lord Yoruno must not find out about this at all costs. Whoever is really behind this wants to draw them into the Savage Wilderness. There’s bound to be a counterattack in the Sacred Kingdom itself. Those two will have to handle it.”

“We won’t be needing this, then,” Haldir said, tearing up the note into miniscule pieces.

***

The Alakazam cackled. “You see the force field you are trapped in? I hold in my hand the only device that will shut it down.” The Alakazam waved the remote control in front of Lune’s face, taunting him with his fingers on the lever. “Slith Territories technology. Very advanced, you must admit. When Naien and Yoruno come to get you back, they’re going to have a few problems. The Sacred Kingdom will fall, and the Slith Territories will be avenged!” More maniacal cackles. “By the way, as you might have guessed, Stealth and Hunter, my faithful elite Retrievers, were born in the Forgotten Kingdom. I snatched them as eggs and trained them myself.” The Alakazam paused to gloat.

“You are sick,” Lune cried. “You’re not going to get away with this. I don’t think you know what you’re dealing with.”

“We’ll see about that,” the Alakazam replied indifferently. He beckoned to the obscured pokémon. “I’m done. You may torment him now.”

The pokémon crept out of the shadows. He was a rather big snake about six feet long, with sharp red fangs that could puncture the toughest hides. His body was black, with several yellow dots here and there surrounded by bright rings. The top of his head and his entire lower jaw were also yellow. Indigo bands streaked down either side of his face, and along his neck and tail. His eyes were blood red, as was the triangular cleaver blade on the end of his pointed tail. Lune recognized the Seviper immediately. “Ytos,” he said darkly.

“Hello, reprobate,” the Seviper replied. Ytos was originally born in the Savage Wilderness, but his ability to formulate bitter schemes of vengeance upon those that he found a reason to hate (which were many) quickly scared the natives of the State, and he left to find someone who shared his evil and hateful will. The Alakazam welcomed him and gave him a place for his scornful thoughts to grow. Unfortunately for Ytos, ‘ability’ was not a word in the dictionary of the Savage Wilderness, a thing that, surprisingly, they happened to have.

“You are calling me a reprobate?” Lune answered mockingly. But he couldn’t hide the fact that he was extremely offended. His voice gave him away.

“You are a killer at heart and you know it,” hissed Ytos.

“I have never killed anyone in my life, and I have absolutely no intention of ever doing so,” Lune replied angrily. The crystal on his amulet was almost completely black. Lune checked himself. Hana’s advice rang urgently in his ears.

“You’re not as good as you pretend to be,” Ytos said. “How else do you explain your Dark type Hidden Power?”

Lune froze. His Dark type Hidden Power was not something he liked to talk about, and he was more than reluctant to use it. The unfortunate victim of a complete assault would go irreversibly insane, regardless of his strength of mind. He would be reduced to a mumbling fool, unaware of what went on in the world, imprisoned by his eternally lingering fear. The cackling shadows would haunt him forever, and he would never again find peace of mind for the rest of his terrible life. Lune had never completed an assault before, nor had he even gotten close. No one had withstood the fearsome darkness for long. Lune knew that, if it should come to it, he would rather lose the battle than allow the shadows to progress. No pokémon deserved to live in perpetual terror.

“Ha! Just as I thought,” Ytos sneered. “You can’t say anything because you know I’m right! Hidden Power types reflect the character of their owners. Not so deep inside, you aren’t the good pokémon you pretend to be.”

Lune was silent for a while. Ytos’s words had some truth in them. The Seviper himself had a Poison type Hidden Power, for his thoughts were malicious and bitter, and his heart rotten. But when Lune thought about his own Hidden Power, he always thought: Why? Why darkness?

“You’re just mad because I’m an Adviser with a sense of right and wrong,” Lune finally answered, somewhat shakily. A while ago, Ytos had been in the Sacred Kingdom. He had demanded that Lune teach him how to manipulate the shadows, but Lune had refused, because he knew that Ytos would not hesitate to imprison others in a fate worse than death. It was gifted pokémon with black hearts like Ytos who gave their Dark type Hidden Powers a bad name.

“Stupid Eevee,” the Seviper hissed. “You have a vicious nature and you know it. Stop changing the subject.”

“Oh, quit whining,” Lune retorted. “Everyone who doesn’t give you exactly what you want is labeled vicious, stupid, illogical, and blameworthy. Get real! The world does not revolve around what you want, and no amount of slander or hateful remarks will make it that way.”

A dangerous look flashed in Ytos’s eye, but he could find no response. Cursing maliciously, he slithered into a corner to brood darkly upon revenge and evil.

Lune thought grimly of Elbuort and how his words could easily have applied to the stubborn Mankey as well. Savage Wilderness pokémon… They were all the same. And they never failed to have double standards. It was just one of those things.

[Charizard04621]

Chapter 33

Forgotten Fury

“Er, Élan, I really think we need a more solid plan. We can’t just barge right into the Guardian Tower,” Shockwave said.

“We’ll sneak in,” Élan replied. “Haldir may have to crawl up the stairs, though.”

“That’s not very different,” Shockwave said.

“Élan, I think you are absolutely crazy,” said Haldir. “Might I remind you that we are walking into a trap set for someone else?”

“Why, of course.” Élan winked. “Now, come on!”

And when Shockwave and Haldir looked, first at each other, and then at Élan, they realized that the Sneasel was completely serious.

Haldir sighed. He gave in only because wasting more time would mean a smaller chance of survival for Lune. “Fine, but you’ll have to tell me the way,” he said, as he held Shockwave under one arm and Élan under the other. His fine, steely wings buzzed to life, beating faster than a hummingbird’s so their movement was marked only by a single blur to most eyes.

“No problem,” Élan said, “Luktam has brought me to visit the place plenty of times before. We’re only two hours away.”

***

Toidi and Elbuort stirred. Immediately, Stealth looked outside at the position of the sun, then turned and nodded at Ytos. The serpent slithered towards the two small monkeys and whispered something so viciously in their ears that they turned very pale, but they nodded and promptly disappeared. Lune blinked.

“Those were my teleporters, Lune,” the Alakazam answered before Lune could ask. “Mechanically induced for those not capable of doing it naturally the way I can. Technology is wonderful for those who lack the appropriate magical abilities, is it not?” The Alakazam nodded dismissively to the Venomoth and Seviper. “You may go.” And they vanished.

“Now what?” Lune muttered.

“I think you would like to know that a host of angry Sacred Kingdom residents, most of whom were born in the Savage Wilderness, is on its way right now to wreak havoc at the Guardians’ Palace. The pokémon can’t teleport directly into the heart of the kingdom, of course, or they will risk re-materializing irreversibly into something solid, which would be a real disaster.” The Alakazam smiled smugly, very pleased with himself. “They will appear about a five hours’ march away from the palace, in a special meadow I discovered at the foot of the Mountains of Spring. It is a large area empty of rocks, trees, and the like. Perfectly foolproof. They’ll have to make their way through the dense forests, of course, which is the reason for the annoying delay, but at least they can’t complain about being hungry. Those forests are the richest with fruit in land.”

Lune turned away. He was getting sick of the Alakazam’s gloating. “You have not won yet,” he whispered. “Lady Naien and Lord Yoruno will not come.”

The Alakazam merely laughed with amusement. “You expect me to believe that?” he jeered.

Lune was silent. He had felt moments before, somehow, that Shockwave knew. And he had felt hope again. Light now flickered visibly in the blackness of the amulet’s crystal.

“You’re boring me, Lune,” the Alakazam said. “Do something interesting.” At that moment, he fixed his gaze on the Eevee’s right foreleg, and his eyes filled with evil pleasure. He willed it to break, and it did, with a sickening snap.

A sharp pain shot up Lune’s leg, but he was determined not to scream. A look of indignant mockery flashed across his face. “Is that the best you can - AAAAAH!” he cried, as the Alakazam shook his broken foot vigorously with mental force and jammed it into the electrical force field, which crackled and hurled the bleeding thing back. Lune’s face was twisted in horrible agony.

The thing about the Alakazam’s telekinesis was, it could pass through the electrical barrier while everything else could not. And Lune was determined to use it to his advantage. The Alakazam, in his arrogance, had neglected to realize that he was, in using the only method of getting into the force field, he was providing Lune with the only method of getting out. Lune had already temporarily copied the Alakazam’s telekinesis silently with Mimic, and now all he needed to do was wait. But he hadn’t much time. The effects of Mimic lasted, for an average pokémon, no longer than half an hour. Lune had intentionally trained himself to draw this time out to two.

But it turned out that Lune need not have worried. The Alakazam’s only intention was to abuse him with telekinesis until someone else came, so Lune found plenty of opportunity to refresh his memory. It seemed like hours had passed before the Alakazam stopped crushing his lungs, throwing him against the force field, and viciously shaking his broken foot.

The Alakazam pointed to a small monitor that had been set up beside Lune’s prison. “It seems that some of your friends are here,” he said, evidently disappointed that he had not lured the Sacred Kingdom Guardians. “They won’t make it past the security system that I installed. It’s too bad I don’t get to see the lasers vaporize Naien or Yoruno, however.”

Lune cried out in horror. “You brought weapons? You have weapons?” The Eevee whimpered. He whimpered because he saw on the screen, unmistakably, the silhouetted figures of a rodent, a feline, and a mantis.

The Alakazam smiled. “Three, two, one,” he said. And suddenly, huge streaks of light, all focused upon the three intruders, collided in the middle and exploded, chucking debris all over the place. When the smoke cleared, Lune could see the three bodies on the floor. He turned away and did not look back. The Alakazam did likewise. If they did chance a look, however, they would have seen three very surprised pokémon stagger to their feet, winded but unhurt.

Lune glared at the Alakazam, narrowing his eyes. “I hate you,” he said quietly. There was only a miniscule speck of light in the now flaming black crystal.

Deep purple, negative energy gathered into a sphere at Lune’s left forepaw. The ball was huge in less than a second; Lune had channeled his anger into it. The Alakazam looked frightened, for Psychic types like him suffered horribly from Ghost type assaults, but he still believed he was safe, and that the Shadow Ball had nowhere to go. That’s what he thought.

But when Lune willed the switch on the remote to flick off and the electrical sphere containing him faded, the ethereal energy exploded in the Alakazam’s face before he could say or do anything. Lune leapt off the floor and rammed hard into the Alakazam’s chest, pinning his prey down upon the floor. “You really shouldn’t have done that,” Lune told him.

“If you kill me, my army will turn on the Forgotten Kingdom,” the Alakazam replied. “Karkas the Second shall not go unavenged!” For Karkas, revealing his name was a big step; a pokémon born in the Slith Territories only did so when he believed he was facing death.

“There are some things worse than death,” Lune whispered, and the lights in the tower were extinguished. For a moment the beautiful stars outside promised a false peace, and then even they were no longer visible. Everything was in darkness. Lune laughed, a nervous, high-pitched laugh that rang with his crazed anger and denial. He did not want to think about what he saw on the screen. He did not want to believe it. Then the Eevee’s laughter changed into maniacal cackling. A shadow came over his face. “Goodbye, Karkas the Second,” he said to his terrified victim.

Karkas gasped. He could hear voices, cruel voices, jeering at him. He could sense the presence of… of… things; he could feel them near him, and he knew they were drawing closer. Shadows had erupted into life, and they surrounded him, closing tightly around him… Karkas felt them wrap around his throat, felt them choking him, and then, to his alarm, felt them ready to destroy his mind…

But that moment never came. Lune was wavering for two reasons. Firstly, he was not emotionally ready to reduce anyone into a lost lunatic that muttered gibberish, even though he thought the subject in question had just murdered three of his closest friends; and secondly, he thought that he had felt Shockwave close by, alive… And suddenly his amulet glowed brightly with urgency, and white flame erupted within.

“You’re getting too emotional, Lune,” called Shockwave’s voice from the stairs. “Do you really think that’s necessary?”

At that, the shadows retreated, leaving Karkas dazed but sane. Lune smiled, and although light had not yet returned to the room, he could have sworn that Shockwave had grinned back.

“Impossible,” the Alakazam moaned. “I programmed my lasers to fire at all intruders and to make especially sure that they kill all those of Sacred Kingdom blood.”

“Well, there’s your problem, then.” Haldir smirked. “None of us seem to be of Sacred Kingdom blood.”

Karkas’s face suddenly turned haggard. He blanched, then looked weakly up at his enemies. As if answering the pale Alakazam’s unspoken question, Haldir and Élan said at the same time, unintentionally, “The Silver Havens.”

Lune gaped in wonder, but Élan and Haldir were even more surprised. They had never met each other in the Silver Havens before.

“That’s pretty cool,” Shockwave said, and left it at that.

The Silver Havens was a legendary state, the very first, for it had risen to order before the rest, and had somehow spread harmony throughout the entire world. The ancient land of this blessed realm was the first to receive the gift of life from golden Ho-oh, the fiery phoenix of seven colors. But soon after all the States had come to power, the Silver Havens had vanished out of known existence. Only its inhabitants knew where it lay hidden. There was a rumor that the Silver Havens was hidden because it guarded something important, something that would preserve the good of the world forever.

“Those from the Silver Havens know where it lies hidden,” the Alakazam croaked. “I will find it still. And when the First State falls, the world will be mine!” Karkas’s image flickered, but before anyone could stop him, he had gone.

“Damn! I should have drained some of his energy as soon as we got here so he wouldn’t have had enough to Teleport,” Élan hissed.

“Let him run,” Lune said. “We’ve got bigger problems. I’d go into a Rest trance right now to heal all my injuries, but there isn’t time. I’ll do it immediately when we get back. Right now, we need to fly. Union of Soul!” he cried. The room flashed. “By the way, the Slith Territories lies somewhere in the Eastern Marshes.” Without another word, Lune shattered the large glass window with an ethereal orb and leapt out, wings spread. Haldir clutched Élan tightly and followed, guessing that Lune would fill them in on the way. He did.

[Charizard04621]

Chapter 34
Attack and Defense

Pukcus was delighted when Toidi and Elbuort warped into the meadow with the army, which consisted of disgruntled Sacred Kingdom residents. He wrapped his wing around Ebannaw and smiled. “Today, my dear, we will put up a historic fight that will never be forgotten,” he told her. Pukcus was a bit of a confused bird. He had previously gotten in trouble quite often with Lord Yoruno and Lady Naien, mostly because of his big mouth and inability to follow logical reason; he had harassed many Sacred Kingdom residents pointlessly with his sharp tongue, and had ignored multiple warnings from the Guardians that his behavior was inappropriate. So, when they decided to take further action, Pukcus had rounded up a little band of followers from the Sacred Kingdom – the poor, gullible ones who had nobody better to listen to – to march in his little army (more of a mob than anything else; real armies need to have some form of organization).

The Murkrow had preached to them about how they were all being wronged, how it was their moral duty to rid the Sacred Kingdom of ignorant tyrants, and how, if they took power into their own hands, they would be able to rebuild the broken kingdom and transform it into a wonderful land of eternal peace and harmony. Of course, he never said anything about the fact that he had an incurable, scathing tongue that shot out unnecessary, illogical insults like an erratic machine gun (a skill Elbuort had, too, for those he was jealous of or disagreed with), or about the fact that he was only trying to recruit them because he was about to be banished from the Sacred Kingdom for his miserable wrongdoing. With his biased words and lies, Pukcus made himself seem like an honorable martyr.

Pukcus conjured up many evil rumors, twisted words and the meanings of actions, and used Lord Yoruno and Lady Naien as scapegoats in order to intentionally incite blind rage into the hearts of those who would listen, making sure that he made everything good about the Guardians look bad and everything bad about them look worse. In that way, Pukcus managed to create a false, distorted image of the Guardians, who were viewed by those who listened to the Murkrow’s poisonous words as evil, reckless, power-hungry tyrants who did not care a single bit for the pokémon. In fact, Pukcus’s one-sided slander spree was so convincing to weak-minded fools that his lies shut out the real truth in his dirty mind and replaced it. From a very young age, ‘truth’ was not a real word in Pukcus’s vocabulary. He used it often, of course, telling his followers that the evil Guardians begrudged them the truth, but the truth was that Pukcus never truly understood what ‘truth’ meant. The Murkrow’s entire life was about formulating lies, lies, and more lies, to get him what he wanted. His ‘darling’ Ebannaw was a useful tool to him, and he liked her for that reason. ‘Love’ could have no real meaning to demented pokémon like him who were born only to hate.

The army, fortunately, did not contain any large pokémon. They wound through the dense forest undergrowth easily enough, so they did not lose much speed. It was a miracle that they all managed to stick together instead of getting hopelessly scattered and lost. It usually took some form of intelligence to escape such a large forest, but somehow the entire army got lucky.

As Pukcus flew with Ebannaw overhead, a thought occurred to him. Thoughts did not generally occur to pokémon of Savage Wilderness birth, but, to be fair, Pukcus had a complex mind for pokémon of his race. He had the ability to formulate plans and calculate advantages, although, admittedly, they were founded on the basis of Illogic, which was a virtue much worshipped by those of the Savage Wilderness. Sadly, the three main principles of the Savage Wilderness (Illogic, Stupidity, and Thoughtless Arguments) existed all over the world in varying concentrations, which was why Pukcus had managed to convince a small number of Sacred Kingdom residents (especially the newest, unsuspecting ones), and was continuing to do so. What had occurred to Pukcus was that he would need to gain favor from a certain pokémon who was not a Guardian of the Sacred Kingdom but was likely to receive a lot of support from a majority of the residents when the army got rid of Lord Yoruno and Lady Naien (Pukcus had no doubt that they would succeed in freeing the oppressed land from its tyrants). That certain pokémon was Lune. “Yes,” Pukcus said to himself, “I’ll have to make myself very friendly with him.” And he told Ebannaw that he wanted her to be nice to the Eevee in public, to which, of course, she agreed immediately, with proud affection for Pukcus on her face. What Pukcus planned to do himself, obviously, was ‘suck up’. Unfortunately for him, he did not realize that honorable pokémon did not respond well to brown-nosing.

***

“Lune, you plan on meeting that army by yourself in front of the Guardians’ Palace?” Shockwave asked, a little doubtfully.

“I’m going to disguise myself and talk to them,” Lune replied. “And the way Karkas said it, I don’t think we’d really have to worry about a real army threat.”

“Er, okay, but I’ll be perfectly content just watching,” he said. “Élan and Haldir should be nearly done drawing everyone they can to the Guardians’ Palace, so the army will definitely not go unopposed.”

“I won’t be needing wings, but you’ve got to stay with the crowd close by in case you have to back me up.” Lune sighed. “I’m going to warn the Guardians now. You go help Haldir and Élan.”

***

The army had arrived: a wild-looking group with blank expressions on their faces. Some were scratching their heads, others muttering while they shoved each other back and forth; one was even picking his nose. This was not a very impressive army, if it could be considered an army at all. Their numbers were small, and the individuals did not look very threatening, unless stupidity was a contagious disease. Still, the crowd of Sacred Kingdom residents who were gathered at the sides of the pathway leading up to the palace seemed interested. The most sharp-sighted ones might have noticed a shadowed Seviper in the very middle.

Lord Yoruno and Lady Naien were waiting on the marble porch of the palace when the mob came, showing signs of intense displeasure when they saw Pukcus and Ebannaw flying in the lead. Fortunately, Lady Naien had just taken the Hypno’s medicine, and had stopped coughing out her insides for the moment. The mob stopped moving. And then, suddenly, the storm burst.

“Tyrants, haters of order and peace!” Pukcus bellowed. “We are here to tell you our grievances, so listen!” The Murkrow cleared his throat, as if preparing for a big speech. “You are dictators, and you don’t care what we want,” he accused. “We, the people, are sick and tired of being oppressed by the corrupt government. It’s time you listened to our voices!” At that, the mob roared in agreement. “Until now, pokémon have been frightened of speaking up. But now,” Pukcus said, a tear of pride in his eye, “we are standing up for ourselves! Now we have the courage to speak against you! Listen to what we have to say!”

Toidi hopped up and down excitedly. “I’ve been here for quite a while, and what I have to say is, you two are too uptight! And that Lune is a bitch too!” The Aipom nodded. “Look what me and Elbuort do for the Savage Wilderness,” he said (grammar was never the strong point of any Savage Wilderness pokémon), “We don’t care if anyone breaks laws, laws shouldn’t be enforced! You should have good laws, we do, but if you make pokémon obey laws, then you need to loosen up!” Toidi withdrew, completely satisfied with making himself look like a bigger idiot than he already was.

Elbuort, however, remained silent and tried to hide his face. He wanted to pretend that he had nothing to do with the mob’s outburst. Somehow he had blocked out of his mind the fact that Lune had seen him at the Guardian Tower. Denial was one of his best attributes. With it, he even managed to fool himself that he was a likable and popular pokémon who never did any wrong. He also managed to believe that he was a nice pokémon who insulted others constantly only because it was the right thing to do.

A Zubat named Fel Loudwing (He was born in the Sparkling Forest) flew up to the front next. “For all the time I was here,” he said in his squeaky voice, “I was scared to say what I thought. I was scared because of what I thought Lord Yoruno and Lady Naien would do to me if I said anything. But now I’m glad I told everyone all I was thinking.” He returned to the mob, completely unaware that he had not told anyone anything worthwhile. Of course, he hadn’t lied; when he said that he had revealed all his thoughts, he told the truth, for there wasn’t a thought in his head.

Then, to Lune’s utter disgust (He was hiding and watching, preparing to spring out and counter the gross criticism when he felt it was time), Ytos slithered forward. For quite a while, he presented bits and pieces of incomplete recordings of conversations from a small black box that he carried in a bag slung around his fat neck, with Lord Yoruno saying undesirable things that made it sound as if he was a usurper and coveter of power. Lune gritted his teeth, for he could not present evidence that would explain the truth. Only those who knew Lord Yoruno well would know the truth, for Lune knew that the recordings Ytos possessed were taken out of context, and that Lord Yoruno was joking at the time. It was never Lord Yoruno’s nature to desire power through corruption. There would be no explaining that to anyone. Finally Ytos finished, after having left a nasty comment about Lune being a Guardians’ pet. Lune hissed quietly, but he was glad that Ytos could not see him in the audience. It made the Seviper’s revenge less sweet to think that the Eevee had not been present to hear his snide remarks.

The verbal abuse continued, with everyone making criticisms and no one suggesting any productive solutions to whatever they thought the problem was (In their whiny ramblings, they had managed to make it unclear). When it seemed that the criticism party had ended, the mob began to chant, “Down with Yoruno! Down with Naien!” so loudly that Lune found it difficult to concentrate. He clouded his identity and dashed in front of Lord Yoruno and Lady Naien, shouting for quiet.

A hush fell upon the crowd. Some strange being had just leapt in front of the Sacred Kingdom Guardians and looked as if he was about to speak. He was veiled by darkness, a darkness so fine that it was beautiful like the mysterious night sky above that glittered with stars. His features were shadowed, and the nebulous cloud about him that continued to shift in shape gave no visual clue as to his identity. A few attentive pokémon could pick out a faint glitter of gold in one corner of the cloud, or the strange, indistinct mingling of white and black somewhere indefinite, but they shrugged, dismissing it all as a hallucination.

“What ill has befallen this kingdom!” he cried, his tone grieved and weary. “Pokémon, please have some sense. Tell me, have you ever known what it is like to starve?” The being paused, turning his head around, glaring with eyes of cold fire, as if daring someone to speak. Those in the mob muttered unsurely amongst themselves, but finally, they were forced to shake their heads. They had all been fed well. Satisfied, the being continued. “Have you ever been forced to serve these two?” He gestured at the Umbreon and Houndoom behind him. They shook their heads again. “Have these two ever physically hurt you to get their way?” More shaking. The being snorted indignantly. “Then you obviously don’t know what dictators are, or you would not have accused Lord Yoruno or Lady Naien of being such… things. As far as I have seen, and you’ve agreed yourselves, these two have always taken good care of the kingdom, making sure that everyone gets enough food to comfortably live. None of you have died of malnutrition or poverty. Gee, I’m sure these two don’t care about your needs, huh?” he said sarcastically. There was a painful silence. “None of you are slaves. None of you do anything to help Lady Naien and Lord Yoruno if you don’t want to. These two have never forced you into physical labor, nor have they ever resorted to any form of torture. Did you know that once upon a time, there used to be Assassins?” A shiver ran through the crowd. Those who had been around long enough remembered the terrible days. “Guess what?” the being continued, “These two don’t have Assassins to kill pokémon with. They don’t want assassins to kill pokémon with. And you call them dictators?” The being made a curious sound, a mixture of a groan and a cry of exasperation. He was extremely annoyed. “I have news for you,” he said. “Dictators have absolutely no concern for their subjects, couldn’t care less if pokémon are starving as long as they themselves have more than enough to eat, regard subjects as worthless unless they work as slaves, and torture or kill (or both) anyone that remotely annoys them. Lord Yoruno and Lady Naien do not fit this description, and therefore are not dictators. Pokémon, I beseech you once again: please have some sense. I have never before seen more honest, caring Guardians than these in the Sacred Kingdom. You should be rejoicing that they are in power, not doing your best to drive them away. That said, I take my leave.” And he melted into the shadows.

“Yeah, what’s wrong with you guys?” shouted an audience member at the mob. “It looked like you were doing nothing but saying bad things about the Guardians. I only saw one side. You claim to speak for all of us, the pokémon of the Sacred Kingdom, but we don’t all agree with you!”

Then Haldir raised his voice. “You know,” he said to the mob, “the Sacred Kingdom may be a nice place to stay, but there are other good States to go to. If you don’t like it here, why don’t you just leave for someplace else instead of whining?”

“You guys are so immature,” a Charmeleon said. Her name was Kera Stardragon, and she was a well-respected Guardian of the Sparkling Forest. She swished her flaming tail in annoyance. “I think this is ridiculous. There’s nothing wrong with the Sacred Kingdom Guardians. You guys are just being babies.” Pokémon of Sparkling Forest origin were well known for their pleasant behavior and courtesy towards others. They seldom fought amongst themselves, and could hardly ever find it in their hearts to be unkind to others.

Some of the audience members were even laughing at the mob, which was now shrinking… and shrinking… and shrinking… Obviously, the pokémon involved had expected support, not ridicule. They were quite disappointed at their reception, and very embarrassed.

Lady Naien cleared her throat. Everyone fell silent. “The accusations brought here today have no solid basis, and it is obvious that the evidence provided was tainted or distorted. It seems that your sole intention was to slander and insult us,” she said, addressing the mob. “We will gladly accept any real constructive criticism and productive suggestions, but we will not waste our time listening to pointless insults. Thank you, and good night.”

To Lune’s surprise, Pukcus and his mob suddenly began to grovel and apologize, pretending to be regretful of the trouble that they had caused and trying to sound sincere. It was a very disgusting and sorry sight.

***

“What a nightmare,” Lune said as he lay on his back in the soft Sanctuary grass, staring up at the stars.

Shockwave shrugged. “I think your disguise was pretty cool,” he said. “You worried me when you started with ‘What ill has befallen this kingdom?’ though. I thought you were going into dramatic mode.”

“What’s wrong with dramatic mode?” Lune asked, grinning. He pushed Shockwave into the river, only to get pulled in himself. “Hey!” he yelled.

“It’s my fault you pushed me in first?” Shockwave asked. They splashed each other until the late night gave way to dawn.

[SneaselReborned]

Awe. Some. Period.

I read the entire thing...but some of the character's I can't get references...Prodigy said there were like 7 references to ASB people...so...erm..yeah. =D. Good fic.

[Count von Dark]

Kick me. I simply can't believe how facinating and just... well, fantastic. AWESOME.

[Charizard04621]

@SneaselReborned and Count von Dark: Hehe, thanks guys. ^_^; I started working on the next chapter today, but things keep coming up... I hope I'll get it done by the end of the week...

[Hexae]

So amazing! Great fic, I hope the next chapter comes soon! *waits eagerly* I've been lurking for a while.

[Charizard04621]

@Hexae: Er, thanks. Hehe.

The next chapter, in my opinion, isn't particularly exciting... I've got it written up, and I just have to type it up now so I can post it.

[Charizard04621]

Chapter 35
A Challenge

Gentle morning rays crept into the Sanctuary, leaving little spots of light in places on the grass. It would be a reasonable assumption that the two who lay there would want to continue sleeping until the afternoon sun arose.

Lune’s ears perked up, and he got to his feet to wash his face. Shockwave was still sleeping comfortably, but Lune would soon fix that. “Shockwave?” the Eevee whispered, placing his paw on the sleeping Pikachu and shaking him gently. When there was no response, Lune chuckled silently to himself. “This is payback for what you’re making me do today,” he said, as he slowly pushed the Pikachu towards the river, then abruptly dunked Shockwave’s head into the cold water.

The Pikachu awoke with a start, so suddenly that, in his surprise, he fell completely into the river with a great splash. Shockwave emerged, spluttering, and shook himself dry when he pulled himself onto the grass. Lune was laughing hard, enjoying every moment. “I don’t understand all this sudden hostility,” Shockwave said.

Lune smirked. “You’re fun to tease,” he answered. “Anyway, it’s your fault for winning the bet against Lady Naien by three seconds. Three seconds less and I wouldn’t have had to jump into the Misty Lake. I hate you.” He smiled as he said this.

Shockwave grinned. “It’ll be good for you,” he said.

***

Lune was on the verge of smacking Shockwave really, really hard. In jumping into the Misty Lake, he had experienced, in his mind, several seconds of icy hell that seemed to stretch out into an eternity. The look on his face when he was in the water must have been something worth seeing. Luckily for Lune, the wind wasn’t blowing on the mountain when they descended, and it was already getting close to noon. “Shockwave,” Lune muttered through teeth that chattered from the memory, “I don’t ever want to do that again.”

“At least now you can claim that you’ve done it once,” Shockwave answered. “I mean, come on. It’s not like you swam to the middle and back or anything. You walked into a few inches of shallow water and immediately walked back.”

“Oh, shut up,” Lune answered, grinning. Shockwave was right.

“By the way, where’d you get that necklace from?” Shockwave asked.

“Amulet,” Lune corrected.

“Necklace,” Shockwave maintained.

“Amulet,” Lune replied stubbornly. Shockwave was just messing around, and he knew it. “Amulet sounds a lot cooler than necklace.”

“Oh, sure,” Shockwave agreed. “So, where did you get that necklace from?”

Lune sighed. “I got my a-mu-let from Hana the Espeon, who gave it to me for running errands for her. Amulet, amulet, amulet, amulet. It’s an amulet!”

Shockwave shrugged. “Whatever you say,” he replied, grinning.

Now that they were down the mountain, they were only an hour’s walk away from home. Mischief sparkled in Shockwave’s eyes. “You should race me back,” he said. “It’ll be fun.”

“You’re on,” Lune replied. “Three, two, one… go.” And they bolted off.

***

Shockwave had gone to gather fruit from the lush forests at the western end of the fork that lay at the outskirts of the Sacred Kingdom. The fruit there was delicious, and were excellent for a change when even Shockwave began to get bored of berries. After stuffing a few berries in his mouth, Lune, however, had gone to gather supplies for the broken arena instead. It was a good thing that Haldir offered to help, for Lune would not have been able to carry the heavy things all by himself. He was, after all, just over a foot tall, while Haldir approached six.

They were busy filling in the gaping holes with wet cement and smoothing them over with their tools when Pukcus arrived with Ebannaw.

“Hey, guys, what’s up?” Pukcus called cheerfully.

Lune was surprised. “Um, hi,” he said. He hadn’t been expecting the Murkrow and Spearow.

Haldir waved at the two, smiling. “I invited Pukcus and Ebannaw here,” he said. “We could use some help.”

“Indeed.” The Murkrow grinned, bowing. “Pukcus and Ebannaw, at your service. So, whaddya need us to do?”

Lune blinked. “Hmm… You two can’t risk getting wet cement in your feathers, or you can say goodbye to flying for a while. Haldir and I are filling in the holes, but the cement will take a few hours to dry. It would suck if someone stepped into some before that time, so maybe you two could help warn them?”

“Sure thing,” the Murkrow replied, and Ebannaw nodded. They flew off together to stand guard at the entrance.

Shockwave came in the middle of things, bringing along some of the fruit that he had picked. He was surprised by the unexpected amount of pokémon there, but luckily he had brought enough to spare. They all took a break to enjoy the fruit, which turned out to be a wonderful treat. It tasted even better than Lune had expected it to.

After that, Haldir, Shockwave, and Lune finished the job quickly while Ebannaw and Pukcus kept watch.

“You know what would be cool?” Lune mentioned while leaving the arena, “To be the first ones to battle here once it’s dry tomorrow.”

“I accept that challenge,” Pukcus replied. “I would like to see how I fare against you in battle. I’ll probably lose, you being the excellent battler that you are, but I am sure as heck going to do my best, so don’t underestimate me. Of course, the mere honor of battling you is great in itself,” he said.

Lune was silently doubtful. Aloud, he said, “Why don’t we make this a Tag Team? That way, no one gets left out.”

“Hmm,” Pukcus said, rubbing his chin, “It won’t be easy against you and Shockwave, but Ebannaw and I are prepared to battle strategically against a disadvantage,” he said. He was referring to the fact that electrical assaults were very effective against Flying types.

“Who said anything about Shockwave?” Lune answered. “Haldir’s going to be my partner.” Lune looked at Shockwave. “You don’t want to be Announcer, do you?” Lune asked, knowing the answer.

Shockwave shook his head. “You didn't need me to answer that question.” He grinned. Shockwave hated being Announcer. Such unnecessary responsibility.

“In that case,” Pukcus said, wrapping his wing around Ebannaw and looking at her tenderly, “Ebannaw, my love, would you be our Announcer? You’re such a wonderful Announcer, and beautiful, too.”

“Of course,” Ebannaw replied affectionately. “I’ll be a very good Announcer.”

“I’ll… watch,” Shockwave said. “It’ll be a good battle to watch.”

Pukcus seemed deep in thought. “Hmm, I will ask Kera Stardragon to be my partner,” he said. Kera Stardragon of the Sparkling Forest was a tough Charmeleon whose final evolution form was a powerful Charizard like Hyperion. Being a Fire type, she possessed attacks that were deadly for Haldir. The Scizor had attributes of Bug and Steel, both types that resisted fire poorly. Needless to say, Haldir was excessively weak to fire. It didn’t bother Lune. It just gave him all the more resolve to win the battle.

[Charizard04621]

Chapter 36
Sacrifice

It was a warm, sunny day, and the scent of flowers filled the air. The late morning was peacefully silent; few were awake at that lazy hour. It was a perfect day for battle.

Kera was not happy when she found out that Pukcus wanted her to be his partner. She did not like the Murkrow very much at all; she found him rude and immature. On top of that, she thought that he was just using her good friend Ebannaw, and that he did not really care as much for the Spearow as he said he did. But Ebannaw had wanted her to join him in the battle, and so she had agreed, for her friend’s sake.

Lune and Haldir were already waiting when the three arrived, and Shockwave, along with Élan, was watching from the bleachers. Two Chansey were also there; they were skilled medics, and remained to help those in poor condition after the battle. Ebannaw flew up into the air, beckoned for the battlers to take their positions, and cleared her throat. “Begin!” she yelled.

A lot of things happened at once. Lune shot off and disappeared into a blur; Pukcus, who was trying to peck him, blinked when he saw that the Eevee was no longer there; and Kera’s jet of flame glanced harmlessly off of Haldir as he spun rapidly in place like a miniature whirlwind.

Lune came from behind Pukcus and jumped on the bird, who squawked, and was promptly pinned against the ground. Lune was about to begin hitting the Murkrow in the back of the head when Ebannaw intervened, pulling him away from her mate and muttering something about dishonorable behavior.

Meanwhile, Haldir faced multiple Charmeleon, only one of which was real. He showered them in sharp yellow shurikens, causing the mirror images to fizzle away into nothingness. While he was distracted with this, though, the real Kera spewed flame from behind him, catching him by surprise. His fine metallic wings were badly burnt, and the fiery scars on his back tortured him with searing pain.

Concerning himself at the moment with defense, Lune had, unbeknownst to his opponents, left a very convincing lifelike double to act in his place, while he crept quietly behind Kera with a purple orb in his paw that grew larger each second… “Haldir, whack her!” Lune cried, thrusting the ball at his target and cheering silently when it exploded upon Kera’s back, sending her skidding face forward into the ground. The Scizor immediately responded, bringing his claw down upon the back of her neck. Kera gasped and remained still.

Pukcus was busy making many mirror images of himself, which both Lune and Haldir promptly wiped out with sailing stars. The Murkrow, exposed, squawked in fright, fled from Haldir, and crashed directly into Lune’s duplicate as he hurried, reducing it to pieces.

Kera had gotten to her feet. She had with her rubble that she had collected from the sides when nobody was paying any attention to her, which she hurled as hard as she could at Lune. The Eevee was about to move out of the way when Haldir stepped in front of him and raised a protective energy dome, upon which the sharp chunks of debris shattered.

Lune was surprised. “Haldir, save your energy for yourself,” he told his ally. But whether Haldir had heard him, Lune didn’t know, because at that moment the Scizor had begun to spin again, dispelling Kera’s fiery assault.

Pukcus had flown up above them, and, opening his beak, let loose a chill wind that left frost on their faces. Lune shivered. “I can’t reach him up there,” he said.

Suddenly the Murkrow vanished from sight; his presence could only be detected by the beating of his wings. Kera wondered what her partner was up to, for he had been doing things randomly at whim instead of trying to work with her. She guessed that he was preparing for a sneak attack, and, following her cue, sent a burst of fire at Haldir, who, of course, reacted by spinning into a whirlwind to evade the flame. At that instant, Pukcus appeared out of nowhere, wings outstretched, diving sharply in a fierce position and reaching Haldir before anything could be done. The glowing Murkrow crashed into his target’s head with terrific force, nearly shattering his own bones as he hit the hard steel carapace. Nevertheless, Haldir was very much affected, and he fell to his knees in pain. “I can’t see,” he whispered. “Spinning…”

Kera seized her chance. A massive tornado of swirling embers headed Haldir’s way, but the poor Scizor could do nothing to escape. Lune shrieked. “Haldir, get to the side and recover. I’ll handle them while you’re resting,” the Eevee cried. But Haldir shook his head and wearily scrambled upright, attempting to defend them both with a feeble barrier that he struggled mentally to maintain. Lune jumped out of the way. He had to. The flames ignored the shield and passed through, lashing at Haldir ferociously and trapping him in the scorching vortex. Lune, knowing that nothing could be done, was seized with a wild fury; he dashed blindly at the Charmeleon, cuffing, scratching, and pounding her whichever way he could, not relenting until she looked as if her legs would crumble beneath her. Then, regaining his senses, Lune rushed to Haldir’s side and placed a paw on the injured Scizor’s forehead.

“Haldir, Haldir!” he cried softly. “What ill fate that you should be the first to fall. You were valiant and courageous, a truly noble ally,” he whispered. “Fear not, Haldir, for your fall shall be avenged, or, if not, then I shall fall trying! If we do not triumph in the outcome, we will still fall in blazing glory. I will fight until I reclaim your honor, or until I can fight no more!” he vowed. Lune could see Shockwave in the bleachers giving him the ‘You’re going into dramatic mode again’ look, but Lune ignored him. He was fueled by his desire to give the fight everything he had left, and win in the process. He did not plan on losing.

With a final, respectful nod at Haldir, who lay weakly on the ground battling against unconsciousness, Lune left the Scizor regretfully to stand against his two remaining opponents alone.

Pukcus was somewhere that Lune could not see, but Kera was in plain sight. Using the same trick that he employed earlier, Lune deceived his opponents with another false copy of himself and managed to get behind Kera before she dug her claws into his double and broke it. By that time, it was too late. Lune raised his right paw, and, in one swift motion, brought it down precisely at a point that he had learned in the Forgotten Kingdom to attack in times of desperate need. The Charmeleon dropped like a lead weight to the ground, stunned and immobilized. She would remain that way for half an hour, enough time for Lune to bring the battle to an end before she recovered. “Sorry, friend,” he whispered, “but you were a large threat that I could not afford to ignore.”

Lune heard Pukcus muttering about how, if he were a civilized gentleman, he would not have attacked a girl. The Eevee, outraged, cried: “She’s done a whole lot more damage than you have. You think being a female makes her weak and vulnerable? You’re insulting her!” Kera was actually a good friend of Lune’s, and he respected her spirit and strength. She was a Charmeleon with ambition and the talent to achieve great things if she tried hard enough. She did happen to be a little naïve at times, though. Lune’s thoughts shot almost immediately to Ebannaw, and he shook his head.

The sound of Pukcus’s wings overhead was loud, and although he had turned invisible again, his lack of caution easily gave his position away. Lune, ears erect, listened carefully and sprang into the air, catching the unseen bird by the feet and dragging him to the ground. His concentration lost, Pukcus was one hundred percent visible again. Ebannaw, whose attention had wandered far away for an extended period of time, was reminded that she was supposed to be an Announcer when she heard the Murkrow’s call for help. She saw, to her horror, that Lune had sunk his teeth into Pukcus’s neck.

Dark energy crackled excessively as Lune shook Pukcus in frenzied agitation, tearing away at the Murkrow’s flesh. Specks of blood and tattered feathers flew out in all directions as Lune continued mercilessly. He was the predator, and Pukcus the prey. His victim tried frantically to escape, but the struggling only tore open more wounds, and more blood trickled out. Ebannaw, screaming, yelled, “Stop! Cheater! Somebody stop his cheap attempt to win!” But Lune would not stop for anyone, and definitely never for Ebannaw, especially after she called his perfectly legitimate tactics foul play. He was not going to throw away his chance for victory.

Shockwave nodded from afar. “Nice Va’szlain execution,” he said.

“Va’szlain?” Élan asked.

“It’s an attack combo I came up with, the weakest version being a fusion of Bite and Flail, which Lune is using, while the strongest consists of Crunch and Thrash. Imagine a predator shaking its bleeding prey vigorously, and you have the basic idea. Just think about what a Tyranitar would do with a combo like this.”

“Niiiiiiice,” said Élan.

A soft, weak cry came out of Pukcus, and had Lune not been so close, he would not have heard it. “Forfeit,” the Murkrow managed to whisper. “It was an honor battling you. I knew I’d get stomped.” Pukcus laughed softly.

Lune spit the Murkrow out onto the ground, spit to remove the taste of blood and to decontaminate his mouth of the foul flesh. When he walked over to Haldir, the Scizor smiled widely at him before losing consciousness.

[Lady Vulpix]

And so, we're even once more.
I'm impressed. This fic has everything! Intelligence, originality, creativity, great descriptions, a good dose of mystery, loveable characters... It's really amazing! Thanks for turning my attention to it, Karin. You've found a reader for as long as this fic stays up!

By the way, Shockwave often did and said the same things I was thinking. I would have never thought I'd have that much in common with a Pikachu. But then again, this fic is full of surprises.

[Edit: I meant dose, not doze! x_x]

[Wolfsong]

Whew, another fic caught up on, now just a few more left. Keep up the great work ^^ I really enjoyed it, and I'm glad that i was able to find it again.

[Charizard04621]

@Gabi: Really? ^_^ Well, Shockwave's a neat character, so I guess that's a good thing for you. Hehe.

@Amy: Oh, cool, you're still reading. Nice to know you enjoy it. ^_^

[Count von Dark]

Oh man, I am really amazed by how well you handle this fic, charizard04621. And I am also baffled by how fast you produce these awesome chapters! I mean look at you! You're posting so fast, always more than one chapter at once!! Ohhh, I think I have just risen to one of your most loyal readers. 8 posts... I just can't resist praising this story!

[Charizard04621]

@Count von Dark: Wow! I feel so good now! ^_^; Anyway, I try to put up Chapters regularly, but I've got to admit that sometimes I just can't keep up. Thanks for your thoughts, though.

Chapter 37

An Unexpected Turn

“I… don’t think I’ll be battling another Charmeleon for a while,” Haldir said. He had been revived and restored by the Chansey medics, and his burns were all treated gently. It had been difficult, however, and it was evening when he finally awoke.

Lune smirked. “If you didn’t keep trying to protect me, you wouldn’t have gotten into that situation,” he said.

The Scizor laughed merrily. “Well, it worked out, didn’t it? That’s all that matters.”

“Yup.”

Shockwave jumped out of the bleachers and ran over to Lune and Haldir, followed by Élan. They were the only pokémon there now; the others had already left.

“So,” Shockwave whispered in a low voice, “what are we going to do about Karkas?”

“I have to talk to Lady Naien and Lord Yoruno about it first,” Lune replied. “I mean, if we need to send an army…”

“I’m not so sure we need an army just yet,” Élan said thoughtfully.

Shockwave nodded. “Lune, we need to know exactly where in the Eastern Marshes Karkas’s hidden base thingy is.”

“Wait a minute,” Haldir said, “Are you suggesting that we’re supposed to find this place on our own before saying a word about it to the Sacred Kingdom Guardians?”

“That would be the recommended course of action, yeah,” Shockwave replied.

“A smaller group can take on Karkas by surprise more easily,” Élan added, “especially since he’s probably on heavy guard right now.”

“Then let’s give it some time,” Lune said. “Since he’s expecting a counterattack soon, shouldn’t we just wait for a while before we go?”

“Lune, I don’t like the idea of giving Karkas time to build up more nasty weapons and other such things he may have already,” Shockwave answered.

“Now, if only we can figure out a way to do this without nearly getting killed by lasers this time,” Haldir joked. “Unless, of course, any of you want to be killed, which, I assure you, I don’t.” He grinned.

Lune smiled. “I doubt any of us do,” he answered.

“I don’t plan on it,” Shockwave responded.

“Me neither,” Élan replied.

“Good,” Haldir said, “Then we’re all in agreement. None of us want to die.”

“Uh huh. How are we supposed to go about doing this, though?” Lune asked.

Élan frowned. “Hmm… I’m not quite sure yet,” he admitted.

“We can call a meeting whenever one of us gets a solid plan,” Shockwave suggested. “I don’t have one at the moment.”

“Agreed,” Haldir replied.

“I don’t think I could choose a better team to pull this off with,” Lune said. He smiled.

***

Lune popped his head through the waterfall curtain. “Um, Shockwave, we really need to get the heck to the General Tournament arena right now,” he said. The bright midmorning light streamed into the Sanctuary.

“We do?” he asked, slightly surprised. “Any particular reason?”

“Uh huh,” Lune replied. “We have to go now. Lady Naien and Lord Yoruno got organized surprisingly quickly after I told them the day before that the arena was fixed. Round Four started a few minutes ago.”

“Lune, why don’t you find these things out earlier?” Shockwave asked. They ran so fast that they thought they would drop dead when they arrived.

A Rapidash was galloping around her opponent, her fiery mane trailing behind as she moved gracefully like the wind. Her opponent was a blue Altaria, who floated above ground, riding in her circling clouds. She looked, oddly, more like a bird than anything draconic, although she was partially of the Dragon type. Her long neck was arched like a swan’s, and her blue feet resembled those of a hawk’s. Long feathers grew out of her head and bunched together as her tail.

Lune could feel the ground tremble slightly as the Altaria began her assault. The fiery unicorn realized what was happening and swiftly sprang upwards. She looked as if she was floating in a dream; she seemed to fall very slowly, like a soft feather in the air.

“What gives?” Lune heard someone ask.

“She used her special ability,” some other audience member replied. “She becomes almost as light as air when she wants to be.”

Special ability or not, the Rapidash could not stall her fall forever. The Altaria saw this, and, seizing her chance, increased the power of her tremors until even the pokémon in the bleachers could feel them. The Rapidash crash landed on the shaking ground and fell to her knees, unable to stand again. This continued for quite a while, with the Rapidash occasionally firing off shots at the Altaria or trying to shield herself from the perpetually shaking ground, but in the end she gave in to the Ground type assaults.

“Oh!” Kento shouted (Yes, he was back), “It looks like the poor Fire type couldn’t stand all those Earthquakes. The victory goes to Mystic the Altaria!”

“Too bad the Rapidash couldn’t get to the core of the Earthquakes,” Lune thought aloud. “If she had gotten directly over the source instead of moving further away to reduce the damage taken, she wouldn’t have felt the disturbance.”

“It would have been cool to see Rapidash jump on Altaria,” Shockwave agreed.

“And now,” Kento blared, “time for our next combatants! We have Shockwave the Pikachu versus Lune the Eevee!”

“No,” Lune said. “No way.” He turned to look at Shockwave worriedly. He had never thought of battling against the Pikachu.

“Oh, come on, Lune, it had to happen sometime,” Shockwave told him. “Think about it. We’ll have some fun before I cream you, too.”

“And who said anything about me being creamed?” Lune answered back. This time he was smiling.

[Lady Vulpix]

Yes, it had to happen, eventually.
Another cool chapter, Karin! And with a nice cliffhanger too.

[Charizard04621]

@Gabi: Sorry, I ran out of good cliffhangers.

[Count von Dark]

The Eevee would win, surely? It's the emotions of them I worry about... another good chapter Charizard04621. Keep them coing!!

[Charizard04621]

@Count von Dark: Yup, their emotions might be a cause for
concern. Oh, and thanks for reminding me...

I feel like posting a poll. [/random]

Who do you think will win this battle?

[Lady Vulpix]

Hey, copycat!
It's ok, post as many polls as you want, I like them.
Well... so far neither of them has lost a battle, so it could be a draw. Or something else could come up and interrupt the battle.