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"Let's get right into this story, I don't have a lifetime, all right?" He nodded at her words. "It's no laughing matter and I'm serious when I say it all started that one night... I was walking around as usual... You might remember the day well, my friend..." Veronica narrated.
---
Yes, it was night. Only the luming moon showed the way. And it had given me quite the scare when I saw a figure approaching. Who else could be walking this path? At this time? I wondered why this always happened to me. I stopped in my tracks and so did the man. His face was still blurry to me even though the moonlight reflected off his body. He held up his hand and showed a piece of paper then put it on the floor and walked away. I was confused but went to pick it up...

'Hello. Let's leave introductions for another time. You may want to know that your father is being stalked by a group with a killing reputation. You more than anyone should know the result to be if your father dies. Have fun.'

I flinched at the last words. I stared at the paper, I couldn't decide if to even bother... I camped not far from where I was that night. Chi sat out with me, in front of the fire. He looked towards me with a worry look but I just sighed. To go back? How could I? Setting aside the fact that the opposition was only after blood and money... I wasn't sure if... Oh, what was I thinking? They're family, I have to help them. And that was it. I went to sleep after a short meal.
The following day I went to the nearest town and took a plane to Kanto. Chi was excited, it was yet again a new region he would visit. But I just kept my head against the window, thinking...
I wonder what's become of them... I closed my eyes as memories of my mom before she died came crawling back. I had them left with rage; a rebel, a disgrace. Ah, how I could infuriate myself right then with such simple words. I smiled for a moment. Then remember her funeral. I was off playing, walking around and making it all a small adventure, still young and naive. My older brother found me but didn't do anything. I think back and wish to know what he was thinking... He had such a depressing looking face.
Chi suddenly jumped on me and distracted my thoughts, "Hey!" I quietly yelled out, I had gotten on a plane full of pokemon and people -it was the quickest one out.
"Chimchar~" He sang and grinned. I smiled back and petted him, he could be adorable sometimes. Almost like a kitty.
Chi suddenly ran away, my eyes carefully followed but he only played with a group of pokemon in the middle of the aisle. I sat back and tried my hardest not to think about my past again... I could already smell the fresh air though, and feel the wind on my face as I would lay on the soft green grass and watch the windmills turn.
It took quite a while to get there, a few hours I would say. Luckily, I traveled light. I guess traveling and exploring had become my favorite hobbies. Chi sat on my shoulder, hanging on to the back of my hair. Good thing you're not heavy... I chuckled and exit the airport.
We had landed at Indigo Plateau, my home was on its own island near Cinnabar Island. It was more off the map of Kanto then on it but my family thought it would be safer. In my opinion, it would have been a death sentence if there was ever a big fire... But would they listen? Nah.
Since it was so far away from the main land, I was home schooled like my brother, Calisto. It was pretty lonely except for my maid/assistant July, who was my best friend. She wasn't the only one upset after I left, my father was too, but... I made her cry.
I took a deep breath as I walked through Route 22. "Hi! I want a battle!" A boy came running with a pokeball in his hand. "I just got my pokemon and I'm going to beat you!" ...I don't have time for you. I had a bored look on my face but Chi volunteered.
"Chi!" He jumped out.
"Whoah! Cool pokemon!" The boy used his pokedex and then sent out a Charmander. How cute, looks young... "Use Scratch!" The boy pointed at Chi and the Charmander came to attack.
"Resist, and use Tackle..." I informed Chi. He nodded and stood his ground. It's attack had done a decent amount for a starter at its level, but Chi's tackle almost knocked the Charmander out. Must have a good nature... I just figured."Quickly, use Tackle again!" Chi did as told and beat the Chamander easily.
"Oh! Charmander!" The boy was worry.
"Take it to a pokecenter, practice some more, good luck... It was a good game," I waved goodbye and tried to make up the lost time by running. Chi waved goodbye as well and hurried behind me.
I finally got to Viridian City and stopped by the pokecenter -more as a habit. "Hey..." Someone grabbed my shoulder before I headed out. "Do I know you?" He asked, I looked back and immediately recognized him. An old 'friend', from when I first started to visit Viridian City in my young-teen years.
"Maybe," I looked away, I never expected to see him. As I started to leave, he followed.
"...I see you finally got yourself a pokemon... But you aren't ready to battle me," He smiled. Please go away, I've had enough of Kanto as it is... Chi jumped from my shoulder to his head. "Hey, what is he anyhow?"
"Chimchar!" Chi responded. I faced Route 1.
"Are you going back...?" He asked curiously as he played with Chi. I suddenly shook my head. What was I doing here? This was probably a prank, god I'm so stupid. I sighed. "...Are you?"
"I don't know..." I took a moment. "Blue, has there been anything strange going on lately... Around here or on Cinnabar Island?" I turned around to look at him.
"Ah, so you do remember me?" He laughed and Chi returned to me. "Well, now that you mention it..." Blue put his hand under his chin. "I have heard of a group that used to be allies with Team Rocket, but now they are just on their own... Pretty dangerous the rumor goes. I haven't seen anything but I've heard that their headquarters is in Cinnabar Island," He explained. "Officer Jenny is looking into it of course, they have a killing reputation but... I haven't actually seen anything like that in Kanto."
I nodded, Chi hugged my leg, I guess he was a bit afraid. It wouldn't hurt to go to Cinnabar Island, I don't think...
"...I'd offer to go but I've got things here to do... Sorry. I hope you don't get yourself into trouble, take care Veronica." He said and left. I sighed. Yea, yea, whatever... Summary? I disliked that I liked that he cared. I never liked that attachment feeling. He was a gym leader, he had to be nice.
We kept walking through Route 1. We came across a Rattata but I let Ekans take care of it. Once at Pallet Town, we took a small boat to Cinnabar Island.
For some reason, things felt different than the last time I visited Cinnabar Island... The atmosphere was just... Darker. I glared around with caution as I got off the boat.
"...Be safe," The driver said and shut off the boat. I nodded and walked with Chi to the pokecenter for information but... It was empty inside. Not even Nurse Joy. Now, I was worried.
I then heard sounds outside and quickly turned to the exit. That strange feeling at the back of my spine grew, but again, there was nothing outside. But Chi noticed something and began to run away to our right. "Wait!" I followed behind. We climbed some stairs and met with a Growlithe. "Huh..?"
"Yo!" A man yelled out, he stood on an edge of the sleeping volcano with a Geodude. "Geodude, Rock Climb!" They came down and the Growlithe ran to him. "You better get out here or else."
"You're going to battle me?" I scoffed.
"What? You're not scared? My Geodude just used Rock Climb, I have 8th badges, miss," He crossed his arms.
"Then why is he still a Geodude? Shouldn't he at least be a Graveler?"
"Er -What are you doing here anyways?!"
"I'm looking for information... On a group around here with a reputation in other regions. I was hoping to finally catch up with them, I wanted to know exactly what they did... I mean, not that I'm interested or anything," I played.
The man scanned me and nodded. "I don't think we need anyone else for tonight. Go run around with your... Monkey somewhere else," He signaled towards Chi.
"So you guys are here? Wish I could battle you to see if you really are worth my time, oh well," I turned to leave. He didn't say anything and I went to the boat. Great, now how was I suppose to deal with this? Tonight? My pokemon weren't that strong... Oh! I can ask Blue for help. I can't do it alone after all...
So I went back to Viridian City without a trouble, it was almost night time again and I was already exhausted. I ran to the Gym but it was close, I kept making turns in a circle to try to see if he was in the city but I didn't spot him. I sighed heavily and ran to the pokecenter to check there. Again I couldn't find him. Well that's nice, you disappear when I need you... Hmp. I went to the PC and called Officer Jenny, it was my last option.
"Hello?" She appeared on the screen.
"Hello, I'm Veronica. I have very important information about tonight that I should say in person, please meet me in Pallet Town," I looked around.
"...Ok, I'll be right there." The call ended. ...I just wonder how helpful she will even be... Sighs.
I flashed towards Pallet Town, ignoring the pokemon in my way. I didn't have to wait long until she arrived. "Are you Veronica?"
"Yea,"
"Ok, what's wrong?"
"There's that rumor going around about a killer group, I have solid evidence that they are planning on striking Nova Island tonight..." I shyly spoke.
"Wait, how do you know this?"
"I- I was sent from another region, my father owns the island so they just decided to send me..." I lied.
"Ok, thanks, I think it's best if you leave this one to us though," I nodded and she left on her motorcycle. I stood there motionless, with Chi staring. I didn't know what to do. I was scared of going, and I didn't want to face them. And I also wanted to go but I didn't know why. It almost felt as if it was my responsibility to go... What if it really would be the last time I see them? I shuddered and headed for the shore again.
"Hey, I need a ride to Nova Island."
"Ehh... Sorry, can't."
"Why not?"
"Umh... I'm not allowed to go there without being expected."
"Well, I'm related to them, so they won't be mad, let's go," I eyed him.
"Look, I'm not taking you there. Ok?"
"Then lend me your boat, I know how to drive," I actually did know. Since we lived on an island, my father made me take lessons.
"I can't let you do that," I glared.
"Chi use Ember, but miss," Chi looked at me strangely but shot at his feet. He jumped back.
"Are you crazy?"
"Would you like a lit face?" I took a step forward.
"You think you can take me on?" Suddenly he toughen up. He took out a pokeball and sent out a Zubat. "Quickly, Supersonic!"
"Dodge and tackle it!" Veronica demanded. Chi was quick enough and brought the Zubat down for a moment.
"Grr... Leech Life!" The zubat launched a small attack and absorbed some of Chi's health. Chi shook his head.
"Chi, use Ember!" It was about to attack when the man took out an item and used it on Zubat -it regained most of its health. And when the flames hit the Zubat, it survived. "Damn it..." I said in a small tone.
"Zubat, use Astonish!" This attack made Chi cringed.
"Ah, Chi!" My anger rose.
"Haha! Now use Leech Life!" It was at full health now. For once, I'm glad you're ignorant.
"Chi, Ember!" I pointed at the Zubat. Chi blew fire at the Zubat, it took it heavily.
"Astonish!" Chi was at low health now but he didn't flinch this time.
"Ember, give it what you got!" I took out the snag device and prepared a pokeball as Chi used his attack again. This time, the Zubat dropped to the ground and I quickly shot my pokeball at it.
"What?!" He exclaimed when the Zubat entered the pokeball and started to shake. Yes! The Zubat had been captured and Chi retrieved it for me.
"Now what do you have?" I glared. He got out of the boat, speechless. Chi and I quickly hoped on and I drove.
It was night time now and I gave Chi a potion to heal. "Ah...." He said with relief.
"Are you ready?" I stared at the house far from the shore of the island. There was no one outside, not even guards... How strange... And where could Officer Jenny be?! I sighed at the incompetence. Not like you're too great either, V, you ran away from home. I talked to myself for a moment. "Yea, yea..." I quietly spoke.
"..Chi?" Chi looked up at me and then back at the shore. We had arrived. I closed my eyes, I could feel myself trembling with nervousness and fear. I feel like I'm going to be sick... We got off the boat and started to walk towards the house, I held Chi in my arms. The winds still smelled fresh, I guess the ocean helped with that.
The door was open, I began to speculate but my thoughts changed as the environment did. I looked up, sideways, everywhere; it was all still the same as it used to be. I bit my lip and headed to where my room would be. I went upstairs and I was about to grab the knob when it started to turn on its own. I flinched and ran back, hiding by the corner of a hall. Chi stared curiously in silence.
A man dressed in a black ninja-like suit came out, he covered his head and walked in the other direction to the second set of stairs. I looked back and watched as he descended. I went back down the set of stairs I came up from. At the bottom, I noticed a boat out the window. There were more men outside dressed the same, one was on a phone. I took a deep breath and put Chi in his pokeball.
I stayed hidden, and followed the one already inside stealthy. He opened the door to the master room -where my father was and took out a gun. My father stood up with his hands in the air as I ran. I pushed the man away and he accidentally shot. I stood in front of my father.
"Veronica?!" He yelled out, it seemed he was ok.
"What? Veronica?!" The masked man turned to see me.
"How do you know my name?" I asked him. He glared back and slowly took off his mask.
"Calisto!" Father yelled out. My brother?! "What do you think you're doing?!" I glanced at my father, his voice was raspy from the age.
"You really want to know? I want money. Your money. So I started this group in secret, they'll never suspect me and I'd be left with everything. Like how short that was? I purposely told the guards and everyone to go home early. There would be no one to save you. But now that Veronica is here," He looked at me. "I guess I'll have to kill you too," He put his gun up at me, I was paralyzed.
"FREEZE!" Officer Jenny suddenly ran in, Calisto tried to shoot her but she was already close enough and grabbed his hand. He dropped the gun and tried to fight.
I held back a tear, as I watched him get arrested. Hurr... Never again will I do this... "...How could you, brother?" He didn't respond. "Your own father!" I yelled as he was taken away. I couldn't stop trembling My father then came and hugged me; it was one of those moments when you don't really care if people saw.
"Are you ok?" He asked.
"Yea, I'm fine... You'd think I should be used to this already..." I smiled, it was the nerves hitting I guess.
---
"So that's it!" Veronica leaned back. "My brother went to jail. I spent some days there, even got to talk to July again, then I decided to leave and go back to Team Snagem. And here we are now," She finish with a deep breath. Timeless, BlackCrystal, Chi and the nameless Ekans cheered.
...What? It was fun telling them what happened. rolleyes Sure, losing a brother like that is hard but... He always had that evil lurking in him... I missed my dad as well, he was all alone now. I can only wonder what would become of both of them now. I didn't plan to visit any time soon. And no, I never met the mystery man.
-Mission Complete-

((Hope it's ok that I caught a Zubat? o.o'))

It's time to train... Timeless is still at a pitiful level and I will be set if he was able to take hits. Veronica was laying down on some fancy chair with her legs and head hanging off the side, she thought maybe it would help her think. She swirled in the chair before standing, deciding to take a peek again into the Mission Locker. It didn't take long for her to pick one out, to Johto it is! And so she departed.



Veronica allowed Timeless out of her pokeball to fly ahead, however Timeless had other plans and simply sat on her shoulder to rest and yawn. "You're kidding me right?" the zubat screeched in a low voice, as if excusing itself. They arrived to New Bark Town by boat, "Thank you for the ride." she nodded at the driver before getting off. The wind blew in from the ocean, making this sunny town cold. I can only imagine the nights...
Looking around, she expected the eevee to come out at her and start causing trouble immediately, she in fact could only think about how many problems might arise -but that didn't seem to be the case. It was so calm and quiet that she felt as lazy as her Zubat. "Yawn."

Then, out of the house closest to the shore came out a boy much younger than Veronica. "Hi." he greeted. Veronica glanced behind her and, seeing as there was no one else around, she approached him. "I'm going to become a pokemon trainer today. Hmp!" he crossed his arms and sent his chin up.
"Great." Veronica attempted to smile, remembering her first pokemon. Chi was brought to her on Christmas day on midnight, his eyes seemed large like a baby and he had a red and white ribbon on his neck. It was cute, for a two year old, she was embarrassed since she was seventeen but Veronica knew that one day this small Chimchar would become an Infernape. In fact, it's the first thing she looked up on her pokedex.
"I'm Ethan, what's YOUR name?" The kid looked up to her, slowly moving back in the direction of the lab. Veronica followed.
"I'm Veronica, do you know what pokemon you want?" She wondered.
"I don't know, let's go see them! Let's go!" He jumped up and knocked on the door before opening it to step in. Crazy kids.

Professor Elm was awaiting inside, the typical scene really: three pokeballs and one pokedex sitting on the table along with Elm's assistant. One by one, Elm released the starter pokemons of the region and explained to the small one the basics. The Chikorita sat in a strange form, almost as if concentrating. The Cyndaquil keep sneezing and it took few moments for the Chikorita to get up and complain to the Cyndaquil about it. On the other hand, the Totodile simply cackled at their bickering.
The boy chose the Cyndaquil, to which the Chikorita kept complaining at and this made the Totodile laugh louder. "Let's battle!" he suddenly turned to Veronica.
"Umh, well, I can use a weaker pokemon of mine..."
"Why can't you use that one?" he pointed at Timeless, whom looked to Veronica as well.
"Just don't be upset if I beat you." It's not like Timeless has a deathly moveset anyways. Veronica rolled her eyes and the battle started outside. "Somehow.. I get this feeling, that this will last a while." she spoke to Timeless. It was; only thanks to Supersonic did it end, the kid dared to use Potions.
"Cyndaquil keeps sneezing!" he called the pokemon back.
"Probably allergies," she felt like sneezing after that but Timeless interrupted with another yawn. "Have you seen an Eevee around here recently?"
"Uh, now that you ask, yea, one got in our trash this morning. We were going to give it real food but it was gone by then."
"Thanks, have fun." Veronica watched the boy depart onto Route 29.

She, discreetly, looked over the boy's house trash but it had been cleaned up. Veronica scratched her head, Where would I go if I were an eevee? Timeless then started to bother her, "Huh?" she annoyingly looked to the zubat, whom pointed behind her. There it was: a small brown eevee who swirled 360 after Veronica turned, it had copied everything she had been doing. Veronica leaned down a bit to look at it closer and the eevee set its front paws forward as if to lean as well.
"..This is it?" she asked herself, to which Timeless yawned again. The eevee suddenly ran off to another house, "After it!" Veronica jumped up with surprise, Timeless flying quickly behind it.
The eevee climbed to the roof, using other trash cans and items around to push up, and kept running swiftly. Veronica went around as Timeless flew up. Then the eevee crashed the mailbox and ran towards the grass at Route 29. "Gosh..." Veronica sighed and continued to search.

Meowths and Pidgeys kept getting in the way. "Just keep using Astonish, Timeless." Veronica was on her knees, crawling through the grass in attempt to find the eevee. When they finally caught up to the eevee in a battle, it simply used its ability to get away and back into town.
Veronica stared as it left. "...WHAT WHAT. It got away again, what is this." she burst out, but she sat to rest for a while. Timeless rested with her.

"Let's go..." she said in a serious voice. "I'm tired of this." Timeless sensed something in her voice and flinched, this time going ahead to see if she could spot the eevee.
It was easy; Veronica heard the yelling from the shore and saw multiple pokemon being sent out. As she approached, she saw the eevee jumping around onto people's head and splashing them with water.
Timeless circled above the four people that were being bothered. Two of them sent out their pokemon: a Haunter and a Parasect. These two seemed obviously interested in catching the eevee but as their pokemon fired out attack, the eevee proved itself to be powerful, fast and intelligent.
"Stop!" Veronica yelled at them. The other two that weren't fighting turned to her.
"Tsk, why should they? That eevee is obviously worth catching!" one of them said as they got out their pokeballs to threaten a battle.
"Go BlackCrystal," Veronica sent her Trapinch out, deciding to give the two pokemon that needed most the experience a try.
"Fine then, let's battle." they sent out their pokemon: a Vulpix and a Misdreavus.

Timeless attacked first, using Astonish to scare off the Misdreavus; in such a calm town they would hardly ever see anything scary. Then the Vulpix sent flames at BlackCrystal, locking him into a tornado of fire. He was able to endure through the flames though and used Sand Tomb on the Vulpix, also locking the opponent in a block of sand. The Misdreavus had flinched.
Veronica's pokemon repeated their moves, the Vulpix attacked with another Fire Spin towards Timeless and the Misdreavus with a Psywave that surprised Timeless and threw her out of her game for a moment.
The Vulpix turned to using Quick Attack while the Misdreavus started using Hex though it didn't do any more damage then their previous moves. Having super effective moves, Timeless and BlackCrystal slowly made their victory in the double battle. Veronica returned them to their pokeball for them to rest.

Then the two allowed her to pass. There's nothing worst than stall battles... Veronica sighed and once again told the two to stop battling the eevee, whom was beginning to get tired. This time, Veronica sent out Chi and Spirit. You've caught yourself with some bad luck...
Spirit, being the strongest, moved first and attacked the Haunter with an Ominous Wind which happened to raise Spirit's stats. Yes! Though why now when it's not needed? Then the Haunter set a curse on Chi, almost ohkoing itself in the process. Chi was about to finish the Haunter off when the Parasect intercepted Chi's Ember attack and got burned. The Parasect then used Stun Spore on Spirit, slowing Spirit down.
Chi then taunted the Parasect, blocking all its use of status moves. The Haunter used the super effective Night Shade on Spirit, whom took a direct hit. The Parasect used Cross Poison on Chi, which poisoned Chi with its claws. Spirit sent another Ominous Wind to finish off the Haunter.
Chi began to feel weak but managed to send off flames in the Parasect's direction, and at last it seemed that the opponent was also getting tired. The Parasect used Fury Cutters on Chi, it got up to ten strikes until Spirit threw the Parasect away with another ghostly wind attack.
Chi and Spirit knew it would be their last move, the curse and poison were finishing them off. But with Blaze, Chi's Ember turned into a fire fury almost finishing off his opponent. The Parasect tried to use Leech Life on Chi, though Spirit was able to shoot out a Water Pulse before that. Barely being able to stand up, Chi and Spirit won the double battle. Chi closed his eyes and laid on the floor quietly before being called back.

"Now, just let me handle with the eevee." They didn't have a choice. Veronica used a Revive and a potion on Chi before sending him out against the eeevee. There would be no running away this time, unless the eevee chose to drown. And as Chi Tormented the eevee, it did seem to try go swim into the ocean. No, it wouldn't... But it did, and the sand below the eevee's feet suddenly sank deep, along with the eevee.
Veronica dived in after it as Chi waited at the shore with worry. Then instead of the eevee, Veronica saw something shining from the ocean floor and from that shining light arose a Vaporeon to the surface. No way... Veronica also came up to the surface and met with the Vaporeon. The Vaporeon then shot a Water gun in her face and laughed, she coughed and rubbed her eyes to clear away the water. "Great."
"Mon! Mon!" Chi yelled from the shore.
"I'm ok!" Veronica yelled back. Then the Vaporeon, seeing as there was only one escape, flee by swimming into the ocean until it couldn't be seen. Veronica called the mission complete as she wagered that it would find more fun underwater than on land now. And with a simple trip to the pokecenter, she went to find the poster to report to.

It has indeed been a long time.. Veronica patiently walked into Azalea Town with the purple egg at hand. ..since I took on a mission. She sighed, keeping her head down and her hands in her pockets. Only taking a glance up to know where she was headed. What an isolated place. The wind that blew was gentle, Slowpokes and a few bug types roamed the place like it was part of their territory. "I'm almost there." Veronica took a quick rest at the pokecenter. She had to travel here all the way from Violet City and had decided to carry the sticky egg all the way. Teleportation, other than being a bit of a cheat, made Veronica too dizzy to tolerate such brusk change in scenery. Yea, anyway- her narrating thoughts came to halt as she spotted Bugsy, the gym leader, playing with some kids back outside. She walked pass them silently and entered the Ilex Forest.
This one in particular had its legends, not that Veronica was aware of them, but there was a certain mysterious feeling to the forest in the afternoon. The sun was already starting to descend and the trees blocked most of its rays. Everything was luscious green though all in different tones, even the trunks had some moss on them, making the area a great place for pokemon to camouflage into. Yea... let's get this over with. She took in a deep breath, inhaling all the sweet, fresh smells of the woods. Veronica had really attempted to stay calm through the whole thing but she the opposition was annoying just to think about, she wished they would had just stay down where they were once put. At least, their mischiefs weren't too far ahead.
Some voices got her attention, she followed the sounds of laugher and yelling. She spotted a pair of boys dressed in uniforms messing with the Shrine, they clearly mistreated it. Perhaps they gave up trying to figure out how to use it. That's them. I remember. Team Ninja. Anger rose, Stupid grunts. She sent out BlackCrystal, believing he would cause the least amount of damage to the surrounding area. "Don't let them escape, Sand Tomb." Veronica made sure only her Trapinch would hear, not like the two had even seen her yet. BlackCrystal approached the laughing boys and attacked them by surprise, using all the dust, sand and small debri to lock them inside the tornado. It was enough to get their attention, after all, they were a mess after the Sand Tomb died down.
"Why you! Who do you think you are?!" One of them spoke out, hurrying to get his pokeball. "I'll take care of this." he growled. The other one was still trying to clean himself up.
"BlackCrystal, you ready?" Veronica made a stance with the egg under her arm, ready for whatever the guy had.
"Pinch!" Her pokemon nodded in agreement.
"Go, Pidgeotto! We'll knock this tiny rock out of the field! Now use Quick Attack!" The boy commanded. Rock thing? He's a ground type. Whatever. She could have sworn they got stupider by the minute.
"Use Faint Attack!" Neither move was super effective, they ended up dealing the same damage. "Faint Attack again!" Veronica hurried to say.
"Now Gust!" The Pidgeotto flapped its wings harshly to send the winds towards BlackCrystal after taking an unseen dark type attack.
The Stab move dragged BlackCrystal a few steps back towards Veronica. "Finish this, use Bite." Her Trapinch leaped up to face a Tackle head on. Both pokemon ended up on the ground, not fully knocked out however. Veronica knew BlackCrystal couldn't take another attack so she took a check through her items.
"Quick Attack!" the boy spoke just before Veronica.
"Hold still." She went to her pokemon and sprayed on him a Super Potion before backing away. "Now finish it with a Faint Attack."
The bird finally fainted and the boy switched it with Kricketot as Veronica left BlackCrystal in.
"That's a rare sight..." Veronica admitted, but too weak as well. In fact, it looked like it had just hatched from an egg; it was just so small that her Trapinch could tower over it.
"That's right! I've been to Sinnoh!" he said, as if it would make a difference. "Use Bide." The move was far from impressive as the Kricketot simple shivered, Veronica guessed that it was ready to absorb energy.
"Whatever. We'll knock this thing out of the park, use Faint Attack!" BlackCrystal nodded and disappeared into the darkness once again. He sent the bug type flying back, but the thing didn't get back up. It just continued to shiver. "That's.. a little creepy." Veronica said in a low voice. "Attack again."
The Kricketot didn't even get a real chance to attack as it was knocked out in the second hit. "Man!" The second boy spoke. "This is so embarassing, let me handle it!" He pushed the first one away after returning the pokemon.
Veronica would let BlackCrystal rest, also returning him to the pokeball. Once the Pinsir came out, Veronica sent her Lucario to fight.
"Caaario!" she cried out, ready for a fight.
"Pinnnsirr..." The pokemon glared, probably talking back to Havoc.
"Let's not waste time here, Havoc, get ready to use counter." Veronica said, after all, what kind of Pinsir had special type moves?
The battle ended over in a record time, the Pinsir managed up to attack with an egg move, Close Combat, knocking Havoc down to her very last hit points. Then she shot the opponent back with a similar punch, winning the round.
"Return." Veronica switched her out before anything else happened. How did you even survive? Was it the health, the attack, the level..? It was a mistery to her. Her attention was quickly taken by the purple egg that shook a bit.
Then, bringing her focus back into the battle, Moon the Luxio was sent out against a Zubat. The Zubat didn't waste time and used Astonish before it was even given the memo to do so, while Veronica told Moon to use Spark. Luckily, the Luxio didn't flinch and electrified the bat.
"This will be over soon, use Spark again." Veronica exhaled in relief. Moon jumped at the Zubat with a growl, electricity running through its fur, as she took down the opponent.
"Eek!" The boy freaked out, returning his pokemon.
"Where are the others?" Veronica inquired. Moon gave them a deathly glare, showing her teeth in a growl to intimidate.
"They're deeper into the forest!" The first one confessed, fearing the bite of the Luxio. Veronica stared for a moment in silence.
"Scram!" Veronica stomped her foot, Moon tried to sent bits of electric rays at them. Shocked, they ran off towards the exit. Okay... Let's go. There was another sigh, battling had made her feel much better. Someone had to take care of these fools anyways.
Moving on through the winding path of the dense forest was a tad boring. Veronica and Moon managed to avoid battling two wild pokemon until she spotted another boy dressed like a ninja, she decided to heal her Lucario with an Energy Root.
"Hey! What are you doing!" Veronica rushed over, trying to keep up with her Luxio. The boy was fiddling with some yellow, oval thing on a tree.
"Huh?!" He was startled but sent out a Furret to face Moon.
"You know what to do, use Spark!" The Furret's moves varied between Quick Attack and Fury Swipes but her Luxio managed to paralyze the opponent and landed the finishing move first. The battle left Moon breathless and Veronica allowed her to rest on the ground.
The boy ran off deeper into the forest before Veronica could say anything. "Wait!" she tried to call out but just then the thing on the tree glowed and out came a small Beedrill. It was clearly underdeveloped. So that was a Kakuna...?
In anger, the Beedrill intended to attack Moon. "Pisces, help out!" Her Mudkip came out, quickly trying to get a handle the situation by Tackling the Beedrill back. This gave time for Moon to hit the wild pokemon with a Spark, leaving the Beedrill beyond tired.
Veronica let it escape, hopefully it would grow with time. Why, that idiot! She put Moon back in her pokeball and had Pisces follow her. "Mud! Mud! Kip! Mud! Mud! Kip!" the little one sang as he ran alongside Veronica.
Half way through Ilex Forest, she caught up with the boy. There was one girl and two other boys in addition dressed alike; except for one, whom she recognized as the leader. "That's her!" The one she had already battled spoke.
"Get her!" The leader said once he recognized Veronica's face as well, the girl and the boy went at her for a double battle. Pisces was determined to stay out and battle. "Kip, Kip!" So Veronica sent out BlackCrystal since he had the highest level out of her team.
A Magby and a Nidoran (F) were sent out. What's a Magby doing...? Veronica could only hope that they didn't plan to burn the forest just for fun.
"We're a team, you can't defeat us." the girl told Veronica.
"Yea, we may be pranksters but we battle seriously!" the boy said, "Use Smog on that one!" He pointed to the Mudkip. Pisces kept coughing, slightly poisoned.
"Don't let me down!" Veronica shouted. "Use Sand Tomb and Mud-Slap on that Magby!" BlackCrystal made a tornado out of surrounding dirt to throw and entrap the Magby while Pisces used his hind legs to throw some of the earth at the Magby's face. The combination would knock out the fire type.
"Tsk, take that Trapinch down, use Double Kick!" The girl spoke. Although the attack wasn't too strong to speak of, BlackCrystal was already weakened and the kicks from the Nidoran knocked him out. The girl laughed at the defeated pokemon. Pisces's attacks weren't enough to knock the Nidoran out and his health was getting deteriorated by the poison.
"Return, and go Havoc! Let's finish this mess. Use Force Palm, and you Mud-Slap again." she didn't waste time, feeling disatisfied about how the battle was going. Havoc could at least make up for some of the damage that was needed.
"Poison Sting!" The Nidoran aimed for Pisces as he was taken by surprised but Havoc intervened and protected Pisces from fainting.
"Finish this with a Quick Attack." Havoc ran out and knocked out the Nidoran. Both of the opponents started to complain about it when their leader stepped up to battle Veronica.
"I'm sure you remember me! I'm Takashi, let's battle." he yelled out, more serious than what Veronica remembered. Well people change over months... Anyways, I'll have to force them out the forest.
"Yea, yea, let's get this over with, Takashi." She returned Pisces and Havoc since she ran out of healing items, then sent out Timeless for the single battle. He sent out a Dustox in opposition. "Wing Attack!"
Timeless tried to swipe away at the Dustox but was stopped by a Protect shield. She flew around and dived down for another attempt, meanwhile the Dustox attempted a flying move of its own: Gust. Another Protect went up and afterwards, Timeless was hit with a painful Psybeam. For a while, their health were the same and only attempted to avoid each other's attacks in mid air. Timeless was able to hit the Dustox first with an Astonish, finishing the battle off.
"You lasted a while, return. Go Weezing!" Takashi spoke, at which Veronica also switched to Moon. Their speeds matched and the Luxio was already half tired but there wasn't too much the Weezing could do. "Use Smokescreen!" The idea failed as Moon was able too manage to hit the opponent with a Spark. "Now Clear Smog!" The attack smelled repulsive, at least this wouldn't poison the Luxio.
"Hang in there, Moon..." Moon landed a critical hit with her Spark and the two were left at equal health.
"Weezing, Selfdestruct!" he said, and BOOM. The area was filled with smoke and both pokemon were taken down. Veronica coughed, calling out Moon while clutching the egg. When it cleared, the three grunts were gone and a Shedinja had replaced the Weezing. "You're too late anyways!" Takashi laughed.
Veronica returned her Luxio and sent out Timeless. "I don't know what you're talking about... but I'll beat you right here and now." She glared. "Use bite!" Just then, further into the forest, a fiery explosion went off. Even as Takashi lost, he continued to laugh. "Get out of this forest, or else!"
He responded with a careless, "Whatever, my job here is done." he ran off in the direction of the fire. Veronica followed, far too tired with the heavy egg at hand to catch up before the black smoke covered her sight.
"Timeless, guide me!" The Zubat helped Veronica go through the unseen forest. There were the four people, including the leader, from before and another with an Arbok and a Cyndaquil at his feet. The Arbok kept using Acid on the trees around and the Cyndaquil Ember.
The trees in the area were on fire and floating around was a Celebi. The poor legendary seemed stressed and worried. Before amazement could catch Veronica, she sent out Havoc to Force Palm against the Cyndaquil. The heat was growing by the minute but with another turn, the source of the fire was seized.
The Arbok screeched and wrapped around the Lucario, to which she Countered. Havoc grew tired when it started to use Crunch and finished the snake with a Quick Attack. With the opponents down, Veronica looked around in panic. At least, without anything to stop it, the Celebi fleed. Takashi tried to follow the Celebi out while the grunt just ran off away from the fire.
"Luuu!" Havoc cried with a upsetting face, the fire was doing him harm. Veronica was also starting to suffer from lack of oxygen and fell to the ground, protecting the sticky egg.
"Return." Veronica took back her Lucario and revived BlackCrystal to send him and Pisces out. She instructed Water Gun and Sand Tomb. Although the Mudkip could only squirt out so much water, it made the ground attack into mud and damped the fire out. Minutes passed and the two pokemon worked together to fix the damage as best they could.
When the fire was put out, Veronica got up again and thanked the two. The area was still misty with smoke but the last few sun rays still got through it all, shining on the forest. It happens... I guess. Forest fires. Veronica thought as she observed. At least, I hope I got rid of them. She left the forest without a second look, hoping to get back into the city as soon as possible.

WHAT! I cheated, how could I have possibly lost? Veronica stood abruptly, her eyes wide as she stared at the opponent's cards. Her Crobat tumbled to keer her balance on Veronica's shoulder. It was impossible, this was the fifth time in a row she lost. She was never into gambling with a card game but complaints had been filed about this man and she finded out why. The man across the table grinned, he wore black and gold clothes with gloves, boots and a fancy hat; clearly rich. His pokemon, a Drowzee and a Hypno, accompanied him, one at each of his sides. "T-that's impossible!" She managed to say.
He laughed, making a joke out of Veronica. "Well, you have to learn when to quit, now don't you?"
"No!" Veronica interrupted. "Another game." She sat back down, determined to catch him in the act. She thought through every possibility but she just didn't understand how this man did it.
Timeless flew away to get Veronica a drink, using it as an excuse to meet with the pokemon under the table. The two psychic types were distracted by the game however, she would tried using Confuse Ray on the two pokemon when Veronica indicated so.
She got closer to the win, "I never got your name." She continued to glare, not allowing anything to mess with her game.
"John." he responded. The man noted his pokemon's state and gave up before Veronica could show her winning hand.
"Huh?"
"Sorry, it's just that I'm tired of beating you." John smiled and stood up.
"Wait a second!" Veronica saw him turn away, she checked the table, both of their coins were gone and suddenly, the memory of his face was blurred.
"Ccrrrrro?" Timeless questioned, observing the table she was sitting on as well. This isn't over. Her mind tried fighting the power, she could still remember that the man that had stood was the one walking out.
"Cherry! Moon!" She squinted her eye as she sent out her Luxio and Absol. "Follow the scent..." At least Cherry would not be affected by their psychic attacks. Veronica sat back down empty handed, trying to take a moment to get rid of her headache.
Wait... He stole my money. She and Timeless sneaked out of The Under; the place was literally underground so they had to exit by flying up the hole or climbing stairs or something similar. How did I miss that? How did he just scoop all of the money without a single movement?

Outside was the Haruba Desert in Almia, that's why Veronica had to be extra careful when sending out her pokemon since people around these parts were against pokeballs. Veronica had the tendency of teaching her pokemon respect though, so wasn't that difficult to allow them to roam along her side.
Veronica then saw the man getting on a large wagon, driven by two Zebstrika about to take off. Desperate times call for desperate measures. She looked through her bag, trying not to scratch the egg she carried to find the Destiny Stone. "Timeless, I need you to call for back up. Take the place down if you have to, just bring some rangers." Timeless nodded and flew away. "Cherry, I'll need you to go with her so you can track me back." The Absol stared annoyed, still not as fond towards Veronica as her other pokemon, but did she mention that they could blow up the place? Cherry charged after Timeless, keeping up the pace. "Moon, come here." Veronica then used the Destiny Stone on her Luxio, making the pokemon glow.
The wagon was already pretty far on the road out to the sourthern village. When Moon stopped glowing, she appeared as a Luxray and Veronica took a moment to stroke Moon's fur. Veronica intended to ride Moon to catch the thief, her Luxray would manage the travel better than a Luxio; and they were off.
They reached Haruba Village and found his personal wagon parked at a house. Veronica got off Moon and knocked on the door. No answer. Getting sticky from the environment she decided to open the door and allow herself inside. It was dark, she couldn't find the light so Moon lighted up the way. "Hello? Is anyone here?" Veronica called out.
Instead, a purple light appeared on the wall. Moon shook her head, "Luuu!" Disapproving of getting any closer to it.
"What could happen...? You're with me." Veronica tried to reassured Moon and took a closer look at the whisp of light.

~

A song began, growing louder and louder as Veronica awoke. She found herself laying down on the street floor in a metropolis city. "Ugh.." She felt a throbbing in her head when she stood. As she took a slow full turn to view her silent surroundings, she recognized the song to be Danse Macabre. She was alermed by the fact that there was nothing but buildings and a train track extending to the horizon. There was no wind and it was noon. Her bag and pokeballs were gone so she saw no choice but to walk.
Where am I..? Worry grew as the song started to come to an end. A train suddenly whistled its arrival, making Veronica jump. It stopped for her and magically opened the doors. She observed both ways to take a better look of the train, then hopped up into the train.
The doors closed, there was no one inside and when the train roughly started to move again, Veronica ran to the next cart. Her Luxray was there, relaxed and calm as ever. "Come on." She went ahead to the next one. The last thing I remember... She reached the front; the train was moving by itself. Did I touch the light? She scowled, opening the window on the side to take a peek.
The train was reaching the outskirts of the city, where everything was in ruins and dust. Beyond that was a thick forest. Veronica had no idea where the train might lead but she stayed calm, enjoying the breeze. Inside the forest, the trees appeared much taller, towering over the train and she could have sworn they seemed alive. What is this place? Then the train made a turn, curving around a field where it made an abrupt stop. Gah! Her body was slammed forward as she held tight to the edge of the window with care to not fly out. Noticing the sky, it was no longer day time.
"Come on out, stalker." A man's voice called out. Veronica did, curious.
"It's you..." She said.
"Yes. It is. Welcome to my world," He opened his arms. Veronica took a step back cautiously. "Umbreon." he called. From the ground began to rise a muk-like creature, pure black, it shaped into a Shadow Umbreon with empty eyes and no markings. Moon advanced to the Umbreon.
"Use Spark." Veronica commanded but when her Luxray started to charge up, teal rays electrified throughout its fur and the attack was shot like a bubble, slow and heavy with electric blue bolts. How is that Spark...? Yet, what was most surprising was that the Umbreon broke through the attack and shot a blinding Hyper Beam at the speed of light.
Moon was knocked out instantly. But- Tsk. Now what? Veronica instinctively reached for her pokeball and despite its absence, Moon was returned to a transparent pokeball suddenly in her hand. This... just keeps getting weirder and weirder. But... maybe I could... Chi was sent out, he was a shadow just like the Umbreon with empty eyes. "Mach Punch!" He held his fist tightly, light started to gather at his hand as Chi then ran forward and knocked out the frozen Umbreon, making it disappear.
"Seems you're more resourceful than I expected," He crossed his arms, "Say goodbye now." A Drowzee appeared by his side, one with normal coloring. It used Psybeam on Chi, the Monferno shadow poofed and the attack continued on towards Veronica. The Psybeam threw her back, feeling weaker by the moment. Her heart rate was dropping until she was suddenly electrocuted.

~

Veronica found herself waking up in a badly lighted room, barely anything far from the whisp could really be seen. Memories flushed in about what had happened and a chill crawled down her spine. So much pain... There was an unwillingness to get up, if anything, all she wanted to do was go back to sleep but fear wouldn't allow that either. Then she heard noise, oh what a disturbance the noise-turned-voice made, it filled her with disdain.
"Lux! Lux!" Moon cried out, worried about the shock she had given Veronica. She certainly didn't want to have to do it again, at least her trainer was awake but something about her felt off; hopefully, she was just tired. "Lux! Lux!" Moon didn't stop, her voice started to become squeeky.
"Go away." Veronica extended an arm to shoo the pokemon away with her hand. Every move she made felt heavy, her bones felt like rocks and she even felt as if she was deep underwater with the difficulty to breath. Instead of leaving, Moon whined like the puppy Veronica saw her for and approached the trainer to lick her hand until Veronica turned her head to the Luxray.
What happened? Veronica mentally asked. Of course, the creature had no way of answering even if Veronica had asked out loud so Moon just scooted over to lay next to her, the warmth of the Luxray was comforting. With Veronica's slow heart beat it was easy to feel Moon's chest ascend and descend at a regular rate. The heartening moment was cut short by a trembling voice. "He-Heh, you- really thought -you could beat me? With that trick?" His breath was also short. They had been in a dream and both equally shocked once Moon was knocked back conscious. Veronica forced a stop to her instincts to sway up to battle and gave him only a glance of importance.
Moon, being a rather territorial pokemon, did however. The Luxray growled with rage at the man and his Drowzee, showing truly frightening features under the light of her own electricity. Only in the darkest would an eye really capture the bolts flowing through the Luxray's fur. They both understood the warning, Not a step closer. But as ordered by the trickster, the Drowzee followed his command to use Psybeam.
As if to show her toughness, Moon took the attack head on before sparking up to negate the attack and taking a leap forward to tackle down the Drowzee with her electricity. Moon held the Drowzee down, taking a bite out of the Drowzee before it could focus on an attack. This violent act shocked Veronica, it wasn't how she had trained them, it was too wild. Did she have a nightmare too? It was the logical explanation. What happened? Veronica managed to sit up with her legs crossed at that point, too worried about her pokemon to stay down.
The Drowzee had been knocked unconscious from the loss of blood, probably had a concussion as well or who knows what. The man quickly returned his poor pokemon, afraid of the crazed Luxray whom then flashed her eyes at him with hunger; it was a strange way to use Leer. Ah... You've been blood stained, and I even used the Destiny Stone on you... She tried to relax by letting the shivers take place, it reminded her too much of the merciless Sableye that not long ago killed - perhaps it wasn't a good idea to think about it.
To protect himself as Moon clearly prepared to pounce, a Hypno was sent out. "Use Hypnosis!" He extended his palm at the Luxray to inform the Hypno where to aim. Knowing far too well what this would do, he circled around them before reaching her owner again. The Hypnosis had been stopped so that John wouldn't fall to sleep, though Moon could have managed to avoid it regardless by the inch of a difference in their speeds.
The man started to order again but as the Hypno readied itself for whatever move was commanded, the Luxray launched forward for another Bite. The Hypno was caught off guard as Moon took its whole fist in and clawed her teeth into the Hypno's wrist. The Hypno cried out in pain, something Veronica couldn't manage to watch. Moon allowed the pokemon to fall back to admit defeat. "Enough!" Veronica growled, anger was sensed in her voice. Was she angry?
Moon's ears turned down as he glared at the opponents for a moment, then she returned to Veronica when the Hypno was returned to its pokeball. The Luxray was without pride, just emotionally hurt, it wasn't illegal to get so violent but it wasn't something generally accepted in the 'community' either. Veronica was at a lost, how could she punish her pokemon for the protection? Before that though, Moon gave a low growl at the man. "I don't think it's wise to leave." Veronica mentioned, seeing as how Moon was still pissed off.
She took a deep breath, still unable to get up and feeling too weak to really said anything else. She simply didn't want to go to jail for a murder that her pokemon commited. There went another shiver, one shot down by a surprising explosion at the door. A combination of Cherry's Razor Wind, made with her tail, and Timeless's Air Cutter created enough force to cut the door to pieces and send them flying. Luckily, the three of them were too far away to get hit by that debri. Not a moment later, the room was lighten up by Mareeps and Staryus, and filled with pokemon rangers.

They arrested John, knowing already he was on the 'wanted' list. With all the commotion, Veronica thought it was best to return Moon before they could question the blood on her snout and body. She got all the way outside before she was stopped by two other rangers. The Absol examined the rangers carefully while Timeless relaxed on Veronica's shoulder. "Are these your pokemon, ma'm?" Veronica only nodded. What... did they do? "I'm afraid they made quite a mess back at our HQ." then the other one added, "And we had some complaints about both of them from people in the town."
Cherry smirked, feeling like she had done a good job in disturbing the peace. "Uh hu..." Veronica crossed her arms, not pleased in the consequences, she was almost sure they just wanted to rob her out of her money peacefully. "How much are the repairs and stuff gonna cost?" They looked at each other, almost sighing with satisfaction at her responsibility. They took out a paper and wrote every cost for the trouble and the total amount they needed. Veronica twitched at the price, it couldn't be helped and it would empty her savings account she managed to establish along the year.
With a simple sigh, she searched through her bag and wrote a check. She could feel the headache inducing again so she tried to not think about it. It was the quickest way out as tension rose when the rangers started to come out of the house with reports. They would probably question her about the spilled blood on the floor and walls. "Timeless!" She called her Crobat for flight as she returned Cherry to her pokeball. With the mission finished, there was no need to stick around. If anything, she was anxious to get to a pokecenter away from that city to get herself back to health; the flying had made her specially nauseous that time around.

Veronica scanned over the mission on the desk. It was Team Samurai this time; she kept an expressionless face of disdain despite the fact that she probably get to see the beauty of the green dragon.
She walked forth, leaving the piece of paper behind, and picking out her team in the usual routine. Something stopped her from grabbing her bag off the door knob, a quick reminder before facing the outside. After all, there was little she lived for. She looked over to the window and fell into a quiet moment where her mind could remain in cool down as her gaze was stolen by the bright morning and the rustling of empty trees; that was one of the beautiful sights that mesmerized her. She could even feel the October cold when she pressed her hand against the window. Those were the times where she knew she was at peace and that there was not much else she could ever ask for. Even then, she thought, the difference between death and life wouldn't be much. Where I'm going should be quite a place too... she thought to encourage herself over the vexing thought of dealing once more with Team Ninja version two.
Missions only added to the experience she could gain in that so call life that had become far too complicated. With a nod, she snapped herself out of trance and started on her way. Veronica would have to go across Johto to reach her destination, the routes made by dirt and pavement didn't exactly give her a straight course so she would have to fly instead. Which she concluded just as she exited the HQ. She had three choices between her pokemon and technically it would have to be two trips, one to get to the closest city and another to fly over the ocean. Since Timeless had the most experience flying her around, it was the practical choice. She had an adequate weight for such a delicate pokemon to carry - even if Timeless had carried others at some point - and Veronica had also grown costumed to the 'hanging around.' Therefore her Crobat would take her to Olivine City.
The scenery on the way was mostly thick forests that were rarely explored; the trees were nothing but skeletons and fog lingered in some areas. It seemed like a fitting look for that time of year. Occasionally, she would see groups of Skiplooms and Pidgeys still flying south. At least it kept her entertained through the hour of flight to reach the mid point, Violet City. Veronica passed on taking a break and just toughed it out while knowing her arms would probably ache in the last twenty minutes of the trip. It could have been worst if she teleported there using the Claydol though, it still made her sick.

The sky remained clear the rest of the trip, the wind had her shivering at one point but she eventually reached her destination. Being at a port city only made chills run through her, to the point where she asked Timeless to drop her in front of the pokecenter for that well needed break. She didn't believe she would have been able to tell the difference of the temperature the second she stepped into the pokecenter any other day. The rush of warmth made her want to go to sleep.
The pokecenter was somewhat busy, people chatted in every corner and the nurse was surrounded by three individuals. Timeless cared as much as Veronica, zip to none. That was, at least, towards other strangers; had she always been that quiet? She didn't mind, really she didn't. She only hoped others wouldn't either.
Once she ate a snack, it was off again. Veronica wouldn't let those silly thoughts by any means get in the way of the mission. This time she used Spirit to float up, above the sea and towards the whirlpools. Wind had started to pick up, making it almost impossible to navigate with a Jellicent. "Down there, to the shore!" Veronica pointed to a pack of Seels relaxing on a small rocky island. The strong waves crashed against the cliff edge, Spirit had no choice but to land in the middle of their territory. The Seels became more alert and vocal with their landing.
Just as Veronica returned Spirit the Seels stood their ground in a protective position, making a wall around Veronica and crying out to intimidate her. I so don't have time for this... she groaned. Even with that thought, something flared inside as a few Seels attempted to shoot Ice Beams at her. She sent out Moon to frighten the group with a Roar and Sparks, causing various Seels to scatter around.
Veronica climbed on top of Moon but escaping would prove difficult as the Seels kept wobbling on after the Luxray. "All right then Moon, let's try taking that one down." Veronica indicated. Moon took a bite of one of the Seels and brought it closer. This again? You don't have to be so rough. Moon wasn't the only one of Veronica's pokemon that had gained wild characteristics as they grew and needed extra training.
In defense, the Seel brought an Aqua Ring up and then used Ice Shard as Moon sent an electric shock at the creature. Moon took another freezing spout before he could attack again. This aqua ring isn't helping.. the Seel was far from weak at that moment and Veronica knew she had to preserve Moon's health. "One more Spark," Veronica said, taking out a pokeball from her bag.
After it was thrown, the pokeball clicked on the Seel's head and began to shake with the wild pokemon inside. The battle had kept the rest of the group on the sidelines but seeing their friend disappear made the Seels uproar again. In a hurry, Veronica picked up the still pokeball and stared at the Seels. Moon roared them away while she could.
"Ok, this isn't working." Veronica then sent out BlackCrystal, one not fond of the sea. "Hey bud, I need you to fly me to another small rocky island, yea?"
At first, the Flygon looked bewildered as if preferring to fight the Seels just to get away from the shore. "All right, you don't have to land anywhere, I'll jump off..." She tried to calm him down, stretching her arms up to the pokemon. Moon would then turn to Veronica, out of roaring options and aware of the situation. "..great, return!" she called Moon back and climbed onto BlackCrystal. "Hip hip now," with the encouragement, her Flygon took off with greater force than she expected.
BlackCrystal glided over the ocean at a safe distance from the waves, shaking his head in discomfort nonetheless. "Ly~ Ly~" he urged Veronica to picked a direction away from the water.
"But I've got to find the cave; try over there, closer to the middle." She clinged to his neck. BlackCrystal continued to fly in a rush. "Ok, I'll get off here." Veronica found another piece of land with hills. Her pokemon lowered down before she took the liberty of jumping off to roll in the grass and return the Flygon to the safety of the pokeball. Remind me to pack a parachute. she sighed and explored, looking for an entrance in one of the hills.
She found it, eventually, on the other side of an immense pile of rocks.

This is supposedly a maze inside... I might come across with more than I bargained for. With a last curious look back at the outside light, she ventured through the cave with Chi's fire at her side.
Her footsteps echoed unlike the Monferno's, pokemon sounds could be heard in the distance and water often dripped dropped from the cave's ceiling. Veronica stayed alarmed, making a mental map of the turns she took. This place is pretty dark, I could be attacked at any time. She clenched her fists, hoping not to miss on an important, hidden route.
The trip would soon turn up worthwhile when she found some stairs to climb down and heard various screeches. Running towards the noises, she came across another human picking up a pokeball from the ground and trying to slash his sword at the wild Zubats surrounding him overhead. The man then saw her and fled to hide behind her. The Zubats followed, picking on Veronica as well. "Moon, use Spark!" she desperately called her Luxray to scare off the bats. "Who are you?!" she yelled out once the Zubats decided to take their leave.
He took out his brand new pokemon, a Crobat. "Looks like you came at the wrong time. Now that those rascals have taken my mask and revealed my face to you, I cannot just let you go." Moon jumped right into action, following his chain of Sparks to tackle at the flying opponent. Chi stood out of her way.
"Team Samurai, right?" she guessed, his statement had only made it more obvious. The man stayed in shock until the Luxray electrified his weak pokemon again.
"You know too much, this is unacceptable! Crobat, use Cross Poison!" he commanded. The recently captured pokemon followed those orders out of defense.
"Moon!" Veronica checked for poison before asking of her to take it out in one shot. Poison was the last thing she needed so early on. The Luxray cackled with electricity all over its fur before jumping to bite at the already weak Crobat.
"This isn't over in the least! Go Yanmega!" Quickly, Veronica retrieved Moon and had Chi take her place.
"You know what to do!" Veronica knew very well she had to get rid of that bug before it grew too fast to see. Unfortunately, the Yanmega used Quick Attack to avoid the Monferno's Flame Wheel and become even faster. Tsk. With each move, it'll become faster... Chi didn't stop rolling after his miss and was greeted with a Wing Attack that slid right through his fire. He took the attack heavily and collapsed for a moment. Unable to get on his feet, seeing as how his knees had been hit directly, Veronica quickly switched to Spirit whom took the second Wing Attack much better.
"Rain Dance," she said, hoping that it would slow the Yanmega down. With the water, its wing started to let off steam. So at least Chi did do some damage... As the Yanmega took a moment to land and clean off the water before following the order to use Night Slash, however the Jellicent used Water Pulse to knock out the overgrown fly before that happened.
"...but..." He sounded lost as he returned his Yanmega but soon sent out another. It was another similar pokemon, a Ninjask. "Use Swords Dance!"
"Uh oh." Speed booster and attack?! she watched as the Ninjask twirled with glowing swords illusions around it. Spirit was then switched with BlackCrystal. "Use Rock Slide, leave no escape!" The Flygon stayed on the ground, using its powers to make the ceiling rumble and drop. Not only would that crush the Ninjask but it also left the two without escape. "So I guess that's that..." she didn't really want to take responsibility for him.
Seeing as how there was no way forward, Veronica returned up to the first floor as she heard the man still alive. Oh good, looks like he's gonna survive that one.

Refraining from using Chi, Veronica sent out Moon to light her way. The Luxray, being one of her tracker pokemon, picked up a scent and stopped immediately as her fur rose to its ends. "Lux!" the electric one snarled and rushed to find the creature. Veronica had paused as well, finding it hard to keep up with her if it hadn't been for the occasional bolts.
Moon would find an Armaldo using Metal Claw to cut the rocks out of the wall. What are you? Digging for jewels? Its trainer wasn't far behind, "Huh? What's a trainer doing here?" His face was half covered by a similar fabric to the last opponent but his voice was clearly that of a young male. With a closer look, Veronica saw he carried a sword as well.
"I'm here to fight," Veronica spoke in a confident voice, taking a grab at one of her pokeballs. Moon growled at the Armaldo. I know that thing is rock type. Her thoughts quickly formed a strategy.
"Fine! My warrior will chop your pokemon to bits!" The Armaldo also confirmed it by sharpening his claws.
"You won't even get the chance!" Spirit was then sent out again, setting up a Rain Dance with confidence.
The Armaldo's arms glowed silver before it used one to slash across Spirit. The Jellicent felt excruciating pain as a piece of his body had been cut off; despite that, the pokemon didn't bleed. What? No way that thing is that strong, lucky slash, it had to be! "I guess I won't be taking chances again, recover!" Veronica worried about resorting to stalling. Spirit regenerated its jelly body and prepared for a second round of Metal Claw, using his arms to defend. "Let's go, Water Pulse!"
The Armaldo was able to stay standing and counter with Night Slash. Spirit was pushed back but took the opportunity to use Water Pulse one last time.
With the Armaldo down, a Seviper replaced it. Well then... As the Jellicent recovered to play it safe, the snake poisoned him with Poison Jab. "Azulo, take charge," the young Solosis took another Poison Jab. He would stand his ground and use Psywave; although it was one of his first battles, the psychic type could sense Veronica's thoughts. Having all of her trainer's experience made a difference, Azulo wouldn't just stand there while the Seviper attacked.
As he was able to dodge and attack, making the man loose his patience and ordered the Seviper to wrap around their opponent. Azulo was almost out for the count, sending a last Psywave before his consciousness faded.
"Azulo, return." she said and promptly sent out Chi to finish it off with Mach Punch. That's when the Shiftry came out and hit Chi back with Faint Attack. The Monferno didn't need psychic powers to know his trainer better; he used Flame Wheel to cause a burn on the opponent.
Chi then went for a Mach Punch. That's when the Shiftry dashed to use Extrasensory at a close range. For a moment, Veronica's pokemon stayed down. The pain had been fierce and even made him dizzy, his tail flared up as he glared with fiery eyes at the Shiftry. Overwhelming himself with fire, the Monferno ran up to the Shiftry whom was about to make a move and shut it down with Fire Punch.

The man ran off, returning his pokemon from afar. Veronica did the same, leading her closer to her goal. Climbing up three stairs, she spotted the group exploring around with a map. "Hey!" Veronica didn't waste time in challenging them -anything to stop their advance. Two went ahead, leaving behind the second pair to fight.
She could finally feel her knees and legs ache from the climbing, but she knew no trainer should fight sitting down. With a sigh, she sent out Timeless and Chi once her opponent revealed their pokemon. An Accelgor and a Scizor. Her Monferno remained furious in flames, even Timeless took on the tough attitude.
The battle soon turned chaotic: the Accelgor would ready itself with Acid Armor just moments before Timeless made an Air Cutter on the two, Chi took advantage of his item and the air to Flame Wheel into the Scizor whom foolishly had gone for a Focus Energy. Veronica took a step back at this, even though she continued to guide them, it was happening all too fast. Chi took out the Scizor with Mach Punch, manuvering around the Scizor's Vacuum Wave. However, the Accelgor aimed with Pursuit on the Monferno, taking the Air Cutter too well. Chi's flame went down. He still stood, but there was little to no energy left inside him. Ending the turn, Beedrill was sent out.
Veronica knew the Pursuit was coming so she couldn't risk switching, instead she had her two pokemon go after the Accelgor to finish the second half of its health off. The Beedrill took Chi in revenge with Brick Break. With that, Veronica's Luxray and a Leavanny took their places. "I want this done quickly, Thunder Fang, Air Cutter!" The Beedrill minimized Moon's electricity by hitting him with a Brick Break to the head, meanwhile the Leavanny took the harsh winds swiftly as it set up a Swords Dance.
The Beedrill wasn't about to take a second electric attack along with the Air Cutter, much to Veronica's relief, and the Leavanny left a heavy mark on Timeless with its Air Slash attack. This was when the Gallade came out and with its speed knocked out Moon with Night Slash. Crap. BlackCrystal came into play as Timeless flinched from a second Air Slash, her health crippling down. Gotta save time... "Confuse Ray, Crunch!" she was far too thankful now that her Flygon used to resort to that move in previous evolutions.
Barely surviving, the Gallade managed to use Psycho Cut on BlackCrystal before getting taken out, luckily, the Leavanny wasn't able to make a last move due to her confusion and their were taken care of with an Air Cutter. Finally, a Sceptile was sent out. Veronica could see the tables had turned as the pair started to consider escaping, although she kept her guard up. In the following turn, Timeless was taken out by a Leaf Storm, leaving BlackCrystal to go for Dragonbreath.
Veronica only had her Jellicent left, whom used Recover on the spot knowing some sort of hard hit was coming. It was Crunch that time. BlackCrystal went for a Rock Slide twice as the Sceptile turn on him and used Leaf Blade. Risking the chance of getting hit, Spirit used Ominous Wind to get as much damage as possible on it. Both taking serious damage, the battle finally ended in the next two turns.

She didn't lose another moment and headed forward, even forgetting about the usual money reward. When she spotted Team Samurai again, she took a break. They hadn't reached the egg and were still on the move - Veronica wasn't aware just how close they were. Nevertheless, she needed the break for her legs and to revive her pokemon. She kept one of her Revives and only brought Chi and Moon back to half. I... This battle will be even harder, so I'll probably need it later. With a pat on their heads, she returned the pokemon and hoped that whatever battles came next, it would be the end of it. She had truly never been fond of this team, even as an enemy.
When Veronica found them again, it was at the peak where a sparkling, green-scaled egg laid. It shimmered with the light and they were in awe with it until Veronica showed up. She noticed one of them had been the man that ran away before. Thank goodness, not another double battle. I don't think I would have survived that. She doubted, keeping a straight face.
"It's you again..." the other spoke in a low, serious voice. Without another word, he sent out his Dustox. Still have that thing?! The peak wasn't exactly the best place for a battle, the field area wasn't more than five feet wide and one mistep could kill.
In sync, she sent out her Luxray, "Moon, Thunder Fang!" Although a critical hit landed, it simply healed with Moonlight. This happened again in the second turn until the Dustox was paralyzed. Veronica grinned, it went slowly but with enough Thunder Fangs and the Dustox's reduced speed, Moon managed to lower the Dustox's health just under half before it used Whirlwind to bring BlackCrystal out.
The Flygon was able to take down the Dustox with a Rock Slide made from the mountain's rocks, Veronica saw their leader wince before sending out his next pokemon, a Weezing.

"You think you're the only one who has trained their pokemon?!" he yelled to gain back a part of his pride, although his voice was still shaky. Realizing his actions, Veronica took a step back and prepared for any wild moves he might pull. The grunt behind him already had the egg in his grip but there was no way they could both escape without taking her down, still she worried for the egg. Her suspicions were proven right when the Weezing started to glow at his command, "Selfdestruct!"
Both of them knew BlackCrystal would have been taken out so he turned to protect Veronica from falling as she ran through the field and took down the defenceless man to fight for the egg. Despite the Flygon's cover, the explosion was too much and sent everyone in different directions. The dirt and smoke made it hard to see much of anything and by the time it cleared, Veronica and the grunt were still trying to take over the egg until he abruptly let go.
As she turned to see, the roar of a Green Dragonite was met with the scene of the leader hanging onto the rocks at side edge. The grunt was trying to help him up while the leader frantically reaching for his pokeball. Veronica gentely set the egg down and backed away, returning BlackCrystal.
his shiny Dragonite wasn't just old, as clear evidence of wrinkles and deteriorated scales, it was bulky thick. Before anything else, the wild pokemon towered above its egg and sniffed it with care.
The two enemies finally managed to get on stable ground with the help of Shedinja but Veronica remained motionless. This hadn't been on her actual agenda.
The wind blew in her direction and the Dragonite roared again, making the peak tremble as it picked up the grunt's scent first. With a fierce glare, it launched a Hyper Beam attack at the two of them. Seeing the Shedinja absorb the attack that would have otherwise killed them only angered the Dragonite more. Finally, Veronica reacted and sent out her Monferno.
As the Shedinja used Metal Claw, Chi went with Torment to avoid another Hyper Beam on their end. This wouldn't be enough and the Dragonite shot a Dragon Tail at the grunt, making him hang over the edge. The leader sent out his Samurott instead of helping the other man though, and as Veronica realized he was just going to be left hanging, she sent out her Luxray. The Dragonite started to really feel threaten, Chi was knocked out with a powerful Outrage. As the dragon turned to deal with the water type, Veronica used her last Revive. The Samurott was left weak and the Outrage wouldn't affect the Shedinja. Then the Dragonite dropped to its knees with fatigue, it was far too old to battle and Veronica knew it was time to end this.
"Fire Punch, Thunder Fang, at them!" Veronica informed them to attack the leader's pokemon. The Dragonite managed one last move to take the chance and knock out the Samurott with Outrage, intending to send the leader over the edge as well. As the dragon hurt itself in attempt to continue battling, Veronica went over to help the man up. "Get out." She kept a fixed glare. Once Team Samurai was dealt with, Veronica turned to the Dragonite whom had snapped out of its confusion.
Chi, already enveloped in flames, covered for Veronica as the Dragonite intended to bring in a Hurricane against them -then everything went white. She didn't need to think twice to expect herself in midair, thinking she'd need to send out one of her pokemon to save herself... this wasn't the case. When she managed to regain sight, Veronica found herself on the peak's ground, behind a glowing Infernape.
"Chi..." she could barely managed a sentence, "Stop." Veronica stood back up with Moon's help. "Let's go. We're done here." The Infernape didn't seem pleased, it was certainly the evolution's effect. However, evolution or not, Chi had been Veronica's first pokemon and he knew better. Before the Dragonite could react to that, they rushed back to the cave. Her Jellicent would have to Recover to get across the sea but at least the mission had been complete... and best of all, after over a year, Chi finally evolved.

It was a tireless night. Or perhaps it was morning already. The waking hours felt as though they did not exist. Even as certain moments that may had made today different than yesterday, it was still empty.
There was no one by her side. Everyone was out there in a real life, outside of dreams. It was not like she did not feel sorrow but the void was more peaceful. The familiarity of the nothingness kept her heart warm. Perhaps this was the way she was always meant to be. Here was another night and another day passed by.
The walls only felt like they got darker day by day. She could feel the cold on her right foot and above her shoulders. Veronica laid there staring at the tiny imperfections on the ceiling and walls; slowly moving her eyesight across them. Her head fell to the side, caring less about extending the blanket to completely cover her. At first, her eyes went straight to the five pokeballs on her night stand. She wondered for the hundredth time why she didn’t take around 6 pokemons when she had plenty in her box. Then, her eyes fell to the faded out rug and she wondered whether it was always such a dull color. Perhaps it was the lack of light due to the window being completely blocked by the heavy shades.
"I feel awful," Veronica hissed. She made a lazy movement to grip at her stomach; hunger forced her off her bed. Her eyesight went black for a moment and her mind got dizzy. She crashed against the wall and slid her way to the kitchen in a sluggish manner. Thankfully, no one ever saw her down the hall.
The kitchen was empty. Her face was pale, soon enough it would even be too late to eat. She could hear the television in the other room only one wall away and she knew what they would say. So she quietly put together a sandwich. Admittedly, of all the ways she could have died, she would hate to do it on an empty stomach. She took the sandwich back to her room first. She didn't want to risk seeing anyone -that's how it had been for a few weeks. She wouldn't be able to lie to any one of them and saying the truth would feel like taking a knife down the throat.
No, she wasn't fine. But it simply wasn't worth it. Veronica wasn't stupid; even she knew part of it was due to simple laziness. That and apathy towards making any changes. She had lost count of how many times she had fallen into depression. It got to the point where she didn’t even dwell in her despair; there was only emptiness. There were no feelings to cry over.
She left the sandwich beside her pokeballs and stood still with her head hung down as she thought over and over through her devoid sense of self.
"So I see you've been busy." A voice announced with sarcasm. The familiar shadow stood alone in the corner of her room. There he was again: a figment of her imagination so that she wouldn't feel so lonely. Although the truth was she was not sure how real he was. It had been so long since she talked to anyone that her voice felt dry.
"What are you talking about?" She glared with fierce eyes at the corner. This time, instead of nothing, rage ripped through her in a way that she would regret sooner or later. She gulped in attempt to make her voice sound more certain next time.
"You haven’t gone on your silly missions in a while, if you could even call them that. At least it was something. You've been on vacation for too long if you ask me.” His statement was cheerful.
"Excuse me?" There was a short growl, her voice grew darker as she shot her deadly gaze at him. Had she been talking to anyone else, perhaps Veronica would have reacted more calmly but there were no manners expressed between them; she had learned that much.
"Go and do a real mission." He made that clicking sound with his head, it was disturbing, like trying to force his head to turn in impossible ways and the small bones of the creature cracking. He revealed himself from the shadow into a form of Sableye, although he was still mostly a shadow. He gave her a grin too wide for comfort. "Or would you like me to help?" Everything about this Pokemon or thing screamed fear, no other living thing had ever brought such uncertainty to her. At least she could only assume it was alive.
"I'm not going anywhere," she expressed with a tone of sadness. It had been considerably a while since she did, almost four months, and apparently that was long enough for even this Sableye to worry.
"Such a spoiled. Little. Brat." He lashed out forward at the night stand just beside her. At first, Veronica didn't realize what he had done. Without a movement, her eyes dashed to the night stand. 1. 2. 3. 4.... And 5? Where's her fifth pokeball?
She took a stomp forward. "Give it back." She growled. He grinned and pointed at her hand.
"...how did you do that?" She noticed her hand gripping on the pokeball. Was she going... crazy? She shook her head and put the pokeball back.
There was a long moment of silence.
"I know you're real." She said with certainty.
"I am." They began a staring contest.
He broke the stare and his gaze lowered. That’s when she noticed the cold floor touching her legs and hands. Her body had dropped for some reason, although being in a resting position was comforting. She sighed as she tried to get strength back into her limbs. She climbed back into bed and took ahold of the sandwich. With just a bite, she could feel her body be filled once again with some sense of life. She continued to take small bites.
“Usually you humans just forget about things and move on, me including, isn’t that the way things are supposed to be?” The shadow swayed back and forth.
“What are you talking about?” Veronica struggled to follow his trail of thought.
“I mean… Have you thought about the fact that maybe I’m the one stuck here because you can’t let things go?” The shadow questioned her. His audacity filled her with anger.
“I have felt pain of mourning, pain of heart breaks, pain of depression, pain of betrayals and honestly I wouldn't know how much more pain I've gone through. And you- you think I want to keep someone so despicable around?” There was silence again.
She started to feel slightly better as she eat. He approached her bedside. “Just leave me be…” she begged.
“Why don’t you just find a new reason to live, to exist?” he opened his arms up.
“I already have my reason to live. It is here.” She said. “It’s why I haven’t… ended things.” She diverted her gaze.
“Yet you’ve done nothing… for so long. It’s been boring, you know.” The Sableye said. He took a step back as Veronica got closer to the edge of the bed. Her jaw clenched as he continued, “You don’t live for them. They aren’t really your family. You’re just trying to hang onto that lie but if you only accepted the truth about what you really want, maybe you could snap out of it. What is it you really want?” He kept pressing her. He had never been so persistant.
“I live to live. It sounds stupid and pathetic and I can’t believe myself but... I don't have hope anything will change, I don't believe in happiness or love, but…” She waited and doubted in herself. She thought it twice before speaking it, “I want to fight. I... I live for power. That is one trait about me that will never change. This pain...”
She couldn’t help but smile while her eyes showed agony, “It won't kill me. No one understands how difficult and painful it can be to simply exist. Still, I don’t need anyone’s validation. I’ve been living with all the weight of these shackles and sins. And that is what I’ve come thirst and long for. This suffering, it may hurt, but it's a hardship that I've grown used to living with.”
She sighed as her face was filled with hatred, “Sometimes I just want to make everyone feel my pain; to bring everything down to chaos and catastrophe to make the stairs of rubble for my path.” There was a pause as she let the anger pass. “It’s true, those things are selfish and I’ve been trying to deny myself. But you’re wrong, they are my family and they do mean more to me than my lust for power. After all, he’s like a father to me.” She stopped abruptly.
The Sableye was curious with this speech; she could almost feel the gears turning in his head. “Then… Go.” He stared. “Do something.”
Veronica breathed in deeply. She had let a lot out of her bottled up mind even if she hadn’t intended too. It was enough. She managed to push herself off the bed with a boring expression on her face. She turned towards one of the drawers and slowly got dressed as she casually checked the SNAG on open missions. “Ilex Forest seems to have some troubling stuff going on…”
“You’re telling me like I care.” The Sableye scoffed. But she didn’t give a response.
Veronica sighed; she could feel the bags under her eyes and her body begging her to get back into bed. She reluctantly exited her room then exited the HQ through the waterfall. It had been months since she had felt the sunlight on her skin. She took just a moment to let in the sounds of nature, murmurs of pokemon and the soft waterfall crashing down.
She let out her Flygon. “Let’s go.” They flew to Azalea Town, only a quarter of an hour away.
At the small town, she took a peek at the map to check where the house would be according to the mission. There weren’t many places to check but it would have been awful to go to the wrong house.
She knocked on their door. When no one answered, she knocked again with annoyance.
An old man answered the door. “Who are you? What do you want?” he asked rapidly.
“I’m Veronica. I heard you needed some help with something in the forest.” She answered. The blank expression she had carried turned into a slight smile and her habits of being nice kicked in, even though she didn’t particularly feel like acting nice.
“Oh… I’m Kurt. Yes, I make pokeballs by hand you see, but there have been some trouble makers in the forest and I haven’t been able to gather the ingredient I need. It’s near the shrine. You know the shrine right? Everyone knows the shrine.” He simply pointed in the direction of the forest, without ever opening the door all the way.
“Right.” It was the typical story. “Ok, I’ll go see what’s up.” She left the house and headed into the forest.
“That’s it?” The shadow came up again. “When you were talking about the whole, chaos and rubble I thought it would be more exciting than this.” Veronica shot a deadly glare at him but didn’t respond. She always avoided speaking up whenever she could.
The forest was dense; it was like night time, although it didn’t bother her more than having an extra shadow follow her around. The tree trunks weren’t particularly large, but they were close enough that their leafs would hardly leave any space for the light to shine through. It smelled fresh and free of pollution, although the sounds of pokemon were scarce. Everything seemed at peace. Maybe she was just lucky.
No pokemon had bothered her so far, which seemed strange for such a dense and plentiful forest. She didn’t really see the need for the old man to even go any deeper into the forest than she had thus far.
“It’s been a while since you got out, seems like your senses have been withering away.” The Sableye spoke up.
“You talk too much for a shadow.” She retaliated. He snickered for a moment and went out of her sight. Veronica started to feel an eerie presence.
Not long passed when Veronica started to look behind her with paranoia. The shadow of the Sableye was nowhere to be seen. She didn’t want to call out for him, after all, it’s not like they had a relationship of any sort.
Her throat tightened and her heart started to beat out of her chest. She could feel a dark aura around, just behind the trees. Her eyes kept analyzing every corner and bush. The wind howled, it made her skin go cold and fear stunned her in place as she saw something grow from the tree trunks.
The trees started to turn into black blobs, making her filled with anxiety. Her sense of balance became dazed and her movements felt delayed. The anxiety started to get worst and a sense of dread washed over her. It felt like the same thing that had governed over her mind for so long.
The blobs eventually became the trees; gradually letting ink droplets fall instead of leafs. Then, as the blobs turned into tentacles, her eyes widen. She was paralyzed in place. The panic had taken a complete hold on her, she started to sweat and she knew she had to stop this feeling. She wanted to scream but her mental block kept her in silence. Instead, she reached for her pokeball by instinct and released her Infernape.
"Burn." She whispered, still in a state of emptiness and fatigue, it was the only word that would come out. Chi picked up on what she meant and used his Fire Punch to extend his fire to the dark mattered forest.
Screams and cries came out of the fumes before they disappeared. Like a spell dissipating, Veronica regained her posture and looked around. The forest seemingly returned to normal.
"You're looking lost." The shadow chuckled just a few feet ahead of her. She returned Chi to his pokeball and continued forward with her legs shaking, trying in vain not to show how freaked out she was.
She couldn’t get ahold of slowing down her heart rate but she wouldn’t have time to think about what was going on with her before she heard a faint yelling. Veronica carefully paced towards the sound.
“This is supposed to work! There’s no one else in the forest, and the ball still won’t work!” Someone complained.
“I think this is a disk, not a ball. Maybe’s that’s why-“ The other responded as Veronica got closer. She noticed they were wearing uniforms and rolled her eyes, wondering if it could be any more cliché.
“No! It’s not! I know this started glowing when we got near the shine, it has to work!” Then they both turned to see Veronica. “It’s her fault! Celebi won’t be summoned if someone’s around to disturb the summoning!” He grabbed a pokeball and send out a Houndoom. The other joined him and sent out a Machamp.
Veronica didn’t say a word. They were clearly the problem, but even if there was any doubt it wasn’t like she was capable of speech at that moment. She sent out her Infernape and Jellicent.
She breathed in deeply and softly spoke, “Quickly, Mach Punch.” Chi rushed towards them.
Surprisingly to her, it didn’t knock the dog out, “Crunch!” The first one commanded and the Houndoom lashed at Chi.
“Dang it.” She hissed. “Use Surf.” Veronica would have to sacrifice most of Chi’s hit points but it would knock the Houndoom out.
“My turn, Machamp use Superpower!” The Machamp launched forward, making Chi faint with the attack.
Veronica returned Chi and sent out her shadow Lucario. “Use Shadow Ball, Spirit, and Force Palm, Havoc.” She said.
They attacked in unison against the Machamp but the pokemon still stood, barely. It would be his last move, “Use Brick Break!” He aimed for Havoc, the Lucario. It didn’t do nearly as much damage as his first attack.
With another Shadow Ball, Spirit finished the Machamp off. They looked at each other as the pokemon were retrieved and Veronica knew they were going to make a run for it. “Havoc! Quick Attack, get that thing in their hands!” She pointed at the disk as her voice sounded normal again. Being a shadow pokemon, Havoc went ahead and directly attacked the man, likely causing serious damage. The disk fell to the ground. Then, Havoc attacked the other for good measure.
“All right…” Veronica spoke up. “Well done, you can rest for now.” She called them back before he got out of hand. She had forgotten to take care of the shadow virus two of her pokemon carried in the past months while she was wallowing in her pain. “Get out.” She warned the men and went to pick up the disk.
They groaned about the pain and left. “Great. Mission complete. What’s it worth anyways?” The shadow crawled closer.
Veronica sighed and tried to pretend he wasn’t around. She set away the disk and headed back to town.
“Hmp.” The shadow followed.
Again, Veronica knocked on Kurt’s door. He responded promptly this time, which relaxed her mental state. “Hey.” She greeted the old man. “I took care of the troublemakers you were talking about- chased them out of the shrine.” She couldn’t help herself from smiling, even when she tried not to.
“Come in!” He grinned and stepped aside to let her inside.
Everything in the house was made out of wood. It looked clean, tidy and like nothing was left to age for too long. “They had this disk thing,” Veronica pulled it out. “They were talking about how it glowed and that they wanted to summon Celebi, I think?” The old man got closer to evaluate the object.
“Hmmm… No, this wouldn’t summon Celebi.” He spoke as if he knew more. “But I have seen this before.” He turned to his bookshelf. If there was something on this object, she could only wonder what other sort of information was on that self.
After several moments of watching Kurt search and the shadow mocking his movements, he finally turned back to Veronica with a large book in his hands. He set it down on the table and opened it. Veronica approached.
“See this here? A silver and gold plate with spiritual magic embedded inside.” He showed Veronica the book but it was in another language, perhaps French or Italian. “It’s called the Kagami. It’s supposed to be a mirror representing wisdom and honesty. Says it was originally found in Sinnoh. Near Lake Acuity, inside a cave.” He read in silence, meanwhile the shadow snickered for a long time. Veronica couldn’t help but glance at the Sableye, only to see him grinning widely. “It doesn’t say anything about a summon.”
“Thank you… I suppose I’ll go check it out. “ Veronica nodded at him and took one last glance at the book before heading out. She was curious about what other kind of things the book would tell.
“Wait! Here, the least I could do is give you this. I trust in my skills that it will serve you well.” He handed Veronica a strange looking pokeball, and although it had a slightly difference appearance it worked no different than a regular pokeball.
“Thanks.” She nodded again and left.
Outside, she paused to wonder whether she should bother with talking to the shadow. The thing had been chuckling to himself for a while. As she decided against it, she stopped by the pokecenter to heal her pokemon, as well as taking Timeless the Crobat out from the PC so she could actually have six pokemon on hand. Lastly, she changed into more cold resistant clothes. It might make her sweat at first but she was headed to a place of bitter snow.
Once she was prepared, she sent out her Flygon. “Hey, BlackCrystal, think you can do a long trip?”
“Fly!” He happily cheered.
“Great, I need to get as close as you can get me. It’ll start to get cold for you, so just let me know when it’s too much, ok?” She said as she climbed on.
“Fly!” BlackCrystal took off and she guided him to Sinnoh.
The travel would mostly be over water over three hours’ time.
Eventually, BlackCrystal would land nearby the Snowbound Lodge in Route 216, the only warm corner in the freezing, elevated mountain of Sinnoh. “Thank you. Rest well.” She quickly returned him. “From here on, we walk.” She tighten her coat and covered her face with a scarf as she started to head North.
Snow was falling harshly and soon ice covered over her coat. Her eyes started to feel extremely heavy and the drowsiness started to come back to her. The only thing she could imagine doing was dropping to the ground and sleeping.
After thirty minutes of walking, she diverted her path to stop by a house. She leaned against its wall to take cover from the hail for a few moments and rest. She realized she didn’t even bring water or anything useful with her. She sighed and breathed slowly, keeping her eyes on the puffs of smoke coming from her nose.
The shadow came closer- really closed to her face. That woke Veronica up. She stood up as fast as she could to put some distance between them. He didn’t say a thing. She continued on.
After another thirty minutes, she started to reach the end of Route 217 into an area with more trees and bushes. She could pick up her pace and see clearer ahead as some of the trees blocked the blizzard.
Just as she saw the shining icy lake in the distance, a roar blew her off her feet. An Abomasnow appeared out of nowhere. “Holy. s**t!” She yelled out. There was only one way to deal with this thing but she stumbled back when she tried to stand. In the hesitation to make the first move, the Abomasnow used Icy Wind to blow her back further and make her feel completely frozen. “S-s-s**t.” She shivered. “Chi, Fire Punch!” Her Infernape came out and quickly jumped to action.
The opponent bellowed and stepped back, feeling the pain of the fire. Chi shivered as he took some damage from the hail. “Again.” Veronica let herself drop to her knees after managing to get up. Chi managed to get the Abomasnow to back off with a second Fire Punch. It decided it wasn’t worth the fight and ran away.
Chi turned to Veronica and tried to warm her up. “T-thanks.” She didn’t mean for Chi to suffer in the coldness. His fiery hair was dimming after several moments passed. “I’m good now, time for you to return.” She allowed a moment more before returning him.
“I thought you were gonna die.” He joked and circled around Veronica.
After a total of an hour in the snowy storm, she reached the lake. The entrance to the cave was on an island in the center of the lake. Unfortunately, it wasn’t completely frozen over. There were icebergs floating over the lake, being constantly moved by the wind and probably pokemons too. The ice reflected beautiful colors all around. She pondered on how she had never seen a place filled with light like this.
The Sableye snickered again, interrupting the mesmerizing scenery. Veronica rolled her eyes and wondered when this thing would disappear. If he was right, then she just had to get over everything. Even though she had tried to do that for years and the pain was still there.
She shook her head to snap out of it. “Spirit.” She sent out her Jellicent. “Do you think you can take me over to take cave?” She asked, considering how the water was freezing.
Spirit hummed and entered the water; it seemed to affect the ghost type very little. Veronica very carefully climbed up and they slowly made their way to the cave. “I appreciate that, Spirit, return.” He hummed back in response.
Veronica took a glimpse behind her before entering the cave.
Everything went dark, fast. There was only the gentle dripping sound of the half-melting icicles over ponds that were deeper inside. They became louder as she walked. The wind didn’t blow and the cold was more tolerable so she took off her hood. Suddenly, her footstep made a splashing sound. With a sigh, she continued forward, feeling the cold of the pond through her boots. She tried to feel around by extending her arms but it was just one wide cave. She couldn’t even see the shadow anymore.
Eventually, she stumbled upon a small alter. In its center there was a dented space, it would only seem fitting that the disk would go there.
After a moment of second thought, she grabbed the disk shaped mirror out and placed it at the center. She took a step back. For several moments nothing happened.
She was about to turn back, when the mirror started to glow and make sigils on the alter glow as well. Then the pond below her started to light up in a pattern. “Uh… Hm…” Veronica stepped back several times.
There was a humming in the air that grew louder until it became a long wail. Then something started to shape from the glowing light of the mirror. The sound eventually settled. The light continued to glow, giving enough vision for Veronica to see a pokemon form. Veronica gulped and took a step forward to analyze it with her SNAG. “Uxie.” Then it opened its eyes and she put away her SNAG.
But nothing happened. Uxie just stared at her. Veronica stared back in amazement; it was the first time she was staring straight at a legendary. Uxie waited, although Veronica didn’t react.
A purple outline started to glow around the Uxie. It grew into a dark blob around the Uxie and it suddenly started crying out. “Uh?!” Veronica gasped.
The Uxie kept howling in pain as a darkness started to emit from the mirror and affect the legendary. Uxie broke away from the mirror and fleed. Veronica’s eyes followed her out of the cave before turning back to the mirror that started cackling with black lightning. Veronica set her hand on her pokeball ready for whatever it may be. For just a moment, everything turned black. Then the light that was glowing changed from a pale yellow to violet.
“Ah..” There was the familiar voice. Only it wasn’t inside her mind this time. Her eyes widen as she saw the darkness take form of an actual Sableye, without its usual shadowy form. “Veronica.” He stated. She sent out Chi.
She couldn’t believe her eyes, she refused to believe it was the real shadow thing.
“Is that how it’s going to be? It’s just me… in the flesh.” He grinned with his creepy wide grin. Chi went ahead and used Fire Punch but he was stopped by the Sableye’s palm.
The Sableye’s head glowed for a moment and he used Zen Headbutt on Chi. It threw the Infernape into the air and he landed on the ground beside Veronica. Chi slightly shuffled, trying to find the strength to get back up.
Veronica still couldn’t find words but there wouldn’t be a chance as the Sableye used Shadow Sneak to finish Chi off.
With a gasp, “How?” She questioned and returned Chi.
“You brought me to a summoning.” He said, then he laughed in a different manner than he had ever done. It was malevolent.
“Spirit, Surf!” She sent the Jellicent out. The Sableye waited for Spirit to attack, feeling the wave pass through him. Then he countered with a Shadow Ball, knocking Spirit out in one hit. She was in shock but quickly switched pokemon.
“BlackCrystal, Dragon Pulse!” The Flygon acted quickly. Again, the Sableye stood back and didn’t move in the slightest against the fire of the dragon. He took his time gathering up a large Shadow Ball and knocked BlackCrystal out as well.
“Havoc! I need you to end him!” Veronica sent out her shadow Lucario. “Give it everything you got!” The Lucario smiled viciously, pleased that he would get to continue his fight with a tougher opponent. The Lucario used a shadow move Shadow Break. He rammed into the Sableye.
The spot where he collided with the Sableye was in smokes, but it hadn’t move the opponent an inch. The Sableye smiled and used Shadow Claw to stab into his stomach. “Havoc… Return!” Veronica called him back immediately as she saw the blood rushing out. “Hang in there-“ The Sableye appeared in front of her.
“Okay, enough games.” He turned his other arm into a Shadow Claw as well.
“No way…” She gritted through her teeth in anger. There was nothing left to feel but rage. She had suffered and gone through so much s**t for this. “I’ll kill you mys-“ she found her voice choked out as a force ripped into her chest and her rib bones cracked.
Her eyes wandered down to see his arm going straight through her heart and body. She could feel the pressure and pain from her lung, the coldness of the cave touching her veins, the absence of her beating heart and her throat was filled with the gushing explosion of blood.
She didn’t mean to close her eyes, but her vision went blank and her face grew baggy and dark. Her head drop down, still barely conscious, and she heard his soft laugh grow louder with pleasure. Then, her mind left her.
---
Veronica opened her eyes ever so slightly, as if waking up from a well-rested night’s sleep. Before her mind awoke, she noticed a strange light and opened her eyes wider. Her sights showed her what seemed like having a pool of shiny oil right next to her face.
She tried moving her body, and it came with ease, she turned and slowly her sight adjusted to more solid shapes. She was still in the cave, only this time it didn’t look dark. The walls appeared made of coral and sand with its pink and bronze color. She couldn’t tell where the light came from.
Her confusion only lasted for a few short seconds as she remembered the moments just before she got knocked out. She gasped loudly and sat up, her hand went straight to her chest. There was no blood, no pain, instead she noticed something worst as her sight focused on her body.
All over her skin were purple, small sized scales that wouldn’t be noticed much from afar; aside from the color. In the center of her stomach was a large gem. When she touched it, it brought the memory back of her death. “Hmmm… I really did die?” Her voice, it was only a bit deeper but almost the same. She sighed and looked around again.
She had night vision. The Sableye was nowhere to be seen, the alter had deactivated and the mirror wasn’t around anymore. She looked into the pond to see herself. Her pupils were crystalized, she had tiny red and orange gems all over and her hair was mostly a pale blond color. She also grew some strange looking ears – “Oh crap.”
She realized the Sableye had become a part of her. When she spoke, she also noticed her tongue had changed color, and that it could extend out more than it could before. Her teeth were much sharper all around, similar to a shark’s. Her fingernails had become longer, like claws, and her feet had a more durable texture.
“Are you in there?” She poked at her own head but there was no response.
With a third glance around, she saw no other choice but to leave. Her coat had a huge hole in the front and back but for some reason she felt much less cold. Still it wasn’t enough for her to go waltzing in a hailstorm. It would be best if she had some help from her pokemon to get home as soon as possible.
Her eyes widen: her pokemon. Would they recognize her? Would they accept her? Her head lowered. She had no choice.
BlackCrystal was down so she sent out Timeless the Crobat. “Hey, Timeless…” The Crobat hovered from place to place in confusion. “It’s me… I just look a bit different now.” Veronica called to Timeless. She reacted and approached Veronica. Timeless recognized the scent and felt comfortable with Veronica again. “Thanks girl. I need your help. I know it’s a storm out there but I just need to get a through one route towards the South… maybe someone will be willing to help me.” She asked.
Timeless agreed and took her down to the Snowbound Lodge in Route 216. “Thanks again, I don’t know if I would have made it without you… I don’t feel so great.” Veronica wasn’t sure if it was all in her head or if her body was still adjusting to such a change. Veronica knocked on the door. “********, please don’t overreact.” She whispered to herself.
But no one answered. Annoyed, she knocked again. Nothing.
Veronica glanced around and decided to try and open the door. It was open. “Oh…” She let out a sigh of relief. She decided to lock the door and go straight into bed, making sure her pokemon got healed at the mini-center machine on the counter. “I guess this is for Trainers that pass by.”
She slept for ten hours but she still woke up groggy. It was different than when she felt depressed, this came from deep in her stomach. “Ugh…” She turned in the bed and saw her pokeballs on the counter. One of them was shaking. She quickly got up. It was Havoc. He was suffering from the attack he had received. The machine wasn’t enough, he needed special treatment.
She took her pokeballs and things and left the lodge. “I don’t know if a pokecenter can help a shadow pokemon, I better head straight back to the HQ. BlackCrystal, take us home.” She called on her Flygon.
“Please hang in there, Havoc.”
Hours later, there was no time to worry about the way she looked. She took Havoc straight to get medical attention and stopped by the HQ’s general store to buy a Shadow Vaccine.
“Havoc… Please…” she gave him the treatment.
The darkness slowly lifted from him. It would help in his recovery from the wound. Veronica sighed in relief and went to make a stop by her room. She changed clothes and opened the drapes. “I guess… I have to talk to Sub now…” She went to find him.

-35 sc
+1 pokeball
+1 lv Chi
+1 lv Havoc

indent“Tapu Village. Long ago, it is said a witch was burned at the stake and that her pokemon were stoned to death. In her last moments, she chanted a curse into the land, cursing it to despair and destruction if anyone would dare live off the land that massacre her and disgraced her. The first time took a year, on the anniversary of her death, the curse rained acid upon the village, killing everything: crops, livestock, people. The few that survived were left with unrecognizable faces. No one stayed.

indentOver time, the village was populated again. As more mornings rose with joy and sunshine, it brought to life the curse once more. This time, there was an invasion of the vikings sort: they burned their houses, raped their women, enslaved the children, took their possessions, leaving the village without a soul.

indentAfter that, many say its only inhabitants were the ignorant who did not heed warnings, the damned who were exiled and the poor who had nowhere else to go. It was inevitable that the land would be used again and that history would repeat itself. As is the tale of humanity.

indentOnce more, as its population grew in modern times, the curse took ahold of a guardian deity whose purpose was to bring balance but even the Tapu, as they were called, was not capable of resisting when it called to its deeper darkness and beliefs. Not even the site to the South where a market had been built was spared.” He stopped.

indent“This revised version was from three years ago, they get re-released with updated information every ten years,” he explained. “But… there may also be information they chose to leave out with each edition.” The old man got up at his own pace and looked for an older edition in the same shelf he took the first book from. Thankfully, Veronica didn’t have to wait too long as the old man was clearly well organized.

indentWhen he returned to the table, he pushed the open book away and cleaned the area again for this older book. The comparison was shocking, this other book didn’t even have a cover, its pages were brown ripped in some places and the words written in ink in some language she didn’t understand.

indent“I thought it would be best if you knew what you were getting into before I showed you this:” he said, opening up to a page with a picture of a crystal that looked exactly like the one Veronica brought to him. Only that this image still had the marking in the middle of the crystal. She could only describe it as a black marble at its center with a moon shape empty space and a wispy, black tail.

indent“Here, they call it the Shadow of Terror. An item the witch used to carry with her. She would use it on her enemies to befall them into a never ending nightmare. By the looks of it, they tried to break it, maybe they hoped it would stop the curse.”

indent“I don’t feel anything with it.” Veronica said truthfully.

indent“I don’t know what else I can tell you but… you really should just leave it as it is. I mean, look what happened when you investigated that sphere of wisdom! You turned into a-“ he stopped abruptly.

indentVeronica knew what he would say but it didn’t bother her. She didn’t feel as though she looked any different than what she felt. If anything, the truth was that her new appearance showed exactly what her state of mind was like.

indent“I understand.” Veronica said, reassuring him. “But I don’t think I ended up with this by coincidence,” she showed him the broken z-crystal again. “This has been my only clue to figure things out.”

indent“Hmpf.” He complained. “This collection has been a hobby of mine ever since I saw Celebi for the first time in that forest in my teen years. I never thought I’d be sending someone into cursed land.”

indent“I can handle catastrophe.” Veronica joked. “Oh and don’t worry, in the worst I’ll just run.” She tried to convince him.

indentThe old man shook his head and started to put the books away, mumbling something about young people these days.

indent“Thanks, Kurt.” Veronica got up, moving towards the door with a sense of determination in mind.

indent“Hmpf.” He lifted his arm to wave. “Do let me know if you live.”

indentVeronica left, closing the door behind her. The ominous feeling she had gathered faded as the sun blinded her sights for a few moments. Azalea Town soon came back into her view, with its green grass and chirping birds. She took a deep, exasperating sigh.

indent“Tapu Village, huh?” she spoke to herself, heading over to the pokecenter with a plan.

indentIf only the worst kinds of people could survive in such a damned place, she would need her best pokemon to be prepared for the front lines. She couldn't imagine how difficult her mission would be but her gut kept swirling with anxiety.

indentPart of the previsions included keeping her Flygon at his maximum capacity, which meant she would have to be creative with travel. "Timeless," the Crobat was sent out. "You're up, let's get to the coast."

indentShe put on her old white and gold jacket that had a stitched patch where the hole the Sableye made used to be. The jacket would keep her warm in the wind of flight and it would make things simpler if she had to interact with others. With a double check on her utilities, she took off with Timeless.

indentSeveral minutes later into the afternoon, Veronica would arrive at a port that had gotten more and more popular with the years. Even as few places were advertised for tourists, there were still plenty of trainers looking at the greater horizon.

indentThere, she would buy a ticket for Alola and just in time as well; the last ships sailed out at 4 pm due to the time of travel they took. It meant Veronica didn't have to wait long to aboard but the travel would last five hours.

indentThe ticket only came with a small snack added as this ship in particular was more for scientists, reporters and researchers. The cruise style ships only took off in the mornings. Veronica considered it was fine so long as the food wasn't awful and hopefully wouldn't be anything risky to eat.

indentWith a deep sigh, she cared enough to look around and observe the people on deck. The captain was arguing with someone else on the top level. There was another person beside them. Then on the second level were what looked like cadets walking by. On the deck where she was at, was someone writing on a journal and a couple staring at the sunshine by the opposite corner. "I guess they didn't get the message." She rolled her eyes, reminding herself of why she didn't care.

indentEvery small detail that could be mildly annoying was extremely irritable to her. It made people intolerable. It wasn't like she didn't enjoy other's company or like she didn't desire intimacy, it was just that the amount of mediocracy in the world was too abundant. "So many brutes, so little challenges." She shook her head. Before she could say or think anything else, the pesky Zorua popped out.

indent"Whacha doing?" Cosmo asked, yawning as he had recently awoken from a nap. "Zoooo!" He squeeled as he noticed the ship's surroundings.

indentThe sun was setting, leaving behind plentiful colors that the clear sky reflected back. The water was a deep, bright blue with foam that outlined the ship. Towards the shore, the silhouettes of pokemon could be seen and heard from the distance. The ambiance was warm, with constant interruptions of the cold splatters of the ocean. Though the splashes and its heavily, salty smell was something refreshing to enjoy.

indentCosmo shook his whole body and fluffed his fur, appearing to want to absorb everything around him.

indentAt least, Cosmo could entertain Veronica for a long while, and Veronica could entertain Cosmo as well. They spent the hours sitting and walking by, talking about the other humans as Veronica explained her perspective on them and of life to Cosmo. To Cosmo, it seemed like there were far too many ideas that humans thought about, and many of them unnecessary. For the most part, he thought, pokemon got along or at least understood where one another was coming from.

indentDespite his simple perspective, Cosmo listened to what Veronica had to say attentively. Outside of the depths of the mind, they were relatively similar. They both loved to explore, they both loved to be victorious, and they both loved food. Luckily, the crew was willing to spare an extra snack for Cosmo.

indent"You should rest." Veronica eventually said, feeling like she had expressed the minimum amount of words she needed to. She didn't want her little critter to wear out before they even arrived at Alola.

indentCosmo willingly listened this time, curling up on her lap and leaving her in the silence once more. The night had begun to rise. The cold settled in the humid air with the wind carrying it mercilessly. Veronica took Cosmo to an inside area as the Zorua shuffled around until she settled into a comfortable sofa. The heat of the inside started to make her drowsy as moments passed.

indentIt wouldn't be long before she would find herself being woken up by someone's tap on her shoulder. "We've arrived."

indentCosmo and Veronica stepped off the ship and arrived at Poni Island. It was difficult to admire the view of the islands in the darkness but they both admired the distinct vegetation as they made their way into Poni Wilds.

indent"I don't know... I mean, I wasn't expecting a fancy hotel, but this?" Veronica spoke up.

indent"Wha-da-ya-mean?" Cosmo tilted his head. "This is great!" He rushed over to play in the tall grass.

indent"Come on now, we have to rest for the night... somewhere." She walked off forward, Cosmo trotting behind.

indent"More rest?!" He whined.

indentVeronica found a dirt path to the West and followed it. "Tomorrow you'll have lots of fun." She said with a slightly sarcastic tone.

indentThey stopped at the Ancient Poni Path and found some empty shelter. The place was full of ruins, so the shelter was more like a room with only three, half walls. There, she took off her jacket and set it on the floor. She sat dawn, leaning on the corner and Cosmo laid down on her lap. She would never comment on it but she appreciated that Cosmo had started to become more obedient.

indentEventually, the darkness became perpetuating. It was difficult to stay asleep, Veronica ended up waking up every few hours. She couldn’t even see her hand in front of her face. She wanted to have a fulfilling sleep but something about being out in the open and blind kept reminding her to awake. Cosmo had no trouble staying asleep. If anything, he felt more at home in the pitch black.

indentLong before dawn, the exhaustion finally hit.

indentShe stretched, opening her eyes. There was barely any light around. She placed her palm on the wall to push herself up. The cement felt wet and fuzzy. With only a glance, she saw moss had grown on it. She curled and stretched her feet, feeling the same moss on the floor as well.

indentVeronica didn’t bother to stretch any further as she thought about Cosmo and how he was nowhere to be seen. She walked forward, finding herself in a hallway. She hadn’t been aware there was a hallway before. She started making splashes with each step but for some reason she couldn’t hear the sound it should have made and neither did she think twice on it.

indentBehind her the room just became a black rectangle. She struggled to walk straight, crashing into the walls constantly like she was drunk. It felt like four steps took forty. So she paused and leaned on the wall, considering giving up whatever it was she was doing.

indentShe started to feel a cold goo drop on her hand and she made an inaudible gasp. Her head turned slowly to it, then followed it to the ceiling but there was nothing to see. The goo started to fall all around on the walls of the hall.

indentVeronica’s felt an adrenaline rush, her eyes widen and she attempted to run. It followed her, overtaking everything and suddenly she opened her eyes and the monochrome scenery disappeared.

indentHer heart was beating out of her chest, she felt the droplets of sweat slide down and her mind took just a moment to return to its senses.

indentThe sun was shining, the floor was dirt brown, the walls were faded grey and the sky was a morning blue. Cosmo was still asleep, his ears twitching. There were sounds of the wind and other things in the distance.

indentVeronica took a deep sigh. The shock had passed but her heart beat hadn’t slowed down. She poked Cosmo several times, each time with more purpose until he woke up and allowed her to stretch.

indent“We need to get going.” She said, trying to dust off her jacket. Meanwhile, Cosmo rolled in the dirt with a moan. “Let’s go.” Veronica repeated and took a peak at the outside before walking off.

indentThe route back was rather boring like a desert with its patches of green. Veronica shuffled through the grass carelessly. She hoped to get an exact direction as to where she needed to be at the port.

indentCosmo passed her, jumping out of the grass like a dolphin in the water. He giggled.

indentVeronica didn’t have time to enjoy her smirk at his laugh before hearing a shriek. Her eyes leveled to where she last saw the Zorua and saw Cosmo in an aggressive pose facing off to a Gumshoos licking its tail.

indent“What the ******** is that?” Veronica approached with a fast pace. There were few Alolan pokemon she was familiar with and this one was like an ugly, angry Linoone.

indentCosmo started off with a Nasty Plot as he endured the Tackle attack.

indentVeronica sighed once more. “This isn’t the time to fight! Go, Night Daze!” She urged him.

indentCosmo followed her orders and pushed the enemy back; the Gumshoos leaving the grass flat where he slided. It then turned around and threw mud at Cosmo with its hind legs.

indentVeronica didn’t need to say more, Cosmo used his Night Daze again and knocked it out.

indent“Hehe,” Cosmo said and flipped towards Veronica.

indentVeronica decided to keep quiet from any unnecessary comments and focused on getting to the port without any unwanted encounters.

indentThere were plenty of people gathered, some were on boats, but there was still enough room for Veronica and Cosmo to pass comfortably.

indentShe bravely stepped towards someone who didn’t appear too busy. “Do you know where I can find Tapu Village?”

indent“That’s on Ula'ula Island. It’s the furthest South.” He also pointed in its direction.

indent“Thanks.” Veronica was about to pull out her Flygon.

indent“W-wait, I can take you if you want.” He offered.

indent“…Sure.” Veronica figured she had the time to spare.

indent“That’s my ship, I’ll be taking off in about thirty… Is that your Zorua?” He kept waving his hands around as he talked.

indentWhen Veronica turned to see Cosmo and confirmed, she noticed half of his body was hanging off the pier as he was pawing at the water with a grin. Quickly, she lounged forward to grab him. “Oof!” Cosmo exclaimed as Veronica crushed him in her crossed arms. “Zooo!” he whined and she loosened her grip.

indent“Yea, this is my Zorua.” Veronica said with a sour tone.

indentThe man laughed, although it sounded slightly forced. “Well, when you’ve got everything, feel free to get on. I’ll be finishing some preparations.” He left to board his boat.

indent“Let’s just get there already, all right?” Veronica complained. Cosmo reacted bewildered, unsure what there was to complain about.

indentMoments after they got on the boat, its motor started to roar to life. It was a modest fishing boat made of wood from the palm trees and painted with white and a line of red. It had a cursive name “Ferra” carved on its side.

indentAs the boat took off, she wondered why the man would offer to help. She planned to pay him to leave things smoothly once they arrived.

indent“So!” he called out to Veronica with an accent. “What’s in Tapu Village for you, if you don’t mind me asking?”

indentVeronica opened her mouth to talk but that’s when she realized how unorganized she was about the adventure she was taking. “I, uh,” her mind kept going back, following the events that got her there. “There’s an artifact I found that I guess has something to do with Tapu Village.” She tried to keep it simple.

indent“I see, well, you best be careful out there.” He responded. It seemed like he had something else on his mind he wanted to mention. Instead they both stayed quiet after that.

indentCosmo spent his time running from one end of the boat to the other, taking pauses to stare out at the ocean in front of them. He could have sworn he saw a shark passing by, though he didn’t really bother to talk with either of them. Cosmo’s attention was too captivated by his surroundings to check in.

indentAt last, Veronica would arrive at Ula’ula Island. “Where’s the port?” she asked as he started to make head way for some rocks.

indent“Eh? Oh it’s on the other side of the island, but we can stop by here. Trust me, I’ve parked here several times before.” He said.

indent“You know, you never told me your name.” Veronica got worried as he maneuvered through the rocks.

indent“Where are my manners, it’s Jonny.” He gave her a thumbs up – only making her worry more as she thought ‘keep your hands on the wheel!’ with a gasp.

indent“I’m Veronica.” She quickly said as she let the air out.

indentAs they passed the last couple of rocks, Cosmo tried to extend his paw at the rock, nearly touching it. “Cosmo.” She warned. His response was to snicker. The shore came up almost right away.

indentJonny let out the anchor and after shutting the boat off, he jumped off the boat. The water reached up to his knees. He offered his hand to help Veronica down. She was just about to take it when the Zorua jumped on her shoulder, making her lose her balance and causing a moment of uncertainty in her expression. She grabbed the edge of the boat with both hands to recover her posture. The man started to crack up. “I like that Zorua.” He said.

indentVeronica couldn’t find words to respond as she took his hand and focused on dropping down; although inevitably she would have to get her legs wet, she hoped that Cosmo wouldn’t cause her to fall in.

indentShe felt the heavy swaying of the water, making it difficult to move forward. At least with each step, the water lowered. She did not enjoy the feeling of wet sand sticking to her feet.

indent“Here, before I forget.” She took some money out of her pouch. “I owe you one.” She insisted before he could answer anything.

indent“Oh… Truth be told, it’s really appreciated.” He nodded slowly and accepted the money.

indent“Dad!!” A voice called out with a squeal, “You’re home!” A little girl ran up to them, hugging the man. Veronica stepped back, taking a moment to look around. A woman started to walk towards them as well, behind her there was a house by the solid ground with its door open.

indentVeronica took another step back, thinking about whether she should just walk off and let them have their reunion or be polite enough to stand by witness.

indent“Honey, you’re back.” The woman said. They hugged and perhaps kissed but at that point Veronica didn’t even bother to watch. Hearing the whole cliché routine of greeting gave her a sour taste.

indentCosmo dropped down and went to sniff them. It seemed they had asked about the Zorua. Veronica was starting to zone out their voices at this point.

indent“Veronica, was it?” The woman spoke up to her, making her soul return.

indent“Yes.”

indent“Have you come to help us?” The woman asked.

indent“Uh—“ Jonny interrupted, causing a confusing in both Veronica and his partner.

indent“Please,” she cupped her hands together, “We’ve tried asking for help but everyone says the village is doomed and cursed, that they wouldn’t step here but…” Veronica recognized pain when she saw it. “This is our home.” The woman explained.

indent“What do you need help with?” Veronica inquired, thinking that whatever they knew would come in handy.

indent“Recently,” Jonny stepped in, letting the woman take a breath to calm down. “There’s been sighting of Absols, even here at the beach. According to legends, Tapu Village is cursed and that the land will always be destroyed whenever people try to live there. It’s… hard to deny the evidence. With the Absols around, the chaos is imminent.” He sighed in hopelessness, “Maybe, you can do something… I, I don’t know, you look strong.”

indentThey were all staring at Veronica, hoping that she would take up responsibility. “Sure!” Cosmo said out of nowhere. “We’ll kick those Absols to the curve!” Surprising everyone; the man especially as he cracked up with laughter.

indentVeronica let them have a moment. “Do you know where the Absols are?”

indent“No idea.”

indent“Nope,” He also answered, “I don’t even know when they’ll show up, it’s not like we see them every night… But our house is always open if you need a place to stay.”

indentVeronica nodded with confidence. “I appreciate that.”

indent“Would you like some lunch?” The woman offered.

indent“Umh,” Veronica thought about whether to put up with the whole family’s customs but she never got a chance to say.

indent“Yea!!” Cosmo answered.

indent“Let’s race!” The little girl shouted, making a run for the house. Cosmo dashed behind her, clearly letting her win.

indentVeronica followed the couple back, glad that she would at least get out of the sun. At sea, the sun had been a warm reminder to wear sunblock. However, standing on the beach for several minutes made it feel like she was melting.

indentEven so, the view was still amazing, far more fantasy-like than the other island. The sand looked like liquid gold; it was untouched aside from their footprints. The wind was blowing her forward, hitting her back with the gravel gold every so often. She heard birds and the water and wanted to turn back to see the horizon but she knew there would probably be time for that.

indentWhere the riches ended, a grey, stone floor began. The house had one wooden room on the outside and extended into the mountain. “This is how we got through the last… happening.” He made an emphasis on his last word. “Can’t destroy a whole mountain.”

indent“Hmpf!” The woman expressed, “The Guardian Deity is supposed to protect us but it turned on the village. We aren’t even technically part of the village!” she complained and when she took notice of her tone, she went inside the house.

indent“Seems like anything South of Lanakila is basically doomed forever.” He sighed again.

indent“Yep. Sounds like it.” Veronica said and quickly followed with, “I’m sure it’s just a con-man trying to make a profit somehow by keeping up the curse myth.”

indentFor some reason, this surprised the man. “Even if it is, they don’t seem to be just anyone so be careful.” That reminded Veronica of Kurt’s warning as well. It wouldn’t stop her.

indentThey went into the house, “Here you can wash your feet.” He pointed at a sink in the corner’s floor and grinned like he had invented space ships - though Veronica admitted it was crafty.

indentHe offered a towel. “Thanks.” She was glad to get the sand off her feet. They ventured into the side of the mountain where a living room would be. Everything was made of wood and stone, with an Alolan style and color.

indent“Sorry we haven’t had time to get the electricity fully recovered but the fire place will keep you warm.” He pointed to the side, where the fireplace was. Still close enough to the outside that the chimney wouldn’t require much drilling into the mountain.

indentOn the other side was a hallway. Veronica shivered, remembering the nightmare from last night. “That way is the kitchen and rooms; I hope you don’t mind staying in Jenny’s room. There are two beds.” Veronica followed him to the girl’s room.

indentCosmo was already jumping on the bed. “Hey V!” he snickered. She sighed, but not the same kind of despair sigh the man had, it was more of one with annoyance. It made Jenny giggle.

indent“Lunch’s ready!” They heard from the kitchen.

indentVeronica helped to set the table at the living room, hoping she wouldn’t have to get through too many invading questions.

indentSeveral munches into their meal, composed of a fish and salad dish, they begun a conversation amongst themselves.

indentEventually, the little girl next to her asked, “Do all your pokemon talk?” She pointed to the pokeballs in her belt.

indent“No, just the most annoying one.” Veronica teased.

indent“Hey!” Cosmo looked up from his dish on the floor, but his mouth was too full of food to defend himself followed by another mouth full bite.

indent“Just kidding, I love Cosmo.” She let it slip out. Making tiny stars appear in Cosmo’s eyes. The family smiled, it filled the atmosphere with an unintended sweetness.

indent“Where are you from?” The woman asked.

indent“Originally, Kanto. I’ve been staying in Johto for a while now.” Veronica thought that answer would suffice.

indent“Oh, are you a tourist?” She glanced at Jonny.

indent“I’m kind of just an adventurer.” She mumbled before deciding for sure what to say, “Eh, I’m just your typical trainer!” She made a gesture with her hand not to worry.

indent“I wanna be a trainer too!” The girl spoke the line everyone has said at one point or another in their life. Veronica only smiled.

indentThey continued to talk about their life and what they did, Veronica did her best to stay attentive to what they were talking about but granted it wasn’t anything she considered useful.

indentOnce the meal was over, Veronica helped cleaned up. “Do you mind if I go rest?” She started to feel tired from the poor night sleep and the extended trip.

indent“I don’t want to sleep!” Cosmo whined.

indent“Of course,” Jonny nodded, unable to gesture as he was using his hands to wash plates. “We don’t mind watching over Cosmo, right Jenny?”

indentThe girl and the Zorua started to play. Veronica nodded back and went to the room.

indentShe stretched and dropped down on the bed, wondering if they were expecting to have another kid someday.

indentHer eyes glandered around the room. The white walls were tainted with crayon lines all over the place from the kid’s younger years but it seems there was never any effort made to erase them. There were also paintings hung around of pokemon and their family and other nonsense. There was a vent grille on the ceiling, which was rather comforting knowing she wouldn’t suffocate.

indentThe floor was covered by a soft, brown carpet, keeping the cold stone out of the way, though she didn’t want to think for too long what the carpet was made of. On top of which were all sorts of toys: a puzzle, some dolls and plushies. There was also a Stufful plushie on her bed.

indentBoth beds were single ply and made of a bright colored wood. Its blanket was green, matching the painted door. Beside each was a night stand, the one closest to Veronica was dusty but the other had a lamp.

indentVeronica found her eyes closing and didn’t fight to stop it.

indentUntil she acknowledged a black shape in the corner of her eye making her widen her eyes, dilate her pupils and focused her sight on it.

indentIt was the Sableye’s shadow again.

indentIt started at the size of an average Sableye but slowly the shadow extended with its edges acting like claws into a larger size. It stopped when its ears reached the ceiling. Its body looked as if it was split in half due to how the corner lined up to the middle of its body.

indentThe blackness was difficult to stare at, like glancing at a night sky and being unable to really see the stars that are clearly there. That was, until his smile widen into a grin larger than her size. No doubt he could kill her with one bite like that.

indentHer fears started to rise, freezing her in place and empting her mind from being able to feel where she was or realize how fast her heart was beating. This was the same thing that came after her before, the thing that was inside her now, the thing that brings the worst out of her.

indent“Thought you could cut me out?” it spoke in its regular voice, unaffected by the change in size. It felt like a nightmare, or at least she wished it was, in hopes that the voice wasn’t really there.

indentHis eyes lowered and Veronica followed his line of sight. She saw a pool of blood like it was daylight. Expecting something under the bed, she sat up properly and realized the blood was spilling from her. There were cut marks all over her chest, her stomach, her arms and legs.

indent“Do you see my ink pouring out?” it asked with a twisted, rich tone.

indentVeronica snapped back to his face, thinking a million things this time. Her expression changed into disdain and rage, for some reason she found it unable to speak or even open her mouth. Then, he laughed.

indentThe echoing laughter shocked her, compelling her to scream – only sound did not come out from her. After, she tried to catch her breath without a noise as well. It seemed she could only feel the vibrations in her throat but the only thing that could be heard was its voice.

indent“The illusion of living is only the beginning…” it tried to make Veronica feel mellow so that she could listen to its words and despite how Veronica was trying to decipher how to end all of this, she couldn’t focus as she normally would.

indent“It’s time.” It said, bring up its arm.

indentVeronica knew. Her eyes widen.

indentIt stabbed her, again, in the same place.

indentVeronica opened her eyes, feeling herself lying down on the bed in a pitch black room with sweat dripping from her forehead. Her hand immediately jumped to where the hole once was made and instead of finding blood and muscle, her hand met fur.

indent“Mmm…” it was Cosmo.

indentHer reality returned to her mind and she looked around with the crystalized eyes that could adjust to the dark. Cosmo was cuddled on top of her stomach. The little girl was asleep in the bed across the room and…

indentThe door was on fire.

indentFor just a moment, her vision flashed images of the same room being in ruins and on flames, the plushies would be melting and screams could be heard.

indentThen just as quickly, the fire disappeared. But Veronica noticed the red light coming from under the door.

indentShe picked Cosmo up and carried him with her, rushing to the door and only slowing down in the moment she closed the door behind her.

indentThere was a flame in the middle of the hall way, it dissolved and appeared again further away.

indent“Hmmm?” Cosmo moved around and opened his eyes. “What’s going on?” his voice was raspy as he tried to snap out of his drowsiness.

indentVeronica followed the wisps of flames out of the house.

indent“What’s that?” Cosmo asked, rather confused.

indent“You see it too?” Veronica answered with another question, wondering if she wasn’t so insane after all.

indentOutside, everything was as dark as it could possibly get in the wild. However, to a Zorua and Sableye hybrid, it wasn’t all that dark. Still, Veronica lost sight of the wisp.

indent“There!” Cosmo jolted forward and Veronica ran after him. He snickered as they went along.

indent“Cosmo. This could be serious.” She warned.

indentThey sprinted after the wisps as they started to disappear faster and faster, rushing pass the mountain’s edge and into Tapu Village. They were able to avoid any encounters as the wisp’s path seemingly avoided other creatures.

indentAt the village, a bright yellow caught Veronica’s eye for a moment. There was a building blocked with yellow and black tape on its doors. On closer inspection, she saw the pokecenter symbol cracked on the floor. She didn’t have the time to stop and check how recent that was, assuming all pokecenters was something the government took care of instead of the village.

indentEither way, her focus was brought back to the wisps as they stopped at nearby ruins. There, its fire turns to white and it separated into 9 smaller wisps. The smaller pieces then flew in different directions, entering statues as different corners of the ruins.

indentVeronica watched her back as they waited to determine that nothing else would happen.

indentCosmo was the first to bravely step forward. Again, nothing happened.

indentThey looked at one another. Veronica sighed, letting herself catch a breath.

indentThe Zorua stepped up the statue to sniff it, and tried biting into it but nothing happened.

indentWhen Veronica tried to take a look, it felt impossibly hard to analyze it further than the statue simply being a statue.

indent“Oh, right,” she took out her SNAG to shine light on the statue.

indentThe statue had engraved the shape of a Darkrai.

indent“It had something written,” Cosmo said, using his paw to press on the statue. “It’s footprint rune.” He seemed to recognize it.

indent“What’s footprint rune?” Veronica asked.

indent“It’s what pokemon use to write, I’ve seen it in the white forest before. Uh…” Veronica crouch to shine the light on the inscribed area. “On a moonless night, face your nightmare and ascend.”

indentCuriously, Veronica looked up at the sky. It was clear, stars could be easily seen and the moon was just a shadow. “Great.” She said sarcastically. “I assume the others have something to say?” She walked forward, having Cosmo follow.

indentThe second statue had Yveltal’s shape. “An unworthy life will be honored with a painful death.” Cosmo translated following with, “Eek!”

indentVeronica’s expression remained serious, taking a moment to glance at the other statues and wondering if all this was a joke. Just a way to keep people away, but it didn’t make sense to write it in a language only pokemon could read. She wondered if she was supposed to know this language by now or if she should have figured it out herself.

indentWith a shrug, she stepped towards to the two statues on the opposite side. Cosmo kept really closed to her, feeling his fur fluff up in fear.

indentThis one had the shape of a pokemon she couldn’t recognize: Guzzlord. “The sins judged by another world are for those with a soul to worry about.”

indentVeronica tried thinking about what it all meant but she couldn’t find something that would lead her anywhere. These felt more like warnings or rules.

indentIn the one next to it was a Zoroark. “Oh hey look, that’s me!” Cosmo got excited. “See pass illusory scenery and persevere. Eh, big words!” Cosmo felt confused.

indent“Hmmm…” Veronica felt like it was the first real clue; though she went to check out the next pair of statues before taking any sort of action on that clue.

indent“This one looks really scary…” There was a Mega Gyarados and a Mega Absol next to one another. “Come: the destruction, the violence and the apocalypse in the night.” Cosmo turned to the second, “In darkness, we thrive. In agony, we bloom. In plague, we prosper. In calamity, we rise. …. Hey, V, they’re all pretty scary.”

indent“More or less.” Veronica responded. It was true, in the pitch black darkness with only a flashlight to see such messages was rather intimidating but she needed to figure it out.

indentShe checked the next pair: it was an Umbreon and a Spiritomb. Cosmo stood between Veronica’s legs as he read, “Under the law of the moon, choose prey or predator.” Then the second, “Stand in the dark or be swallowed by it.”

indentShe quickly turned to the last one, a Lunala. Cosmo was quick to stay close. “Umh, I can’t read this.”

indentVeronica took a closer look, it was in regular English. “The moon light will be your only light.” As she read that, an ominous wind blew with a high pitch whistle. Cosmo clinged onto Veronica’s leg. Veronica tried to shine light around her but her SNAG suddenly died out.

indentThen, the statues turned to dust and a full moon mysterious appeared. Behind what used to be the Lunala statue a mirage started blending, twisting and changed what was a crumbled wall into a pitch black forest path.

indent“We-we aren’t Really going there, r-right?” Cosmo asked.

indent“Well, I mean, you can wait in the pokeball if you’d like?”

indent“N-No.” he shook his head several times, sticking to Veronica’s leg as she moved forward.

indentShe could feel her senses at their extreme, staying aware of everything. But it was too quiet and too dark, like she was walking in the middle of a void. She couldn’t tell if she was going in a straight line or if she was on the floor, or the ceiling.

indent“V!” he whispered, able to sense something ahead. Veronica focused on her determination to block out the fear.