With the many timber wolves reduced to nothing but twigs and ashes, with the exception of one running away, the two Pokemon were finally able to find the quietness they needed in the air. Sapphire's body was covered in ashes, burnt leaves, and other junk that was on his coat. Sapphire ensured that was no more threats around as he reverts back to his regular form. He glows blue as he loses some of the fur that made him look as if he had wings as he was just a regular Absol now. The mega stone that was in his possession fell to the ground in front of him. He grabbed it and placed it into his thick fur.
He turned to see Embrace exhausted, her feelers being extremely limp at her side, and she looked as if she was about to pass out. She was very bruised, and a few scratches here and there, she was limp and was staring at her body in shock. She found herself lying down below a tree, resting her sore body as she laid her head on her forelegs. Sapphire decided to walk to her side and sit on his stomach beside her.
"What do you fight for Sapphire? I know Shade does it for his pride, but what about you?" Embrace asked. Her feelers were laying on the ground in front of her, looking at the dirt and grime they have collected. They were made from a very fine silk, she always kept them clean at all time. "I always thought battling was just a way of suicide, until I met Shade. He always seemed to enjoy battling, and was always a good sport about it."
"I'm different from Shade," Sapphire responded. He shuffled a bit before looking back at his mega stone. "I battle to protect ones that I love, and ones that are helpless. Most Absols are carnivores, but I managed through a couple berries a day. The reason I went through the fog to save you was... to keep Shade happy." Embrace looked at him with her blue eyes, she had never thought about it. Before she could ask why, she started shivering. The Absol took notice as she moved her limbs closer to her body.
"Thank you for caring about him, you really are a good father," she added, still trying to get over the cold. "I-I really worry about him, thinking he goes into battles without thinking. I-I'm s-so cold."
"It's probably because," he looked up at the night sky and figured out what was happening. "It feels like fall, and if the weather here is the same as in Kalos, then winter may be coming. Just stay tight Embrace, and I'll get a fire going." Sapphire got up as he went into the woods, probably to get some wood.
Embrace was all alone now, staring upon the destruction of strange, wooden creatures before her. She had never thought that these kind of creatures existed. They had a terrible breath which was the source of the stench earlier, and their gaze was petrifying. She had thought they were just mightyenas wearing wood all over their bodies, but the hint that they weren't was the fact that they fell apart right when they were attacked with great impact of some sort.
She moved her paw to her neck to see if her necklace was okay, checking to see if the photo was smudged, missing, or it was fine. Her eyes widened as the only thing she felt was her fur. She swung her head to see that it wasn't on her. She quickly got to her paws, but her body attempted to reject the action, but she still did. She scanned the area with worry on her face. She had her head just above the ground as she was looking even more harder. Expecting to see a golden pendant on the ground beside burnt wood, she saw nothing. Embrace was starting to panic as she did not want to lose it. She took her feelers as she felt the ground beside her to see if she could grab it, under every twig, rock, and truck she looked, it wasn't there.
The pendant was very important to her, just as it was to its previous owner, her trainer. Embrace had seen it every since she first hatched from her egg. She was the first person Embrace ever saw, and she was smiling as she lowered to pick her up. The pendant around her neck interested her as she had pawed at it, receiving a laugh from her. It was probably one of the most vivid memories she had ever had with her trainer. She wore it everywhere she went, when she went to play with Embrace, went to the Pokemart with Embrace at her side, and when they watched Rhydon races together. She was pampered greatly as an Eevee, until she had evolved, she was treated more like a teen, often going missing. This was due to the fact of her visiting Shade and the rest of his friends.
"I'm back," a familiar voice said, coming out of the woods with stacks of wood on his back. He saw her scurrying across the ground, having confusion roll across his face. "May I ask what are you doing?" He placed the stacks of wood on the ground as he looked back at her.
"I'm looking for my pendant, I can't lose it!" she yelled, really sounding worried. Sapphire knew what she was talking about, but he needed to set up the fire. He started using stone edge, once the stones appeared, he let them fall harmlessly to the ground. He took some of them, put them around in a circle, and put the wood into the center of it. He took in a deep breath and let flames come out of his mouth. The wood instantly ignited as it created a nice fire to keep anything warm.
"What's special about it?" Sapphire asked, sounding stupid in the process.
"What's special about?! It reminds me of my trainer. It also has a picture of Shade and me in it. And you're expecting me to just forget about?!" Embrace ranted. "That thing is as close to me as it is my heart."
Sapphire sighed as he looked around, to see the moon still high in the sky. "Just sit down Embrace, I'll tell you some stuff." She was hesitant, but she was obligated to let her body rest. "I think I know why Shade isn't here." This seemed to activate some interest in her.
"W-why Shade isn't here?" she exclaimed, eye widened.
"It's cause of what pulled you in here, you know, the thing that looked like a shadow claw," he explained. "Tell me, you've known Shade since you met him as an Eevee right?"
"Yes, he had told me he wanted to train to be the strongest pokemon in his forest."
She received a chuckle from Sapphire as he vividly remembered a thought. "Yes, when I took him in, his worries just seemed to disappear. I was quite proud of myself. It's because of me, he saw me as a role-model of a battler."
"I thank you for making him such a happy pokemon." Embrace had always seen Shade in a happy mood, if not the happiest. The only time she saw him different was when they first discovered their true love, when he was acting all uncomfortable. That was the time when Embrace saw him act differently, the rest, boastful, friendly, and proud of his capabilities.
"All I did was provide him was a home, and a father to love. No more, no less. However, Shade didn't have the chance to have a mother for the rest of his life." Embrace looked at him with a bit of concern, since he is now considered family to her. "You see, I was on my way to the place where I would see my first mate. He just seemed to be between point A and point B."
"Your first mate?
"Actually, I did. We were great friends, I would help lookout for her pack, as she was the leader of it. We decided we may as well have a kit together. And the last time I saw, it was still an egg."
"Where were you settled?"
"Nearby a town with a waterfall." As the fire continued to crackle, she saw him shed a tear. "I committed a sin for leaving her like that. I only left her because if I were to bring Shade, she would think I just brought back food. All I wanted was the kid to be free of any burden staying with me."
"You're extremely kind hearted Sapphire, I would love to know how you found him, I want to hear the whole story."
He wiped his tears away as he looked at the bonfire, the fire was dwindling to a smaller shape as he added more wood to it, then used flame thrower more. The fire returned to its beginning size as he made eye contact with Embrace. "Well, it started like this..."
Flashback 2: Silver in the Rain.
An Absol walks through the heavy rain as it soaks his alabaster fur. He was called to come to his mate's pack for a special hunting season. He was going to help hunt down small pokemon like Bunnelby, zigzagoon, and other small animals they can find. It was also for the several amount of eggs that were about to hatch, which also needed to be kept warm due to the wind bringing in more cold than the little ones can handle.
Abigail was her name, she acted much like a leader. Sapphire was part of her pack as he had always admired her, as he was also considered to be her left paw. Turned out that she had a crush on Sapphire as well. They had talked, and eventually became mates at one point. Their egg was still in its own area where it stayed incubated, and being watched by Abigail herself. An Absol like herself was also a great battler, mostly preferring duelling.
What Sapphire really excelled at was being able to fight multiple foes at once, have learned moves such as stone edge to be able to hit multiple enemies. He preferred this fighting style due to being able to take out large packs of small creatures that were worth fighting.
He had his own den away from the packs as he was planning on making another before the next morning. His old den was full of the small animal's skeletons. He wasn't one to clean up much after himself, so instead, he resorts to making new dens each month. Due to the fact of being unable to use the move, Dig, he uses his night slash to extend his claws and slash into the ground.
Through the rain, he heard something very faint, but knew what it was.
Someone was crying.
He looked around through the thick and heavy rain to see the source of it, maybe some little Ratata or a Bidoof. He looked through the trees to see a fallen log and the trunk it was on, probably tipped over due to some pokemon's attack. He walked toward the area to look through the fallen log.
His eyes were widened as he saw a crying silver Eevee.
Sapphire could tell that it was a male through the mumbles it was making; and how hard the crying was. His silver coat was drenched in water, his was sniffling - which could've been from the crying or from getting cold in the rain. His bushy tail was very messy as his tears mixed with the ice-cold rain. Sapphire knew that it would've made a great meal for his mate, but something stopped him, he looked at the Absol for a split second before returning to crying.
"I k-know about your pack. J-just please eat me if you w-want," the Eevee stuttered, still shivering. Sapphire had a heart, there was a sense of empathy for the little Eevee. He remembered this exact situation happened to him before. When he had broke into tears during a blizzard; freezing pass his thin fur when his fur was still growing out waiting for his parents to find him. He was always extremely playful until he had started to mature and had taking battling to the next level. "I j-just want my p-parents back." He pitied the Eevee, he can't just go out of his and bring him back to his pack, an act showing that he was heartless. He sighed as he brought his head lower to meet eyes with him.
"Let's see if we can fix that," Sapphire said with a smile. The Eevee looked at him with widened eyes as Sapphire looked at him more intently. Sapphire had believed that the little Eevee had much untapped potential. "My name is Sapphire, what's yours?"
"HEY! SAPPHIRE!" a voice intruded. Sapphire cursed himself as he looked at the incoming Absol running towards him. Night was more of a nussiance to Sapphire than an actual pack member to him.
"Get deeper into the log Eevee," Sapphire warned, where the Eevee was happy to do what he said.
"Sapphire, storms getting much more intense, we have to get pack with the pack, the eggs may not have a chance to hatch," Night exclaimed. "Did you find any food on the way?"
Sapphire had to lie. "No, I didn't, guess all the pokemon around here are hiding."
"Well, that really sucks," Night said, irritated due to the heavy rain and not finding food. "What's that smell?" Night started sniffling the air as his nose was directed to the log Sapphire was beside.
"What do you smell?" Sapphire asked nervously, hoping that it wouldn't be the Eevee he smelled.
"It's been a while since I had Eevee, they are certainly rare sight to see. And boy they are good," Night said licking his lips. Sapphire faintly heard the Eevee gulp. "And I'm sure... it's right. HERE!" With that, his claws grew and glowed purple as he slashed the log in half, revealing the silver Eevee.
The Eevee whimpered as Night bite at the little pokemon's tail within his teeth.
"Perfect," he said through his teeth, with the Eevee struggling. "Would you like to do the honours of finishing it so we wouldn't have to deal with it on the way back?" Sapphire looked at the Eevee looking at him with big eyes. He walked toward Night still holding it.
"Sure," Sapphire agreed, startling the Eevee. He looked at the Eevee and winked, signalling him he was not going to kill him. He got his claws held to his face as shadows started to form around them. Night looked at him with a look a confusion.
"Come on Sapphire, you know Eevees are normal types until they evolve, why are you using Shadow claw?"
A smirk grew across Sapphire's face. "Cause I'm not attacking him, and he's not going to be a meal today!" Sapphire said with one swift, upward slash. The claw went right through the Eevee's body as it was a ghost to him, and across Night's face, where he held his eyes in pain. The Eevee, dropped to the mud below as he scrambled behind Sapphire's foreleg.
"What the HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Night snapped in agony. He looked at Sapphire as he noticed the Eevee behind his legs as blood crossed his eyes.
"What I was told once, do what you think is right, and do it. That's what I'm doing." Night growled at him fiercly as Sapphire was smirking at him. Without another word, Night dashed at him with a quick attack in complete rage as Sapphire stood there, calm and collective. Just as he got close, he pushed the Eevee away, just far enough away from the battle that may happen. With one swift movement, Sapphire dodged the attack as he extended his claw across Night's neck.
This was the first step to Sapphire's rebellion against his own pack and mate as blood has been drew among his own brothers. Night's body slid across the ground past him and into the tree, now motionless.
Dead.
Sapphire was well aware of the crime he had committed will get him kicked out of the pack to be shunned, but he had planned ahead of time. He looked back at the Eevee who had a scared look, tears forming in his eyes. Sapphire walked toward the silver Eevee as he lowered his head for them to make eye contact.
"It's over little guy," Sapphire whispered softly as the rain started to go away. The Eevee ran towards Sapphire as he ran on Sapphire's head, giving it a hug. Sapphire grabbed him carefully in his forelegs, careful not to cut him with his claws, and hugging him as he cried into his fur. "It's over." The rain settled down to a drizzle as the sun was breaking the clouds.
"W-what about you're pack Sapphire? Won't they be mad?" the Eevee said.
"Of course they will, that's why I'm already leaving them. That reminds me, want to come live with me? I'm going to a different area so they can't find me."
The Eevee's eyes became wider as more tears leaked out, making him hug tighter. "C-can we go to the Pokemon center first?"
"Sure."
Sapphire talk the Eevee in his mouth and put him on his back, smiling at him before heading to the Pokemon Center nearby. This was quite unusual for the Absol as he never goes to civilizations, as many people thought he was dangerous. The nurse joy there was startled from the encounter, but knew what the Absol wanted as she had saw the sleeping Eevee on his back. She was happy to help out the Eevee as it was currently in the Resting room for pokemon that have recently been ill of the sort.
Nurse joy had just finished up helping Eevee as she let the Absol see him, leaving the two alone soon after.
"How you feeling?" Sapphire asked first.
"Well, better than before, th-that's for sure," the Eevee responded. He looked at Sapphire before looking at his paws. "That move you used back there, it scares me, so, so much." Sapphire had assumed that it was the Shadow claw he used before.
"What's wrong with it?"
Silence rained the room as the Eevee shuffles in the bed. "It's what killed my mommy," the Eevee managed to say, trying to suck up the emotional pain. Sapphire remembers him saying he wants to his parents again, this made Sapphire consider a decision.
"You know, I was thinking," Sapphire said. "I was thinking if you wanted me to adopt you." The Eevee's eyes were baffled at Sapphire's remark. Instead of tears of sadness back there, he had tears of joy as he hopped into Sapphire's forelegs.
"I will daddy," Eevee said as he looked up at him. "I will." Sapphire felt his heart explode as he returned the hug to his new son.
"Say," Sapphire inquired. "You still haven't told me your name son."
He only received a smile instead of an answer. "That's your job, you're suppose to name your children daddy!" His son exclaimed with happiness. Sapphire gave it some thought as he knew about the many forms Eevee can evolve into with many different methods to get to them. He wanted to see his son to be an Umbreon as it was a dark-type such as himself.
"How does 'Shade' sound?" Sapphire suggested, unsure of the name.
"Sounds great daddy!" As Shade hugged him even harder, now being his official son.
"So that's what happened, I sinned by killing one of my own brothers," Sapphire admitted. "Which may also be the reason why Shade isn't here with us, cause of that exact attack. Before I entered the fog, his face was the exact same when I did the opposite of eating him."
"But wait, if you were a carnivore, than how did you not eat him during the time you were with him?" Embrace asked.
"It was hard, but I was able to turn over a new leaf to be a herbivore. Was hard, but I managed, I did it for Shade."
"You have a real heart to change your whole life style for your own son. I couldn't do that, even if you helped me."
Sapphire couldn't believe what he was feeling as he felt his face go red. "Well, he is Shade, and he gets the benefits I can make. It's not a question of can or can't. There are some things in life you just do." Embrace seemed to take this into much account, seeing how Sapphire seemed to be very mature of his actions. Sapphire took notice that Embrace seemed to be wobbling a bit. "You okay Embrace?" Sapphire asked.
"I'm... I'm f-fine," she mumbled as she had her head on the ground, snoring. Sapphire knew it would be tiring for non-nocturnal pokemon to stay awake at this time, though the sun was rising slowly. He looked around to see if he could find something to eat, hoping something edible.
Twilight didn't know what to do, Yveltal was most likely knows more than he's letting on, and this was concerning.
Twilight was already wiping away the dried blood in Shade's fur as she soon wrapped bandages around his body and legs so he can recover somewhat faster. Before the moon fell below the mountains, his blue rings gave off a glow before dying down. She inspected his legs, seeing that none of them were broken. He only had seemed to experience external injuries, no broken bones or ripped muscles.
"Twilight?" a voice called from the door. She swung her head to see Luna, already having taken notice of the Umbreon. Twilight desperately tried to hide her activities.
"Oh hey Luna! It's not like I have some kind of pokemon behind me or anything!" she said quickly and nervously. But Luna wasn't stupid, and Twilight was well aware of that. She sighed in defeat as she moved away from the Pokemon. "Just say it Luna."
Her eyes were trained on the Umbreon before her. Twilight had done a real good job patching him up as all its wounds seemed to be tended to. Luna sighed as she went back to the coffee table they were discussing at last night.
"I'm sorry Twilight." Luna's voice was different, her royal canterlot voice was absent. Twilight had remembered what Yveltal had told her. She was expecting her to be all mad at her, instead, she was apologizing. "It's cause of my actions, thy assignment has been put upon your shoulders."
I had specifically told her that if she were to tell anybody in that world of hers with great importance that there would be consequences. And may Arceus help you Twilight Sparkle, you better have plans.
"Please Luna, don't be so hard on yourself," Twilight comforted, sitting across from her, leaving Shade on her bed. "If I didn't accept his deal, he would have destroyed all of Equestria."
Luna sniffed. "I'm well aware of that. I'm pretty sure you know the rest, on how he told you that he was the cause."
"Yes, I asked him myself. Luna, he seemed to be... manipulative."
"How so?"
"Well, in that dream, he acted like a gentlecolt, but then he hurt me by putting a scare on my face," Twilight responded, feeling the area where he had created the scar. "But he acted like a close friend as he wiped away my tear. I thought he was trying to get me on his bad side."
Luna seemed to know everything already, as she really knew Yveltal as a friend. "Yveltal..." she whispered, shuddering at the thought. "I was never a big fan of him, I feel ill around him. He was here this morning wasn't he?" Twilight felt her coat tighten as she did not want Luna to have known about.
"Yes, he delivered him to me," Twilight said, pointing at the pokemon on her bed. "Told me to train him for an incoming battle that would decide our fate." Twilight laid her head on her hooves in disappointment.
"I see," Luna said simply, before walking toward the pokemon. She inspected him with her ocean-colored eyes. Her horn started to glow as she brought it down towards the ring on Shade's head. As her horn made contact, Shade's body stirred as Luna lifted her horn away from him as it looked as he was about to wake. "I've seen that many pokemon don't seem to understand humans back in their own world. Or maybe it was the other way around? Regardless, I put a translation spell on him so you will be able to understand him, along with rejuvenation spell so we can get his heart pumping a bit faster."
"How much you know about these 'pokemon' Luna?" Twilight asked, amazed from Luna's capabilities.
"Every pokemon in their world is unique from one another, some pokemon are stronger than others, and others are even treated like gods. I know of one that rivals my sister's strength and mine. And we've met him before."
"I forgot to ask, where's Spike?" Twilight asked, not noticing until now.
"Oh yes, he's currently helping Celestia with some office work. Yes, Celestia gave him that job before you two went to sleep."
"Are you sure he was up to the task?"
"Oh yes, sister trained him for a solid 2 months," Luna responded with confidence.
2 months hit Twilight in the head like a brick.
The deadline.
"That's when he comes," Twilight whimpered. A rush of cold air moves from head to hoof as her time was limited. "We have to do this within two months."
Before Luna could ask for more info, she heard a dazed voice coming from behind her, turning to see the pokemon awake. The first thing he did was notice the two princesses as he jumped off the bed, backed away, and took a defensive stance. He still seemed in pain as he winced at his wounds.
Twilight had looked at Shade and scanned him with her trained eyes. Obviously, he didn't know where he was, and he was confused. Yveltal wasn't joking when he said that he had erased his memories. He looked around the room as he saw the open balcony as he made a mad dash for it.
"Stop him Luna!" Twilight commanded the co-ruler. Luna teleported in front of the balcony doors and spread her wings, not letting the Pokemon pass her. Luna saw the obvious movement he was going to do as an orb of shadows formed at his mouth, then launched at the blue alicorn. Luna brought up a barrier of magic around herself as it collided with it, creating a cloud of smoke in its wake. As the smoke cleared, Luna was still in one piece as the barrier disappeared.
"That was shadow ball Twilight. Please be careful," Luna warned.
She heard the Umbreon curse as he turned his attention to Twilight.
"WHERE AM I?!" Shade yelled, spitting it at them like venom. Shade was hyperventilating, he was so confused, making him do rash decisions.
"Please Shade, just calm down," Twilight insisted, slowly walking toward him.
"AND HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME?!" he screamed again. This time, he shot another one of his shadow balls at Twilight. She rolled to the side as it exploded as it impacted into the wall, but Twilight didn't give up.
"Please Shade. I don't want to hurt you," Twilight ensured again, holding her hoof out. "Please, don't regard everything as an enemy. Open your heart for me." Shade looked at her with consideration. Then to his body.
Had she done this? Did she do this for him?
He shook his head fast as he charged for the wall, charging up for one of his powerful attacks, his body started to glow as a round sphere formed around him as yellow streaks of energy formed around him as he collided with the wall, breaking down effortlessly by the Umbreon.
"Shade! Luna! We have to run after him," Twilight piped up.
"That was Giga Impact," Luna mumbled, mouth hung open.
"How do you know this stuff?" Twilight wondered.
"Lets just say... I know what they look like," she responded.
The followed him through the hole in the wall, knowing full well that the explosion was going to attract attention. They looked to see where he was, he wasn't anywhere to be seen.
"Where has he gone? Hope he doesn't cause trouble." Twilight prayed.
"Twilight," Luna asked. "What did Yveltal say about Shade?"
"Well, he said before he gave him to me to take in his care, he'd told me he would remove his memory first."
"What I think, is that Yveltal is challenging you."
"Challenging?"
"Yes, you won't believe me when you hear this, but Yveltal likes to play with his victims quite often. Like what he did with me."
"I see," Twilight pondered. She looked down at the courtyard to see Shade near the pond, where it looked like he was washing off his face. "There he is!"
"Alright, Twilight," Luna stopped Twilight. "Before you go down there I need you to know something."
"And what is that?"
"Put thyself in Shade's hooves, er, paws, and think, what would thee do?"
Twilight thought about it deeply. If she were in some world where she knew nothing about it, she would probably be scared and confused. And if she had the power to attack ponies with attacks like those, she would probably defend herself as well, which was what Shade was doing. "Gee, I feel bad for him so much," Twilight sniffled.
"Exactly, when you confront, make him feel like that this place was always his home, and you've known him for quite a couple years."
"But that's lying!" Twilight protested.
"Then tell me, would thee tell him the truth of what happened and make him even more sad? Or lie and make him feel happy so he cooperates. Cause the penalty for breaking Yveltal's deal, was that he would drain all life in our world and it would make his life much longer, being able to live another couple centuries."
Luna got the bullseye as Twilight knew, she had to decide between the two. She now knows what Yveltal would do, and she didn't want it to happen. She didn't want to lie, she wanted to be just like Applejack, honesty. However, this would mean that he would go with his original plan, if he found out Shade won't fight.
"I have no choice, do I?" Twilight uttered.
"Yes, he's your responsibility, so go. I'll tell my sister about this, so she knows what's going on."
"Alright, hope he doesn't overreact."
With that said, Twilight flew down to the courtyard, ready to confront with Shade.
"Shade, please listen to me," Twilight pleaded as she landed a little clumsily, but was on all fours.
He swung his head to see the pony princess, his golden eyes all watery, he was hesitant on attacking her again, but just turned his head back to the pond, where his reflection stood. "Leave me alone," he scoffed at her.
"I'm trying to help you Shade," Twilight persuaded.
"Help me? I don't even know who you are, yet, you know me," Shade replied.
"It's cause you already known me, it's just what happened," Twilight lied, biting her lips in the process. "There was dark magic all around you Shade, it must've wiped your memory clean, you were lucky to be alive."
He looked at his bandaged body, then back at her. "How should I know you're telling the truth?"
"Cause I'm your friend, I bandaged you up, and helped you recover this past week. Plus, I didn't want you to die, so I got you out of there, even though I was relunctant."
"If you really are, then tell me what I loved to do," Shade questioned.
"You always loved to battle, always winning, a smile on your face and everything achieved, I was there to congratulate you," Twilight answered. Once again, she held her hoof out to welcome him back into open hooves. "Please, we can restart, and please, give me the chance to see you happy again."
Twilight made herself as convincing as possible, though she didn't like how all of that was a complete lie. She hated it, but it was for the fate of Equestria. Shade stood on all fours paws as he walked towards her. Twilight stood her ground as he got closer. He looked at her hoof and gave it a sniff, trying to familiarize himself again, or so he thought, with her.
"I don't know why, but your scent reminds me of someone," Shade added. Twilight didn't have any idea of what he meant, but she had to sail with it. Shade was hesitant, but came to coming to the conclusion. He gave her smile and placed his paw on Twilight's hoof. Twilight smiled.
"In case you didn't remember, my name's Twilight Sparkle."