Pokémon Eclipse

by moviemaster8510

Chapter 9 – Errors

The contrast between Gladion’s Weavile’s smirk and his frown continued to be a disconcerting presence to Sam and Alice.

“Who are you?” Alice asked in a stern tone.

“My name is Gladion.” His body and other facial features continued to stay hauntingly still. “I work for an organization that wishes to help those Pokémon you have traveling with you.”

“For the last time!” Starlight growled. “We’re not Pokémon, we’re ponies!”

“Ponies? Hmm, now we’re getting somewhere.”

“What do you want?” Sam barked.

“You’re more than likely aware of the wormhole that brought those two to Melemele. Others like it appeared on the other islands.”

“We know,” Alice interrupted. “We’re also trying to find her other friends.”

“Oh? You must be very strong trainers if you’re willing to go to each island and find them.” Gladion continued reading Sam and Alice’s eyes, seeing a slight, but telling, raise in them. “I see, you’re a pair of novices who probably just started their Island Trials, aren’t you?”

“Who are you calling novice?!” she yelled back.

“Listen. I don’t have much time to be discussing your training skills. If you two aren’t strong enough to be able to go straight to the other islands like I am, I’m going to need to take those ponies off of your hands.”

“Over our dead bodies!” Sam shouted, stepping back and reaching for Honedge’s Poké Ball.

“Sam, wait!” Alice’s eyes and body continued facing Gladion, who looked less and less interested as the seconds passed. “He’s got a Weavile on him. He’s probably really strong.”

“Then you must be okay letting him take them then…”

Alice breathed in through her teeth, her brother’s remark sharp and unfair, but true nonetheless. She then glanced behind her to the frightened ponies, turning back to him.

“Yeah, alright.” She grabbed a Poké Ball from her belt. “You want these ponies, you’ll have to go through us. Go, Pikachu!”

She tossed her Poké Ball out, her Pikachu standing defensively before the Weavile upon its appearance.

“Honedge, go!” Sam tossed his ball out, his Honedge taking a threatening slash to the air once it appeared.

“Hm…” Gladion studied his opponents’ Pokémon, then reaching for his belt and aiming a Poké Ball at his Weavile. “Weavile, return.”

Brought back in by the ball’s red beam, he reached behind him with both hands and tossed two Poké Balls out with a grunt. Both of them opened at the same time, unleashing the Pokémon inside. On Sam’s side was Gladion’s Lucario.

Facing Alice’s Pikachu was a large chimaera of a creature with a hairless black body like a wolf, two green bird talons for front arms, and a blue fish’s fin. Its mechanical wolf-like head and neck were draped in long silver fur with a large crest above its head with three spines sticking out from the back, which were colored brown like the membrane of its tail.

“A Lucario,” Alice observed, “…but what’s that other thing with him?”

Alice took out her Pokédex and scanned the foreign looking Pokémon.

“Unknown entry,” the Pokédex responded, a white question mark spinning in the center of the screen. “Please make sure the Pokémon is in focus and try again.”

Alice looked up in shock and disbelief; it was right there staring at her.

“Chances are you won’t find Silvally on your Pokédex,” Gladion said. “It was created in secret to battle and contain the Ultra Beasts when they appeared ten years ago, and it’s only gotten stronger since then. So I’ll ask you one last time as a courtesy: Hand the ponies to me, and your Pokémon won’t have to feel its strength.”

“Like my brother said…” Alice’s expression was now solid and stoic. “Over our dead bodies.”

Gladion closed his eyes and sighed heavily.

Alice clenched her fists, ready to begin. “Pikachu, Quick Atta–”

“Lucario, Extreme Speed!”

As Pikachu reeled back to run, Lucario suddenly appeared in front of it, its left arm and paw swinging at Pikachu’s face. Before Alice could gasp, Pikachu could only turn its head and part of its body away as Lucario’s fist struck Pikachu in the shoulder, blasting it past Alice and the ponies and up the hilly ground behind her.

“PIKACHU!” Alice and Fluttershy shrieked in unison.

Starlight and Sam also turned with horrified expressions as they watched Pikachu continue tumbling until it was thirty feet away. Alice’s eyes and lips trembled as Pikachu attempted to stand, barely able to lift itself an inch off the ground before it gave up and fell unconscious. Sam glanced back to the ponies, Starlight turning back to the battle while Fluttershy and Alice ran back to help Pikachu. He then jerked back around with a vengeful frown on his face, Gladion standing as still and unafraid as ever as Lucario returned to its trainer’s side.

“Honedge, Shadow Sneak on his other Pokémon!”

Sam punched toward the ground and Honedge followed suit with a lunge to the ground, its shadow running quickly along the ground and coming beneath Silvally. The dark blast pushed its upper half up several feet, but Silvally managed to regain its balance and land back on its front talons with ease, almost unaffected by the attack.

Silvally then locked its eyes on Honedge and Sam, who now seemed to realize the fatality of their situation. Even with Sam’s eyes looking back at Gladion with a plead for mercy, Gladion’s expression remained unchanged.

“Silvally,” Gladion’s subtly apologetic voice sounded, “Multi-Attack.”

Sam felt all sense of touch leave his body as he watched Silvally rear back to charge, the three horns on its head and the membrane in its tail glowing bright. The world suddenly felt like slow motion as Silvally began running at Honedge, who too looked paralyzed in fear. Fluttershy and Alice came back with Pikachu in Alice’s arms just in time to watch the beginning of Silvally’s first and quite possibly last attack.

“HONEDGE!” Starlight cried.

Silvally leapt up, loose dirt seeming to trail off its front claw as it rose up to slash at Sam’s defenseless Pokémon. In the last moment, Sam crossed his arms and Honedge braced itself for the attack, both of their eyes closed.

Only Alice, Fluttershy, and Starlight could see as a large creature leapt down from above between Honedge and Silvally and took the latter’s attack, blowing more dirt around them all. Once it began to clear, Sam and Honedge opened their eyes and looked up at their impromptu savior.

It appeared to be a muscular grey-colored dragon with large gold-rimmed scales that ran along its arms, down its neck, dangled alongside its legs, and stuck into the end of its pointed tail in quarters. The dragon turned to Sam and Honedge, revealing its hatchet-shaped snout with red gold-rimmed scales draped down its head like dreadlocks. However, it wasn’t even the dragon that surprised Sam more than who was mounted upon it. From his large, orange jacket, and black, clipped-back hair, he recognized him immediately.

“Hau!” he shouted.

The dragon threw its arms out, the scales effectively fanning away the dirt and dust caused by its arrival. Now Alice and the ponies could see them both clearly, the sight making them gasp loudly. Hau hopped off his dragon and stepped toward Gladion, his Silvally slinking back to his side out of apparent reverence.

“Gladion.” Hau’s serious demeanor actually began to make Gladion visibly nervous. “What are you doing battling these kids?”

“Leave us alone, Hau.” Even Gladion’s voice showed signs of trepidation. “This doesn’t concern you.”

“I’m the Kahuna of this island, and as such, seeing to the well-being of everything on it, including those ponies, does in fact concern me.”

“Those ponies need to come with me where it’s safe!”

“I think they’re fine just where they are.” Hau crossed his arms comfortably. “If you want to try and find the others, I won’t, and can’t stop you, but while they’re on my island, you can’t have them, and you won’t.” Hau’s dragon let out a small roar to back Hau’s claim.

Gladion’s breathing became more and more audible. “Hau… get out of my way…”

“No, my friend. Why don’t you get out of theirs?”

Gladion’s and Hau’s eyes locked, neither blinking or shifting their direction from their centers. Sam and Honedge stood in place watching the standoff while Alice and the ponies approached quietly and joined them. After several moments, Gladion closed his eyes as he reached back with both hands. Pulling out two Poké Balls, he returned both his Lucario and Silvally inside, his head hung shamefully down.

Gladion shot his head up, his sights on Alice and Sam. “He is right about one thing. Once you two leave this island, he won’t be there. We’ll meet again. Prepare for it.”

Putting his Poké Balls back onto his belt, he darted to the cliff facing the ocean and pulled out his Ride Pager, a Poké Ball coming from it. Tossing it and himself over the edge, Alice and Sam ran out to his jumping point, only to see him on the back of his Charizard, flying south to the open ocean. Hau and his dragon approached them with the ponies beside him.

“Who was that?” Sam asked.

“You two sounded like you knew each other,” added Fluttershy.

“And we do,” he responded. “Come back to Iki Town with me. I can explain once we heal your Pikachu.”

Without looking, Hau grabbed a hold of the dragon’s scale-hair and allowed it to pull him up onto its back. The dragon began walking Hau down the hilly path, Alice, Sam, and the ponies quick to tag along.

Gladion’s Charizard came up to Aether Paradise, where it landed upon the wide bridge connecting the main building to a large white mansion on the north side. Upon calling it back inside the Poké Ball and returning the ball into the Ride Pager, he looked up at the towering facility where his friends and family would be waiting. He slouched over and clenched his fists, groaning as he tried squeezing even tighter, his eyes shut so hard that his vision turned green.

“Gladion?” The sound of his sister’s voice via his earpiece loosened his muscles. “The GPS says you’ve returned.”

Gladion broke into as quick of a walk as he could without jogging. “Where are you?”

“In the lower labs. Solgaleo and Lunala just woke up a little while ago.”

“Hang tight, I’ll be there.”

Gladion immediately pulled the device from his ear and broke into a sprint inside the building. Weaving around multiple employees, he saw as several up ahead were preparing to go into the center lift. He quickened his pace as a male employee pressed an icon on the screen panel and it began to slowly prepare its way down.

By the time Gladion reached it, it had already passed the platform. Kicking forward, he fell to his butt and slid, slipping over the side and landing in an empty space made by several employees who saw him coming.

“One of these days,” a female employee said, “you’re going to end up killing yourself.”

“Until then…” Gladion kept his body facing the direction he knew he’d need to go, ignoring the stares he received from everyone else.

The lift stopped at the bottom, and Gladion hurdled over the gate and through a sliding door, continuing to sprint down the hall until he reached a door at the end. He ran two steps inside the room and slowed to a stop to see Sun, Lillie, and Lusamine, standing before Solgaleo and Lunala, who turned to his direction to acknowledge his entrance.

Lillie was first to turn and see her brother, looking both relieved and saddened as she walked over to him and hugged him tightly over the shoulder.

“It’s okay,” Gladion said. “I’m here.”

“Gladion.” His mother then came forward. “Did you find others?”

Gladion slipped himself out of his sisters embrace, hanging his head down low. “I did, but they found someone else.”

“Someone else? What do you mean?”

“There were two others on Melemele, much like the ones I described on Poni. But they’ve been befriended by two trainers. I tried getting them to come back with me, but…” The rest of the story and truth seemed to get caught in Gladion’s throat, especially looking at Sun.

“And?” Sun pressed.

“…honestly, they’re probably more frightened of us than we should be of them. I can’t imagine that they’d be that strong or threatening if they would allow themselves to buddy up with two trainers just starting their Island Challenge.”

“And you left them alone?” Lusamine’s scolding voice was just as harsh and punishing as always.

“Please, don’t yell at him!” Lillie came between her mother and brother, softening their demeanors. “If what Gladion says is true, the fact that these creatures are safe and with someone is the most important thing for them. The most important thing for us right now is finding out what happened with Solgaleo and Lunala.”

“Right…” Gladion’s sighing voice was the only thanks Lillie would receive for standing up to their mom. “How are they doing right now?”

“That’s just it…” Sun looked up to the two Pokémon, followed by Gladion, and both Solgaleo and Lunala looked a little confused at their looks of concern. “Ever since they woke up, they have no recollection of what happened last night. It’s almost as if they woke back up just now like it’s any other day.”

“They seriously don’t remember a thing?”

“It’s hard to say. We were going to run some more extensive tests, and then you arrived.”

“Well, don’t mind me.”

Gladion turned to walk out of the room.

“Gladion?” Lusmine stepped up to approach him, but he kept going until the door closed behind him.

Outside, Gladion continued walking until he was back at the well for the lift, which had already gone back up since he arrived. Pressing the up icon on the screen beside the gated entrance, he looked up in no direction in particular.

“I’m sorry…” he whispered. “I’m sorry…”

Hau gently laid the bed’s covers over Pikachu up to the bottom of its neck, its head lightly bandaged. Alice, Fluttershy, Sam, and Starlight stood over it as Hau stood back up, watching the Pikachu for any possible signs of stirring.

“He’ll be just fine,” Hau whispered. “We’ll see how he is in the morning.”

Hau motioned his arm to the exit, and Alice, Sam, and the ponies quietly walked to the doorway and left, Hau last to leave before the shut the door behind him. Sam made his way to the couch, slumping into his seat. He stared at the ground as thoughts of the battle with Gladion raced through his mind. Suddenly…

_____________________________________________________

Sam stood with his back against an alley wall, pointing out at a small blue bat for his Honedge, only for it to be grabbed by the mouth of a large purple-furred cat with a golden underside.

_____________________________________________________

Sam breathed out with a shiver, the terrible memory surfacing more and more.

_____________________________________________________

Sam’s eyes welled with tears as the cat’s trainer and two other trainers beside him laughed.

_____________________________________________________

Sam continued looking at the ground as a tear fell from his eye and to the floor.

_____________________________________________________

Sam shouted at the cat as it jerked its head about with Honedge in its mouth as if it were nothing but a toy to it.

_____________________________________________________

“Sam…” Alice’s voice went ignored.

_____________________________________________________

Sam ran out to the cat only to be tackled from the side by a lanky white dog with long fur and a black face. His head hit the wall–

_____________________________________________________

“Sam!” Alice shoved her hand onto his shoulder, which Sam reacted to almost instinctively by violently slapping it away.

Alice held her stinging wrist and stepped back, the ponies gasping at Sam’s sudden temperament. They looked at this face, which already had a line of tears down both of his cheeks. Sam breathed in heavily and turned away slowly.

“Sam?” Starlight’s voice was quiet and non-threatening as she could make it. “What’s wrong?”

He just as slowly turned back to face her, his breathing now more controlled.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for that.” Sam’s voice was quiet, as if he knew that wasn’t enough.

“It’s… okay,” Alice responded, walking back up to him. “Just, jeez, that really stung–”

“No, not that. I’m sorry I didn’t listen. You told me not to fight him, and I did anyway. I should have listened and now your Pikachu’s hurt because of me, and if I just listened, the ponies… the…”

Sam came close to breaking down, only to be quickly grabbed by Alice.

“If you didn’t choose to fight him, he would have taken the ponies anyway.”

“But I did! And not only would I have lost them, I would have gotten the rest of our Pokémon hurt, which I partly already did. It was Lumiose all over again.”

“Sam…”

“No, I knew this was a mistake. I should have never tried becoming a trainer.”

Sam then began crying, but Alice gently shook Sam by the shoulders.

“If you really think that…” Alice detached Honedge’s Poké Ball from Sam’s belt, “tell him that.”

Alice tossed the ball out and let Honedge free from it, who immediately joined by Alice’s side, it’s eye-lid shaped to show great concern for its trainer. Sam looked to it, and found the words he just said to burn up in his throat.

“I’m so sorry for putting you through that again,” he gagged. “I don’t know what else to do now.”

“There’s nothing you need to do now.” Hau’s statement was reinforced by Honedge nuzzling itself into Sam’s side and drying his eye with the end of his cloth-arm before wrapping it around him in a hug. “He knows…”

A fresh stream of tears replaced the ones his Pokémon wiped away, and Sam leaned his head into Honedge, happy to feel its forgiveness. Starlight then approached Sam and rested her forelegs onto his thighs, Alice stepping back to give them room.

“Sam,” Starlight said, “if you didn’t decide to fight Gladion, you wouldn’t have given Hau enough time to come and stop him. Even if you knew you would lose to him, you and Honedge still chose to defend us.”

“You have nothing to feel ashamed of.” Fluttershy came forward next. “We’re so very happy to have made friends out of both of you.”

Sam finally showed the first sign of a smile since defeating Ilima’s trial, and with a heavy sniff, he leaned over and brought his arm around Starlight’s back and resting the other side of his face against her neck. Starlight brought her own arms around his back and accepted his embrace.

Alice, Fluttershy, and Hau couldn’t resist the urge to smile too. It seemed all was well again.

The sunset through the dining room window provided a lovely ambience to the end of everyone’s dinner, the seven plates on the table before each human, pony, and Pokémon practically licked clean.

“Once again,” Sam said, “everything was delicious.”

“Thank you once again,” Hau winked at Sam. “You know, it’s not too late if you either of you want to do your Grand Trial now.”

“Thanks for the offer,” Alice responded, “but I’ll wait until Pikachu is up and ready.” She then turned to her brother. “If you want to go ahead–”

“No thanks.” Sam’s voice seemed a bit reluctant in his answer, but his face looked confident. “It’s been an exhausting day for all of us, and I think a night’s sleep will better prepare us.”

“Suit yourself.” Hau pushed his chair out and stood up, beginning to collect the empty plates and silverware.

“Also,” added Starlight, “you never explained to us who this Gladion guy is and how you know him.”

Hau stopped in his tracks, taking a heavy, regretful sigh. “Sorry, it almost slipped my mind. Hold on.”

“But most importantly,” Alice asked, “should we fear him?”

Hau had just placed the dirty dishes into the sink and came back to sit down at his spot. “I really don’t think so. Gladion takes his responsibilities very seriously, so he may have come across as rash and violent to you. The truth is, he’s actually a nice person, but he has a… funny way of showing it.”

“Funny for who?” asked Starlight.

“Yeah, wrong choice of wording there…”

“What’s this organization he talked about?” Sam wondered. “He said he was there to help Starlight and Fluttershy, but with what?”

Hau leaned in and rested his mouth on the side of his finger-locked hands, sorting through all the ways he could answer him. “Yeah, how’s about I start from the beginning?”

Everyone relaxed in their chairs, prepared to hear Hau’s tale.

“Gladion works for a place called the Aether Foundation,” he began, “which originally was created to help shelter and heal injured Pokémon.”

“Well, that doesn’t sound that bad,” interrupted Fluttershy.

“Not at all, but a little over ten years ago, they began dabbling in inter-dimensional research, which led to them discovering a bunch of really powerful Pokémon called ‘Ultra Beasts.’ That’s when I met Gladion for the first time. His mom runs the place, but she went a bit nutty and tried ripping open a wormhole to where the Ultra Beasts lived and unleashing them on Alola. Me and a friend of mine managed to gain his trust and help him stop her.”

“Ultra Beasts.” Sam turned to his sister. “That must have been what we saw in that one video.”

“Right,” agreed Alice, “but what do these Ultra Beasts have to do with the ponies?”

“Nothing that I know of,” Hau responded. “My guess is that after that incident, they continued their research and somehow came across your world. Why they would take you out of it like they did, I’m just as uncertain. I’m still close friends with Gladion’s sister, who also works there. She tells me that her mother has gotten a lot better, and knowing her, I highly doubt she would have allowed what happened to you guys to happen.”

“So, should we trust this Aether Foundation or not?” Starlight started to sound irate. “Say Gladion finds us again, what should we do?”

“The Aether Foundation, oh yeah! The people there are very nice. I mean, you kind of have to be when you’re working with sick and injured Pokémon, right?”

Both ponies smirked to see Hau’s behind-the-back arms and smile gesture, finding it as solid of a promise as he could make.

“And Gladion?” Sam asked.

“Like I said…” Hau put his arms back on the table. “…he means well, but he takes his work seriously. If he finds you and does ask the ponies to come back to Aether with him again, ask to come with. I’m sure he’ll be willing to accept so long as he gets some of what he wants, but either way, you’ll be in good hands with them.”

“But…” Fluttershy questioned, “what if he doesn’t?”

“I doubt it.” Hau’s arms returned behind his back. “Me, Sam, Alice, and even the folks at Aether all know that the important thing is that you find your friends and get back home safely.”

“Though,” Sam said with a reassuring hand, “by no means does that mean we don’t want to help.”

“Right.” Alice glanced between Starlight and Fluttershy’s vision. “We took you under our wings and we want nothing more than to see this through with you.”

Noibat and Honedge both let out a cry of agreement, the ponies smiling warmly at their support.

“That’s the spirit!” Hau shot from his seat and clapped his hands loud enough to jolt everyone around him, including the Pokémon. “You guys already sound ready to take on my trial.”

Sam turned back while pointing to Alice with his thumb. “Hau, her–”

“Yes, yes, her Pikachu. He’ll be fine by tomorrow morning. I’m certain of it.”

Alice smiled at him, beginning to walk toward the living room door as Sam, the ponies, and their Pokémon following them. “Thanks again for dinner, Hau. If we don’t see you again…”

“Going to bed already?”

“Might as well. Have a busy day tomorrow, and I just want to keep an eye on Pikachu.”

“Hmm. Fair enough. Have a good night, everyone.”

“Thanks again, for…” Sam stopped as he raised and twirled his hand, trying to find the right words. “…everything. Thanks for everything today.”

“My pleasure, Sam.”

“Goodnight, Hau!” called Fluttershy.

“Yes, goodnight!” Starlight was the last of them to leave, Hau waving them farewell for the day.

Hau let his arm fall and swing as he made his way to the sink. Leaning over it, he didn’t seem to notice or care as he just stared at the dishes in the sink, reflecting with a soft, nostalgic smile over how blessed his life has been.

Comments

[ponylover2]

Awesome chapter my friend I'll be waiting for the next chapter

[The Villain in Glasses]

Edgelord Gladion coming in to wreck my shit as usual.... oh wait, I never lost to Gladion...

[Black Hoof]

moviemaster, are the other ponies and Spike's predicament going to be revealed soon?
Just curious.