Chapter 38

A New Kind of Master: Pokemon Master
Chapter 38: The Darkness
Written by: MayumiPezKujo

The first thing we did was head over to the Pokemon Center so that Eric could heal his Pokemon. "Now how do I exchange my Pokemon?" I asked, looking at Axe while Eric was at the counter with Nurse Joy.

"The computers over here. You call Professor Elm's lab and it allows for you to exchange your Pokemon. The difficulty in it is choosing the Pokemon you will exchange." Axe informed me and I walked over to the computer. I picked up the phone and Axe punched in the number to the lab. It took a while, but Professor Elm made it to the phone. He seemed like he was having some trouble with something, but I guessed that's just how Professor Elm was. There were a few Pokemon running around in the background, but I ignored them. "Hey Professor," I said, speaking into the phone. "You received my Sudowoodo that I caught earlier."

"Oh yes," Elm said. "That Pokemon came from you. He's been running a muck in the lab ever since he arrived."

"That's strange." I said. "He was so well natured before I caught him."

"Oh, are you wanting to exchange for him?" Professor Elm asked.

"Umm. Yes." I said. "I think I'll send Sage back over there with you for a while."

"Okay, I'll go get him real quick." Professor Elm said, standing from his chair. He ran to the back room and he brought a Poke Ball back with him. I pulled out Sage's Poke Ball and placed it on the transporter, and the two balls switched places. "I'll take good care of him." Professor Elm ensured.

"Ready?" Eric said coming to meet me and Axe at the computers. "Where's Tobi?" He asked looking around.

"He stopped at a library on the way over." I said. "He'll do that quite often. The kid loves to read."

"Are you going to leave him there?" Eric asked.

"GodZilla's with him, so it should be fine." I said. "Let's go find those stones." I said. We had currently collected four badges, which meant that we would need to find four activation stones and place the proper badge in each one. I pulled up the location map on my Pokegear and saw that one of them was just outside of Ecruteak City, most likely for the Fog Badge. I was relieved that it wasn't too far away, as it made things a little easier on us, and I wouldn't leave Tobi at the Library if we had to go to a different City.

We left the Pokemon Center and went to locate the first activation stone. We found it underneath a pile of grass and I placed the Fog Badge into the slot and stood and waited for something to happen. The area around us became dark and a shadowy figure of a trainer popped up. "So, we finally meat, Chosen one, Master of the universe." The figure talking was just a shadow, so I couldn't even see its mouth moving. Its voice was a low whisper kind of sound, but clear enough to understand. The figure sent out a unicorn Pokemon with flames on it's head. I pulled out my Pokedex to check the data, but it didn't seem to work on the shadow figure of a Pokemon. "What is it?" I asked looking at Axe and Eric.

"It's a Rapidash." Eric answered.

"A fire horse Pokemon." Axe added. "Single type."

I didn't know how many Pokemon this guy was going to be using, but I was hoping it was a three on three since I didn't even have GodZilla here with me right now. "Arsenic, let's go!" I called and released the young Eevee from his Poke Ball.

"Rapidash, use Flame Wheel!" The shadow commanded and the horse Pokemon obeyed him obediently. It jumped into the air and did the same motions Ruby always did when he used the attack. I actually found it surprising that a horse could move in such a manner. "Dodge and use Bite!" I commanded, but the Rapidash was quick and the attack landed before Arsenic had the time to listen. "Arsenic!" I called, hoping that the move didn't take him out that easily. He slowly stood up.

"Now Rapidash, Stomp!" The shadow gave the next move, hardly allowing Arsenic a time to make a move.

"Dodge and try Sand-Attack!" I commanded, but the hit was landed again before Arsenic could react. His body started to glow and his shape changed, but he didn't look anything like his brother, Cyanide. He was black with round ears and tail and had moon patterns all over his body. "Wait…" I said, confused. "Why does he look different than Cyanide?"

"He evolved in the dark. Eevee are adaptation Pokemon. Arsenic is Dark-type now and called an Umbreon." Axe said. "Hurry, check his moves before you run out of time."

I quickly pulled out my Pokedex and checked Arsenic's new moves. "Umbreon's moves: Sand-Attack, Faint Attack, Last Resort, Moonlight."

"Use Faint Attack!" I commanded, hoping that he would have improved speed upon his evolution.

This time, Arsenic was actually able to order out his command, but in the middle of it, Rapidash was ordered to use Stomp again and knocked Arsenic out. I sighed in annoyance at how powerful the Rapidash was. "Good work Arsenic." I said, calling my Umbreon back into his ball. If only I hadn't left GodZilla behind with Tobi, we would easily be able to take care of this punk.

I thought about my other choices of Pokemon. "False, you're up!" I said, calling out my Sudowoodo. I pulled out my Pokedex to check the moves. "Sudowoodo's Moves: Mimic, Rock Slide, Double-Edge, Hammer Arm."

"False, use Rock Slide!" I commanded, inferring that a Rock-type move would be effective against a Fire-type Pokemon. False turned around and tried to attack him, but I stopped him. "False, what's wrong with you?"

"It must be the darkness." Eric said. "Didn't the vampires say that it would start affecting people and Pokemon alike? False must have been affected by it."

"Snap out of it for now." I said. "I just need you to help me win this match. I'm the one that saved you from Team Rocket, remember?"

False looked at me for a minute and then turned back around to battle. "Now try Rock Slide again!" I commanded. False brought up some rocks and dropped them on top of the Rapidash, doing some damage to her. Finally we were getting somewhere in bringing her down. "Rapidash, use Fire Blast!" The shadow commanded of his Pokemon.

"False, use Mimic!" I commanded.

False ended up using the same Fire Blast attack as Rapidash and both Pokemon released a giant ball of fire. The move collided and battled out for the stronger one, in which Rapidash's fire ball won. It aimed to False and hit him, actually knocking him out, despite the fact that he hadn't taken any damage yet. I gritted my teeth. I only had five Pokemon with me, and I was down to three now and hadn't taken out the Rapidash yet. There was no telling how many Pokemon the shadow was going to fight with.

"How about your beast form?" The shadow suggested. "You have more of a chance of winning if you battle them yourself."

I shook my head. "I am not battling a Pokemon myself." I argued. "It wouldn't be evil if you didn't make it that way."

"Suit yourself." The shadow said. "Rapidash, use Fire Blast!"

The Rapidash was told to use the command on me, but suddenly a black figure came out of nowhere and attacked the Rapidash, bringing her to the ground. It was hard to tell what the creature was at first, but when it stood up and turned to me, I saw that it was a Houndoom. The dog stood up and looked at me. "Am I late?" He asked, and I understood him thanks to my ability to communicate with dogs.

The voice sounded familiar to me in a way. "S-Skull?" I asked curiously, not entirely sure if it was him. I didn't expect him to evolve before showing his face around us again, but I guess it had to happen.

"Yeah," He said, moving in front of me and facing the Rapidash. "I knew you would need me eventually, and looks like I made it just on time."

"Oh no, you were definitely late." I laughed.

"Either way, let's get this guy taken care off." Skull said, standing ready to take my orders. "I've managed to learn a few moves in my days as the leader of the pack."

I nodded and pulled out my Pokedex to check up on Skull's attacks. "Thunder Fang, Smog, Faint Attack, Overheat". "May the best Fire-type win." I said to the shadow. "Skull, use Thunder Fang!" I commanded the first move.

Skull nodded, leaping forward and attacking the evil Rapidash with an electrical bite. "Now use Faint Attack!" I commanded. Skull disappeared and used the attack around the Rapidash and did some great damage to her. "Rapidash, use Fire Blast!" The shadow commanded.

Skull quickly moved out of the way of the attack. "Now use Overheat!" I commanded and Skull had hot energy radiating off of him as he shot out bursts of flames to the Rapidash, who had fainted from the attacks.

As soon as Rapidash had fell, the darkness cleared up and the shadow was gone. There was no wining ceremony or anything, that was just it. Rapidash fell, and it was over. "Well, that's it?" Eric said, just as surprised as I was.

"Boring." I said. All of us headed to the Pokemon Center and I handed False's and Arsenic's Poke Balls over to Nurse Joy. She accepted them and went to the back to heal them. We walked over to a booth.

"So, I thought you were supposed to be the leader of the Houndoom's in Ilex forest now?" I said to Skull.

"I was." He said. "But I told you I would come back. I just trained another Houndour to be the leader, and when he evolved, I was free to go."

"I see." I said. "It's a good thing the darkness didn't get to you."

"The darkness can't get to me." Skull assured me. "It's already a part of me, since I'm a Dark-type Pokemon."

"So you will be joining the team again?" I asked.

Skulls nodded and I held out a Poke Ball, his old Poke Ball for him to enter in. He did so and the Poke Ball was immediately sent to Professor Elm's place. It was right then that Tobi and GodZilla came to the Pokemon Center. "You guys are still here?" Tobi asked. "We were in the library so long, I thought you would have left to the next city by now."

I laughed and shook my head. "Oh don't worry little brother," I said. "We haven't been here the whole time."