A New World, Same Shadows

Chapter 8: Growing Darkness

Kira didn't want to do this. He really didn't want to do this. But now that he was Kouma's public enemy number one there was little choice left in the matter. In the past two days Kira has faced a distraught Tyranitar and, being honest with himself, survived through sheer dumb luck as well as getting caught up in a mock battle with Phoebe the next day, whose Shadow Ball hurt far more that he thought it should. It was time to face facts; as a Pokémon, he was weak.

He. Needed. Training.

So there he stood, on a desiccated part of the orchard near the Fuji household that he and Tyranitar transformed into a crude Pokémon battle arena, facing off against his selected training partner. What preparations that could be made have been, he had a large breakfast, a medic was present, and their arena was far enough away from the house or any of the other, still living apple trees that nothing should get hit in the crossfire yet still close enough in case something went horribly wrong. So without further stalling ado, he took a quick breath and addressed his selected partner.

"Selene..."

"Yes?"

"I...ugh...I want you to glomp me."

"S'CUSE ME "

"You see, I need to-whoa crap!"

In the span of five seconds Selene bounded across the battlefield and lunged arms first towards Kira's chest. Kira, moving on instinct, leaped to the side and rolled across the ground before pushing himself off the ground and back onto his feet facing the shiny Gardevoir currently hugging air. Kira stood still for a moment to catch his breath and wipe the sweat off his face "ok, Selene? Let me explain fir-"

"Don't care!" she said in a happy-go-lucky voice, directly behind him!

Kira turned around and jumped away, barely dodging her grasp for a second time "no, seriously, you-ahh!" he didn't have a chance to finish before Selene tried to tackle him again, this time charging straight at him only to teleport at point blank to his right and lunge at him then. Kira had to back step to avoid this one "Uhm, Cinder? Phoebe? Could either of you give me a hand here?" he desperately pleaded, taking a precious moment to look at the crowd of two sitting outside the arena.

"Hahahaha! You're doing fine! Keep it up James!"

"Traitor!"

The Elite Four member kept laughing as Selene flew over Kira's head only to roll on the ground, recover, and attempted to tackle his legs. Kira would have commented on how she also used his real name instead of his alias but since everybody present already knew about it there was little point. Besides, he was too busy dodging a shiny Gardevoir that was having way too much fun. Cinder meanwhile watched the two dance on the battlefield from a bench the sidelines made from some of the uprooted trees and cut using a Water Shuriken buzzsaw. To her, Mommy was the second fastest member of the family, with Big Sis June being number one, but now that her daddy was a Pokémon as well those rankings may change.

"Mommy, you really should hear him out first." the little Vulpix called out, almost instantly stopping Selene centimeters away from Kira.

"Oh thank Arceus!" Kira gasped as he fell to his knees and started sucking in air.

"Really?" Selene asked, looking toward her daughter slightly curious now as to what she's doing "How come?"

"As I was trying to say..." Kira gasped, now sitting on the ground "I want to figure out how to use Substitute, but I don't know where to start. So, I need to figure out what triggers it...and the only lead I have is I didn't want to get hit by Hyper Beam..." the Greninja took one more deep breath and got back up to his feet "Right now I want to figure out if Substitute activates from just being hit by a move or if contact in general will work. Once I know the answer to that then the real training I have in mind will begin. If I can figure out how to use it at will I'll be one step closer to being able to fight how I want to."

"But, why would you want to fight?" Selene asked "I mean, I'm pretty sure I'm strong enough to handle anything this world could throw at us, especially with the 'Ultimate Tactician' backing me up."

"You're still calling me that?" Kira whispered.

"You're still you, right?" Selene replied.

Kira sighed at his partner's nonchalant response and the self-proclaimed title she gave him. It wasn't that he hated it, far from it actually, he just thought it was a silly moniker since in Pokémon battles there was no 'surefire win' strategy for winning. If he had to attribute his 'tactics' to anything it would be how much he studied Pokémon in school, how adaptable he had to be with only two Pokémon helping him earn six of his eight Gym Badges, and how observant he had become dealing with Pokémon poachers and the twin Teams of Hoenn. Even then he still lost plenty of battles and still made mistakes along the way, some more costly than others. Still, those failures were not something he wanted to forget, they helped him bring about some of his greatest triumphs too after all.

"Well, you got me there." the Ninja Pokémon conceded and Selene celebrating her small victory by sticking her tongue out and giggling "However, this is still something I want to do." Kira countered, reigning in his partner's ego "I highly doubt Carlos was the only Ranger that made it here and considering howmorally sound I was back on earth, who knows who else made the jump here." one group in particular made a chill run down his spine as he silently prayed they didn't make the cut. But it was because of forces like them and the Legendary Pokémon that he had to do this "I'm not human anymore Selene, I'm a Greninja. A Pokémon that's not only capable of fighting alongside you but one that practically personifies how I normally fight. If I can master all the moves I know then I'll be that much more useful for when we'll have to fight, and trust me we will." he concluded. It wasn't that he would go out looking for a fight, rather he didn't believe Carlos would let things stand as they were.  And right now the ultimate tactician part of him from ten years ago was telling him to prepare for a battle.

"Fiiine," Selene sighed "But can we go do something fun today later?"

"Which brings me to point." Kira interjected "I'm going to try using Substitute. Every time you grab me or hit me with a move we can go anywhere or do anything you want together for a day, that's a promise." Kira announced. The human-Pokémon didn't expect mastering a move like Substitute to be easy but at least this way he could gain some much needed information plus both sides would take this seriously while still able to have some fun.

"Really?" the Embrace Pokémon asked, her chest tensing up slightly. And when James answered with a nod, she felt the fluttering in her chest explode. Selene, elated to hear her trainer make a promise, calmed down and relaxed her body "Is that so." she said calmly as a faint smile appeared on her face "Well then, I better take this seriously." she stated in an almost hauntingly happy tone, one that made Kira shiver.

"L-Let's get started then, shall we?"

"Yes, let's."

The two turned around and walked back to their starting points on opposite sides of the rectangle. After one deep breath Kira clasped his hands together with the two closest fingers fully extended upwards "Substitute." he declared hoping that would be enough. After a quick stretch of his muscles to see if anything felt different Kira gave Selene a firm nod, one that she in turn gave back and the two entered their respective combat stances.

Selene made the first move by dashing straight for him with electricity gathering in her left hand. Kira braced himself for the incoming Charge Beam ready to see if Substitute worked, only to be caught off guard when a blue aura surrounded the shiny Gardevoir and she flicked her right hand up. In the next moment Kira was assaulted by a wall of dirt being brought up from under his feet by the Psychic attack. The dirt itself didn't hurt nor did the Psychic energy laced within making the attack null and void but the move's main function had been achieved, he lost sight of Selene. Immediately Kira jumped backwards out of the growing dust cloud, ready to dodge Selene's follow-up Charge Beam.

Only to land straight into her arms "that's one," she whispered, slowly rubbed the tip of her horn up his back "you won't be sleeping tonight."

Kira stiffened up as thoughts of the first night caressed his memory while Selene continued to caress other parts of him with a playful smile on her face. And while he dared not move Selene took a glimpse over to the stands to see her daughter's eyes being covered by two leathery hands with Phoebe giving her a sheepish smile. 'Thanks, Phoebe.' she thought, happy her daughter wouldn't be exposed to her more adult mannerisms, at least for a little while longer anyway. She would have been happy standing there for all eternity, her arms wrapped around his chest and no body, pony or mon interrupting her but she knew someone would eventually.

Reluctantly, Selene let go of her mate and gave him a gentle push to kickstart his brain "Now let's see how many more dates I can get out of this." she purred, watching Kira take a stance that suggested he was about to run "In fact, I should ask Ringo where some tourist spots are around here, maybe even what the most expensive restaurant is."

"That implies you catch me again." Kira taunted despite the sweat running down his face.

"Or hit you." Selene corrected, firing a weak but incredibly fast Charge Beam at Kira's chest. Poor frog didn't have a chance. Instinctively guarding, Kira was blown back to the ground landing roughly on his back while his arms crackled with the leftover electricity "That's two, maybe there's a secluded beach or alcove we could disappear to for some fun in the sun." she mused while following up her attack with a wave of rainbow lights, one Kira didn't even try to avoid. As the Heal Pulse connected with his body the sparking and burn mark on his arms dissipated and the stamina he lost flooded back into him "And that's three."

"What!" Kira shouted, clamoring to his feet a moment later "How does Heal Pulse count? I didn't take any damage!"

"You said, and I quote: 'every time you catch me or hit me with a move'. You never said the move had to do damage." the shiny Gardevoir contested and suddenly perked up at an epiphany "Oh! Then doesn't that make this four?" she asked rhetorically.

"Urk!"

Now with the eyes and smile of a predator, Selene slowly started strolling towards her gorgeous prey with both of her hands sparking with bright yellow energy "I really hope this takes a while for you to get. But if it's any consolation, this is going to hurt me a lot more than it will hurt you."

"I find that hard to believe!"

"Nine times... In three hours I only tagged him nine times..." Selene huffed as she walked down the path leading to town. After the first salvo of hits James made an effort to keep out of her reach, with astounding success she might add. She pegged him an hour in with a Dazzling Gleam-Heal Pulse combo and once more with a Charge Beam volley. She even used her 'trump card' and hit the entire field with it. It didn't do any damage to him but it connected nonetheless. The drawback was their arena was ruined afterwards and James insisted that Cinder take her place "I must be getting rusty, yeah that must be it. that's the only explanation. After all I haven't been in a single battle since I got here. So that must be it!"

"You mind setting up your translator thing Selene. I can't understand a word you're saying." Rin said, trailing behind her with the cart strapped around her midsection again today "Either that or talk to yourself a little more quietly."

With a sigh Selene's eyes flashed blue momentarily and a twinge of discomfort in their heads later the link was established "better?"

"A little rough this time don't you think?" Rin complained only to cover her face with a hoof as her red fur turn scarlet "Oh sweet Celestia you're rubbing off on me." she groaned eliciting a chuckle from the shiny Gardevoir.

"Why Rin, I didn't know you were in to that sort of thing." Selene said in between her fits of laughter. If looks could kill Rin would have bored a hole through the back of Selene's head. "Ahh thanks for that. I needed a laugh."

"Sure, happy to help." the mare deadpanned "So, are you going to tell me what you were ranting on about, or can I assume that was an apology for nearly blasting my head off?"

"Ehheheh..." Selene chuckled, suddenly taking a huge interest in a pegasus moving clouds overhead. The reason Selene was leaving the orchard was some of her shots strayed and hit one of the remaining healthy apple trees...as well as the outer wall, the replacement tiles for the roof and the space Rin's head was a second after she ducked. Thanks to that, Selene was drafted to go get replacements for the replacements while Cinder took over her spot as James' partner, much to the Greninja's joy.

"Sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it, I don't have any new holes in me so no harm done right?" Rin nonchalantly replied. She then picked up her pace to catch up to Selene's and gave her a prying look "so then what is bothering you?" she asked. Selene responded with an incredulous look towards the mare "Yes, it may come as a surprise to you but I actually care about your feelings and happiness." Rin snarked in response.

"it's, well... I'm not satisfied with how Jame-OUR training went." Selene confessed, barely correcting herself in time. Rin was staring at her with an eyebrow raised but otherwise kept quiet "I mean, I don't know if I should be proud of him for dodging my attacks so much or ashamed of myself for missing him so often. Either way I wish there was a secluded place I could go to have an honest to Arceus battle. That or a secluded place I could go with him to...vent." She said with the last word being as sultry as possible.

"I'm...not going to help you with that last one," Rin said "but I know of a few places that ponies tend to avoid."

"Where!?" Selene pleaded, raising Rin and the cart to her face with her Psychic powers perhaps with a little too much power if the cracking sounds coming from the two were any indication "Tell me, tell me!"

"I will, I will just, put me down already!" Ringo begged. A moment later Selene set her back onto the ground as carefully a possible, all the while staring at her with a look that dared her to run away. Clearing her throat Rin stepped back a little to regain her personal space "Let's see there's the Black Beach, the Drowned Forest, and-"

"Selene!"

The two were interrupted by a rough female's voice coming from the direction of town. When they looked to see who it was they saw Sharlene running at full speed towards them with a unnerved look on her ever approaching face. Once she finally reached them the ragged Mightyena lowered her head, gasping for air "Town... Pokémon... Hurry! " she said between long breaths before collapsing entirely.

Both the pony and Pokémon's moods hardened at the news. If a Pokémon was going wild in town then that meant only bad things for the residents. With an exchange of glances Selene put a hand on both Rin and Sharlene, already gathering Psychic energy "Hold on tight." she warned. The next moment her blue aura surrounded them and she blinked out of existence, leaving the road empty once more.

Save the black and gray dog still laying on the road of course "figures..." she panted, not bothering to move.

A second later Selene and Rin flashed into existence on the road directly outside of the town's south entrance. From there they could see the lines of beachside homes on the right and various shops and restaurants on the left the ponies of Kouma frequented on a daily basis. There were small carts parked in front of one store or another with varying types of things from imported lettuce and oats to planks of cut wood. There were even a few Pokémon mulling about and playing, some notable examples being Elgyem, Chimecho, and a group of Petilil.

But not a single pony was in sight.

Apprehension growing in their hearts, the duo ran Into the middle of the town and turned down the only corner in Kouma, heading inland. Down this road were larger, three story buildings, mainly government offices such as the guard post, stockade, and the small library as well as four opulent looking manors the farthest inland, running perpendicular to the City Hall.

On the left side of the street they found what they were looking for: a group of Ponies all surrounding a Pokémon, a familiar one at that. It's one piercing red eye shifting about, the yellow lines across its body, and the humanoid cloth hands at the end of its stocky arms made it look familiar to Phoebe, making this Pokémon a Dusknoir if Ringo remembered correctly. More importantly, this Dusknoir was bigger than the Elite Four member both in size and in stock and it was currently using that massive body to hold two earth pony fillies in its hands and...was playing airplanes with them?

Rin breathed a sigh of relief at seeing the large ghost simply playing with the fillies and over all entertaining the crowd "whew, I was imagining something much worse than another Phoebe." Rin said, loosing all of the tension her body had gathered "C'mon, let's go see what all the fuss was about." and with that the mare started making her way towards the newcomer.

Selene on the other hand was paralyzed. Her eyes were mere pinpricks and her mouth hung open at the sight of the Pokémon. She knew exactly why Sharlene wanted her here, she just couldn't believe it "Wha...that...wh...a...I...not...possible..."

'What's another shiny doing here!?'

Tyranitar lumbered through the cleared part of the orchard, the one remaining area that still showed signs of the battle's damage, carrying with her three more trees that had been stripped of all their leaves and most of their bark. For the past six hours she had been collecting all of these uprooted trees and piling them closer to Fuji's home with the old stallion himself judging if they can be reused as building lumber or firewood, with marked pieces being smashed apart with her tail to make them more manageable. Even Larvitar was helping her sort through the pile by collecting the branches that were small enough to be used as kindling. Even with Kira begging her to help make his impromptu arena at the start of her work she could still be done with everything and leave for the mountains on the other side of the island by nightfall. Speaking of Kira however...

"Please."

"No."

"Pleease."

"No."

"Pleeeasse!"

"NO!"

...The frog was trying to get another favor out of her. The very moment Cinder left the training arena at his request the Greninja ran over to where she had been picking up trunks and started asking her for what he called 'the last favor he'd ever ask of her'. Now she would have heard him out at the very least, except helping him carve the arena into the ground was also supposed to be 'the last favor he'd ever ask of her'. So instead she decided to not give him another inch and finish the repairs to the estate. Fuji Apple was nice enough but she had yet to find a territory for herself and her child to call home.

And so for the last fifteen minutes he had been on his hands and knees groveling behind her while she worked, even shuffling behind her to keep up when necessary. She had to admit, Kira was determined, as well as a complete hypocrite.

"Pleeeea-"

"If you finish that word, I will slam my tail into you." Tyranitar said, glaring back at him from the corner of her eye.

"Then maybe if you hear me out I won't have to repeat myself." Kira replied, his voice scratchy from his begging.

"You already used your 'last favor' on building the battle arena and now you have another one?" she pressed, still not bothering to look directly into his face.

"That was...more to get you to do it" Kira admitted. At first Tyranitar had been reluctant to create a Pokémon battle arena claiming that they had no purpose in this world and that he should forget all about it. It was only after he said that did she eventually concede to helping. "But this time I really mean it!" he added, slamming his head into the ground and leaving him completely at her mercy "So please!"

The next moment his face was crushed into the ground by Tyranitar's tail.

"I told you what would happen if you said that word one more time." the Armor Pokémon sighed. Looking back at Kira she noticed he was still on his knees just like the moments before trying to hide how much pain he had to be in. She didn't mean to kill him, only knock him unconscious. In fact she barely put any momentum behind her strike, mostly letting gravity do most of the work. Still, even after she lifted her tail off of him he didn't move an inch from his spot in the ground. With another sigh she looked away from the sight and continued moving forward "Maybe if you actually practiced Substitute you wouldn't be where you are now..."

"I already figured it out."

Tyranitar stopped when she heard that and gave Kira a second, more serious look. He was still face down on his hands and knees in the dirt with his head in the small crater but she could just barely make out his eyes, opened and focused on the dirt before him. "It reacts to danger by using a fragment of my own life force to create what is seen as 'the decoy doll' while I'm shifted to a different place outside of the perceived danger zone. The smokescreen is caused by the excess energy being released and gives me a three second window to either counterattack or escape. It also does not require a verbal cue to activate, simply a focused mental command or an incredibly strong desire to avoid the incoming attack, though this instinctual method is more taxing on me. So far I've estimated I could use this second method a total of three times at peak condition before being in danger of collapsing." Kira summarized from his spot in the dirt "And all of this I concluded an hour ago. I'll experiment and truly master this move in my own time, under controlled circumstances. But right now there is something I have to do and I WILL do this regardless of your answer. Having you help though would make it a whole helluva lot easier. So, please, help me one last time."

Unlike every other time today when Kira said please this time his voice was calm, collected, and deathly serious. If what he said was true then he could have easily dodged her tail and continued pestering her but instead he willingly took the blow. There wasn't any proof that he was telling the truth but if he was indeed lying he still took the hit for a bluff. And there he remained, his head pressed into the small crater with his barely visible eyes showing the glint of determination. It was then Tyranitar could finally see that whatever was on his mind was important to him. With a short breath Tyranitar lumbered over to the wood pile and unloaded her current burden. Then, with three quick tail slams, she shattered the trees into a size the ponies would find easier to work with. While Larvitar began collecting sticks she returned to the bowing Greninja, with her answer in mind.

"Alright, I'll help. But me and my son are leaving by day's end."

Hearing those words Kira finally raised his head, greeting her with a sincere smile "Thank you."