Shadows and Sunlight: Shady's Origin

A pleasant midday breeze was sweeping across the entirety of Kamiki Village. That wind rustled through the leaves of all the bloomed cherry blossom trees, making leaves fall gracefully to the ground. Up close to the Konohana was the all too familiar shrine dedicated to the great Amaterasu, and her predecessor before her. It had a curious visitor, a feral purple Growlithe with white accents, black stripes, an inky tipped tail, and neon orange eyes. He was placing typical offerings at the basket, though oddly enough it was quite full, as if it hadn’t been touched in many weeks. He dropped his offering of fruit, sat on his rump, and gazed upward at the ginormous cherry blossom tree. The cobblestone path was cold to the touch and minorly uncomfortable to sit on. A sigh left his mouth, a moderate amount of frustration released in the process.

“How much do I need to offer to you?! Most of the peaches and oranges here have rotted because you won’t show yourself! Are you avoiding me?? I’m your son for pete’s sake!! I haven’t done anything wrong!!”

He called out loudly, yelling toward the heavens. All the fruit in the basket, including the rotted ones, were all his doing. They were all at different stages of decay, some still fresh, others partially or completely inedible. Though Amaterasu generally takes these offerings whenever they are presented by the local townsfolk, she had been ignoring them outright.

The Growlithe gave it another few minutes and nothing had happened, just like the other countless attempts, the anger and hatred for the deity only increasing with each passing moment. He had the thought of cutting his losses and leaving, trying again another day, but a pick up of the wind caught his attention. Directly in front of the memorial statue, a marvelous amount of cherry blossoms swirled into a funnel-like shape, making an opaque oblong sphere of nothing but them. The shape expanded slightly and exploded, revealing a white anthro canine with red markings, inky tail, and gorgeous neon yellow eyes. It was Amaterasu herself, the one that the Growlithe had sought after for weeks or more. Given that she was nude, everything was on display. As she stood in front of him, her arms crossed, and her face bled annoyance and irritability. The goddess finally making an appearance made his jaw drop metaphorically to the floor. He hadn’t quite expected it to work out.

“Do you have any idea how much strength it's taking me to not smite you where you sit?? You carry the same darkness that your father carries, Shady!! I want nothing to do with you!”

She barked out, a scrunched up snarl accompanying the not so nice greeting. Her overall body seemed full of tension, adding up to the anger presented in her words. Shady continued to sit there, gesturing outward with a paw as he did so.

“The darkness I carry is not my fault, and you know that! If you would simply give me a chance, I could prove I’m not a horrible person!”

This gave Ammy a bright idea. You couldn’t see it, but an imaginary lightbulb went off over her head. Her arms shifted to being placed on her hips, and one gestured out to the side in a V shape.

“Hmm, tell you what. I’ll give you that chance. In the short time that I actually tolerated your existence, I told you about how I despise your father. You know the jist of the details: he followed me back to this world, cornered me, and then forced himself upon me in my sleep. Before I knew it, you occupied my womb, and I kicked you off the Plain after birth.”

The conclusion had Shady stand back up on all fours, gazing up at her sternly.

“I remember that, yes. I do agree that it wasn’t right for him to do that, but what do you expect me to do to prove myself to you? Apparently, offering you everything under the sun isn’t enough for you.”

The goddess drew a filled circle of ink in the air with her brush, and the ink dissipated to reveal a portal made from cherry blossoms. Her gaze went back to Shady, gesturing toward it with the other arm.

“Since I know I would absolutely slaughter that dog if I were to go there myself, I want you to defeat him in combat by any means necessary. The only rule that you must follow is that he needs to remain ALIVE. Him being trapped in the unexplored northern lands is worse than death, in my opinion. This portal shall take you to his relative location. If you successfully do this, I shall look the other way about the darkness, and you will earn my blessing.”

He hesitated momentarily, looking at the vortex she had created and the shimmering light it emitted. After a deep breath, he made his way over to the oval and jumped through it. The interior of the wormhole he went through was a vibrant hue shifting palette resembling a rainbow. The exit came abruptly with no warning, since he fell out of the hole and landed on his stomach with a thud, causing the powder snow below to fly everywhere. He groaned and got himself up slowly, looking around him.

“She wasn’t kidding when she said this place was unexplored. Not to mention it's colder than her heart...”

The landscape was various hills and valleys covered in nothing but powder snow, blowing around seldomly. An occasional tree dotted the area, making it seem at least a little less boring to the eye. His hair and tail swayed gently in the chilling air, the temperature made more evident with the light snowfall.

Off in the distance, and thankfully not too far from his location, was one of the many guardian sapling trees. Though it's odd that one would be down here. It wasn’t the tree that caught his eye the most, however. Pacing around the trunk of the tree was another canine: a shiny Arcanine with the same neon orange eyes. It was the one guy that made all of this happen in the first place. Kai, his father.

To keep a low profile, Shady ducked behind a rock big enough to hide him from view. The Arcanine did not appear to be aware of his presence, since the minor wind gust was not in his favor. He waited for the dog to turn his back, and went for it. With a short dash and leap, he landed on top of the bigger dog and rolled with them in a tumble, with Shady being on top, the Arcanine facing him. His face bled rage and anger, while the Arcanine’s was composed of shock and surprise.

“HEY, REMEMBER ME?? I’M STILL ALIVE, FUCKER!!”

If he was any angrier, he may start foaming at the mouth. Simply being in contact with the larger canine nearly made him lose focus of the goal. Had he not retained this small scrap of restraint, Shady might’ve gone right for the kill. The Arcanine looked up at him with an annoyed expression, snarling lightly.

“YOU’RE STILL ALIVE?! That Incineroar should’ve ripped your insides out!! ...no matter, I’ll make sure you stay dead this time.”

He achieved a smug grin on his face, but was not expecting an immediate swipe of Shady’s claws into his muzzle. The slash was deep enough to draw a moderate amount of blood, and Kai winced in pain. In retaliation, he drew back his hind legs and shoved Shady off of him with as much force as he could muster, sending the younger dog hurling into a rock behind him, his back making a not great sounding noise upon impact. Upon falling to the ground on his face, it appeared that the impact had given him a nosebleed. He slowly got back up, wiping the blood from his muzzle and limping lightly.

“If he couldn’t end my life, what makes you think that would? Give me something to cry about!”

The purple Growlithe counter-attacked with the most powerful move he knew, Shadow Blast. With a deep breath, the dark energy welled up in his chest, before being let out in a powerful aero stream. He seemed to understand the rage that his mom has regarding this guy. The blast struck the Arcanine directly on the face like a bullseye, with even more force than the leg shove, sending him cascading into the guardian sapling and losing all the wind in him. From that one attack, he was downed, unable to keep fighting. His own muzzle was bleeding, and his body was too weak to stand up. Shady approached him, breathing heavily, holding back the urge to do more, his own injuries showing their teeth.

“I may be the bastard child that you made, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t put you in your place. I’m more powerful than you think I am, and I honestly expected more out of you. Next time I may not resist the urge.”

Before turning, he sank his claws into Kai’s muzzle once more, digging in deeper and deliberately drawing more blood. As he lifted it back up, he held it airborne, the blood soaking the once white claws and most of his toes. The rage he expressed could only be described as feral, with his own muzzle scrunched up and fangs shown. He turned around and walked the opposite direction, back toward the portal that Ammy had created. The limp had worsened, making his movement that much slower. He did not look back toward the Arcanine as he entered once more and was warped back to the original place where she waited.

On the other side, a slightly smiling Ammy stood before him, holding some kind of trinket in her hand as she looked over in his direction.

“Well well, it seems you made it back in one piece. I was monitoring you from here, and I have to admit that I didn’t expect him to go down so easily. You did wonderfully. One day I’ll deal with him fully, but that day is not today. But a promise is a promise. Take this, It’s a mega stone of my own creation.”

She lowered her arm down, showing it off to him and expecting him to take it. The stone was purple in color, with the symbol in the center resembling the colors of a cherry blossom. However, he did not take it from her grasp. Instead he looked back up at her, puzzled.

“While I appreciate that, there’s one issue... I can’t use a mega stone. My species does not have a known one. Not to mention that I’m not fully evolved, and the darkness prevents me from evolving as well. It wouldn’t work on me.”

This caused her to chuckle lightly, ruffling the hair on his adorable head.

“Oh, this isn’t a normal one. It doesn’t follow the rules. I call it, “Inktailite.” It’s made with you specifically in mind, dear.”

She demonstrated by putting the necklace band around his neck, a perfect fit. A few seconds after letting it go, Shady was swallowed in a veil that was not unlike other Pokemon when they underwent mega evolution. The bubble exploded and a shower of cherry blossoms fell to the ground in slow fashion. The end result was a giant purple Growlithe, redesigned and now towering over her.

The black stripes were wilder across his body, their shapes curvier to represent the cherry blossoms. The hair on his head was now spread into three dreads, each having its own black tip like his tail. Red markings, not unlike Ammy's, appeared under his eyes. Her own swirls that were on her shoulders, were on his. The neon orange eyes he once had were now neon yellow to match her. And to top it all off, he received a secondary tail!

The drastic change filled him with a buffet of emotions. He leaned in and gave her the most genuine hug he had ever given to anyone in his life, choking up and struggling to say words without stammering. He was euphoric. This was Amaterasu’s appreciation for him on full display, and he was all for it. Too long had he waited for the day that his own mother would love him.

“T-This is unbelievable! Thank you, mom! I love you...”

She leaned in and hugged him in the same genuine manner, eyes shut but smiling. She was glad how things turned out.

“I love you too, Shady. Very much. I always have. I’m sorry for ever doubting you...”