Castol the Charmeleon's Story

"Aww, how touching," a harsh voice came from the entrance to the alley.

Pitch dropped her paw, turning to where the voice came from. His smile had faded, replaced with partial shock and partial anger. He stepped toward the center of the alleyway, his body tense. He kept his feet apart, as if he was expecting a battle. It was clear that he recognized the voice.

From the alleyway stood a Pokemon silhouetted by the street light shining just behind him. It was evident by the way his body was made out to be and from the flaming tail that this was a Charmeleon. The only part of him the shimmered were the white fangs showing through the smirk that permanently resided on his face. Unlike Pitch, this Pokemon stood with his arms crossed, relaxed and laid back. His eyes gave a condescending glare that clearly showed a sense of superiority.

Pitch's eyes narrowed, "What do you want Castol?"

Castol stepped forward, into the alleyway, revealing his red skin, "Oh I just wanted to see what my favorite Eevee in Nimbasa was up to." He paused, his eyes quivering as he noticed something. "Hmm? You've healed rather quickly from that burn from earlier."

Pitch took a step back, his glare never wavering, "Why did you follow me? You already have my home. What else do you want?"

Castol chuckled before continuing, "Your home has proven to be a rather inconvenient place to reside. As it seems, it's quite hard to get in and out of. There also isn't a reliable food source nearby."

No duh, Pitch thought, It was designed that way to make my place seem less desirable.

I can't have a base of operations that my band of Pokemon can't get into," Castol continued, "You've also proven yourself rather resourceful, so me and my boys figured you'd find a better place soon." He snapped his fingers. As if on cue, a Sneasel and a Houndoom appeared from the street, falling in line behind the Charmeleon. Pitch took another step back.

"You can't have this place!" Pitch shouted, trying to keep the fear out of his voice, "It's not mine!"

Castol rolled his eyes, "We know that, idiot. You followed this poor Umbreon to her sanctuary. But that doesn't really matter now because I claim it as my own. Quite shameful of you to drag her into this, though," With that, he looked past him and onto Glow, "Hello, pretty. You should really be careful who you make allies with. They sometimes carry nothing but trouble wherever they go."

Pitch glanced backward at Glow, apology in his eyes. He didn't mean for her to get dragged into this. And now because of him, she would lose her home. He put his head down in shame.

"Now," Castol continued, "I'm going to get what I want, one way or the other. So, do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?" he smirked once more, extending his claws as if to exaggerate the point.

Glow's eyes opened widened in shock. She glanced at Pitch then "Castol"
"You cannot have my home." She growled. Her rings glowed as she narrowed her glowing red eyes
"This is my home. Not yours. You greedy little hothead will not take another pokemon's home."
Without another word, she charged forward, sending out a dark pulse. She glowed her rings, sending out a blinding light.

Pitch quickly dove to the right as Glow attacked, her Dark Pulse whizzing past him. His first thought in his mind was Are you crazy?! Do you know who you just attacked? The next thought was Oh, he's gonna destroy us now. But finally, You know what? Screw it.

And so Pitch picked himself up and got ready for combat.

Castol, however, was grinning wickedly as the Dark Pulse approached him. He took the brunt of the attack, the closest he showed to pain was closing his eye as he steeled himself. It was sent cascading behind him into the Sneasel and Houndoom, who took their bullets head-on. It had enough force to knock the three of them back and do some damage, but it wasn't near enough to cause any of them to faint. The Sneasel and Houndoom quickly got up, growling in anger. Castol's eyes were twinkling with confidence and joy.

"I was hoping you would do that," Castol smiled and propelled himself forward, the Sneasel and Houndoom close behind. He made a Scary Face, slowing down Pitch and Glow. The Sneasel struck at Pitch with Fury Swipes, landing a few of them. The Houndoom struck at Glow with a Fire Fang.

Pitch cried out and staggered back from the blows. Those hurt quite a bit, but he was tough. He didn't survive out here without knowing a few things. Retaliating to the Sneasel with Growl, he then tried to Tackle the Sneasel. But it was rather quick and it sidestepped the attack rather easily. Darn it, he thought as he turned around to see the Sneasel approach again, claws ready.

Glow leaped up and rammed her head into the houndoom's face as the fire fang bit into nothing. She smirked. The houndoom let out a snarl, stopped quickly and replaced with a surprised yelp. It then regained itself, but not in enough time to see Glow melt into the shadows.
She smirked as the houndoom whipped its head around nervously. She leaped at it from the front, using her rings to blind the Houndoom. It snarled and bit her in the arm she let out a yelp as she glanced at Pitch. She watched as the houndoom let out a snarl and charged towards her, fire coating his fangs.
She she leaps at the houndoom and she used focus punch and slammed it into its jaw.

If the previous Dark Pulse didn't do the Houndoom in before, the Focus Punch did now. The Houndoom gave one final whimper of pain before collapsing on the ground, unable to move. Glow had won that fight.

Meanwhile, the Sneasel had leapt at Pitch, Metal Claw charged and ready to go. But Pitch was ready. His momentum had been majority heading to the right of the Sneasel, causing her to adjust her attack to be aimed slightly right. And then Pitch pivoted, diving left and causing the Sneasel to miss entirely. He would then counter with Sand Attack, making it the Sneasel's turn to stagger back. Blinking it's eyes rapidly, the Sneasel tried Fury Swipe again. But it wasn't entirely able to see at the moment and by her own nature, she missed. Smiling in triumph, Pitch Tackled, knocking the Sneasel back into the wall. It fainted upon impact. Pitch glanced at Glow, smiling at the sight of her standing victoriously over the Houndoom.

A sudden strike from the back caught him off guard, thus making it his downfall. It was a cheap shot, really, catching Pitch at his vulnerable moment. But Castol had fought this tiny pest more than once and it felt gratifying to feel his Dragon Rage actually make it's mark. Pitch fell forward, collapsing. He was out like a light.

Castol started laughing as his gaze turned to Glow, "Ah, that felt good. You have no idea how long I've been waiting to do that." It was now just him and Glow. Nobody else around to interrupt this one on one.

"What you fought was chump change compared to what you're about to fight," he warned the Umbreon with a knowing smile. It was apparent there was an element of truth to that statement, "And is it really worth it, pretty? Protecting your 'home'? Protecting your 'friend'?"

Castol began taking slow menacing steps forward as he continued, "Pitch is a pitiful waste of space. I would know better than anyone. I've been around him longer than you have. I know he won't be capable of much." he stopped, not two feet from Glow's position, "You're better off leaving this place and never coming back."

And then he struck. A quick Dragon Rage sent to Glow in close quarters. Virtually impossible to dodge as he'd distracted her with words. It wouldn't defeat her, he knew. It was just a love tap compared to what he was capable of. When she picked herself up however, he hoped for her best fighting capabilities...so he could crush her spirit entirely. Perhaps this would fire her up enough.

He was stronger. He was superior.

Glow let out a gasp as the dragon rage hit her side Pitch! She let out a growl, as her eyes glowed red. "You don't know who you are messing with, you idiotic, overrated, hothead." She snarled, baring her fangs. She leap over to his side, remembering the moves she had been taught Dark Pulse, Focus Punch, Confuse ray, that Tm, what was it calle- her thoughts were interrupted by an attack from that hotheaded lizard.
She growled in annoyance and launched a confuse ray. Head Shot! oh yeah, facade! that was the other one! She leapt up, using facade. Her paws slammed into the charmeleon's side in rythmatic blows. left, right left, right She watched as the charmeleon's confident gaze melted away into shock.
Glow smirked and turned and leapt into the shadows, picking up pitch and hiding him behind a large boulder.

The sinister ray that hit Castol definitely worked, causing him to stumble around a bit as she used facade. Unfortunately for her, the power boost that she would get from facade only worked with a burn, poison, or paralysis effect, not a confused one. So the attack did hit, but not that hard. Recovering from each quickly, Castol spun around, looking for the shifty Umbreon. She's hiding, he realized.

"Where are you, pretty?" he cooed, looking around specifically towards the shadows Glow liked to linger in. In all actuality, he wasn't that damaged. In fact, he was more fired up than ever. He moved his claws, letting them wiggle as he kept his eye out for any sign of her.

This would be an interesting game of cat and mouse...

Something stepped into the alleyway. someone. "What's going on here?" a voice echoed through the alleyway. Glow recognized that voice Mud! Glow paused was he mad? Mud glanced from the charmeleon to the shadows. Glow took Castol's distraction as a quick time to strike. She threw out a focus punch, like the one to the houndoom, now on the ground.
Mud looked at glow in shock as she slammed a focus punch into castol's jaw

The random voice entering the alley threw Castol completely off guard. Turning towards it, the Charmeleon spotted a Donphan staring back at him.

"Who are-" Before he could get the third word out, Glow struck once again with Focus Punch. The surprise guest and the surprise attack combined was enough to lay Castol flat on the floor with the attack. Shaking it off, he got up and set himself into a position he rarely got into: a defensive one.

"Don't think you've won just yet!" he snarled, all the fun and games he carried in his eyes gone. Only fiery rage remained, "By the end of this night, I will have you beaten within an inch of your life and made to suffer!" and with that, he ran out of the alleyway. and into the streets of Nimbasa City. At some point during the fight, the Houndoom and Sneasel had recovered and made their exits unnoticed. It was just Glow, the Donphan, and the unconscious Pitch lying behind the large boulder in the alleyway.

Pitch waited until the two got everything they needed. Pitch had walked over to another part of the alley, putting on a dark blue amulet. He couldn't help but wonder what secrets it held and if it was sentimental to her or just an item to help them fight. Nevertheless, he wasn't going to stop her from bringing it.

"Okay, then follow me," Pitch peered around the corners, looking for any signs of a threat before slinking out into the open street. It was midnight, yet there was still so much activity going on. The late owls were up and about, partying until the crack of dawn. After all, Nimbasa was the entertainment capital of Unova. He'd have to be a bit careful of the Pokemon Catchers that walked around, searching for wild Pokemon to take to the Pokemon Center.

He turned the corner to the next street right as Mud asked the question. "Castol is the leader of a pretty mean gang here in Nimbasa," he told him as they walked, "He calls them the Crusaders. I call them the Street Hocks." He stopped, eyeing a Pokemon Catcher walking about and patrolling the area. At least they were bad at their jobs... he thought as he watched the man walk right on down the street, never stopping. Pitch started walking again, talking as well, "He commands a legion of Pokemon who follow his beliefs. And if you're looking for an exact number of Pokemon followers he has...about a hundred." He let that sink in as he trotted onto another street, the destination visible from their vantage point.

The Ferris Wheel.

"The Crusaders are only one of the gangs around here," he went on, keeping the Ferris Wheel in his sights, "There's the Long Horns who run over this part of the city, the Juggernauts who have some of the northern parts of the city, and the Family who has the Western side. The Crusaders are the most brutal and they have the most members. The Family is just...creepy. The Juggernauts keep to themselves, hating almost everyone while the Long Horns focus on defending their area. There's a huge turf war going on between the four. And the Crusaders are winning it..."

---

It was a good thing the trio had left when they did.

A few minutes later, Castol had arrived at the alleyway with about twenty Pokemon backing him up. Growling at the abandoned place, he walked in and looked around a bit. No sign of the three of them. They had taken the food, the berries, even the rugs, leaving nothing for Castol to claim other than an empty space. Out of rage, he ran up and smashed the boulder with Dragon Claw, breaking it into multiple pieces.

His main assistant, Dewy, stepped forward. "Well, we got the place. That was easy."

Castol lunged for him, grabbing the Purrloin and lifting him to meet his eye level, "We are not done," he spoke through gritted teeth, "I want those three found...now!" he threw Dewy on the ground and turned back to the alleyway, searching for clues towards their whereabouts.

"But-" Dewy said as he picked himself up, "We have what we wanted. Mission accomplished, right?"

Castol gave a mean look to Dewy, causing him to cower slightly, "It's more than that. They think they can challenge me. So we have to quell that fighting spirit within them. Because I won't have anyone walking around thinking they're better than me!" He smashed the concrete of the alleyway, causing cracks to spread around him. "Find them! NOW!"

The group of twenty quickly divided into searching parties and started looking for the three. Castol looked around at the space he'd fought in...the space he'd obtained. It was more property for him, at least.

But it was much more than that to him. Castol's eyes glanced at the pieces of rock he'd just taken his anger out on a moment ago. This was revenge. And he was going to get his, one way or the other.

---

"There it is."

Pitch's eyes lit up at the sight of the dark alcove next to the building. They were right under the Ferris Wheel, it's glowing lights making the world around them a sea of carnival colors. Except for one spot.

It was a place he knew Castol's goons wouldn't bother looking as the Wheel itself grabbed so much attention. That's what made it perfect. Right underneath the Ferris Wheel was a room for maintenance that was barely accessed and certainly not at night. The window was left open slightly so that air could seep in and keep the place cool. Or so that Pokemon running from a Gang leader could have a place to sleep for the night.

Sneaking in through the window, he opened it all the way so that Mud could get in. Even with it open, it would be a close fit for him. "Go ahead and lay out the food and such when you get inside," he told them.

Glow blinked thankfully at Pitch. She ate the food and she glanced at the others. "I think there is some popcorn in here somewhere." She darted into the concession stand and spotted some stored popcorn containers. she pulled at the lid of one with her teeth and popcorn spilled out everywhere. "Come get it guys!" She chimed.
Mud glanced at the Rawst berry. He glanced at Pitch, then Aurora, then the theatre. "This is where you met Glow?" He looked at the area around him. "I need to thank you, if you had not met her, I probably never would have found her.
Aurora looked at the scarves. "I have seen those in the clothing shops before. What kind are those? I have not used them before."
If we could find Zap, those electric gems would be useful. He asked Pitch "I know someone who might be able to put those to use.. may I keep them in case?" He looked at Glow, who had opened the popcorn bucket. She had kernals over her fur. He held back a laugh as she trotted there.





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Zap darted through the alley, looking around. As a houndoom came around the corner, he jumped behind a trashcan. He looked at the charmeleon. He glanced at the swarm of pokemon, all seeming in a bad mood, were searching around for a scent of something. "The umbreon is nowhere in sight." One growled. "Neither is the eevee." The charmeleon growled in an angry way. Zap looked around, spotting a trail of footprints. Maybe if he found these pokemon he could have shelter and food. He covered the footprints at he went, so nobody could find them. He found himself at the entrance to the amusement park. Another trail of footprints lead out. There was another trail close by. He glanced at them maybe if I brought them in, plus the extra pokemon they would let me in! He darted off quickly.

And then the Raichu was off again, turning around and heading back down the alleyway.

"Hey!" Pitch called, in pursuit, "I'm still talking to you!"

He watched the tail whip around the corner of the alleyway, the other end opening up on the street he'd just come from. Pitch turned the corner quickly, trying to catch up to him with his own speed. He felt something trip him up underneath him and the next thing he knew he was airborne. He hit the alleyway hard, tumbling and sliding until he was nearly outside the alleyway. Shaking it off, he got up and turned around to see the Raichu had sneakily waited behind the corner and stuck his foot out. He tried to hold a serious face, but Pitch could tell there was laughter and smiles hidden under it. A prankster...

"Well...yeah, I was...." Pitch grumbled, but he would forgive and forget, "But for what reason? What about us got your attention?"

Just then he heard a bark...the familiar bark of a Houndoom, "I thought I saw something down here, boss! I'll check it out!"

The harsh reply was Castol's, "You better have! Otherwise, you're wasting my time..."

Uh-Oh...

"Castol," he muttered, looking at the Raichu with a cautionary stare, "I'd hide if I were you. The two that are about to walk down here aren't the friendliest of Pokemon."

And with that, Pitch scurried underneath a dumpster, keeping his breathing low and making no noise. Despite everything, he hoped that the Raichu would have the common sense to run or hide.

Zap glanced at the eevee, he looked genuinly terrified. He followed, slowing his breathing as the same. As the two walked into the alleyway, he noticed a bruise on the Charmeleon's jaw. As the two scouted around, Zap wondered where it came from. huh, must of been in some sort of tussle. He glanced at the eevee, then at the quite cranky charmeleon. After a while of searching, they left. Zap felt the tension from the eevee disappear. He heard the Charmeleon growl something to the Houndoom about some sort of punishment.
"What was that all about?" Zap asked as the two crawled out from hiding.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________


It had been awhile since Pitch had come back. Glow was nervous. She was about to go out when she heard a familiar voice passing by. Castol! She whispered to the others quickly "Hide! That's Castol!" They scurried into cover. The voices stopped right by the door, and then they left. A door opened. Castol was in the theatre. ''Get some of the popcorn. I want to make sure nobody is here." Gloiw stiffened beneath her spot from underneath the chair. Mud seemed to stiffen as well. Aurora was hidden. As castol passed by her hiding spot, she swore her heart was thumping so loud he could her her. When the two left, Glow glanced around. Phew. Pitch must be safe.

Breathe slowly. Stay still. No sudden movements. No sudden noises.

Automation took over Pitch as he watched from underneath the dumpster as two sets of feet went by. As they did, they continued to talk.

"Huh...could've sworn I-"

"You're wasting my time!" Castol threatened, the anger in his voice rising a level, "The amphitheater! Now!"

"Sir, we've already checked there," the Houndoom said, "No one was there."

"I know," Castol growled as the two left earshot, "I want to keep it that way. When I get my hands on them..."

Pitch couldn't hear the rest of his threat. He relaxed, thankful his own rage had blinded him yet again and made him unobservant. If there was any thanks to Glow to give for pissing him off, it was at least through that regard. Rolling out from underneath, he shook the dust, dirt, and debris off before looking at the Raichu with set eyes.

"That is the result of antagonizing powerful Pokemon," he replied grimly, looking back out the exit that Castol and his bodyguard had left from. He remembered where he was heading next.

"Come on," Pitch motioned for the Raichu to follow, "There's a group I need to check up on..."

---

Pitch made sure to stay close to the shadows as he approached the outdoor theater. He wanted to stay out of the sight of Castol, sure, but there were other dangers to keep in mind. Two unaccompanied Pokemon typically didn't sit well with people who passed by. Their only solace was that they were in the most populated city in Unova...perhaps even the whole planet of Ruula. Many would assume that their trainer was around somewhere and that they'd be back for them, even some of the Pokemon Catchers. But not all were like that, Pitch knew. They'd have to be careful and mindful of their surroundings.

Pitch glanced back at the Raichu, who seemed to be curious as to where Pitch was leading him. In all honesty, he'd caught Pitch off guard. Why was he even helping him anyway? He knew the answer of course...because he was scared of Castol and anyone who was scared of Castol was his friend. But he knew nothing about him. He didn't even know his name.

He was about to ask for it when the Charmeleon and Houndoom sprang out of the amphitheater, carrying bags that seemed to be filled with popcorn. Where had he found that? Pitch wondered as he watched with careful eyes. Castol and the Houndoom ducked into another alleyway, disappearing from view. A nod from Pitch was the signal to move. The two crept slowly agains the side of the building and into the amphitheater. Looking around, he saw no chairs lit on fire or anything out of place, meaning that no fight went down. That was a good sign. Glow and the others must have hidden.

"Glow? Mud? Aurora? You guys still around?" Pitch called, his voice echoing across the vastness of the amphitheater, "Castol's gone for now."

"Pitch!"

"Mom?!" the Eevee cried as he was running through the forest, trying to follow the sound of her voice. Flames were everywhere. In the trees, in the grass, on the horizon. They crisscrossed in front of Pitch as he tried to navigate his way blindly through the smoke.

"MOM?!" he called again, stepping a few feet to the right as a flaming branch fell from the tree above and landed in the spot near where he was. He yelped in surprise at the sudden movement and picked up the pace.

He coughed as he made his way through, calling out into the forest for his mother. But there was no response. His voice was growing more hoarse with each sound that came from it. The smoke wasn't helping that, either. But Pitch was determined.

The further he went, the less massive the blaze was in front of him. It must've looked like he was walking out of an inferno. The fire hadn't spread to this part of the forest and now he could get a clear and accurate look of what those Pokemon had done. Turning around, all he could see was a wall of fire behind him.

It had engulfed the whole area.

"Mom?!" he called raggedly into the heat, hoping for an answer, "Where are you?!"

He stayed put and kept calling her name, over and over. Surely she had survived, right? Even if she was still in there, she was a Flareon, after all. Fire couldn't affect her...could it?

Still, he waited. He felt a drop of water hit the edge of his nose. Blinking and shaking it off, he glanced up at they sky, which had become stormy. It started to rain. The flames began to die down. But Pitch wasn't moving.

As he sat there and waited for mom, he thought about what he had seen before everything was set aflame. They were strolling through the forest when they ran into some humans. In a protective manner, she told Pitch to hide, which he did. She took it upon herself to fight against the humans. They were getting ready to battle when Pitch heard a scream behind him.

"Now!"

And all of a sudden, the world was ablaze around him. Pitch didn't even have time to see what it was that caused the flames or who had shouted the command, but he knew the flames had to be from Pokemon origin. And coordination like that had to be the work of humans.

"Pitch! Run!"

His mom's words snapped him out of the frozen state he was in. He scrambled around and started running somewhere, anywhere but there. As he ran, he managed to catch a glimpse of what he thought was a silhouette of a Pokemon that seemed familiar to him. But he didn't waste time looking upon him further. He had run as fast as he could away from the area. That is, until mom called out his name.

Now he was here, but he didn't even know where here was. And his mom had stopped calling out to him. Two things that bothered Pitch very much.

All of a sudden, the fatigue had caught up with him. All this action, all the running, leaping, and dodging of flaming pine cones and tree branches. After all, he was very young.

He didn't even hit the ground when he passed out.

---

"Urk..."

Pitch made a noise as he blinked his eyes open. Groaning from a dull pain on his side, he slowly found his way to his feet and took in his surroundings. Everything was black around him except for the white light he was standing in the middle of. Nothing could be made out of the darkness, no furniture or boxes or anything. He had no idea where he was.

Looking around him, he spotted something on the floor next to him. Everything cam flooding back as he recognized the form.

It was Zap. He was unconscious.

"Zap!" he ran over to his side and nudged the Raichu with his nose, "Come on, buddy! Wake up!"

That's right, he remembered as he gazed around him towards the shadows, They were attacked.

---

Meanwhile, Castol was getting angrier by the second. The day was starting to wane and they still hadn't found the runt or his new friend...or perhaps it was mom? He pushed the thought out of the way. It wasn't important.

He was just about to seriously throw one heck of a lizard fit when the Houndoom came charging into the room, "Sir! I've found the Umbreon! But Pitch isn't with her?"

He rose from his worn wooden chair and stared back at him, "What do you mean?"

"The Umbreon is with another group of Pokemon, namely a Lucario and a Donphan. But Pitch isn't with them."

Castol thought for a moment, rubbing his chin with his claw ever so thoughtfully, "Hmm...then I guess we need bait to catch our slippery fish..."

The Houndoom raised a brow at that, unsure of what he meant, "Um...sir?"

A cruel smile was forming on the Charmeleon's face. "Yes...if I can't find our little nuisance, then I'll have him come to me...gather some of our best men and bring the Umbreon to me. Along with her friends."

"Yes sir!" the Houndoom barked and went off to enact the orders. Castol sat back down in the chair, staring out the window at the lively city.

"Pitch...you will be ours by the end of today..."

Zap groaned. His head spun. Everything was blurry. what had happened? He lifted his head a bit, but then fell. "Wha?" He muttered. He saw a blurry pokemon over him. He started to stand, but them immediantly fell. "What happened?" He growled. "Who are you?" The eevee had a concerned look on his face. "Don't you remember?" He asked "It's me, Pitch." Spomething clicked in the back of his mind.


Zap darted through the alley, looking around. As a houndoom came around the corner, he jumped behind a trashcan. He looked at the charmeleon. He glanced at the swarm of pokemon, all seeming in a bad mood, were searching around for a scent of something. "The umbreon is nowhere in sight." One growled. "Neither is the eevee." The charmeleon growled in an angry way. Zap looked around, spotting a trail of footprints. Maybe if he found these pokemon he could have shelter and food. He covered the footprints at he went, so nobody could find them. He found himself at the entrance to the amusement park. Another trail of footprints lead out. There was another trail close by. He glanced at them 'maybe if I brought them in, plus the extra pokemon they would let me in!' He darted off quickly. He darted through the alleyway, an he stoppe realizing he was being followed. He stopped, and turned around. There was an eevee. "Hey, what are you doing spying on us?" Pitch raised a suspicious brow, tensing his body in case the Raichu would rather fight than talk. Zap looked at the eevee, a little nervous. 'Crap. This is not good. Do I turn them in? Those guys looked bad. And scary. Perfect for some pranks!' "I uh, Well.." He darted off into the alley, watching as the eevee darted after him in pursuit. 'Ugh. Better talk. This eevee seems to know his way around.' He stopped, ''Accidentally" leaving his tail out to the side, tripping the eevee. "Oh, sorry, did not see you there." He said, trying to sound innocent. He held back a smirk and kept a serious face. "I was not spying on you, I was following you to see who you were. And by the looks of it, you seem to have been with other pokemon."

"Oh" He said. "I remember now.." He paused, thinking about what had happened up until now. The crazy charmeleon, The others, Glow, Mud, Aurora, Talking with Pitch, Then getting attacked by who knows what. "We need to find a way out." He surveyed the area, getting darker by the minute.


______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Glow paused Where was Pitch? He's been gone for a while. "Guys, I'm getting kinda worried about Pitch. And Zap. Mud nodded. "He has been gone for quite some time now. It is getting kind of worrysome. Aurora seemed to appear out of nowhere. "We shou-" Before he could finish, someone busted in.

Pitch couldn't agree more. The problem was, he didn't trust the shadows. That was where they had struck last time. Jumping back into them in his mind was like asking for a beat down. He wasn't ready to deal with one of those again.

Where were they?

The light was so bright in comparison to the darkness around them that it was hard to make out specific objects. And there didn't appear to be any windows, so they couldn't see out. Unless it was night time...

Suddenly, a faint giggle could be heard, cutting through the silence. Pitch tensed up once more, looking around him and seeing if anything popped out to him. The giggling grew louder and louder, until it was a full blown boisterous laugh. Pitch decided that remaining silent wasn't going to help anything.

"Okay, who are you?!" he called into the darkness.

And just like that, the light went out. Pitch made a faint squeak at the sudden change in atmosphere as he couldn't see a thing. The laughter had stopped. But something much worse could be heard: whispering. It started with one voice...then another...and another. More and more voices joined the sound as the unintelligible whispers began to wear heavy on his ears. He shut his eyes and tried to tune them out. It wasn't working.

"Stop!" he gritted his teeth and crouched down, using his paws to cover his ears, "Please!"

And the voices stopped. Except for one, a seemingly large and baritone voice sounded.

"Welcome to The Family..."

Wait...Pitch stopped trembling, his look of fear turning into one of anger. He got up and walked in front of Zap, scanning the darkness with newly found bravery. But now, he knew what he was up against. "Dim...I know you're here..."

The light came back on...no wait, all the lights came back on. A quick glance around revealed to Pitch that he was in an abandoned warehouse, presumably on the northeast side of Nimbasa City. A fair distance to travel, Pitch realized, if his hunch was correct. Waiting in the front of the warehouse stood, or rather floated, Dim.

The Dusknoir had his arms crossed, his glowing red eye shimmering darkly. Around him were a variety of Ghost and Dark Types, all grinning at the two of them.

"Well that kind of ruins the mood," Dim's voice echoed throughout the expansive and empty building, "A Pokemon that had heard of me..."

Pitch kept a set look on his face. He couldn't show fear. It's what these guys fed off of. "I've lived in Nimbasa City for a few years, you know. I know all the Pokemon factions scattered around the place."

"So you have shown me," Dim replied, rubbing his chin in thought, "Which is why, as you may know, I need to recruit some more family members."

Pitch didn't like the sound of that. Not one bit. "We're part of the Family now?"

"That's right," Dim's eye seemed to pulse with excitement, "We are going to wage war on the other factions to show them why we deserve to run this town!"

As much as he liked the sound of someone sticking it to Castol, he didn't know whether Dim should be the one to take over the town either. He'd heard stories of Lavender Town and the thought of seeing the bustling city void of people sent a chill down his spine.

"How do you plan on doing that?" he asked.

"Well, we'll start with the Crusaders, who just love to attack others, and put them in their place. Then, we hop on over to Long Horn territory and take care of those guys mighty quick. Finally, the Juggernauts will behold the mighty power of the Family!" he began to float around the room, around the two of them. "And you two are going to help me do that."

"And if we refuse?"

The Dusknoir laughed, his eye pulsing with menace, "Then I'll have no choice but to send you two to the Spirit World...one way or another."

He gulped. Dim could do that. If there was any Pokemon with the one surefire way to essentially kill another Pokemon through touch, it was the Spirit Pokemon. He sighed in defeat.

"Okay...what do you want us to do?"

Dim turned to a particular Haunter in the crowd, "See? They can learn." This got a few chuckles to which Dimcompleted his circle around them, "Now, I know Castol has a particular bounty on a specific Eevee, an Umbreon, and a Donphan. I'm assuming that Eevee would be you?" Pitch didn't move or speak, telling Dim that he was correct in his assumption, "And as for you, my little electric Raichu, I could always use some electricity to power up my facility here! They cut the power to this place a long time ago and...well, we have to be a bit conservative with our power consuming resources. We could always use your energy."

"Uh, wait!" Pitch exclaimed, stepping in front of Zap, "He's wanted by Castol, too!"

"Is he, now?" Dim floated closer, eye baring over them, "Funny. I don't recall him looking for a Raichu..."

"Yeah, he's in the same group as us!" Pitch stepped forward, "And a Lucario as well. Now tell me, you may have just me, but that may not be enough to lure Castol and his posse out. With two of us, he wouldn't resist the opportunity. Now, you don't want to have a plan being set up and not have it go through just because you didn't have enough bait on the hook?"

Pitch was hoping Dim didn't know the specifics. Castol had no idea Zap was even alive at this point. But he wasn't going to tell Dim that. After all, Zap was in the same group as everyone else...at least Pitch knew he was. For Zap's sake, he hoped he'd agree.

Dim thought for a moment, before turning around, "Hmm...you may have a point there. He can come with you."

The Dusknoir was now floating towards a closed metal door. "We will strike at night, then. In the meantime, you two can stay here in the company of your family...not like you have much of a choice." His laughter rang through the warehouse once more before walking through the metal door.

Pitch sighed in relief before turning to Zap, "He would've used you as a power source had I not intervened," he whispered, out of earshot of the other Pokemon, "I'm just thankful he bought it."

---

The door to the amphitheater burst open and in filtered a variety of Pokemon, from a Delcatty to an Espeon. The group of ten Pokemon surrounded the three. Entering the room last was the Houndoom, a confident smirk plastered on his face.

"Hello, my friends!" he started pacing on the outside of the circle, "I'm only going to ask once for you guys to come with us nicely. We can escort you there, or we can drag you there. Your choice!" He growled low when his eyes looked upon Glow's. The Umbreon had taken him down in such a fair swoop last night. He was hoping the three of them would attack...if only to get his revenge on that blasted Umbreon.

Zap winced as they mentioned using him as a power source. When Pitch interupted with a clever wute lie. He knew that he would probably be wanted by whoever the heck Castol was. He knew there would be plenty of options to escape.
Zap met Pitch's eyes with a almost silent "Thank You." Guilt washed over Zap as he whispered to Pitch "I'm sorry, this is all my fault. If I ha not even met you, you would probably be safe back at the-" He stopped, not wanting to even think of the others.
"I do wonder what he would of done though."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Glow crouched, eyes glowing with hatred and anger. "What did you do with Pitch!?" She snarled. They looked confused. "Don't act like you don't know." She snarled. She had grown close to the young eevee. He reminded her of herself when she was an eevee. With a growl, she looked as if she had leapt for the Houndoom, but turned and face the espeon. Aurora and Mud followed, leaping into battle.

Pitch gave a scoff at that, "Hey now. Don't beat yourself up over something you couldn't help. We're in this together, you and I. And I'm not going anywhere without you. You can count on that!" He held out a paw for Zap to bump his own with. As he did so, he continued to look around their makeshift prison. There weren't many boxes left strewn around and they weren't that big either. Standard brick walls reinforced with steel to prevent a good majority of attacks from knocking them down. No way to brute force their way out of here...

He saw that the massive collage of Pokemon that had been watching them were wandering around the place in pairs of two, a protocol Pitch was used to seeing with these factions. If he and Zap attacked, the two of them would likely be swarmed. There were no ground exits besides the metal door in front of them, not even a window to climb out of.

Man, Pitch thought, I really wish I knew the time of day.

It was always a scary experience when you didn't know what the time was or where you were. What had he and Zap missed while the two of them were blacked out?

"Okay, follow me," Pitch whispered to Zap as he began to silently approach the metal door. Making a quick look around to make sure his attention wasn't on them, he reached up and tried the door. No luck. It jiggled slightly, but it didn't budge. No wonder Dim didn't have anyone guard the door when he left.

Sighing in frustration, he started looking around them, trying to find another door. There wasn't one. He turned to Zap, "Well, I think we're stuck here for a while. I don't see a way out." He walked over to one of the boxes and curled up, motioning for Zap to join him.

"We can't leave now. We have to wait for the right moment," he glanced around at the various Pokemon walking around, sending the two of them the occasional glance to make sure they weren't up to something.

---

The fight at the amphitheater was on! Glow made a sudden attack for the Espeon, who bounded out of the way and started gunning for Mud. A Krookodile was slashing at Aurora while the Delcatty struck at him from below. Meanwhile, two Klefkis were using Mirror Shot on Glow while a Nidorina tried to nip at Glow's feet with Poison Fang. Ten to three weren't good odds for them as they were soon learning to discover by the constant barrage of attacks from all sorts of directions.

"Oh, I'm going to enjoy this," the Houndoom muttered to himself with a cruel grin crossing his face as he leaped into the fray, going for the massive fire fang attack on Glow.

Zap nodded. "Okay, it's just I can't help feeling this is my fault." a smile found its way put of Zap. "Okay. I will count on it. One, two, three-" He stopped with a laugh. He followed Pitch as he snuck over to the door. "I think I may know a way to get put of here. But not know." He whispered.Zap followed Pitch over to the boxes and curled up. Soon, sleep had taken over him. He was out like the lights in here.


Zap blinked. He was dreaming, wasn't he? He surveyed the position he was in. He waas in a tree, above some pokemon. A chikorita, a phampy, an eevee, and a riolu. 'Hey! This is from when I just hatched.. How do I still remember it?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Glow snarled and leapt at the klefkeys, dodging the poison fang. She grabbed them by the chains, and hung them on some wire she saw. she twisted it back in place, trapping them. Aurora saw the other two. Mud was being pummled by the espeon. Glow quickly leapt for the espeon. The two eeveeloutions were facing off. Glow aimed a dark pulse at the Espeon's face. she let out a yelp as she fell backwards.
Aurora aimed a heal pulse for Mud. he blinked at Aurora thankfully. Aurora aimed a burn kick at the delcatty and he noticed a burn. seemingly glow noticed as well, and she leapt at the delcatty with a facade. Double them damage from the burn and from being a fighting type attack. The delcatty yowled and fell, defeated. The houndoom leapt and had landed a nasty bite on Glow's shoulder. It was still stinging like fire. Glow gritted her teeth in pain.