The Resistance (Closed)

Synopsis of Arc's Journey So Far:

Arc the journeyer and his faithful compainon Tiedro (Poliwag) are wandering through Mt.Moon when they are trapped by a cave-in. While seeking an escape, Arc manages to capture Pippin (Clefairy, Shiny) using Tiedro's Hypnosis and also finds a strange looking rock. However, he is slightly affected by Tiedro's attack and is lulled into a small degree hypnotic state. Pippin is able to use Dig by using Metronome, and digs a tunnel through which they escape the caves. Arc comes to his senses in a pokecenter in Lavender Town, where the tunnel had brought them. He exits and is drawn by an enigmatic emotion to the abandoned Pokemon Tower. There he meets an Old Medium who tells him that the spirits have been restless for about a year now (he later learns that the Mew Cloning Experiments were partially the cause of the restlessness.) Upon exploring the Tower he happens upon a room inhabited by a Ghost Marowak. The vengeful spirit wastes no time in hurling him out the window, but he is saved by Ryu, who appeared in the nick of time. Ryu tells him of Team Rocket's aspirations of controlling the weapon pokemon, Mewtwo. For that, they require Mr.Fuji, the pokemon enthusiast, and have captured him at Pokemon Tower. The ascend the Tower and are "greeted" by a group of Rockets at the top. Teaming together, Arc and Ryu make short work of them, but they are quick to call for reinforcements from elsewhere. With the help of Mr.Fuji, who is able to acquire the assistance of the Marowak Ghost, Arc and Ryu escape the Tower and fly Fuji to a safe place. Ryu asks Arc if he would like to tag along with him on his mission, but he declines, saying that he "is not one for adventures."

He continues on his wanderings and arrives at Celadon City, whereupon his pokemon are able to coerce him to the Game Corner. Pippin uses a coin on an "out of order" machine, which spits out a key. Arc notices a poster on the wall that had not been there before, and upon closer inspection discerns that it is a door. He uses the key to enter what seems to be an old Rocket Base. There are still grunts here, however, and Arc decides to investigate. A disguise ruse, a labyrinth, and some shenanigans later, Arc eavesdrops on some Admins to learn that the Rockets have an even more powerful weapon, "Mewthree". However, the Admins notice him when he knocks over a plant pot and he must escape through a maze of conveyor belts. The Rockets and their hound pokemon are almost upon him when Pippin uses Metronome-Flamethrower for a distraction and he escapes up an air vent that lay at the end of a dead end. He creeps out the Rocket Grunts in the base by making ghostly noises, and their guilty consciences (for having killed the Marowak) only magnified the terror. Soon he arrived at the admin room and observes one of the Admins murder the other to eliminate competition for Team Rocket Co-Admin. Here Arc "drops in" and has a grand battle with the vile admin, during which Tiedro evolves into Poliwhirl. He then defeats the Admin, who ends up cowering in fear. Arc extorts the location of Rocket's main base from him and departs for Cerulean post haste.

There he meets up with Ryu again and they both infiltrate the Rocket HQ, finding Kurth (one of Ryu's old friends) along the way. The soon meet up with Giovanni, who orders Mewthree to decimate them. When Kurth's Froslass uses Destiny Bond on Mewthree, the sheer buildup and release of energy transports them to the Intermediate Dimension. Here, the nature of the dimension causes Arc to become a prisoner in his own memories (although he doesn't realize it until later), always going back to a thought of leaves floating on a gentle autumn breeze. He dashes through the memories of the recent adventures in which he refers to all the people and pokemon as "shadows" which seem to be out to get him. He finally arrives at a distant memory when he was an orphaned child living in Mahogany Town. He realizes that this is a memory when he sees his younger self unwillingly cause the death of Pryce, who was like a father figure to him. This was what initially caused Arc to roam the world of pokemon in a never-ending series of wanderings, with no true destination. He finally accepts what happened that day and is transported back to Ryu and Kurth, who are battling Mewthree. Pippin miraculously gets Metronome-Guard Swap on it and they pour a barrage of attacks to defeat it, but not before the strange rock Arc found in Mt.Moon resurrects as an Omanyte, which he names Spira. He, Ryu, and Kurth then return to the real world to find that they are a year ahead in time. Arc decides to head for Hoenn, but is sidetracked on a cruiser and ends up in Gateon Port in Orre instead. Here he rescues a girl named Lily from a thug who is trying to steal her pokemon and he takes her to a pokemon center. There, a Nurse Joy tells them of the revived practice of creating shadow pokemon and entrusts them with two snag machines. Lily and Arc then set out from Gateon to begin the journey of recapturing the shadow pokemon and purifying them.

Note: Arc also captures a shiny Cacnea during the skipped three month period, it was a shadow pokemon that has already been purified.

(You can always read Arc's story in "Stumbling in the Dark, Supernatural-"Supranatural", Concealed in Celadon, Rocket HQ, The Last Great Battle I, and Enter Orre" on the old site if you wish: http://pokewifi.proboards78.com/index.cgi?board=pokerp)

Arc and Lily left Gateon behind after Nurse Joy explained to them the ways of the Snag Machines. They bade her goodbye and departed, taking the path leading from town. Around the path for miles on each side was peaceful grassland, dotted with trees here and there in a sporadic pattern. Hills emerged from the Earth every now and then, each one poking up like a fledgling bird seeking escape from its sanctuary prison egg. They were treading on a small, run-down dirt road.

Arc turned to Lily, "So, what do you think of all this? It sure seems terrible.........the Shadow Pokemon, that is. I guess it's nice being on an adventure again though." Here he gave a wan smile.

A slight wind silently picked up and began to give chase. The dust ran, cascading out into nothingness. Blades honed by this natural force, the grass swayed submissively as it bowed to power. The dull, grey moss enveloping tall, emaciated trees in the distance began to sway, giving them the appearance of ghastly harbingers, rebelling against the horizon.

*Three months later*

Arc faced an alley drenched in darkness as he peered around the corner, surveying it for hazards. Once he was certain that the area was clear, he tacitly plunged into the shadows. Keeeping close to the wall, he made his way blindly through the chaos.

"Are you sure this is where it came from?"
"Positive," came the response, inaudible to all ears save his own, even those of the keenest listeners.

As the light quality faded, his eyes accustomed themselves to the surrounding blackness. A staggering wall towered into view, standing stoic and impassive. He silently ran his hand over its stolid face, eager for a response. Nothing. It remained gray, cold, impersonal, dead. He heaved a long sigh. Here it ended, and began in that same reference.

"Arc! G-------" Louder this time. An urgent caution, cut short by static interference. Arc swore under his breath as his ear radio began emitting sharp, shrill alarm bells. In a moment it was stifled, choked by his own hand. He let the residue drift back to the earth from whence it came, being both of the same nature: apathetic and indifferent. 180 degrees of suspense, then an unhesitating sprint. He fled as if being pursued by venom, the essence of deception.

As the light seeped back into retrospect, it had a blinding luster to it. Two shadows emerged from it, barricading the exit to freedom. Arc skidded to a halt, and, without a second thought, his hand flew to his weapons. "Don't fail me now...." he whispered misleadingly. He had total confidence in them.

"Go, Spira and Dusque!" Two arcs were carved out from the air, then the captives were released.
"Omanyte!" "Cacnea, Cacnea!"

The two hulking figures shifted, their pokeballs shot from their hands. Deep, dark, fathomless voices rang out. "Smoochum! Crush them!" "Pummel 'em, Misdreavus!" The two appeared, gaunt and grim.

Whirring from the Aura Scanner.

"Identified, Shadow Smoochum."

So the signal did come from here... Arc reflected.

"Spira, Ancientpower on the smoochum! Dusque, Faint Attack the misdreavus!"

Dusque disappeared, melted into the shadows. The two merged and became one for but a moment, then he reappeared in a split second to strike down the misdreavus. It was a one-hit KO, the ghost pokemon was left dazed on the ground. Spira summoned rocks from the earth and blasted them at the smoochum, damaging it substantially. The smoochum immediately retaliated with a powder snow against Dusque. "Dusque! Are you alright?" Again, feigning surprise. Arc knew perfectly well that Dusque could survive a powder snow. "Cac-nea!"

"Good, now use Pin Missle!" A barrage of needles were sent at the smoochum, injuring it greatly and making it totter around on its small legs. Arc took advantage of the moment to draw his Nest ball and prep the Snag Machine. "Go, Snag Ball!" The grunt watched disdainfully as his pokemon entered the ball, shook half-heartedly, and then gave up. He snorted in disgust. The pair rapidly took off before Arc could identify them or take mental note of their appearances.

He took time to praise his warriors. He pat his red cacnea on its tiny head and held his omanyte. "Good job guys, you did great." He held up the freshly used pokeball and noticed that it exuded a minutely cool aura. He let a sigh escape from within. Another shadow pokemon caught.

Stealing again into the shadows, Arc returned once again to the wall. This time he gazed upon the surface, noticing it was marred by Nothing. An eternal mark of sadness, grief, despair, sorrow, of darkness, deceit, venom, treason, treachery, of fate!

Feeling satisfied, Arc left behind the alley as he attempted to establish a communication channel with The Resistance using the emergency communicator he always carried on his person. You never know what could happen with this job.

"Come in, base, this is Arc."
"Arc! Thank goodness! What happened?"
"Just a couple of goons. Nothing too bad."
"Sorry about that, the signal, it must have been-"
"Yes, yes, I know, it was a trap. Oh yeah, one Shadow down."
"Good job, now we need you to report back."
"Will do."

He stuffed the device into his pocket and continued on his way, now walking across Battle Square. The Square, which was bustling by day, was now desolate at this mid-night hour. There were a couple of wily trainers lounging about, but surprisingly none of them challenged him to a battle.

As Arc reached the town limits, he paused for a second and glanced backwards, stricken by a sense of anticipation, of something left unchecked. Shaking off this emotion, he turned and left Pyrite behind him.

It took a couple of days, but Arc finally reached his destination, the Resistance HQ. It had once been a lab used in studying, evaluating and developing shadow pokemon, but in these past years it had only lain abandoned in the heart if the desert, like a lonely ghost of a shadow of a nightmare, a faded memory of grief.

The base was a bit large for their disproportionately small group; their team only consisted of five members. Arc was the main founder of the Resistance, as well as the primary mission runner, having the most experience with the snag machine. Nancy was the communications and technology wizard, Jason and Cindy were intelligence, and Mark was Arc's apprentice. He sometimes went on shadow pokemon captures both with Arc and without. There used to be another member, but they had turned traitorous and leaked information on the location of the former Resistance base, resulting in a massive catastrophe invloving the theft of several purified pokemon by Chaos, the organization that had revived the practice of large-scale manufacturing of shadow pokemon from some designs hidden by Cipher long ago.

One benefit of the new lab was the increased security that had already been placed by Cipher when they had constructed it. Nancy had easily been able to reprogram the retinal scanners and voice recognition to allow access to the members of the Resistance. Arc positioned himself in front of the retinal scanner and waited until the machine was done scrutinizing him, then he moved on to the voicebox. He stated his name clearly, to avoid confusing the computer as it matched up his vocals with the preset ones that had been installed by Nancy. Satisfied, the computer alerted the others of his arrival as the cold, silver metal door bisected itself and slid open, even with a little hesitation. The lab was not in brand new, mint condition, after all.

"Hey all," murmured Arc as he entered the main room of the base. Cindy, Nancy and Jason were here, but Mark was presently not to be found.
"Where's Mark?" inquired Arc, noticing that he was not in the vicinity. Cindy was quick to reply.
"He's gone off on a lead we obtained, might be a Shadow. Hopefully it's not another trap....." her soft voice trailed off into nothing as she stared at her clasped hands and twiddled her fingers.
"Well, keep in contact with him then, and wish him good luck for me,"
"That's what I'm occupied with right now, Arc," intervened Nancy. "By the way, what shadow did you get this time?"
"Ahhh, it was a smoochum. Nothing too difficult.”
"Good, are you going to make room for it in the Sanctum?"
"Actually, I was thinking of keeping this little one with me for a while."
"Really? Interesting....." Nancy was now paying full attention to Arc, her body turned towards him instead if her control panel, as was usual.
"Speaking of the Sanctum, I'll go check and make sure that everything is all right in there," said Jason with a grin. The Sanctum had been mainly his development, it was a large portion of the underground lab that they had cleared of old equipment and started a haven for pokemon. Shadow pokemon could be let to roam around there and they would gradually open their hearts to the trainers that cared for them. It hadn't been totally completed yet, but the process was coming along smoothly.

"Well, I'll be taking a short rest in my quarters. You guys tell me if anything comes up....anything at all, got it?"
"Oh, please. You know we'd call you if anything happened," replied Nancy with a wink. She had always been a bit sassy inside.
"Oh, that reminds me," Cindy interrupted, "I think Jason and I might have discovered something regarding Chaos. It could be important, so we're going to call a meeting when Mark returns, as long as nothing goes astray. In other words, we'll have a meeting as soon as all of us are together."
"Thanks Cindy, I'll keep it in my mind." Arc gave a wave with the back of his hand as he exited the operations area and made for his personal room. It was down a drowsy corridor and to the left a short distance. He entered, turned on the lights and collapsed on his bed. Grasping for his pokeballs, he took them and lay them on his nighttable, hesitating a moment before putting down the last one, which still exuded a strange, icy aura, like a vile, cold heart that was somehow still full of splendour and awe. A fragmented memory surfaced, picking at the scars left by deceit. He let it go and it eventually sank away into the large ocean of thoughts inhabiting his mind. He could almost imagine it screaming, yearning to be recognized as it faded away, swallowed up by the fathomless depths that rocked slowly back and forth, back and forth, back and forth........

"Arc! Wake up! Something's gone wrong, we've lost communication with Mark!"
Cindy was rocking Arc's body back and forth in an attempt to make him awaken quickly. He sat upright on his bed and quickly looked at Cindy, his expression hinting that he desired a more detailed explanation of what had happened. "Where was Mark on a mission to in the first place?"
"We sent him to an old Cipher shadow pokemon factory, the one north of Eclo Canyon and the ancient Team Snagem hideout, you know?"
"Yes, I am familiar with it. What was your lead?"
"Well, Jason and I had heard about some shady characters moving towards that area, and we also took a small look for ourselves while you were on a mission before. We did notice a couple of vehicles entering the factory, so we deducted that they must be doing something there, and we needed to find out what it was. Taking designs from the factory perhaps?"
"Maybe. What was happening to Mark before we lost contact with him?"
"He had already infiltrated the factory and was searching for information when we think he was spotted by a guard. They weren't dumb either, they disabled his communicator right after he was apprehended........" Here she stopped to gaze down at the floor, as if she was ashamed or that she thought Mark's capture was her fault entirely and that she could find refuge there. Arc put a comforting arm on her shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll get him back."

By the time Arc had readied and entered the operations room, the others were already forming a rescue plan for Mark. He took his place at the table that was in the center of the room and sighed upon gazing at the empty fifth seat. "Well, I have no need to remind you all that this is of the utmost urgency. We must assume that the worst has taken place and that Mark is now a captive of the Chaos organization. Does anyone propose any ideas for rescue?"
Jason decided to explain what they had formulated. "Arc, naturally we decided that you should inflitrate the base while we pose a distraction farther away. We haven't exactly come up with a proper decoy, but we'll come through. You just need to take advantage of the moment and get in there when the time is ripe. Since they disabled Mark's communicator, we can't tell where in the factory he is, so you'll have to find that out on your own, but we're certain that you can do it. Make sure you're well equipped in case you run into trouble. Oh, and keep your emergency communicator on, so we don't have to go through the hassle of establishing a connection with you if your primary communicator is incapacitated."
"Got it. I'm all ready to go, so you guys just need to come up with a distraction. We should execute it at night, so that I can have the advantage of surprise and the cover of darkness."
"All right, we'll be ready by tonight, you can count on us to come up with a good decoy. Nancy, we're going to need you to tap into the broadcasting of the Eclo Canyon area, be it radio, TV, whatever. We'll be sending a message to our friends at Chaos...."
"Consider it done."
"Good, Cindy you're going to have to deliver a believable transmission...."
Here Arc left the room to make sure he was ready for the mission. He gathered his pokeballs, tested his communicator, and even took the time to stock up on some smoke bombs, in case he was in dire need of an alternate distraction or a quick escape. When he was certain that he was prepared, he returned to the operations room.
"What time are you guys planning on setting the distraction?"
"We were going for about 9:30......"
"About?"
"Yes, well, it might take a little while for the decoy to take effect....use reasonable judgement to decide when enough of them have have left so that you can sneak in undetected."
"Okay. I'll be going then. Wish me luck." He stolidly exited the door and made for the entrance of the lab. He may not have shown it, being of a hardened, stoic demeanor, but Arc was very worried and anxious for Mark. There was no use in getting all emotional now, however, so he traveled forward and set off for the Shadow Factory.

Night had already befallen Orre by the time Arc reached his destination. He had traveled north of Eclo Canyon and eventually come upon the infamous Shadow Pokemon Factory, said to have been abandoned by Cipher after their production was foiled by a child and his pokemon. Arc had never personally been here before, as there never existed any veritable reason to scope out the factory, but now there was renewed activity, and something had definitenly happened to Mark while he was on reconnaissance. He would have to stay on his toes, even with the distraction that the others had set up.

Arc took up a post that was a safe distance away from the base but still allowed a clear view of what was going on. He had hidden behind a small rock formation that jutted up out of the shifting desert sands. It was just a matter of peeping around the rocks or watching through gaps between the rocks to be able to view the factory. Sure enough, he had already noticed the Chaos grunts (although they tried to be inconspicouous) with the trademark crest on their silvery-grey jumpsuits:



Arc glanced at his watch, noting that it was 9:15 already. Only fifteen minutes until the distraction, I had better be getting ready.

It seemed like an eternity passed by in those fifteen minutes spent anxiously waiting, but soon Arc noticed that there seemed to be large groups of Chaos grunts leaving the base. There were even a few that passed dangerously close to his hiding spot, and he could barely make out what they had been saying. He thought he had heard one of them talking to the others about what a coincidence it had been that a whole haven of wild pokemon had been discovered right when they had completed their project for mass-production of shadow pokemon. So their plan has already been set in motion then.... concluded Arc. He felt proud of his team back at base for coming up with such an ingenious distraction, though.

When the guards had left to follow the others, Arc stole his way up to the area before the Factory. There was a small, circular platform here surrounded by several smaller, arcing platforms protruding from what seemed to be malevolent, polluted water. There was a large flight of stairs leading up to the Factory entrance from there, but there was also no cover in between his current position and the doorway. He would have to take a shot in the dark and guess when he could make the trip without anyone coming outside, so he decided to wait in the shadows of the night until another group passed by. Several minutes came and went, but no more grunts seemed to be coming from the Factory. All the while, Arc had been thinking about how he could have made it without being discovered if he had left right away. He soon became impatient and flustered with himself, so he made a dash for the entrance, hoping that he had chosen the time wisely. He cleared the circular platform with ease and started climbing the stairs. He reached the top, but as he was about to enter the base, the door slid open to reveal a grunt who had trailed behind! Luckily, though, he was caught off guard by the sudden appearance of Arc, and it only took a swift jab to the stomache for him to be winded. Taking no chances, Arc hurled him off the stairs and he plummeted into the water below. He almost worried for the man for a fraction of a second, but he discarded this like an unwanted thought, and continued on.

Now that he was inside the base, Arc turned on his earpiece communicator. He had it off before so that it would be less distracting to him during the precarious inflitration process.

"Nancy, come in, Nancy. I've made it in."
"Well done, Arc, we knew you could do it." He could hear the relief in her voice.
"I'm going to start scouting around to find out where Mark is, keep me updated. Oh, and warn me when the Chaos grunts are returning, if you can."
"Will do, Arc. Be careful, you're in the belly of the beast now, even if the beast itself is half asleep."
"Got it."

Arc stayed in the cover of darkness, keeping close to the walls of the winding corridors that were etched throughout the base. He took care not to wander too close to any guards for fear of being captured or noticed, but it wasn't too much of a hassle. Most of the grunts were away, after all. Arc spent a good deal of time eavesdropping on the remaining guards, but most of them were just disgruntled about being left behind to stay and guard the base while the others were away.

Using some gut instinct and a bit of common sense, Arc decided to explore the lower and basement floors of the Factory for Mark first, relying on the idea that most dungeons and cells are usually kept on these floors. He hoped that he was right. He quickly descended a flight of stairs to the lowest floor and began searching.

It wasn't long until he found something useful. He heard two guards gossiping about the prisoner they had captured earlier, but they were out of earshot before Arc could hear about where he was being held or what they had done with him. However, it did confirm that Mark was indeed captured by Chaos. Not dawdling for a moment, he hurried away to look for anyplace that Mark could be contained in. He was wandering down a deserted hallway when he noticed a strange door that was different than the ones he had seen so far in the base. This one wasn't an automatic door, it had a handle and was colored an ugly shade of brown. It was also a wooden door, which was quite strange for this modern factory. He opened it and was disappointed when it swung open, for if Mark had been in it, it undoubtedly would have been locked. However, inside there was some straw and even some writing inscribed on the walls. It could very well have been a chamber where Cipher had kept prisoners. Arc decided to take some time to inspect the cell. He looked for clues of Mark's inhabitance on the wall writing, but all he found there were the babblings of prisoners who had obviously been imprisoned for such lengths of time that they had lost their sanity. The only other thing in the room left to inspect was the straw, which was probably the only form of a bed that Cipher (or Chaos) had given their prisoners. Arc searched and searched through the makeshift mattress, and was about to give up hope when he noticed a miniature red- and white- object. He instantly knew that Mark had been in here, at least for a short period of time.

He took the pokeball and released its contents into the room after checking outside to make sure that nobody was coming down the corridor.

A singular note fluttered down and lay on the floor of the cell. Arc hastily picked it up and began to read what Mark had written. It had always been a certain "calling card" of his to leave notes and information hidden inside of pokeballs.

Arc, as you know by now, I am a prisoner of Chaos and am being held here in this base. Before they captured me, I overheard these guards talking about how Chaos had finally recovered the lost Cipher files detailing mass-production of shadow pokemon techniques, and that they planned to use this factory to test out their prototype manufacturing process. They claimed that it would be much more efficient than Cipher's antique methods, being able to close the hearts of several batches of pokemon at once, and I quote, "as if they were batches of sinfully sweet cookies." Don't worry about me right now, Arc, you need to stop Chaos' plan somehow. They've got a secret part to their plan, one that could be devastating for all of Orre! They----

The note ended abruptly, indicating that Mark had apparently been interrupted in his writing. Perhaps a guard had walked in, and Mark only had had enough time to hide the unfinished note under the straw bed. Good old Mark, he had known that The Resistance would send Arc to rescue him. He had obviously been whisked away to some other part of the factory, but where to now? As Arc started to lose himself in thought, he was unaware of the guard who snuck up behind him. It was only when he saw a shadow fall across the floor from behind him that he realized he wasn't alone. With a quick, simultaneous turn and leap backwards, Arc came face to face with what seemed to be the jailer, from the ring of keys hanging from his belt.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? Your friend ain't here anymore, bucko!" The guard had an air of conceit about him, and his voice was laden with mockery as well.
"Where is he? What have you done to him?!" Arc managed to rap back at the guard through gritted teeth.
"Hohoho, wouldn't yew like to know? Well then, I'll tell ya, he's at the top of the factory, waitin' fer his own personal execution! Chaos doesn't take trespassin' lightly, ya know."
The guards words were like scalding, venomous water, both demeaning Arc and stirring his blood into a seething anger that frothed forth in his temper.
"Lies! You liar!" The words tasted bitter and discordant even on his own tongue. Howver, this only seemed to augment the guard's jollity. He let forth a malicious, baleful, droning laughter that filled the room and reverberated throughout Arc's baneful, irate mind.
"Don't worry, lad, you'll be with him soon!"
"Never!" Arc grasped for his pokeballs and released his companions. "Go! Tiedro and Aurora!"
Smoochum and Poliwhirl both burst from their pokeballs, ready for action. The guard was seemingly pleased by this. "So, you think that ya can take me on, eh? That's a good one! Hahahahahah! Very well, prepare to be crushed! Go!" He sent out his pokemon, a Jolteon and a Torkoal. The Aura reader whirred to life and became active, revealing the latter to be a shadow pokemon. Arc wasted no time in beginning the battle; if what the guard had said was true, then Mark could be dead before long if Arc didn't hurry.

"Tiedro, use bubblebeam on the Torkoal! Aurora, Shadow Rush that Jolteon!"
Smoochum obeyed, and with a slightly mischievous glint in its eyes, it rushed full speed at the Jolteon, its shadow aura becoming visible even without the aura reader. The Jolteon took the hit, but it seemed to shrug it off as it retorted with a sharp Thunderbolt to Aurora.
"Aurora, hang in there!" Arc yelled. Meanwhile, Tiedro was busy firing off volleys of bubblebeams at Torkoal, who staggered with each successful hit. "Torkoal, Protect!" the guard bellowed at his pokemon. The fire turtle instantly formed and impenetrable barrier around itself which deflected the Bubblebeams.
"Tidero, use Feint! Aurora, use Confusion then follow up with Powder Snow!"
Tiedro focused itself and managed to penetrate Torkoal's Protect with a series of lightning-fast, fierce punches. However, Torkoal didn't even seem to register the hit. The guard merely laughed at Tiedro's feeble attempt. "Hahahah, Torkoal has massive defense stats! Your punches can't harm him!"
"Tiedro, go back to bubblebeam!"
Aurora used its mindpower to unleash a swift Confusion on Jolteon, which became confused itself. Then Aurora took advantage of this by unleashing a flurry of snow upon jolteon, who shivered violently and hurt itself in confusion. It then attempted to use Thunderbolt on Aurora, but missed and instead hit Torkoal in conjunction with Tiedro's Bubblebeam, effectively leaving a massive dent in its HP. Arc swiftly readied and tossed a snag ball, which ensnared Torkoal, who only gave a feeble resistance before settling. One more shadow down. Tiedro now turned to Jolteon and fired off another Bubblbeam whilst Aurora used Powder Snow. The Bubbles froze instantaneously and pelted Jolteon with harsh thuds and shattering ice. Joleton staggered and fell to the floor, knocked out.

The guard's mood changed faster than you could wink. He let out a mighty, savage roar to show his frustration, but Arc didn't have the time or the strength to take down the jail guard. He quickly set off a smoke bomb at the guard's feet, which blinded him. While he was incapacitated, Arc rushed past him, taking time to grab the keys off of his belt. He hastily shut the jail door and locked it before dashing off with his pokemon. Time was of the essence.

Arc quickly released the rest of his pokemon, excluding Torkoal, and told them to fend off any pursuers that threatened them. "Tiedro, use your Bubblebeam, Pippin, you use metronome, or meteor mash if they get too close. Spira, you can use Ancientpower, Dusque, show them your Pin Missle! Aurora, give them some Powder Snow. Everyone, follow me! Quickly!" Each time grunts tried to approach the team, they were halted by harsh blows from the loyal pokemon. Arc then used smoke bombs to ensure that they wouldn't follow any longer. Arc took advantage of the time to communicate with the team.

"Nancy! I have some information for you, but first I have to rescue Mark! He's going to be killed if I don't act fast!"
Silence from the other end.
"Nancy? Come in, Nancy!"
"I, I copy, Arc. Sorry if I scared you, I was just too stunned to respond....I also hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the grunts are returning! They'll be foaming at the mouths, too, being cheated of their 'prize'."
"Gotcha. I'll be wary. Do you have any internal maps of the factory? I need to get to the top before......"
"Let me check. I'll get back to you."

Arc was another floor up by the time Nancy's voice came into his ear again.
"Got it. I've even tracked your location using the earpiece and applied it to the map, so now I can give you directions."
"Thanks Nancy, let's hope we're not too late already."

Nancy's instructions did help speed up the journey, but it was no small factory, and it was still some time before Arc reached the final staircase. He sped up the flight and found himself outside on a rooftop terrace. Across from him stood a Chaos Admin, you could tell from the symbol on his jumpsuit:



Next to him stood a very muscular grunt who was wielding a hefty execution maul. He was towering over Mark, who was on his knees with his hands bound by rope behind his back. All three faces turned to him as he entered, and he took this advantage of surprise by ordering his pokemon to attack. They delivered their promises, knocking the admin back a couple of steps and freeing the maul from the executioner's grip. It clattered to the floor in a discordant symphony of pain, its purpose left unfulfilled. "Arc! Save yourself! It's too late for me! They've got Mewtwo!" This information caused Arc to stagger backwards, reeling in surprise. He never learned of what had happened to Mewtwo after he and Ryu had killed Mewthree, he hadn't even really given Mewtwo a thought until now. Mark's outburst seemed to enfuriate the admin to no end. "Silence him! Now!" he demanded, and the executioner obliged. He took Mark's head in between his large palms and twisted his neck so fiercly that a bone-jarring, grotesque "snap!" was heard as Mark's neck was shattered. He instantly collapsed to the floor, eyes clouded over in the veil of death.

"Noooooooo! Mark!" Arc's howl caused even the exectuioner to stumble, and in his blind rage he flew forth like a bullet from a gun and tackled the man whose profession was Death itself, sending him flying backwards and hurtling over the edge of the factory, plunging into an abyss filled with naught but sinful hatred, never to be seen again.

"My, my, my, what rude behavior! First you burst in uninvited, then you almost sabotage the execution, and now you have sent my heartless executioner over the edge! You shall not escape from here without suffering!" The admin sent out his pokemon: Gengar, Tyranitar, Weavile and Honchkrow. And so the dance of death began.

Arc could hear stifled sobs from within his earpiece, Nancy had lost herself. He clenched his fists while the hot tears stained his face, leaving marks across time. He released his Torkoal to complete his team and commence the battle. "Tiedro, Hypnosis on the Weavile! Pippin, Metronome on Tyranitar! Spira, Ancientpower on Honchkrow! Dusque, Pin Missle on Tyranitar! Aurora, Confusion on Gengar! Brushfire, Flamethrower on Weavile!" Tiedro put the Weavile to sleep using his hypnotic movements, and Pippin unleashed a flurry of kicks on Tyranitar screaming "Cle-faaableeeee!", Brushfire spewed a jet of flame on Weavile and Aurora used her mental power to confuse Gengar. Spira and Dusque were standing in battle pose, about to unleash their fury when they both started glowing vehemently and brilliantly. When the lights receded, Omastar and the red Cacturne stood side by side, ready for action. Spira fired off a load of rocks towards Honchkrow, whose wings were badly bruised by the onslaught. Dusque rapidly shot a volley of pins into the holes in Tyranitar's torso, who recoiled in pain and fell over, unconscious. Honchkrow swooped in seeking revenge and used Wing Attack on Spira while it was off guard, but Aurora intervened with some screaming, icy cold snow that froze Honchkrow's limbs and knocked it clean out of the sky, as well as out of consciousness. Gengar snuck up and used Night Shade to leave Aurora in a frenzied panic, but Dusque unleashed a Dark Pulse at the same time that Brushfire used Stone Edge, to the effect of fainting the vile spirit. Tiedro used Wake-Up Slap on the Weavile to cure its sleep, but put it into an even deeper one because it had knocked it out. All the pokemon now turned to the Admin, who had lost his courage with the loss of his pokemon. His wit, however, had not entirely deserted him. "Blast it! You'll pay dearly for this insult!" He escaped, but Arc paid him no heed. He slowly stumbled over to Mark's limp form and bent down next to it, mourning his loss.

The next few weeks were a blur to Arc. He had borne Mark's body to the lab in the desert so that Mark could have a proper funeral. His coffin now rested underneath the Sanctum, which was now completed. However, since Mark's death, nobody seemed to be able to get motivated enough to search for Shadow pokemon. Every day was like a tormenting, waking nightmare that they all silently wished, in vain, would end. None were hit worse than Arc had been. His days and nights were now filled with regret, wishing he hadn't been taken aback that one moment, and had ordered one of his pokemon to free Mark from his bonds. Then perhaps he might still be alive..........

Mark's pokemon were perhaps the most lachrymose memory of him that was left in this world. No longer having a trainer, they just wandered aimlessly around in the Sanctum, sometimes coming to the area above where his coffin was buried and standing there, confused, lost and grievous.

Communication between the members of The Resistance was limited to grunts and monosyllabic conversations, most of the time they lingered in their bedrooms the whole day anyways. Sleep seemed to be the only escape for them, and even then Arc could still see Mark's death play over and over before him in his dreams, and Nancy could still hear Arc's agonizing scream rend space as if it were made of nothing but thin air.

The days droned on impersonally, and the team became even more worn and tattered by a lingering doubt. Arc made for the Sanctum to check on the pokemon and make sure that they were well off for the day. On the way there, he encountered Cindy, who had taken to wandering the hallways aimlessly since Mark's demise. Every now and then her face would brighten for a second, only to fall deeper into despair a moment later with a heavy, ponderous sigh. On a whim, Arc wondered where she was going with all her traversing the corridors. Nowhere, he reflected, After all, where does life take you? It's just all a miserable facade... He remembered how he used to be a roamer, ever-moving across the land, never staying still for large periods of time. A similar incident to Mark's death had caused it, and he had forgiven himself for it, but there would be no such harmony this time.

A hateful ghost emerged, filled with rage that had been inspired by depression, born from its very own living ashes. It was a blind hate, black and grey and somber all over. His fist connected with the wall, and it only returned his fury unto his knuckles. So senseless, a silent sentinel, a false truth. An empty scream split through the air, devoid of sound and laden with agony. Pure, envious rain fell, conceived by the endless cycle of life in death.

There was a small, naive part of him that desperately wanted to believe itself in that none of this was real, no journeys, no dreams, no shadows, no death, no life. Never. He had to kill this soon, or perhaps it would grow to fill the increasing, passive, emotionless void around it. Sometimes it snuck out at dusk and fed on the shadows that dwelled there in the corners, the dark, musty depths of the fading light.

The shadows would be taking over soon.

Arc was never really entirely sure of when he decided to stop embracing the regret and having the ruthless parasite leech him of vivacity, and perhaps to a certain degree he never did. In fact, he was only sure of one thing entirely as he regressed from the realm of cautious desire that had temporarily assuaged the pain. As Arc sat upright in his own sanctum, the portentous alarms were blaring in the backdrop.

Arc raced out of his bedroom and made his way to the operations room with great haste. He arrived just as the others were also entering, and he saw for the first time the sleepiness and somber air that was hanging thick upon the circles of their eyes. Perhaps he had seen it before, but being familiarized to it by himself, he had been numbed of the ability to discern pain from sadness from anger from joy.

Nancy quickly quieted the alarm so that they could concentrate and then sat herself down at the control panel. A map of Orre came up on the large Lab TV screen that showed the approximate locations of shadow pokemon through using satellites to detect traces of their auras. The expression of shock was defined clearly and uniformly across everyone in the room as they saw the area that used to be Pyrite Town engulfed in a venomous purple, drenched in and tainted by shadows.

All was quiet for a moment before Arc spoke, to nobody in particular. In fact, he felt that he was talking to Mark more than anyone else present when he said, "So, it has begun."

It was only a matter of minutes before Arc and Jason were prepared to set out, as ready as ever to take on the Shadow Invasion of Pyrite, or to salvage whatever was left of the town. They both initiated their Aura Readers and booted up the Snag Machines that had been gathering hordes, ever-growing armies of dust and dirt. A diseased growl sounded, as if the machines sought some sustenance to quell their insatiable, gargantuan hunger, their endless starvation.

(Damn, writer's block xD)

"Sanctum's gonna be full tonight, eh, Arc?" Jason gave a pale smile to try and lighten the atmosphere that had been cast in a stifling darkness ever since Mark's demise. Arc didn't respond, but only returned the silent favor to its sender. "Wish us luck, then." Nancy replied with a slight laugh. "Ha! You two don't need luck, but take care." The faded stars that were her eyes seemed to be partially revived, showing a hint of vigor blended with cunning. Cindy took Arc's hand in her own two and also flashed a smile. "Do well...." she whispered. Arc only nodded in acknowledgement and beckoned Jason to leave.

When Arc and Jason set out, light was already fading fast from the bleak horizon in a majestic collage of orange suffusing with the deep night that was creeping up from behind. They took the motorbike which they hardly ever used out of the small hangar they had built for it and mounted it, the once dead engine roared into existence and then settled down for a second before Arc put the machine to the limit. It wouldn't do to be too late, not now, nor ever.

***

It took about an hour to reach Pyrite, but the effects of the large agglomeration of Shadow pokemon echoed so far across the land that they could be felt, touched and observed for miles.

(Writer's block.....again >_<)

The area was laden with vileness, and the scenery was beginning to show signs of the intrusion: vehicle tire marks, footprints, scarring across the semi-desert landscape. Arc decided to dismount the vehicle behind some rocks and walk on foot the remainder of the journey to be cautious. This left little room to carry out a fast escape plan if necessary, but neither he nor Jason had any intentions of running away from this. They took the time to boot up their Snag Machines. They had both brought an ample supply of pokeballs among them in preparation. Arc pondered how many of them would be occupied by the end of the skirmish. This thought snowballed and eventually he began wondering whether there would ever be an end to the conflict for the resistance and him. He quickly dropped the thought like a hot pokeball and signaled to Jason to start advancing towards the city outskirts, where guards few and far between already hovered into view, patrolling the condemned town.

They inched their way closer towards the town, readying their pokemon and gripping empty vessels with their Snag Machines. Two guards in the distance. Arc signaled to Jason to take the one on the right whilst he went for the one on the left. He added a "good luck" splitting seconds before their departure.

He released Tiedro and crept towards the guard. He was walking at at tangent to Arc, so it wasn't hard to sneak behind him. Arc whispered his will, "Tiedro, Bubblebeam on his radio!". The walkie-talkie flew from the guard's palm, uttering strange, pained static. The startled guard regained his composure and sent out his Shadow to do his bidding. Corsola. "Tiedro, Hypnosis and Wake-Up Slap!". The potent Hypnosis lulled both into a daze while Tiedro slapped the Corsola repeatedly. A singular prison crawled through space, entrapped Corsola, and lie still as if in a comatose state.

Caught in the adrenaline, Arc stole into the expanses of Pyrite between the edifices of the alleyways. He realeased the rest of his partners and rushed into the city unprotected. Almost instantly he was within the Battle Square, lost amongst Chaos. They seemed to swell togother, like a wave preparing to strike the battered shore. All at Once they sent in their slaves, hundreds upon hundreds of them. The Aura Reader went berzerk, whirred and clicked vehemently and voraciously, then sputtered and died from exhaustion. Unfazed, Arc prepared to meet the onslaught. A whirlwind tore through the shadows, constituent of the seven souls. An ethereal flash of intermittent blows between thrown hopes.

It was soon apparent that Arc was fighting a losing battle; for every slain shadow, more would only appear from their deaths. He sought a venue to flee, and they battled their way towards and alley. Once at the entrance, he withdrew his fatigued comrades and carried on.

Cold washed over Arc as he found himself face to face with impediment. Memories sparked, set on fire, exhausted the oxygen in his mind. Unmarked and stolid stood the Wall before him, now expressing a hue of sinister that was unencountered to Arc. A booming laugh from behind brought him out of his reverie and led him back into the false reality.

The Devil incarnate loomed in front of view, the Wall behind. "Well, that was quite brave of you, to stage an attack like that upon Chaos! But, you see, we have now become an impetuous force. Our momentum is just too magnanimous to halt! How's that for your false bravado?" Arc's eyes darted back and forth, probing for weakness. When he found none, he made a blind dash to break free of this dis-order. A harsh blockade of inexistant matter hurled him backward, however, and another demon emerged into visibility from the shadows. "Mewtwo, take care of this refuse." The haunting apathy with which the order was issued was only thin upon the ice as Mewtwo petrified Arc with his mind and pinned his figure against the Wall, Madame Guillotine, the Cross. Had everything been in vain? The Shadow itself prepared to extinguish the light as it concentrated its psyche into raw power and followed the will of evil.

The beam flew true, embedding itself and leaking venom into Arc. Like Fake Palindromes, the roles had been switched, the tables turned. Arc became the villain, the antagonist, his own demise. A sight of emotion, thorn twisted in side, the epitome of conflict.

A state of transience overcame Arc as everything blurred by into slow motion: people, screams, agony, deception, comprehension, sound, energy, darkness, light, patience, silence.

Arc gripped the fissure that had rent his torso, plunging straight through his bleeding heart. He fell to the Earth like rain from Cindy's pure eyes, each palpitation beckoning him silently closer to the Reaper. A deep tremor rumbled within, like an ache with no relief. Rich, deep, radiant essence spilled straight from the Source, tainting, littering the ground and blanketing it in sweet, sweet sorrow.

Fading, fading fast.......

And here were the trees, the Dark Green Verdancies that had indeed not been falsified of all their claims. The Trees Were not Mistaken.

*Three Months Earlier*

A vibrant full moon cast a pale, almost wan light like a veil over the flowing Phenac City. Arc and Lily, however, were virtually blind to its brilliance, on a mission as they were. The Resistance had received word of some suspicious activity in the area, along with sightings of pokemon that behaved violently. "Lily, you take the Pre-Gym, I'll check the Stadium. Those are probably our two best bets." Lily nodded in approval and began in the direction of the Pre-Gym. Arc climbed the stone staircase leading to the City's prized stadium and entered stealthily. Noticing that no one was present in the Stadium Lobby, Arc proceeded to the arena.

The vastness of the stadium from the inside belied its humble appearance from the rest of Phenac. It's beauty was lost upon Arc, though, because there happened to be two Chaos grunts conversing in the middle of the arena. Seeing as there was nothing to hide behind, they spotted Arc fairly quickly. "Hey, you! What are you doing here?", one of them shouted. As Arc reached for his pokeballs, an Omantye and a red Cacnea appeared before their eyes.

Whirring from the Aura Scanner.

"Go, Tiedro and Pippin!" Arc wasted no time in commencing the battle. "Tiedro, Hypnosis and Wake Up Slap on the Omanyte! Pippin, Metronome on the Cacnea!" Tiedro had no difficulty putting the Omanyte to sleep and Slapping the living daylights out of it, but Pippin's Metronome only yielded Leer, which lowered Cacnea's Defenses slightly. The Cacnea retaliated by using Absorb on Tiedro, but, super effective as it was, it didn't do much damage. "Tiedro, now use Body Slam on Cacnea, Pippin, keep using Metronome!" Tiedro harshly slammed his body against the little red cactus, and although it took a great deal of its HP away, Tiedro also seemed to be in pain from the attack. "Tiedro, you okay?" One of the grunts gave a vile laugh and sneered. "Hah! He's been poisoned by my Cacnea! A physical attack wasn't the smartest thing to do!" Pippin, however, used the move Air Cutter from Metronome, which sent Cacnea reeling. Arc quickly threw two Snag Balls, which caught and held their prey easily.

The two Grunts seemed disconcerted until one of them received a message by radio.

"Heh heh, alright kid, you beat us. Too bad about your friend, though!"

"Lily," Arc whispered under his breath, "what have they done to her?!"

"I hear that she put up quite a fight, but there were just too many for her! Hahahahahaha, see yah!" With that, they made their escape, dashing for the back exit. Arc hastened to the stadium lobby and then out into the open. From his vantage point, he could see a group of thugs hauling Lily toward a vehicle parked near the city limits. "Lily!" Arc yelled, hoping that she might have heard him. He looked at his two pokemon, "Come on guys, we need to hurry!" He made into a mad sprint, his pokemon trailing behind. It seemed that he was going to make it when Tiedro seemed to weaken, and staggered wildly before collapsing on the ground in a heap. Arc skidded to a halt to help his fallen comrade. "Tiedro, Tiedro! Are you alright? Get up, we need to save Lily!" Tiedro could only babble weakly in response, however; the poison had gotten to him. When Arc glanced up, he could see that the vehicle was revving to life, and that the Grunts had gagged, bound, and blindfolded Lily. He even saw one of them remove her communication device, crush it in his palm, and fling it to the ground. The motor whined as they drove away into the dark night, and Arc made a silent vow unto himself.

"Lily....I'll save you, somehow, someday....."

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End