From: "Adrian Tymes" <wingcat@pacbell.net> Subject: [PW!] Out Of The Shadow Date: Sunday, October 03, 2004 9:12 PM Awareness returned, but awareness only of purple-black energies. They completely blocked his vision, even as he somehow knew they were merely psychic images, not true opaque materials. They existed only in his mind's eye, distance...within himself?!? The ditto struggled to find some crack, and was soon rewarded: green energy filtered in from above, insidiously undermining the dark foundation, requesting energy from him which he instinctively gave. The blackness fought back, however, likewise leeching support from his emotions but stealing it instead of asking. It seemed a losing battle... <DOPPLER!> The call. A familiar voice. Warmth and happiness flourished within him, which he in turn piped to the green attack which soon exploded, taking the black cloud with it. Once outside his being, the pyschic energies quickly disappated, allowing him to see where he was. Scarlette's quarters, minimally decorated as always, so it came as little surprise to see Scarlette looking at him. And next to her, Mewtwo. Doppler blinked. <Mewtwo?!?> <Good. I almost lost you there, until your new mate pitched in.> Doppler and Scarlette looked at the legendary pokemon and echoed, <What are you talking about?> Mewtwo smirked. <Or perhaps I presume too much about your love life. Regardless, it seems you tripped over something worse than a pokeball. I felt it when I tried to check up on you, and came here to investigate. I was quite surprised to learn you'd done it to yourself.> Scarlette frowned. <What part of 'accident' didn't you understand?> <...or perhaps the situation is worse than I thought.> Mewtwo folded his arms. <Explain again, and this time please be clear.> <You have a most irritating mentor,> Scarlette quipped. <Anyway, you found some files from Orre. It seems a human named Ein - their version of Professor Birch, I suppose - found a way to seal the door to a pokemon's heart. This pokemon would become able to access a new, slowly self-destructive form of power - at the cost of most of the rest of their abilities, including learning and evolution. Ein raved about how powerful these 'shadow pokemon' were, although neither of us could immediately see why this would be at all useful. But he had been careless with security on his research, or perhaps he never intended it to be a secret for long. Humans had distributed copies of his files far and wide. You decided to reconstruct some of his technology to see if you could discover what was so useful. But your prototype machine activated and sucked you in. By the time I could pull you out, the door to your heart was firmly closed. Fortunately, Ein's notes included instructions on how to purify you of this taint. I had been following the instructions when Mewtwo showed up. Ein knew Celebii could chase away the darkness in an instant; it seems Mewtwo is that powerful as well.> <For Doppler, at least, but I already knew him well,> Mewtwo added. <But I still do not understand why you say Doppler is not at fault?> <Some minions showed up immediately after the incident. A little too quickly, as if they had been watching. And I've heard Adonis refer to a 'successful test' when I know they ran no such test before putting the machine into use.> Mewtwo's aura flared up. <They are creating MORE shadow pokemon?> <As punishment, I think,> Scarlette replied. <I've been too busy with Doppler to investigate.> <Then I shall. This outrage must not be allowed to continue!> Mewtwo flew out the doorway. <Should we stop him?> Doppler shook his head. <Not even if we could. He's right: creating shadow pokemon goes against everything this movement is supposed to be for. But we should track down the source. Was it Adonis or Claydol?> <To be honest, I don't know. I'm not sure it was either of them; it might be a minion, or it might be...no, never mind.> <Deoxys?> <No!> Scarlette frowned. <Deoxys would NEVER mislead us like that!> <You're not certain.> <...> She sighed. <How did you know?> <Like most pokemon and people, you protest more strongly when you're afraid of being wrong. You're never afraid unless you have good reason to be.> <But if it is Deoxys, what we he do? Challenge him?> <If necessary.> Scarlette gave Doppler a sidewise glance. <There's a fine line between bravery and foolishness. Even I know that.> <Revolutions like ours mean putting our lives on the line sometimes, when it really matters. Besides, if things go too badly, Mewtwo can probably get us out of here.> <I heard that 'probably'.> <What other options do we have?> <Why don't we just destroy the research?> <How widely did you say the files were distributed? We could spend decades, easily, hunting down all the various copies, and then we'd only get the ones that aren't hidden. And killing or brainwiping everyone who knows the data would be a massive effort, not to mention make most of the planet our enemies. I'm just glad the cure is getting distributed as widely as the cause. Umm...there *is* a cure other than Mewtwo or Celebii, right?> <There's a shrine in Orre that can purify shadow pokemon once the door to their heart is mostly open.> Scarlette closed her eyes to aid her memory. <I saw a few notes that looked like instructions for creating portable, one-use versions, called 'Agate Stones'. But it looked like speculation, not something Ein actually saw.> <Right. We'll deal with that later. In the mean time, how do we get in contact with Deox-> #DOPPLER. COME. MANY SHADOW POKEMON. NEED ASSISTANCE.# <Nevermind!> Doppler hurried out the door. <Mewtwo usually isn't that terse unless there's real trouble. Any idea how many shadow pokemon have been created?> Scarlette's pupils dilated even as she chased Doppler. <They've had time to create an army, if that's what they wanted.> <Great.> As Scarlette pulled alongside Doppler in the hall outside her quarters and they raced towards where Mewtwo's psychic signal was coming from, Doppler queried, <Have you been crying?> <The notes said to call you with all my heart, so I did. I guess my body reacted.> <...right.> That train of thought was derailed by the sound of explosions in the distance, and Doppler wondered if anyone outside the Pokemon Rebellion's hidden base would hear the battle and investigate. TBC?