Fandom Pokémon: Rise of Shadows

[Daisie]

Arcanus flinched a little bit, and accepted the hug. He'd longed for this moment for what felt like an eternity... He somehow doubted that April would ever come back. He thought he might have been alone... But he smiled warmly as he felt her embrace. His trembling slowed and he put his arms around her gently. "April, m-my gem....", he murmured softly and quietly. He closed his eyes and relished the moment, tears finally coming down his face.

Assailant

 

[Assailant]

April cooed slightly as she pulled herself deeper into the hug. She had forgotten how much she loved this. Loved him. She smiled. "I love it when you call me that, Arc" she whispered. She could stay like this forever.

 

[Daisie]

Arcanus smiled more as he heard April's contented cooing. He pulled her in closer, warmly. "Well, it is the truth, gem. Look at how beautiful you have become.". Arcanus let his problems slip away for just a moment as he stroked April's long, golden feathers that sprouted from her head. "So much has happened..."

Assailant

 

[Assailant]

April sighed. It was true, so much had happened in just two or three days. Some good things, mostly awful things... she didn't sense that the tragedies were even close to ending. But if she had to choose any moment in her life to die at, it would be now, she thought. Because she could then die happy.

Though as Arcanus stroked her plumage, a thought occurred to her. This form, the one that Arcanus found so beautiful... so beautiful that it could be even comparable to a magnificent gemstone, it had only been attained because of her mother's...

Tears welled up in her eyes as she thought of that. Wait... could it be? The source of her irrational behavior lately... could it be because of her? In retrospect, it seemed obvious, but she had refused to believe she cared... but... all this time...

Tears slowly began to pour out as she pulled Arcanus even tighter. "Please don't leave me, Arc," she said, the cracks in her voice betraying her newly risen grief. "I love you, don't leave me like mom."

 

[Daisie]

Arcanus looked down at the broken Pidgeot with sympathy, and sorrow. "Hush, gem...", he told her softly. "Your mother is proud, she has never left. She will always be watching over you.".

"I will not leave you, April. You will not be alone again..."

Assailant

 

[Assailant]

April began to sob a bit, but she continued to hug Arcanus. "S-she died instantly... I-i never got to say goodbye." She choked on her words for a few moments. "She died thinking I-i still hated her."

That was it. That was why she was so scared during that battle, wasn't it? If Arcanus had died in that battle... it would've been a repeat. He would've died thinking she hated him. What had she been doing?

 

[Daisie]

Arcanus frowned as April sobbed in his arms. He simply let her be for awhile... Stroking her feathers and being there to comfort her. But he knew something had to be done... A weight had to be lifted from her. He pulled away slightly and looked her in the eye with a caring look. "April... I'm going to ask you to tell me precisely what happened. It is difficult.... But please, you are going to have to speak to me, April."

 

[Assailant]

April took a shaky, deep breath, and nodded.


The battle had been going on for about ten minutes at this point. Nathan and her team had held up remarkably well, all things considered, but it still wasn't pretty. Nathan was bleeding from a few spots, April had accumulated some cuts, but neither had anything too major. Amber, as was her style, was hanging back and focusing on healing, occasionally taking shots at shadows but mostly just trying to stay safe. For awhile, it seemed like she went unseen for the most part, but eventually the shadows seemed to start thinking smart. If they take out the healer, the rest would lose their crutch. Nathan and April, of course, did not know this.

"April, look out behind you!"

"I was already on that, thank you."

"Gah!"

"I'm on it."

"Thanks Amber."

"Anything, mistress. Sweetie, do you need-"

"Trying to focus!"

"Er-of course."

"Uh-oh, we've got a big one."

"I'll take care of it!"

"With a bat?"

"What are you gonna do, run your nails on it? Yes a bat- it's charging!"

"Mistress, brace yourself fo-"

Metagross used Meteor Punch

For April, the world seemed to slow down. Looking back on it, it seemed to have gone by so fast that it almost didn't happen, but at the time it felt like that second would never end. Nathan dodged the Metagross, but they had no idea it wasn't aiming for her. The giant fist of the metagross tore through Amber and came out the other side, its fist now stained red from her blood as mashed up entrails followed. Amber hardly even had time for her eyes to widen before another punch to the face resulted in a sickening crack as her head turned 180 degrees, more than any Gardevoir's neck should, and she was flung off the fist into a nearby tree. Her head snapped even more as it came into contact, resulting in a full 360 degrees from where it started, her neck's skin twisted around where he spine should be.

Nathan immediately ran over to her as April stood in shock at the sight before her. Her talons clenched as a zigzagoon jumped at her. April quickly reached her talons up and grabbed it by the throat, piercing into it and ripping out it's larynx and part of its esophagus before using her beak to crush its skull. She look at the shadow army as she was enveloped in light. Suddenly, her form changed into her more evolved self, but what should have been an occasion for celebration was spoiled by the moment. Her face was twisted in wrath as she tossed the crushed and mutilated corpse of the Zigzagoon towards her enemies. She glared horribly before letting out a screech.

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!"

Her memory was somewhat faded from there. All she remembered after that was that she came to in a large pool of blood, most of it not hers, and surrounded by the corpses of other Pokémon. The shadow effect had worn off, so the corpses seemed to be of regular Pokémon. She flew off to be alone.


April looked down as her story finished. Tears still flowed normally, and the story took a little while to get through due to her choking on words and hesitating to say things.

Daisie

 

[Daisie]

Arcanus looked down at the Pidgeot, painfully listening to the story she had told. The poor bird... He took a deep breath after April had finished, a number of emotions running through him. "Oh, dear...", he murmured quietly, thinking. He wished Amber was here... Or at least had died in a more dignified fashion.

He tried to find the words to help April, but simply couldn't. This... A trauma like this would take time. So he simply settled for pulling April back into another comforting hug, stroking the soft, short feathers on her back. The best thing - the only thing - he could do at that moment was simply be there for her. Providing a shoulder for her to lean and cry on. He held her close in silence, knowing the darkness of the world... He wanted to never let her go. Just so he could know that she was safe..

Assailant

 

[Assailant]

April sobbed into him, letting out her sorrows. After a few minutes of that, she ran out of tears and simply held onto him. She waited like that in silence. She still felt the pain of Amber's loss, but Arcanus's warmth numbed it.

"Thank you," she whispered to him, her voice weak from the crying

 

[Daisie]

The tired Hypno smiled warmly down at April. "Anything for my gem..", he said softly. He kissed her quickly on the forehead. "Just know that we love you so. Both of us...", he comforted her gently, letting his muscles relax slightly.

 

[Assailant]

April looked back up to Arcanus and gently kissed him on the lips for a few moments before releasing and simply enjoying his company once more.

She thought on all of the things she had done to him. She had been so cruel and vicious to him, and he was always there for her.

"Arc," she said. "Is it okay if I ask a question? I've asked it many times, and I've never really gotten a straight answer. So this is gonna be the last time I ever ask it: whatever your answer this time, I'll accept it forever." She paused. "Why me?"

 

[Daisie]

Arcanus looked outwards for a few seconds, thinking... How was he to reply?

"Hmm... Perhaps the waves of fate guided me to you... Perhaps I felt like I needed to. Perhaps you are simply the right person, and I could feel it... Maybe I'm the only one stupid and stubborn enough to chase after a violent bird.". He paused, chuckling a little bit. He eventually sighed although, shaking his head. "To be honest... I do not know. Something about you... Something is in the air when I am around you. Whimsy, excitement, sorrow, courage... Magic, I suppose."

"I am no love expert... And nobody truly is. Love is a strange, uncontrollable beast, I know that now. I do not believe anyone truly knows why it exists, or what brings it around. But... That is what makes it so exciting and powerful, is it not?"

"So my answer to your question, I suppose...", he thought once more, pondering on the countless answers.

"You are just right."

Assailant

 

[Assailant]

April's eyes darted around as she thought on that answer. For a moment, it seemed she was unsatisfied. However, after a moment or two, she simply smiled and looked at Arcanus. "Alright." She nodded. She didn't like the answer, and she can't claim she understood. After all, the reasons SHE loved Arcanus were plain as day. However... she would accept it.

She needed something to get her mind off of her sorrows for a moment, and Arcanus was perfect for that. So she asked another question. "When did you realize you loved me?"

 

[Daisie]

"Hmm... I am unsure.", he replied as they laid under the cover of the tree. "I believe... I first noticed it on that cliffside... When your wing was bandaged, and you were about to make a terrible decision..". He blushed although as he remembered Nathan's response, how she'd noticed the chemistry between them. "A-Ah yes, I remember now..."

Assailant

 

[Assailant]

April smiled. "It was the same for me. In the beginning, I thought you were only trying to help me out of a need to prove a point, or maybe some sort of blind altruism... the way you reacted back then... that was when I first knew that you cared about me personally... and that was when I learned that I cared about you."

 

[Daisie]

Arcanus smiled and nodded slightly in response. "You know... I thought about it later, and I hadn't realized it at the time, but... If things went down.. And you jumped... I... Would have gone after you. Without hesitation.", he told her, honestly.

Assailant

 

[Assailant]

April frowned. In a way, that meant that not only had he saved her life... but she'd almost ended his. "You've always been looking after me," she said to him. "When will I ever get to look after you?"

 

[Daisie]

Arcanus smiled weakly. "You are doing a pretty good job of it now, you know. I was not in the greatest of places while you were gone..", he admitted, in a somewhat quieter and more delicate tone. "You would not believe how much of a relief..."

Assailant

 

[Assailant]

April looked at him in mild shock. She hadn't noticed... she'd been too busy trying her hardest not to think about him. "I'm sorry..."

 

[Daisie]

"How could I be angry with you...?", he sighed to himself with a smile. "You are forgiven, dear gem.". He shifted himself a little bit, still smiling slightly, even if his wounds still ached. Perhaps he was too forgiving, but... He couldn't help it.

Assailant

 

[Assailant]

April sighed and chuckled slightly. "I swear, you need to be more imperfect. You're making me feel bad over here."

 

[Daisie]

Arcanus chuckled slightly, putting his arm over April. "I'm working on it. Perhaps someday I can become good at it.", he joked a little bit.

Assailant

 

[Assailant]

April smiled. "Good. You better, mister." As she was against him, she suddenly thought of a wicked idea. She grinned at him. "Maybe tonight, I can give you a certain something as thanks." She then leaned in to whisper, "we're not in the same egg group, so there's no risk." She then pulled out just to see his reaction.

 

[Daisie]

Arcanus' eyes widened and a heavy blush arose to his face. "I-I, ah, d-don't... I m-mean, it's n-not..!", he stuttered, shocked. He couldn't seem to muster up any words, so he settled for sweating nervously, holding his breath, and shaking his head.