Pokemon: Destiny and Truth: Courage

Chapter 4

Darkness slowly crept into a quiet forest. The moon started to break through the shield of light as the sun vanished beyond the horizon. Tops of trees slowly swayed as the wind swept through their branches. Noctowl, Liepard, and other nocturnal pokemon began to awaken from the slumber of the past day.

A small orange-red fire crackled beneath the darkening sky. Five pokemon lay in around it. All were asleep except a small Sneasel that was staring in admiration towards the stars.

Shard sat on a old hollow log, thinking about his life, about everything that had been going on.

He turned his head to scan over the other sleeping pokemon. His eyes first met Thorn, the Riolu. His unusually pointy wrists gave him the name.

Thorn had been captured by evil pokemon when he was young, destined to be scarred by the malice of them. Brune saved him though. He had broken the spell when they let Thorn go on his first kill mission. Thorn doesn't remember a thing, which is good, because if he did, he would remember that his father was part of the evil pokemon and that the spikes on his wrist were actually implanted.

Shard sighed. He had never known evil back in the cave, but now he realized that there might even be more evil than good.

He then thought about the Pokégem. Why did those pokemon want it anyway? If used incorrectly the gem could backfire, causing massisve destruction and pokemon would become powerless. If used correctly though, it can drain all other pokemons' power, but the user. The user then would gain all the stolen power, becoming invincible.

That's why we have to stop it, Shard thought, but we've been trying to find new recruits for a month now. I sure hope Brune has a plan.

Shard's attention returned back to the sleeping bodies. His eyes scrolled over Flare, the Growlithe, next.

Flare was the only one of the group that had been actually captured by a capturer. To be more precise he was bred by a capturer and escaped when he was young. Brune found him after he fled, hungry and dying of sickness. Brune had only planned on keeping him until he got well enough to leave, but he saw spirit in the young boy and trained him to be part of the team.

Shard then turned to Journey, the Kirlia, and remembered the stories of how she got here.

Journey was only a Ralts when they found her. Her parents had been murdered by evil Pokémon that had found out they were spies. Journey was the first Pokémon they took in actually. Second was Thorn, then Flare.

He was the youngest, Shard. That didn't bother him though. He tried to know everything by always reading books.

Shard reached down and grabbed a book out of his small backpack. He lied it on his lap and read the title. The Pokégem and Other Legends. It was his favorite read. He opened the cover and the book crackled with age. He had read this book over a billion times but it never got old.

The fire let out a large crack as the logs shifted. Shard jumped in astonishment, losing balance and falling off the back end of the log. His back landed with a thud on the ground and his book flapped down and fell on his face.

"Great," he silently spoke.

A low growl from behind him made Shard freeze. He dared to shift to see what it was.

The growl attacked. A claw slashed across his face temporarily blinding him. He felt himself being picked and thrown over a shoulder.

Through his confusion Shard managed to identify the pokemon. It was a Granbull. It didn't come alone. Four others were standing over the rest of the group.

The Granbull motioned to the other with a wave of its paw. Shard took his chance. Just as he lifted his claw to use Slash, the Granbull whipped around and grabbed his claw. Excruciating pain tore through his back as the Granbull bit into it.

Shard's body fell limp, but he could still hear and see. Then he felt himself being thrashed over a shoulder once again. The Granbull turned around and started to run away from the small campsite.

Shard watched, as the old log and his prized book faded into the distance, illuminated by the light of the fire.

Slowly, Shard's eyes closed and his hearing muffled. Then it was silent. All he could feel was the up and down movement of his sprinting kidnapper.