Living in the Shadows

PART 8: CHAPTER 1 THE SHADOW MOUNTAINS

(Jenna)

We zigged and zagged through the air. At one point Crystal and I lost our hold on our hands and just like when we all first arrived in this world, we scattered in different directions.

"Oh! Ow!" Jake exclaimed as he rubbed his rear. "That's one ride I'm never getting on twice!"

Jake, Zoroark, Red, the boys, Ben, Gothita, and I all landed in the same spot; more or less. Further up what I assume was a mountain path were the twins, Grandfather, Hannah, Cyril, Jack, Diane, and Zorua.

While everyone was groaning about the ride, Grandfather, Zorua, Gothita, and the boys were all swirly eyed and they looked like they were about to be sick.

Toxicroak had stayed behind in Mystic Village to help them with the rebuilding; it took a lot of damage after that attack from those four puppets of Malamar's. He said he would catch up with us at Dark Castle after he learns what became of his friends from this world.

And while we would have preferred to leave Gothita, Caleb, and Jaxon behind, experience told Jake, Hannah, Grandfather, Zoroark, and Darkrai that they would just try to follow us anyway, and possibly get captured by our enemies in the process, so we were forced to bring them along. But the condition was that they had to hide whenever any of our enemies appear.

Noivern and Garchomp offered to help us after I broke Malamar's mind-spell on them. After they get home and let their loved ones and Guild Masters know that they're alright, they were going to escort us to Dark Castle themselves. We were supposed to meet them somewhere on the other side of the mountains in Darkrai's kingdom.

And like before with Umbreon and everyone back at Transport Summit, we were to send up our attacks to let them know where we are.

Scolipede and Tyrantrum also chose to stay behind and help Mystic Village rebuild their homes, before going to theirs to tell everyone they were safe. And rather than going to Dark Castle to have it out with Malamar, they chose to see if they can find anyone else, besides three of Darkrai's generals, still under Malamar's mind-spell and snap them out of it.

"Is everyone alright?" Darkrai asked as he appeared out of a boulder's shadow; he chose to follow us as Teleport won't work for him.

"Fine." We all groaned. Those that couldn't even do that just gave him a thumbs-up; I was one of them.

"Do you know where in the Shadow Mountains we are, King Darkrai?" Hannah asked as she hopped down to us; slowly. It wasn't because of her lack of legs and need to keep her balance, it was because the path we were on was very steep and somewhat narrow and she didn't want to fall down the cliffside.

Darkrai scanned the area and then blended into the shadows to do a more thorough search. He came back two minutes later, by this time Hannah and the others were with us.

"We are near the Carbink Mines," he replied. "Our best chance of passing through these mountains unnoticed would be to use their tunnels."

"Is our dad anywhere near here?" Jake asked hopefully. I was just as anxious for the answer to be yes.

"He should be. The last time I spoke with him, he was going into one of the caves where certain crystals would mask his whereabouts until he recovered his strength."

"And my mom?" I asked.

Darkrai just looked at me.

"I know I've asked you time and time again, but I can't help it!" I practically whined. I didn't even bother asking about my grandma. Who knows where, or what, she is now?

Darkrai sighed. "As far as I know," he began patiently as he put his hand on my shoulder. "She is in the castle's dungeon. If you want a more detailed account of what happened, you will have to ask your father."