How to Train Your Pokémon

Dealing With Dark Types

How to Train Your Pokémon

A/N: Let's quickly get on with Chapter 12. Roll it!

Chapter 12

Dealing With Dark Types

An hour later, the Ketchum kids were all back in the Arena. This time, though, Gary had assigned the recruits into teams of two before starting the session. Mari, luckily, was paired with Evan, Luke was unfortunately partners with Aiden, and Jenna was stuck with Keira.

"Today is about teamwork." Gary began as a trap door blasted open, and a thick, dark haze started to billow out and cover the Arena. "Now usually, Dark types have a tendency to avoid light. Umbreon, however, has an extra trick up its sleeve. The rings on its body can absorb light, and it can sometimes be stored for a specific attack. Your job is to stand your ground against it, now that you know its trick."

Out of nervousness, Evan began spouting out facts about Umbreon. "The Dark type evolution of Eevee, evolves when leveling up during nighttime, prefers ambush attack, like all usual Dark types-"

"Will you please shut it!" Mari quietly hissed annoyed, interrupting her brother so that he could be quiet. But she was nervous as well. Dark types are infamous for having powers beyond human knowledge. Some even think that Dark types, and Ghost types, even got their powers from Giratina, the ruler of the cursed Reverse World. Well, Mari wasn't one for superstition, but at the same time, those kinds of Pokémon can send chills down people's spines.

Luke and Aiden were circling each other, back to back, even though Luke would love nothing more than to flip the Newton boy over his shoulder. Luke and Evan have held a disdain to Aiden, ever since he brushed off their sister and started training like there was no tomorrow. They had never seen Mari so sad before that day, and they promised that she will never be heartbroken like that ever again.

Jenna was beside her sister, and was rolling her eyes at what Keira was boasting about. "If that Dark type shows its face, I'll-" Keira then spotted a shadow in the haze. "There!" She shouted, and quickly fired a stun shot. Before Jenna could fire her crossbow, a yelp of pain was heard as something was hit by Keira's shot. The dark haze lifted up a bit and it revealed Aiden and Luke.

"Hey!" Luke shouted, while rubbing his now numb upper leg where Keira had blindly shot. "It's us, idiot!" He yelled, while Aiden narrowed his eyes at his sisters.

Jenna rolled her eyes, putting her crossbow down. "Well, it wasn't me who thought that you were a Pokémon." She said, glaring at Keira.

Keira froze with embarrassment, and then flashed a flirty smile to Luke. "Not that there's anything wrong with having such a Pokémon-like figure."

Luke scoffed with disgust, then slid down to the ground and swept Keira's legs under her, making her fall down on her bottom. "Serves you right." Jenna said.

Just then, a dark purple Shadow Ball flowing with dark energy, zoomed out of the light grey haze, and Jenna had just barely dodged it.

"Wait." Aiden said to Luke, grabbing his baton. Luke only nodded while reaching for his staff on his back.

Suddenly, this time, a Dark Pulse shot out, and the two boys hit the ground to dodge the rings of dark energy. By now, the haze was lifting up more, and Mari and Evan were seeing what was happening. "I'm getting a bad feeling about this." Evan said.

"You're not the only one, bro." Mari added.

A pure black cat-like creature jumped out of the haze and growled at the recruits. It was a little similar to the Espeon that they fought yesterday, since they are both evolutions of Eevee. The Umbreon had different ears and tail, with the telltale yellow ring prints all over on its fur. Its red eyes were glaring viciously at the recruits.

A ball of dark purple energy began building up in its mouth. Then, the energy was released into the pulsating rings of a Dark Pulse. Evan and Mari quickly dodged it, but the Umbreon began firing Shadow Balls in repetition.

"The Umbreon can't keep this up for much longer." The youngest Ketchum whispered to his sister. "Shadow Ball has a limit of 15 shots."

Mari mentally counted the shots already fired. The Umbreon had just fired its seventh shot over at Jenna. An idea then came into her head. She started to head over towards the hostile Dark type. "Hey!" She shouted at it. "I'm over here! Come and get me!"

The Umbreon heard her shouts and started charging to her. "Mari!" Gary shouted.

Luke had ran over to Evan, giving him a confused look when his twin brother stopped him. "What is she doing?" He asked in a hushed tone.

"Hopefully something that won't end up in a disaster." Evan nervously suggested, really hoping that their sister knew what she was doing.

The Umbreon started to charge towards Mari, but before it could, the Ketchum girl thrust out a closed fist to it. The Dark type skidded to a halt a few inches away from her hand and sniffed the air around it. It then began backing away, as if it was disgusted or afraid of something.

"That's right!" Mari shouted, taking a few steps closer towards the Umbreon, and the Moonlight Pokémon quickly backed away from her, keeping a good distance away from her. "Back! Back into your cage!" While she was sending the Dark type back into its cage, everyone, excluding the twins, were all in awe.

Soon, Mari had the Umbreon where she wanted it. "Now, think about what you've done." She then opened her fist and tossed in a couple slices of Figy Berries. The Umbreon backed away from the spicy Berries, retreating further back into the shadows of its cage.

Mari then closed the doors and locked them. As she wiped her hands on her shorts to get rid of the spicy juice of the Figy Berries, she turned towards everyone else, who had their jaws dropped, though Luke and Evan were giving her proud and knowing smiles.

"All right, then." Mari said. "So, that ends today's session. Now, me and the guys have some things we need to do." She gestured to the twins to follow her as she began to leave the Arena. "See you tomorrow!" She shouted.

As the Ketchum kids left, the thought that everyone was thinking was booming in their heads. What the heck just happened?!

A/N: Some facts about Dark types might have been made up here, but from I think, Ghost and Dark types usually avoid light. So I thought that this could sort of work in this.

With that aside, I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a comment about what you think. Merry Christmas! 

Got to fly! ;)