Pokemon: The Shadow Battler

Chapter 15

"I'm Salvador."

With that, Aerodactyl gave one more powerful stroke of his wings and flew over their heads, but he still heard Ash's voice on the wind.

"Sweet! Next time we meet, I'm totally gonna beat you!"

A slight smile quirked his lips. Amusing that he thought they would actually battle again, much less that he would win. Salvador settled on Aerodactyl's back and gently patted his side.

"Come on, no matter how much of an idiot he can be, he wouldn't call unless it was necessary."

Before

"Mr. S, someone's requesting you on the phone."

Salvador glanced back at the nurse joy gesturing to the big green box they called a phone before grimacing. No way in hell would he answer that, no priacy at all.

"Alright."

He made his way to the 'phone' and clicked the answer button. The idiot on the other side at least had the brain to cover up the camera so the screen was pitch black and didn't reveal their identity.

Before the other person could speak, Salvador leaned into the microphone and hissed, "Call me on my personal phone next time if you don't want to get pounded into the ground."

There was a high-pitched squeak on the other side that drew some amused eyes before Sal smashed his finger into the hang up button, grinding his teeth in annoyance the whole time.

Not a minute later, his phone buzzed quietly in his pocket and he drew a deep breath before bringing it up to his ear.

"The hell do you want?"

"Sal, I can't explain right now, but you have to come over."

The serious tone on the other side gave him pause. His friend, for the lack of a better word, was rarely serious and his tone gave him a sense of foreboding.

"Yeah ok, you still at the headquarters in-"

"Yeah, come over quick." With that, the phone clicked and he was left alone in thought. His brows furrowed as he pocketed his phone slowly. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't curious, his friend was a powerful trainer in his own right, they wouldn't even be acquaintances if he wasn't, and anything that had him worried was a cause for concern.

Sal frowned and sat down on the bench, resolving to fly over immediately once his pokemon were healed. At the very least, he could always make fun of his friend for being too paranoid if it wasn't worth his time.

Present

Sal's orange eyes darted down to the forest when he felt a light current of electricity run over his skin. There. A small spark of yellow was flashing in a code he knew too well. 

"Head down. Keep on your guard."

Aerodactyl gave a quiet affirmative grunt and veered down, his wing flaps becoming softer and softer as they masked their approach, using the clouds as cover. 

Once they were straight over the sparking, Sal smirked.

"Let's make an entrance."

He reached up and brushed the mega stone hanging from his neck. He could feel Aerodactyl's amusement as the light connected and a spherical shape encased them briefly before shattering in dozens of pinpricks of light. 

Aerodactyl roared, wings whipping out violently, and Sal only had a second to wrap his hands around his pokemon's horn spikes before his wings closed and they were plummeting.

Sal grinned, pressing himself against Aerodactyl's back, the lashing wind whipping his hair wildly in all different directions. He loved this, and he could tell through their connection, Aerodactyl did too, the pleasant hum sang in unison in their hearts as the forest floor got closer and closer, shrouded by the leaves of trees.

Seconds before hitting the canopy of leaves, Aerodactyl's wings flared out briefly before closing again and spinning quickly to avoid the branches. His clawed feet silently touched the ground with practiced ease, though their entrance wasn't exactly subtle.

A boy, a few years his senior, stood next to a towering Electivire, his grin infectious and sky-blue eyes gleaming with excitement and mischief.

"Sal! It's awesome to see you again!" 

Salvador raised an eyebrow and casually dodged the cross between a tackle and a hug the other boy tried to give him. The momentum from the pounce sent the other rolling, but he sprang back up in a few seconds and turned around, looking unbothered by Salvador's unimpressed look.

He sighed, "What do you want Nero? It better be important."

The raven's grin faltered, his sky-blue eyes darkening as he held Salvador's orange eyes.

He held up two fingers, "Two things, Sal. One, Umbreon informed me you had a... run in with the champion." His lips pressed together and any idiot could tell he was unhappy, a rare thing with the excitable boy. "You were caught by the police, attacked by galactic, attacked again by galactic, rescued by Rockets, beat the crap out of a mouse, like seriously? and had another run in with rocket!"

"And two-"

At this point, Nero was pacing, a scowl firmly set on his face and Salvador withheld a sigh. Nero was a hyper, happy-go-lucky kid but saying he had a protective streak a mile wide was an understatement, especially concerning his "little brother." 

It was really annoying and it could get extremely frustrating at times when Nero would flutter around him and bare his teeth at anyone that came close. Seriously annoying. That's what he told himself over and over as he violently shoved down the feeling of fondness warming his insides.

Nero was human. Salvador hated human. Therefore, Sal should hate Nero. He does. He definitely doesn't like the way he catches Nero cutting him concerned glances at times, or when the 11-year-old threatens other people when they make him uncomfortable, he can take care of himself, damn it! He hates the way Nero always acts like he's fragile and needs protecting. He hates it! Right...?

Credits to:

Randomystic on Webnovel for the name Salvador

Liutianlong on Webnovel for the name Nero

A/N: The short of it for those that don't want to read more or don't really care, is that the updates will be even more sporadic than usual, maybe months, idk but I will try to keep updating. Below is the reason why so you can stop reading here if you want.

For those of you still here, recently, for the past few months, I've been struggling with (diagnosed) depression and suicidal thoughts. It's been a really rough time and this story's kinda been shoved to the back of my mind. I'm definitely gonna keep updating when I can, but my motivation to do things is pretty low. I guess I'm saying this just to get it off my chest because I don't know how to say it in person. I'm bad at expressing my emotions and I don't really like confiding in people. Anyway, if I do go quiet for like more than a year without informing you guys, I really appreciated all the support I've been getting on this and it really makes my day when I read all your comments. I love all of you and for those of you that read to the end of this, thanks for reading this huge block of text and listening to my rant. See you in the next chapter, hopefully. Peace.