The Path to Where I Stand

[LKWayvern]

The Path to Where I StandA
Prologue

Small green paws nudged two eggs so that they leaned on each other. Then the creature began arranging warm fur, feathers, and plant matter into a small nest to keep the eggs from becoming cold. As they worked, the creature began to sing in an eerie, haunting tone.
“Watching. Waiting. Fearing. Hating.
The final hope buoyed up by evil’s wings.
Tarnished silver, the purifier, she sings.
Trust judgement made by mask of dreams.
Storm broken by one not on the side she seems.
Led by the valorous sword of steel.
United by kindness, we feel.
Balance shall be kept ‘til last breath.
As he rises empowered from--”
“What are you doing?”
The singer turned around, revealing obsidian black eyes with unnatural white pupils. “Why did you follow me?” it rasped in a grating voice, completely unlike the one it had had while singing.
“What are you doing to those eggs?” the newcomer asked. Gold eyes glinted, concerned.
“None of you business. It won’t kill you,” the singer snorted.
The newcomer laughed bitterly. “We both know that’s not what you want. What are you doing with those eggs?”
“If you must know, I’m keeping them from dying.”
“That’s not like you, and you know it. You can’t fool me. You’re up to something, something terrible. What is it?”
“Like I’d tell you,” the singer rasped, and then took off in flight, leaving both eggs behind.
The newcomer approached the eggs, examining the nest, before drawing back and hissing in repulsion. The two eggs inside the nest seemed completely unremarkable to average pokemon eyes. But to the newcomer’s eyes one’s aura was twisted somehow, tainted in a terrible way.
It could not be left like this.
The newcomer narrowed its golden eyes, and placed a paw on both eggs, letting positive emotions flow into each unborn pokemon. When the deed was done, it removed its paws and observed the eggs again. The elder still emanated a negative aura, but it was significantly lessened. Meanwhile the younger had an aura now that was so positive, the egg seemed to glow.
Nodding in satisfaction, the newcomer took flight, leaving both eggs to their fate.
And then in the older egg, there appeared a crack.

~~~

The moon hung heaving in the sky, illuminating two bipedal foxlike pokemon hunched over a small nest of eggs. These pokemon had dark charcoal colored fur, and gleaming green eyes. One had a mane of dark, almost blood red fur, while the other had a mane colored neon blue.
The nest held two eggs in it. One was unnaturally large, making the average sized egg beside it seem tiny in comparison.
The larger egg shuddered slightly. One of the pokemon looking at it gasped, and both felt a flurry of excitement in the pit of their stomachs.
“It’s started,” the one whispered. The other took their paw, and held tight.
The egg rocked back and forth, before cracking again. Then the shell split, and out flopped two smaller vulpine pokemon. Their dark charcoal fur was similar in color to their parents. One had a small lock of fur that was blood red, the other had a small lock of fur that was neon blue. They both were curled up into tight balls of damp fur, eyes closed in peaceful sleep.
Careful not to wake the young hatchlings, one of the larger pokemon tenderly picked up each kit in his arms, cradling them to his chest. In a soft voice, he whispered “Welcome to Hoenn, children…”

~~~

Meanwhile, regions away, one of the two abandoned eggs was hatching as well, although not as quickly, and with no one waiting to welcome it into life. The larger one shivered slightly, although not hard enough to knock over the egg leaning on it, almost as if the hatchling inside was aware it had a sibling nearby. Soon, a small area near the bottom of the egg cracked. And then another crack formed there. And another, until a small hole had formed.
From the hole squirmed out a catlike pokemon with glowing green eyes, black and blue fur, a puff of yellow fluff on the end of its tail, and a small ring of yellow fur on each foreleg.
The little pokemon looked around, taking in the other egg nearby. It looked up to the sky, and the moon slowly becoming obscured by clouds, and let out a soft, questioning mew. “...Shi?”
It seemed to be all alone.
But then on the wind came the faintest whisper, the merest suggestion of what could have been a voice.
“You have quite a destiny ahead of you, young X. Help me out, and I’ll keep you happy forever…”



A few years ago I wanted to turn the backstory of a few of my favorite OCs into a fanfiction.
And I did. And it was the longest and best fanfiction I wrote.
But here's the thing. Some of the stuff I did earlier sucked. I made a bunch of plot threads that were terrible, and it was way too hard to clean them up or ignore them without making things awkward.
So I'm just redoing that story from the beginning.
This is that story.
Welcome to The Path to Where I Stand.

[LKWayvern]

The Path to Where I Stand
Chapter 1: Home

X glanced about cautiously, before crawling under the bush. “Feunard? Are you in there…?”
The elderly ninetales looked up, two of his tails holding the small egg close to his frail form. “Ah. Xenomorphic. You’re back. And just in time, I can feel your little lixy sister is about to hatch.”
X stared at Feunard, confused. The ninetales sighed, giving in. “Fine then. X. Come here, witness a life come into the world.”
The young shinx bounded over to his adopted parent, snuggling up amongst his many tails. He watched with wide eyes as the small egg shuddered slightly, and cracked. It continued to twitch and rock and splinter, held up by Feunard’s many tails, until finally another shinx, smaller than X, managed to fight its way out of the shell. X gasped, seeing his sibling. They waere different from X in many ways. For one, the other shinx was smaller. It had large blue eyes and golden fur, with orange rings on its forelegs.
And, unlike any other pokemon X had seen in his short life, this one’s fur seemed to reflect the light in small sparkles all about its fur.
The kit looked at its brother and parent, before mewing “Shi? Shi-inx!”
“Her fur is so shiny, Feunard!” X remarked in an awed whisper. “Why does it look like that?”
The old reynard smiled, before using his tails like arms to lift up the young kit. It mewed in surprise.
“Ah! This is rare, young Xenomorphic. Your sister, she is not an average lixy like you. She is a shiny, very rare.” Feunard petted the kit softly with one of his many tails. “Hello, young lixy. Welcome to Kalos. I am Feunard, and that is your brother Xenomorphic.”
“X,” X said quickly. He knew if he couldn’t remember, let alone pronounce, his given name, his sister wouldn’t be able to either.
“Shi?” the kit mewed, questioningly.
“Xenomorphic, would you like the honor of naming your young sister?” Feunard asked.
X tilted his head to the side, examining the wriggling scrap of gold and black fur. It was hard to think up a name for a baby pokemon, and X wanted the best one possible for his little sister. “Ummmmm…” Then suddenly, he had it. “Goldsong! Let’s name her Goldsong.”
Feunard nodded. “Hm. Goldsong. A good name… Do you like that name, little Goldsong?”
“Shi!” Goldsong mewed, sounding happy.
Feunard placed the kit down. “Excellent. I shall fetch some berries, I believe we’re all hungry today. Xenomorphic, look after your sister.”
“Feunard? I have a question,” X asked.
The ninetales stopped, and turned around. “What is it?”
“Why did you give me that name that’s really long and difficult to pronounce? All the other pokemon here have different names that are all shorter! Like they’re named after berries, or weather, or other stuff! Why am I named that thing?”
Feunard didn’t answer for a few moments. “...You have a different name because you are different, it’s as simple as that,” he finally answered, before leaving X alone with his sister.

~~~

“Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaage, wake up!”
Kage shifted slightly, and cracked open her eyelids. Her twin sister, Yozora, was shaking her roughly.
Kage rolled over. “Getoff me Yozora…” she mumbled sleepily. She had been having such a good dream before being awoken, although the young zorua naturally couldn’t remember what the dream had been about now.
“Kage, wake up!” Yozora yipped again. “Mama and Papa said they’re going to teach us about illusions today. But only if you wake up!”
Kage mumbled something incomprehensible.
“What?” Yozora asked.
“Said ‘m getting up…”
Minutes later, both sisters were outside, eating the berries their parents had foraged for them. There seemed to be a few less today than there had been a few days ago, Kage noted.
When the two had finished, their parents walked over.
“Hey there, girls,” their father said, brushing . “Ready to learn about illusions?”
“Yes!” Yozora yelled. Kage nodded, swallowing the last berries in her mouth.
Their mother closed her eyes and exhaled. When she opened them again, they were a blazing red color that matched her mane. The glow spread across the zoroark’s body, and then expanded. By the time the glow faded, there was no longer a zoroark standing there.
Kage sucked in a breath, moving the blue lock of fur out of her eyes so she could make sure she hadn’t been daydreaming, or tired. Where her mother had been standing moments before now stood a bipedal dragon with firey orange scales. An impressive set of horns grew from just behind the back of her head, and several spikes were along the base of her tail, right before where it burst into flame. A large set of wings spread out from the dragon’s shoulder blades, and a second smaller pair sprouted from near her wrist.
The dragon smiled proudly, shaking her wings slightly. The sun in the sky seemed to blaze brighter, making Kage start sweating a bit, both at the sudden heat and how impressive her mother’s illusionary form was.
“How’d I do?” the dragon asked, her voice deep and rumbling. Not at all like Kage’s mother’s voice.
Her father gave the dragon an encouraging smile. “Brilliantly.” He turned to the two zorua kits. “It takes a while to develop an illusion as impressive as that. Usually a zorua can’t access an illusionary forme that’s fully evolved or a Mega evolution until they become a zoroark. But I believe you girls have a powerful illusion you can fight with. Now, all you have to do is concentrate, and focus on whatever comes to you when you hear the word ‘illusion’. A lot of zorua and zoroark find it easier to close their eyes.”
Yozora nodded, and squeezed her eyes shut. Kage sat down, curious on what her sister would become.
Yozora stood for an entire half an hour, silently straining, before something happened. Sparks of color started glinting around her, slowly gathering into a thin shell before dispersing to reveal…
That Yozora was still a Zorua.
The zorua opened her eyes, excitement sparkling in them. She glanced about, expecting to see she had an entirely new, illusionary body. When she realized nothing had happened, her face fell.
Her father rushed to comfort her. “Yozora, it’s okay. Not every you zorua creates an illusion on their first attempt… I’m sure you’ll get an illusionary form someday. Just work on it.”
Yozora sniffled, and nodded.
He turned to the other sister. “Now, Kage… Just do what I told you. And remember: concentrate.”
Kage nodded, and closed her eyes.
Hmmm… she thought. Illusion…
And then she felt it. Soft, wet mist coating her charcoal fur with refreshing dewdrops, a feeling like her paws were being lifted up by the gentle fog.
And when she opened her eyes, she found her paws had seemed to leave the ground completely. But before she could see why, she suddenly fell to the ground.
Kage looked up, dizzily. Her mother, father, and sister were gazing at her with looks of awe.
“Kage… That was…” Yozora murmured.
Her mother slipped from illusion form to her true form. “It’s okay, Kage. You still need to work on holding your illusion, no one starts out perfect. But the important thing is, you can create one! And it’s a very good one, too. I’m proud of you, Kage.”
“Mama… Papa…” Kage asked, “Just… What was the pokemon I became?”
“It was incredible, Kage!” Yozora cried. “You were flying! And you had the prettiest feathers, it was so cool!”
“It was a good start. And very impressive for a zorua your age,” her father agreed. “After all. I don’t know any zoroark even who have a latias as their illusion form.”

~~~

Nighttime. X had always enjoyed it. He never felt cold while sleeping, Feunard’s inner fire had always kept him at just the right amount of warmth.
But tonight, X couldn’t sleep. He crawled away from his parent and little sister, standing just outside the collection of tires and bushes they used as a den, and looked up at the stars.
For some reason, he wasn’t quite sure why, he hadn’t been able to get Feunard’s words out of his head. How was he different? Sure, he didn’t know who his real parents were. But this was Pokemon Village. Half the pokemon here didn’t even have any relatives.
You have a different name because you are different. It’s as simple as that.
X didn’t know when exactly he fell asleep, but it was the first time he had ever slept away from Feunard’s warmth.
It would not be the last.

Well then. Here's chapter one.
Some differences between the old version and the new one, although I don't think anyone here has seen the old one. In the old version, X's name did not stand for something, and Feunard did not exist. X and Goldsong lived alone.
Also, in the old version, Yozora could create minor illusions, and Kage apparently already had complete mastery over her Latias illusion.
Yes, I like this new version much better.

[LKWayvern]

Okay. Any subscribers I might have, this chapter is EXTREMELY dark. I promise, the next chapter won't be AS dark, and the ones after that will be as fluffy as I can make them! Please don't kill me! q.q

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

The Path to Where I Stand
Chapter 2: Fire

Goldsong drifted in and out of sleep during her first night. She kept hearing Feunard mutter things, things she couldn’t quite make out. But she thought she could hear him say things like “Standing alone in the crying rain… Crack the prison, scream to the skies… Make a wish and sacrifice dreams…”
She didn’t know what they meant. And before she could think too hard about it, she drifted back into sleep and forgot them.

~~~

Goldsong woke up to the scent of sweet berries. When she opened her eyes, she saw Feunard standing over a pile of pink, slightly heart-shaped fruit, slowly eating his fill. When the ninetales noticed her, he smiled. “Good morning, little lixy. Your brother gathered this fruit. Baies, I believe they’re called. Eat up, Xenomorphic seems very impatient today. Perhaps he wants to play with you?”
Goldsong nodded, and started eating one of the baies. She mewed in surprise when sweet syrup exploded across her tongue, and went in for seconds. She liked this flavor a lot, she decided. By the time she was done, her golden fur was a sticky mess, and the pits from five baies lay in front of her.
Feunard frowned at the kit, and told her to clean her fur before going to her brother. After she had done so, Goldsong trotted outside, Feunard following with a watchful eye.
X was lying down, tail flicking impatiently. When he saw his sister arrive, his head shot up. “Oh! Uh, Goldsong. How are you?”
Goldsong mewed excitedly, and smiled.
X smiled in return. “So, I was thinking I could teach you some names and moves that pokemon use?”
Goldsong nodded vigorously.
X frowned, thinking. “Ummm… I can do the fang moves! I can show you!” He opened his mouth wide, his canines being covered by a layer of ice, making them look like frozen icicles for a few moments before they shattered. “That’s Crocs Givre. I’m having a hard time focusing it, though. Like really hard. But I’m better with Crocs Feu!” He gaped open his mouth again, this time sparks of fire dancing around his fangs. He closed his mouth again when the fire sputtered out. “But I’m really really good at Crocs Eclaire!” He opened his mouth once more, and this time jolts of electricity stuttered all around his mouth. The rings on his forelegs lit up golden, and he managed to hold out the attack for at least a minute before letting it dissipate. He grinned at Goldsong. “See? You wanna try?”
Goldsong frowned, shuffling her feet. She opened her mouth, but instead of letting loose sparks, she began to emit a series of soothing, peaceful meows and warbles. X had to poke himself with his claws to stay awake.
Despite being drowsy, X still managed surprise at his little sister. “You know Berceuse, Goldsong? Wow. I thought lixy couldn’t learn that…”
Goldsong blinked at X, tilting her head questioningly. “Ber… ceuse?”
X nodded. “Yeah. It’s like really pretty singing that makes everyone sleepy.”
Goldsong mewed, seeming proud of what she had accomplished.
“So, the place we’re in right now? It’s called Pokemon Village!” X said. “I’ll show you some more of it, if you want!”
Goldsong nodded, and so she and her brother padded off to explore more of their home, followed by their watchful guardian.
And then the gunshots sounded.

~~~

Kage sat in the shade of the tall tree, watching Yozora struggle and concentrate, and their parents coaching her twin sister.
“Remember, Yozora,” her father said. “Don’t strain it. Just let it come to you, and it will. The more you strain, the harder it gets.”
Yozora groaned slightly in concentration, before opening her eyes and collapsing. “...I can’t feel it. I just can’t. Do I just not have an illusion?”
Her parents exchanged a look, and her mother shuffled slightly. “Well,” she said, in a low voice. “Some Zorua and Zoroark don’t get an illusion. Sometimes they simply have a completely different ability. Your uncle, my brother, was an example… He never felt he quite fit in. But I’m sure you’ll be a great fighter anyways, Yozora.”
Yozora nodded, resigned, before trying to summon her illusion form again.
Kage straightened up slightly and looked around, ears pricked. “Is that… buzzing I hear?” she asked, confused.

~~~

When the gunshot went off, Goldsong screamed.
X looked around wildly. “What!? Feunard, what was that? What was that noise? Is there a battle going on?”
Feunard grit his teeth and growled. “Of course. Xenomorphic, Goldsong. I need you to do something very important for me.”
“What?” X asked.
“Run,” Feunard spat. “Run. As far away as you can. Humans are not an enemy that can be easily beaten. I’ll try to hold them off, but if you wish to survive, then run.”
“But… what about you, Feunard?” X asked.
Feunard didn’t answer. Instead, he bounded off in the direction of the noise.
“...Well, you heard him, Goldsong. Run,” X said, slowly following Feunard.
“X?” Goldsong asked.
The shinx paused. “...I need to help Feunard. He really won’t like that. But he’s the closest thing to a parent either of us have had. You know the feeling, even though you just hatched, Goldsong.”
“X!” Goldsong said, in a scolding tone. “X!”
“Do what Feunard said. Run, Goldsong,” X told her. “You’re my little sister. I may have just met you, but I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want to lose either of you… That’s why I’m doing this. Just please…”
Goldsong stared at X for several long seconds. Then she slowly walked away. X breathed a sigh of relief, and ran after Feunard.

~~~


Ever since he had manifested his abilities, the song had been with Feunard. It had beaten with his heart, breathed with his lungs, and spoke with his stomach. He knew he had not been the only one it had chosen.
Watching. Waiting. Fearing. Hating.
He knew it resonated with Xenomorphic and Goldsong as well, although neither had manifested the ability to hear it. Yet.
And he knew that they had a greater part in it than he did. He was almost certain of it. So they had to get away, and to live.
He was no absol. But he knew a terrible disaster was approaching, and those two would be part of the solution to it.
Watching. Waiting. Fearing. Hating.
When Feunard burst out of the foliage, he saw his worst fears confirmed. A pokemon poacher in Pokemon Village, of all places. Unthinkable.
He barked, attracting the poacher’s attention to him. Feunard wanted as many pokemon living in the Village to get away. This was a place pokemon had fled to to avoid humans, they should not be forced to be captured by them and abused again.
The poacher took out a small red and white sphere, and tossed it on to the ground directly in front of him. White energy gushed out of it, before forming into a magmortar. The flaming monster leered at Feunard, but the ninetales was not fazed.
“Maganon,” Feunard hissed, “Back. Off.”
“No can do, Ninetales,” Magmortar replied. “Also, learn some english.”
Feunard’s ears pricked as he heard the human say something. It had been a very long time since Feunard had last heard the human tongue, and he had a hard time understanding it. Did… Did he say… Zenith? And then Broulliard? He grinned. Stupid human.
Magmortar shot a bright ball of light up to the sky with his right blaster. When the ball reached a certain height it exploded, intensifying the sunlight dramatically. Meanwhile with his left blaster, Magmortar expelled a steady stream of smoke that anyone would have a very hard time seeing through.
Feunard smirked. That Maganon just saved me the trouble of wasting time using those moves myself… His ears twitched. Feunard was quite used to the move Smokescreen, and so had naturally devised ways to get around the dense walls that obscured the eyes and nose. Namely, by listening. Once Feunard heard branches snapping as Magmortar tried to move, Feunard struck.
“Possessif,” he spoke. Bright chains of energy suddenly appeared, using themselves to cover Magmortar’s blasters. He yelped in fear at the attack’s suddeness.
“Magmortar, calm down!” the human hissed to his pokemon. Feunard couldn’t hear what the human said next, but he could swear he had heard the word Ebuillilave.
Oh no.
Feunard would normally have been safe. Most ninetales had the ability Flash Fire, protecting them for flames of all varieties. But Feunard was not the average ninetales. He was a prophet, and that had caused his ability to be Forewarn. Feunard had been famous when he was young for detecting what moves his opponent seemed to have, and avoiding them. Now his great strength would be his downfall.
“Right!” Magmortar yelped in response. “One Lava Plume. Coming up.” The ground beneath him suddenly began to violently erupt lava in all directions. Feunard screamed as the fur began to burn off of his legs. The intense heat from the lava pushed the smoke upwards, and by the time the lava had stopped pumping out of the ground, the forest was ablaze. Once the smoke had cleared, Feunard twisted his lips into a scowl.
“Xenomorphic,” he growled, “What are you doing when I told you to run?”

~~~

When X finally got to where Feunard was, the area was drenched in smoke. He quickly activated his x-ray vision. With his x-ray vision, X was capable of seeing things like metal and bone, although he couldn’t make out skin and fur. He recognized Feunard fighting two biped creatures he had never seen before. It was rather jarring, as it usually was, to see his guardian as a skeleton, which was why X avoided using his x-ray vision.
When the Lava Plume hit, X was thrown backwards by the intense updraft, and slammed into a tree so hard that his x-ray vision was switched off. His vision became blurry and his thoughts foggy. He thought he heard a strange noise.
I wonder what that is, X thought, not connecting the dots at first. But then he realized he knew exactly what it was.
It was Feunard’s scream.
Reality came crashing back to X in an instant. He felt pain as he realized his fur has been singed along his stomach and legs quite badly, but ignored it as he rushed to his guardian’s aid.
When he burst out of the trees, he barely even registered Feunard’s cry of outrage. All he could think when he saw the Magmortar was I’m dead, and Why didn’t I run? and What chance do I have against that thing?
Then he thought I have to protect Feunard and Goldsong. I have to. At which point instinct kicked in.
X flung himself at Magmortar, screaming “CROCS GIVRE!” Miniature icicles formed around his fangs. Upon coming into contact with Magmortar’s hot fur, it melted into water, before rapidly evaporating into the air.
Magmortar looked at X, with an expression that said ‘Is this kid serious?’ before simply roughly brushing him aside with a blaster.
X landed in a patch of cinders. Feunard got up on shaky legs as X raised his head to look at him.
“Foolish hatchling,” Feunard spat. “I told you to run. This is the last time… You’ll disobey me…”
Brilliant white energy began to glimmer around Feunard, before the ninetales literally hurled himself at Magmortar. X watched in horror and the force of the Giga Impact sent both pokemon flying. Magmortar landed in a flaming tree. The rising fire seemed to lick at his fur and become absorbed into it.
Feunard was smashed into the hard, burnt ground. There was a terrifying cracking sound. He did not get up.
Hot tears began to gather in the corners of X’s eyes. “No…” He whispered. He stood up, and then began coughing, choking on the smokey air. His eyes were burning. He struggled to get to Feunard.
“Feunard… N-no… I wanted to save you. I… I don’t want you to leave! Feunard!”
He collapsed in a small, soot-stained heap over the ninetale’s body, sobbing. “Feunard! Wake up! Please wake up! I don’t want your last moments of you to be angry at me! I… Please, please don’t leave me alone… Feunard…”
By now he was crying uncontrollably. He buried his head in Feunard’s ruined pelt, and screamed into it repeatedly.
By the time he was done, X didn’t have very much air left. He looked up, glaring at the poacher. A coughing fit wracked his body as he tried to drag himself toward the human. He had to avenge Feunard. He had to save Goldsong.
He had to.
He had to.
And then he was just slipping into darkness…

Like I said I PROMISE it will be lighter and fluffier in the future!

[LKWayvern]

The Path to Where I Stand
Chapter 3: Torn

Kage’s mother stiffened up, and gave Kage an intense look. “Kage… I need you to tell me, right now. Are you sure that was buzzing you heard?”
Kage looked around, trying to listen again, then shook her head slowly. “I thought so… But now I can’t hear anything. Maybe not?”
“Kage! This is very serious!” Her mother was suddenly shouting.
“Mama, what’s going on?” Yozora asked.
Her father knelt down on eye-level with the zorua kit. “Hopefully nothing, Sora… But in case, I want you and Kage to both go back to our den, and check on Mommy’s egg. Okay?”
Kage frowned. She knew their father only called Yozora Sora, and their mother ‘Mommy’ when he wanted to protect them from something serious. Usually when asked what he would say ‘Adult matters.’
“I’d like to stay and help,” Kage spoke.
“No, Kage. Just go with your sister and check on the egg already,” her father told her, somewhat stricter than before.
“Come on, Kage…” Yozora muttered. “Let’s just go…”

~~~

“Ebony… I understand this is important. But did you have to yell at Kage like that?” Kage and Yozora’s father asked their mother.
Ebony fidgeted. “You know how my brother gets, Coal. We don’t want the kids anywhere near him. His temper’s rather famous, and lately I’ve heard he’s become even more dangerous than usual.”
Coal nodded, solemnly. “True. But… do you really think he’ll hurt Kage and Yozora? I’ve heard he doesn’t kill children.”
Ebony stayed silent. “...You don’t know him the way I do, Coal. He may not hurt children, but he doesn’t have the same ethics about adults. Especially adults who try to avoid him. I don’t want Kage and Yozora’s last memories of us to be their uncle slaughtering us.”
“It’s not going to come to that,” Coal promised, taking her paw in his.
Ebony looked up, ears twitching. “...Kage was right. I do hear buzzing.”
“Maybe it’s just a colony of masquerain? It is migration season, isn’t it?” Coal asked, hopefully.
“One awfully big colony if it is,” Ebony said. Her eyes began glowing as she activated her Mega charizard Y forme. “Get your illusion ready, Coal. I don’t think we can talk our way out of this.”
Coal sighed. His eyes glowed dark grey, before the glow covered his entire body. By the time it had faded, in his place stood a Mega houndoom.
And not a moment too soon. The distant buzzing sound intensified in volume, before multiple Bug type pokemon descended from the sky. Riding upon one vespiquen was a zoroark. His mane had neon blue fur in it, similar to Kage’s. The zoroark jumped off of the vespiquen, and gave the two other pokemon a grin.
“Ebony. My darling little sister. And Coal, my charming brother-in-law. What a coincidence,” he said. “You know, I had heard a family out here was doing some naughty things. Beating up my minions when they’re just on patrol, and hogging all the fruit so my group has none…”
Ebony frowned. “Dusk, you know as well as I do that your minions are not on patrol. They raid orchards and homes for fruit, just so you can hoard it. Why on Ecana do you even want to control all the fruit in Hoenn, by the way?”
Dusk shrugged. “Reasons.”
“Why are you here, Dusk?” Coal asked.
Dusk frowned. “We’re cutting to the chase already? We can’t have just a bit more small talk?”
“You’re the one who started accusing us of things without so much as a ‘how do you do’,” Coal pointed out.
“Fine,” Dusk sighed. “Well, there was one trick I wanted to show you. Take a look…”
Something in Dusk’s mane lit up a silver-violet hue. His eyes responded, glowing the same color. Then the glow expanded to his entire body, as Ebony and Coal looked in in shock.
When the glow faded, standing in Dusk’s place was a strange looking pokemon. It had a purple metal carapace, two armored arms and legs, a large flat head with glowing red eyes, and a massive cannon attached to its back.
“How do I look?” Dusk asked in a metallic voice.
“You have no illusion form! Let alone a legendary one!” Ebony barked. “How did you do that? And genesect, out of all the pokemon!”
“But oh so fitting, don’t you think?” Dusk responded.
“How did you get that form!?” Ebony roared, flapping her illusory wings.
“Trade secret,” Dusk said. A small blue chip appeared in his hand. “So. I believe you wanted to cut to the chase…?”
He reached around and inserted the chip into his back. Immediately, the yellow lights blinking on it began to blink blue. Dusk turned around to face Coal. There was a slight humming sound, and then a small blue-colored pellet rocketed out of the cannon towards Coal. When it hit the Dark type, the pellet exploded, water gushing everywhere. Coal was thrown backwards, into a small group of beedrill. He scrambled to his feet and let out a burst of Flamethrower at the Bugs. They scattered, before a few darted back to jab him with Poison Sting and Twineedle. Coal yelped as the attacks hit.
Ebony rushed at Dusk, unleashing a Fire Spin. The flames danced around his legs, rooting him to the ground. Dusk responded by firing more Techno Blasts, on at his legs, and one at Ebony.
Dusk’s sister rammed into him at full speed, pinning him to the ground. She viciously attacked his shoulder with Fire Fang, biting down hard, and snarling as she did so.
Dusk opened his mouth and let loose a blast of frozen air. The Blizzard attack made Ebony pause, allowing Dusk time to throw her off. There were multiple clicks as the genesect illusion transitioned into its High-Speed Flight form, and shot off into the sky. Ebony roared and pursued him.
When they soared high enough, Dusk shot what looked like a small ball of electricity out of his cannon. The ball exploded, and suddenly dark clouds filled the skies. Rain began pouring, and thunder boomed. Ebony recognized the move as Thunderstorm, a move not known to humans, and realized she had made a terrible mistake. She barely registered Dusk’s form flying downwards at top speed, before multiple bolts of lightning struck her, causing her to lose her illusion and fall…

~~~

To Ebony’s surprise, when she hit the ground she survived. She was fairly certain she had broken several bones though, and was in no shape to fight. Nonetheless, she stood up.
She let loose a terrible scream. Her body started to glow a brilliant bright green as she charged Dusk, landed several kicks on him, and dissolved into the light before rematerializing several feet away. Shocked, Dusk’s illusion dissipated.
Ebony raced at her brother again, this time shrouding herself with fire. The flames propelled her to go faster, and she started relentlessly punching, kicking, and clawing her brother into submission.
“Ebony!” Dusk yelled.
Ebony didn’t stop.
“Get off me!” Dusk punched Ebony as hard as he could, causing her to stumble and fall backwards. Dusk rushed over to Coal as fast as he could, grabbing the unconscious zoroark and holding him up. Ebony raced towards him, preparing a Focus Blast attack and firing at the two males. She was in a daze from all the damage, and did not see her mate being used as a pokemon shield.
The Focus Blast blew Dusk back, but Coal took the brunt of the attack. Ebony finally saw him hit the ground, and her eyes went blank as she realized what she had done. “C-coal?” Her eyes traveled up to see Dusk. “Dusk…!!” She raced at him again. This time, she punched him directly in the stomach, using Rock Smash.
Dusk let out a sudden exhale, before rasping in a hoarse voice “V-vex… Help…”
Ebony felt sharp claws dig into her sides. She wrenched her head around to see the vespiquen from before.
“I don’t care who you are,” Vex hissed. “But you are not killing Dusk.” Ebony felt a Fell Stinger pierce her back, and prayed to Darkrai that Dusk wouldn’t find Kage, Yozora, and her egg…

~~~


“Kage! What are you doing?”
Kage ran as fast as she could away from the den she had Yozora had grown up in. She skidded to a halt, and turned around to look at her twin. “We shouldn’t return to the den. The egg’s there! What if Mama and Papa can’t hold off whatever’s attacking, and it follows us? If we lead it away from the egg, then it at least will survive.”
“Why do you think something’s attacking? And even if it was, I’m sure Mama and Papa can beat it!” Yozora said, confidently.
Kage gave Yozora a sad look. “Sora… Didn’t you hear it in their voice? Mama and Papa were terrified. I think they knew exactly what was coming, and it was definitely dangerous, and I think they weren’t sure if they could beat it… That’s why we have to run away.”
“B-but what if they do beat it, and they come back, and we’re not there? They’ll get so worried!” Yozora asked.
Kage closed her eyes. “What if the dangerous thing kills Mama and Papa, and knows where our den is, and kills us too if we stay there? Mama and Papa would want us to live… At least one of us.”
Yozora stared at Kage. “...I’m staying.”
“What?” Kage asked.
“You heard me. I’m staying. I’m going to wait for Mama and Papa.” Yozora walked back through the foliage, towards the den.
“Yozora! Come back!” Kage called. No answer.
Kage waited for a few moments, before hearing Yozora scream. “Yozora!” The vulpine pokemon raced back through the forest towards the den, to her twin sister, to see the other young fox unconscious, dangling in the many legs of a yanmega.
“Leave my sister alone,” Kage growled.
The yanmega looked over at her, inspecting her with red visor-like eyes. “And what have we here? Little zorua kit. This one’s sister, perhaps?” The dragonfly began casually tossing Yozora up in the air and catching her by the scruff. “Silly little kit. We can do this the easy way or the fun way. I don’t care which, but the easy way will be much less painful.”
Kage got into a fighting stance. “No. We’re doing this my way. And my way is you put my sister on the ground, and fly away. No one gets hurt. No one gets kidnapped.”
“Mmmmmmmmm,” Yanmega hummed. “Counter offer. Bug Bite.”
The dragonfly dropped Yozora on the ground and dove for Kage, fangs glistening green. Kage immediately dodged to the side, before her eyes began to glow as she activated her latias illusion.
“Oooo, a special little zorua kit, aren’t we?” Yanmega crooned. “Special little zorua with special little illusion and special little ego. OH. SO. SPECIAL.”
Yanmega’s wings buzzed faster and harder. Kage grimaced as the corners of her vision started to darken. She felt a migraine pulsing behind her eyes. She couldn’t hear anything but the wretched hum, not even her own breathing, not even her own heartbeat.
And then she heard Yanmega’s high-pitched voice keening above the buzzing. “Stupid little zorua kit! All rage and no smarts! Just like parents! Just like dead parents!”
Kage’s eyes widened. She knew this could happen, but she still wasn’t ready. The buzzing thrummed against her chest, the vibrations making it difficult to speak. “N-no…” she choked out, before the headache became too much and she passed out.

~~~

Run. Run. Run.
The last words both her brother and guardian had spoke to her. The ones she somehow knew would be the last she would hear of either of them. She wanted to make their sacrifices worth something, even that meant she would never see them again.
Run. Run. Run.
Smoke blinded her eyes and sense of smell, and yet through sheer luck she managed to avoid all the trees and roots and rocks threatening to slow her down.
Then she heard it. Arooooooooooooooooooooooo…
A howl. Something was after her.
The humans. She had heard the word only once, and only recently. From the way Feunard spoke their name, they seemed to be foul beasts from the worst of nightmares.
Did they howl? Did they hunt in packs, were they chasing her now? She didn’t know what really made wild pokemon fear humans so much, but her imagination was more than an adequate substitute.
Run. Run. Run.
She was tiring. She knew it. She had to stop running, and find a place to hide so she could rest. She skidded to a halt, and looked around. There was still smoke, but not as dense. She could see a weeping willow tree, with long, hanging branches that she could climb easier than the other trees. Quickly she leaped for it, and scrambled up a fair distance.
She was so relieved, so exhausted. She barely registered the ringing sensation in her mind, didn’t even notice the vine that had fallen over her shoulder.
She looked up, and managed to dodge the victreebel that fell upon her, avoiding being trapped inside its mouth. She screamed, and its long vine quickly wrapped around her, trying to drag her towards the carnivorous Grass type. A series of green spores floated from the leaves of the victreebel to her, and she sneezed when she accidentally inhaled them. Immediately she became light-headed, dizzy, and so very sleepy.
She barely even reacted when a jet of flame scorched the victreebel, making it retreat. She didn’t even care when she fell from the tree, onto a soft pile of slimy leaves. She didn’t even notice she had fallen at the feet of a lone houndoom. The hellhound picked her up by the scruff of her neck, and began to carry her back to his master.

[background=black]We're done with the REALLY depressing chapter, for now. We have some really light and fluffy chapters lined up. Thank Mew for that.[/background]

[LKWayvern]

The Path to Where I Stand
Chapter 4: Destined

The egg had been meant to hatch into a kind and loving family, with two caring parents and two big sisters who would help him through life every step of the way.
But when the Guardian passed overhead on his way to meet his sister, that was not how he found it.
The Breath of Genesis had, aeons ago, created twin dragons to watch over the young creatures she granted life to. They did all they could to keep young pokemon and humans safe from harm, with their powerful wings and psychic abilities.
And so the Borealis Guardian really had no choice when he detected the fragile life force wrapped in a shell, far below him, with no similar life forces nearby. He had to check it out. And when he found the zorua egg, he had to pick it up. A brief scan of the surrounding area, and he found just what he was dreading.
The Usher of the Fallen. The Guardian hesitantly approached her, hoping that it had been someone else, and not the family of the egg.
The Usher looked up. “Latios. Which one are you, again?”
The latios nodded. “Hello, Yveltal. I’m Gideon. Erm… Who died now…?” Gideon felt it was simpler to cut to the point. Death was an uncomfortable subject for most Legendary Pokemon, and they usually danced around it, leading to many awkward conversations with yveltals.
“Two zoroarks. Presumably mates,” Yveltal said, flatly. “I read their memories just before dying. A third zoroark tricked one of them into killing the other, then a vespiquen finished her off. And apparently these zoroarks were parents… Twins from one egg, and another egg yet to hatch.”
“...Oh.” Gideon’s shoulders slumped.
“I assume that egg in your hands is the unhatched one?” Yveltal asked.
Gideon nodded. “I was hoping it wasn’t. That its parents were just out hunting, or something…”
Yveltal shook her head. “No.”
Gideon sighed. “Well. I guess I’ll just take it to Sky Tower and see if I can get Rayquaza to call a meeting for Hoenn Legends…”

~~~
Each region, whether humans believe it or not, have at least one of every species of Legendary Pokemon in it. It may have even more of those native to that region. And, like the true Legendary Council, each region also had its own meeting space and Region Council.
The Hoenn Region Council usually met on top of Sky Tower. It was a nice location, with a great view and no humans. It was usually governed by Rayquaza. The Pokemon running a Region Council meeting was almost always a member of the true Legendary Council.
Rayquaza finally called the meeting to order.
“Hello, everybody!” Rayquaza said. “So. We’re here on this nice, beautiful day. It really is beautiful, isn’t it? I mean, the azure sky and the cobalt waves and--!”
“Kyogre ate all the food that Shaymin brought,” Groudon interrupted.
“Did not!” Kyogre whined.
“Shut up, Beast of Earth and Lurker of Sea,” Rayquaza said before resuming his monologue. “Anyways. The Borealis Guardian found an egg whose parents had been killed today.”
“What, again?” Articuno moaned. “You get this all the time! Why do you have to call a meeting every freaking time you find an orphaned egg!”
“...It’s not that bad, Articuno. Stop exaggerating,” Mew said.
“But S--”
“Ssssh. Formalities,” Rayquaza hissed.
Articuno glared at him. “Screw formalities, but fine because you won’t shut up otherwise. Anyways, Breath of Genesis, it seems to happen quite a bit, actually! There was that thing with that delphox pack--”
“Articuno,” Mew said in a warning tone.
“And then I heard about that huge fire in Kalos. It nearly got to Snowbelle City, I hear.”
“Articuno. Shut up,” Moltres suddenly spoke up. “There’s some… Stuff. And some Pokemon are far more sensitive to it than others. You, Articuno… You’ve never shown any sign of being able to sense the significance of certain Pokemon and objects and words now. Rayquaza can definitely do it, otherwise he wouldn’t have called this meeting. Mew can do it. Latios and Latias could probably see some big things, with training. Me? ...It’s very faint, but I can hear something from that egg…” Moltres tilted her head. “...Watching… Waiting… Fearing… Hating…”
The firebird shook her head. “...That’s really all I got. But we’ve settled that this thing is important and so Articuno should seriously shut up and let us get on with the meeting so we can go home.”
Articuno didn’t respond.
“Thank you, Fierce Flames,” Rayquaza nodded. “Now. The egg. What do we do about it?”
“I think I have a family I can place it with,” Celebi piped up. “They’d be great at raising him just right. Mew and Jirachi know exactly who I’m talking about, don’t they?”
“...Ah.” Mew said, and sighed. “Yeah, I can think of worse places…”
“I’m fine with this,” Jirachi spoke up.
“Then it’s settled?” Celebi glanced about at the group. “I’m taking the egg to her den, to be raised like her own kit.”
“One question,” Jirachi asked. “Do you… really think that she’s going to want to talk to you again?”
Celebi looked down. “...Probably not,” she responded slowly. “But I know for a fact she won’t refuse a helpless egg…”

[hr]

When Goldsong woke up, it was a lot softer than she remembered. She felt like she was floating on clouds. But a pressure around her throat anchored her back to reality.
She lifted her head up, and heard a weird tingling noise. She tried to look around for the source, and it kept chiming.
She was in a… weird space. Material that wasn’t branches or stone formed a strange, angular box around her. It was painted in white colors, with white carpeting, white seats, and soft yellow things she had been lying on. She was in what looked like a circular yellow extra-soft next.
She pressed her paw against her throat and felt something rough against her paw-pad. And that tingling sound again. It was getting annoying.
Another sound, like the tingling but with a slightly deeper pitch, sounded. Goldsong turned around, ears flat with displeasure.
Standing behind her was a rather odd creature. It looked like a feline with golden-tinged-silver fur. Only this one was different. It was taller than her, but still seemed short and squat, and honestly looked a bit heavyset. Legs that once bulged with muscle were now lean, and trembled to support the feline’s weight. It had black stripes all across its fur, along with a weird shiny ball thing on a collar around its neck and a very large fluffy tail.
And its fur seemed to glimmer exactly like Goldsong’s…
“So we have a new toy for Master, do we?” the bigger feline growled. “Well, well. He certainly loves shiny new things. No time for fat old miltanks like me.”
Goldsong squeaked in confusion.
“My, you’re young. Can’t even talk yet?” the larger feline continued. “Well. Suppose that’s good for you, then. Won’t remember your old life, so you won’t miss it. You’ll just lead a happy contented pampered life until you’re as old and fat as me. Got a name?”
Goldsong nodded.
The other feline laughed bitterly. “Doesn’t matter! Master’ll give you a new one! Like he did me. Calls me Aurum. Stupid name, if you ask me. Not like you did.”
“Oh, don’t mind Aurum,” another voice chuckled. Goldsong turned around to see another weird pokemon.
This one was more reptilian. It had yellow scales that gleamed in a familiar pattern, another collar, and a leaf tinged in the colors of autumn sprouted from its head.
“I’m Chrysanthemum,” the pokemon said. “And Aurum’s just a big meanie because Master hasn’t liked her in a while since she went senile.”
Aurum looked at Chrysanthemum for several seconds before moving away.
“Anyways!” the reptile continued. “Chrysanthemum is really long so you can call me Chryssie if you want! It’s like really amazingly amazing here! Like, you don’t have to hunt or run around for shelter or fight off wild pokemon here, well, since chikorita, bulbasaur, snivy, turtwig, and treecko have photosynthetic scales that was never a problem for me but hey! It probably would be a problem for you and Aurum if you hadn’t been brought here! Oh, you’re just going to love it! Long days just lounging around in heaven and eating the best food ever and getting petted by and played with by Master and I love it and if you’re not like Aurum you’ll love it too I mean even Aurum was nice when I first came but now she’s a sour-puss get it ‘cause she’s a cat get it get it get it---”
Goldsong burrowed her her head into the soft cushions.
As nice as Chryssie seemed, she liked Aurum more.
Even if the older arcanine was bitter and cynical, she had at least seemed to care for Goldsong as something more than just an object to talk at.
Goldsong felt sick…

[background=black]It's been a while since I last updated, hasn't it?
Anyways, some stuff happened.
The Legendary Meeting was kind of hard to write.
But writing Aurum made up for that. She's a very contradictory Arcanine, but that makes her interesting.
And yes Chryssie is a Chikorita.
In the original draft Goldsong and X both end up in a lab together, but I think this makes a bit more sense. I mean, why experiment on a Shiny when you can make a bunch more money selling it to some rich brat?
And keep that egg in the back of your head. It's a lead, for crying out loud.
Next chapter should be pretty big...[/background]

[LKWayvern]

The Path to Where I Stand
Chapter 5: Unknown

“Hey…”
“Oh. Well.”
“I was wondering something--”
“What?”
“...Well. I’m sorry. Just, that.”
“...It’s okay. I’ve gotten over it.”
“And one last thing.”
“Yes?”
“This… Can you take care of it?”
“Of course. Of course I can, Tempor.”
“...That’s not my name anymore…”
“...Oh.”
“Well. goodbye.”
“Will I see you again?”
“...”
“...Goodbye.”

[hr]

Kage blinked her eyes open. It was… an odd feeling. Her throat was very dry, and her sides were sore. She had been lying in a relatively comfortable nest, but it made her feel very strange inside. It felt exactly like the bandages covering her.
They made her feel… She didn’t know how to describe it, but she felt like she had to get away.
When she looked down at the bandages and nest, she realized why. It was spider silk.
…
Oh.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIH!!! ”
Kage leaped off the bed and tore the bandages off with her claws, screaming at the top of her lungs. An ariados rushed over to her and tried restraining the wailing zorua.
“Hush, hush…” the spider pokemon grumbled. “Stop panicking. You’ll wake the other patients. Boss said to let them get their rest, they won’t get very much once training starts…”
The young zorua continued screaming until the ariados finally gave up and just gagged her mouth with silk so no one could hear her, and bound her paws with webbing so Kage couldn’t tear the gag off.
All that the little zorua could do was whimper and sob. She didn’t know where she was. She could remember that awful, dreadful yanmega telling her that her parents were dead. But she couldn’t remember a thing after that. She didn’t know where Yozora was, either.
She tried yanking her paws apart to shred the webbing, but it was simply too strong. This was really making her freak out and panic. A particularly high pitched whimper slipped out of her throat.
“Don’t make me come over there again,” the ariados hissed.
Kage let out another distressed sound.
“Hey. Hey, it’s okay. Just calm down… If they were going to hurt us, they wouldn’t be trying to heal us, right?”
Kage heard a different voice. Much calmer, and nicer. She squirmed around to see who was talking, and saw a male eevee with kind brown eyes. There was some webbing wrapped around his forehead.
The eevee smiled at Kage. “When they took me, my Run Away ability activated and I slammed myself into a tree in panic. I cut my head rather badly and was too dizzy to try and move. When they brought me here, the first thing they did was treat the cut on my head. If they were going to hurt us, why would they do that?”
Kage thought for a moment. The webbing around her paws and muzzle was still making her panic, and making it hard to think… But the eevee’s words made sense. Why would they do that?
“They took us away from our parents… So they need us for something,” the eevee muttered.
Kage frowned, and nodded. So if they did need her for something, they probably wouldn’t injure her. And if they needed her, they probably also needed Yozora. But what if they needed her just because of her illusion? Yozora didn’t have an illusion, they might not need her! But no, they also probably needed that eevee. So it couldn’t be because of a zorua’s illusion ability.
This was all making Kage’s head hurt a lot…
“You can go to sleep,” the eevee told her. “I’ll wake you up if something happens.”
Kage nodded, and closed her eyes, exhausted…

[hr]

When Yozora woke up, she was very, very confused.
Her last memory had been being in the woods, running towards her home… And then a sharp pain in her back, like claws stabbing into her skin.
And now she was here, in a nest, with something itchy and annoying on her back.
She started to stand up, but yelped in surprise when her legs wouldn’t support her, causing her to fall back down into the nest.
She grumbled something, glancing about. In the bed to the right of her, there was a young ralts, muttering feverishly. The ralts’ horns seemed to flicker dark colors. In the one to the left, there was a fennekin watching Yozora with curious, and somehow disapproving eyes. It was a rather strange looking fennekin, with bright green eyes and markings on the fur on her back that resembled butterfly wings, and the fur that trailed from her ears had been braided.
“You know where we are, don’t you?” the fennekin asked.
Yozora frowned, confused. “N-no…” Her voice was cracking. How long had it been since she had drunk something? She cleared her throat and tried again. “No. Why would you think that?”
The fennekin shifted, sitting up. The braids in her ear fur fell to her shoulders, obscuring the markings. “The one who brought us here was a zoroark. His eye color is almost exactly the same as your own.”
“A lot of pokemon have similar eye colors,” Yozora replied. “And I don’t see why him being the same pokemon as me makes us related.”
“I never said that it made you related, just because you’re the same species,” the fennekin said in a measured tone. She frowned, shifting in the nest again. “I guess you don’t know anything, then.”
The fennekin stood up, and stepped out of the nest. Her paw was trembling too, Yozora noticed.
“Wait. Where are you going?” Yozora asked.
“I’m going to find my wand, and then I’m leaving,” the fennekin grumbled.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Yozora said. “You’re hurt.”
“I’m strong for my age in some ways. And I’m not your problem.”
“Can I at least know your name?” Yozora asked. “I’m Yozora.”
The fennekin paused for a moment. “Yuko. Not that it matters. We’re not going to meet again.”
And then Yuko slowly stalked off.

[LKWayvern]

The Path to Where I Stand
Chapter 6: Pain

...
...to…
Have to…
I have to…
...Can’t. Can’t… hold on…
…
……
………
...Where… am I?
Everything hurts…
I’m alone.
I’m scared.
Is that… a light?

[hr]

Yuko padded on the wooden floor, trying to avoid any guards she spotted. As far as she could tell, the building she was in was rather… unusual. Most of the inner corridors were carved out of a massive tree trunk, or woven out of silky, sticky spider webbing. Meanwhile nearly every room was a giant cocoon of webbing, silk, branches, and leaves.
It was actually kind of creepy. Most of the rooms gave you the impression that you were trapped in a very large spiderweb, about to have your innards sucked out.
That didn’t matter to Yuko, though. Once she got her wand back, she could just burn down the place.
She could innately detect the direction her wand was in, as could all of the fennekin line. Using this sixth sense, she searched out its location.
When she finally found the room it was in, she stood outside, listening for a moment. She couldn’t hear anything. Then she ducked inside the room.
It wasn’t one of the cocoon-rooms. Instead it was, like most of the corridors, hollowed out from the trunk of the tree. It was really rather cozy. There was a small window from which light filtered through. Moss grew heavily in a clump near the corner, presumably that was some kind of bed. It also grew on two short stumps. Possibly a rudimentary chair? In one of the other corners was a small wooden chest.
Yuko immediately rushed to the chest, opened it, as there was no lock, and pounced on the interior of the chest. She burrowed through the objects inside until she finally found what she was looking for.
“Ah-hah!” she cried triumphantly as she stuck her wand back into the corner of her mouth, where it belonged.
“And just what do you think you’re doing?” a voice asked behind her.
Yuko turned around. It was that zoroark. The one who resembled the zorua she had been placed next to.
Yuko snorted. “Just getting back what’s rightfully mine. I’ll be going now, so you don’t have to bother throwing me out.”
THe zoroark, Dusk, shook his head. “No. I can’t let you do that.”
Yuko frowned. “I’m not giving you a choice. I’m really strong for my age, you know.”
“I’m not giving you a choice, either,” Dusk responded. “And strength isn’t everything.”
Before he had finished talking, Dusk had activated an illusion, cloaking himself in the guise of a genesect.
Yuko frowned. She was familiar with illusions and magic. That wasn’t a zoroark’s normal illusion that Dusk was using, it was some kind of artificial one.
“Stupid move,” she muttered and she concentrated fire energy into her wand. But before she could finish charging Dusk slammed into her, pinning her to the wall. Click, click! the cannon on his back extended upwards slightly and trained itself on her, before releasing a Water typed Techno-Burst at point-blank rage.
Yuko had always thought she could easily take an illusory attack. Her mother had told her about just what a zoroark’s illusion was. She had said it was a manifestation on the physical plane of a zoroark or zorua’s mental abilities. All their hopes and dreams and despairs and fears and willpower punching you in the face. Yuko had always thought if it was mental, she could take it.
So she was rather surprised when the Techno-Burst hurt her. She felt no physical pain, she didn’t have to. Water was roaring in her mind, flooding her brain, drowning out her thoughts.
She screamed.

[hr]

Dusk stood over the unconscious body of the fennekin kit. A familiar vespiquen drifted into the room. Dusk looked up, and smiled. “Ah, Vex.”
Vex nodded. “Dusk.” She looked down at the fallen fennekin kit. “...So what are your opinions on that one?”
Dusk brushed his arms off. “She’s strong. She’ll be nigh unstoppable in the future. But she doesn’t know her strength yet… And by that I mean she thinks she’s more powerful than she really is.” He looked over at Vex. “She’s not a threat, yet. But she definitely will be in the future. We can’t give her that chance. Imprison her.”
Vex nodded, picking Yuko up and gliding out of the room.

[hr]

The first thing on X’s mind when he finally became fully conscious was pain.
When he opened his eyes, he was in darkness. He stood up, and his muscles were sore.
He couldn’t see anything. It was like he was standing with his eyes closed, but he could clearly feel them open. He couldn’t even see the stars or the moon. He couldn’t feel wind or grass, and the air tasted stale.
Where was he? Had he died? Was this the afterlife for bad pokemon?
It was. It had to be. He had died and gone to the bad afterlife for disobeying Feunard, and leaving Goldsong alone. Such an idiot he had been! Anything could’ve happened to Goldsong, and it wasn’t like he could’ve helped Feunard. He had been blinded by emotions, and payed the price.
He decided to test how far the darkness went. Maybe he could find someone. He wasn’t sure what was worse, though. Being alone, or finding a truly evil pokemon. However, he was saved the decision. He hadn’t even taken a few steps before he smacked into a wall of some kind. Not like any wall he had seen before. This was cold and metallic.
Suddenly the chamber he was in was illuminated by a soft green light. There was a slight rumbling noise, and bright white light flooded the chamber as a section of the wall in front of him lifted away.
X screwed up his eyes, yelping at first as the light caused him pain. But then after a few moments he slowly opened his eyes again and stumbled into the larger chamber. The wall behind him closed again automatically, almost trapping his tail.
He glanced about at this new chamber curiously. It was even stranger than the first. It was very large, with polished metallic walls and floor. Glaring white lights beamed down from the ceiling, and one wall perfectly reflected X and the room he was in. Adjacent to the reflecting wall was the wall that X had come from.
X walked up towards his reflection, frowning. The fur on his stomach was singed, and his bright green eyes had been tinged red. Had he been crying while unconscious. He hesitantly placed a paw on the wall, and his reflection copied him.
Ka-thump.
X felt the ground shake and tumbled to the floor. He was still unsteady, having just woken up and all.
Ka-thump.
A section of the wall opposite the one X had entered from began opening.
Something was coming.
Ka-thump.
Grrrrrrrr… Grrrrrrarrrr!
X watched the reflections in horror as something grotesque emerged from the wall. It was horrifying.
It looked like it used to be a lucario. But parts from other pokemon had been added on in awkward angles. The razor-sharp haphazard teeth of a carvanha. Paws weighed down with the deadly blades of a scyther. Back protected by the jutting spikes of skarmory feathers. The venomous tail of a scolipede. The terrible feet of a tyrantrum. And far worse.
The hybrid let out an arbok’s forked tongue, tasting the air. X realized with a shudder that its bloated, sightless eyes had once been those of a luxray’s. The hybrid pricked its pink audino-like ears. They seemed completely wrong, something so fluffy and pink slapped ridiculously onto such a monster. Then again, nothing about the hybrid seemed right.
It opened its mouth, and let out another strangled cry. This one almost seemed pathetic. “Grrrrrar…”
Using its ears and tongue, it seemed to have noticed X. Despite being blind, it was staring right at him.
X noticed that it had a collar around its neck. Hard, unbreakable, yet still see-throught. He could see the fur parted and skin rubbed raw beneath it, and the many multicolored wires threaded through the wire.
“...What are you?” X asked the hybrid.
“Arrrrr…” the hybrid responded, sadly. Then something happened.
The hybrid stiffened up as the wires inside the collar glowed. It let out a shrill cry of pain, trying to grip at the collar but only cutting its neck and chest. It narrowed its eyes and growled at X.
X uncertainly lowered himself into a battle position. He wasn’t quite sure what was happening, but he felt it would definitely end in a fight.

[LKWayvern]

The Path to Where I Stand
Chapter 7: Monster

X poked his elderly guardian. “Feunard? Are monsters real?” he asked.
Feunard looked down at the kit. “Why do you ask?”
“Some other pokemon were saying that across the river in the cave there was a scary monster that would come out and eat me!” X whined.
Feunard stared through the trees, in the direction of the river and the cave. “...No. That is not a monster, that’s the guardian of Pokemon Village. He ensures that pokemon who wish to live a life away from humans can do that for the rest of their days.” He turned his attention back to the shinx kit. “Do not listen to those other hatchlings. They barely listen and think even less. You’re clever, Xenomorphic. You’re not like them. You can see the good in pokemon.”
“...Huh?” X asked, completely lost.
Feunard sighed, sitting down. “Just remember this. Monsters are never born, only made. No pokemon has ever hatched and, seconds later, said ‘I’m going to kill some strangers for mere pleasure!’ No. Monsters are grown from hate, and hate is created from pain. And only someone else can inflict pain.”

~~~

Monsters are never born, only made.
X had never thought that it had ever applied more to any other creature. The hybrid in front of him obviously didn’t want to fight. If it paused for a few moments, the collar it wore lit up, shocking it. It cautiously inched towards X, and paused for a moment before the collar shocked it into action again. It whined apologetically and swiped at X with one of its scyther-like blades. X scurried backwards.
He didn’t want to hurt the hybrid… It didn’t seem to want to hurt him…
Maybe if he broke the collar off somehow it would stop attacking him?
He shifted his weight back onto his haunches, and sent a few small sparks pulsing along his claws. Then he jumped at the hybrid, trying to scratch the collar off.
When his claw connected with the collar, several things happened at once.
The hybrid let out an unearthly shriek, instinctively lashing out at X with a blade, and hitting the young kit’s left eye.
X screamed as his eye went completely dark, throwing his balance off.
Both creatures felt unbearable pain as energy from the collar flowed into the two. X was slammed against the wall, and watched in a dizzy haze as the rest of the event unfolded.
The hybrid looked in horror at the mess it had made of X’s eye. The two made eye contact for a moment, sharing the other’s pain. The hybrid lowered its’ head to the ground. And then, it started to jab at the collar with its blade, fervently attempting to tear it off. It cried out in pain as the collar started sparking again.
A tear dripped out of X’s right eye. Blood dripped from his left. He raised a paw weakly, trying to reach for the hybrid. For a split second he had seen exactly what was going to happen. He didn’t want it to happen.
The hybrid growled in frustration and sorrow, closing its eyes. The air around it began to grow hotter and hotter, until flames appeared and began to lick at the hybrid.
The hybrid opened its eyes one last time, and smiled as it burst into a fireball. X screamed at the sudden rush of heat and dancing red fire, before trying to curl up into a ball.
“Please no. Please no. Please no…”
When the heat faded, he still could not bear to look.

[hr]

When X finally did open his eyes again, he was elsewhere. He was in a small room where the ceiling glowed, and something strange and cold was clamped around one of his hind legs, preventing him from exploring the entire room.
Something was off about it all, though. Until X finally realized it. He slowly touched his left eye with his paw. It was damp, and when he removed the paw it was tinged brownish. Everything on his left side had been rendered invisible, unless he turned his head. A souvenir from the Hybrid.
The Hybrid. It hadn’t wanted to hurt him, X knew. It was just as terrified as he had been. And even so, it had rather sacrificed itself than let X die.
Why?
X buried his head in his paws, trembling. He felt many unfamiliar emotions rising in his chest.
[i]Sorrow.
Loneliness.
Fear.[/i[
And then one, standing out from all the others.
Rage.
Humans did this? Then I’ll make them pay. For the Hybrid, for Feunard, for Goldsong. No one deserves this. So I’ll make sure no one ever gets it again…
I want retribution against these monsters.

[hr]

As weeks passed, Goldsong slowly picked up words from Aurum and Chryssie. Until she became capable of speaking in a simple sentence.
¨What are you thinking about, Goldsong?¨ as voice asked behind her.
Goldsong turned her head to see Aurum. ¨Oh. Hi.” Goldsong sighed, flopping down on a nearby cushion. ¨Dunno. I’m, I guess, having a good time. But…” Her head drooped slightly.
“...Would you like to talk about it?” Aurum asked.
Goldsong didn’t respond.
Aurum laid down next to the shinx. “If you don’t want to talk, that’s okay. But you’re depressed. You still need to do something… And I think I know just the thing.”
Goldsong’s ears perked up. “What’s that?”
Aurum smiled slightly. “Sing. You have a beautiful voice. It may make you feel better.”
“...Teach me?” Goldsong asked.
Aurum closed her eyes, and let out a deep breath before beginning.
“Once there was a Cantor whom the Being of Knowledge name Novo
She was gifted as many Cantor were, Pokemon heard her and heeded her
But her voice was one fueled by black magics, and not the gifts of Legends
She called the to Ancient Ones, and the Ancient ones heard her and heeded her
They rose from their graves to obey Novo as their new mistress
The mighty Awakened Ancient himself bore her to the sacred region of the Original One
He saw this and sent the Borealis Guardian and Zephyros Guardian to halt Novo’s march
They created a barrier across the sacred region, but with their power drained they fell unconscious upon a nearby isle
Two elderly humans healed the Guardians and took them in
But Novo, when she discovered her way had been blocked, rained fire down upon the elder’s home
The Zephyros Guardian saved them and flew them away, but the village the elders had lived in was destroyed
The Borealis Guardian cried so long and hard that his soul transformed into water, and buried Novo in the silt of rivers formed from his tears
The villagers built a new village from the bones of the ancient creatures, and named it in honor of the water which saved them
The Zephyros Guardian discovered that her twin’s soul had dissolved into water, and his body was left void of life
With powerful magics she sealed his soul into an orb of water, and enshrined it in the city
She swore to protect the city that her brother had died for
However she had awoken more than her brother’s soul
A shadow arose from the waters of the city
It spoke “I have watched the humans of our day and age
Cantors were a gift, created to bridge the gap between human and creature
But the gift has made the humans lazy and the creatures slaves
I shall take this gift for myself, and make use of it when the time comes”
And never again was a Cantor born.”
Aurum stopped singing.
“What was that? It was pretty…” Goldsong murmured.
“A group of Legendary Pokemon is called a Cycle,” Aurum explained. “Each Cycle has a myth about them, told in song. That was the Cycle of Light. It was about Latias and Latios, how the city Alto Mare was founded, and why humans can’t speak to pokemon anymore. It was said that they could in the past, but not anymore.”
“Why can’t they, then?” Goldsong prompted.
Aurum frowned. “The song supposedly explains it, but it’s still rather unclear. I, personally, believe that Novo, the evil Cantor mentioned in the song, accidentally awoke the Legendary who first gave humans the ability to speak pokemon, and they retracted their gift after seeing what she had done, and how Novo had ended.”
“Were all Cantors like Novo?” Goldsong asked.
“I don’t know. There are several mentioned in the Cycle Songs… But their roles vary between good and evil. They don’t seem to be only on one side. The gift seemed entirely random.”
“So Cantors are just like pokemon? They’re both good and evil?” Goldsong asked.
Aurum sighed. “Sure. If you want to see it that way. I just see it that most humans are ignorant. Pokemon can understand all the other species of them. But humans sometimes assume that just because something doesn’t speak their language exactly, it must be stupid.”
“...I’m gonna learn human someday,” Goldsong said. “I want to hear what they have to say and tell them what I have to say!”
Aurum seemed to smile slightly. “...Well. When you do accomplish that, tell them to make pokemon food out of actual meat, and not processed fruit. They should realize that some of us are carnivores. Now, repeat after me. Once there was a Cantor whom the Being of Knowledge named Novo…”
“Once there was a Cantor who the Being of Knowledge names Novo?”
“...Close. Practice makes perfect, Goldsong. Try again.”

[LKWayvern]

A long time ago, I started writing this fic with a very clear idea of what I wanted to happen in mind.
As I wrote this story, I got better at writing and noticed little glitches in that idea. So I tried to fix them while still staying as true to the story as possible...
Now I'm just really muddled about where I want to go with the story. I have no idea what I earth to do.
X's story is still clear. Yozora's story kind of collapsed. Kage's story I still have a vague idea about, but most of it toppled with Yozora's. Dez's story I don't even know how to begin anymore. And Goldsong's story just stopped after a bit...
I'm sorry. I really am. I've been pretending I knew how to fix it all on my own, but I don't know at all.
I'm going to put The Path to Where I Stand on hiatus. I don't know how long it will last.
But when the hiatus ends, one of two things will happen.
Either The Path to Where I Stand will continue, radically changed... Or it won't continue at all.