The mountain stood to the north. ‘Mountain’ here is a term to be taken loosely, as the structure of it was indeed very loose. It spilled out sideways in a mass of craggy ledges and arched around the dry deserts of the entire region, holding them in a stern, cold embrace. It felt evil.
It overlooked everything, and saw everything. It had harboured many things in its seemingly-endless lifetime, most of them dark and tabooed, and lately it had been no different. It was so impressively vast that two separate bodies of work could be doing extremely noisy and dangerous things in the various caves and hollows and neither would be any the wiser to the other’s existence. It sat with a chilly indifference. It sat as a guardian for those inside its walls.

The weather up here was different, and that was the first thing she noticed. This massive accumulation of rock and granite seemed to be some sort of defence against the sun itself, and instead of the golden warmth the desert held, it was covered in a sort of stormy light that complemented the winds that howled faintly in her pointed ears. It was cold, unlike the sand she’d eagerly left behind her as she’d started to half-walk, half-climb up the rocky surface. This enthusiasm quickly left her, however- the skies were different, and they worried her. Nevertheless, she kept going. Anything had to be better than the lab she’d left behind. Upon thinking about it, she realised the only reason she was climbing was because of all of the malignant things she’d seen down below- the place she’d awoken in, the destruction up above, and then that huge building she’d passed... the building that was in an even worse state of disrepair than even the lab. It was nestled quite close to the mountain and half of it was blown away. Her amber eyes had lowered and her clawed feet had sped up, stumbling in the sand.

Despite having started out on a very gentle slope, her breaths were starting to get louder in her ears, and her legs were beginning to hurt as she climbed and climbed and climbed. It took more and more effort with each step, and she could feel her muscles burn along with her throat. Her hooked silver claws, glinting in the evil light, helped her along as she dragged herself up the mountain face, but they were aching before she even reached a quarter of the way up. As her slender arms began to give out, she gripped a wide ledge and hauled herself, shaking, onto it. Heart thudding against the cold floor, she decided to wait until her breath returned to her lungs, and lay there with the storm in her ears.

“Huff... huff... huff...”

Her pulse ticked in her eyelids. She was so tired that she felt she could lay there and die- but then what would become of the things she had learned? Indeed, in her weary trek across the desert, she had found that her memories had returned to her quite easily considering she’d been nothing but a shell when she had awoken in that eerie, glowing room. Let’s see...

She opened her eyes. Everything was blurry, dark and moved ceaselessly. What could she remember? Well, she thought, she could remember her name. Her name was Fein. She remembered a female Sneasel- her mother, probably- saying it to her, and smiling. She remembered saying it herself, in a voice that was free and innocent and full of warm life. Fein. Like rain. She’d always liked the rain. Liked the way it made her dark pelt even darker, and how it fringed her vision when it got stuck to the fur around her eyes. It used to make her giggle. Maybe that’s why she felt better on a storm-held mountain than a desert. Maybe that’s why she’d walked towards it, brain throbbing and heart beating with every step.

She moved her arms, and they hurt. She gazed lifelessly at her funny slanted view, looking at the now-diagonal edge of the ledge and the sprawling desert so far below, in the distance.
She could remember... being taken to the lab. She could remember the smell of fear and other Pokémon, trapped in those small boxes. She could remember how, for days, all she’d seen was darkness, and all she’d heard was the muffled whimpers of the creatures around her, and all she’d felt was the jolt of the disgusting human vehicles they’d been transported in. Their captors had shown their faces eventually by taking the lids off of the boxes, their ugly faces looming over them, and then, blinking in the sudden and painful light, with empty bellies and raw throats, they’d found themselves tipped into more cages, boxes, prisons. These ones had bars.

She remembered how cold they’d felt clenched in her fists.

“Hn..”

Her legs felt numb... and the claws on her feet felt frayed and sore. Probably from scrabbling against the rock on her way up, she thought idly, as her feather-like tail grazed across her upper back. With enormous effort, she rolled over and gazed upwards at the purple sky. It looked so angry. Maybe it WAS angry. Angry at everything that had happened beneath its starry gaze. Huh...

Shadow Pokémon Project

Memo #12

All Shadow Pokémon from Batch 19 to be exported to clients.

She remembered how she could read human.

Shadow Pokémon Project

Memo #17

All Shadow Pokémon from Batch 24 to be kept for CIPHER ADMINS ONLY.
SALAMENCE DRAPION PINSIR MANECTRIC ALAKAZAM GRANBULL

She remembered who had taken them there, and what had been planned. Cipher. Those humans in the white armour and helmets with dark visors had swarmed that laboratory. They, the Pokémon, were going to ‘have their hearts closed’. But... as she’d screwed the paper up in her fist and tossed it back onto the sandy tiles, she’d thought... she’d thought...

She wasn’t Shadow.
She wasn’t a Shadow Pokémon.

So... that was the thought that kept her occupied that night. Cipher had, at least, fallen.

And she was alive.

---

The morning dawned, cold and bright. Her limbs stiff from being curled-up for hours, Fein awoke with foggy vision and an aching body, and a stomach that growled its complaint. All around her was silence, and her hunger made the only noises for miles as she managed to get to her feet. The breeze in her fur felt good, and though it hurt when she stretched, the pain eventually melted into a warm feeling that made her sigh as she relaxed. She still wasn’t entirely sure what to do, though the more she thought about it, the more obvious her choices became. She could either go back down to the dry desert to walk and walk and walk, or she could keep climbing. Take it slowly this time. She had several hours of daylight in which to pace herself. Hm.

Click... click click click...

Fein’s pointed crimson ear twitched and she turned slightly towards the sound, amber eyes flashing. Following the small stone that had bounced down the cliff face onto her ledge was a smattering of loose dirt, and then several more pebbles that made a soft scattering noise in the quiet. She peered upwards, staring at the jagged monument that stabbed the sky, one eye squinting slightly as she searched for the source of movement.

Nothing. Hm.

THUD.

A sharp pain in her skull told her that a rock had just crashed into her cranium. Fein let out a yelp of pain and rubbed her head rapidly, teeth gritted, as she gave the mountain an extra-ferocious glare of death- but then stopped, narrowed eyes widening again. Either the stupid oversized pile of stone was laughing at her, or... she could hear muffled voices. That is, she guessed they were voices... it’d been so long since she’d heard one...

Her ear gave another twitch as she looked left and then right, and then suddenly, as if deciding on the spot, she walked determinedly at the mountain and gripped the rough wall with her hooked claws. The gathering of strength was visible in her face before she pulled herself up, scraped her feet against the stone for a hold, paused, and then started to climb.

---

Several feet above Fein was a cave that used to be known to the humans in the cities of Orre as the ‘Cave Pokéspot’. Apparently it was the only place in the whole of land that wild Pokémon appeared, and that was when they were lured there by food left by hopeful trainers. However, wild Pokémon hadn’t been to the Pokéspots for a long time. Not since the humans left. The desert was the only place to find them now.

Though that isn’t to say it wasn’t occupied. Down the dark tunnel was a large stone clearing, adorned with stalagmites and stalactites and lit always by fireflies, and inside, at the moment, was a Pokémon. The flickering flame on the end of its tail gave the cavern an earthy, volcanic glow, and threw its orange fur into sharp relief. Arched around its dark eyes was an azure mask- an odd colour on the monkey-like creature, though there was an odder colour around it. Glowing from its very skin was a purple haze, very faint, but still noticeable, and it gave the entire Monferno a slightly darker colouring than what was natural. It twitched. At the moment it wasn’t making a sound; it was merely stretched out on the floor and listening to the drops of water that echoed somewhere in the distance. Feldas was alone, and he was savouring the precious silence.

As he lay there, eyes closed, he went over things in his mind. It had been a few weeks since most of the organisation had left the cave. It was too small for the amount of Pokémon that were getting involved in the plan. He believed Pyrite had been their destination, what with their desire to speed up the Shadow processes and their growing numbers of captured fools, but it had been such a long time since he’d heard anything... and being stuck here with those two...

Ugh.

Before everybody had left, he’d been told to stay here and keep the Cave as a base. Apparently, extra prisoners were to be brought here for storage whenever they were captured in the desert- but Feldas had seen nothing. No movement. Nobody in the desert. Nothing.

He was perhaps starting to go a little mad with boredom.

---

“I told yeh we’d see nothin’.”

“Shut up, Gorigan.”

Pebbles and dirt were scattered over the edge of the mountain path as two Pokémon made their slow way up it. A lumbering tortoise-like creature, with green skin and a golden shell sprouting shrubs, made a sulky grunting noise as he hauled himself along on legs like tree stumps. As he glared at the back of his companion, the violet aura around his body seemed to grow brighter.

“Well, I did tell yeh, and yeh di’n’t listen to me, and we ended up wastin’ our time again-”

“I told you to shut up, Gorigan,” the other Pokémon hissed, stopping in its path for a few seconds to compose itself. As it started again, the dull blue flippers hanging by its body seemed to tense, and like the Grotle behind it, its aura started to glow brighter as its anger flared.

“Well I ain’t listenin’ to yeh, Jomas.” The Grotle’s voice was starting to rise, and pent-up annoyance began to show through his face. “Feldas was left in charge o’ this, an’ I’ll listen to Feldas and I ain’t listenin’ to yeh anymore, so yeh can shut yer beak, yeh stupid penguin!”

There was another scattering of pebbles as Jomas turned violently on the spot. The Prinplup’s aura flashed malevolently as he eyed Gorigan with rising disdain. “You chose to come with me and not stay with Feldas,” he snapped, his eyes gleaming like two chips of ice. “You also were curious, you stupid beast, you also wanted to see if anyone had come near the mountain or desert!”

“But nobody has, have they?” Gorigan roared, and he rose back on his hind legs, and he fell again with a thud that made the ledge tremble. Something down below shouted, but neither of them heard. “Everyone’s forgotten abou’ us, an’ we’ve been left here for dead!”

“I don’t blame them for leaving you,” Jomas snarled quietly, taking a few threatening steps towards Gorigan with eyes dark with fury. “If I didn’t know you were probably stupid enough to topple off of this godforsaken mountain of your own accord, I’d take the trouble to throw you off myself-“

“ARE YOU STARTIN’ SOMETHIN’, JOMAS?”

“You ridiculous great tortoise, you started this yourself.”

“DON’ YOU TURN AWAY FROM M-”

The blue penguin, his body half-turned away from Gorigan, stopped as the tortoise did. Both were suddenly alert, stiff not from anger but from surprise. Scratching noises and the sound of heavy breathing could be heard a few metres below their feet.

“Hush,” Jomas hissed the instant Gorigan opened his mouth. Disgruntled, the Grotle stepped away from the ledge as the Prinplup approached it. Heart beating beneath his feathers, he peered over the edge, to see a Sneasel with a look of pure desperation on her face, hanging by her claws.

---

Every muscle in Fein’s body had screamed in protest, but she hadn’t slowed down or stopped, even when it became obvious that Pokémon were above her. Without any regards for her safety she continued to haul herself up, panting, her heart giving a horrific twist when the mountain seemed to shake suddenly against her small body. She’d shouted, but she wasn’t sure if she’d been heard.

She was only positive that they knew she was there when she came face-to-face with a Prinplup with a purple glow.

“Ah,” was all she could manage, before her aching arms were seized by flippers and she was lifted with surprising strength and thrown like a ragdoll onto the mountain path. She skidded slightly in the dirt and lay there, gasping for breath, before sitting up and pulling herself to her feet. In front of her was a penguin with a face full of incredulity, and a dumbstruck, slightly slack-jawed Grotle. Her eyes darted between both of them, the breeze running through her fur, her arms slowly rising into a fighting stance.

“Don’t think of attacking,” the Prinplup said softly, his eyes glued to hers. Fein thought this was a rather hypocritical statement, as she could tell by the way his body was positioned that he was ready to lunge at a moment’s notice. “There are three of us, and one of you.”

Three? A brisk look up and down the path told Fein all she needed to know.

“Two,” she said, her voice steady. “Apparently, you can’t count.”

“Three,” the Prinplup went on smoothly. “Now, you either tell us where you came from, or we throw you off the edge. I can tell you aren’t an Aura.”

“Aura?” Fein repeated, before her eyes widened a little in recognition. Aura... Shadow. Memories began to flood into her brain and she had to concentrate hard as the Prinplup began to speak again.

“What’s your name?”

“Name?” Fein repeated distractedly, her eyes out of focus and eyebrows arched downwards. Cipher... Shadow... Aura... Hearts...

“Yes, your name,” the Prinplup snarled impatiently. “Surely you aren’t that thick, girl?”

“You’re Shadow Pokémon.”

Apparently this wasn’t the answer that was expected. The Grotle began to growl low in his throat, and both of the strangers stepped closer. Fein growled back slightly in reply, unsure.

“So what if we’re Shadow Pokémon?” The penguin’s expression was turning seriously nasty, Fein realised, and her heart sank as she felt her back hit rock. She swallowed.

“My name is Fein.” She sounded braver than expected, her voice strong and level. “What are your names?”

“You don’ need to know,” the Grotle began with a threatening look, but the Prinplup silenced him. He stared at her, this Sneasel with defiant eyes. She looked worn, and he could see confusion there, somewhere. However, he couldn’t allow letting his guard down.

“My name is Jomas.” A gesture of a flipper. “He’s Gorigan. Where do you come from?”

Apparently co-operating made things easier. “I don’t know,” she replied, choosing her words carefully from amongst the crowd of things inside her mind. “I woke up in the lab, in the desert.”

“You were in storage.” Jomas nodded, and then looked at her expectantly, as if waiting for her to continue. Fein stared at him.

“How do you know?”

“Because we all were,” he replied impatiently, beginning to pace a little. “We all came from the laboratory, that’s where Cipher operated at one point in its career.”

“All?” Fein’s heart began to beat faster. She wasn’t the only one! Well, she had kind of known that, but... to hear it from someone else’s beak...

Gorigan was staring between them, dumbfounded. Jomas finally drew to a halt and faced her, his brain working rapidly. “You are clueless.” It was said more to himself than to her. Fein’s eyes narrowed slightly, but she didn’t speak. “You know of what was to happen to you?”

“They were to turn me Shadow,” Fein snarled at him, anger rising out of nowhere.

“Yes. If you wish we can complete the cycle for you.”

What?

Horror of some sickening form began to bubble in her stomach as Fein gazed at the two Pokémon in front of her. They looked strong, she realised… stronger than they should. The violet auras surrounding them made their eyes demonically unnatural. She wasn’t dealing with normal Pokémon, she was dealing with creatures who had had their hearts closed. Fighting machines. That’s what they had been made to be... her eyes lowered to the floor...

“You are... a dual type, are you not?”

Her heart was thumping wildly. These Pokémon wanted to be Shadow, wanted her to be Shadow... she was nodding without even realising... sneers passed Jomas and Gorigan’s faces at her answer...

“We can fix that for you. Shadow is the ultimate type. We can make your blood pure... not a filthy mutant mix.”

She looked up at them again. Jomas was smirking, Gorigan looking dumbly triumphant. She barely realised she was trembling.

“We are Team Darkspace. Follow us.”