CHAPTER SIX:
SHADOW DANCER
The overgrown forest of Eucalypt was behind them. shill
Forest and Roxy gazed in awe at the large wooden sign that told them they had arrived in Advent Valley.
The town of Advent Valley was situated between three enormous red, rocky
mountains. The shadows cast by the majestic trio, spread darkness throughout the small, valley town. The buildings were wooden, old fashioned, and very decrepit, they looked as though no one owned them.
The two young trainers followed the dirt road that led right through the small town. On either side of them they saw many more dilapidated wooden buildings.
The town was almost deserted except for a few passers by, all of them had their heads down, taking no notice of anything around them, intent only on their destination. This odd town made Forest feel very uneasy, he wanted to get to the pokemon centre fast, so he could rest up for his battle with the gym leader, he planned to have the following day.
They reached the pokemon centre, this building was just as old, and decayed as the rest of the town.
Forest and Roxy exchanged nervous glances before entering.
Inside was just as corroded as the exterior, the floors squeaked and bent under their weight.
The receptionists desk was occupied by a young woman, who would have looked rather attractive if she didn’t have such a depressed look on her face.
“Can I help you?” The woman asked in a bored voice. She didn’t look at either of them as she said this, her eyes were fixed on the small, dirty window behind them.
“Yes”. Said Roxy in a nervous voice. “We wanted to have our pokemon healed, and can we book a room please”.
The woman got up and looked at the two of them, she seemed to have just realised they were there, even though she had just spoken to them.
“Of corse”. She smiled “I’m Nurse Michelle, may I see your pokemon please?”
They handed her their pokemon, and were led into a small room with two wooden bunk beds, a broken desk set between them.
Forest sat down on one of the beds, while Roxy went through her bag for her toiletries.
“I hope we aren’t staying here long”. She said sternly. “This place freaks me out”.
“I know what you mean”. Said Forest, starting to play his DS. “The people in this town were really weird”.
Roxy, went for the door. “You better have a shower too, you stink”.
“I will”. Forest replied grumpily. “After this battle”. He had his face buried in his DS.
“Are you playing one of those pokemon, RPG’s? They’re so unrealistic”.
She said and headed out for the showers.
Forest had a hard time getting to sleep that night, apart from nurse Michelle checking in on them every hour, Murkrow, dark coloured bird pokemon, had congregated outside the bedroom window and were squawking incessantly.
He had the urge to go out and catch one, but if he woke Roxy, he knew he would regret it.
The following morning, Forest was up at the crack of dawn to make sure all his pokemon had a good breakfast, and warmed up before today’s match.
They looked in good shape, so he got all his things together and woke Roxy.
Nurse Michelle gave them directions to the Gym, it wasn’t hard to find in such a small town, The Gym was practically brand new. Marble covered the entire building, a small set of stairs led them to the entrance.
They entered into a long narrow hallway, it was pitch black, except for two torches at the far end. Forest touched the marble walls as he passed, they were as cold as ice, he had a terrible feeling of foreboding.
Both Forest and Roxy, exited the hallway into a large, spacious, high ceiling room was set out like a stadium.
The floor had painted markings, seats rose around the sides of the room, and lights hung down from the ceiling, shining brightly over the stadium.
Standing at the other end was a tall man, with ***** black clothing, and messy matted dark hair, he wore a smile that did not suit him.
“Welcome challenger”. he said kindly. “My name is Dante, in this gym we use dark type pokemon, who might you be?”
“My name is Forest, I came to battle you for a gym badge”. His confidence rose with every syllable, a fire lit inside him, he was ready, ready to win. Roxy took a seat on the sidelines.
“The rules are as follows”. Stated Dante. “Two on two, no substitutes and no time limit”.
Dante held out a pokeball and summoned his first pokemon.
“I choose you, Houndour!” he called, and the dark, fire pokemon appeared in front of Forest, it looked like a small Rottweiler.
Forest knew exactly what to do, Squirtle would be the best choice, water always has the advantage over fire.
Forest called on Squirtle and the battle was on.
Dante commanded a tackle attack from Houndour, that was easily dodged by Squirtle, who retaliated with a powerful water gun.
Houndour was thrown hard against the wall behind Dante, who showed no sign of disappointment when his pokemon fainted.
“Very good, challenger, now the real battle begins, I choose Mightyena”.
Mightyena was also a canine pokemon but much bigger and a lot more aggressive.
“Squirtle, rapid spin, now!” Called Forest, Squirtle went into its shell and spun full force at Mightyena.
Mightyena was commanded to use iron tail, and it hit Squirtle swiftly across the room and it hit the ground hard.
“Squirtle, please get up”. Forest pleaded, but Squirtle was out for the count.
Forest withdrew Squirtle, and thought hard of what to do next.
Forest looked up at the high Ceiling, and saw the lights hanging down, that was it!
“Bulbasaur, your up”. Called Forest.
Dante didn’t seem too concerned at Forests pokemon choice.
“Mghtyena, shadow ball now.” Dante called.
A large black ball of energy erupted from Mightyena’s mouth, and headed for Bulbasaur.
Bulbasaur used vine whip to repel the oncoming orb, and charged in for a powerful tackle, which hit its mark, but did minimal damage.
Mightyena jumped back and prepared itself to use another iron tail.
“Bulbasaur, use your vine whip on those lights, hoist yourself up!”
It did what it was told and narrowly dodged the powerful attack.
Forest then called for bulbasaur to swing and use tackle, by using the lights to swing on, it did a lot more damage than it usually would and the impact sent Mightyena flying into the stands. Dante could only watch helplessly, as it collided with a row of seats in the stands with a massive crash.
The battle was over, Forest had won.
Roxy let out a cheer from the sidelines, as both trainers called back their pokemon.
“You are a powerful trainer.” Declared Dante walking over to Forest.
“In recognition of your victory I bestow upon you the shadow badge.”
Forest took it, he looked at his badge, it was a dark circle with an odd symbol in the middle, he didn’t care what it looked like it was his.
He couldn’t believe it, it was his first badge his first step to becoming champion.
Roxy and Forest were escorted out into the town by Dante.
“If you follow the dirt road, you will reach the mountain path, that will take you to Derwent City”. He explained. “I believe it has a powerful gym there, I wish you luck on your journey”. Forest and Roxy bade him farewell and continued their journey.
As they reached the mountain path Roxy spotted something in the distance.
“Forest, look a Clefairy”. She called, and they ran to take a look at this rare pokemon.
Roxy stopped abruptly in her tracks, Forest bumped into her.
“Why’d you stop?” Said Forest annoyed.
Then he took a closer look at the pink fairy pokemon, it had been stabbed, it was dead, blood trickled down its beautiful face and ran onto the red sandy ground.
What was with the people of Advent Valley?
What or Who killed that Clefairy?
TO BE CONTINUED!!
