Shadow POV

My heart was in my throat as I followed Mother down the dank, dark hall. Torch, next to me, kept muttering random things, which were mostly directed at me. I hope he's not mad- he's the only friend I have at the moment.

"Zae," Mother said sweetly, looking at me. "Please do introduce your friend here."

    Torch and I made eye contact.

    "His name is Torch," I said dryly.

    "And?"

    "That's it."

    Mother's smirk twitched slightly, and we continued walking.

    We passed a small opening, which led into a large, large, large room. I could barely make out at least ten Zoroarks running about. I failed to stay silent and asked, "What's in here?"

    Mother pulled me back. "Something that doesn't involve you, sweetie. It's very important and I wouldn't want you... messing anything up."

    Eventually we arrived at another entrance. This one led into a somewhat small room, with two cots for beds.

    "You'll be staying here," Mother said strictly, shoving me and Torch inside.

    "What if we don't want to?" I challenged.

    "That shouldn't be a problem," Mother said, and the door slammed shut.

    We stood still for several seconds.

    Then Torch whispered, "Shadow..."

    "Please don't be mad," I said. "I didn't... I don't..."

    "Why would I be mad?" Torch asked softly.

    I swallowed hard and sat down on one of the cots. "I'm going to start from the beginning," I said hoarsely.

    "Go ahead."

    "So I was born in a tribe of Zoroarks, and I was named Zae. I was really awful at making illusions, just so you know. Like, I was really, really bad at it. I couldn't even cover up a rock as a leaf." I paused before going on. "Mother kept trying to rush me, and I didn't- I didn't want to learn. So I left."

    Torch blinked.

    "I wasn't really used to being upland, so I got lost real quick. Then I met this Snivy and her trainer- a really nice Snivy-"

    I shut my mouth.

    Torch didn't really seem to notice. He cocked his head. "And now you're back?" He said.

    "Clearly."

    Torch blinked again. "Wow," he finally said. "You actually have an interesting backstory. At least it wasn't like mine."

    "What was yours?"

    He grinned. "I was literally born and raised in a lab. That was my whole life."

    I couldn't help but smile. "I don't know if I should laugh or feel bad for you."

    Torch laughed, but there was still something about him that seemed uncertain.

Sapphire POV

"What took you so long?" I snapped when Dare finally trotted out of Ace's den. He blinked in surprise.

"I was just asking if she wanted to help us," he replied irritably. Then he brightened. "She's asking Dagger now if he'll help."

All of a sudden Aurora was standing next to me. "Who's Dagger?"

"An Ursaring. He leads the Forest Camp."

"Oh. I get it." Aurora looked like she desperately wanted to say something.

I ignored her.

"Have you ever met him?" I asked Dare. He paused before shrugging.

"I dunno," he said.

I glared. "How do you not know?"

Dare rolled his eyes. "Maybe it's because, you know, I lost my memory for years."

"And he can really easily forget about someone for that long," added another voice. My annoyance rose as Asha walked up to us, narrowing her eyes at Dare.

Dare looked highly uncomfortable when she said, "because, you know, you forgot about me for years."

He shuffled his paws in the snow for a second. Then he stammered, "um, I have to go."

"Wait!" Aurora gasped. "There's a- there's a Charmander here and he can help us!"

I stared at her. "A Charmander. In the Snow Camp. Are you serious?"

"Yes!" She spat. "He saw Zekrom!"

"What?" Dare and Asha said at the same time.

"He saw Zekrom, guys," Aurora said breathlessly. "Listen. I think Liana sent Zekrom after us."

    Flicker POV

    I spent ten days in that cave.

    Ten.

    Days.

    Until finally the Audino fixed up my injuries. Luckily, I could actually talk again.

    "Thank you," I said as I scrambled out the door. Behind me, I heard the Audino mutter, "Electrocuted? Yeah right..." I hurried a little faster.

    "Hey! You! Flicker!"

    I glanced over and saw the pretty Espeon bounding towards me. I stopped walking.

    "It's me, Aurora!" She said. "I think- I want you to- you should come with us."

    "What?" I asked in slight surprise.

    "Ooh, you can talk okay now! No offense. Yeah, come with us," she repeated. Then she explained to me the journey they were on (they traveled far!) how I could help them (I need to tell her to STOP MENTIONING ZEKROM!) and why they were journeying (wait a minute, Legendaries are involved?). Before I could answer, she brought me over to a group of Pokemon, who were apparently her friends.

    "This is Dare, Gardevoir, Asha, and Sapphire," she explained. They all let out mumbling hello's.

    It took me several minutes to come up with an answer. When Aurora said, "please?" and her eyes seemed hopeful, I couldn't help but say, "If you want me to."

    "Great!" She said, sounding exhilarated.

    The Absol smiled awkwardly. "Thanks," he said. "I can actually talk to another boy now. Ever since Shadow..." he trailed off.

    "Who's Shadow?"

    "Just somebody who used to travel with us."

    I wanted to ask more, but I saw Dare's depressed face and said nothing.

    <><><>

    Ack. Are you depressed yet? FYI, the second book will be the most depressing. (Cause it's all BACKSTORIES! SECRETS! LIES! DRAMA!)