Amethyst, Shade and Krystal were on their way to meet up with Phoenix and Fauxe. When they made it to the tree their flock lived in, they mentioned about Lightning's request to send a message to her family.

"Will do" Phoenix the Fletchinder told them.

"Thank you, Phoenix, but be careful! There are Shadow Pokémon out on the lose. They might attack you if you are not aware of your surroundings." Shade replied.

"I'll travel with you in case" his big brother Fauxe the Talonflame told him.

Phoenix nodded in agreement before they both flew off.

Once they became just about a blur in the sky, the three Eeveelutions then headed back to the village but they only made a few steps before they heard an explosion.

They gasped in surprise. "That sounded like it came from Eeveeville!" Shade cried in alarm.

"We got to hurry and get back there! I hope everyone is okay." Krystal replied.

***
"W-what do we do?!" Luigi stammered, eyes open wide in fear as he looked at the Shadow Pokémon heading towards them.

"We got to stay calm and think of something fast or they will have the drop on us" Mario responded.

"The only thing we can do is fight, I'm afraid." Lightning told them.

"You mean you expect us to fight those things?!" Luigi questioned.

"Come on Weeg, we fought plenty of different enemies before. Including the most dangerous ones." Mario answered.

"Like what?"

Mario sighed and put a paw to his forehead in slight annoyance. "Antasma, Cackletta, Fawful, Dark Bowser. Literal Dark Matter! Dimentio. Don't tell me you don't remember that..."

"Oh... Right... My bad" Luigi shrugged. "But my point still stands. We have not defeated Pokemon like that. They could be far stronger than them. And can we please not talk about Dimentio..."

"Sorry bro... I guess you're right about that but we don't really have a choice either."

"Guys... I know you want to talk but we have an even bigger problem here. They are getting ready to attack! And they look menacing!" Lightning warned.

Faith stepped in. "I know how to handle these creatures. You can too with proper training. But for now I will stick by your side and help you out in this battle."

"We appreciate that a lot, Faith. Grazie!" Mario told her.

"I'm not to sure what grazie means but no problem." Faith replied.

"It means thanks in Italian" Mario explained.

"Hmm... Alright then. Anyways, we need to focus on the important task of defeating these monsters."

"Got it!" Mario nodded.

The Shadow Butterfree was the first one to make a move. She used Sleep Powder. A lot of the Eevees and Eeveelutions who noticed the attack instantly retreated into their dens, not wanting to get into the fight. Lightning knew what the move did and had to warn her friends.

"Mario, Luigi, don't let that powder hit you. It will make you instantly fall asleep!" Lightning warned.

After hearing what Lightning told them, they focused on dodging the sleep powder attack, managing to not get exposed by it.

Mario took out his Fire Stone while Luigi took out his Thunderstone and they both evolved into Flareon and Jolteon. "Let's a go!" They both said in unison.

Mario used Flamethrower at the opposing Shadow Butterfree. She dodged it swiftly by flying to the side. She then danced around in the sky as a teasing gesture and seemingly laughing at him for missing.

Mario growled and glared at the taunting Butterfree in frustration.

The Shadow Venusaur attacked next. He hurled an unsanitary sludge bomb at Luigi, who cringed in disgust when he saw it heading towards him. He quickly jumped to the side to dodge it. "Bleh..." He mumbled feeling nauseous.

While he was disgusted from the Sludge Bomb, he didn't see that the Shadow Lucario riding the Talonflame leaped down right behind him.

"Luigi! Look out!!" Mario cried, who quickly noticed the Lucario about to unleash a surprise attack on his little brother who was unaware of his presence.

Luigi wasn't able to react in time before the enemy Lucario took the opportunity to attack him with a Close Combat attack. The Fighting type move was both Super Effective and a Critical Hit as Luigi was sent flying into a nearby tree, landing on his back against the trunk. The air knocked out of him. "Ow...!" He winced in pain.

"Luigi, are you okay, bro?!"

The green clad Jolteon slowly got up and shook it off. "I-I'm fine..."

Mario and Lightning growled in raw anger at the Lucario. Mario used SuperPower, making a direct hit on the Lucario with immense power. Once Mario was safely out of the way to avoid hitting him, Lightning used an Electro Ball soon after. Both attacks caused massive damage on the opposing Lucario but it wasn't enough to knock him out. "That'll teach you for hurting Luigi!" Lightning shouted.

The Shadow Marowak riding the Vikavolt leaped down next and ran towards Lightning before throwing his bone at her, using Bonemerang. Lightning managed to duck when it was coming at her but got hit on its way back to the thrower.

Lightning squealed in pain, rubbing the back of her head where it hit. The Marowak then used a Stone Edge attack on Mario hitting him as well.

Despite the attack being Super Effective on the Flareon, he quickly shook it off and used another Superpower attack, hitting the Marowak back.

Faith evolved into a Sylveon and used Moonblast on the Marowak, easily striking the unaware ground type.

The Shadow Talonflame flew towards her with a Steel Wing attack, but she managed to flip over him with no problem and used Hyper Voice, knocking the Talonflame out of the sky for a moment. The Talonflame then retaliated with a Flamethrower, this time landing the hit on the Sylveon. She quickly shook it off and grabbed the Talonflame's wings with her feelers, throwing him in the air and using Mystical Fire.

The Talonflame was both hurt and surprised by her strategy but then shook it off and glared at her. Faith only smirked in return not fazed by him in the slightest. Mario watched her in sudden disbelief on how strong and brave she was but was knocked back into focus when Luigi jumped over him and used a Double Kick attack to counter an incoming Bonemerang attack from the Marowak, kicking the bone right back into his face.

"Oh! Grazie Luigi! I didn't notice that was coming at me...You really had my back there, bro!"

"I gotcha bro! You help me and I help you" Luigi replied with a smile.

That's when Mario used a Flamethower to push the Vikavolt away from hitting Luigi with an X-Scissor attack.

"You got that right" Mario smiled back at him. "Come on! Let's show them what we can really do together with a bit of Mario brother team work!"

Mario used Flamethrower and Luigi used Charge Beam at the same team but what they didn't expect is for the attacks to suddenly conjoin together and hit the Vikavolt. "Woah! W-we can combine our moves?! Then that means...

...New Bros. Attacks!!" They cried in unison.

"Then what do we call that?" Luigi asked.

"How about the Flame Charge Beam Thrower?" Mario decided.

"Isn't that basically just putting both move names together?" Luigi questioned.

"Yeah, but it works right?"

"It does fit it," Luigi replied.

"Wonder what else we could put together..." Mario replied.

"We'll think of ideas as we go on but for now we just got to beat these guys." Luigi told him.

"You both are strong, but that doesn't mean we'll give up. Showing your strength will only make us want to try harder to please the Dark One's wishes. He must have your powers for himself, so you better give up now!" The Shadow Vikavolt spoke up.

"Never! The Super Mario Brothers will never surrender to the likes of you!" Mario resolved, boldly, determination in his gaze.

"Hahahahaha!!" The Vikavolt laughed, "you are a pair of persistent fools, aren't you?! I should've known it wouldn't be that easy to persuade you two! Then in that case, we won't give up the fight either. There are far too many Shadow Pokémon that you can handle so giving up would have been wise but instead you deny the request to join us willingly. You cannot fight forever. You will put your guard down and we will capture you! No matter how long it takes! You cannot beat us!"

The Vikavolt continued. "We would have spared your little Pikachu friend if you just gave yourselves up and complied with our demands but instead you've only doomed her!"

"W-what?!" Lightning gasped in surprise.

"N-No! We won't let you do anything to her! Leave her alone!" Luigi was the one that suddenly spoke up to Mario's surprise.

"You leave her out of this! She's none of your concern!" Mario chimed in.

"Oh, you guys..." Lightning sighed in awe.

The Vikavolt only laughed at them before diving down into the ground using the move Dig.

"Uh oh... W-Where'd he go?!" Luigi questioned.

As if to answer his question, the Shadow Vikavolt leaped out from under the ground where Lightning stood and slammed right into her. "Ahhhhh!!!!" She screamed. The Shadow Butterfree then used String Shot on her, binding her up in a sticky string. "Nyyyh...!" The Talonflame then flew over to her and grabbed her in his talons. "Now what are you going to do, little Pikachu?!" He teased.

"Lightning!" Mario and Luigi cried.

"Now if you don't want us to drop her right on the ground then I suggest you surrender now!" The Talonflame warned. "And make your decision quick or we'll make it for you!"

Luckily a certain Espeon, Umbreon and Glaceon made it to the scene at that moment. "Hey! What's going on here?!" Krystal questioned in disbelief.

"An attack from the Shadow Pokémon and a big one too," Faith answered. "We need all the help we can get. This won't be an easy fight. Their type matchups are very well thought out for their move sets this time. The Dark One and his followers are not messing around at all."

"Uh oh... And looks like Lightning is in trouble too." Amethyst notified.

"If you are plotting anything against us. You'd better rethink your decisions. We will not hesitate to drop your friend and don't think that your Psychic powers can save her either!" The Talonflame spoke up in a serious tone.

"We got to figure something out to get Lightning to safety and also make sure the brothers make it through this safely too." Krystal said.

The opposing Marowak was getting frustrated from standing around doing nothing so without warning he used an Earthquake attack, hitting all of the Eevees and Eeveelutions in the area.

"I-it's an Earthquake!!" Luigi shouted, losing his balance and tripped. Mario also lost his balance soon after.

"You really think you are the only ones that can combine attacks then try this on for size!" The Shadow Butterfree giggled mischievously before using another Sleep powder followed by a Gust that caused the powder dust to fly in all directions. It only made the task of avoiding it difficult. However, a few Eeveelutions— a Jolteon, Flareon and Vaporeon to be exact—that were still outside and watching the battle unfold, made their presence useful. They  knew the move Protect and finally decided to step in to help make sure Faith, Amethyst, Shade, Krystal, Mario and Luigi were not exposed by it. Most unaware Eevees and Eeveelutions still in the area though were sent into a sleeping state from the attack.

The five other Shadow Pokémon were safely behind the Butterfree so they wouldn't get hit by the attack. "I have already given you your warning, so you better stop this or suffer the consequences!" The Talonflame shouted again before using a Hyper Beam attack at the brothers. They both dodged to the side as the attack went right between them. They looked at each other with wide blue eyes with both shock and terror.

"We won't ever give up that easily!" Mario remarked.

"Yeah. Let our friend go!" Luigi used a Thunder attack on the Talonflame, causing him to drop Lightning but with his distraction, Amethyst managed to use Psychic to bring her safely down and free her from the String Shot by biting the sticky String to tear it off her.

"Thanks" she told her friends.

"Of course, Lightning. Glad you're okay now," Amethyst replied. "Villains are always so snarky and think they got the advantage."

"No kidding!" Mario added.

The Talonflame tried to regain its control in the sky but due to the direct hit from Luigi's Thunder attack, he was paralyzed, causing him to crash right into a tree and faint.

"One down. Five more to go," Lightning mentioned.

The Shadow Butterfree, Vikavolt, Marowak, Lucario and Venusaur remained. Now with the help of Amethyst, Shade and Krystal, the odds of winning the fight was now greater than before. They were not going to give up. They were all very persistent to finish the fight and win, despite how difficult it may be.

_________________________________
Finally got another chapter done. More coming soon... Hope you enjoyed. I do have to bring Polterpup back into the story. His new appearance is going to be Greavard and sticking to it this time. His Pokémon form has been changed a lot. First Yamper, then I was thinking of Hisuian Zorua and now we actually got a ghost dog Pokémon in gen 9 so this will definitely be the permanent form now.

I do plan to put Diancie in this story somehow but will need to decide how. Also would be funny to see Luigi befriend a Victini as well. If a Mythical or legendary is ever added into the series, what would you want to see the most?