Single post in Angel of the Shadows

Shadow Skill: Mock. A laughing whinny that brings to the forefront of the mind, a person's shortcomings in order to make them utterly lose faith in themselves and their abilities. Rapidash can go from 0 to 150 in ten steps. They are a sight to behold when they race, for the faster they go, the hotter their mane burns. Highly competitive, they can often be seen challenging others to races. Shadows seem to desire a win, and will play dirty to achieve it. Angel opened her eyes to a bright light directly in her face, followed by the voice of someone who demanded to know who she was and why she was in their stables. The person didn't lower the beam even when she raised a hand to shield her eyes. They yelled the question again, and she knew she must devise something quickly to prevent this from becoming a public scene. "I'm so sorry! I brought an injured Pokémon here to rest." She looked around the area of the stables that she could see, then turned back to the owner. "It looks like she wandered off when I fell asleep." After several seconds, they lowered the light, and Angel blinked her eyes repeatedly as if that would help get her vision back faster. Their flashlight usage finally connected to the reality that it was nighttime, and she swore softly under her breath. She stood and gave a small curtsy. "Excuse me. I'm late for an important meeting!" Angel ran towards the man, who surprisingly moved out of the way to let her pass. Thoughts rushed rapidly through her mind as she paused long enough to get her bearings before she headed toward the target. As she maneuvered her way through the obstacle course of a city, she heard a loud neigh. Instantly, she went into panic mode, wondering if the stable's owner had decided to punish her for trespassing after all. But a glance behind her made her stop in her tracks. A Rapidash ran by her so fast that the force of the backwind knocked her to her bottom. She cried out as she hit the ground hard and then heard a sound like car tires as they screeched to a halt. The absence of hooves let her know before she turned around that the Rapidash had stopped. Well. Either that or was far enough away to no longer be heard. Wait. Was the purple aura she'd just seen in her imagination? Or had she found a third Shadow on the same day? When she turned around, the Rapidash was no longer in sight. Angel stared at where she last knew the horse to be, only to cry out and spin around when she felt warm air on her face. How had the horse gotten behind her so fast? Rapidash nickered, backed off a little, and then pranced in place. The way it did so reminded her of a scene from a movie she'd once watched called The Emperor's New Groove. "You...Want to race?" It gave a loud whinny and reared. Its front feet danced in midair, which allowed Angel to see that it was female. Even though Rapidash seemed aware of how squishy her new friend was, Angel still scooted back a foot with the understanding that it was better to be safe than sorry. Rapidash then hopped beside her in such a way that reminded her of Pinkie Pie from that one children's cartoon, and she couldn't help but burst out in laughter. The Rapidash stopped her dance to look at Angel strangely as if she were confused by the words. But she shook her head as she got to her feet. "You wouldn't understand." She looked to the ground to ensure nothing had fallen out of her backpack and readied herself for the race. "On the count of three. One. Two—" With another whinny, Rapidash sped off. Angel managed not to cough at the dust cloud that was left behind. "Oh-oh. So that's how you want to play, is it?" Even had Rapidash played fair, Angel knew she wouldn't have won anyway. But at that moment, it didn't really matter to her. She chose to enjoy the moment and ran after the Shadow. After a few minutes, they halted across the street from the Silph Company. Her body tried to go limp on her, and she had to place a hand on the wall of the house beside her to steady herself. She'd pushed herself harder than expected with that run. But Arceus, did she feel so much better. Though only temporary, the burning sensation in her legs and lungs gave her a different kind of pain to focus on. Beside her, the Rapidash strutted back and forth as if her win was the most spectacular thing in the world. Her fiery flames had settled down to a muted orange, tinged with purple. Angel chuckled softly and reached out a hand to stroke Rapidash's snout. "You did good, girl." Her attention turned to the building as she tried to devise a last-minute plan to finish what she had come for. An idea suddenly came to her, and she looked to Rapidash as she considered the possible consequences. It was a dangerous choice to put your trust in a complete unknown. There were so many ways things could go wrong, especially when you knew little to nothing about the person you had to trust. She made a sound that sounded half growl, half sigh. There was simply no other choice. "Hey. Would you mind doing me a favor?" Rapidash let out a questioning neigh, and her ears perked up. Angel didn't respond immediately as she went over it all in her head one last time just in case a different path was available. But nothing came to her. It was time to go all in. "There is something inside the building that I need to fetch. If it's not too much to ask...Could you possibly provide a distraction for me?" Before she could even discuss the possibility of a reward, Rapidash rushed to the building and began to wreak havoc. It didn't take long for the night shift to chase after her. It wasn't until the last of the employees had gone around the side of the building that Angel ran towards the door. She cursed instantly as she opened it. For there, in the middle of the room, was a desk. And, at the desk, sat a man. He was on the phone with someone when he saw her. His face immediately went from laughter to shock. He was too far away for her to hear his words, but she knew he'd most likely said something about how he had to go take care of a problem. Despite her curiosity, she knew it was foolish to stick around and see what he did next, so she bolted for the stairs. She easily remembered the blueprints for the building and ran effortlessly through the corridors as she climbed floor after floor. As she ran, she couldn't help but question why nobody was in the building. Yeah, it was night, but there should have been a guard on each floor, what with all the fancy tech stuff they did. Five minutes later, she reached the doorway she sought and placed her hand against the metal to brace herself as she attempted to catch her breath. How had she run so far, so soon after the race with the Rapidash? For the last few years, her body had been giving out on her more and more. It shouldn't happen to someone who regularly walked, ate healthy, and all that good stuff. Some of the doctors blamed it on her being slightly overweight. Slightly. But she knew many people about 15 pounds over normal weight who didn't experience these issues. Arceus forbid she bring that up, though. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears and feel each beat as it pounded in her chest. No matter how quickly she inhaled, she couldn't fill her lungs. Sweat covered her face, and she felt like her entire body was on fire. Every muscle trembled, which made her scared that she would fall at any moment, for she knew if she did collapse, she wouldn't be able to get back up. Her nausea was the worst it had ever been during one of these episodes. Angel closed her eyes and used the trick her father had taught her to try and relieve her nausea, which was to convince herself that there was nothing wrong. Surprisingly, it worked, as she'd never purged if she didn't wish it. A soft whimper escaped her lips. Whatever was wrong with her was getting worse. Kanto was the closest to Blossomly, and her parents had already tried every doctor they could. The next step was to travel to other Regions and seek help there. But her father did not want to leave the gym and island alone to go as a family. Nor leave his wife and son behind unprotected to get medical help for her. He liked to say that she was an adult and should be doing things on her own anyway. None of her pleading had worked. Angel had even tried to convince him that the Pokémon, though wild, would gladly protect them. Yet he was firm in that it was a risk he wouldn't take, so she was made to suffer for it. Part of her felt he was right, though. She shouldn't ask to put her own family in danger when she was too scared to get help herself. Perhaps, now that she was on her own Journey, she would eventually make it to another Region where she could get the help she needed. Finally, her symptoms lessened enough to return focus to her mission, and she stepped back to look at the door. A sign claimed a Bio Lab was beyond this point and warned people not to enter unless they wore a hazmat suit. This was where she needed to be. Angel recalled that the dossier had said the sign was fake and only there to deter those curious folk without clearance, which was entirely foolish, in her opinion. Signs like this only served to further pique one's curiosity. She didn't bother to check for people in the area. Instead, she moved her right hand to the keypad and entered the only code she could remember from the papers. Angel then crossed her fingers that it would work. If it didn't, it meant she'd been too late, and the codes had been cycled. Honestly, she was surprised they weren't as soon as she was caught inside. Then again, the odds of them being able to disarm to change them that quickly was low. Once the background changed to green, she placed a hand on the door, which slid open. Rapidash's evasive maneuvers had likely begun to frustrate the guards, so they should return very soon. Angel quickly scanned the room for the item she'd been sent to obtain. A shipment must have arrived recently, for the room looked different than the blueprints. Either that or her mind had imposed the layout of a different room onto this one. A likely possibility since Giovanni hadn't limited the data to this section just so she could plan various routes of entry and escape. Shouldn't be a problem, though. After all. How many containers that glowed pink could there possibly be in the world? After a minute, she finally found the soft pink glow and rushed to the area. She dropped her backpack from her shoulders, opened it, and gently stuffed as many vials into the outer pouch as possible. Angel managed to get six in the pouches and two more inside, but still, three remained. Based on the shouts she could hear in the distance, she knew there was no time to rearrange. With the hope that it wouldn't matter much, she left the last three vials in the container and ran to the window. Angel dug through her backpack until she found the canister she'd nicked from her father's workshop. She then put her backpack back on and opened the window before she placed two fingers into her mouth and let out a loud, piercing whistle. Within seconds, the Rapidash appeared. As soon as it was close enough, Angel leaped out of the window. Both hands in the middle of the canister, she held it above her head and spoke the activation word. Unprepared, she grunted as her arms were almost ripped from their sockets from the makeshift wing glider. Seconds later, she was atop the Rapidash. Another quick command made the glider return to its canister form. Just as she was about to turn the Rapidash around and gallop away, a voice called out to her. Again, the familiarity of it made her heart stop. This time, though, she couldn't prevent herself from turning to face it. And when she did so, she found herself unable to breathe. A Houndoom's bark distracted her, and nobody was there when she glanced back at the window. Angel shook her head to remind herself yet again that not only was there no way it could be her. That her mind played tricks on her in a desperate attempt to believe she was dead. Yet, why would her mind place her as a member of Team Rocket? Maya had made it clear that she, like most people, hated them. But now was not the time to focus on such questions. She had no clue where to go next or what she planned on doing now. The only thing she knew for certain was that she needed to put as much distance between herself and this town as possible. And so, they ran. They ran so far away.