Chapter 9: A New Friend

Sylvie looked up, and saw Shiro.
"Shiro?" she gasped.
Shiro cackled coldly.
"Call me Dark Shiro now, Sylvie."
Before Sylvie could decipher what happened, Shiro headbutted her with Zen Headbutt, and started flailing to deal extra damage.
"Sylvie, no! Use Swift on Shiro!" cried Lindsey.
Sarah stepped in, smiling.
"Pokemon to the rescue," said Sarah.
"Go easy on him. Shiro is still Shiro, just brainwashed." replied Sylvie through clenched teeth.
Sylvie unleashed many stars, and it was all Shiro could do to get away from the Sylveon and dodge.
Sarah did the same, but this time it hit.
"Argh... the power..." growled Shiro, a bruise on his leg.
"Sylvie! While he's recovering, use Sand Attack!" cried Lindsey.
"Are you insane? I don't know that move!" cried Sylvie.
"Just kick up some dust!"
"Alright!"
Just as Shiro got ready a Dark Pulse, harboring his darkest thoughts, Sylvie turned backwards and kicked a dusty sign fiercely, kicking up dust.
"Augh!" cried Shiro, dust in his eyes. The pulse clumsily came out, but didn't hit Sylvie or Sarah.
"Let me finish this. We need to find a way to break Shiro's Dark Ball." said Typhlosion.
In the corner of her eye, Sylvie saw Zachary running down the stairs, ready to command his Pokemon.
"Typhlosion! Use Blast Burn!" cried Zachary.
"Fine. Don't expect me to be able to use it again too soon, though." replied the large Pokemon.
Flames flaring up, Typhlosion blew fire from his mouth. Columns of fire rose around him, and started to zoom in on the Shadow Elite.
"Kennedy to Keldeo. Blast the flames with Hydro Pump, now!" growled Kennedy.
Meanwhile, Ani watched it all, face as hard as steel, and seemingly happy to see Pokemon injured.
Dark Keldeo let loose a powerful blast of water, but alas, the fire was seemingly unaffected.
"Ungh!" cried Kennedy as the flames ripped at the Pokemon.
"What happened to Archen and Shiro?" cried Zachary.
"Somehow, this 'Team Plasma' managed to turn them against us! The legendaries Keldeo and Terrakion are also under their spell!" replied Lindsey.
"How do we free them?"
"I dunno! Try breaking the balls that contain the Shadow Elite! Make them faint, then target the ball they go into!"
Zachary seemed to nod as the flames died down.
"Huff..huff.." huffed Typhlosion.
"Typhlosion, return! Come on out, Oshawott!" cried Zachary.
A red light enveloped Typhlosion, and Oshawott appeared in his stead.
"Wow. Better get moving." said Oshawott as he saw the enemy.
Shiro and Kennedy were crumpled, burns covering them (of course, Kennedy was retracted into her stone), but Keldeo, Terrakion and Archen were okay.
"Return, Shiro and Kennedy!" cried Ani.
Eyes narrowing, Sylvie saw Shiro go into a deep purple ball and Kennedy into a white and orange ball.
Purple... white and orange...
"Sarah! Attack the white and orange ball! I'll attack the purple one!" cried Sylvie.
"Fine." said Sarah.
Whipping out her ribbons, Sarah cracked her ribbons on the Timer Ball Kennedy went into, whipping them relentlessly.
"Hey!" cried Ani.
Seeing what they were attempting, Zachary pointed his hand.
"Oshawott, use Razor Shell on the purple ball! We need to get Shiro back!" cried Zachary.
"Of course! He's a nice guy!" replied Oshawott.
Sylvie let Oshawott take out his belly shell and use it to attack Shiro's Ball, then decided to attack Archen first to try to get him back.
"Archen! Over here!" cried Sylvie.
Archen's eyes darted over to Sylvie.
"Over I come, enemy." hissed Archen.
As he glided over, Archen started to use Ancient Power.
"Egad!" cried Sylvie, eyes widening.
"Taste boulders, enemy!"
The rocks swelled until they were about the size of the dragon skeleton, then flew out.
"Hi-ya!"
Sylvie tried to run, but in the end the rocks found her.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" screamed Sylvie.
The rocks were razor-sharp, boring into her fur. Above her, Sylvie could hear Archen cackling.
"This is the end..."
Suddenly, though, the rocks broke above her, shattered by a force.
A black Umbreon appeared, panting.
"Shiro?" cried Sylvie.
"Sarah freed me... Please.. just give chase to the thugs who stole the skeleton..."
panted Shiro, covered with bruises head to toe.
"Wait! No! I'll stay and fight until I cannot!"
"Just go! I'll free Archen and the Musketeers! Kennedy has also been freed, but is too weak to fight! Go!"
Sylvie quivered, then sighed.
"If you must."
Darting out the door, Sylvie ran towards the Pinwheel Forest.

Running through the street, Sylvie tried hard to avoid human eyes, which worked
"Look! Its a rare Pokemon! Get it!" cried a voice.
...miserably.
"Aah! Get away from me!" cried Sylvie.
Risking a glance behind her, Sylvie saw three Youngsters pursing her, clutching Pokeballs.
"Get over here so that my Patrat can knock you out!" cried the lead Youngster.
"Let my Purrloin use Scratch!" cried another.
"Come back! My Lillipup wants to use his Tackle on you!" cried the last one.
"Never!" replied Sylvie.
A ball hit her, but bounced off harmlessly.
"Wait, has it been caught already? Aww...."
Sylvie let out a whew, as she was worried that the youngsters would keep on pursing her.
Pinwheels were inserted into the grass by the asphalt road, blowing in the breeze.
"I need to hurry! Who knows what has happened by now..."
Suddenly, she saw a dark gap in the trees, with a sign by it that said:
           
                                PINWHEEL FOREST

Sylvie sighed.
"I'm here. Time to look for the skull."
She dove into the darkness, unaware of what may happen.

Sylvie emerged in the dark forest, trees ruffling and leaves falling. Several humans were wandering around, admiring the Shroomish and Foongus wandering around and searching for the elemental monkeys in rustling grass.
"Hey! That's MY tall grass, human!" cried an Audino.
Sylvie decided not to look, and ran off to a side path.
Branches fell behind her, and Caterpie glared at the pink Pokemon as she crunched over leaves.
"I wonder how humans never saw non-native Pokemon here... I mean, they're here, just hard to come by! Sigh..." pondered Sylvie.
Nearby, she saw large mushrooms growing, but avoided them when she saw little eyes on them.
As she ran through, though, Sylvie saw a moss-covered rock surrounded by tall grass.
"Huh... I feel the aura of a Leafeon here.." she mumbled. "I should investigate. Maybe I can find a new friend."
Charging up energy, she used Fire Spin, burning away some tall grass and clearing a safe path to the mossy rock.
"Careful, Sylvie... a Pokemon Ranger may appear and try to catch me..."
"W-who said that?" cried Sylvie. "Show yourself, or f-feel the wrath of my fearsome Fire Spin!"
A Leafeon leapt onto the mossy rock.
"Why, hello, Sylvie. I'm Laura. Why are you here?" said the Leafeon, the sunlight streaming through the leaves hitting the leaves on Laura beautifully.
"Who are you," asked Sylvie, raising an eyebrow, "and how do you know my name?"
Laura purred.
"Sylvie, I've heard about you from N. I am his loyal Pokemon, and I wish to help you find a skull that I think you may want to see." said Laura.
Sylvie felt starstruck by Laura. She reminded her so much of...Ariel.
"Um... sure. Just don't lead me into any sorta Team Plasma trap, please." stammered Sylvie.
Laura laughed, and tossed some of her leafy fur to the side of her head.
"Why should I? You aren't really any threat or anything. Let's just be friends, I don't want to fight you."
Sylvie raised an eyebrow.
"Um... okay. Can you tell me more about N, though? He seems.. mysterious."
Laura laughed.
"Eh, I don't know much. He just can talk to me for some reason, and has a dang good cooking skill. In fact, you should try some of his delicious Bluk Pies sometime! He should win Unova's Best Cook for that." replied Laura.
Sylvie nodded.
"Just show me the skull, please, I don't have much time."
Lauren nodded.
"Okay, I don't mind."
Lauren bounded deeper into the woods, and Sylvie had no choice but to follow.

"I. Just. Love. Logs." grumbled Laura, voice full of sarcasm.
"Say... that rock felt smooth to the touch. Any idea what the rock does?" replied Sylvie.
They were balancing on a slippery hollow log high above a bottomless abyss, trying their best not to be swallowed by the fog beneath them. Like the white fur of Reshiram...
Laura shrugged.
"Eh, I dunno. N came here with me one day, and we trained a bit. I was an Eevee from the Eevee Clan back then... and all of a sudden, I evolved!" replied Laura.
Sylvie's eyes widened, and she nearly teetered over.
"Laura... I once was also a part of the Eevee Clan. Do you remember Ariel, and the attack?" asked Sylvie.
Laura raised an eyebrow.
"Barely, but yes. Ariel was a sweet Vaporeon, and she always talked about her children, Sylvie, Sarah and Storm. Then, one day, Team Plasma attacked, burning the Eevee Tree to the ground and stealing everything the clan had. Shortly afterwards, N rescued me and my sister Espeon... but Espeon was captured by Team Rocket in the night, was carried away on a plane, and we never heard from her again." said Laura, sadly.
"Laura! I'm Sylvie, and my twin Sarah is also safe! But I know that our mother is now in Team Plasma..." cried Sylvie.
Laura's leaf tail curled around Sylvie, and Sylvie's longest ribbon curled around Laura.
"I hope you get over it, friend." they said in unison, tears running down their cheeks.
Just then, they arrived on the other side of the chasm, and they lightened up.
"Sylvie! We're almost to the skull now! Let's hurry before somebody else gets it!"
Sylvie nodded, and started running ahead.

They went through many hollows and logs, going up and down hills and ducking under trees, but finally, they reached a small cavern carved into the side of a hill. Dried Basculin and berries were hung by strings from the entrance, and a vast variety of relics were scattered around.
"This is my home. Some men dressed in black came here earlier, deposited a skull, then left. I've dug many rooms and decorated my home, but for now.. we'll just take the skull to the museum." said Laura.
"Its nice, Laura! Say, when I have time, I would like to come back here and explore!" replied Sylvie.
Laura nodded.
"Wait for me here. Its best that you stay outside to make sure the black men don't come back and that you can get surprised by my den whenever you can come over... if that made sense." smiled Laura.
Laura pounced, and went right through the Liepard furs draped across the cave door to keep heat in and weather/ Pokemon out.
As Sylvie waited, she foraged for any berries near the cave, sniffing for the scent of anything.
She smelled nothing but the pooled trails of various Pokemon, and... Team Plasma humans?!
"Laura! Hurry up! Team Plasma is coming!" cried Sylvie.
"Great. I've got the skull, try your best to distract Team Plasma while I lug the heavy thing out!" replied Laura's faint voice.
Sylvie nodded.
She saw a Geodude crawling around, looking for rocks to consume, and had a good idea.
"Sorry, Geodude, I just need you for a second." whispered Sylvie.
Clutching one of the rock's arms, she started to swing it around.
"Aah! Flying Geodude coming through!" she cried, and swung the Geodude out.
"Eep." growled the Pokemon as it plunked into the trees.
Dusting off her paws, Sylvie heard some human growls and their loud feet tramping over to where the Geodude landed.
Laura hurried out, bulky skull strapped to her back.
"Okay, go in front of me! Lets get to the museum before Team Plasma catches us!" cried Sylvie.
Laura nodded.
"I certainly don't want this nice skull to be taken away from me. I've grown rather fond of it, although I'll be willing for the museum to take it." said Laura.
"Go!"
Sylvie pushed Laura, and the Leafeon buckled before she regained balance and crashed through the bushes.
A Skunktank lumbered out of nowhere, somehow right in Laura's path.
"Do do da dee dee... DEEAAHHHH!" whistled the Skunktank.
Laura and Sylvie charged right over the Poison-type Pokemon, trampling it and leaving it wondering what happened.

As they barreled through the forest like maniacs, Sylvie tried her best to lift them up as to get them a better way to escape from Team Plasma.
"Y-you can fly with those r-ribbons of yours? I've never seen a Flying-type Eeveelution." stammered Laura.
Sylvie rolled her eyes as they crashed down to the ground after an unsuccessful attempt at flight.
"I'm not a Flying-type, I just figured out a way to fly with my body parts.. did that sound right? Anyways, I'm a Fairy-type." said Sylvie.
Laura snorted.
"Yeah, right. Never heard of that type."
Sylvie rolled her eyes again.
"Its a newly-discovered type. Professor Juniper declared this new type recently. Not a lot of trainers and Pokemon know about it, though." said Sylvie.
"Oh well. Still, could you tell me your story to pass time? This forest is vaster than I knew." sighed Laura.
Sylvie cleared her throat.
"So, as I said before, I am part of the Kanto Region's Eevee Clan. I lived peacefully with Sarah, Ariel, Storm and my father (Could somebody remind me who Sylvie's father was? O.o). We were getting ready for our rituals to become true Eeveelutions when Team Plasma attacked and ruined everything. Both of us fled and found our ways to Kalos, while Storm was captured by a mysterious grey Pokemon. Our seashell necklaces were given to us by Ariel, but she was captured and turned against us, but seemed to give us bad fortune. We made our homes in Kalos, wondering where our family was, and we both evolved... not remembering how we did so. Then, the legendaries Yveltal and Xerneas attacked us (Yveltal me, Xerneas Sarah) and we went to Unova instead... and here we are."
Laura nodded, but just then, a Galvantula came out of nowhere and shot an ElectroWeb at them.
"Wha...Argghh!" cried Laura, caught in the web.
"Laura! No!" screeched Sylvie, but she too got caught by the web.
A large, robed man stepped out, and cackled.
"Ghetsis? You should lose weight, dude." growled Sylvie, wincing at the pain of the electric web.
Ghetsis laughed.
"My dear eeveelutions, I have a device so I can understand Pokemon, to explain things, to avoid any questions! Anyways, I'll flash you my skinny belly." said Ghetsis.
Sylvie and Laura looked away just in time to avoid looking at a hairy belly.
"So... Laura, hand over the skull! Team Plasma needs it to study the dragon!" shouted Ghetsis.
Sylvie snarled.
"Never!" cried Laura and Sylvie in unison.
Ghetsis laughed.
"You are denying the inevitable, eeveelutions. I will pick the skull from the Leafeon's body once my Galvantula finishes you off!" cackled Ghetsis.
Suddenly, a Shadow Ball hit the web, and the two were flung off the trap like cannonballs.
"Leave, Ghetsis!" cried a familiar voice.
"Kennedy!" cried Sylvie.
Kennedy smiled crookedly.
Ghetsis growled, then paused.
"Fine, have it your way." snarled Ghetsis. "Turns out that skeleton is of Dragonite, not Kyurem or Reshiram or Zekrom. I'll leave now. Over and out."
With a wave of his cape, Ghetsis left.
Kennedy smiled.
"Ani is free now. Follow me, Laura and Sylvie, we're moving on to Castelia now." said Kennedy.
Author's Note: Aah, the end of another chapter of the first No Holds Barred book! I'm going to have the next cities go by more quickly if I can do something about it, I find it irritating that this entire book will take almost 40 chapters to finish at this rate. Comment feedback, and be sure to watch out for Chapter 10!