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Lapras Valley High – Hell Blastoise

Chapter Nine – Shadows

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"So what exactly happened?" Jackie asked, watching me carefully. I sat in her office, hair messy and stiff from various voltages of electricity from Jolteon, a large gash down my right cheek bleeding, claw marks all over my arms, my shirt torn and my lip cut and oozing blood.

Fury sat beside me on a chair; fur mattered and scolded from high-powered electrical shocks, her eyes blazing, one half closed as a large slash had been made right over it by my dagger.

I sighed angrily, recalling what had happened. During the fight, Ashley had returned and Fury had leapt through the air, burning Marina’s hair and knocking Annabelle out of the way, leaving me to handle Heather, Leah and Teresa. Not that they were hard, it was just the constant shocks that had bothered me. Jolteon and Fury had begun to fight in the middle of it, when Fury ripped my dagger from Jolteon’s jaws and tossed to me with the flick of her head.

In the end a couple of teachers and pokemon ripped us apart and sent us to Jackie’s office.

"Teresa is a bitch," I stated. "She came up to me, insulted me, got her Bitch Mafia to surround me and picked a fight. I wasn’t going to put up with any fucking bullshit from a fucking bitch like her you know."

"Please refrain from using those violent words," Jackie interrupted. "Continue."

"She had me surrounded, and the only thing I could do was try and threaten her with my dagger," I explained furiously. "Then Marina stole it from me and gave it to Annabelle’s Jolteon. After that, they mocked me, taunted me, and made me explode."

"And that’s where the fighting came in," Jackie commented.

"****in right – I mean – yeah," I corrected myself.

Jackie stared at me while she paced around her office. "We have security cameras," Jackie finally said after what seemed like eternal silence. "If your story and the other girls stories don’t match up, then we will be checking the cameras. Not only will we check those but also the whole case would go up in front of the school jury in school court." She kept a hard look on me. "And I don’t want to be harsh, but who ever is lying will be wishing they were never born. Whatever punishment the school jury can cook up may not just affect them."

"So? That means its going to affect teachers and those bitch- those other girls right?"

"No." Jackie faced me sternly. "Not just the person lying but the people around her. Her pokemon, her family, her friends. Her life would be shattered, its up to the jury."

*

"Pidgey," the tiny bird cooed, fluttering through the grounds. The caramel chest feathers brushed in the wind as its tiny wings flapped furiously trying to find the student it had to deliver the message to.

"Sal, there’s a Pidgey for you," Ashley called from the other side of my dorm door. She knocked on the door hardly. "Sal, open up."

I hoisted myself off my bed and yanked the door open. Ashley stood there, her eyes worried, her hair held back with a blue headband that matched her denim skirt and jacket and light blue top. She held the bird in her arms, and spoke. "Here, there’s a message from Principal Tyson."

I sighed heavily, taking the message and returning to my bed. This time I left the door open. Ashley let the Pidgey go and entered the room. "Sal, what’s wrong?"

"Here’s what’s wrong," I began. "Jackie said that if somebody was caught lying that we’d all be placed in front of the jury and in front of the school court. I don’t have a lawyer, and if Teresa has lied then she will be the biggest bitch in history."

"Well you’ve been called up to the office all the same," Ashley replied. "I bet it’s to say sorry and just to tell you what is going to happen."

Same old Ashley; always comforting and supportive, so different to everybody else. She deserved to win the position of Student Council Manager.

*

The news hit hard. Jackie was no longer a friendly Zharman Island hater but a stern strict adult. She was dead serious, and pretty angry.

"Sal I’m not going to beat around the bush," Jackie began seriously. "So I’ll get straight to the point. The two stories couldn’t be more different. You’re going to court."

I couldn’t focus. This was really stressing me out. I could imagine Ashley now, kind and helpful and supportive.

"Don’t worry too much about it, it’ll all be over before you know it and anyway, you’ve got us to help you. We’ll help you through this. Don’t worry one bit."

And Martin, his positive attitude and recalling experience.

Nayia, her talkative self, she’d probably describe it in every detail.

And Fury – Fury would be shocked, horrified, and ready to attack and burn the people behind this.

"Who are on the jury?" I asked, silence broken by my voice.

"I don’t really know," Jackie replied. "Mr Banks, Miss Key, Ms Feraj, Sister Bethany, Um… a few others… oh I remember another. Lady Blastoise."

*

"Sal – the time has come."

I opened my eyes, the moon round and full, barley shining through the drapes. I could feel his presence – the power surging out of his body, if you could call it a body, and into all those around him. Kayla stirred in her sleep.

"Come Sal, we must not wake the child."

The voice called again. I didn’t want to go; it couldn’t be time. Why did they want me now? I had to stay – for the sake of Ashley, Nayia, Sugar, Martin, Jackie, and for Fury. She loved hanging out with Nixie, Luna and Sugar, and plus, other pokemon here were good for her.

"No, I will not go."

The power suddenly dipped in surprise. I sat up in bed and crept away from the blinds in fear. If it opened the blinds, then I would be forced to go. I couldn’t let that happen. I had a fight in the morning, and if I didn’t make it Teresa would sure go around saying that I Wobuffetted.

"No I will not go with you. Nafeti you can not make me go with you."

I resisted the power, knowing that if he did get me, I would not have a choice. I couldn’t face him; I wanted to Wobuffett my way out of this one.

I felt a breeze, and through the curtains, Nafeti materialized. He was not in his natural form, instead he was like a shadow, dark and mysterious. He growled at me, in his natural male transformed form.

The Anglias glared at me with its blood red eyes. Anglias, a wolf pokemon not very common in the wild (more common in were-pokemon), were dark pokemon, with slender well built bodies enabling them with advantages in speed and strength. They were well known for their night raids, in which they would take any food or pokemon they could find, not just for eating but for battling, and feeding off the suffering and power of that pokemon.

Nafeti was an Anglias, and he was growling at me. His fur was black, the only light bits being two silver lines around the outside of his eyes. His teeth shone in the moonlight, as I shrank back against the wall, scared.

The only other time Nafeti had come for me was when I was 8 back in Quagsire Heights. I had been outside stealing food in the middle of the night when Nafeti had cornered me down an alleyway as dark as his fur. I had been younger and more bold and daring and tried to stand up to him. In consequence I had been taken to the head of the were-pokemon, himself, Lord Canis Lupus.

~-~-~-~

Lord Canis Lupus glared at me, and I glared back, Fury in my arms keeping me warm. I wanted to get out of there, I was sick of being involved with Lord Canis Lupus, for one thing his fur was hideous, it was bloodstained and patches were missing.

"Reishe Pacte Loupe," Canis Lupus growled. "You will pay attention. You will stay now or be called back in five years. Now is the better time, you and your fox will both be welcome. You are both part of the big family. If you don’t want to admit it then go ahead, but the truth will come back to you one day. Are you coming or not?"

"I won’t join you!" I cried. "I won’t I won’t I WON’T!"

"Nafeti take her back," Canis Lupus sighed. "WE will call for her later."

~-~-~-~

"No I can’t go!" I hissed to Nafeti. "I won’t go I won’t join your pack. I am perfectly fine here. There is no need for me to join your ranks again."

Nafeti sighed. "Come Reishe, Canis Lupus must talk to you. He still respects your decision greatly but you must talk to him about something important."

"What?" I questioned. It had been a long time since I had been called Reishe, my formal werewolf name. But now I was hearing it, it was different in a sense.

"Your parents."

"They’re not dead? They weren’t killed in a were raid?"

"They were, we have told you that numerously. We have something for you from them, and also, Canis Lupus is suspicious. He fears your power is not great enough to ward off the water spirit."

"What water spirit?"

"Come and you shall see."

"I told you, I’m not joining your pack."

"Just come…" Nafeti stumbled over his words, then uttered something that was not really allowed in the were pack. "Sal, come."

"Do you put your life on the line and tell the truth that you will not force me to stay?" I asked carefully.

"Yes, you are just wanted for talking too," Nafeti replied. "Awaken the fox and we shall go."

I prayed that Kayla wouldn’t wake.

I prayed that only Fury and Nafeti would see me touch full moonlight.

I prayed that they would be the only ones to see me do something I had avoided for a long time.

I prayed that they’d be the only ones watching me transform.

Transform into a were-pokemon. A Ninetales.

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