Total Trust Chapter Seven: A Rivalry is Born

Story by CherryBlossomSystem on SoFurry

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#7 of Total Trust


Author's Note: In case you forgot _ bold and italicized text indicates that Telethapy is being used. _

(Mist)

By the time the train had arrived in Sinnoh Max and I were as stiff as a board. Max made sure to be outside of the station that had dropped them in Veilstone City before he released Giritina so the legendary could stretch it's wings.

"That better?" he called up to the legendary as all foot traffic in the street paused in fear. Giritina nodded and then with us following began to carefully walk down the road. People after a few seconds just resumed their business as usual when it became apparent that Giritina despite his frightening appearance wasn't going to attack anyone.

Max appeared to be thinking and said "From now on how about me call you Shadow?" _ That would be OK with _ me. I heard from the legendary and grinned as I held hands with Max. Then I about jumped out of my skin as I sensed movement behind us and whirled around to see a trainer with a Mightyena and a Medicham behind us.

"So Your Max." he said and studied my trainer before his gaze turned on me and then up to Giritina. I didn't like the way he studied us. It felt like we were being memorized and about to be cataloged for some type of experiment.

"Who wants to know?" Max asked his voice becoming soft with warning. "Easy Max. I'm Zen and I've been wanting to battle you for some time." Zen looked harmless enough but so did Max in that regard.

"Well then lets make it a double battle." said Max as he signaled me and Giritina to move forward. Zen looked confused for a moment. "Correct me if I'm wrong Max but you only have four gym badges. So your Lucario took on a Legendary Pokemon without a scratch?"

Max shook his head. "Shadow maybe my Pokemon but he is free to leave as he pleases. He is here because he wanted a place to belong." Zen seemed to be satisfied with that answer.

His Mightyena stopped in front of Shadow and his Medicham stopped in front of me." Mightyyena's ability cut me and Shdow's attack from the start and Shadow's pressure engaged soon after. My own ability was inner focus and it prevented flinching.

"Medicham Fake out! Mightyena Bite!" shouted zen and the battle was on. Max didn't bother to tell me to dodge the attack. "Shadow use Shadow Force!" "Mist I want you to use Toxic!"

Mightyena's attack missed and then Shadow's massive bulk smashed into the Hyena Pokemon. Mightyena got up like nothing happened and jumped at Giritina's legs biting deep before bounding away. "Shadow!" shouted Max while I fired off my toxic attack.

Medicham dodged like It was nothing and her confusion attack blasted me into shadow. "Mist!"

I got up and held my head wincing briefly before shaking myself and using telepathy to link the three of us. _ Something is not right here. It's almost as if he knows our moves before hand and built a team in order to counter them. _

"Mist I want you to use Force palm!" "Then mentally he ordered _ make it look like a force palm but really have an aura sphere ready to fire and don't target Medicham target mightyena." _I smiled and did as ask cupping an aura sphere in my palm as I made it look like I was running towards Medicham At the last second I switched direction and instead of hitting the force palm I hit mightyena in the muzzle with aura sphere. It flew back a few feet and then shook itself and came running back to the fight.

Shadow use Shadow Force on Medicham. The legendary blinked and then he was gone. I meanwhile got hit with a force palm from Medicham and Mightyena dove in close with a crunch attack. I was blasted back by the force palm and that left my guard wide open for the crunch attack cuasing me to scream in pain.

Medicham managed to move out of the way before the shadow force hit and Shadow smashed into me instead making me fall to my knees panting. "MIST!" shouted Max from behind us his voice sounding worried.

I growled as I got to my feet seeing red and I rushed towards Mightyena using the Aura in order to stop any surprise attacks. "Mightyena dodge and then use shadow ball!" I grunted and charged up an Aura sphere as I ran and then when I fired it off Mightyena was able to dodge it easily. Or so it seemed as I made the aura sphere come back just before the shadow ball was fired and This time I manged to dodge. As Medicham leaped forward for a confusion attack it forgot about Shadow and paid for it as A shadow claw attack hit it from the side.

I retreated panting heavily and on one knee. "We forfet!" Called Max before running to my side and pulling out a super potion from his bag to tend to my wounds. I growled in irritation but he just looked at me. _ Enough Mist you can battle him again next time but for now your to heavily injured and while I know you can take care of yourself your not thinking straight right now. _

Zen approached us from behind and Max passed him so cash without really paying attention. His two pokemon were studying us closley and Zen was watching us quietly. Once I felt better I gave Max a quick hug and then stepped back to see what would happen.

Max turned his attention to Giritina's leg as he found an old shirt in his bag and tore it into strips. He used the last of the potion on the wound before wrapping it tightly. "Can you move it Shadow?" he asked and Giritina made a show of walking back and forth a few times. Max smiled with releif and gave him a quick hug before turning his attention back to Zen.

"That was a good match." he said as he stood between the two of us. "You care for them don't you." Zen said quietly. Max blushed as he heard but didn't comment. "Zen pulled out his Poketech and pushed a few buttons. Max's tech beeped in return cuasing him the check it and then hit yes on the prompt.

" Contact details registered" Max glanced up and Zen just smiled. "Take care of yourself Max. I plan on meeting you and your pokemon again." With that he seemed to just melt into the crowd. I glanced at Shadow and he nodded.

Together we turned to Max and he sighed "Hes a strange one." he said before leading the two of us to the Pokemon Center. Shadow could barley fit into the room and so Max returned him to his ball and did the same to me.

(Max)

I sighed heavily once both Pokemon were out of site. Zen made me uncomfortable, he was far to observant and while in most cases that wasn't a bad thing it made me wonder how much he picked up from a simple glance.

Oddly enough thought I couldn't find any reason to distrust him. He was an enigma that was sure. I glanced at the front desk for awhile seeing various trainers come and go as the day wore on. I was seated on one of the green couches in the foyer and something about the look on my face must have scared people off because no one made a move to join me or engage me in conversation.

I finally decided to see about a room and after getting the key and some directions I opened the map on my Poketech to see how to get to the next gym. Seems we would need to backtrack a little ways. Head to head down Route 215 and then from there move to route 210. Then from there to Solaceon Town. From there we would head down route 209 to reach Hearthrome City.

It would take a few days in order to reach the place on foot. That suited me just fine as it would give me time to think and the City seemed to be to much to handle right now. I'd visit the Pokemon Shopping Center before I left the City to stock up on vital supplies.

I switched my Poketech's radio function on and after choosing a station that played soothing rythems I started to meditate. As I did my mind wandered over today's battle and how I could further integrate Shadow into our team.

His defense seemed to be almost rock solid in his current form. I don't know why he was like this though. In the reverse world he seemed to be almost weightless. Then again gravity and a lot of other things were different there.

It might be because of the gravity changing but there could be other factors." I thought to myself as I steepled my fingers. I shrugged deciding it didn't matter that much. Then my mind turned to their reactions and my own when I stopped the fight. I should have continued because I know Mist is stronger then that. So is Shadow for that matter. Next time I'll let them decide when they are done.

Now my mind turned to Shadow's moves. I wasn't well versed in them and I only saw about three of them. It might prove useful to have him demonstrate all of his moves to me once we are out of town. Also I hope he is happy here. If not I don't have a problem with releasing him to go back to the reverse world.

Now in truth I didn't really want Shadow to leave. I wanted to get to know him better and provide him with the home I promised. So I decided to make a more concentrated effort on getting to know him. I didn't want Mist to feel like he was being left out though.

So the imperative thing would be to balance my attentions between the two of them. Though it did feel awkward around Shadow when Mist and I got affectionate. Thought I'm sure if he minded he would have said something to me or Mist by now.

I broke my meditation stance soon after that thoughts and slipped into the bed. The next morning when I got up I showered and then dressed before going to collect my pokeballs and then I released Mist as we headed up to the shop to let him know what was going on.

He stayed quite after I finished my explanation then nodded and said "_ So we are headed to Hearthrome City next?" I nodded and he just slipped his paw in my hand as we walked with a small smile. As we navigated our way down route 215 stopping occasionally on the more difficult parts we managed to make it to the bridge by lunchtime. we paused to take a break and I gave Mist some Pokefood. " Would you like to try another double battle? I'll let you and Shadow decide on the _ moves." I sent to him and he jumped before smirking at me as I laughed and playfully jumping on me as we wrestled for a bit.

Once we composed ourselves we continued our lunch and once that was finished we proceeded to cross the bridge. Halfway across we got challenged by what appeared to be a pair of twins for a double battle. I threw Shadow's ball then looked worriedly at the bridge hoping it wouldn't collapse as I didn't have a sudden desire to swim with the fishes.

The boys threw out a Staraptor and a Tentacruel. The bridge did begin to wobble dangerously and I sighed inwardly. "Mist Shadow lets make this quick or the bridge will collapse on us. The battle is yours I won't be issuing any commands this time. Focus on your teamwork."

I regarded the other two trainers calmly as they issued their own commands. "

Pelliper use Mist!" "Staraptor use wing attack on Lucario!"

I watched carefully wondering how Mist would counter or if Shadow would take the hit and let mist set up a counter. Mist tensed as the attack came closer and when Starraptor was about to hit him He fired Toxic at the bird Pokemon before jumping over it as it ploughed into the ground behind him unable to see.

Shadow looked to the Pelipper and before I could blink he was gone. Not for long though as Peliper soon came careening out of the fog from the mist attack and Hit the water beneath us. He struggled to get into the air once more and once he did he managed to make it to the bridge.

The bridge was beginning to shake violently once more and it appeared both Bird Pokemon were out of commission. I felt for their trainers I really did but if this battle didn't end soon we would all end up in the water.

The other trainers seemed to realize this and they both looked to their Pokemon before saying "Ok you win just return the big pokemon before the bridge collapses!" I nodded and returned Shadow as I did so I asked Mist to link us.

_ *Good work both of you. Your teamwork does need some improvment but you won the match without a scratch. I'm proud of you both. * _

The bridge seemed to be stabalizing now and I sighed with releif. When the twins tried to give me some cash for winning the battle I shook my head no and instead asked "Could you give me your contact info? I look forward to double battling you again." They seemed suprised but sent their contact information as I asked.

Once my Poketech had cataloged them I waved goodbye and Mist and I hurried down the rest of the bridge. _ That was a good stratgey with the toxic attack. _ I complimented him and he blushed. _ Well I didn't want to get hit and the oppertunity was to good to miss. _ I nodded thoughtfully at that.

Suprsingly there were no further trainers on the bridge today so when we made it across I suggested to Mist that we head off the main trail a ways to set up camp in the woods. The Aura Pokemon nodded and after closing his eyes for a bit to scan the area using the aura he grabbed my hand and led me into the woods.

After about two miles away from the path the woods were denser and after negotiating the brush for a few more feet we found a suitable divide in the trees. It didn't let in much light and the surrounding forest would make letting Shadow out of it's Great Ball rather difficult but, it was suitable for Mist and I.

Once I had my tent set and and put out the sleeping bag I considered making a fire but decided against it. Mist had waited quietly as I had set up camp and when I was done he grabbed my hand in his paw and pulled me close to him. I closed my eyes as I enjoyed his fur against my bare skin and then luaghed as his nose traces its way across the back of my neck.

We enjoyed the moment as daylight faded we stayed silent happy in each other's company. No thought of being nuaghty crossed our minds. We were happy to be together and to us thats what mattered.