Chapter 12

His back rested against the rough bark of the tree, a foot dangling off the branch he was situated on. Sprawled beneath him was a Luxray, his head tucked on his paws, body relaxed. Shadow closed his eyes and relished the feel of the cool wind that whipped through his hair.

The trial to get most of his pokemon a mega stone brought him back to the underground. After the annoying fiasco last time, he was careful to keep an eye out for any suspicious members and kept his hood thrown over his head, mindful to cover any of his defining features, especially his blazing orange eyes.

Currently, all his pokemon who were capable of mega evolving possessed the mega stone respective to their species. They were quite expensive to pick up from the black market, but it took far less time than to actively look for one of the rare stones.

A twitch from Luxray brought him out of his thoughts as the pokemon brought his head up to stare into the surrounding foliage. Shadow tensed slightly as the sound of excited chatter touched his ear.

Three people pushed the bushes aside and stepped into the light. Shadow shifted slightly as he tried to peer at them without alerting them to his presence, especially the pikachu sitting on the shoulder of the raven-haired boy. There were two others flanking him, one male, the other a female. The male had spiky brown hair and squinted eyes that made them look as if they were closed. The female had on a white hat with blue hair touching both shoulders and a pink skirt and boots.

Their reaction to seeing Luxray was amusing to say the least. The one with the pikachu immediately brightened before tossing out his arm for the electric mouse to leap off of, pikachu landing neatly and lowering himself to the ground in a clear battle stance, his cheeks sparking with electricity.

"Ash!" the female cried, alarmed, "Do you even know what that pokemon is?"

The raven blinked before chuckling and rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, "Uh, I guess I don't."

The other two sighed, as if expecting nothing less and Shadow rolled his eyes while watching this all unfold, 'How dim is this guy?'

The now-named Ash whipped out a pokedex and pointed it at the tense Luxray. "Luxray, the gleam eyes pokemon, the evolved form of Luxio, Luxray's ability to see through objects comes in handy when it's scouting for danger."

"Sweet!" Ash yelled, pumping his fist, "I'm gonna catch it!"

Luxray's ear flicked, and from this distance, Shadow couldn't tell if it was from annoyance or amusement. His head turned slightly until he was glancing at his trainer from the corner of his eye, though to anyone watching, he'd just be glancing at a tree.

Shadow gave a slight nod to the watching pokemon, play along. He leaned back against the tree and watched as Luxray focused his attention on pokemon in front of him.

"Pikachu, quick attack!" Ash shouted, throwing out his arm. The electric mouse responded swiftly to his trainer's command, blurring out of view towards Luxray. Luxray's eyes glowed as Pikachu briefly vanished behind a rock and the lion lightly pushed off his paws to launch himself out of the way of the silvery flash that barreled into the spot he was at before.

A sharp inhale from one of the raven's companions caused Shadow to turn his attention to the male, ignoring the childish game his partner was being subjected to. Even with his slant eyes, he managed to portray his shock clearly for his friend, who turned to look worriedly at him.

"What's wrong Brock?"

"That Luxray, he's faster than any pokemon I've ever seen. He avoided Pikachu's quick attack with ease, and he's easily battling Pikachu, but just watch Dawn, he hasn't used any moves yet."

Shadow almost snorted at that remark. If they thought Luxray was actually doing this with the intent of battling, they were sadly mistaken. He could tear through that little mouse with ease if he so chose to, insinuating that Luxray was actually trying against this weakling was insulting to say the least.

Shadow caught the eye of his partner and brought his hand up before letting it fall in a downward swipe. Luxray immediately understood, dodging an electric covered mouse dashing towards him in a volt tackle, before striking back for the first time since the start of the battle.

Electricity shrouded the gleam eyes pokemon and he bolted towards the small mouse, smashing into it and easily catapulting the pikachu into a tree, the trunk splintering under the force as pikachu fell to the forest floor, landing softly on the moss covered floor, fainted.

"Pikachu!" Ash shouted, racing to cradle his fallen friend. Shadow rolled his eyes as his partner flinched slightly from the recoil as he landed smoothly on the ground. That wild charge was just Luxray boasting his power, he could've gotten the same result with a bite or thunder fang, but no, he decided to go the flashy way. Shadow couldn't stop the wave of fond amusement that rushed through him at that thought, truly Luxray hadn't changed at all.