Chapter 14

The raven haired boy was shouting something at the trio but Shadow dismissed it, distracted by the roar of rage rushing through his veins and pounding harshly in his ears. He could feel Luxray's piercing yellow eyes on him but he ignored it as he stepped forward, making sure his red pendant was safely tucked under his shirt and his hood was thrown over to cover his hair.

His movement drew the attention of both trios and he broke the silence with a low menacing tone, "What's that?" his eyes were fixed on the now-still bag.

The meowth grinned, and Shadow watched as the pokemon's eyes darted over him, taking in what he was wearing. "Hey! You looks rich. I think I've got what you might want," he gestured to the bag, letting the blue snout stick out enough for the pokemon inside to be visible before roughly shoving the gible back in. "So hows about it? This little dragon'll grow into a big, strong fella."

"Yeah, I'll take him," Shadow murmured, ignoring the pleased smirk from the meowth as he nodded at the bag, "Bring him to me."

Meowth's smile faded, "Look here kid, you give the money first, then you get the pokemon."

Shadow's eyes flicked back to the cat, "Wasn't talking to you." There was a second of confusion before Luxray erupted from the brush behind them, sinking his jaws into Meowth before throwing his head viciously to the side, slamming him into Dustox, before both made contact with a tree.

Luxray gently pawed at the bag, the gible tipping out of it and settling on the ground, staring around with wide obsidian eyes.

Shadow walked towards them before the blue-haired realized what was happening, "Hey! You can't just take the pokemon we successfully stole! That's stealing! Carnivine let's show them what happens to thieves!"

The cloaked boy ignored both Ash, who was furiously yelling at the male for his messed up logic, and... whatever was happening between the man and his pokemon. He seriously did not need that image in his head.

He let them sort it all out as he knelt next to Gible, hand outstretched before him. Gible watched warily, and when Shadow let his hand hover before the pokemon, Gible's eyes turned upwards to stare at him. They locked eyes, the boy letting his emotions shine through his eyes for the first time in what seemed like years. A breath of silence.

Then Gible's eyes closed, and his lips twitched up slightly at the sign of trust. He let his hand fall on the little dragon's head and rubbed the base of his fin. The pokemon let out a mix of a growl and a purr and he felt a true smile, however small, bloom on his face.

The moment was interrupted by a light growl from Luxray. Shadow tilted his head to meet the raven's eyes who was scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Hey, so sorry about before. Anyone who defends pokemon from Team Rocket is okay in my book!"

"Yeah," this time it was Brock who spoke up, "and I'm curious, your luxray is really strong, do you have other pokemon?"

Shadow lifted his right shoulder and let it fall in a half shrug, "I don't go around telling strangers my strengths or my weaknesses. Any idiot know that information is power."

He was surprised to note that Ash didn't look as angry about the implied insult and instead grinned widely, "Come on, let's have a battle!"

He blinked once, twice, and cocked his head, "What?"

"Yeah come on! It'll be fun and I can try to figure out your team!"

"Seriously? You couldn't even land a hit on Luxray," Shadow ignored Ash's spluttering and turned back to the gible, carefully gathering him in his arms, "and besides, I have to get him to the Pokemon Center."

The raven's sensible friend spoke up before he had a chance, "He's right Ash, the health of that gible is more important than a battle."

Ash frowned, "yeah, you're right," and before Shadow could head off with a sigh of relief, Ash started speaking again, "We'll come with you!"

He turned to stare the raven in the eye with a blank look before heaving a sigh of defeat, he recognized the determination blazing in those eyes. Nothing short of electrocuting him, which was considered, would get them off his tail.

"Fine, whatever."

Shadow turned and walked off before hearing their response, forcing them to hurry to catch up.

Ash had returned his torterra and pikachu was hitching a ride on his trainer's shoulder while Luxray prowled next to them.

"So, what's your name?" In the past half-an-hour of walking, he learned that Ash and Dawn were very talkative with Brock chipping in some times. Most of the questions so far were about his other pokemon, and when he refused to talk, the talk turned towards Luxray. His answers were vague and didn't really answer anything, but he noticed there was no hint of annoyance on any of their features.

The question caught him off guard and his step stuttered slightly before returning to the rhythmic pattern. "It doesn't matter."

For the next few minutes, Ash pestered him about it, but after being ignored the whole time, he eventually gave up.

The group crested a hill, and he was relieved to see the red and white building sitting there. They entered the center and he set Gible down before relaxing into a seat with Luxray. The trio used this time to heal up their own pokemon and followed the nurse to watch them get healed up.

When his name was called, he walked forward and grabbed a ball from his pouch. Gible seemed to understand his unspoken question and bumped the ball happily with his snout. The pokeball opened up and swallowed him in a flash of light.

It vibrated and shook a few times before clicking shut. Without a word, Shadow walked out of the pokemon center. He slipped a hand into his pocket and threw a ball into the air, Aerodactyl bursting out and landing on the ground.

Shadow grabbed a bump jutting out from the pokemon's spine and vaulted onto the fossil pokemon's back. With a beat of his powerful, bat-like wings, they lifted into the air.

"Wait!" the shout drew his attention to the entrance of the pokemon center. The trio had exited, Ash waving frantically to grab their attention.

"What's your name!" Shadow hesitated, he couldn't just tell them 'Shadow', if they ended up meeting anybody who knew that stage name, he would completely out himself. But he was also completely crap at coming up with fake names and barely anyone knew his real name, they couldn't tie it to him, so...

"I'm...