(no subject)
Title: The Haunted City of Canalave
Author: bitternarration
Rating: T
Verse: Game, Gen IV
Characters: Dawn, Barry
Summary: Dawn had always dreamed of facing the infamous shadows of Canalave, but dreams aren’t always what you expect.
A/N: For pokeprompts. Prompt, Periphery
Dawn had never considered herself an “academic” and she was ready to put down money in saying that none of her teachers would say otherwise. Since she could remember, learning through experience and doing had always been the only way she learned anything. She hated the boring act of reading and didn’t think very much of libraries as an extension of that. So how she managed to loose track of time and spend what appeared to be an entire day in Canalave’s library was beyond her. But Canalave City was an odd place and it had been an odd day, so she wasn’t going to blame herself.
The library visit had been entirely Barry’s idea and Dawn had, very grudgingly, gone along with it. After all he had gone to Iron Island the day before with her, following her just a little further, exploring just a little longer, spending just a little more time until they were completely lost in the tunnels and missed their boat back to Canalave. The ride back on the fishing boat that had been luckily passing by when the two young trainers came tumbling out of a side entrance was just another exciting adventure for Dawn but Barry had hated it, having never been fond of the dark or boats. So really, she owed this mind-numbingly boring visit to the library to him.
That did not, however, explain why she was still in the library after dark, completely by herself.
Dawn couldn't remember the sun setting outside the rather magnificent windows that lined the walls of Canalave Library, nor could she remember Barry or the library staff leaving, and she was positive she hadn’t fallen asleep because she had been awake the whole time. The only thing that Dawn could remember were the shadows that had caught her attention while she had been mindlessly racing two pencils across the old reading table.
They had seemed so out of place what with the giant windows flooding the library with light, yet they had been there, Dawn was sure of it. The shadows had never been anywhere but in her peripheral. A blur of black, a whips of white, a hard line of red. Yet whenever dawn turned to investigate, nothing was there.
At first she had thought it was another patron but Barry and her were the only people on this floor. Then she had though it was maybe a stray eyelash but, after pulling her eyelids away from her eyes, that theory had been proven bunk as well. It was then that she remembered the stories.
Sure Canalave City billed itself as this exotic port city but everyone knew the truth. It was a well known fact that Sinnoh’s most western city was haunted, any child could tell you that. The stories of people falling into endless nightmares and of living shadows had fascinated Dawn as a child. She used to dream of one day venturing to Canalave just for a chance to face these infamous shadows and now that she was here, she was enthralled once again.
After pushing open the heavy doors of the library and exiting into Canalave, Dawn realized that it wasn’t just the library that was empty, all of Canalave was deserted. To anyone else the quiet and darkness of the city would have been claustrophobic, but the gloom that had settled over the city was almost entirely lost on Dawn. The constantly crashing of waves, something Dawn had discovered was inescapable in this city, could be heard in the distance although the sound was oddly muted as though heard form inside a building rather than outside, most-likely due to the darkness. And dark it was. The young trainer was forced to rely on her sense of direction and the dim slats of light that filtered through closed blinds onto the street since the new moon provided nothing but more darkness where the globe should have been.
“Leave me in the library, we’re definitely even,” Dawn muttered to herself, watching as her breath left her mouth in a puff of fog. It was always cold in Canalave but tonight nipped at Dawn more so than normal, prompting her to pull her jacket tighter around her frame as she hurried through the empty streets and ultimately toward the PokeCenter where she and Barry were staying.
It wasn’t until Dawn was crossing the bridge that connected the two halves of Canalave that the girl paused, turning sharply to look out into the open sea.
A thick blanket of fog covered the inky waters, white on black, there was nothing there. Dawn turned her attention away from the sea and continued forward, focused on the PokeCenter on the other side until she saw it again but when she turned to look out into the sea once again there was nothing more.
“Stupid shadows,” Dawn muttered again, sure she had seen something out there. It had been in the corner of her vision, like in the library, but she knew there had been something out there, just above the water. It had been a dark shape, darker than the water or the night sky above and so clearly there with the white fog behind it. Yet there was nothing there when she looked directly out into the water. Dawn brought her palms to her eyes and rubbed them, trying to convince herself that she was just tired and her memories of the stories had her on edge.
When Dawn brought her hand away from her eyes she saw something in her peripheral again, this time to her right side, in the direction of the PokeCenter. Snapping her head to the right, Dawn was fully prepared for the shadows to vanish once more upon facing them but these ones didn’t.
Three shapes, darker than the shadows that concealed them, waited at the edge of the bridge, dividing her from the PokeCenter. Dawn’s eyes struggled to break through the darkness and make out what waited there in the shadows but it was too dark.
“Hello?” She called out, her voice thundering over the still muted waves that were directly below her now.
The three shadows stiffened suddenly, taking on hard lines before sliding forward. Dawn found herself holding her breath as they moved toward her, hands slowly moving to her side where six pokeballs waited. An eternity of heartbeats came before the shapes finally separated from the shadows becoming a trio of Houndooms.
Dawn’s hand stilled when the leading pokemon let out a low growl. Their eyes met, her’s and the leader’s, and there was nothing there. Dawn’s finger’s finally wrapped around one of her balls, tearing it off of her belt and throwing it forward.
“Gastrodon! Go!” Dawn cried before watching in disbelief as the pokeball bounced on the bridge before opening. No flash of red. No appearance of her pokemon. The ball was empty and now laid uselessly on the bridge between the three pokemon and her.
Dawn’s eyes flew to the Houndoom, watching a ripple pass through them as their muscles prepared to launch them forward, at her, before she turned and sprinted away from them and the horrifying howl they had let loose. The return of dark smudge out at sea in her peripheral ignored.
The rubber souls of her shoes crashed against Canalave’s cobblestone streets as Dawn practically flew down them. Her thighs burned, her face stung with the cold air but she didn’t stop, the clicks of claws on stone behind her driving her forward.
The girl cried into the darkness, calling for help, watching as window after window in the buildings flanking her blinked out. It was no longer the Houndoom alone that Dawn was trying to outrun but the complete darkness that threatened to swallow her.
“Help! Someone please!” she cried out again, veering harshly to her left the moment she saw another set of shadows to her left. There were more now. More cruel howls, more claws on stone, more reason for her to keep running.
There were darker, solid shadows hidden within shadows constantly now, always appearing just late enough that they were never anywhere but her peripheral and these were blurred out even more as tears began to slide down her nearly frozen cheeks. But she kept running, knowing that every stride took her further and further from the PokeCenter.
Making another harsh turn, this time slipping on the cold stones, her legs sliding out from under her and her knee ripping against the street, Dawn found possible salvation. There, just two blocks ahead of here stood the library, quiet and dark as the rest of Canalave, but there and calling to her. Dawn was back on her feet instantly, hissing as the pain of her skinned knee sliced through her but ignoring it as much as she could. The library was her only hope. She had to get through those doors and then maybe she would be safe.
Another set of howls, this time sounding as they came from every direction, ripped through the city and Dawn flinched but didn’t stop, eyes fixed on the library, ignoring the shadows in her peripherals. Dawn watched herself appear as a reflection in the wall of windows and then she saw what chased her as well. There were an impossible number of them, so many that one seemed to fade into another forming a solid wall of darkness and fear.
And then she was at the doors, pulling with all her might. They were heavier than they had been when she had left, impossibly so but Dawn was determined and didn’t stop until the door opened with a mighty groan. She was inside and pulling the door closed the instant she was able to squeeze between the solid wooden planks and then she was stumbling backwards, terrified eyes fixed on the doors, just waiting for the inevitable thud of bodies against the door or the shattering of windows as the Houndoom chased her but neither came. It was only her and her rapid breathing in the library until it wasn’t.
There, in the darkness of the library and in the corner of her vision Dawn saw it again. The whiff of white and hard red line with nothing but darkness behind it. Dawn cried out, scrambling off the floor and then she was running again, taking the stairs two or three at a time as she tried to get away from this new horror.
“No! No! No!” She cried out, willing herself forward even as her body threatened to collapse. “No! No! No!”
The next floor was as empty as the first had been but Dawn kept going, forcing herself up more and more stairs until she could go no higher. “No! Please no!” she pleaded with the darkness after she had slumped to the floor in the furthest aisle. Her palms were pressed against her eyes, blocking out anything that might wish to show itself to her, tears spilling out from between her fingers.
Dawn an eerie, disembodied voice echoed around her.
“No! No! Leave me alone!” She shouted back, fear possessing her body.
Dawn
“No! No! No!”
Dawn the voice prickled the skin at her neck and sent a chill through her already freezing body but she refused it, blocking it out with her own chorus of denial.
“No! No! NO!”
Dawn, it’s only the darkness. Accept it came the voice again before her own voice, twisted and stolen from the girl’s mouth joined it.
The dark is something to be scared of
The verse echoed around Dawn twice before the girl stopped shaking and crying out. Another repetition before she was pulling her hands from her face and another before Dawn looked out into the shadows that surrounded her. She could see the darker shadow, whiff of white and line of red just on the edge of her vision but it didn’t command her attention.
The words that were being repeated in a twisted mockery of her own voice were familiar. They were her’s. She had said them the day before in the tunnels of Iron Mountain to Barry but they had been different. Just one word.
“The dark is nothing to be scared of,” she corrected, challenging the darkness and that awful voice. With the twisted voice silent now, Dawn turned to face the specter that had been in her peripheral all night but nothing was there just normal shadows and darkness.
Dawn. Where are you/
“Barry!” Dawn was on her feet and moving again, taking two or three steps at a time as she flew downstairs. The voice was still disembodied, echoing all around her but this one was Barry’s and Dawn knew she had to get to him.
There were no howls coming from outside and, when Dawn peeked through the windows at the front of the library, there was no wall of shadowy Houndoom, just the dark streets of Canalave. The doors swung open easily and then Dawn was practically flying down the streets, weaving her way back to the bridge, the PokeCenter and Barry. The muted waves guided Dawn and she was at the bridge before she knew it. There were no shadows waiting for her on the other side, no smudge in the fog but Dawn wasn’t sure if she would have stopped even if there was. The PokeCenter was where she needed to be and nothing was going to stop her.
Dawn
“I’m coming Barry, almost there,” she cried back into the night, pumping her legs forward, watching the bridge and sea pass by her. Her legs were no longer sore, her skin no longer frozen, her knee no longer stung and, as the PokeCenter exploded into there view, her spirit was light.
Again her fingers wrapped around the cool metal handles of one of Canalave’s massive buildings but the PokeCenter’s doors opened easily and when they did, light exploded all around her until she was forced to squeeze her eyes closed.
When she opened them again Dawn realized that she was on her back in a bed and the light, while still almost painfully bright, was the harsh florescent lights of the PokeCenter. Three shapes hovered above her and Dawn flinched away from them until her eyes adjusted and the shapes became people; Barry, a nurse from the Center and an old woman that Dawn almost recognized.
“There she is,” the old woman huffed, backing away from view.
“Dawn!” Barry cried out, moving forward until his wiry arms were gathering her into a typical Barry hug.
“Uh, hi Barry,” she coughed out when the boy finally released her. “Um, what’s going on?”
“The Lord of Nightmares had you,” the old woman coughed out, from somewhere to Dawn’s side as though that meant something.
“It was Darkrai, Dawn. You’ve been asleep for two days, ever since the library.” Barry explained, remaining close on the edge of her bed. Dawn’s eyes moved from him to the old woman, still not fully understanding.
“Barry here went all the way to Full Moon Island last night to get a Lunar Wing for you,” the Nurse said, also moving away from Dawn’s immediate sight.
“You, you went on a boat, at night?” Dawn asked in disbelief. After the ride on the fishing boat from Iron Island Barry had sworn never to get on another boat at night again. “Thanks Barry.”
“It wasn’t that bad, I’m fining you for it of course though.”
“Of course.” She replied, returning her friend’s smile with one of her own. She could see out the window that the sun was rising, lightening the sky. Muted waves could be heard from the bed but Dawn knew that if she were to go outside this time, they would be muted no longer. She was finally awake and a new day had come. “So does that mean we can go to Iron Island again?”
Author: bitternarration
Rating: T
Verse: Game, Gen IV
Characters: Dawn, Barry
Summary: Dawn had always dreamed of facing the infamous shadows of Canalave, but dreams aren’t always what you expect.
A/N: For pokeprompts. Prompt, Periphery
Dawn had never considered herself an “academic” and she was ready to put down money in saying that none of her teachers would say otherwise. Since she could remember, learning through experience and doing had always been the only way she learned anything. She hated the boring act of reading and didn’t think very much of libraries as an extension of that. So how she managed to loose track of time and spend what appeared to be an entire day in Canalave’s library was beyond her. But Canalave City was an odd place and it had been an odd day, so she wasn’t going to blame herself.
The library visit had been entirely Barry’s idea and Dawn had, very grudgingly, gone along with it. After all he had gone to Iron Island the day before with her, following her just a little further, exploring just a little longer, spending just a little more time until they were completely lost in the tunnels and missed their boat back to Canalave. The ride back on the fishing boat that had been luckily passing by when the two young trainers came tumbling out of a side entrance was just another exciting adventure for Dawn but Barry had hated it, having never been fond of the dark or boats. So really, she owed this mind-numbingly boring visit to the library to him.
That did not, however, explain why she was still in the library after dark, completely by herself.
Dawn couldn't remember the sun setting outside the rather magnificent windows that lined the walls of Canalave Library, nor could she remember Barry or the library staff leaving, and she was positive she hadn’t fallen asleep because she had been awake the whole time. The only thing that Dawn could remember were the shadows that had caught her attention while she had been mindlessly racing two pencils across the old reading table.
They had seemed so out of place what with the giant windows flooding the library with light, yet they had been there, Dawn was sure of it. The shadows had never been anywhere but in her peripheral. A blur of black, a whips of white, a hard line of red. Yet whenever dawn turned to investigate, nothing was there.
At first she had thought it was another patron but Barry and her were the only people on this floor. Then she had though it was maybe a stray eyelash but, after pulling her eyelids away from her eyes, that theory had been proven bunk as well. It was then that she remembered the stories.
Sure Canalave City billed itself as this exotic port city but everyone knew the truth. It was a well known fact that Sinnoh’s most western city was haunted, any child could tell you that. The stories of people falling into endless nightmares and of living shadows had fascinated Dawn as a child. She used to dream of one day venturing to Canalave just for a chance to face these infamous shadows and now that she was here, she was enthralled once again.
After pushing open the heavy doors of the library and exiting into Canalave, Dawn realized that it wasn’t just the library that was empty, all of Canalave was deserted. To anyone else the quiet and darkness of the city would have been claustrophobic, but the gloom that had settled over the city was almost entirely lost on Dawn. The constantly crashing of waves, something Dawn had discovered was inescapable in this city, could be heard in the distance although the sound was oddly muted as though heard form inside a building rather than outside, most-likely due to the darkness. And dark it was. The young trainer was forced to rely on her sense of direction and the dim slats of light that filtered through closed blinds onto the street since the new moon provided nothing but more darkness where the globe should have been.
“Leave me in the library, we’re definitely even,” Dawn muttered to herself, watching as her breath left her mouth in a puff of fog. It was always cold in Canalave but tonight nipped at Dawn more so than normal, prompting her to pull her jacket tighter around her frame as she hurried through the empty streets and ultimately toward the PokeCenter where she and Barry were staying.
It wasn’t until Dawn was crossing the bridge that connected the two halves of Canalave that the girl paused, turning sharply to look out into the open sea.
A thick blanket of fog covered the inky waters, white on black, there was nothing there. Dawn turned her attention away from the sea and continued forward, focused on the PokeCenter on the other side until she saw it again but when she turned to look out into the sea once again there was nothing more.
“Stupid shadows,” Dawn muttered again, sure she had seen something out there. It had been in the corner of her vision, like in the library, but she knew there had been something out there, just above the water. It had been a dark shape, darker than the water or the night sky above and so clearly there with the white fog behind it. Yet there was nothing there when she looked directly out into the water. Dawn brought her palms to her eyes and rubbed them, trying to convince herself that she was just tired and her memories of the stories had her on edge.
When Dawn brought her hand away from her eyes she saw something in her peripheral again, this time to her right side, in the direction of the PokeCenter. Snapping her head to the right, Dawn was fully prepared for the shadows to vanish once more upon facing them but these ones didn’t.
Three shapes, darker than the shadows that concealed them, waited at the edge of the bridge, dividing her from the PokeCenter. Dawn’s eyes struggled to break through the darkness and make out what waited there in the shadows but it was too dark.
“Hello?” She called out, her voice thundering over the still muted waves that were directly below her now.
The three shadows stiffened suddenly, taking on hard lines before sliding forward. Dawn found herself holding her breath as they moved toward her, hands slowly moving to her side where six pokeballs waited. An eternity of heartbeats came before the shapes finally separated from the shadows becoming a trio of Houndooms.
Dawn’s hand stilled when the leading pokemon let out a low growl. Their eyes met, her’s and the leader’s, and there was nothing there. Dawn’s finger’s finally wrapped around one of her balls, tearing it off of her belt and throwing it forward.
“Gastrodon! Go!” Dawn cried before watching in disbelief as the pokeball bounced on the bridge before opening. No flash of red. No appearance of her pokemon. The ball was empty and now laid uselessly on the bridge between the three pokemon and her.
Dawn’s eyes flew to the Houndoom, watching a ripple pass through them as their muscles prepared to launch them forward, at her, before she turned and sprinted away from them and the horrifying howl they had let loose. The return of dark smudge out at sea in her peripheral ignored.
The rubber souls of her shoes crashed against Canalave’s cobblestone streets as Dawn practically flew down them. Her thighs burned, her face stung with the cold air but she didn’t stop, the clicks of claws on stone behind her driving her forward.
The girl cried into the darkness, calling for help, watching as window after window in the buildings flanking her blinked out. It was no longer the Houndoom alone that Dawn was trying to outrun but the complete darkness that threatened to swallow her.
“Help! Someone please!” she cried out again, veering harshly to her left the moment she saw another set of shadows to her left. There were more now. More cruel howls, more claws on stone, more reason for her to keep running.
There were darker, solid shadows hidden within shadows constantly now, always appearing just late enough that they were never anywhere but her peripheral and these were blurred out even more as tears began to slide down her nearly frozen cheeks. But she kept running, knowing that every stride took her further and further from the PokeCenter.
Making another harsh turn, this time slipping on the cold stones, her legs sliding out from under her and her knee ripping against the street, Dawn found possible salvation. There, just two blocks ahead of here stood the library, quiet and dark as the rest of Canalave, but there and calling to her. Dawn was back on her feet instantly, hissing as the pain of her skinned knee sliced through her but ignoring it as much as she could. The library was her only hope. She had to get through those doors and then maybe she would be safe.
Another set of howls, this time sounding as they came from every direction, ripped through the city and Dawn flinched but didn’t stop, eyes fixed on the library, ignoring the shadows in her peripherals. Dawn watched herself appear as a reflection in the wall of windows and then she saw what chased her as well. There were an impossible number of them, so many that one seemed to fade into another forming a solid wall of darkness and fear.
And then she was at the doors, pulling with all her might. They were heavier than they had been when she had left, impossibly so but Dawn was determined and didn’t stop until the door opened with a mighty groan. She was inside and pulling the door closed the instant she was able to squeeze between the solid wooden planks and then she was stumbling backwards, terrified eyes fixed on the doors, just waiting for the inevitable thud of bodies against the door or the shattering of windows as the Houndoom chased her but neither came. It was only her and her rapid breathing in the library until it wasn’t.
There, in the darkness of the library and in the corner of her vision Dawn saw it again. The whiff of white and hard red line with nothing but darkness behind it. Dawn cried out, scrambling off the floor and then she was running again, taking the stairs two or three at a time as she tried to get away from this new horror.
“No! No! No!” She cried out, willing herself forward even as her body threatened to collapse. “No! No! No!”
The next floor was as empty as the first had been but Dawn kept going, forcing herself up more and more stairs until she could go no higher. “No! Please no!” she pleaded with the darkness after she had slumped to the floor in the furthest aisle. Her palms were pressed against her eyes, blocking out anything that might wish to show itself to her, tears spilling out from between her fingers.
Dawn an eerie, disembodied voice echoed around her.
“No! No! Leave me alone!” She shouted back, fear possessing her body.
Dawn
“No! No! No!”
Dawn the voice prickled the skin at her neck and sent a chill through her already freezing body but she refused it, blocking it out with her own chorus of denial.
“No! No! NO!”
Dawn, it’s only the darkness. Accept it came the voice again before her own voice, twisted and stolen from the girl’s mouth joined it.
The dark is something to be scared of
The verse echoed around Dawn twice before the girl stopped shaking and crying out. Another repetition before she was pulling her hands from her face and another before Dawn looked out into the shadows that surrounded her. She could see the darker shadow, whiff of white and line of red just on the edge of her vision but it didn’t command her attention.
The words that were being repeated in a twisted mockery of her own voice were familiar. They were her’s. She had said them the day before in the tunnels of Iron Mountain to Barry but they had been different. Just one word.
“The dark is nothing to be scared of,” she corrected, challenging the darkness and that awful voice. With the twisted voice silent now, Dawn turned to face the specter that had been in her peripheral all night but nothing was there just normal shadows and darkness.
Dawn. Where are you/
“Barry!” Dawn was on her feet and moving again, taking two or three steps at a time as she flew downstairs. The voice was still disembodied, echoing all around her but this one was Barry’s and Dawn knew she had to get to him.
There were no howls coming from outside and, when Dawn peeked through the windows at the front of the library, there was no wall of shadowy Houndoom, just the dark streets of Canalave. The doors swung open easily and then Dawn was practically flying down the streets, weaving her way back to the bridge, the PokeCenter and Barry. The muted waves guided Dawn and she was at the bridge before she knew it. There were no shadows waiting for her on the other side, no smudge in the fog but Dawn wasn’t sure if she would have stopped even if there was. The PokeCenter was where she needed to be and nothing was going to stop her.
Dawn
“I’m coming Barry, almost there,” she cried back into the night, pumping her legs forward, watching the bridge and sea pass by her. Her legs were no longer sore, her skin no longer frozen, her knee no longer stung and, as the PokeCenter exploded into there view, her spirit was light.
Again her fingers wrapped around the cool metal handles of one of Canalave’s massive buildings but the PokeCenter’s doors opened easily and when they did, light exploded all around her until she was forced to squeeze her eyes closed.
When she opened them again Dawn realized that she was on her back in a bed and the light, while still almost painfully bright, was the harsh florescent lights of the PokeCenter. Three shapes hovered above her and Dawn flinched away from them until her eyes adjusted and the shapes became people; Barry, a nurse from the Center and an old woman that Dawn almost recognized.
“There she is,” the old woman huffed, backing away from view.
“Dawn!” Barry cried out, moving forward until his wiry arms were gathering her into a typical Barry hug.
“Uh, hi Barry,” she coughed out when the boy finally released her. “Um, what’s going on?”
“The Lord of Nightmares had you,” the old woman coughed out, from somewhere to Dawn’s side as though that meant something.
“It was Darkrai, Dawn. You’ve been asleep for two days, ever since the library.” Barry explained, remaining close on the edge of her bed. Dawn’s eyes moved from him to the old woman, still not fully understanding.
“Barry here went all the way to Full Moon Island last night to get a Lunar Wing for you,” the Nurse said, also moving away from Dawn’s immediate sight.
“You, you went on a boat, at night?” Dawn asked in disbelief. After the ride on the fishing boat from Iron Island Barry had sworn never to get on another boat at night again. “Thanks Barry.”
“It wasn’t that bad, I’m fining you for it of course though.”
“Of course.” She replied, returning her friend’s smile with one of her own. She could see out the window that the sun was rising, lightening the sky. Muted waves could be heard from the bed but Dawn knew that if she were to go outside this time, they would be muted no longer. She was finally awake and a new day had come. “So does that mean we can go to Iron Island again?”