Another day, another expedition - this one, initially, started not unlike the prior two. The initial intentions were to better study the seals - especially when Charon made a mention of concerning disturbances happening near them - and yet... Partway into the expedition, was when the group began to realize that something was awry.

Namely, that noone was casting a shadow any longer.

No longer what way the light shone or how, there was no shade - as if the light of the sepia-toned sun above was passing through right them. It was easy to confirm that Angelica wasn't the cause - nor were any of the other ghost pokemon in the group's possession. And yet, what the true cause could've been was beyond them - the Border was already so strange, being that it was the space between life and death itself. Only time would tell what, exactly, was going on.

And as time passed, well... That was when things began only becoming stranger.

Ettie paused in her tracks, when the sound of wings and cawing caught the attention of not only her, but the pack as well. Glancing up, she expected to see Adrea and Astus, sure, but... It was much more concerning when there weren't two shapes up above, but four. Adrea and Astus were circling above, with what looked almost like shadowy clones mirroring their movements. Ettie couldn't help but stop in her tracks at this - blinking once, twice, before there was but a single puzzled word out of her mouth. "... Four??"

Anne couldn't help a brief growl at this - and one of Ettie's newest additions to her pack, Anat the Lucario, couldn't help but concur at the lycanroc's sentiments. This was not normal. Something was wrong.

And this feeling would only be emphasized, by the sounds of distant howls. These howls were almost like that of Ettie's pack - and yet, there was an unnatural tinge to them. Ghastly, fleeting, almost not-all-there - and yet the chorus was there all the same. And in hearing it, Ettie and Anne tensed.

"... Hunting." Ettie spoke, unable to help the slightest curl of her lip, the slightest growl in her tone. "Pack-call, for-gather - for-hunt." Her eyes slid up towards the shadowy clones of Astus and Adrea - her gaze that of a wild beast assessing a threat. "Flock-show, where-prey." Her lips curled further, into a full snarl, as she growled out "Not safe!"

And Anat wasted no time in acting - forming an Aura Sphere, firing it upwards and at the shadow-Astus. Though the two real corvids would let out crows of alarm in response, the shadows were worst-off for it - the shadow-Astus crowing as it was struck. The Lucario barked to Astus and Adrea both - and the two corvids wasted no time in acting, chasing off the shadowy clones with Heat Wave and Swift both.

Ettie, however, was not comforted by this. Taking out her pokeballs, she'd recall Astus and Adrea. "They know. We move?" She spoke - her eyes briefly glancing to the others for their input. Whatever the howls belonged to, they were sure to be closing in - hunting the group, if Ettie's guess was right. So, how would they approach this...?

Present:

Josh Devlin , Callan Young , Johanna Joy

completed:
18 lose your shadow, or encounter your shadow moving independently of you.
29 encounter shadowy copies of yourselves or your pokemon that mimic movement, form, and more.

At long last, Josh had reaped the rewards of his fourteen-year bond with Saber, his Manectric. Saber and his trainer had survived deletion in the Cloud. They had survived the imminent impact of a meteor. And most recently, Josh had survived a supersonic gallop astride the electric-type, thanks to the Z-Power they shared together. It was the final component to the SYGNA SUIT the Gym Leader wore. The suit made Josh look like an extension of his Manectric steed, a visor covering the face area of the suit. It looked a lot like his racing suit, except with spiky yellow and blues instead of the Raikou-like colors the group may have been used to seeing.

"It's been fourteen years coming," Josh announced in front of the trio he had been traveling to The Border with for the past several days. "I feel a lot more at ease here now." It was true; as long he was atop his Manectric and he wore his suit, the environment felt just like anywhere else in Hoenn.

One of the first things that caught Josh's attention was a bright, yellow glow in the cliffside to the south as mist seethed from it. "I'm gonna have Saber wear this SPELL TAG. Something doesn't feel right at all. C'mon, Saber!" The Manectric's JOLLY disposition overflowing, Josh shot toward the leaking seal with all due haste, electricity arcing among all four of his mount's legs during the explosive acceleration the Gym Leader's Sygna Suit made much more bearable.

It did not take him long to make it to the yellow seal, the temperature dropping substantially while he was in the mist in its wake. Starting to feel the cold, Josh send out his Pyroar, Simba, who immediately began coughing in the mist's presence. It only took him seconds to withdraw the lion. Was the very air around the seal harmful? It was clear that Josh's Sygna Suit protected him and his Manectric from its elements.

Beyond the seal, Josh could have sworn he saw a lithe, feline-shaped figure with long, sharp teeth stretching beyond its face. Next to it was a humanoid-shaped, yellow-eyed shadow. The blood in the Gym Leader's veins began to run cold...

It happened faster than Ettie could even blink. One moment, they were on the move - but the next, the others were being attacked by shadows! Things were quickly falling apart into an all-out brawl, as shadowy doppelgangers rose up to fight their true selves. The pack reacted quickly - clustering up around Ettie and Johanna both in a protective fashion, since the two were already close together. But when a shadow rose in their midsts, chaos would begin to arise as the Joy Gymleader fell under attack from her own shadow..!

Thankfully, Retnuah was there - the gengar rising up to punch the shadow-Johanna out without a second thought! Still, the pack was agitated - Anne lightly pulling Johanna closer to Ettie, as if to better watch over the both of them at once.

And Ettie, meanwhile, was quick to prepare for combat. Though a good portion of the pack stayed in their balls so that they didn't have to deal with the toxic atmosphere of the Border - the ones who stayed out being overall hardier and thus better able to tolerate it - in times like this, the pack needed every one of their numbers that they had to protect everyone. One by one, the pack's numbers grew - Astus, Adraea, Ruffian, Haru... Even Scarlet, the doublades easily settling into their place in Ettie's hands, though they did not wrap their tassels quite yet.

... But in that same vein, so did the number of opposition. Astus and Adraea both would make warning calls - as over the ridge, a group of shadowy beasts revealed themselves. Teeth were bared, snarls and growls made on either side - the shadow-pack was visibly hostile, and the true-pack in turn were becoming agitated.

The shadow-pack would let loose a battlecry; throwing back their heads in a chorus of Howls to ready themselves for the attack. Ettie, however, would be fast to react - glancing to the corvids above. "Adraea!"

The murkrow in question, already snickering, would beat her wings - a white fog spreading outwards in a Mist. The shadowy beasts seemed bewildered that the strength that they previously called upon was now gone - and that moment of surprise was more than enough for Anne to call for a charge - leading her pack in a Howl of their own - and before the shadow- Adraea could let loose their own Mist, Astus was upon them with Wing Attack!

But Ettie could see, without a doubt, the leader - a pair of doppelgangers of both Anne and herself, a set of shadowy blades in the false wildchild's hands. Climbing up onto Anne's back, Ettie glanced back to Johanna - murmuring "Be safe," before the two charged forwards - the pack prepared to meet their shadows in combat.

After all - violence for violence is the rule of beasts - a rule she was quite familiar with.

Josh Devlin , Callan Young , Johanna Joy

Saber made an uncommanded slow to a stop as they approached the shadowy duo. When Josh spurred the Manectric closer, he refused to listen, instead growling and snarling at them. The feline creature crouched, and the yellow-eyed shadow sat on its back. Once they appeared to be one, the big cat stepped closer to Josh and Saber of their own accord.

With the most menacing, ruinous meow the Gym Leader had ever heard, the feline spirit faded into view: a snow cat with two halves of a broken sword as its fangs. Its back and tail were covered in ice crystals, some of which were obscured by additional snow on its back in the shape of an exotic saddle typically seen on big cat Pokémon. There were even floating reins of incredibly dense snow in the shadow's left hand.

The shadow rider at the reins still had a mostly unidentifiable body, though its shape, and particularly its facial features, were identical to Josh's. Even the identical voice Josh heard, while he wasn't sure, seemed to come from that direction. "Abandon your chase of Raikou, heathen, at the claws of the true god you seek! Akuji, maul him!" With a snowy polearm in hand, the shadow spurred the snow cat into a lunge straight at Josh and Saber.

"Saber, QUICK ATTACK!" Josh commanded, though it was too late. Not even the speedy move got the Gym Leader out of the way of his foe's charge that eerily reminded him of when he rode Raikou. It was speed he would never forget, and speed that neared, if not equaled, that of the Beast. Josh lurched back as the dense spear of snow rammed him with full force, his SYGNA SUIT the only thing keeping him from being struck dead on the spot. It wasn't over, either; with the speed of a whip, the spirit of Chien-Pao turned around to do it all over again!

Fang against fang, claw against claw, beak against beak - the air was filled with the growls and snarls of beasts below, and the raucous caw of corvids above. Ettie's pack moved in tandem as they formed a defensive line against the shadowy canids that sought to pincer the group as a whole against the other shadows on the opposite side - the shadows of Ettie's compatriots and their pokemon.

However, the pack's bonds were strong - and even as one took a hit, others were there to support. A Heal Pulse from Anat, Safeguard from Pago, Lucky Chant from Haru - there were a multitude of moves exchanged amongst one another, to ensure that the pack did not falter. However, on that same note, the shadowy pack had similar tactics on offer for them - it was looking as though the only thing giving Ettie's pack an edge was their prior howls, and keeping the shadow-Adraea too busy for them to use Mist.

All the whilst though, blades clashed against blades as Ettie engaged her own doppelganger; teeth bared in a wild half-grin half-snarl, as Scarlet's tassels wrapped around her forearms. Much like with the rest of the pack, though Ettie had an edge, it was still a tough fight - a clash of steel and grit, to see who flinched first.

Josh Devlin , Callan Young , Johanna Joy

As Josh turned around to face the snow cat's spirit and its shadowy rider shaped just like himself, he caught a glimpse of the others, who seemed to be fighting their own shadows, as well. He couldn't think about them, though; they had their own big battles to fight. He waved back to Callan Young and cried, "You focus on your own battle! I'll be fine!" Asking him for help now would not only show a sign of his own weakness, something he could not afford to be held responsible for during his Champion Assessment, but it was clear from the way they were fighting that each of them had to overcome their own shadow clone alone.

He could still feel the biting cold of the ruinous knight's snow lance as his eyes tracked the feline steed. He wanted to use his other Pokémon, badly. It was clear from the moment of the first charge that he was not going to be able to outrun his opponent. Had it not been for the valuable experience he had gathered from battling Elite Four Katherine Fairburne and her Pheromosa, he may have never returned from the bitter battle, the spirit of Chien-Pao slaying him on the spot.

Josh at last CALMed down, Saber letting out a cry. The SYNC STONE in the racer's right glove activated, enabling the Manectric to dodge not only the ice lance, but the follow-up ICICLE CRASH coming from the Manectric's blades. The rider reined his Pokémon around the ruinous cat's spirit in an elegant dance that was nearly impossible for anyone else to follow. Though the whiplash-inducing turns were impressive, the rider's SYGNA SUIT saving his life against the legendary Pokémon yet again, they wore the shadow rider out.

It seemed even the spirit in Chien-Pao's snow saddle had its limits, giving him the opportunity to make a move. "Now, DISCHARGE!" he commanded. The suit let Josh and his Manectric truly fight as one, even letting him be at the center of his mount's electric attacks unharmed. The wide-area electric blast engulfed both the Sword of Ruin's spirit and its rider, Chien-Pao recoiling and rearing impossibly high after the critical hit. For a brief moment, the feline stood nearly straight up, the knight on its back almost parallel to the ground. The sudden bloodrush to the head had to be painful.

The short range of Saber's strongest electric attack proved to be a liability; the moment the snow cat's front paws touched the ground after rearing, it flung itself toward Josh and Saber from behind, raking both of them with a NIGHT SLASH that nearly tore through his suit's left side. One more big blow and he would be in serious trouble. If that suit punctured, that mist would enter his body, and he wouldn't last long in that!

Madame snarled, as the shadowy granbull's fangs dug into her fur, the bipedal beast's fists slamming into her in some twisted mimicry of Play Rough. Though she managed to heave and throw off the malignant beast, when she tried to retaliate with a Ice Fang, the shadow-Princess was suddenly disappearing into the fold, only to be replaced with her own reflection that clashed against her.

But, a Heal Pulse from Anat would ease those wounds - and the lucario frowned, as she surveyed the fight from a supportive position. This was a tough fight, the fighting-type recognized - when you had to fight against yourself, it really was a question of who could make the most of what they had first. And yet, there was something strange about these shadows.

Though they indeed moved in tandem, it didn't feel like a natural flow in the same way their own pack's movements were. Though the shadows acted as one, there didn't feel like there was any individuality - any single action made for themself. It was almost as if even the dynamics between the shadowy-beasts were but a mimickry, one that was paling in comparison to the real thing. Bit by bit though, that cohesion that might've been missing before was filling in -- whatever was behind all of this, it was learning. And learning fast.

With reinforcements though, Anat had no need to worry about what might happen, if the shadows were to improve far enough. Johanna's ghosts moved into the fray, their shadowy moves more than plenty to sow confusion amongst the startled shadow-pack's ranks. And seeing the opportunity, Anat would throw back her head to howl in a rallying cry, the pack answering in kind and charging forwards to overrun the enemy beasts before they could adapt to the ghost-types' attacks.

And as the shadow-pack's strength faltered, it was as if the shadowy wildchild's focus began to falter as well. Letting Scarlet guide her hand, Ettie swung upwards - watching as one of the blades in her doppelganger's hands was sent flying, clattering off to the side. Pressing the advantage and allowing Scarlet's battlefury to overcome her, the young child roared - swinging out in a flurry of blows, forcing back the shadow bit by bit as the tides turned in her favor!

Josh Devlin , Callan Young , Johanna Joy