chapter five the long road ahead

Author's Note: Hey all welcome to Chapter 5 of Midnight Hound! (Yay) All I have to say for this chapter is get ready to meet a brand new character! (Yes, another one I know.) Also today it's been a week since I started this story and I wanna say a special thanks to all of the viewers! I hope you all enjoy!

Next Morning... (I swear I need to start with something better or-)

Dusk, his eyes fluttering open as dawn has approached, he has made sure to wake up early this morning for specific purposes. He decided that today, he was going to train, and of course this was something that Dusk preferred to do alone, more than likely because he doesn't want to be held back by the others and eventually become soft, he wasn't up for that bullshit.

He stood up slowly and stretched without a sound. With no second thoughts he began to walk away from Silver and Ray's home. Which the two introduced him to sometime the previous day before night fall.

Once the sneaky hound was far enough away from their home, he began to suddenly burst into a dash. His speed could easily put Manectric to shame, and he wasn't even running his fastest. (To reserve his energy.) Dusk trained himself usually everyday in the most extremist of ways, even if he knew he was gonna take a few scratches in the long run. Of course, his strength and special abilities were the only thing he had until he met Ray and his sister, Silver. Thinking about them, Dusk knew that he was going to have to train himself harder than ever now and he probably should be a bit more forceful when it came to his alone time, of course he didn't really want to say that to them.

As the lone hound continued his run basically piercing through the wind, something called out catching the attention of Dusk's large horns, which of course were generally sensitive.

"You're pretty fast now, but still maybe a little bit too slow." It called out, but Dusk kept running even though he did completely hear that statement. His plan was to draw this guy out into the open, and boy did it work! It wasn't long until a blur was running straight past Dusk with a cocky grin that Dusk of course noticed.

"Was that a Mightyena?" Dusk thought to himself taking a look at how he was running, and it was some pretty intense speed. This wasn't just any other Mightyena. He quickened the movement of his already rapidly moving paw steps to catch up to him. The Mightyena grinned before bumping into Dusk. (Suddenly turns into Stardust Speedway...)

"Gotta be quicker than that!" He announced, that smirk on his mug never ceasing.

What was the deal with this Bite pokemon? Dusk supposed it didn't matter really, he wasn't really a threat at the moment and at the same time sort of interesting, if not already worthy opponent. But just racing with Dusk didn't seem to be the hyena's objective, only known when he proceeded to tackle Dusk onto the ground.

Dusk did not expect such a, cheap shot, and was knocked onto his back as the Mightyena stood triumphantly and laughed.

"And once again Shadow wins the race! Even after all these years!" The Mightyena announced with a cocky scoff.

Dusk tilted his head, wondering if this dog needed some type of mental therapy. The Mightyena, name assumed to be dubbed Shadow. Shadow eventually tilted his head becoming silent as well realizing Dusk wasn't laughing with him.

"What's wrong Dusk you forgot how to laugh?" He asked as Dusk's eyebrow raised of speculation.

"How do you know my name?" Dusk asked getting up on his paws now as Shadow mulled over his head awkwardly. He wasn't really expecting a question like that to hit him.

"Oh yeah. Right you probably don't recognize me, since we both have grown up so much over the years, the only way I could actually tell it was you of all Houndoom's was because, you already have such a unique look." Said Shadow a little more than embarrassed.

Dusk took a chance to look over this hyena, the way his fangs were shaped, how his eyes gleamed with curiosity yet determination, even the colors of his fur, they were real familiar. When he thought about the name Shadow. That's when it finally hit him on the head.

Shadow, that one pup, a Poochyena. The one pup who actually wanted to be Dusk's friend. They would do everything together like playing, napping, and sometimes eating. The families of both were mostly glad they seemed to have friends to play with, but no one knew that they were friends with each others rivals. Nobody ever did to be honest, from Shadow, Dusk learned more about being sneaky and quiet like a fox. (Guess we know where the secretive thing came from.)

Of course, the two were split apart when the war broke out and then the humans came... Taking everything from them, the memory of the only friend besides your family who wasn't even from your pack... Humans always do this without considering the consequences for everyone else. (You don't like it. I don't either, but it's true.)

"Yo...Dusk?" The Mightyena asked waving his paw to see if he could get a response. Once again, Dusk was recovering more memories, this time more good than bad.

The Houndoom's eyes teared up and he was completely silent, this was the first actual person from his past. He wasn't dead! But how!? Is it possible that Silver was actually right about all of this, was there really hope. More than likely not, but Dusk was damn sure gonna get what he could take! The Mightyena walked closer to Dusk wondering what could be wrong with his long time friend.

Dusk growled slightly before pouncing on his friend and licking his face with extreme happiness like old times. Shadow laughed as well as Dusk did after bouncing off of him and cleaning his face.

"Holy fuck man..." Said Dusk distantly, but contently.

"I'm relieved to see you safe as well. My friend. You have grown much, possibly the strongest Houndoom I may have encountered." Shadow said in the same tone, a bit more maturity in his voice this time.

"Yeah, I have personal reasons. But, how are you even here right now? I wasn't even able to see you in... uh. Those days." Dusk said getting silent around that last part.

Shadow nodded in understanding what his friend wanted, no. Needed. To know. "I could ask you the same question but since you asked be first, i'll tell you..."

Years Back In Time...

Shadow, a Poochyena was inside his den curled up into the corner. Poor guy's been punished for his persistence to keep running outside despite the situation they were in. He whimpered. "D-Dusk..." The puppy whimpered in thought worried about his friend as he remained shaking in the corner, a bloody mush of a gash in his tail. Mother, a Mightyena, came around with some leaves bound together thanks to her practice in using psychic moves and wrapped them tight around his tail.

The puppy howled in pain as his agony has skyrocketed tenfold. Mother's ears laid flat before she licked him against his head lovingly. She laid by his side and wrapped her tail around him. "I'm sorry I had to punish you...But what could possibly possess you to go out at a time like this?" His mother asked and when she normally asked a question, it would be best to actually tell the truth and do it soon.

"I-I...was worried about my f-friend." Tiny pup Shadow answered now going into more tears as he thought about his friend.

Mother Mightyena felt horrible for punishing her son now, but she knew he had to understand how this was.

"Shadow, i'm sorry. But, i'm sure Dusk is inside with his family too, i'm sure he's the safest pup of all right now. Just like you." She gave a sweet smile and kissed her son his little poochy forehead causing him to giggle a little.

The two seemed to be better between each other but banality, it was of course not over yet. That's when another Mightyena, Shadow's dad came running in panting hard, blood flowing through his fur, cuts and bruises nearly everywhere else.

"You two...you've got to leave now! We can't hold these humans for too long anymore. Please!" The Mightyena commanded, using the last of his energy in that last word before falling limp on the ground, no sign of living.

There, by a Poochyena offspring, and a Mightyena wife, have witnessed the death of someone of there very own loved right in front of their very eyes. But, mother respected father's wishes and took her son and ran out to escape with the rest of the pack...

"...and from there it was pretty much over. Ultimately we didn't lose too many in our pack...But. Although, I am still remembering how my own blood has left this world in front of my own, unready eyes, our pack is doing better than ever nowadays thanks to his choice to tell us to run, even if it cost him his last breaths..." Shadow said smiling a little. "And now that I finally know that you're safe, I definitely feel a lot better about whatever has happened back then and I might be able to leave it behind."

The two friends smiled before Shadow eventually asked about Dusk's escape, it came with the full details, at least until after he ran away and lost most of his memories. Dusk ultimately concluded that he might've just been hit on the head, but Shadow gave him a quizzical expression.

"That's. Impossible Dusk." Shadow told Dusk as if he wasn't confused enough about this whole ordeal.

"What do you mean it's impossible?" Dusk questioned.

"Well, Houndour always have skulls attached to their heads am I right. That gives your skull double layer protection for that to be able to happen so it was obviously something else." Shadow concluded to Dusk who nodded in understanding, that actually was true.

"Oh yeah. Dusk, there's something that I think you should know." The hyena said to his hound comrade who was prepared to hang on to whatever else he had to say.

"You may want to head down to the Sandian Beaches which are generally just north from here, if you want. There are two things that you might really want to see over there, you know, if you're doing anything special. Your friends should have you covered." Shadow replied referring to Silver, Dusk was kind of oblivious to what he was getting at though.

And then, the two could hear 2 sets of four paws each come their way, there was a feminine howl coming from said direction as well. Dusk knew it was Silver looking for him by now since it has gone way past the break of dawn.

"See ya dude." Shadow said making like his name and was gone in a flash. Dusk only looked in the direction that he went, was that really the last time he would see Shadow? Soon, he was met by the voices of a relieved Silver and an ecstatic Ray.

Ray hugged his friend tightly as Silver gave him a sudden hug since she was so thankful her friend was safe. Dusk kind of blushed7 and so did Silver when she realized she just hugged Dusk. Of course Dusk released Frost Breath out from his maw so his face could cool down quickly still not knowing what that generally was, this helped Silver's blush dissipate as well after she got off of him.

"Don't worry, I was just out on a run for a while." Dusk said to calm any incoming questions anyone might have had coming, or most anyway.

The two nodded in understanding, he felt he should tell them what was happening so he offered to go back to the cave for a little group chat. Everybody agreed and went back towards the cave, A pair of red eyes gleaming from afar, gleaming with curiosity and determination.

"Good luck my friend, I will be seeing you later..."

Later on Silver, Ray, and Dusk were inside of their comfy cave. Light patches of glowing moss laid on the ground here and there, they made perfect spots to sleep on of course. The cave was dimly lit with a few holes from the top letting in sun rays in the day and twilight at night. Of course now it was day so it wasn't the latter at the moment.

Dusk thought about how he would actually tell his friends about the whole situation that happened with Shadow. He did realize it would be wrong to just escape without them, the least he could do was to simply tell them about the situation, so he told them everything. From the moment he collided with Shadow, who he was and what he told him, except for the part about traveling toward the Sandian Beaches. The two were curious to find out more about this Shadow character but for now they only left it with a nod to show their understanding.

"And there was one last thing..." Dusk said finally before Silver and Ray perked up to listen.

"Shadow told me that there were two things, supposedly waiting for me over at Sandian Beaches, he said they were about north from this place, any of you have any clue about it?"

"Oh wait I know about that place. It's a long way there from here. Not to mention that it is a dangerous way there as well." Said Silver seriously. "Lots of powerful, territorial creatures lie the places in between, they're blood thirsty and don't show mercy for those who step into their territory." Silver concluded.

Of course Dusk, who could honestly give less of a damn about these foes who at least thought they were powerful, doesn't mean he's underestimating them. But obviously Shadow was serious earlier when he told him about this place and he was determined to make his way there.

"Alright, I'm going to head there now. If it's really that dangerous than maybe you two should stay here. This is my own problem, after all." Dusk said standing to his feet before some fox bit his tail holding him back.

"Hold on Dusk I won't let you go alone!" Ray barked making Dusk stop in his tracks. Silver could see that determination in Ray's eyes and so could Dusk, as the look was too familiar to him now.

She knew she wouldn't be able to keep him away when he was like this. She sighed, before giving a smile.

"I won't let that happen neither Dusk, if this is really that important to you then I feel obligated to help you out in any way I can. And Ray, if you're coming too, I'll have to teach you how to properly defend yourself." Silver said sincerely, knowing that Blastoise from a couple of days ago was no match for the pokemon that they may encounter on this dangerous travel.

Dusk, once again speechless from his friends kindness, he knew they were totally with him one hundred percent on this and he didn't feel like he should say no, for some reason he just couldn't say no to them. A tear almost came to his eye, but no. Not. Again.

"Normally, I would say no to your offer. But you guys, the first two people who have had faith and trust in me for a long time. You guys deserve to join me and if I do have second thoughts about it, smack me with a good attack." Dusk grinned as everyone present howled in agreement.

They were a lot more than just simply a group of friends now, they were a pack. A small one but a sure one. From there they promised to watch each others backs and encourage the weaker ones to stay strong in the long run. They did not know of the hardships that would come their way but they were damn sure to push past them all, for this mysterious cause that probably didn't even exist...

Dusk, Silver, and Ray. Soon to be a tightly bonded canine team. The challenges that they face, they'll always face them together...

Chapter complete everyone and this is generally the end to part one of this story. This time around will come for more of the M rated stuff i'm sure you all have been waiting for. (If not, then okay.) There will be fights, drama, romance, or whatever extra I may think of adding here. I hope I can do it right, i'm kind of nervous. Anyway, please leave a review if you want any feedback is well accepted in my book.