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Open Darkness Rising

An umbreon, with body language clearly displaying submissiveness and shyness, walked up to Phren and Miss Melphomene, muttering something unclear about joining them. Before either pokemon could answer, though, the umbreon ran away. Phren watched with a confused expression. The umbreon stopped at a houndour for a moment, and then started to turn away again. Immediately Phren marked him as an inferior.

"Hey, little boy blue, what brings you to this dark neck of the woods?" Phren could hear the smile in the words, and when he looked, he saw a floating grimer. He suspected it might be a taunt of some sort, as the tone implied there was another meaning to the words, but he quashed the irritation and instead grinned back.

"Actually I'm purple because the moonlight is red," he said in his high-pitched voice. "Isn't it cool? I never got to see myself under red light before! I think it's prettier this way, don't you?" He bounced, though it was low off the ground, unlike whenever he travelled. "I'm here because I wanna help you beat the bad guys, because they're mean to all of you. I hope I can be of service!"
 
Luno shrank back surprisedly, unconciously rising an inch or so farther from ground. The Azurill was so... friendly. It was strange, but the little Pokémon's joy was almost too much. Lunosa had always been by far the most upbeat one in a crowd of his compatriots, most of whom were sulky and/or snappish.

But this little creature was... happier than him. Or at least he seemed like it. He was a bit off.

"So, did you get the joke?" the Grimer asked, putting a smile back on his sludgy face in spite of the creepy feel he got from the innocent-looking Normal-type.
 
Lucidia noticed how happy the Grimer was after she had said that she got his joke. She couldn't help smiling; apparently happiness was contagious, even if you really didn't like talking. Her mouth felt warped after saying so much; she might have to put off the conversations for a while after this. The sludgy Pokemon wandered off to meet some others; Lucidia simply sat at the edge of the clearing, feeling that she had accomplished something. It didn't take a lot of courage to make the world that much happier, it seemed... but the banishment of the Dark Pokemon was still a problem. Was that the reason everyone was gathered here?
 
Fenos was immediately enraged. Why were they talking to the grimer and not him? Infuriated, Fenos ran over to the ever-growing group and demanded an explanation. He started rambling on and paused to give them a chance to talk.
 
((What the heck is up with everyone beginning their posts with Darkness))

Draxwea gazed at the moon, red as her fangs. It was a wondrous sight; she had never seen a red moon this high in the sky. They were never this red, either - they were usually more orange.

The moon was not of extreme interest to her, however. She had other things on her mind.

Her eerie yellow eyes searched the others surrounding her, automatically flicking to anything shiny. They were usually just eyes gleaming in the moonlight.

Phooey, no one had anything neat that she could see. Maybe she would find someone who did later.

She flicked out her tongue to taste the air. There were many scents... most were musky and smoky, but a few stood out. There were mostly Dark, Poison, and Ghost types... how typical. So many lived in the Light of Day. No wonder the Army of Light had been overwhelming.

But many who lived in the Light had grown weak and soft from the safety that daylight brought. Prey survived in the Light only because they could see their stalkers. Pokemon gave up on meat and turned to helpless plants because of how their prey could see them.

The Night was different. Prey could not see the death that lurked in the shadows. The weak ones were picked off in the Night, and resorted to going into the Light. Those foolish enough to stay were not given the chance to pass on their stupidity to the next generation. And predators came over to the Night to get easier prey.

The Army of the Night had grown in numbers and strength, and was ready to defeat the Light.
 
(( How do you reference nursery rhymes when humans don't exist? >> ))

It was a joke, then? That would explain the tone. Phren guessed that it was an allusion to something, but just what this was he did not know.

"Not at all," he chirped cheerily. "Is it because forests don't have necks?"

Before he could say more, he was distracted out by the angry rambling of the umbreon that had appeared only briefly before leaving. He watched with a slight pout. It would be easier to respond if he could actually hear the words the umbreon was saying, though; while the umbreon was not muttering like before, his words were just as difficult to comprehend. The words were slurring together, it seemed, and the anger seemed to be affecting the pitch of the umbreon's speech, which was what pokemon really relied on to understand each other. Why are you talking to the grimer, the umbreon was asking, why didn't you talk to me, he was saying, explain yourself. Except he was saying a lot more, and Phren thought it was mostly repetition, but he could not be sure. Then the umbreon paused, as if he had finally released his anger and wanted an answer.

Fool. Even if the umbreon was capable of anger, it seemed he was not capable of rational thought.

He didn't really feel like crying yet, but maybe he could take the idea of fake tears in order to surprise the umbreon? It would undermine his cheery facade. "But I... you went away!" he protested, bottom lip quivering a little. A little water started to leak from the corners of his eyes. "You ran away before I could talk to you and Mister Grimer didn't and I thought you didn't want to talk anymore so I didn't want to follow and why are you being so mean?"

Hopefully the umbreon would back off quickly so that Phren could use easy forgiveness and get back into character. It would be very irritating if he had to start wailing, and he suspected most pokemon here were not prone to sympathy. The umbreon had been meek before, so perhaps that would overcome the anger. Phren didn't even require an apology; any distraction would do, if it came to that.
 
"What's wrong with you!?" yelped Luno, shifting his noxious body between the youngster and the worked-up Eeveelution. He was just a child! Where did the umbreon get off yelling at the armless, harmless little blue infant?

"You listen to me, you little loud-mouthed lagomorph, lay off of him or I'll show you just how hard it is to fight a pile of sludge," Luno growled, uncharacteristically angry. All doubt of the Azurill had dissapeared, replaced by latent paternal instincts.

To underline the moment, Lunoso yawned, globs of poisonous goo dripping from his upper lip, a revolting stench pouring from his innards. It smelled like rotten pidgey eggs and Gulpin vomit. Luno was rather proud of it, actually, through his seething rage.

((Well, the Humanshapes thought 'em up.))
 
Commotion erupted as the Azurill began to shout at Fenos, something Ocent took interest in.

First it's too cheerful, and now it overreacts towards the Umbreon. How childish. How emotionally unstable.

How pathetic.

Were we wrong to assume that this Azurill is a threat?

No. Something about it still disturbs us. Perhaps it will be revealed in due time, and if not...


Ocent grinned.

...then we will wait until the time is right, and then we will find out why it disturbs us so.

In the meantime, Ocent would intently watch the Azurill. That's what he was doing even now, which might come across as strange to the other pokemon.

Not that Ocent cared.
 
((warg I missed a lot D; Sleepover arg))

Melpomene barely acnowlaged the little Azurill when he approached her, bowing slightly in his direction and then continuing to scan the clearing as many more showed themselves. They were mostly unimportant, just a worker ant in the massive army that was her master's - and soon hers, once she was at his side - control. She could sense...something from the strange little mouse creature, but wasn't quite sure what. It was rather odd to have such a creature in their ranks, but she didn't question him.

She watched with mild disinterest as a Grimer and Umbreon came over as well, the fox Pokemon darting off and returning, before bursting into a meaningless spray of words and tones. It was very annoying, she must admit, and she wanted to nip this annoying habit in the bud. The ghost Pokemon hovered down towards the Umbreon and extended a single razor claw, lifting his chin with it and grinning down at him with her wide zipper-mouth.

>I would stop being such a bother if I were you, little pawn, or you will find yourself on the wrong side of tooth and claw, especially with the...vicious looking group we have here...< Her psychic voice rang out, not even bothering to target him alone, and letting it be heard by all. A little public humiliation was good to ensure they listened...
 
Iles snickered in agreement at Melpomene.

"Yeah, these guys are all running around. They seem to be forgetting we have a mission here." Iles hissed, "It's no time for idiotic gags and bothersome blabber. We are here for one reason only, to get what we rightfully deserve."

Iles couldn't help shedding a tear. That Grimer over there was so fun loving. She felt a wave of nostalgia come over her.

"Hey, Ile!"

There was no mistaking that voice. No one else would ever call her Ile

"Hey, Haze!" she muttered, "Why are you up this early. It's...."

She looked at the sundial near her cot.

"I'd say around six-thirty." she said.

"Dad seems to be mad, so I thought we could go and play in that huge forest. There are many trees to climb. I hear there are even some vines." Haze explained.

"No...it's too early. Go back home! I'll see you later." Iles muttered, drifting off into sleep.

That was the day that Haze died.
 
"Hahaha.", Meletios cackled, "Maybe we do have a mission here. Nay, we definitely have a mission here. But since nothing seems to be heppening yet, there's nothing wrong with a little relaxing, a bit of harmless running about. In fact, I don't believe I've been able to relax recently myself. Been doing not much besides well, running about, but not of the good kind, you know?"

He then cleared his throat and asked, "But speaking of very important missions, what are we doing here? Is someone supposed to order us around? Or do we just begin the killing when the moon is devoured?"

Meletios glanced back at the sky. The chunk missing from the red moon had slowly but surely grown.
 
"HOW DARE YOU!?" Fenos shouted at the useless piece of sludge that called itself a Grimer and its useless lackies. "You honestly think that the Azurill-in an army of DARKNESS-is harmless?" the enraged umbreon continued. He'd had enough. "Don't think that you can win us all over with your fake-baby-act!" Fenos turned to the grimer. "And, you! If you ever threaten me again you'll learn just how hard it is to bring a pile of sludge back to life!"Fenos turned and walked away.
 
Holoc looked around. The was a fight breaking out between some of the gathered. An Umbreon, an Azurill and what appeared to be a floating Grimer. He looked around at some of the other Pokemon who had gathered. A Spiritomb, a Murkrow, a Seviper, a Weavile, and a Ariados is what he say at his first glance round. He decided that if he was going to defeat the Army of light alongside then, he might as well get to know them.

He walked over to the Spiritomb and introduced himself.
"Hello. The name is Holochinse. Glorious night to kill the army of light, don't you think?" he said jokily. He looked at the waning red moon, imagining how much Giritina would thank him for helping to eradicate the army of light. He smiled, and laughed to himself.
"And what a glorious Era it will be. Ha." he said to the Spiritomb.
 
She was watching them from afar, listening their conversations in some form of silent amusement.

Ah, but she didn't want to be as she was before... all she did was watch everything happen to her and she did nothing to change it. Nothing to join in on the action. Shake off this stupid fear... the fellow Dark Ones were nothing for a Dark One such as herself to be afraid of. Some of them didn't even look that dark, that Azurill being notable. Although there WAS something funny about it.

She walked over to the first one who seemed interesting to her, a Murkrow who had questioned what they were doing here. And who would lead them. Hmm... strange that she'd want to talk to a Murkrow first. It hadn't been that long since...

"Heh. I was thinking that myself. Maybe the Darkness itself'll lead us. But that just sounds hokey, doesn't it? What could happen, I wonder... lots of people here seem to think just because the moon is red, the Darkness will prevail against the Light! Ha ha, these things... don't happen in just a day, you know."

The canine smirked, once again exposing her ivory fangs. Ah, that felt good. Expressing her cynical thoughts always did.
 
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Fenos was still angry, but stopped to listen to a Mightyena that had come to him. She started talking about the red moon and also questioning who would take the position of "Leader". Fenos was surprised. Me? Somebody is actually talking to me who isn't just criticizing me?!

"Hello, friend."
 
(Actually, she was talking to Storm's character. Sorry about that, I made a typo and put "Umbreon", corrected it in an edit.)
 
Requiem grew more alert as the talking began to rise in volume. There were a few conversations going on, of many different topics, she noticed... silently, her eyes narrowed, and she turned away in disdain. Almost wistfully, she raised her head to look up at the red moon. The part of it that was disappearing was growing slowly larger. Ah, the eclipse... she loved bathing in its shadow. Hardly even moving as she floated, the Mismagius closed her eyes. She was about to begin singing, when she realized that she would probably attract too much attention. "Uh..." Instead, she forced herself to be silent.

There was only one interesting thing that she had heard being said -- what they were supposed to do when the eclipse was full. She realized that she didn't really know either, although there did appear to be a leader...
 
"It is indeed," Ocent said without looking at the pokemon who spoke to him, "And we will ensure that as many of the lights die as possible."

The Spiritomb turned his gaze toward the eclipse, as if to draw strength from the red glow.

"We will ensure an Era of Darkness will begin," he said, "for only then will we gain what we want more than anything else in the world. What we want, we have been willing to kill for. Countless pokemon have fallen in our quest, and soon our labors will come to fruition."

Only then did Ocent turn to the pokemon, which turned out to be a Nidorino.

"That is why we are against the light," he said, "Tell us, what is your drive to fight?"
 
"Hahahaha!", Meletios cackled again, "How right you are. There are a whole bunch of them, and only so many of us. That said, we need those ambitious, motivated types. Otherwise nothing'll get done, I think."

He then looked down, and looked around, then said, "Speaking of motivation... I'm kind of hungry... Something to eat around here?"
 
Interesting. It seemed the umbreon was trying to make an enemy of both the grimer and Miss Melpomene; of course, Phren was the idiot's enemy too, but Phren himself wasn't very powerful, physically or spiritually. Somehow the umbreon had decided the issue was that Phren was an azurill and that was a threat, but Phren distinctly remembered that just a few seconds ago, the umbreon had been yelling because he'd felt ignored and slighted. Because he hadn't been responded to. Because he had run away, as Phren had clearly explained. Usually when Phren felt superior to someone, it was because he managed to convince himself; this time, though, it was clearly obvious that the umbreon must have survived only through luck.

Temper, temper, Phren thought, secreting more tears. Too much - some water spilled over and rolled down his face. Ah, well. He sniffed loudly and shrank back a little. That umbreon was going to die soon. He was a threat to their Cause, being controlled by emotions that were not tempered with intelligence. Phren would have slight difficulty in killing the umbreon himself, but if the umbreon continued like this, it was almost doubtless that eventually, someone else would finally see fit to tear into the umbreon's throat. Phren, if nothing else, was capable of snapping the umbreon's head back hard enough to break his neck, with a well-placed tail-throw. Or, perhaps, he'd risk laying a curse on the umbreon.

That was all he could do, really; he had not been a fantastic fighter in his original body, and he was even weaker now. He suspected, though, that he'd be more easily accepted if he had never been attacked by those creatures of Light.

"But I..." He sniffed. "I only want to help," he said in a soft, meek voice, watching the umbreon storm away. "I don' like him. He's meaner than the Light pokemon. And... how can you be a fake baby?" He lowered his eyes a little, dedicated a moment to being sad, then perked up and looked at Miss Melpomene. His voice became cheerful, as if the umbreon was forgotten now that it had left. "You're our leader, right? You're the Chosen One, that's what they said."
 
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