Shadows in the Dark

[Alana]

Acuity shook her fur and swished her tails graciously at the compliment but otherwise pretended to be modest.

Shine smiled at this and ruffled the fur on Acuity's head in an affectionate sort of way. "So, I take it this mist has appeared in more places than just these ruins? Interesting. I also think I agree with you on the attack hypothesis. Acuity's Flamethrower had no effect on this," she swept out a hand to indicate the fog, "not that it should, of course."

'Well, that's a bit different than being unable to use my abilities when surrounded by the stuff. We didn't check that.'

"Very true. Acuity didn't try to use an attack when we entered the cavern earlier, but the dizziness probably would have prevented that anyway."

There was a moment of silence, then Shine took a step back and folded her arms. "Hmm. I wonder if there's something inside the cavern creating the mist, like a Pokemon or a machine, or its just a natural occurrence. Discovering the truth would certainly be difficult seeing as you can't get through it."

 

[HoundoomOfTheDarkness]

Jake turned back towards Shine. "Well," he began, pulling his hood down to shade his eyes, "there's mist here, and in Sootopolis City's Cave of Origin. I tried to investigate the latter, but to no avail." He stared at the ground for a moment. "I think I remember something like this happening before... but..." he trailed off. "I apologize, I don't usually talk this much," he said, changing the subject. "I'd better go talk to the elder," he said as he took off into the outer ring of Celestic Town, this time actually going to the elder's house.

 

[Alana]

OOC: Last post for the night.

"That was a fairly random dash; wouldn't you agree, Acuity?"

'Indeed I would,' the Ninetales replied brightly. 'He said he was going to visit the village elder, right?'

"Yep."

'Shall we follow?'

"It couldn't hurt."

The two stood there for a moment, considering. If anyone would know about strange occurrences regarding the ruins it would be the Celestic Town elder. She was supposed to be the one person who knew everything there was to know about the history of the town and of the ruins. Surely if this had happened before, as Jake seemed to think it had, she would know about it.

'Come on. If we hurry we won't miss anything important.'

"Ok," Shine said absently. She started off at a trot after Jake with Acuity bounding ahead of her. It wasn't too far to the elder's home so they should reach it in a fairly short amount of time.

 

[chomp]

Chres stood and watched as, from nowhere, a strange cloaked man jumped down with his Houndoom, and told him not to enter, all melodramatic, but then just stopped talking. A girl ran over, and now... they had both disappeared again, going to look for the elder. While all this happened, Chres could do nothing but stand with a confused look on his face. He had had a fair few lungfuls of that freaky mist, maybe he should go and see a doctor

"Ferdinand?" he asked his Kadabra, who had calmed down somewhat, "Do you have any idea where the Elder's house is?" The Kadabra thought for a moment, and then nodded, "Could you perhaps teleport me there?" he asked politely, and again the Kadabra pondered for a moment before nodding it's head. "Great. Rico, return" The Linoone was sucked back into it's ball, "Flomp, watch for where we land, kay?" he yelled to the Pidgey, who squawked in protest as Chres grabbed on to the Psychic Pokemon and promptly vanished. Somewhere on the outskirts of the town, he reappeared again, with a throbbing headache which receded quickly. The other two trainers had not yet arrived from their mad dash, and he was standing in front of what he assumed was the elder's house. It looked as though it was on stilts, raised above the ground by a couple of feet. Leading up to the door, there was a little staircase, and the front porch was shielded by the roof sticking out a little. Hanging from this part of the roof were some plants in pots, and what looked like a dream catcher. Chres thought it might be best to wait for the two people who seemed to have any idea what was going on before he went inside and talked to 'the elder', which sounded a little daunting; images of hairy meditating gurus sprang to mind. While he waited, he retrieved his headphones from a tangled heap of wires in one of his pockets and began to listen to some music, and began subtly to dance

OOC: There's no such thing as subtle dancing :O

 

[HoundoomOfTheDarkness]

Jake made his way to the elder's house quickly, in such a hurry that he disregarded some guy with headphones sitting next to the house. He walked into the house and walked up to the old woman in the center of the room. "I suppose you remember me?" he asked her.

"Yes. You're Jacob Silver, from Sootopolis City, if memory serves?" the woman answered in a soft voice.

"That is correct. I've been here before," Jake said. "I was wondering if..." he trailed off again.

"If I have any idea what is happening?" The elder had practically finished his sentence for him.

"Yes..." Jake started. "And... if you recall this happening before?"

"Ah..." the woman said. "Please make yourself comfortable. This could take some time." She stared off into space as she began to speak...

"Yes, the last time this happened was about seven years ago. However, this tale goes farther back than that. I will tell you what I know, but much of this is unclear... Long ago, there were the wars. No one is sure what started them, or exactly why they ended. They just happened. In these wars, there were many groups involved, all with an army of people of Pokemon. However, with so many groups, none was very large. One group in particular, though, had a unique ability to channel some sort of shadow energy as an attack, among other things. Even in this time, that group was thought of as a cult of sorts-"

Jake cut in. "A cult?" he asked, seeming interested at that piece of information.

"Yes," the elder continued. "Though they could harness this energy of darkness, on its own, it was relatively unimpressive and actually didn't seem to help them much. So they created books of spells, and tablets. Basically, witchcraft. These amplified their power to the extent that they seemed unstoppable. However... some of these spells were too powerful, without control. One spell caused a rip in some sort of seal, releasing the creator of their power. This escaped and destroyed most of this cult. The rest scattered. What happened to them is unknown..."

"The source of their power?" Jake asked, straightening his cloak.

"No one is sure from whence this group derived its power. All that is known is that it was this power that brought their downfall."

Jake looked at the floor. "Do you know anything about what happened seven years ago?"

The elder frowned. "Unfortunately, all I know is that the explorers who investigated the affected caves are in a sort of suspended state."

Jake nodded, then stood up to leave. "Thank you," he said softly as he turned to the door.

The old woman, too, nodded. "Good luck," she whispered...

 

[chomp]

Chres saw one of the two trainers run past, and was about to talk to him, when he was completely ignored. He sat looking offended for a second, before dashing inside after the cloaked man. He stood by the door as the elder told the other trainer about a powerful cult. The man thanked her and cogs began turning inside Chres' mind:
A cult? Weird. A cult that can cause a rip in space time with dark magic? he struggled, I don't think that a word has yet been recognized to describe how freaky that is. He turned to the cloaked man, who was pondering what had just been said, and then turned away, unsure of what to say. He went outside again, breathing in the fresh air deeply, as inside smelt heavily of incense. Ferdinand approached him, looking at him strangely

"I know, a cult?" he said, as he knew the Kadabra was reading his mind, "I know History was never my strong point, but why do I not remember hearing about these wars, they were clearly very big, and very serious" he was quite puzzled by everything the elder had said, although at least he was now sure he knew what the mist was. She had talked about a broken seal, and he remembered someone saying that the mist was gas, coming from broken rocks, maybe the mist was some kind of gas, coming from the broken seal. He still had no idea what he was to do about it, and he was a little hesitant to go back to the ruins, but something was drawing him back, some subconscious urge was pulling him back to the strange hypnotic mist and the tales of forgotten wars and dark cults, "I think... maybe... that we should go back to the ruins?" he was unsure, but he decided to trust his instinct, which at this point was screaming 'Go to the ruins! Go to the ruins!'

 

[mew three]

Just then,there was a rumbling noise down further into the cave.It sounded very bumpy like,and it also sounded like it was coming towards them.Blizzard looked down the cave in suspicion of what it was.It was getting closer....and closer......and closer.. etc etc.Blizzard could start to hear noises from down there now.It sounded like "g-dud" and "On-x".Then Blizzard could see what it was.It was a massive hord of Rock and ground type pokemon running towards them.A hoed that big could kill all there pokemon combined!
"I've got one thing to say to this," said Blizzard with no emotions on his face "RUN!!!"
Blizzard,Carter and Rakiu were all pelting it down the cave to the entrance.Blizzard looked back for a second.... They were gettig closer and closer by the second.Finaly they reached the entrance.The rock pokemon quited and headed back.
"Few,that was some excercise weren't it?" said Blizzard cheerfuly.

 

[Alana]

Feeling that it would be rude to simply barge into the elder's house uninvited, as a boy in a blue and brown hat had just done, Shine sat down on the porch and looked over at Acuity. "Feeling up to a little subtle eavesdropping, Acuity?"

The Ninetales nodded and placed a paw on the door before closing her eyes. 'Lucky us, it's just starting.' As the conversation progressed, Acuity relayed everything that was said to her trainer. Finally it seemed that the boy called Jake was ready to leave and Acuity moved away from the door.

"That was very interesting. I've never heard of any of this that I can remember. I do remember something, many years ago, relating to the explorers falling into a coma. Very well publicized news story. But this cult and the idea of spells and all this other stuff...well, it seems a bit unreal, doesn't it?"

'Perhaps a little, but that doesn't make it untrue. Regardless I think it would be best not to go back into those ruins. It's dangerous.'

Shine's bright blue eyes met Acuity's sharp red ones. Both knew full well that they'd end up in those ruins again. There wasn't a power on earth that could stop them from going back to investigate, especially now. Still, they'd need to be better prepared and learn a bit more about what was causing the toxic mist first.

'Shall we wait here for those two to come out or leave and do some research on our own?'

"Let's stay and chat for a bit." She pushed herself up and looked at the door thoughtfully. "We'll wait here. I'd like to think a bit more first."

 

[*xPokemon-Ninja-Girlx*]

Just then,there was a rumbling noise down further into the cave.It sounded very bumpy like,and it also sounded like it was coming towards them.Blizzard looked down the cave in suspicion of what it was.It was getting closer....and closer......and closer.. etc etc.Blizzard could start to hear noises from down there now.It sounded like "g-dud" and "On-x".Then Blizzard could see what it was.It was a massive hord of Rock and ground type pokemon running towards them.A hoed that big could kill all there pokemon combined!
"I've got one thing to say to this," said Blizzard with no emotions on his face "RUN!!!"
Blizzard,Carter and Rakiu were all pelting it down the cave to the entrance.Blizzard looked back for a second.... They were gettig closer and closer by the second.Finaly they reached the entrance.The rock pokemon quited and headed back.
"Few,that was some excercise weren't it?" said Blizzard cheerfuly.

"I guess." Rukia said panting looking up at the sky. "I wonder what got those rock type Pokemon so mad." she thought looking back at the cave entrants in confusion but curious at the same time.

She had obsverved Pokemon all her life and never seen something like that happen ever. Something must have upset them or done something to them that made them angry. She turned her head sideways and said,

"What know?"

"Shinx!" Sparx looked up at the sky a flock of Staravia where flying away from there home.

"I wonder what's happening." Rukia thought.

 

[mew three]

"If you asked me i'd say they were all paranoid" joked Blizzard looking at the starvia. "Nah i was just jokin'" Blizzard chuckeld "but somthing is wrong!!! he looked back down into the cave. "That was wierd why the pokemon looked realy angry!" Suddenly he saw a figure appeare in the mist but then it dissapeared.

 

[ThatInsaneKid]

"I have the feeling we were just ignored," Davis said, kneeling down to Goukazaru's height.

"Ape... (Yeah...)" The fire Pokemon sat down on the ground, picking up rocks and crushing them in his hands while he waited for Davis to decide on something to do.

"Want to go in further?" Davis asked after a few minutes.

"APEE!!! (YEAH!!!)" Goukazaru replied, leaping to his feet. "Infernape ape! (Away we go!)"

"Okay. Let's get going, then." Davis stood up and started into the depths of the tunnel, ignoring the various tremors and rock Pokemon rushing by them.

 

[Darkjagwar]

Chres had just had Ferdinand teleport him out of the cave. "O...k...." said Donny. "Uhh, hey, uh, Davis!" Donny ran towards Davis. "Do you have any idea what in the name of Arceus is g—WHOA!" As soon as Donny asked his question the ground began to shake and the mist became thicker. "Boxer, return!" Donny shouted and in a flash, Boxer was back in his pokéball. I don't want you hurt by the mist. Donny thought to himself. The cave was still shaking. "Yo, I think it would be a wise decision if we RUN!!!" With that, Donny sprinted for his life out of the cave. After making it out, he tripped and fell down, stood, and stretched out. Mist was everywhere but it began to die down. He also noticed Davis was not with him.

As he repositioned himself, he saw three figures. As he walked closer, he saw they were a male trainer, a female trainer, and a Shinx standing next to the female trainer. They appeared to be staring into the cave. "Hey!" Donny shouted, "What just happened? You all okay?"

 

[mew three]

Blizzard turned around to find a trainer just getting up from diving on the floor.
"hey" said Blizzard wondering if he was talking to him.
"I'd warn you not to go in there again mate!" Blizzard said shaking his head "its crawling with Rock and ground pokemon, and there is about 1000 of them."
"By the way, i am Blizzard,and you are?"

 

[Darkjagwar]

"The name's Donny," Donny said approaching Blizzard. "But it's not me you have to worry about, trust me. There's this other guy, Davis. He has an Infernape and he just walked right through the stampede. I hope he's okay. Also there was another guy, Chres, who had a Kadabra. He had his Kadabra teleport him somewhere. Said something about some elders or something." Donny paused for a bit after telling all this to Blizzard. He needed to just calm down after all the events that just took place. Then he turned his head and saw the girl and the Shinx. "And you are?" he said.

 

[HoundoomOfTheDarkness]

Jake walked slowly out of the elder's house, contemplating her tale. He seemed a little spaced out and wasn't really paying attention to his surroundings.

Witchcraft? A cult? Random words seemed to pop into his mind. He then felt another earthquake strike, snapping him out of it. Afterwards, he heard shouts coming from the ruins. "What the-?!" Once again, he randomly dashed off, recalling his Houndoom as he once again jumped the ledge to the entrance to the ruins. This time, his landing was a bit less smooth and he tumbled a bit as he landed. "Hey!" he started, picking himself up. "What is anyone doing in there?!" he shouted, dashing without forethought into the cave.

 

[Star★Seeker]

OOC:Can we catch Pokemon?

IC:
"I'm Sora Rubystone, nice too meet you."The boy introduced himself nerviously."What was that about helping me?"

"Oh, right.I can use my Alakazam to teleport you to your destination.Pastoria, right?"Asked the man while crouching towards his Alakazam."But Alakzam and I will need some psychic assistance.Do you have any psychic Pokemon or a Pokemon with a psychic move."

"I don't have psychic Pokemon but my Roserade knows Extrasensory."The boy replied.

"That, my boy, would do perfectly."The man said.

"Well, then, come on out, Roserade."The picked boy took out a pokeball from his bag and threw at the floor.The sphere released a bright beam that took the form of a Roserade.

"Raido!"The boquet pokemon cried.

"Well then, let us start.Alakazam, Teleport!

"Kazam, Alaka!"The pokemon cried as it started charging it spoon with psychic energy.

"Roserade, help Alakazam with Extrasensory!"The boy shouted, his pokemon quickly sent a wave of energy towards the spoons.

"When you get there, call me."The man said.

The boy a his pokemon started to glow, and in seconds, he was gone!Meanwhile in Celestic Town...the same boy appeared from thin air and fell.When he woke up he was covered in an ominous looking mist.

"Mist, MIST!Why am I covered in mist!"Said to himself, without realizing he was unconsous on the floor covered by mist, dreaming....struggling with pain inside his body, his pokemon in the same state by his side.

 

[Alana]

"That was random," Shine commented as she watched Jake sprinting away.

'Well, there are shouts and crashes coming from the ruins. That's usually a bad sign.'

"Perhaps," Shine said absently. "I suppose we should go after him." Acuity agreed and the two started off at a mild pace after Jake.

It didn't take very long to reach the ruins. They arrived just in time to see Jake pelt into the misty cavern. "Oh dear..."

'We can't follow him. He'll probably be back out in a moment.'

"He did go in after other people, right? If they can go in and still make so much noise then it can't be that bad. Maybe the dizziness passes after you get used to it."

'We're going to die,' the Ninetales moaned as she followed her trainer towards the entrance to the ruins. The fox made one last attempt to stop her trainer from entering then followed at a reluctant pace.

 

[ThatInsaneKid]

"Goukazaru, return!" Davis shouted, shoving the Pokeball into his jacket's pocket. Afterwards, he turned around and made a dash for the entrance, tripping over rocks several times. He finally made it out, although he could feel numerous bruises and scrapes on his legs. "Hey, Donny!" he exclaimed, skidding to a halt. His legs gave out a few seconds later, which resulted in another bruise on Davis's body. "Sorry if I gave you a scare," he said, scratching his head absentmindedly.

 

[Star★Seeker]

IC:
Somewhere in Celestic Town a boy, Sora, struggling in pain covered by a mist, asleep, at his side, a Roserade in the same state as he.In the boy's bag, two pokeballs, containing the rest of his pokemon, release a flash of light that passes even the bag, from it a big dog like pokemon and a tiny bird pokemon form.

"Tai,Tai,low!"(We have to help him, Arcanine, fast!)The bird pokemon spoke in fear and worry.

"Canna,Canine!"(I'll try to get human assistance, good luck my friend!)The dog replied.

Swiftly, Arcanine went towards the town center barking and launching flames towards the sky.In the distance the worried Taillow stand along side the boy.

"I'll take care of you, Sora."Said the bird, shedding a tear from it's eyes.

 

[Darkjagwar]

Before the girl could answer Donny, a boy suddenly appeared in midair seeming to have just teleported there and then fell down, a guy in a cape had also jumped down from somewhere yelling, and Davis came sprinting out of the cave. Donny decided to try to take charge and get some answers. "You!" he said pointing to the girl with the Shinx, "what's your name? You!" he pointed to the guy in the cape, "who are you and calm down! And Davis," he turned to Davis, "yeah, a little. Did you find anything?"