The Path to Light and Darkness: Rated PG 17

[§acred†Beo!]

Charizard_Man: Good post! I liked how you gave a flash back to earlier in his life when the Dark Brotherhood started taking over. Secondly good job describing Zypher! And finally the random guy at the end XD!

FrostBite: Good post! I'm starting to wonder if you'll ever catch another pokemon XD! Anyways Abra grew to lvl 16! Abra wants to evolve will you allow it?

 

[Charizard_Man]

Everything was still, no wind, no life. No human for a long way, just him. His steps were silent, just as everything else was in the area just outside of the forest. He stepped into the mouth of the forest, the darkness encasing him. But he wasn't afraid, no, he welcomed the darkness.

The floor was cold and gray, the windless sky colored a pale, frozen blue. Things swirled on the ground, leaves and dirt pushed by some invisible force that had no definite direction.

Things swirled in the mind.

The trees themselves were decaying, their once vibrant bark color now a grim black color. The green leaves that once casted a beautiful yellow-green glow and showered the forest floor, were now a dank gray color. This is what the Viridian Forest has come to, Josh merely closed his eyes and continued walking through the empty silence.

A quiet, almost inaudible crackling sound alerted Josh.

He cracked one eye open to see a tree nearby, begin to be covered in a thin sheet of ice. The darkness around the area swirling more violently, Josh remembered this kind of sight.

Just weeks earlier, before his journey even began, there were reports of ugly and horrible accidents around the Viridian area. Having untold curiosity, Josh would always sneak over to the crime scene. One pecuilar piece of scenery always caught his attention, at every crim scene the surrounding area was always colder. Ice...the dark Ice was present at those scenes, just as it was during his battle with the dark robed man.

The worst thing was...those trainers were Josh's friends. His only friend now, was Andrew...
_______________________________

Dark and sinister, the forest had always been there. Since the dawn of time, lofty branches and intertwining wholes of jungle vines made a prison most secure on a city so isolated. The dark air and ruins were entrapments already, and then the forest became that little, completely closed cell-within-a-jail.

Wing clipper of a forest.

Not many knew the extent of the forest's restricting capabilities. Andrew Giles, on the other hand, knew all too well.

He had lived there all his life, ever since his parents both died in a boating accident when he was nine or ten, he had refused foster homes and fled to the forest, where, after a few months he learned the rhythms of the place, and where, after a few days, everyone had stopped bothering to look for the penniless, dishwater-plain boy.

His only friends: Josh, Scarlett, Tanner, and Marafield were all promising students at one point at the Academy. All praised by Prof. Oak, until Andrew's parents died, that's when his personality changed. Soon after, is when Kanto fell into darkness. This only encouraged Andrew's depressed personality and prompted him to stay in the forest, where his friends would visit often. These five trainers had something special, but sometimes special isn't always good.

Andrew loved the forest. This forest had always been his parent.

protective, sheltering, encouraging.

So when the intruders came, he knew the second they stepped into his territory...
____________________________

Josh walked a little forward, the ice only following him. The boy clenched his fists, only to receive a blow to the face from a sharp gust of wind. But this was no ordinary wind, no, it reminded him of thick smoke. Thick, dark violet smoke.

He followed the visible dark breeze to a clearing, Josh quickly hid behind a frosted tree. There in the clearing stood Andrew Giles, his remaining friends. His silver-hazel eyes widened, he had forgotten he lived here. Amongst the dark wilderness.

Andrew waited with open arms for elimination, standing outside the skirts of his hut and the land beyond, his faithful pokemon locked away to prevent their injury in coming to his foreseen aid.

The duo broke through the ring of trees with a small explosion of dark smoke. The girl, with strawberry hair and demon-like red eyes, the boy with dark hair and light eyes, tall, and both dangerous in every regard.

"Ah, Andrew! So good of us to finally have found you! This jungle of yours is so complicated, it would have taken us years to find you and challenge you to a battle if not for Yamari's quick thinking, here." The girl's voice, sickly sweetened with acting, made Andrew scoff in anger. The dark-haired boy, Yamari, narrowed his eyes to slits.

"You think this is funny, Andrew? We want our battle with one of the famed five trainers of Pallet."

Andrew's laugh became louder, his hand coming to his face as he covered his eyes and mouth with shaking insanity. Suddenly, the hand came down violently across air, and his green eyes were ablaze.

"Drop the act and kill me, already. You've done it to Scarlett, she didn't know any better, and Tanner and Marafeld were just kids, they assumed the best in people. But I, I know things thanks to this forest. Things you can only imagine, things you keep in blackness and deepness." He found slight confidence and a tiny swell of courage that the girl and boy looked slightly shocked.

Josh gasped, only to close his mouth with his hand to stop his hard breathing. What was going on?

"I knew you were coming the second you enetered this forest. So do what you came to do, and get it over with. The trees will drink the blood you spill from me and grow rings of this moment in history, they will be my witnesses."

rustling silence

The girl spoke first, grinning widely. She would be beautiful if she wasn't so cruel looking in amusement.

"Poor thing." She crooned. "You had to deal with the terror of us Dark Brotherhood before we actually came. You could have made it easier on yourself, and just pretended not to care."

Yamari took a step forward, hand on the pokeball no doubt containing a berserker of a Pokemon.

"If it is your wish for a quick death, I suppose we can arrange that."

The mountain of fur and rippling muscle emerged after a flash of dark light, the ring on its stomach glowing faintly in the dim forest. Foot-long claws and incisors with hooked ends, telltale signs of imminent destruction, glistened in Andrew's blurring vision.

Its eyes were two coals, bright, blood red. Andrew looked across to the girl.

Same eyes.

The vixen tilted her head to one side and smiled brilliantly.

"Goodbye."​

The Ursaring lunged, and he knew then that he was dead. Josh shut his teeth and grasped the tree hard, Andrew looked over to Josh just before the Ursaring collided with him and smiled.
_________________________________________

There was a howl of pain, one Josh suspected was Andrew's, and the sound of a liquid, blood, dripping onto the forest floor. Josh, nor Andrew wanted to open his eyes; it was more likely than not Andrew's own blood and a sight he did not want to behold.

"YAMARI!" A screech emitted, and the urgent sound of it pried Josh's eyelids open, observing a most shocking scene before him, one not of his friend's death.

Before him, the Ursaring was on the ground, bleeding profusely from a wide wound like a giant shark's bite on its chest. The girl was crouched over the dark-haired boy, who was wounded as well, clutching his arm bleeding spurts into the thick jungle air.

It had all happened in a split second, the wounding of the two.

Josh looked around, his friend paralyzed with fear. But just who had saved him, the Clan of Hope? Whoever it was, made the duo of Dark BRotherhood members to vanish. Andrew only looked at Josh and stood there, his friend walking over to him.

The only other piece of flesh besides the duo was the pile of Ursaring, Josh could not get a clear view from where he was. The trees were blocking his line of sight.

The clearing was bathed in red, fur stuck in trees, mere particles of a once living organism floating down in the silent space. The forest was deathly quiet, as if just as awestruck as our traveler was by the bloodbath aftermath before him.

No breath or movement in the grassy outstretch, simply red, and a collection of moist slabs in a far corner. Moving closer, the smell overpowered and vermin scattered with the approaching footsteps of the three newcomers.

Andrew turned slowly, a pivot, and vomited into a nearby bush when a full view of the shape emerged. Josh's peachy face blanched to white, while Titan chimed up from his pokeball, concerned that his acute nose was being offended and where exactly the stench was coming from.

"No, Titan. You aren't coming out. Stay inside." Josh barked through his disgust, quelling the need to vomit as well.

Standing in front of the two recoiling friends, the shredded Ursaring body lay there. The only identifying feature of the mass of colored flesh, oozing patches of fur, and variously shaped soft things one deigned not to name, was the head of the giant bear itself, sitting atop the pile, smeared with dark bile and slime, from the depths of which the two dead, slowly-whitening eyes glistened.

Andrew spoke, after his retching finished echoing among the trees.

"Josh, this is it. That thing I told you four about in the forest, this is its work. And that…" He trailed off and glanced with great effort at the maw of the bear.

"…is the Ursaring that tried to kill me. Even when dead, its face shows all the past maiming it's done…"

"Hm." Josh agreed with monosyllables, soft and unassuming, "But just what exactly is it?" Josh asked, Andrew sighed.

"I have no clue." The duo sighed, they always loved to solve crimes. Josh and Andrew were always the brain and pride of the group of five. Sadly now, only a duo.

The surrounding area thawed off the sheets of ice, now replaced by oozing blood. The surrounding bushes around the clearing rusteld at a fast pace, Josh placed his hand on Titan's pokeball ready for battle.

"You think that is the cause for this?!" Andrew shouted, only to stand straight up again when a purple Nidoran sprang out.

"Highly doubt it." Josh's hazel eyes analyzed the Nidoran, its eyes similar to his own. Full of experience, and hurt. Josh had indeed experienced much in his life, him along with the other four trainers once traveled through Sinnoh. They saw many horrible things there, almost as bad as Kanto. But his Nidoran spoke out to Josh, and he released Titan.

"What are you doing?" Andrew poked Josh, who merely smirked.

"BUBBLE!" Josh barked, Titan only smiling as he launched a stream of sticky bubbles at the poison pokemon. The Nidoran♂ caught off guard and sent flying into one of the blood-bathed trees.

It retaliated by rushing towards Squirtle, horn first. The horn on its forehead seemed to grow just a bit, a Peck attack. Josh snapped his fingers,

"Withdraw." Titan swiftly slipped its limbs and head into his shell, the Nidoran only crashing into the wall of a shell and falling on its stomach. Titan quickly popped up from the floor and smashed its shell against the slowed down Nidoran.
Leer, Peck, Focus Energy, double kick
The poison pokemon screeched and stomped on the forest floor, sparks of bright red beginning to suround the pokemon. It seemed to get pumped up, Focus Energy as declared by Josh. With that, the Nidraon bellowed down the field and leaped into the air.

It brought down kick after swift kick at Titan's face, the water pokemon only stumbling backwards.

"Withdraw!" The Squirtle tumbling back inside its shell, Nidoran only proceeding to kick the shell down the field. Titan screamed as it slid up and down the clearing, Josh slapped his forehead gently.

"Hehe. Looks like you've lost your touch." Andrew chuckled softly. Josh smirked then snapped his fingers, Titan released his tail from his shell and was sent flying into the air after he slammed it against the floor.

"TACKLE!" Titan rocketed down from the sky and landed a swift and deadly tackle attack straight at Nidoran's back. The poison pokemon launched backwards and barely standing.

He glanced over at Josh, "Didn't loose it, just mmm...misplaced it." He smirked as he launched the pokeball at Nidoran, the capsule popped open and absorbed the Nidoran...

 

[§acred†Beo!]

Charizard_Man: Very interesting post! Anyways Titan grew to lvl 13, Titan wants to learn water gun delete a move to make room? Josh caught a lvl 7 Male Nidoran!

 

[Kerjo]

Route 1 was just a gloomy now as it was when Jake was first traveling to Pallet Town. The only difference between that moment and now was that the area was a lot darker and seemed to sustain some damage from the earthquake that had hit Pallet Town. Some of the leafless trees were now strip of their branches, reaching into the sky like a spike ready to stab into the life of a foreigner who knew not the ways of the region. Black grass and dirt crunched at the boy's feet echoing throughout the once heavily populated area. Now only a few pokemon remained and none of them were actually native to the route.

Jake sighed and rubbed the side of his head as he strolled along the path back to Viridian. He wondered how he was going to tell his family that his had watched Prof. Oak die before his eyes. He knew his parents would immediately disagree with him continuing the journey and joining the clan of Hope, but his older brother would be with him. He halfway smiled at the thought. ' Knowing him, he might decide to do it himself. '

Still deep in his own thoughts, Jake didn't hear the cries coming from ahead, at least, not until he we right upon the battlefield. The boy was just strolling through when suddenly; a black object flew right in front of him attacking at the ground. Startled, the boy jumped back, eyes lit with anger and fear and without a hesitating moment he called out to the mouse on his shoulder.

"Macey! Tackle!" The blue mouse squeaked up in a response and launched herself from his comfy spot on the boy's shoulder towards the black object that was wildy attacking at the ground. She drove her body hard into it and I gave a cry and returned to the skies. Jake raised his head and saw that the object was a bird, a small black bird that resembled a witch. The bird settled down after a few seconds and landed on a branch near the area, surveying both Macey and Jake with its red eyes. Still shaken, the boy reached into his pocket and took out his pokedex and pointed it at the bird. There was a light that beamed from the top of the device and hit the bird, but did no harm.

"Murkrow, a dark type pokemon." Jake mumbled to himself as he read the information that popped up on the screen of the device. "Supposedly one will have bad luck if they see it at night." He gave a short half crackle and looked back at the bird coldly. He then noticed that the bird was not staring at him, but at the patch of dead grass behind Macey.

Suspicious that the bird might be tricking him, Jake glanced over to the side where Macey stood. Barely noticeable he saw a small larva like pokemon writhing in pain. He turned his full attention back to the Murkrow and gritted his teeth. He knew that what he had stumbled upon was the natural law of the land, but he could also tell by Macey's face that should wasn't going to keep going until they helped out the suffering pokemon. He looked at the mouse and in a low voice muttered, "You owe me."

Jake threw his hand out pointing at the Murkrow and started to give Macey the ok to attack when a spray of silk shot out from behind her and at the dark type bird. Surprised, the bird gave a cry before trying to take off into the skies again, but the silk caught its leg, bounding it to the branch. From behind Macey, the pokemon gave a weak but determined cry and crawled forward to stand right beside Macey. Jake bit the side of his lip and shook his head. ' It must be prideful…that of just plain foolish. Either way, we should attack while we have a clear opening. '

"Alright Macey, hit it with a tackle!"

"Marill!" The mouse tensed up a bit before dashing off towards the tree. While she did the larva, that Jake identified to be a Weedle, shot small pointy barbs from its 'mouth' at the Murkrow, angering it. The bird gave a loud and angry cry, ripping itself from the silk and diving forward at the small bug. In mid run, Macey jumped to the right, putting herself between Murkrow and Weedle.

"Defense curl!" The mouse balled up into a tight ball, just in time to fend off the bird's attack. The momentum of the attack send both the mouse and bird rolling in the direction of the Weedle, who took advantage of the moment and assaulted the bird with more poison barbs.

"Ok, now attack with Tackle!" Macey unrolled herself and charged the bird again, this time making contact and sending it flying into a near nearby bush. Weedle took a deep breath and send another spray of silk at it, cover ring the bush in a nice layer silk. Jake smirked.

"Alright, Macey I want you to go over there and use Tail Whip. If we're lucky then Murkrow will think that you're the Weedle taunting him and attack you. When he does, I want you to smash your tail down on him with all your might. I'm sure that Weedle will follow up with something."

Following his orders, Macey ran over to the silk covered bushed and wagged her tail. As she did, Jake took a flashlight out from his bag and flashed the light on her tail. Slowly adjusting the angle of the light, they were soon able to produce a shadow upon the silk and vaguely resembled the Weedle and just as they planed, there was an angry cry and the Murkrow came flying out from the bush in a rage only to come beak to tail with Macey's oil –filled tail that she quickly slammed against the bird's beak, knocking it off balanced and then down upon its head.

The bird whined, fluttering in the air dizzily before finally collapsing onto the ground as the Weedle once again battered it with poison barbs. As it hit the ground both, Macey gave a happy squealed and jumped as the Weedle gave a puff and made a big chest, acting tough. Jake shook his head. ' Acting all tough now that its enemy is down, maybe I should have left it to suffer. Then again… ' The boy rubbed his chin. ' It did help put that darn bird down and to have fought it one on one before we arrived had to be a feat of bravery… '.

That was the one thing that was needed on the trip, bravery. In the world were everything was corrupt and people lowered their standards to doing cowardly things and stabbing backs just to make a living, a little bravery was needed to restore things, a little bravery as in taking on a battle that looks hopeless in the hopes of surviving. What the Weedle had done was almost what the trainers were doing; they have become part of a battle that at the moment seemed hopeless but given a bit of bravery and training from the 'Clan of Hope' they would eventually be the ones to restore the world. Only, with the Weedle it was on a much smaller scale, instead of saving the world, the Weedle probably only wanted to survive and grow stronger.

That was the analogy going through the boy's head when he decided to toss an empty pokeball at the bug…

 

[§acred†Beo!]

Kerjo: Good post! I especially liked how you used the anaology between Weedle and the Murkrow to the battle between the Dark Brotherhood and the Clan of hope! Anyways Macey grew to lvl 9! Jake caught a lvl 6 male weedle!

 

[tim0789]

Chapter 4 part 1: Your name will be Boone

As Grecko stood outside the so called Clan of hope base, he noticed that the other recruits were turning up there to. As soon as they all gathered they were ushered into the building. What Grecko saw on the other side was nothing like he expected.

The clan of hope looked, well hopeless. They were all tattered looking and fragile as if their minds had been toyed with one to many times. "This is...man even the clan of hope seems just as down as the regular people from Kanto." Grecko hesitantly thought to himself hoping maybe this wasn't the clan.

But then that's when he noticed a man sitting atop a staircase with light shining down on him, making it impossible to see his face. "Is that...ZYPHER?" Grecko pondered to himself, hoping that it was. The man in the staircase cleared his throat and attracted everyone's attention. That's when Grecko knew it was Zypher.

"As you can see the Dark Brotherhood has already begun toying with your young minds, trying to make you give in to the darkness. They have made a horrible decision becuase I stand here in front of you today to tell you that you are the Kanto regions new hope, as most of the other trainers and there pokemon are worn down and tired, they need rest and that is why we have recruited you. At the current moment, all of your minds can be easily presauded by the Darkness becuase it offers power, but power my friends is nothing. Becoming a pokemon master is not all about Power, that is why Beo lost to me at the finals, and that is why the region is the way it is today" Zypher said as he slowly sat back in his chair, and took a few deep breaths.

"He seems tired himself...but is recruiting a bunch of teenagers really the smartest tactic?" Grecko also thought to himself as more and more thoughts raged through his head.

Zypher began to speak again "There is a pokemon healing device in the main lobby, heal your pokemon before you go on this first mission I am about to give you. Your first mission is going to be very dangerous and some of you may not make it back" He paused for a moment and took more deep breaths, something was wrong with him but he wouldn't let that stop him "You must go to the Virdian Forest, we have been picking up on huge amounts of energy coming from within the center of the forest, it is your job to investigate what that source of power is. If at anypoint you find it to dangerous to continue please don't risk your life and come back, so everyone on your way out, grab 5 potions each, and make sure to heal" Zypher said as he began coughing blood into his fist that was covering his mouth, he then slumped over in his chair and passed out.

This sight concerned Grecko, as he was pushed out of that part of the building by gaurds who also rushed over to the unconcious Beo. "The only man keeping Kanto, somewhat stable is Zypher...but it doesn't seem like he can do it anymore..." Grecko began to worry, a group is only as strong as it's leader.

Grecko emerged into the lobby with all of the other trainers, and he decided it would be best to heal and get going to the forest. "Doo doo doo doo do!" the healing machine dinged as Grecko grabbed his three pokemon.

"I guess i'll be needing these then to" Grecko strategicaly considered as he picked up his five potions. Grecko exited the building and then looked back up into the darkness surrounding everything.

"Come on out Cubone!" Grecko calmly said as he sent out Cubone. "Bone?" Cubone asked, not seeing any danger. "Hey buddy, i've decided to give you a nickname since you were my starter it's only fair." Grecko smiled to his pokemon. "CU!" Cubone excitingly agreed. "Ok then how does Boone sound" he asked the bone pokemon. Cubone shook its head in agreement and jumped onto Grecko's shoulder.

"Alright then, your name is Boone and we've got some work to do." Grecko turned his smile into a grin as he looked over at the darkened Viridian Forest and what ever could possibly await him.

 

[Underoos]

Abra was restless with almost every step Kabir took. Finally Kabir just stopped, plucked the heavy Pokemon from off the top of his head, and held him out at arms length. Abra blinked a couple of times and yawned. Kabir studied his Pokemon for a few moments, and opened his mouth to say something when he got a sudden chill. Abra watched curiously as Kabir glanced around, but then shrugged it off and looked back at his psychic type. This time, Kabir was sure there was something behind him though. Grumbling under his breath and hoping it wasn't another psychotic Pokemon, Kabir whipped around. Abra teleported back on his shoulders, but there was really no point. Standing in front of them both was a cloaked guy, once again.

"Oh great," Kabir said dryly. "Another one of you people. Do you enjoy the little game you play with us? I'd personally find it much more entertaining if you actually tried to harm us, instead of wussing out." Kabir knew that his snideness was probably a bad idea, but he just couldn't help it. These guys all just seemed like talk, and no actual action.

"Ah shut up kid, you dunno what would happen if we actually got to have our way," the person commented. Kabir could tell from the tone of voice that it was another guy. "So you gonna send that weak little teleporter into battle or what?"

"Maybe I should be the boss then. I'd make life more exciting for you guys. I'd've had us killed already. Oh, and yeah, I probably will send Abra into battle," Kabir retorted in annoyance. Abra was not weak. "What about you? Are you going to send something weak in?"

"Ha, well aren't you just the spunky one. I'll send in something that'll scare the crap outta ya, sure." With that, the man didn't hesitate in calling out a Houndoom. Kabir's eyebrow rose. The Houndoom had somehow evolved early. How, Kabir wasn't sure, but it interested him. He was just a science nerd like that.

"Abra use focus punch," Kabir said straight away. Abra teleported off his shoulders and in front of the Houndoom, not wasting any time in beginning his attack. Houndoom growled menacingly.

"Don't let it work, Houndoom. Use ember!"

Abra wasn't going to be fooled so easily. He teleported away as the attack scorched the already barreen grass, and then appeared right above Houndoom. Kabir smirked as Abra pulled his fist back and slammed it down into the Houndoom with a much larger amount of force than Kabir had previously seen. Kabir had to admit, he was rather impressed. Abra had been acting awfully strong during the previous battle and this one, but Kabir couldn't quite figure out why. Well, that is, until Abra suddenly began to glow once he teleported back over to Kabir. The Dark Brotherhood member and Kabir both watched as Abra's features grew bigger and the light around him slowly began to fade. Standing in front of Kabir was an official Kadabra, no mistakes. Kabir smirked at the guy in the cloak.

"Well, now I guess we should see who's weak," Kabir half growled. He was a bit startled at how simply evil he sounded. The smirk widened on his face. "Kadabra, use another focus punch."

"That's not going to work this time," the guy snarled. "Your Abra might've been able to teleport, but it'll focus more on the attack now that it's evolved! You've left it a sitting duck! Houndoom, attack with smog!"

Houndoom barked sharply in understanding. Kadabra's fist slowly began to glow, light pooling around it in a faster rate than it previously had. Kabir, however, knew that the Dark Brotherhood member was right. Kadabra wouldn't be able to move this time. Houndoom gave something akin to a devilish grin, and then opened its jaws. A burst of purple smoke shot out, flying directly towards Kadabra. Kadabra simply watched, sitting in the purple smoke and getting affected by the poison that slowly began to enter his body. Kabir waited, and found himself a bit relieved when the hooded guy ordered a thunder fang. As Houndoom charged in, apparently it didn't think it was heading straight for a trap that they had step up. Though Kabir couldn't see, he sure heard when Houndoom howled in sharp pain and flew out of the cloud, slamming into one of the trees and snapping it in half.

"Tch...well, at least that Kadabra's poisoned."

"Don't be sure of that," Kabir said quietly, watching as the smog slowly cleared.

Sure, Kadabra was left panting and wincing, but it seemed that the smog hadn't stuck around. Kabir let out a breath of relief. Sure, he had had faith in his Pokemon, but that didn't mean that he wasn't worried a little. If Kadabra fainted or something, Kabir was basically screwed in the Pokemon department. Kabir sorta mused that he might want to get another Pokemon, but then he quickly snapped out of it and zoned back in on the happenings of the battle. Houndoom was apparently attempting to redeem itself, but Kadabra was already getting ready for yet another focus punch. The Dark Brotherhood guy was cursing at his Houndoom and telling it that it needed to get up right away.

Sadly for Houndoom, the task was just too much. It howled mournfully and then flopped down, but began the struggle and got up again. It began to totter towards Kadabra, but Kadabra was just in too better of health. He charged and slammed his fist right into Houndoom's muzzle, knocking the Pokemon back quite a few paces and sending it crashing into a bunch of old twigs that looked like they used to be bushes. Houndoom didn't get up, making the Dark Brotherhood guy grumble in obvious annoyance. Kabir watched silently as the hellhound was recalled, and then moments later a ghost was brought out.

"Don't think you'll be beating this one with focus punch."

Kabir smirked lazily. "I don't need to. Kadabra's got more than just two attacks by now." Kabir knew enough about this Pokemon to know that as soon as he evolved, Kadabra had learned confusion. It was a psychic type attack, and it would go great in beating down a Haunter.

The Brotherhood member had either forgotten this or never knew it, for he scoffed and simply grumbled something under his breath. Then, without hesitation, he ordered an immediate hypnosis attack. Kadabra didn't look too worried, though Kabir wasn't quite sure why. Suddenly Kadabra brought out a spoon and held it in front of his face. The hypnotic waves hit the spoon, were absorbed briefly, and then bounced back towards Haunter at a rapid rate. Kabir's eyebrows shot up as he watched the Haunter disappear quickly to avoid the attack, and then reappear moments later. Kabir had to admit, the Haunter looked pretty ticked at having its own attack directed back towards it as something of a counter for Kadabra. Kabir found it rather amusing, in all truth.

"Well that's just freaking great. Screw your Kadabra and it's stupid spoon. Haunter, attack with curse!"

Kabir knew that wouldn't be good, so he figured now would be a good time to use Kadabra's move. "Confusion Kadabra!" Kabir ordered sharply. Kadabra didn't wait for the Haunter to attack, nor did he hesitate. A smirk appeared on Kabir's face again as he watched Kadabra's eyes glow. Moments later, Haunter began to glow.

"The hell...?" the Dark Brotherhood member grumbled.

Haunter, now completely surrounded by psychic energy, began to panic. It struggled against the energy, but soon it overwhelmed the ghost and flung it to the ground. Seeing as the energy had kept Haunter in a solid form, Haunter slammed into the ground instead of just floating through it then back up like normal. Kabir chuckled darkly, and was once again surprised with himself. He couldn't understand why beating this guy was so joyous to him; it just was. It was like Kabir was an adrenaline junky, only instead of adrenaline it was battling. He enjoyed the battles very much, and they made him feel better than he ever had. The connection he felt with Kadabra when it attacked was just simply magnificent; it was almost as if he could feel the surge of power himself.

"No matter, Haunter's not as weak as Houndoom. Haunter, attack with night shade!"

Haunter looked positively frightening as it gave a completely psychotic and twisted grin. Kabir felt his fingers twitch and the hair on the back of his neck stand up nervously. Seconds later, before Kadabra could even begin a teleport, Haunter had launched its attack. The night shade passed completely through Kadabra, looking as if Kadabra had just been stabbed with some sort of a dark dagger. Kabir watched as Kadabra crumpled down to the ground, face contorted in a flash of pain. He cursed under his breath as both Haunter and the Dark Brotherhood member began to laugh. Then, Kadabra slowly got to his feet, looking rather enraged.

"You shouldn't have done that," Kabir commented idly. "Kadabra's mad now."

"Oh we're scared, aren't we Haunter?"

Cockiness was something that just made Kabir even more annoyed. Hell, he was bordering the mad level now. Without a moment's hesitation, Kabir ordered for a quick confusion attack, wanting to get the battle wrapped up. Kadabra's eyes flashed dangerously, and then he launched the attack. It surrounded Haunter once again, but this time the aura was a mix of red and black instead of multicolored. Kabir made a soft 'hmph' sound as Haunter was flung on the ground, and then against a tree, and then back on the ground again. Finally when Kadabra let up on the attack, it was apparent that Haunter was reaching its limit. The Pokemon looked rather tired, and it was panting at a quick rate as well. Kabir wasn't sure if ghost Pokemon actually needed to breathe, but some part of Haunter was showing the lack of oxygen.

"Finish it off, Kadabra," Kabir ordered cooly. "Use confusion again."

Kadabra went straight into the attack again. His eyes sharpened to red, his spoon started to glow, and then Haunter was surrounded by the same red and black glow as previously. The Dark Brotherhood member cursed and told Haunter to use hypnosis, but it didn't work. Kadabra's attack slammed Haunter around some more, effectively knocking the Pokemon out and putting it down. Kabir found a rather sadistic smirk on his face as he watched. Kadabra seemed rather satisifed as well. The Dark Brotherhood member, however, seemed a bit peeved at the outcomes of the battle. But moments later as he recalled his Haunter, he got a creepy grin on his face and began to laugh maniacally.

"The boss says it's almost time to end you," he stated, then turned his head around. A loud roar ripped and tore through the center of the forest, making Kabir wince at the sheer force of the sound waves.

"RA! GIR RA!" it snarled, becoming louder and louder. The Dark Brotherhood member then turned back to Kabir.

"Yeah well," Kabir shouted over the roar. "Like I said, maybe I'll become the boss and change your plans!"

The man chuckled harshly. "Bye, bye now," he said over the roars, then waved in a rather sadistic manner and disappeared into the shadows. The roaring grew closer and closer until Kabir finally grew a splitting headache. He vaguely wondered if the other trainers could hear the noise as well, of if they had just done something to him. And, if the roar was real, what the hell was making it?

 

[{Swan}]

On her way toward the Viridian Gym Cain couldn't stop thinking about the girl. Lisbeth. Was that the result of this darkness? Little girls in dirty dresses that live in the chaos of a ruined city? It was disgusting. Disgusting how one mane can cause harm to so many people. Absolutely revolting. She kicked a pebble and watched it bounce noisily over the rubble on the street.


The sun was already setting when the big half-destroyed building came into view. Cain found herself hurrying before she would be caught in the dark once again. God forbid that to happen, she shuddered at the thought. And then she shuddered as she thought of God, and Lisbeth who seemed to be so solid in her belief of Him.


"hey kid."


Cain almost jumped a meter in the air and whirled around as fast as she could. There was a dark-haired man wearing a 'white' cloak. Moreso a brown/black/ even a bit yellow cloak. But it must have been white once upon a time. He had a friendly smile on his face but it didn't seem to reach his eyes at all.


"Hello," Cain replied stiffly, waiting for him to get going with whatever he was to tell her.


"Tai Fayling, pleased to meet you, now follow me. I'm here to show you the Clan of Hope base." He said, still having that fake smile on his face. Cain hesitated, debating how wise it really was to go with him. But she didn't have any other options so she just nodded at him.


They walked for a bit and not a word was spoken. Tai seemed to sense that Cain had no desire to speak at all. But something was bothering Cain, something deep in her gut said that she wasn't doing the right thing. Intuition told her to turn around and find some other way to reach the base, not through this man. But her brain told her to stop being so paranoid and just follow him already and so she did.


Just when she was about to say something to Tai she took a step that seemed to fall into nothing. Almost as if you think there would be another stair, but there isn't. Her foot came down with a shock on a floor that wasn't the rubble-strewn ground of Viridian. Out of the corners of her eyes darkness was creeping, the kind of tunnel-vision that came when you stood up too quickly, but it was enveloping her every sense.


Cain didn't breathe for a second, and then started hyperventilating. Dark. It was so dark. She couldn't see. Everywhere she looked was darkness. She fell to her knees, clutching her stomach and breathing way too much for her body to handle. She was starting to feel lightheaded but she couldn't stop.


Just then someone pressed a paper bag in her hand. She stared at it for a second until that same someone told her to breathe into the bag. She did as she was told and it started to get a bit better. She breathed in and out of the bag until her breathing slowed into long deliberate inhales. But then there was a pain in her lungs, but all Cain could think about was that it was dark. Oh so dark.


"Stop breathing into the bag or you'll suffocate!" The person told her a little sharper this time as the bag was ripped from her hands. Cain breathed in deeply and her lungs filled with oxygen again. But there was still the thought of the darkness surrounding her and her breathing sped up again.


"Stop breathing so much, you fool," the person snapped, obviously running out of patience with her. "You're not supposed to die just yet, so stop making it that easy!" Cain did as she was told and her breathing steadied a little, though her heart was still racing a mile a minute.


"Get up, I'm supposed to battle you!" The guy ordered, for it was clearly a male voice.


Cain blinked stupidly for a second. "But, it's so dark. How can we battle in the dark like this?" She asked. There would be no way she could see. There could be people all around her. Monsters behind her, behemoths next to her or murderers in front of her. She shuddered and concentrated on breathing, shutting the imagery out.


The guy snapped his fingers with a sigh and suddenly floating lights appeared in a great circle around her. She gasped and gawked at them for a while until the guy snapped her back to attention.


"Zubat, now!" He released a blue bat and crossed his arms, waiting for her to do something. "Now get up, I have the orders to battle you and will do so with your consent or not!" He snapped again.


Cain shook her head, trying to clear the fog from her head. It was a lot better with light, though there were still shadows everywhere. She tried not to think about them as she released Morsmordre. "Morsmordre, I want you to start with Psywave!" She ordered.


"Zubat , dodge and use Leech Life!" was the counter order from across the 'field'. Morsmordre sent out bright blue waves of energy but Zubat dodged them easily and used its fangs to bite into Misdreavous' gass-like body. She cried out as energy got sucked from her and into Zubat, but Cain only smiled.


"Great, now use Spite!" Morsemordre's eyes immediately started to glow as black sparks travelled from the ghost to the bat. If Cain was correct than Zubat's only offensive move to this point should be leech life, and therefore it wouldn't be able to attack Morsmordre without getting pain itself. "Now use psywave again!" Morsmordre's eyes once again turned blue as even greater rings of power connected with Zubat from a close range, making him cry out in pain.


Cain's opponent swore at what had happened, but he didn't give up. "Zubat, use supersonic followed by a leech life." Zubat did as told and let out a high wail that was not for Cain's ears, but obviously for Morsmordre's. She cried out and started to wobble a bit in place, not sure what to do. Then Zubat pounded on her with its fangs, biting her while obviously hurt by spite's currents. In the end it didn't really matter, for all the energy sucked from Morsmordre was taken away again by the spite.


"Morsmordre, get yourself together and use psywave!" Cain ordered inpatientl, but Misdreavous just blanked out completely, just floating there with a bewildered expression in her eyes. Then, as if suddenly the on-switch was hit again, Morsmordre sent out many different powered waves fired in all directions. Morsmordre just didn't stop and kept sending out wave after wave. Zubat was having major difficulties dodging them all and got hit multiple times just as the Dark Brotherhood member had to dodge on occasionally. Cain was thankful she was standing behind Morsmordre and out of her range. "Stop firing at random and focus!" She yelled at Morsmordre, who immediately stopped her assault.


"That's better," Cain said. "Now focus your attack toward the Zubat." The ghost did just that. She sent out more waves toward the already tired out Zubat, having recovered from her confusion. The bat was too tired to dodge again and succumbed to the attack, falling on the ground unconscious.


The man scowled as he called back his Zubat, and then let out a Houndour. "Houndour, start with ember!" He ordered, just as Cain ordered another psywave. Morsmordre was was faster, but just as the waves hit they disappeared again, seemingly sucked into Houndour itself but without hurting it. Houndour, meanwhile, hit Morsmordre full-one with an ember attack, causing her to cry out in pain.


"Morsmordre, return," Cain called her back sadly, she wouldn't have been able to do anything. But she did sent out Pandora now, who was ready to battle. The Sableye watched the Houndour with curiosity, cocking her head to the side and carrying a twinkle in her diamond eyes. "Pandora, use scratch!" Cain ordered.


"Houndour, counter with with an ember and then use leer." Pandora jumped, running on all fours towards the Houndour. She easily dodged the dog's ember attack and scratched it hard on the jaw. A whimper came from the Houndour as Pandora made contact. But the fire in its eyes quickly returned as it leered at Pandora menacingly. Pandora stepped back with start, but then instinctively racked her claw across Houndour's face again, this time with a night-shade attack.


Houndour whined sharply again as the darkness-infested attack hit it hard. Its trainer grunted sharply as the dog hit the ground with a painful thud. It got up again with great difficulty, and Pandora looked dangerously mad. Cain noticed for the first time that there was something a bit crazy about her little Sableye, but she didn't think more of it. The Houndour used Ember through a command of its trainer and managed to hit Pandora with some of the flames, making Pandora whimper a little but she kept her head high.


"Pandora, lets finish this with another nightshade!" Cain ordered, now entirely enveloped in her battle. Pandora took one big leap at the Houndour and struck its side, making it cry out in full and it collapsed. Cain called back Pandora with a smile.


Opposite of Cain the guy clenched his hands in fists. "We'll get you soon enough," he spat with real menace in his voice. Within seconds he ran forward and pressed a knife against Cain's throat. She stiffened her muscles and held her breath. "Right now, all it would take is a bit of pressure and you're dead. Your life is in my hands." His voice was more than sadistic, and Cain repressed the urge to shudder or move in any way.


Then, he was gone. Cain breathed again, noticing that she had held her breath for the entire time the guy had threatened her. She felt her neck and noticed that there was a tiny bit of blood, but not too much. Then she looked up to find Tai looking at her. She was back again.


"What the hell happened to you?" Tai demanded, though he didn't give her any time to respond. "No matter, you're not dead and we have to get you to Zypher before you do anymore stupid things."


Cain followed again without a word, but she couldn't help wondering who exactly this Tai was and what the hell had just happened.

 

[§acred†Beo!]

Tim0789: Good post! I liked how you showed Grecko questioning everything.

Frostbite: Another great post! Kadabra grew to lvl 18! Kadabra learned disable!

Swan: Good post! I love how paranoid Cain is of the dark! Anyways Misdeavus grew to lvl 9! Pandora grew to lvl 8! Pandora learned night shade!

 

[Charizard_Man]

"All that one searches for in their lives….



…..Is a truly peaceful place to die."
__________________________________________

He walked through the indefinitely creepy forest that separated Pewter City from Viridian City. The trees were large and covered with moss, dangling in strips of grungy fuzz. The once tall green grass was now barren leaving the dull gray earth in its place, things shifted in the boughs of the mighty trees, their eyes glowing and seeming to taunt the travelers, daring them to walk past. The mighty gray trees towered over the traveler, their boughs spiraling into the darkened sky.

Titan sat on the back of his neck, his arms placed atop his brown hair. The Squirtle looking down at his trainer with calmness, a mutual feeling these two felt most of the time. One of his silver-hazel eyes snapped open, a cool breeze attacking the twisted trees around him. The dark gray boughs around him covered in sheets of ice.

"Alpha." Josh spoke out, Titan looking down at his trainer in curiosity. He hadn't spoken a word since they parted ways with Andrew.

"Hehehe, Alpha? Noo, my name is Lamda." A feminine voice spoke out. The girl, with strawberry hair and demon-like red eyes that he's seen before.

"Y-Your the girl that killed my friends."

"Haha oh yes. My chance to battle Andrew might have slipped, but I can still battle the remaining one. Josh Gold Sugimori." The girl sauntered over and came very close to Josh's face, her tone of voice changing into a seductive whisper.

"Our boss is very interested in you. I can see why, your a very cute trainer."

"Tell your boss he can go to hell." Josh spat in Lambda's face, the girl's grin rapidly fading and proceeded to hit the boy violently across the face. She held up a pokeball,

"Fiesty. I like it." She dragged her finger across his cheek and picked up the blood dripping out of his mouth. She licked her finger clean before snapping her fingers, the surrounding forest evaporating and in its place a dank room emerged.

The air was dank, stagnant and oppressive like layers of liquid lead. It made the lungs retch and the stomach flip with a sickening feeling. The ceiling was low, dripping with excess water and granite boulder-excrement. Puddles had merry conventions on certain low points of the moist floor, reflecting everything and nothing at the same time.

They mirrored the emptiness of the filled, rotting crevice.

The only living beings in the room were Josh, Lambda and the two opposing pokemon. Josh stared at Lambda, she was young. Just about Josh's age, someone so young was persuaded by darkness.

Her mind was at ease, her cold exterior betraying nothing of her thoughts or her inner turmoil, if there was any.

She was a stone. A frost-kissed stone. A statue frozen in time. Frozen on a pivotal marking of the era. The most important, perhaps.

"Titan."

"Houndoom."

Both trainers released their pokemon with a montone order, both very calm trainers. They stared into eachother's eyes, opposites. One blood red, the other silver hazel.

Opposites Attract...

"Water Gun!" Josh barked.

His facade was amusing...

Titan leaped back, only supported by his tail, and released a stream of pressured water than launched towards the Houndoom. Completely unprepared for the attack, the fire pokemon skidded back a few yards before crashing into the grey wall.

"Thunder fang." She flicked her wrist, Josh clenched his fists. Why did she not take this battle seriously?

Houndoom closed in and opened his jaw, electrical bolts spewing out of his fangs.

"Withdraw, then release a bubble attack!" Josh snapped his fingers, Titan rapidly plunged into his shell and spewed out streams of bubbles coming out of every hole in his shell. The Houndoom still landed the attack on the Squirtle's shell. The fire type proceeded to spit the shell out at the wall, Titan popping out just in time and placing his hands on the wall to stop from smashing his face into it.

"Smog." As if in an instant, the entire room was blanketed in a thick black smoke. Titan fumbled his way across the room and Josh merely shielded his mouth and nose from inhaling the vile substance,

"Howl!" Houndoom grew an evil grin before shouting in a frenzy of high-pitched howl that shook Titan to his core.

"Enter your shell again, then spin and send a Water Gun in all directions!" Josh yelled, desperate times calls for desperate measures. Titan followed orders and span around in his shell, streams of water spouting out in all directions. Josh ducked down to prevent getting smashed by one of those towers of water, he smiled when he heard a whimper from Houndoom.

Once the smog cleared, Houndoom lay on the ground panting. He smirked then looked back at Titan, it was obvious he was still shaken up from the Smog and Howl attacks.

"Titan, come back. Let's give King a try. KING!!!" Josh, with his baseball experienced, pitched the pokeball right at Houndoom head. The fire type rubbed his forehead as the Nidoran♂ appeared.

"Double Kick!" King leaped in the air to get to eye level with the Houndoom and smashed his foot into the fire type's face, again and again.

"Ember!"

"Peck!"

Houndoom spewed out a trail of fireballs that charred King, but the persistent Nidoran followed through with his Peck attack and nailed the fire type in the neck. A tiny river of blook fell out from the wound as the Houndoom fell to the floor with a thud.

"Good job King!" Josh praised the poison pokemon who merely smiled and ran around in circles.

"That pokemon is a bumbling fool. Let's have a real battle now" With an array of lights and smoke, the second battle commenced.

"Haunter! Night Shade!!"


"KING! Get AWAY!"


A sheet of blood light morphed into a concentrated area as the Night Shade enveloped it in frightening brilliance. The wall had taken the hit for King, much like a scapegoat would.

But Josh didn't have time to think on this. He had to think of a counter.

"KING! PECK!!!"

"Fool! That won't affect Haunter!!" Lambda shouted, and watched as the poison pin pokemon flew through the air, splitting the ghost in two. Haunter chuckled, unaffected completely.

Josh smirked, King pierced one of the many pipes on the walls leading to the ceiling. Josh remembered the puddles on the floor, and now one of pipes spewed out its watery content.

"King, get back here." The nidoran ran back to his trainer's side and sent Titan onto the battle field.

"Titan! Withdraw and inhale all of that water!!!"

Squirtle's shell seemed to double in size as Titan inhaled the water flooding the room, and Haunter stopped chuckling at the sight of a sumo looking Squirtle.

"He's getting ready to attack! Now Haunter, NIGHT SHADE!!"

The beam of blood-streaked shadow hit Squirtle square in the chest, and the water type howled in pain.

"Hang in there Titan! Keep absorbing the water!!"

Lambda didn't like where this was going. Josh seemed to know that Haunter had the upper hand health wise, so he was giving Titan water power? Something was wrong. First the useless Peck move, and now all the water drinking.

"HAUNTER!!! HYPNOSIS, NOW!!!" Lambda screamed.

"NOW TITAN! WATER GUN!!!!"

It suddenly became very clear to Lambda. The skyscraper-sized stream of water erupted from the mouth of the Titan. King had made the water leak out so Titan can inhale it all, and while getting attacked lowering his health thus activated its Torrent ability, powering up its large water gun attack.

Titan beat Haunter to the punch. The blue monster watergun slammed into the ghost pokemon without a second warning, throwing him against the wall, creating a crater where he had impacted. The cement wall cracked, and parts of it began to fall off, creating more craters on the arena below.

"Damn." Lambda cursed under her breath and looked up to see the boy standing there with Titan and King.

"Joshua Gold Sugimori."

"Josh, to you."

"Touchy, touchy." She tutted and grew a wicked smile before sauntering over again with her seductive tone,

"Your life is coming to an end, the boss wants you gone. Out of the picture, such a shame. Why do the pretty ones always die?" She shrugged before a loud roar erupted, completely shattering the illusion of this dark realm.

The surrounding area was once again the depressing, and twisted forest it was when he entered. The roar still bellowed and echoed down this forest wastland.

"RA! GIR! RA!" the roar so great, upheaving the very roots of the twisted trees.

"Bye bye now" Lambda winked and kissed Josh on the cheek before vanishing in a cloud of dark violet smoke.

"Titan, King. I don't suppose you two saw that did you?" The two pokemon giggled amongst themselves, Josh growing a large bead of sweat. He returned both pokemon to their capsules before turning towards the source of the growing roar,

'I-Is that the cause for the Ursaring slaughter? The thing Andrew was telling me about?' Josh stood there alone in the tunnel of trees, dry blood from the corner of his mouth to his jaw.
______________________________________

One day we'll look back and say;


"Yeah. I knew that kid.


Yeah. I knew that person before they died.


And I knew them after, too."

 

[Kerjo]

Years ago, Viridian City used to be a small city full of life and greenery, but after the rise of the Dark Brotherhood, the city was a literal shell of its former self. Of course, having lived in the outskirts of the town for all of his life, Jake wasn't affected much by the city's torn state. The brunt down remains of once towering building and welcoming homes and the black trees, stripped of all their life, producing nothing but branches that reach for the sky, begging for a speck of sunlight. It was sad and somewhere deep in his heart Jake felt a small sting of pain resulting from his bottled up sorrow, but quickly blocked it out with other thoughts.

"The Eternally Green Paradise…" The boy scuffed, kicking at the ground and taking a better look at his surroundings. Some buildings were actually still standing, broken and boarded up, most likely the cover for a secret base where a small family might live. Others were crushed under the fallen trees, bonded together by the poison vines that crawled through the cracks and gaps of the buildings' walls and wrapped tightly around the tree for dear life. Some of the trees had moss on it, but even those had 'died', harden and turned dark brown on the trees, while mold was obvious upon the standing wood walls of the buildings.

"Yeah, right…" He sighed and kicked at the ground again, heading for what he knew to be the Viridian Gym. He strolled by the small sign that welcomed visitors and the pond, now robbed of water. Macey gave a whimper from his shoulder, having hoped to see something better than the surroundings that she had seen all of her life. Jake shifted his eyes over to her and gave her a playful pat on the head. "Don't worry, things will change soon." The mouse smiled and rubbed her face against his, causing the boy to try and move away, but to no avail since she was resting upon his shoulder.

The boy swayed along, thinking about taking a stop at his 'home' but decided against it. He knew that if he went there his parents would definitely stop his journey and would even let him put up a single word to defend himself. His younger brother, Vince, had already left for Johto to have his own adventures in what he believed to be a better atmosphere. The young boy also had hopes of becoming strong and returning to Kanto to 'save' it from the darkness. His older brother, Chris, had laughed at the thought. The oldest brother believed that the only way things were going to change was by taking charge and doing it in Kanto, not running off to train.

Jake laughed to himself, remembering the quarrels between his two brothers. Chris was the oldest, and believed that he was always right and knew the better of the two paths that was laid out before him, while Vince the youngest, took the other path believing that something more valuable could be achieved. The two never saw eye to eye and so being the middle child Jake was always the one to be settle things between them.

Passing by the remains of the Pokemart, Jake was brought out from his thoughts when he heard some humming coming from his right. The boy stopped and glanced over at an old looking building that was boarded up pretty nicely. Curious, he strolled over to the building silently, trying his best to not crunch the grass underneath his feet. As he closed in on the building, the humming got a bit louder and he could make out a few whispering voices.

Now upon the building he inspected the side, looking for a crack in the wall or a loose board. Finding nothing of the sort he crept around to the front of the building and inspected the wall there. Carefully roaming his hands over the wooden wall of the building, Jake eventually found a spot of the wall that pushed in a little from his touch. Whoever was inside heard the squeaking of the board for as soon as the boy discovered the spot the humming and whispering quickly ceased. Jake froze; his body tensed and kept his hand where it was. If he moved whoever was inside would defiantly know that he was there, but he presumed that is he kept it there they would eventually forget about it. However, the situation at hand didn't working in his favor and his body started to shake, his hand as well and the boarded squeaked more. Hearing something move inside, Jake quickly brought himself away from building and two boys, about a year or so younger than him, popped out from the building holding baseball bats.

"Who are you?" One of the boys asked, ready to strike out at him. The other one, who looked a bit older relaxed when he saw Macey and held his bat up in front of his comrade. "Hey, look! He has a pokemon and he isn't wearing those dark clothes like the other people were." The younger boy looked back at his friend, still untrusting of Jake.

"And? He could still be dangerous!" The older boy shook his head. "I think we may have found a normal trainer here, just like that other guy." He shifted his gaze to Jake and hesitantly spoke. "H...hi...hi there, my name is Will and this guy here is Scott."

Jake, who had held himself in a defense stance, relaxed and the look of a wild animal being cornered left his eyes. He placed his hand over his chest and took a deep breath. However he kept his eyes on the baseball bats that the boys were holding, still suspicious of being attacked. His voice retained its deep and stern tone, the tone of a boy who had witnessed the effect that the darkness had and somewhat understood it. "I'm Jake." Short and simple. He pointed over towards his partner. "And this is Macey."

The boys looked back at each other and then, quietly lead Jake into the building. While doing so Jake noticed that both the boys were dirty as if they had been in a recent fight. They wore what he would refer to as rags, because they surely didn't have the right to be called clothes. The reasonable one and the one that Jake assumed to be older had blonde hair and green eyes. His wore a simple red shirt that was missing its sleeves and dark blue pants that were now reduced to being worn as faded out shorts. The other boy also had green eyes, but his hair was sandy brown and he wore more of what Jake guessed to be a tuxedo, though it was hard to tell.

Once inside the building, Jake was surprised to find that is looked in better shape than he had thought. The room was dimly light by candles on tables and stands through the room. The light produced was enough to show off the nicely decorated room, painted in a similar fashion to a pokecenter. There were a few pictures hanging from the walls and the tables actually looked like they had been cleaned recently. Along the western wall there was a couch in good condition where a young girl and boy were sound asleep. There was another girl sitting on the ground by the couch playing with pokemon dolls and a young boy running around on some imaginary adventure. Surprised, Jake had stopped following the boys to check out his surroundings, but once they noticed they came called out to him.

They were now standing beside a person who was almost as tall as Jake was. The person had their back to him and seemed to be tinkering with a machine. Stepping closer, Jake peeked over the person's shoulder to see that machine that looked oddly like the ones that existed in pokecenters that were used to restore a Pokémon's health. His thought was confirmed when the person placed a pokeball in one of the grooves in the machine and pressed a button. The machine lit up and the humming from before returned.

"I'd appreciate it if you would kindly give me some space." The boy blinked and took a step back and as he did the person turned around to reveal herself to be a girl almost his age. The boy blinked again, taking in every detail of the girl before him. Her black hair, contrasting her light blue eyes, was pulled in a ponytail that reached all the way down to her shoulder blades. Adorn in a tattered edge blue shirt and vest and shorts that almost reached her knees with knee high socks, she was quite attractive. In truth she looked almost as tired and worn down as the other people in the building, but Jake could tell that she was trying her best not to show it. ' She must be the leader… '

"Scott, I want you to go out and check to make sure that no one else is out there, If you see someone come back immediately and inform me."

' Definitely the leader here… ' The young blonde hair boy left the building without a word in opposition. Still a bit dazed at the surroundings Jake didn't respond when the girl spoke to him. "The name's Emily. And in case you're wondering this place was set up by the Clan of Hope to help trainers who were having hard times." She pointed at Macey. "And seeing as you traveling with a pokemon, I'm taking it that you're a trainer?"

"…yeah, that's right." Jake took another look at the place. ' So this place was built by the Clan of Hope to help out wandering trainers. Haha, how nice of 'em. ' Emily took a step forward and reached out for Macey, carefully taking her into her arms and cradling the blue mouse. A bit tense as first, Macey quickly relaxed in the girl's arms. "She looks a bit worn out. I think it'll be best to return her to her ball and put her in the machine. Then she'll be back to normal in a matter of seconds!"

Finally back up to speed with everything the boy returned Macey to her pokeball and pulled out the pokeball with the Weedle that he had caught earlier. Emily stepped aside as Jake approached the machine and carefully set the pokeballs into the grooves of the machine deisgned for holding the pokeballs. When he did, the girl started to push some buttons on the side of the machine and the room was filled with a light humming noise. A small ring chimed and the humming died away.

"There, that should do it." Jake took up the pokeballs and started to thank the girl when a yell came from outside. Will jumped up from a chair nearby and ran outside, grabbing his baseball bat along the way. Jake turned to Emily, feeling her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry to ask this of you, since it's really not any of your business, but could you handle this." Jake shot the girl a half angry, half confused glare. Something about the situation didn't seem right, and somehow he felt like he was being used for something. The look in Emily's eyes told him that whatever was happening outside was something she expected to happen sooner or later.

"I'm sorry, but my pokemon just can't handle that guy's pokemon. The last time I tried it, my Chikorita almost died, but you have a Marill, which means you should be able to stop him. Please, help us." Jake gave a groan of sorts, looking down into the clear red top of the pokeball. Inside he could see Macey staring at him, giving him a look that he now recognized as her look of wanting to help. He groaned again.

"Alright, I'll see what I can do." With that he headed out through the small wooden board that he was led in through, back out into the cold depressing scenery of Viridian. Outside, Jake found Will attending to a hurt Scott. The young boy was lying on his side, curled in a ball, crying in pain. Running up to the two, Jake saw that the boy had serious burns along the right side of his face and arm as well as several bite marks leaking with blood. His blood ran cold as he watched Will attend to the boy, wondering who would do such a thing to the kid.

"Well, well well. Look who we have here." A familiar voice echoed in Jake's hears and he turned around to face off against a man standing about 10 yards away in a black cloak. The boy glared at the man, balling his hands into fists. ' Wait a second…there's no mistaking that voice… '

"Chris! Is that you?!" The man started to clap and from underneath his hood Jake caught a glance of a wicked smirk on the man's lips.

"Nice, nice, it didn't take you long to figure that out, did it?" The man pulled off his hood, reveling short light brown hair and green eyes. There was hair growing on the side of his face, neatly groomed. Jake gasped, taking a step back not believing the sight before him. Here stood his brother, his older brother in a black cloaked like that of the man he had been seeing and the man who had killed Prof. Oak. 'Beo… ' Jake winced as his head was rocketed with pain, causing the boy to fall down to one knee, tight gripping his head.

" Darkness corrupts all…"

"Give in to your desires, become one with darkness…"

"You useless in the light…"

"Listen to your instincts…"

"Is there something wrong, Jakey?" Chris teased taking out a pokeball. "Here, allow me to help ease your suffering by giving you physical pain!" The man laughed hysterically as he threw up the pokeball releasing a dark hound like pokemon before him. The pokemon resembled a dog with short black fur with a skull-like mask on its forehead. Standing in front of Chris, the dog barked loudly, adding nothing but more agony to his headache. Without thinking, Jake reached for both his pokeballs and released both of his pokemon.

Macey and the Weedle both stretched as they emerged from their pokeballs, looking in a much better condition than they were before. Both immediately stared ahead at the enemy before the ready to defend their trainer with all their might.

"Oh, two on one, eh?" Chris laughed. "I seem you're being cautious, that's a smart move, but it's not good enough. Houndour, use ember on the stupid bug, then leer on the mouse." The dog barked in response and charged the two pokemon. Still gripping his head in pain Jake called out to his pokemon.

"Macey, use tail whip! Nathan, try to slow it down with string shot!" The pokemon nodded in sync and Macey began to wag her tail as Nathan shot forward a spray of silk towards the charging dog. In mid-run the Houndour opened its mouth and released a small flame burning away at the silk. Reacting upon instinct since Jake was partially out of commission; Nathan rolled out of the direction of the fire and attacked the dog with poison stings while Macey charged from its blind spot.

"Ignore the dumb bug, watch out behind you!" Wincing a bit under the pain of Nathan's poison sting, the Houndour turned around and braced itself for Macey's tackle, taking the attack head on. It was pushed back a bit, but didn't seem to be bothered.

"Now, finish that bug off. One ember should do it!" Chris barked. The dog turned again to face Nathan and charged. Upon hearing Chris's command to Houndour, Jake struggled to his feet, peeking through his slightly open eyes.

"Nathan, use string shot on the ground, then follow up with poison sting. Macey, help Nathan out with a tackle!" Without a moment to spare, Nathan began to spray silk all over the ground before him and Macey, still a bit woozy from her head on collision, slowly started to run after the Houndour.

Jake fell to his knee once again, giving a small cry of pain as he began to hear whispers once more. He opened his eyes, watching as shadow figures danced about the battlefield, almost catching the boy a trance. He didn't take notice of Nathan and Macey's battle against the Houndour, but the two were doing well even without the command of their trainer. The Houndour had tried to slow down before coming in contact with the silk that was covering the ground, but it didn't stop soon enough and its front paws landed on the silk, attaching it to the ground. The dog barked angrily as it tried to free itself, but to no success.

Nathan took the dog's helpless state as a chance to attack with poison sting, and while raining the poison barbs upon the dark dog's body, Macey tackled it from behind, sending it forward into more of the silk until it was bound to the ground and subjected to more punishment from Nathan. The dog winced in pain as it thrashed about on the ground and shot forward flames from its mouth. Not expecting to be attack Nathan didn't have enough time to react and gave a cry as the flames burned at his small body.

"Nathan!"

The dog crackled as bit, joyous to have connected with its attack and gave both the pokemon a smile as Chris called back the pokemon. "Worthless. To be beaten by a mouse and a stupid bug…" He shook his head and pocketed the pokeball and turned his attention to his brother who was stared blankly into space.

"Hallucinating again, eh?" He smiled. "Well, it's for the best. At least you won't see your pokemon die…"

Jake however, hadn't registered a signal word his older brother had said. The boy's world was now consumed in darkness and a forbidding feeling that something bad was about to happen filled his senses. Dazed, the boy tried to will his body to move, but it wouldn't. The forbidding feeling grew stronger and there was a hot sensation tingling on the back of his neck. He could feel his pulse through his whole body, thumping with each slow heartbeat as his body grew colder. A vortex formed in the ground before him and slowly a man in a black cloak rose from it. His heart sped up as his breathing stopped and his mind went into a panic, yet his body still wouldn't move, but he was able to do one thing…

"Macey!!!" The blue mouse turned to her trainer and only seeing the boy frozen in fear turned to look at Nathan, her newest partner. Recovering from the burns, the poor Weedle didn't even notice the shadow speeding towards it. Macey gave a cry, but she was too far away to do anything about it. Whatever it was, it was heading towards the bug pokemon with the intent to kill.

A light flashed and right beside Nathan two pokemon appeared. One pokemon resembled a small child in all white with a green helmet covering its face with a red horn protruding from the front and back. One of its hands was placed in its mouth while the other one had a hold of another pokemon. This one had a long metal-like body with a set of claws on its end and had a round head that was attach to the body like a ball-and-socket joint. The body of the pokemon was gray in color and its head possessed one eye, which was red in color.

Just as soon as the pokemon appeared, the gray steel one shot forward with amazing speed, colliding head on with the dark object and driving it into a nearby tree with enough force to crack the bark. The black object slumped down, slowly sliding off of the tree and fell to the ground unconscious. The pokemon somewhat resembled a weasel with a bright red feather for its left ear and three red feathers that acted as its 'tail.'

"Jake!" A voice called up. Chris looked up to see a boy around the age of 16 rush up to the still hallucinating Jake and shake him. The man swore under his breath, calling back his pokemon and disappearing into the shadows. The boy called out to Jake again and suddenly he blinked and looked at the boy.

"Wes…"

The boy gave a half laugh and sighed in relief, but as soon as Jake had muttered the kid's name his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he passed out. As he fell to the ground, a small sparkling stone fell from his left hand and onto the ground next to him.

 

[§acred†Beo!]

Charizard_Man: Good post! Titan grew to lvl 15! Nidoran(M) grew to lvl 9! Nidoran(M) learned double kick!

Kerjo: Awesome post! I loved how you added your brother in there as a Dark Brotherhood memeber, it definatly makes things a little more intresting for the oncoming chapter XD! Ether way Macey grew to lvl 11! Weedle grew to lvl 8! Weedel wants to evolve will you allow it? Jake found a Dawn Stone!

 

[Wolfwhispers]

Viridian City, a once proud city, was now in rubble as broken down houses barely stood against the harsh environment that now plagued Kanto, was the next site Gil was met with. He coughed harshly, feeling like he could barely stand. He was emotionally drained, inner demon's still whispering in his ear as his pokemon faithfully led him on.

Well, at least Growlithe was keeping guard as he led Gil stiffly to a large, seemingly deserted building that used to be the pokemon center. Gil had a vague memory of being told to go there. Murkrow was sitting on his shoulder and whispering little whatever's, not that Gil understood the dark type, but it was calming him for which he was internally grateful.

"Hey, are you alright?" Gil looked up and ran his hand through his hair as he looked at an older boy. His arms were folded as he regarded Gil carefully, taking in his exhausted form before taking in Growlithe. "Ah, one of professor Oak's, then." Warily, Gil shrugged. The boy offered a smile. "Come on then." He offered a hand to Growlithe who sniffed it and gave it a grave nod. The boy then grabbed Gil sternly by the shoulder and walked him into the make-shift pokemon center. "I've seen a lot of people having bad reactions to the darkness before, but you're the first person that's quite literally looked like they've been to hell and back."

Gil let out a dark chuckle and sank into a worn out chair before looking around, taking in weary and defeated faces milling about. "Just facing some inner demons," he replied quietly.

The boy offered his own dark chuckle. "Aren't we all always doing that? Come on, let's get your pokemon healed."

Nodding, Gil returned his pokemon and placed them in the machine which, thankfully, was free of other trainers. "So who are you?" Gil asked gruffly, taking back his pokemon. He stared down at his pokeballs, feeling the eyes of others. With a glare, he noticed it was from a few that had been with him at Oak's. They must still be peeved that he had laughed at the old man's death.

"Tyler," the boy answered, handing Gil a hot drink and taking a sip from his own. "And I'm twenty two and from what was once Violet City before it went down," he said with a laugh. "Hope that answered a few future questions."

Gil shrugged. "I hadn't really cared about any of that."

Tyler grinned widely. "You're an odd one. Most want to know everything about the person they're talking to. Always paranoid about everything."

Again Gil shrugged. "I'm paranoid about everything."

Tyler hummed. "Nah," he said after a while, taking a large gulp of his drink. "You're wary, but you just don't give a damn."

The sheer bluntness actually made Gil laugh. Before he even knew what was happening, he clapped a hand over his mouth in horror. Where had that come from? He gave a dark look at Tyler, not liking that this stranger had opened up an emotion he hadn't felt in a long time: humor.

"So what big bad demon did you take down?" Tyler asked jovially.

Gil pursed his lips, eyes darkening. "Ghosts," he said with a deadly hiss.

"As in actual ghosts or ghost pokemon?" Tyler asked with interest and a tilt of his head.

Gil felt his eyes narrow at the teasing tone. "What do you think?" he asked coldly, standing abruptly and leaving the worn down building, uncaring of the stares.

"Woah, woah, I didn't mean to insult or make fun," Tyler laughed as he followed Gil out. "You just seemed down, so I thought I would make small talk. Didn't work, did it?" Gil said nothing. "See?" Again Tyler laughed. "Hey, I know! A pokemon battle can lift anyone's spirits."
"Aren't there enough battle's going on?" Gil drawled.

"Fighting for your life, yes, but just a good ol'e fashioned pokemon battle? Now that's what I'm talking about!" Before Gil could even say a word, Tyler shouted, "Go!" With a burst of white light, Gil felt himself stiffen as he felt twin pairs of eyes that seem to double the intensity of the gaze that he had felt from earlier.Without a thought, Gil brought out his pokedex.

Sableye lead quiet lives deep inside caverns. They are feared, however, because these Pokémon are thought to steal the spirits of people when their eyes burn with a sinister glow in the darkness.

Despite himself, Gil felt another smile appear. People feared these pokemon because of their gaze, just like people felt uncomfortable when they gazed into his own insomaniac gaze. As Gil tried to find more information about the pokemon, such as their type, but to his irritation the screen began to fuzz up. "Piece of junk," Gil spat.

Tyler chuckled. "Come now, don't keep me waiting." He gestured for Gil to begin. Slowly, almost unsurely, Gil tossed his pokeballs. With a flash of white light, Growlithe and Murkrow appeared in battle positions.

"Growlithe!"

"Murkrow!"

Gil watched with half lidded eyes, noting the two Sableye chuckling eeriely to one another and Tyler's smooth smile. That confident look just seemed to give Gil energy, but why? Why was this complete affecting him so? "Ember and Peck!" he roared before clapping a hand to his mouth for the second time that day. Had he really just issued an attack with such energy? Before he could do anything, his pokemon attacked.

Murkrow's frantic wing beats seemed to echo through the abandoned town as Murkrow's frantic flight took him directly into the first Sableye. "Krow!" the bird cawed, the sound sending shiver's down the trainer's back that still resided inside the pokemon center. His beak was already sealed shut and seemed even more pointed than normal as, with more caws, Murkrow struck the paralyzed Sableye with a repeated wickedness.

"Saa!" Sableye cried, trying in vain to swipe at the striking bird with his sharp claws, but Murkrow was too caught up in the moment, too caught up in the attack.

"Growl!" Growlithe howled, muzzle wide as fire balls escaped from his fire sac and out through his mouth. The fire attack sent a sizzling sound into the cool air before a harsh pounding was heard as it rammed right into the next Sableye's chest, causing it to cry out in pain and pure agony. It clutched its chest, and when it moved its claw, Gil could see that it had been burned.

"Lyy," it moaned, baring razor sharp teeth.

"That's the spirit!" Tyler roared, startling Gil. "That's it, that's the moment," he urged. "To have no worries and just be in the moment, be in the battle and be true to yourself." He pointed a finger at Gil almost accusingly. "Did you know that Sableye are considered evil entities even though they're merely pranksters? They are judged based on looks. Do you find yourself judged in a similar passion?"

Gil growled in anger. "Bite and Astonish!" he roared. He wanted this battle to end. He didn't want to be here with this stranger that spoke his mind and was so close to the truth it almost hurt.

"Shock Wave and Dark Pulse," Tyler commanded airily.

"Sbl!" the two cried, yellow and black energy encircling the two before two blasts were fired off. The Shock Wave hit Growlithe as he was charging, causing the poor pup to yowl in pain, but he fought threw the pain and kept running and bit down hard on the poor Sableye with a massive burn.

"Krow!" Murkrow laughed, easily taking the Dark Pulse hit. What sort of dark type was he if he couldn't even handle an attack based on his own type? However, the fact that he was so underestimated was what really set off his temper. With a guttural caw that made his opponent pause, Murkrow slammed into the cocky pokemon with a righteous fury of purple fire that made the pokemon flinch in pain.

"Excellent," Tyler praised. "You're a natural. It took me a good while to get the hang of battling. You'll be a great help to Zypher."

Gil paused.

"Or do you not want to help the leader of the light?" Tyler asked softly, voice teasing and urging for the truth. "Are you a little darkling?" Gil gritted his teeth. "Which would make sense, I suppose. Just look at your eyes." Gil raised an unconscious hand to the dark circles under his eyes but Tyler just laughed. "Not those circles. I mean your eyes. Have you looked into a mirror lately? It holds the spark of insanity."

"Don't you think I know that!?" Gil roared, panting like a crazed animal as he got into a crouching position on his mind.

"That gesture of yours won't save you, nor is it the hug and protection you so long for," Tyler murmured. "Tell me," he urged, "what do you want?"

Gil looked down. "What do I want?"

"Chin up," Tyler barked, startling Gil into looking up. "No looking down."

Gil actually bared his teeth. "I want freedom!" he finally roared. He glared at his two pokemon. "Finish them!"

He didn't watch as his Growlithe fired an Ember that actually hit both, nor did he watch Murkrow slam into the two with his Astonish that sent them to the ground, clearly unconscious. He just watched Tyler smile that soothing smile of his. Watched as Tyler's eyes shone with a hidden glint of knowledge that Gil desperately wanted to have. He looked down.

"Chin up," Tyler said again with a wry grin. "Did this battle make you happy?"

Gil glanced at the unconscious pokemon. He had won. "I felt… strengthened," he finally admitted.

Tyler roared with laughter. "Always the stubborn one, aren't you, Gil?"

Gil frowned, realizing something. He had never told this person his name. "How do you know my…" he trailed off as he stepped forward and heard a crunch. The sound cause both him and his pokemon to look down before he bent down to pick up a strange disk. It was a TM, but he didn't read the title. He looked back to Tyler but drew in a deep breath. Tyler was gone, and so were his pokemon.

"Growl," Growlithe growled, feeling edgy as he looked around, not liking that his opponents had disappeared.

Gil felt his hand for a fist and felt the need to throw up. Tyler was gone. It was as simple as that. He had disappeared like the wraith Gil knew him to be. Again he looked down and walked away from the site, away from everything with his two pokemon following loyally behind and with a TM in his hand.

Chin up…

 

[{Swan}]

The clan of hope was nothing like Cain had imagined it to be, which was impressive for Cain had told herself not to expect anything. She might have imagined something more... clean. Both in the area as in the people. Everyone looked positively exhausted, and old. Each person, no matter how young they were, looked like they had aged ten times faster than their body had been able to handle.


All of them wore robes like Tai did, exactly in the condition as Tai's were. Some had bruising on their face and.or hands, but that was all the skin really visible. She swore one or two had their arm in a sling. It didn't look like they would be saving the world anytime soon.


She could spot a different person in the crowd here and there, people without robes that looked like they were just brought in. She recognized two or three from the lab, like the insanely tall indian boy and the short younger boy with the strange multitoned hair. But there were also one or two people she hadn't seen before. There was another taller boy with brown hair. He looked at her for a second and then turned away, but Cain thought nothing of it. He just reminded her of one of those who had everything they wanted.


Cain clutched Pandora a little bit mroe tightly to her. She had taken the ghost out for she founf that holding her was calming and it fought her desire to run away. She was holding her right under Pandore's arms, and her les were dangling a little, but despite that she was still sound asleep. "Oh, Orre," Cain whispered, using the nickname for the nickname that she had thought of.


It just struck her one moment why it was so easy to spot the taller guys. Because everyone else seemed to be hunched over. It was just a quick thought but she couldn't let go of it. All the members of the Clan of Hope were hunched and miserable. Even the tall ones shrunk down, was this really the place where they were to liberate Kanto?


"Are you Cain?" Someone asked which snapped Cain out of her thoughts.


"How do you know my name?" She asked, glaring at the man suspiciously.


"We were told that Cain was the girl, and there is only one girl that came in," the man explained with a smile. He seemed just a little bit nicer than the others. Especially Tai. And his white suit was actually still white. She decided that she liked him.


"So, how long have you been here?" She asked out of curiosity. The man seemed to wait for a moment, thinking, before he told her he'd been here for about a year, no more. "And what do you do? Is all you do leading newcomers to te big boss?" Cain said, she was glad to have a bit f distraction.


"I'm sorry, but that's secret for now. Wait until you're offically in, then we could tell you," he said with a kind smile. "In any case, we're here." He motioned to a big door with two people standing in front of it almost as guards. They made a big fuss about Orre coming in so Cain called her back in her ball with an apology.


She entered a huge room that was like a throne room. There were some other people and Cain sat down somewhere to the side. No matter how she moved her head, she couldn't see past the light. Couldn't see how this legendary Zypher looked.


A thought crossed her mind. Who was he to sit high atop a chair over everyone else and lot let himself be looked at? Who was he to sit hidded while they were all vulnerable down there. Who was he to sit high and mighty above everyone else? And then he started to talk.


"As you can see, the Dark Brotherhood has already begun toying with your minds, trying to make you give in to the darkness." Cain felt slightly guilty for her previuos thoughts now. "They made a horrible decission, for I stand here before you today to tell you that you are Kanto's new hope!" Cain could hear a wheezing breath, and started doubting him more. Why was he out of breath just by talking?


"As most of the other trainers and their Pokémon are worn down and tired, they need rest, and that is why we recruite you." Oh, so you recruited us just so the others can have their afternoon nap? Put us in danger because te bigger and better members need a rest? Cain thought bitterly. It sounded so selfish and unfair to her. "At your current moment all of your minds can be easil persuaded by the Darkness because it holds power. But power is nothing. Becoming a Pokémon Master is not aout power! That is why Beo lost to me, and it is why the region is the way it is now." Cain thought the speech ended rather anticlimatically, but the possible reason was quickly discovered. She heard the creeking of his chair as he moved his weight, and more quick breaths to refil the oxygen he had lost. Something was definitely wrong.


"There is a Pokémon healing device in the main lobby, heal your Pokémon before you go on your first mission. It is going to be very dangerous, and some of you might not make it back." Encouraging, thought Cain sarcastically. "You must go to the Veridian Forest, we have been picking up huge ammounts of energy coming from witin the center of the forest. It is your job to investigate what the source of that power is. If at anypoint you find it to dangerous to continue please don't risk your life and come back, so everyone on your way out, grab 5 potions each, and make sure to heal." That was the last she really heard from Zypher as they all left the room. That, and harsh raspy coughs.


Cain took no time to leave. She grabbed her potions, healed and almost ran. Se felt guilty for her thoughts and opinions, she shouldn't have judged so harshly. But something in her really wanted to judge Zypher like that. Maybe that was the corruption he had talked about? Cain quickly released Pandora again, holding her close. To subdue the desire to run the hell away.

 

[§acred†Beo!]

Wolfwhispers: Good post! I enjoyed actually the awkwardness of Gil laughing XD.. Anyway Growlithe grew to lvl 10! Growlithe learned leer! Murkrow grew to lvl 9!

Swan: Great post, I really wanted everyone to start questioning who Zypher was, and why he was such a great leader.. Everyone will find that out soon enough XD.

 

[tim0789]

Chapter 4 part 2: Not a tolerable trait!

"So this is the beginning of Viridian Forest, eh?" Grecko said to Boone as the two stared at what used to be an entrance. "Use Bone Club and clear us a path buddy!" Grecko commanded the skull pokemon.

"BONE!" it barked as it jumped up and chukced it's bone into the brush. The bone club easily swept through making a path for the two to enter the forest. As Grecko entered the forest, it was another dissapointing and horrific sight. The forest was even darker then the outside world, and whispers could be heard faintly as if it were haunted. It felt cold and damp, and every step he took Grecko felt worse off.

"This place...it's terrible.." Grecko eerily told Boone. "Cuuu.." Cubone sadly agreed as it stared up into the darkness.

"We better get to the rendevous point Boone, this place gives me the creeps" Grecko told the pokemon as they pushed through the forest. However Boone didn't respond, "Huh oh how didn't I notice him not being on my shoulder?" Grecko wondered as he began to get worried.

"Boone where are you!" he yelled out hoping the pokemon was playing a prank.

"HOOOOWWWWLLLL!" a long and loud bark was made form behind Grecko. "Ah it's a Houndour! Ekans and Kakuna would be no good against it...where is Bo.." Grecko was interupted as a faint noise was heard from above.

"Ahh Boone!" Grecko shouted as he saw Boone being held in the leaves by a Ghost pokemon. "What pokemon is that?" Grecko wondered as he pulled out his pokedex. "Shuppet, the ghost pokemon. Shuppet is able to dissapear fast, making it hard to find them." the pokedex read.

"Howwwl!" Houndour darted and slammed into Grecko, thrusting the boy into a tree and knocking his pokedex out of his hands. "CUU!" Boone struggled to get free from the Shuppet but couldn't.

"Ahh..." Grecko weakily got up as he held his back. "Howwwlll!" Houndour roared as it growled and held it's position right in front of Grecko. As the trainer stood up he balanced himself before saying, "Well Houndour...if it's destiny for you to strike me down dead, then go ahead. But I won't go down without a fight! Now Ekans use poison sting on Shuppet and set Boone free!" Grecko quickly pointed out his surprise attack.

"EKKANNNS!" the snake pokemon hissed as it jumped out from behind the Shuppet and used poison sting. "SHUU!" it cried as it dropped Boone from it's grip.

"Now Boone use Headbutt on Houndour as you fall and pick up speed!" Grecko then commanded the Cubone. "CCCCUUUUUUUBOOOONEE!" he roared as he dropped his head and put his arms to his side.

"Howw!!?!" Houndour cried as it tried to get out of the way. "BONE!" Boone slammed into Houndour's back knocking it to the ground unconcious.

"Ya how about that Houndour!...I would catch you but pokemon and people who act the way you do, don't deserved to be caught." Grecko told the unconcious Houndour as he and Boone continued to walk to the point they were told to go to.

 

[§acred†Beo!]

Tim0789: Good post, kinda short but you made it work. Boone grew to lvl 13! Boone wants to learn leer delete a move to make room? Ekans grew to lvl 10! Ekans learned bite!

 

[tim0789]

Chapter 4 part 3: Oh the cloaks cloaks cloaky cloaks

"AHHHHHH!" Grecko yawned as he stretched his arms while he and Boone continued to travel through Viridian Forest. "Hmmm maybe we should take a break Boone, i'm kinda tired." Grecko stated to the Cubone.

"Cuu!" Boone estaticly hollered back as he waited for his trainer to set up camp. As soon as Grecko had put out his sleeping bag and established a fire he sent out his other two pokemon.

"EKAA!" "Kakakak!" Ekans and Kakuna happily emerged from their balls and begin to eat the poke food that Grecko had set out for them. "Well Boone go ahead and enjoy your food to, even though it's really hard to enjoy anything in this place." Grecko said as he stared off into the depths of the forest.

"I really wonder what kind of dangers await us, and if i'm ever even going to find my father from here..." Grecko pondered these things while his pokemon all began to doze off to sleep. "Goodnight guys" he said as he to slowly drifted off into a nice sleep, his first since he arrived.

"Huh?" Grecko woke up, as he felt someone touching is back. "Whose there?" he questioned as he looked around and so no one. "O well..I guess it must have been the wind" he convinced himself before falling back asleep.

"wake up Grecko, wake up Grecko, WAKE UP GRECKO!" a familiar voice woke Grecko. "DAD?!" this time Grecko was convinced that someone was watching him. "Dad if your there come out..." Grecko began to get worried as he began peering into bushes and what not.

"Your daddy's not here kid." a man in a black cloak said as he appeared behind Grecko. "You guys again!" Grecko spun around and noticed the brotherhood member.

"Yes, yes, it's me, but I don't believe we have met personally yet kid. My name is Erytin, and i'm here to check up on you." the brotherhood member said as he awaited a response.

"Here to check up on me? What is wrong with you people! You think this is right? I'm sure you lived in Kanto before all of this, how could you be apart of something that destroyed such a beautiful place...your home.." Grecko angrily grunted at the man hoping for some kind of good response.

"Because...Darkness is all that matters" Erytin laughed as he unclipped two pokeballs. "So you want to test how strong i've gotten, well I show you!" Grecko said as he also unclipped two pokeballs from his jacket.

"Darkness isn't everything, everyone needs the light otherwise your no better then a damn bat!" Grecko barked back the man. "So you say, but you'll come around...it's your destiny! Go Houndoom and Haunter!" he laughed before getting serious and sending out his pokemon.

"DDOOM DOOM HOW DOOM!" the Houndoom growled as it paced back and forth staring at Grecko. "Hau Hau Hau Hau!" the Haunter just laughed as it floated hesitantly in the air.

"Hmm i've already fought a duo like that earlier today! Go Boone, go Kakuna!" Grecko said as he remember the Houndour and Shuppet from earlier.

"Your going to use a Kakuna? What a joke kid." the Erytin laughed manicly. "Damn Straight! now let's battle!" Grecko said confidently as he pointed at Erytin. "If you wish, Houndoom use Ember on Kakuna! Haunter use Hypnosis on that Cubone!" he said getting in the first commands.

"Ah Boone jump in front of Kakuna and lower your head to block the ember attack! Kakuna use string shot to block the hypnosis!" Grecko then counter commanded.

"CU!" Cubone jumped in front of Kakuna and lowered it's head as the flames poured on. "Kaka!" Kakuna shot the string shot attack towards the attacking Haunter. The hypnosis and string shot attacks collided, causing them to fail.

"Now Boone use bone Club on Houndoom, And Kakuna use Harden!" Grecko then hollered out. Boone whipped it's bone through the air towards the Houndoom as Kakuna used harden.

"Houndoom use thunder fang on the bone club!" Erytin shouted out. "DOOOM!" it roared as it's fangs smashed Boone's bone club into a powder. "haha this is to easy" he laughed at Grecko.

"Grr...we can't lose..not today! Kakuna keep using harden until you can't use harden no more!" Grecko commanded the bug pokemon. "What do you think your going to do with harden?" Erytin asked curiously.

"You'll see soon enough! Boone use Headbutt on Houndoom. "Houndoom don't let him get close! Use ember! Haunter use Hypnosis on Kakuna!" Eryting countered.

"CUUUU!!!!!" Boone barked as it sprinted towards the Houndoom. "DOOOM!" the Houndoom bollstered as it poured flames from it's mouth that seemed to engulf the whole way around Boone.

"Nice one Houndoom!" Erytin congratulated his pokemon, to soon though because Boone emerged from the fire slamming into Houndoom, thrusting it into a tree." "What how!" Erytin got angry as he saw his Houndoom was unconcious. "Because my Cubone here has a nice defense plus that skull of his really gives him an extra oomph!" Grecko became confident and laughed, as all the man had left was his Haunter.

"O well Haunter is still good to go and your Kakuna is sleeping. Your Cubone won't be able to hurt Haunter with it's physical attacks, so how could you win?" Erytin then became confident, thinking that he had the perfect plan.

"Well actually Erytin, i've got a little trick up my sleeve. Now Boone do it!" Grecko swiftly directed his attention to Boone who was holding two sticks that were on fire, directly over top of Kakuna.

"Huh! where did you get those! And are you going to light your own pokemon on fire! That's crazy!" Erytin began to get worried as he saw he was out tricked.

"Well you see Boone took the two sticks with him when he darted into the ember attack with his headbutt. And Kakuna won't get hurt because of the harden's it used and it's sleeping thanks to your Haunter there...kind of like a pokemon anistesia." Grecko then pointed out how he pulled off his plan.

"grr you won't win and you haven't won yet! Haunter use Hypnosis on that Cubone!" Erytin was literally pissed off. "Boone now light Kakuna and pick it up! Use it to block the Hypnosis and then you know what to do!" Grecko yelled out hoping to end the battle.

"FWWWWOOO!" Kakuna was now on fire as Boone picked it up and began running at Haunter. "Hauu hauu!" it cried as it sent out continuos hypnosis rays, that were blocked by Boone's flamming Kakuna shield.

"Now Boone throw Kakuna at Haunter"! the trainer roared as he knew the battle was over. "CUUUBOONEE!" Boone barked as it chucked Kakuna straight into the Haunter.

"Hauuu Hauu HAUUU!" it cried as it floated around in the air on fire, until it finally fell unconcious. "Way to go Boone and Kakuna!" Grecko laughed happily as Boone put out the fire on the sleeping Kakuna.

"errr.." Erytin stuttered for a second as he returned his pokemon. "What's wrong?" Grecko asked as he returned Kakuna to it's ball. Erytin just gave him a look, before speaking out.

Erytin put on a big grin, "The boss says it's almost time to end you" he says before turning his head around as a loud roar comes from the center of the forest.

"End of me..." Grecko was worried.

"RA! GIR! RA!" the roar becomes louder and louder and Erytin turns back to Grecko.

"Bye bye now" he says as he waves sadistically before vanishing into the shadows the roars coming closer and closer…

"Boone do you hear that roar?" Grecko asked the pokemon, hoping it wasn't just him. "Cu!" Boone shook it's head as they looked for where it could be coming from.

That's when more things started to hit his mind, "I wonder if the other trainers are hearing this...I wonder if they are even here... I wonder if there even still alive...

 

[§acred†Beo!]

Tim0789: Great post! Eyrtin's a interesting person. Boone grew to lvl 15! Kakuna grew to lvl 9!

Note to everyone: Once Swan, Kerjo, and Wolfwhispers get caught up I can post the best chapter so far! It's quite a doozie!

 

[Wolfwhispers]

"You two did see them… didn't you?" Gil asked hesitantly. He knew he was paranoid, he knew he was messed up and didn't have good morals, but damn it he would not have hallucinations as well. Even if those were beyond his control.

"Growl," Growlithe bark, giving a nod of confirmation, much to Gil's relief.

On Gil's shoulder, Murkrow cleaned his feathers without concern. He didn't care about the past. He only cared for what was in the now, and right now he saw something sparkly shining in his master's hand. "Krow!" Murkrow exclaimed happily, beak shooting out and taking hold of the disk in Gil's hand.

Gil yelped from the unexpected move and swatted Murkrow away. "Stupid bird," he hissed as the bird flew high into the air with the disk in his mouth with a throaty caw. Then, to Gil's surprise, the disk glowed, and Murkrow seemingly paused in mid flight, his eyes glowing, before the disk turned a dull gray and turned to dust in Murkrow's mouth.

"Murk," Murkrow grumbled, shaking his head and spitting the dust out of his mouth.

Gil just watched with interest, eyes alight in amusement. Growlithe gave a small bark of laughter at the sight before a scent must have tickled his senses because in the next moment he was growling up a storm. "What is it?" Gil demanded harshly, looking around. He didn't even need to ask, because the next moment a large, yellow pokemon stepped out from the shadows, body crackling with electricity.

"Vire!" it snarled in a booming voice, leaning close to sniff.

"Lith!" Growlithe howled, mouth wide as it fired an Ember.

"Te," the electric type scoffed, not even paying the attack even a glance as it pounded into his side. It instead sniffed at Gil from a distance before turning around and yelling out, "Vetire!"

Gil tensed, face set in a glare as both Growlithe and Murkrow stood protectively in front of him even though it was evident this pokemon was too strong for them. "Hello?" a voice called. "Electivire, did you find one of Oak's kids?" From the same shadow's, a tall, older man with hair nearly as dark hair as Gil. He looked Gil up and down, his face darkening. "Are you sure he's with the light?" he asked his pokemon.

Gil scowled at the man and flashed his pokedex.

The distrust was still there, but after a minute of just staring, the man finally sighed and gestured. "Come on, kid. My name is Tai, and I'm to lead you to the next meeting."

"And how can I trust you?" Gil shot back, lip curling.

The distrust seemed to grow in Tai's eyes. "I can't prove it to you," he said coldly, "but I can always force you to come." He gave a stiff nod at his pokemon. Gil glowered. Tai gave a small smirk. "Now let's go." He turned into the shadow's disappearing from sight.

"Hold up!" Gil snarled. Bastard, how could he follow him if he couldn't even see?

"My, my, a little lost mouse," a voice cooed as Gil ran straight into the shadow.

Gil nearly tripped over Growlithe as the fire pup jumped directly in front of him at the sound of a new voice that sounded very much like a threat. Growlithe growled loudly as a new person stepped forward from the shadows. Gil scowled, hating this world so much. Anybody could sneak up on anybody.

The being was cloaked, but from the body structure Gil determined that it was a man. "A little light mouse," the man purred mockingly, voice strangely disconnected that made it sound as if two people were talking. "Tell me little mouse, what does it feel like to be a servant to a lost cause?"

Gil stiffened. "I wouldn't know, but tell me, what does it feel like to be a slave?" He sneered as the man snarled and tossed a pokeball high into the air. With a loud screech, a small bat pokemon appeared.

"You have no idea what it's like to be with the dark brotherhood," the man snarled. "It's freedom."


"Murkrow, Astonish," Gil commanded to his flying pokemon.

The man cursed. "Leech Life!" he barked at his pokemon. He glowered as the two flying types took the battle to the air. The air was soon filled with loud screeches of pain that brought a smile to the man's lips. "Little mouse," he crooned, "tell me, are you afraid of the dark?"

The question actually made Gil pause. He blinked, eyes wide with surprise before a dark roar of laughter escaped from his lips. From above, Murkrow dive bombed Zubat and pounded into the poor bat with his beak, dragging the sharp appendage across its wing before fluttering back to avoid a Supersonic. Gil ignored it all, far too amused. "This darkness is everywhere," Gil said in between insane giggles, arms wrapped around his body. "It's now a part of life, and to fear life is foolish." He grinned forebodingly. "Tell me, you pile of dirt, are you afraid of the dark?"

"The arrogance!" the man roared. "Zubat, another Leech life!" he bellowed, still trying to focus on the battle while toying with Gil. "Questioning me, a member and loyal servant to the true darkness whether or not I fear it?!"


"Don't you?" Gil questioned innocently. "You serve it, you don't rule it."

"Krow!" Murkrow snarled, Pecking at Zubat as it latched onto his wing and began to suck away his energy. "Murk!" With another caw of anger, he slapped the bat away with his wing in a makeshift Wing Attack.

"Zuu," Zubat groaned, flailing in the air.

"One cannot rule over the powerful," the brotherhood member growled, pinning Gil with a glare.

"No, only the weak are ruled over," Gil purred, feeling incredibly cocky. He was feeling (no longer to his horror) great. He was enjoying pushing this mans buttons. "And you would know all about being weak, wouldn't you?"

The man actually roared. "Zubat, finish it!"

Gil looked up, blinking in what looked like an innocent way, but his eyes were dark with intensity and eagerness. He gave no command, only wanting to watch the outcome. "Murk!" Murkrow finally spat, opening his beak wide and unleashing a blast of cool wind that felt so very different from the warm air that Growlithe usually gave off.

Icy Wind… his pokedex offered before Gil slammed the device shut, cackling as the ice attack slammed into Zubat and formed ice on its wings. With a baleful screech, the poor bat fell to the ground in an unconscious heap.

"Return," the man growled before releasing yet another pokemon, this one a dark pokemon with fur as dark as onyx stones and bones actually on its outer skin. Gil rather liked this pokemon. It was a dark type, which was his favorite, and it reminded him of death.

"Hound!" it snarled, teeth bared as it shot a quick Ember at Murkrow. The bird cawed loudly as the fire fizzed by its wing, almost hitting its target.

"Return," Gil said lowly. He gave a nod to Growlithe. With an eager bark, Growlithe stood up against his fellow fire type with a vicious snarl. Gil folded his arms, a dark grin spread across his features. He was feeling powerful at the moment. "Kill it."

The man faltered, surprised and shocked that someone from the seemingly good side would issue a kill command so easily, especially when one was so young. "Take it down!" he barked.

In the next instant, the two fire pups were a sprawling mass of fangs and claws. Growls erupted through the air and Growlithe bit at Houndour, nipping its tail before Houndour turned back and clamped down onto the smaller one's back. In return, Growlithe howled in anger and turned glowing yellow eyes onto his opponent.

"Dou!" Houndour yelped, scuttling back in fear from the Leer.

"Lithe!" Growlithe snarled, Biting down onto Houndour's neck.

The man growled. "My little dark mouse, how stained you are. The light side will never accept you now that you've commanded to kill."

Gil rolled his head to face the man fully. "Break its leg," he commanded firmly.

The man jerked back as a howl that expressed true pain erupted through the air. Growlithe had latched onto Houndour's left hind leg, mouth dripping with saliva that gave it a rabid look. With a crunching noise that caused the howl of pain, Growlithe's teeth sank through the bone.

"Hoound!" Houndour howled, muzzle pointed to the sky as it panted in agony.

"Houndour!" the man cried. "Please, let him go!"

Gil laughed loudly. "Please?" he parroted mockingly before giving a false sigh of distress. "You really do know how to be a begging slave, don't you?" The man glared, eyes alight in pure hatred, but another how of pain brought his attention back to the battle at hand.

"Return!" he finally cried before cradling the pokeball in his hand. "You'll pay," he hissed. "You'll pay, and I'll be there as the true darkness swallows your pitiful soul, as well as the weak group you belong to?"

Gil's face was firm as he gazed at the pathetic man, seeming uninterested now that the man was no longer a threat. "I don't belong to anyone," he whispered coldly, watching the man turn and disappear into the shadows.

"Lith," Growlithe sniffed at the man's retreating back before nudging at Gil's hand for attention.

"Good boy," Gil allowed as he bent to rub his pokemon gently.

"Boy!"

Gil jumped as he turned to glare as Tai reemerged before him. Where the hell was this man before he was attacked?

"There you are," he growled, clearly exasperated. "I told you to follow."

"Kind of hard to follow when you're being attacked," Gil hissed.

"Attacked?" Tai was immediately alert. "By whom, and how long ago?"

"Dark brotherhood member and literally ten seconds before you came back," Gil said with a sneer.

Tai sighed. "At least you're ok." Gil gave a noncommittal 'hmph'. "Let's get going, we need to meet up with the others. The meeting will be starting—"

"No," Gil interrupted.

Tai faltered. "Excuse me?"

"I'm not going." Gil drew back. "I'm not a part of this, I'm not someone's soldier and I don't belong to anyone!" By the end of that Gil had let out a snarled frenzy.

"You signed up for this when you received your pokemon from Professor Oak," Tai said softly, trying to be soothing. "You knew the consequences and what was expected of you," he continued, beginning to look regretful. "I'm sorry, child, but if you do not come willingly, I will have to use force."

Gil scrambled back, an animalistic snarl erupting from his lips. Growlithe snarled, eyes becoming frenzied as he felt his master's fear. "I belong to nothing," Gil whispered.

"We all belong to something," Tai said sadly before nodding to his pokemon.

Electivire took a step forward, arm outstretched, and Gil knew he could not beat this strong pokemon, but there was still something that even his weak Growlithe could do. "Roar!" he yelled.

It was instant. Growlithe opened his muzzle to release a loud roar that send shiver's down Tai's spine and filled Gil with mirth. The electric type's eyes widened in surprise before the attack took hold and he transformed into red light where he was instantly recalled back into his pokeball, but Gil hadn't stayed to watch. He had run. He had run like the demon's of hell were after him, and he knew they were.

After all, he could still feel their gaze.