Virtue and Valor (Mod)

[Wolfe]

A new day. New chances, for some to soar and others to fall, possibilities arise, and new encounters, with friends and enemies alike.

Needless to say, reality heavily differed from ideology, and it wasn't long before Marc felt like shooting himself from the humidity. Yes, he had grown used to the unbearable heat of the Aeronian summers, but there was something else that the heat reminded him of. Home. And of all the things that he hated, Celestia was of the foremost.

Heracross, or, Gaius, as he had so-dubbed himself, had gone forward to scout any possible threats to the safety of the party. Marc, seeing no harm in doing so, allowed for it. He wasn't sure of what to think of him. Sure, loyal, brave, honor-bound - things that, in the past, Marc would have relished. Now? Not so very much. Whatever Marc thought of his new companion would have to wait, however, as he was gone for the moment, leaving just himself and Liliana.

And of course, she, never being one to pass up an opportunity to tease Marc, just had to make one of her irritable comments.

Oh, the heat, it is simply unbearable!, she hummed, in that singsong voice of hers, mocking the pose of an elegant noble.

"Hmph. Would you rather stay in the ball, princess?"

Lapras, expecting him to say as much, responded this time, no expression in her tone:

O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a
king of infinite space—were it not that I have bad dreams..

Marc looked back at her, trying not to let his bewilderment show.

"The quote is irrelevant to the situation at hand. What Shakespeare meant to say through Hamlet does not have anything to do with the topic we are now conversing."

She blushed.

Well, color me impressed. Your attitude, she sniffed, is vulgar, to say the least...but I suppose I could overlook that, seeing how you're smarter than you look.

Marc was in the midst of retorting when Gaius flew into back into their company.

No threats encountered. We should be able to proceed without disturbance.

Marc's sarcastic comment dissolved in his throat as he spoke:

"Good work, Gaius."

Lily snorted.

Wonderful. Now I have not one, but two blockheads to deal with. If Marc wasn't bad enough...

Gaius looked at Marc, and snickered, a rare show of amusement playing across his face. Even if he hadn't talked, Marc would have understood his speech.

Females...bah.

[Sam]

As the trio walked along the path, everything seemed to get darker. The air seemed heavier, deeper, almost foggy. The sun seemed to get dimmer and shine not so bright, as if hiding from some impending force. Any Pokemon that strayed in the open was suddenly alerted and scurried into the nearest hiding, even if the hiding wasn't their own. The leaves shrunk back, wilting beneath a poisonous cloud of thought that moved their way.

From the south, a huge black cloud began to roll into view, much to fast to be natural. Waves of energy, its sounds long dropped off, passed one after another over the travelers. Finally, the source of the power was apparent.

A shape that made every shadow look as light as day flew from the black cloud and landed with a huge crash into a tree a short ways from where Marc stood. Loud roars and shouts where suddenly very close and from where the clouds were coming, three very strange forms flew out of the underbrush.

They were dressed in very strange garbs. They were black, and deep night purple robes with an image, printed as silver as the moon, a star, upside-down, cut off at the middle underneath a strange two tiered swirl. They all rode different Pokemon. One was on an Absol, one on a Houndoom, the last on a Mightyena. Running (and flying) with them was a Gengar, Drapion, and a Salamence. They approached the strange shape, not noticing Marc's presence, and ordered their Pokemon to surround. And then, from the center, a multitude of blue sparks flew from the shape. They hit each Pokemon, knocking them back.

Rising from the crater in the ground was a Pokemon that turned its surroundings just a shade darker. It's entire form was black, except for a thick ring of red cutting around its neck. As it rose up, clawed arms flung to the side, a wave of torrented from its head like a flame and a single blue eye opened on its face. The Darkrai observed its enemies, before being taken down from behind by the Drapion.

From the shade of the trees, a huge, unrecognizable Pokemon stepped out with a man mounted on its back. He was wearing dark purple armor streaked with black with the silver insignia imprinted on his chestplate. After closer observation, his mount was actually a Rapidash, but its mane was not of fiery red, but of a slow moving green substance. Its eyes were a blood crimson color, no pupils, and no white. The man on top of it had a helmet on, which, when he spoke, seemed to echo his voice.

"We have captured you, Darkrai, and you will not escape the power of the Night Wanderers."

[Wolfe]

Something is very wrong here.

No duh, Sherlock.

Marc inclined his head upwards, trying to pinpoint the origin of the sudden outburst.

"It's human, I suppose. Some supernatural power, or it may be the work of modern technology. Either way, I suspect..."

Marc was cut off when the Lord of Nightmares flew past his position, and into a nearby tree, pursued by three human riders, each with their own mount. Definitely not a work of nature. And then, just to top it off, a fourth rider sauntered up to the god, speaking of capture.

Liliana shook her head in disdain.

Fools. They're trying to harness the power of a god, for Arceus's sake.

To accentuate her point, a sudden burst of electric energy threw back some of the being's assailants, the atmosphere in the area experiencing surges of power.

But then again, sometimes, even a god needs some help.

This time, it was Gaius who spoke.

Let..Liliana, is it? Distract them. I'll try to break through their perimeter and reach Darkrai. You... he gestured to Marc, try to do whatever.

At this, Marc morphed.

"I believe I may be of some use. I will accompany Gaius in hopes of trying to breach their circle."

Gaius shook his head.

No. You are the one talented with the art of diplomacy. I will fight alongside you, but when the time comes, our fates are ultimately in your hands.

Marc acknowledged him with a nod.

"Let's get moving, then."

With a roar, Liliana announced her arrival, and with massive vibrations not dissimilar to an earthquake, opened a massive chasm where the Night Watchers stood.

Gaius, then, flew into the fray, trying to disorient his opponents as much as possible, or die trying.

This left the lone Gallade to walk closer to the god, his path free of obstacles. With a bow of respect, he spoke in a quiet voice.

"My lord. We are here to free you."

[Sam]

Every Pokemon and human noticed the roar of the Lapras and turned their heads, expecting a beast of great and terrible power to appear. The Lapras was very unpredictable. It didn't evolve, so they could not tell what level it was at. Using Fissure, however, was a very risky thing, especially considering most of the Pokemon could fly and the Pokemon that couldn't were agile enough to jump away immediately. The Heracross was a little more effective. He succeeded in knocking Drapion off of Darkrai, but did not do much more than that. With a roar, the Salamence charged forward, straight towards the Heracross, meeting it in mid-air. He screamed a challenge, and offered the opponent the first move, as was the proper method of testing an opponent's strength.

Meanwhile, Drapion was getting up and, seeing the Lapras waiting upon the ground, rushed forward, mashing his claws together, getting ready to fight.

As Marc approached Darkrai, he flinched a bit, sensing the human in him, thinking it was one of the Night Wanderers. However, when he saw him, and heard his voice, he considered for a moment, then flashed his blue eye at the Pokemorph. Instantly, time froze and everything faded into shadow except for just Marc and Darkrai. He began to laugh. "Free me? Lord? I am no Lord! These fools are beyond themselves, thinking that they are chasing a lord. No, I am not the true Lord of Nightmares. Like many others, the true King of Dreams has been copied by our changing world. The true Master of Night would not be here. He would be high upon the highest peaks of the mountain of shadows. That is the power that they seek. I praise you for freeing me, friend. This puts them down a step, pushes them back a notch. They will lose time, thanks to you. But you are better off to stop helping me and lend your hand to the true Nightmare Lord, if that is what you wish. Before I leave you, I must tell you of these people.

"They are called the Night Wanderers, as you might have guessed. The group you see before you is one of the strongest they have. They herald from an ancient city that once resided in the Shadow Seas. They were cruel, black-hearted people, but they were strong and very smart. After much effort and destruction, they captured the true Darkrai and drained his powers. His spirit lived, however, and it warned the gods to this danger. They gave him a new body and new powers and sunk the ancient city, putting every one of those traitors into a deep sleep. However, they could not take the powers away. They had hidden them from even a god's eye. And it is their savior. The few that survived the sleep have taken back their power and rose again with it. The man on the Rapidash, he is one of them. They've recruited many men and are once again pursuing Darkrai. But they plan to make no mistake this time. They will eradicate his spirit, steal his powers, and destroy his body. If this happens, then they will become more powerful then any man on Earth and unstoppable, even by the gods. With so much power and so large numbers, they may even destroy Arceus if they wished to. Do not let this happen."

Suddenly, the world was back to normal, they were back on the Route and no time had passed. Darkrai nodded thankfully and shot away with great speed. Gengar took the place where he once stood, throwing out his arms, ready to attack Marc.

Salamence, Level 50, has challenged Ceaser!

Drapion, Level 50, has challenged Lillian!

Gengar, Level 50, has challenged Marc!

[Wolfe]

Night Wanderers.

So the legends had been true. Marc was a realist - one couldn't indulge themselves in myths when the only things that they dealt with were the harsh realities of life. That was nice and all, especially to the fanatical members of the Iron Fist, but Marc wasn't exactly expecting to make it out to break the good news. He rolled his eyes, thinking about it.

He had two Pokemon who were hardly battle-ready, and himself, who was going up legends.

Lilly inclined her head, signalling for him to listen.

Go. Run as far away as you can, find someone to be with, live a happy life. Forget this every happened. We'll keep them off you.

It was Gaius who spoke next.

I'll go down fighting, but that doesn't mean you must. After all, you're part of something bigger. The world needs you, Markus.

And he knew what he had to do.

Morphing back into human form, he put his hands up, in a show of surrender. He spoke, with care, meaning evident in his words.

"Do what you wish to me, but leave my companions alone. After all, it was me who got them into this mess. Kill me, torture me - do whatever you guys do, but I ask of you, let them go free."

A single tear ran down Lilly's eye.

Not like this...not like this.

[Sam]

The man on the Rapidash was infuriated. His Darkrai had gotten away! Again! This boy had lost him precious time. He had planned to let the Pokemon that his men had already mustered for attack to wip them all out, but when the boy surrendered, he had to raise a hand to calm the attack. Instantly, the men returned their Pokemon and dismounted their steeds.

This great armored man got down from his Phantom Rapidash and walked towards the boy. Inside of his helmet, he smiled. Men's minds were easily manipulated.

His hands reached for the mask and slowly uncovered his face. Uncovered, one could now see that his skin was not beige or brown, but a light shade of purple. A long scar ran down the side of his face, the imprint of blood still running from it. He stared at Marc, blinking his cat-like eyes. "You are a brave boy," he whispered. "To stand in front of those that stood in front of gods. You do not even want to begin to wonder what horrors we could do to you. However, I've decided to honor your bravery instead of punish it." He gestured towards his discolored face. "This is what the gods have done to us. They have warped our kind, cursed us. Most of my brethren are still caged within the Shadow Seas while the rest haunt them. Few of us survived. An ancient city of great knowledge, wiped out because we began to wonder why Pokemon are our gods."

He was staring harder and harder into Marc's eyes. "One thing I have learned from my immortal life is if I should offer the chance to join the Night Wanderers or not. But you, you do not show the signs that I wish for. You would decline. You are too good. My gift to your bravery is to spare your life and your Pokemon's. My punishment?" Here, he punched Marc in the face with a fist of steel. He bashed him again, this time on the head, a blow hard enough to knock out a Blastoise, but not enough to kill him or do any serious damage. He took the Pokeballs of the Lapras and Heracross and tossed them to one of the men. He returned them and secured them in his belt. Knowing what to do, he mounted his Absol and the two of them shot away.

Kneeling down next to Marc, the armored man took his index finger, which was covered with a clawed armor plate, and inserted it between the boy's shoulder blades. He immediately felt the rush of the Pokemon inside him, but he did not absorb it. Gallade was a powerful Pokemon. They could create a body for it, using the dark powers that they stole from Darkrai in ancient times, and craft it into a Phantom, like his Rapidash. As he stood up and watched the men haul the boy away, he thought about how merciful he was, saving the boy from the pain of extracting power. He would only feel little in his unconscious state.

He smiled as he mounted his horse again and left the men to take care of the boy and his Pokemon. He would find that Darkrai. And take, piece by piece, every drop of power that flowed in his veins.

[Wolfe]

Marc spat in the man's face, angry defiance dancing in his eyes. He spat, despite himself.

"Screw. You."

And then, he left cold reality behind, fading back into the mercy of unconsciousness.

This wasn't the end.

Not yet.

END THREAD