Pure Darkness

Zorre narrowed his eyes as he peered through the dark leaves of the Shadowhue Forest. The urgent note from a needy client was held gently between his blades, detailing the frantic pleas of a tiny skitty begging for help. Darkness had descended on the once-bright land that Zorre had known for quite some time, and missions like the one he was heading on today were growing more and more common, a very worrying thing to the Guild and the Police of Grassveil Town.

As it was, Zorre still didn't know what had happened to his former team-mates, Excalibur and Serenity. It was worrying that they had both disappeared before this all had happened, and now he had the additional worry that they had somehow succumbed to the disease that seemed to be spreading across the lands.

After Crysel had disappeared during their hunt for the Gastly in Pricklemist Hill, Zorre had been at a loss of what to do. He'd slowly made his way back to Grassveil, only to find the town in a panic due to the strange disease and the ominous, black clouds covering the skies. Zorre sighed as he dithered at the edge of the forest.

He was confident in himself and his abilities to fight off opponents, but who could fight a disease with tactics of pure physical strength?

Azeral sat near the entrance of the forest. She had no reason to be here nor any reason not to be here, her coat was unscratched and her hood was covering her head making her not really look like a Ralts. Slowly Azeral got up and let out a soft sigh, having cotemplated entering alone long enough. She took her hood off and looked into the entrance of the forest, a feeling of dread came over her once she remembered what had happened here, the weird disease freaked her out.

With a shake of her head she continued into the forest deciding to show no fear, despite the weird disease going around. "I don't have a reason to come here, i should of come with Joey strength in numbers." Az muttered to herself before walking farther in, slightly ignorant of her surroundings being lost in thought.

Zorre was startled at the sudden voice that came out of the darkness from within the forest. He glared around suspiciously, stowing away the note and readying his blades for a fight.

"There, is who?" He called into the shadows warily. He was very aware of the possibility for an ambush from some of the diseased pokemon -or even normal feral pokemon. His eyes narrowed as he stared around, trying to see who had spoken.

Azeral stopped in her tracks and looked around. "My name is Azeral." She called out leaving her guild member status out of it, could be an outlaw. Azeral could of sworn she hadn't talked to loud, the other mon must of been close by if it heard her. Azeral grabbed her hood and threw it over her head as she would always do while expecting a fight. "I'll assume you are not feral." She said getting ready to move at a moments notice, or teleport whichever fit the attack that could be coming at her.

Azeral then backed up into the shadows of a tree, with her full black cloak she blended right in, mixed with her small size she had almost vanished from sight.

The voice was coming from the trees to his right. Zorre ducked into the shadows, his black carapace serving him well to blend into the darkness of the forest. He peered through the leaves and saw no one -whoever it was must also have good hiding powers, Zorre deducted.

He didn't like that -normally he was the silent stalker from the shadows, the ninja with blades of death. That he couldn't spot the intruder was worrying. It meant whoever was here was just as good at stalking as he was.

"Am Zorre, I," he said, figuring that he'd repay the favor of stating his name. "Feral... is, but... not?" He couldn't really answer the implied question truthfully one way or the other. He certainly wasn't a civilized pokemon by any means, but he could talk and reason. Plus, he was part of the guild. But there was no way the pokemon could know that, and he was wary of saying so.

Azeral remained silent for a moment, she slightly understood what this Pokemon was talking about. "What i meant was." Azeral said stepping out of the shadows and pulling off her hood. "You won't attack right?" She finished standing in slight plain sight, she was told never to do that but hell might as well, if she was attacked the Mon would be in for a big surprise.

"I promise I am not an outlaw nor a feral, just Az." Azeral said still leaving her guild status out of it having no idea who this Pokemon was, whoever it was had the same idea she felt he was still here, just a hunch.

The pokemon revealed itself from the shadows, and Zorre got a good look at the pokemon for the first time since he'd first heard her voice. It was a ralts -a seemingly innocent, tiny ralts. But appearances were deceiving, after all.

Zorre tilted his head, considering. Why would the pokemon reveal itself if it wanted to attack him? Or was it a trick to make him reveal himself as well? The words from the pokemon sounded sincere, but then, didn't they always?

He figured, though, as long as he was ready for the possibility of an ambush, he could reveal himself. If the ralts attacked, she'd soon realize that he was no easy prey.

He stepped out from the shadows and into the pale light that filtered from behind the dark clouds covering the sky.

"Harm not, I to you... defence of self, exception," he stated, warily now that he was no longer hidden.

Azeral got a good look at the Pokemon, from what she could tell it was a Scyther. "Good, there is enough violence these days." Az said deciding to keep her words slightly short, it was slightly due to the way this Pokemon was talking. "Well Zorre, what brings you to Shadowhue." Az questioned not seeing a reason why considering whats been going on

Zorre paused in suspicion at the ralts' question. If he told the truth, he'd be revealed as an exploration team member. But if he told a lie, he'd be stuck in it -he hated lies, they were far too bothersome for a simplistic pokemon like him.

He dithered for a moment before deciding to stick to a portion of the truth. If the ralts interpreted his answer the wrong way, that wasn't exactly his fault, now was it?

"Help, needs a skitty," he answered. He was no longer bothered by his strange speech -he had been speaking this way for so long and most pokemon were able to at least figure out the intent behind what he was trying to say.

"A skitty needs help." Azeral repeated thinking that was what the Scyther was trying to get across, it was either that or someone named help needs a skitty, and that didn't make sense, who names a kid help, weird.

"Well if a Skitty needs help maybe i could do something, I'm a guild member, leader of Shattered Blade." Az said revealing her guild status, no point to hiding it anyway, 's not like she'd be in any real danger.

Zorre nodded at the ralts' statement, affirming what she had already assumed.

Then his eyes went wide as she spoke her next sentence, revealing the exploration bag at her side -how had he not noticed that before? A small smile darted across his face, glad to have good company, and glad that he wasn't about to get attacked -guild members wouldn't attack each other.

"Guild is I too! Shadow Blade, is team am I!" Zorre burst out excitedly. "Other help each? Reward split?" he offered.

Azeral was surprised, not at the fact that they were both part of the guild, she was surprised how similar their names were. "A mission." Az repeated remembering she had seen a mission put up that said exactly what Zorre was doing. "Ya sure, we can do this together, after all nothing can stop two guild members right." Az said with a smile before pulling her hood back up, it was nice to have company in a place like this.

Rezikun carried out 2 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

,

Energy: 26 - 10 (entrance) = 16 (I... totally forgot about energy count :3)

Zorre nodded eagerly, agreeing with the ralts on that front. Two guild members were practically unstoppable, especially since it seemed they were both great at hiding in the shadows. "Members, team of you have?" He asked awkwardly, trying to ask if Azeral had any other members on her team -though he wasn't sure he had gotten that message across.

He looked around suddenly, having heard a rustle from the trees.

Silver carried out 3 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

, ,

"Member, ya i have a team member. His name is Joey a Pikachu." Azeral said slightly embarrassed her partner was a second evolution while she was still on her first, she shook her head ridding herself of these thoughts before returning to the conversation. "What about you, do you have any team members?" She questioned figuring it'd be easy to return the question.

As Az asked something fell on top of her head, she outstretched her arms and caught whatever it was. It was just a simple Apple that happened to fall on her head.

(10)

Energy: 16 - 3 (Defense Scarf) = 13

Zorre glanced back at Azeral after a moment of nothing happening -maybe he'd just heard the rustle from the apple that fell?

He pondered on her question for a moment, wondering how best to try and phrase himself for maximum retention of his answer. "Once, yes. Now, gone... disappeared," he stated slowly, trying very hard not to mess up what he was trying to say.

While he was busy concentrating on his answer, he didn't see the flabebe sneaking up on him until a sharp wind was suddenly cutting against him, causing the scyther to fall back with a cry of pain, a glare shot at the tiny flower pokemon.