From: Dreadite <dreadite@tsoft.com> Subject: [PW!] The Darkness Dreadite. Date: Friday, December 31, 1999 12:27 AM PW!: The Darkness Dreadite. Previously in the story, Dreadite and the midget turned alien Arcturus were at a standoff at the Diet Coke Bottle From Hell Evolved form. Meanwhile, the Pokemon Tournament is in full swing. ------ ::pain:: The mental cry of something inside the planet. A tiny black dot shot towards the surface of the planet, springing like dew onto the plant outside. Then another. And another. Black dew was gathering. ------ Dreadite stared at Arcturus, who blandly stared back, waiting for the rocket to attack. The grass below started, formerly shimmering in the dew, started to go dark. Dreadite looked up at the storm clouds moving towards the bottle, and raised his hand towards the alien. "Burn." A blast of fire swirled around Arcturus, and he plunged towards the ground, readying himself to land and spring back at the rocket. He plummeted into the ground, ready to spring. And then the grass exploded in flames. The black dew burnt for a second, then the fires were absorbed into the darkness. Arcturus lay dazed on the ground for a second, and when he looked up, Dreadite was gone. "Damn it. That bug is full of tricks, but he can't go far," the alien stated, taking off in the logical fleeing direction, towards Mt. Moon. ::Anger:: ------ At the league center, the people who lost out early in the tournament had already begun going home, heavy hearted. The black dew spread with the despondent sighs of the losers. Spreading around the bottle, which was slowly being shrouded by the blackness. The storm clouds started gathering, bolts of electricity arcing from the bottle to the clouds above. ::Despondancy:: ------ Mindbender the Alakazam's meditations were troubled. Sitting atop Mt. Moon, he reached out with his mind towards the source of his troubles, the cloudy, dark mess near the base of the mountain. He snapped awake, shuddering. ::So cold...:: ------ Dreadite watched from the air at the growing pool below, devoid of color. His Pidgey swooped in the air, and Dreadite looked around cautiously. A Dragonite was approaching from the west, armored in Pokemon League gear. It set down a good distance away from the bottle, and let out a dull roar. Dreadite twirled in the air, rolled downwards about forty feet, and rushed towards the Dragon pokemon. The Dragonite side stepped, and held out a holocard. The card blinked on, and Lance appeared in the small projection zone. "Greetings to whoever inhabits this area. Our psychics have noticed some disturbances in your area, and we wondered if we should dispatch assistance." Dreadite picked up the card, and Lance's image continued. "If you need assistance, the League will need your reply to this card. Please record a message." Dreadite pressed record, and stared at the holocamera. "Lance. The time has come to pay the dues you owe me, all you people do. This is just the beginning. We don't want you here, you can take your help and help yourself, because you'll need it soon enough." Dreadite tossed the card to the Dragonite, and the pokemon leered at him before taking off at break neck pace towards Veridian. Dreadite watched it go, throwing his hood on and walking into the almost pitch-black bottle. As he entered, the black dew spread around the cracks in the door, crackling with energy. ::Hate:: ------ Below the bottle, the concentrated evil shuddered, sending ripples of energy through the pools of blackness above. ::All these emotions.. I can feel them:: Mindbender picked up the training end of the thought as he meditated. He turned his spoon slightly, in anticipation of the worst. He sent out a mental scream. ::What are you?:: To his relative surprise, a mental voice answered. ::I am the Darkness.:: Mindbender racked his superpowered psyonic brain for where he had heard that before. ------ Dreadite was walking down stone steps. The dripping sounds of the black dew hitting the floor, and the footsteps were the only sounds so far below the surface of the planet. The dripping dew kicked up the layers of dust that set apon the steps from ages past, and the footsteps left footprints set in the dust that didn't fade. There was no wind down there, and Dreadite's cloak hung around him, clinging to him in the damp, musty air. Dreadite's hand held a small flame, lighting the pitch black of the tunnel as the steps ended before picking up again, curving and curling steadily downwards. The droplets could be seen slowly falling, and spilling into pools around Dreadite, filling the air with static electricity. The dust swirled towards the energy pools as they slowly spread. The walls below were black, not because of lack of light, but because of the lack of stone still showing. Dreadite stopped at the end of the tunnel, and pushed open the iron doors at the bottom. A burst of energy shot out, bolts of electricity riding down the tunnels. Darkness slowly moves out of the black shapes, forming himself into a image of Dreadite, but pure black. The static dies as Darkness separated himself from the energy mass. "Well now, how I'm glad to see someone has the decency to open the door these days," Darkness stated, stretching his wings out to the walls. "It's a pity it had to be my nicer side." Dreadite turned away and started up the stairs. "Well, evil has degraded a bit since the world got out of the dark ages." Darkness smiled. "Ah, how I enjoyed the dark ages." Dreadite kept walking towards the room above, and Darkness shrugged and followed. ----- Lance threw the holocard against the wall, and looked at his Dragonite. "You heard him, he doesn't want help. What the hell is Team Rocket up to NOW?" A psychic trainer pointed towards the east. "So cold." Lance sighed, and walked out onto the terrace outside his office. "Is that all they can tell me these days? It's bad enough I lost at the tournament." His Dragonite made a dull noise, and Lance whirled. "Say what? Wings? That's odd." The dragonite cocked its head to one side and snorted. Lance sat down on the bench and sighed. "All right, dispatch some of the guard there to see what's up. And be discreet about it. Oh, and see what Sabrina has to say." ----- Dreadite and Darkness sat in front of a table, watching the little black dot on the map slowly grow. Dreadite's eyes glowed red slightly as a trail sped towards Mt Moon. ----- Arcturus looked back at the bottle when he reached the mountain, and gaped. It looked like a black hole had swallowed it whole. "I think I made a mistake just now..." --TBC? Oh, hell yeah. ^^; Dreadite ----- The darkness, all around. Ghosts are like shadows, escaping death but for a moment, like shadows flitting from light. Ghostly we are, flitting from death but for a moment.