Disclaimer: I own Pokemon?!? Yeah right.
EB678: Hey, thanks in advance for reading. This is Misery Loves Company, a story of love, loss, tragedy, and darkness.
I've been toying with this idea for ages, as I want to make a Darkrai (my favorite legendary ever) fic without it becoming a LunarEclipseShipping (DarkraixCressilia) story. In advance, Farla, I know that fics have been written like that, so don't flame me yet.
Anyway, please enjoy Misery Loves Company. It will be four chapters long.
Misery Loves Company
Chapter One: Looking For Trouble
"Darkrai!"
Darkrai turned around as slowly as possible, inwardly praying that Cressilia, or Mew, or really any other legendary wasn't really calling him, that it was just a mistake. Oh, no.
Arceus stood behind him, the goddess legendary looking (if it was possible) less stern than usual. She gestured with one paw for him to come nearer. "Darkrai, I should like to speak with you."
Thanks, but no thanks was what Darkrai would have liked to reply. Instead, he sucked it up. "Yes, Lady Arceus." He followed her to a nearby clearing in Celebi's wood, the usual meeting place for legends.
The golden ring around Arceus's waist shimmered in the morning sun. "Darkrai, what is wrong?"
Darkrai's white smoke shifted, a sign of surprise. "Wrong? Nothing's wrong.." He trailed off.
Emerald eyes met Darkrai's visible sapphire. "Don't lie, Darkrai. You know I can tell."
The dark legendary turned away, white "smoke" twisting in odd spirals. "I guess....I'm just..bored, or something. Nothing ever happens here."
Arceus hid a slight smile. "Bored? I should say you were. You tied Mew to a tree. With her tail. I know she can be a bit wearing at times...But you have to admit that was overkill."
A rebelliousness flickered in Darkrai's eyes. It vanished swiftly, but not swiftly enough to be missed by Arceus.
"Darkrai...." Arceus gazed into the darkness Pokemon's eyes again. "What is it that you want?"
The look of a rebel reappeared in his eyes of ice. "An escape."
"In that case...there is one thing I can do." the goddess said haltingly.
Darkrai leaned closer. "What...is it?" he asked with an almost hungry tone.
"I can make you human for one week and send you to their world. But," she said, watching his expression, "it has its downsides. You cannot use your full power while you are there. However, do not use any power at all, for we do not want you to be noticed. You can still change into your true form, but only for limited periods of time. Kindly do not attempt to do so while among other humans."
"By sunset of the second day after one week has passed," she continued, "you will begin flickering back to normal. People will start seeing your Darkrai form for moments at a time. At midnight you shall become fully Darkrai again, and at day's first hour, I shall return for you. Do you accept?"
Darkrai didn't hesitate for a moment. "I accept."
A rare laugh left Arceus' lips. "Then follow me."
He materialized in the domain of humans, a ragged sign proclaiming "-elco-e -o -est-ny Ci-y" nearby. The area was covered by the signs of gang violence, graffitied walls and crumbled buildings only driving the point further.
He looked to be twenty or twenty-one years of age, tall and slim, with long white hair flopping loose and covering half his face, a black leather jacket hanging carelessly around his shoulders. A thick red scarf was wrapped loosely around his neck, dingy jeans and nicked black boots dragging on the ground as he landed. His visible sapphire eye glinting in the early light, Darkrai looked around at his surroundings.
Arceus appeared beside him, hovering in midair. Darkrai turned to her, looking up. "Arceus...What is this place?"
"This was once known as Destiny City. By now," she said, surveying the wreckage, "it should be called the Destitute City. This was once my sacred city, but now....it is little more than a gathering place for the dregs of society."
"This is where I leave you." Arceus continued. She turned to the sky and teleported, leaving Darkrai, in his new form, behind.
Trudging down the road, Darkrai's white hair glimmered slightly. His footsteps echoed around him as he entered a dark alley, nearly stumbling over a fallen trash can.
However, the quiet of the darkness was not about to last. A sharp knife nearly brushed his throat, and Darkrai felt the hot and putrid breath of a criminal on his neck. "Drop the cash and live, rich boy."
Barely resisting the urge to disobey orders and use his powers, Darkrai struggled to maintain his disguise. "I don't have any money." This was true, at least.
"That's what they all say." As the knife drew nearer to his throat, Darkrai wondered whether he could die in this form. He was just about to let loose with his darkness powers when...
Suddenly, the figure behind him slackened his hold on the knife, his breath rushing in and out like one who was struggling to breathe.
"Drop the knife." An ominously low voice came from farther behind Darkrai, and the knife was pulled away as the man behind him was pushed to the ground. Darkrai turned around, confusion showing prominently in his visible eye. Huh?
"I wasn't doing nothin'!" The man said as he scrambled to his feet.
"That's what they all say." The third figure revealed themselves, Darkrai's rescuer was, surprisingly, a girl clad in black to blend in with the shadows. "Well, so we meet again, Fist."
Apparently Darkrai's attempted robber also knew the girl. "You! Darkness-!"
The girl cut him off. "Former Darkness, thank you very much. Now," she said, fingering her own knife, "you might want to scram."
Fist took off running. "You'll pay for this, damn you! We'll get you!"
Sheathing her knife, the girl turned to Darkrai, circling him. "I somehow guess you're knew here, or you'd have known to avoid the alleyways. These places are breeding grounds for vermin like him."
Sensing that the girl probably wasn't an enemy, Darkrai relaxed the smallest bit. "Who are you?"
"Who wants to know?"
"I make it a point to find out the name of who is saving my life, thank you very much."
"Fine, stranger. I'm Deimos. And you are? I make it a point to find out if the person I rescue is a friend or an enemy." Clearly the girl was used to fighting both verbally and physically, taking the words of another and throwing them back into her opponent's face. The gears in Darkrai's mind spun like mad as he tried to find a name which wouldn't betray his true identity.
He remembered a name that Giratina has mentioned in passing once. "Phobos. Phobos...Rai."
"Phobos, ay? Interesting name." Darkrai stiffened, afraid he had been found out, that there was a real Phobos Rai in the universe and she knew of him.
But Deimos showed no sign of recognition to the name. "I also presume you aren't affiliated with the Fighters' Gang. Am I correct?" She said, and Darkrai noticed her hand inching toward her knife. He shook his head.
"Good then." She turned to go, then spun around again as though she'd forgotten something. "Say, have you got a place to stay?"
"No." Darkrai said, this problem now apparent. I'd rather not stay out on the streets after the incident earlier.
"Come with me, then, I know a place." Deimos turned and started to walk away. Darkrai followed, watching her interestedly.
Deimos had long dark hair and gray eyes, and looked to be about the same ages as his form, about nineteen or twenty years. She wore black jeans and a black sweatshirt, wise choices in these dark pathways. However, there seemed to be something off about her, and Darkrai studied her until he realized what was amiss.
Around her waist a trainer's belt hung, simple with six impressions for pokeballs. However, the belt was completely empty, with no pokeballs breaking up the darkness the seemed to hang around her like a shroud of the night.
EB678: Yeah, a little different. I selected Deimos's name and Darkrai's' nom de plume from the language of Ancient Greeks, Phobos meaning "fear" and Deimos meaning "terror". Hopefully you enjoyed this little fic thus far.
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