Chapter One-A Rude Awakening

Dread Isle's sky illuminated ever so slightly, palish tendrils of pink forcing themselves through the dark blue of the darkened heavens, and as they worked their way upwards the insides of the Castle of Terror sprang to life. Servants ran about in a, strangely enough, orderly fashion as they prepared breakfast for the family living there. This day was especially important, as a meeting was going to be held between all the major generals as well as the king, Bruteas.

Speaking of the king, he had taken to the banister of the castle's third floor, tapdancing on top of it. His personal subject, Eield, came over to check up on him with an unamused expression.
"Master...what the hell are you doing?" Bruteas, however, continued in his manic dance, swinging his arms in and out like a composer as he hopped from foot to foot in place. He had a crazed grin and his ears were twitching madly. The bronze chain necklace he kept on at all times made a jingling sound as it rattled and shook with his erratic movement and his great violet mane swung up and down as he flailed faster and faster to the beat of some imaginary song. His bright red claws flexed and retracted randomly, before he suddenly launched himself over his slave, landing with a graceful flourish. All at once, the Zoroark gained a serious air, standing up to his full height.

"Why are you here so early? Normally you're in your den investigating our economic status at this hour." His servant, a Sharpedo, grimaced.

"I'm here because I don't trust the other common dredges working here." He bared his teeth, snarling for a moment. However, he suddenly regained his composure.

"Anyway, we're making preparations." The shark turned on the spot and then swam through the air and made his leave. Bruteas calmly walked after him with a gait of confidence. The two descended down a lavish spiral staircase before going through a red door and emerging in the mess hall, where many a Pokemon scurried across the floor, setting upon their duties. Bruteas and Eield walked across the room, opening a grey door and stepping into the kitchen, where dozens of Pokemon were standing in a line waiting for orders.

Snapping with his left claws, Bruteas took a sheet of instructions and walked past the line, rattling off names and assignments. At the end of the line was an Umbreon covered in scars.
"Mane, I understand you and Pyhrus have a history?" Rather than speak, Mane gave a rough nod.

"Yes, that I do. We advise keeping us apart, as one of us would likely start something and therefore derail or possibly prematurely terminate the meeting." Bruteas shrugged dismissively.

"Honestly I don't care. Anyway, you're making the tea. Don't screw up."
Bruteas walked away, leaving Mane to set upon his duties. However, he hadn't been at it for very long when a Zorua, with a scar on his muzzle, barged in. He had an extremely angry expression, and stared at the Umbreon's face for a few seconds. The Umbreon, who immediately recognized him as his master, Prince Mezza, looked back.
"Young Master-"

"You forgot to make my morning tea."

"My apologies, I had not realized that the meeting would be taking place so early-" The Zorua scowled angrily, scratching Mane to shut him up.

"You also let me oversleep on the day of an important meeting."

"Young Master, I will have your morning tea ready soon. Please just let-"

"And don't you dare burn it like you usually do!" The Zorua walked away.
[size=xx-small]"Stupid dog, you make me look bad." [/size] Watching his master walk away, Mane sighed.
"Back to the tea, I suppose."

Several hours passed and the meeting began. Mane brought a large kettle downstairs before dashing back up and bringing down cups.
Bruteas sat at the end of a long, oval-shaped table. Along the right side were a Houndoom, another Zoroark, a Zweilous, and a Sableye with a misshapen, massive metal right arm tipped with five large claws. Umbreon set down a tea cup for each of them and filled each, retreating to the back of the room with his kettle. This sight made the Houndoom snicker.

"I'm surprised you let your son's mangy mutt in here." Mane held back a snarl; not only was that comment racist (literally) he had called him dirty, which he wasn't. Also the mere sight of the Houndoom filled him with rage hot as the flames of hell, which helped.
"Pyhrus, can we remember the task at hand?" Bruteas asked, drinking his tea.

"Besides, nobody else I have can make tea that doesn't taste like crap."
Pyhrus merely lapped some out of his without lifting it, then returned his gaze to Bruteas.
"Ah, yes. I've called this meeting in response to several reports from...well, spies. It seems there's an alliance that's going to form between the Kingdom of Flames and Highland soon, which would make getting to the Land of Truth and back extremely difficult...for us. But not for them. Which would mean we'd basically be screwed in that department. So there's that thing going on." Mane shuddered slightly at the ineptly written, massively anachronistic dialogue passing through the war room.

The Sableye, which had been silently sipping tea, finally spoke.
"I fail to see why we were brought here. We're killers, not soldiers. Let alone generals." Phyrus smirked slightly in response.
"You should be honored! After all, not everyone gets a chance to talk to me like this!"

This prompted a long, silent glare which Pyhrus completely ignored.
"So, my thought process is that we set out, right now while the ambushes along the way are infrequent and uncoordinated, and we give em hell, while we can." Bruteas raised an eyebrow.

"So, kill all of them or just attack and hope we leave them-"
"No, no. Just step in, butcher a few innocents, fear tactics." Bruteas shrugged.
"You're the one running this show, fine."
The talk continued for several hours before everyone finally left. After cleaning the kettle and the tea cups out, Mane walked up to his master's room: It was in the same corridor as his parents' bedchambers, the first on the left. Mane walked over, teacup held in his mouth, before setting it down and knocking. Mezza opened the door, looking angry.
"About damn time, the sun is halfway through the sky."
Mane offered his master the tea cup, which he accepted. Taking the cup and lifting his head, Mezza immediately lowered it back down, spewing the contents it once held on Mane's face.
"What, are you trying to kill me!? This is burning hot! GO DO IT AGAIN AND GET IT RIGHT THIS TIME!"