A big thanks to Kog6943 and cornerstonolusa for your reviews and your guesses as to who our mystery pokémon will be.
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Getting to the town near the island Rage mentioned wasn't much of a problem. Like the incineroar had said, it was just a walk in a straight line for a little over a day. However, when their group reached the town huddled just on the coast, remarkably close to the island that was their destination, they started to encounter problems.
It was nothing serious, at least, not at first. After his experience in the last town, Rok was well aware of how the local pokémon would look at the group of Dark Types (plus one Electric Type) wandering their streets, so he was not overly bothered by the whispers and distrustful glares that shadowed them as they walked, simply keeping his gaze focused on the smooth stone paths.
The issues didn't really start until they reached a place that, according to Smoke, was called "the docks".
Ever since that river swept Rok away from his village, he'd encountered many strange and baffling things, but nothing was more disorientating than the docks. Giant wooden things that looked vaguely bowl shaped bobbed in the water, fenced in by wooden paths standing on poles as thick as tree trunks. Some of them had giant blankets stretched taught on sticks, other smaller ones had staffs inside that were flat and wide on one end like a leaf on a twig. The bowls swayed gently on the soft but unceasing waves of the…well, it must've been a lake, but not like one Rok had ever seen. It was much, much bigger than the one they had in the village, Rok couldn't even see the other side. The water was different too, darker, deeper, constantly shifting. And it smelled…odd. Cool and rich, and so strong Rok could almost taste it.
Reaper scanned the bowls with narrowed eyes, scrutinising the pokémon that bustled about all over the docks. "Getting a ride to that island is going to be difficult. Going by Rage's story, no-one's going to want to go anywhere near that island if they can help it, and they definitely aren't going to want to ferry a crew of Dark Types. Or an Electric Type for that matter." She added thoughtfully.
Rok tilted his head in confusion. "Why not? I thought pokémon were fine with Electric Types."
"They usually are." Reaper agreed, "But when you're going to be sitting on a wet boat over an ocean, it's generally not a good idea to bring along something that periodically shoots lightning."
Silvo shifted his weight slightly uncomfortably. "I did electrocute a lot of the fish after I evolved…"
Rok winced. He could imagine how the vaporeon had reacted to that.
"So…how are we going to get to the island?" he asked, "We definitely can't swim there."
Rage shuddered, eyeing the water with a slightly panicked gaze. "Yeah, definitely no swimming. Swimming's bad."
Smoke stepped forward. "I may have an idea…but you're not going to like it." He added to Reaper.
She cocked an eyebrow. "Well, it's not like we have a lot of options here."
"Well, sailors are known for being superstitious. It's a big reason why they probably won't take us to that island." Smoke said, "And your kind can sense impending disasters…"
Wait, what?
"Can you really do that?" Rok asked her.
Reaper grimaced. "It's hardly an exact science, but yeah, I can use my horn to sense natural disasters." Her gaze darkened into a scowl. "A long time ago, my kind tried to use our abilities for good. You know, warning people when some big catastrophe was coming. And what did we get in return for our help?" She chuckled darkly, voice rumbling with the birth of a growl. "A collective reputation as bringers of bad luck."
Rok's ears dropped against his skull. "I'm sorry."
Reaper scoffed and tossed her head. "Something like that was bound to happen sooner or later. Absol are Dark Types after all. Arceus forbid that a Dark Type actually be altruistic or something."
"We'll change that." Rok assured her.
Reaper rolled her eyes. "Still a pipe dream Rok." But she couldn't quite hide the smile on her face.
"Bad luck or not, a sailor is exactly the kind of pokémon who would want to know if there are any disasters coming in their future." Smoke interjected, "In fact, many absol sympathisers I've encountered are sailors. The ability to sense natural disasters applies nicely to future storms."
Reaper raised an eyebrow. "You've encountered absol sympathisers?"
Smoke chuckled and started walking down to the bowls. "Not every pokémon is prejudiced, Reaper."
Despite Smoke's assurances, it took several tries for them to finally find someone to…what was the word? "Ferry" them to the island. Some of them refused because they didn't want to bring an Electric Type, like Reaper said, some of them refused because they didn't want to deal with Dark Types, but most of them refused because of the island. Or, more accurately, the pokémon who lived there. None of them really gave any details as to why everyone was so terrified of this pokémon, but the raw fear in their voices was impossible to miss. When the finally found someone who agreed to take them, an old pale-orange dragon, Rok was having second thoughts. It was like was Reaper and the Elders said, the prejudice against Dark Types is hardly unfounded. Who was to say that this new pokémon wasn't truly as violent and dangerous as the townsfolk believed? What if this was just a huge mistake?
The dragon brought the bowl to the shore of the island, and everyone jumped off, Reaper shooting him a threatening glare just before she left. "If you leave us stranded here, I promise you, I will sick Giratina himself on you."
The dragon grinned. "You don't need to worry about me leaving. 'Specially because you haven't paid me yet!" he chuckled.
Reaper scowled, and kept a watchful eye on him as the group trudged across the sand towards the lush forest of the island.
"So, how will we know which pokémon is our guy?" Silvo asked curiously, bouncing around as he sniffed the plants and rocks.
"Going off what the sailors told us, I don't think they'll be hard to miss." Rok answered.
Smoke sniffed the air, frowning. "This place smells…strange. I can't smell any pokémon here."
Reaper rose a sceptical brow. "What, none at all?"
Smoke shook his head.
Rok raised his muzzle and sniffed the air too, and a flurry of scents greeted his nose. Berries, soil, grass, leaves, bark…but no pokémon. There wasn't the stink of droppings, the pungent smell of fish, the breezy smell of birds, the warm scent of rodents, there wasn't even the sweet aroma of Grass Types.
"I don't hear anything either." Silvo said, green ears twitching restlessly. His fur was puffed up like an especially large and spiky conker, the sparks making stray leaves on the earthy ground burn into ash.
"I smell something." Rage said abruptly, "But…it's weird. It smells like…like...like fog."
Rok tilted his head to the side. "Fog?"
Rage nodded. "Really, really thick fog, the kind that you can't even see your own hands through and you can wander around in for hours and just have no idea where you're going. A…getting-lost-in fog."
Silvo glanced around. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm not seeing any fog. It all looks pretty clear to me."
Rage closed his eyes and parted his jaws, taking a deep breath in before suddenly tensing. "It's this way!"
Suddenly, the fire cat bounded through the trees and bushes, breaking twigs and branches in his haste.
"Rage, wait!" Smoke cried, but the crashing noises of the incineroar didn't cease.
Reaper hissed under her breath and charged after him, Rok, Silvo and Smoke hot on her tail.
At some point, the crashing finally stopped, and a strange sense of dread seemed to expand in Rok's chest, and his marks pricked uncomfortably. Something was wrong.
When they finally found the incineroar, he was face down in the dirt, limbs splayed out awkwardly. For one, heart-stopping moment, Rok felt the icy chill of fear rush through his veins at the thought that something truly terrible had happened to his friend.
Then he heard the snoring.
In near perfect unison, the remaining members of the group slumped over in relief (with the accompanying pops of sparks in Silvo's case).
Smoke padded over to Rage and gently shook the cat's shoulder. "Come on Rage, wake up."
But Rage didn't wake.
Frowning, Rok stepped closer as well, and just as quickly as it had left him, anxiety began to tickle his nerves.
Rage may have been sleeping, but he looked far from peaceful. His face was scrunched in discomfort, and he constantly twitched. As Rok stood over him, the incineroar gave a quiet whimper and turned on his side, the flames at his waist sending out short spurts of flame that only narrowly missed Rok's paws.
"What's happened to him?" Rok wondered aloud, just as Rage let out a sharp squeal and his unnaturally tense body fell limp, the only sound coming from his muzzle being his too-shallow breaths.
Smoke muttered something under his breath and shook Rage again, harder this time. "He's getting weaker. Damn it, this must be Dream Eater."
"Dream Eater?"
"It's a move that can be used on sleeping pokémon. The user literally eats the victim's dreams, stealing away their vitality and energy while the victim suffers from nightmares."
Reaper growled. "This has got to be that Dark Type's doing. No wonder everyone so afraid of it, if this is its method of attack. Sneaky, underhanded, and absolutely terrifying for the poor sod who has to deal with it."
"They might've just been defending themselves." Rok said, "Rage can be pretty intimidating, and he wasn't exactly gentle in his approach. Maybe the pokémon thought he was going to attack?"
"Maybe." But her voice was laced with doubt.
Smoke snarled in frustration, finally stepping away from Rage. "I can't wake him up. Whoever did this is very powerful and I don't have any medicine on me. I need to find some chesto berries, at this rate they're the only thing that're guaranteed to wake Rage up before he faints, and by that point he'll need a doctor to get him back up to speed."
"Assuming there are any chesto berries on this island." Reaper muttered.
Silvo was already running off. "Well no point standing around! Let's get looking!"
Rok ran off into the trees as well, raising his nose into the air for the distinct, dry smell of chesto berries. Instead, he got a nose full of…fog, like Rage had described. But it wasn't just fog. There were hints of ash and smoke mixed in, and something else Rok couldn't name but it left a bitter taste on his tongue that made him instinctively gag.
There was no doubt about it. This scent belonged to a pokémon, almost certainly the pokémon that hurt rage. And they were close by.
"Hello?" Rok called out into the trees. "I know you're there. I can smell you."
No answer.
"I mean you no harm." He continued, stepping further into the foliage, "I just want to talk. You're a Dark Type, right? So am I."
Still nothing.
Rok gave a nervous chuckle. "Look, I know we're kinda intruding on your territory, sorry about that, but really, all we want to do is talk to you. We don't want to fight, we're not going to hurt you. You can come out, it'll be fine I promise."
This time, there was a reply, in a voice that was the crackle of growing ice, the hiss of a newly-born flame, and a feral growl of a wild beast, all at once, mixed together like a newly-concocted poison.
"Leave."
Rok gulped, and his marking started to burn. "W-we will. But please, we just want to talk."
The air seemed to chill, and Rok could swear it was growing darker.
"You will leave now."
Rok's heart was pounding louder than thunder, but he tilted his chin up and stared fixedly into the shadows of the trees. "Not until we get to talk to you. I'm sorry, we're intruding on your privacy, and clearly you're not one for company, but we've come a long way to talk to you. Just a quick conversation and we'll leave you alone, I promise."
Suddenly, a clawed, three-fingered hand shot from the shadows, digging itself into the ground. Rok couldn't restrain a yelp as he scrambled back, and the hand crept agonisingly forward.
It was followed by an arm.
Then another arm.
A thick plume of white smoke emerged from the darkness.
An eye as cold and sharp as ice.
Bit by bit, the creature kept pulling itself into the rapidly fading light, and with every new part of it that was revealed Rok felt the fearful shudders that wracked his body grow worse. They appeared to be made of some kind of thick, dark smoke that had forced itself into a form like the phantoms from the Elders tales, with that single white plume growing from their head in some crude imitation of hair, and a jagged red collar that bore an uncomfortable resemblance to jaws.
Its frosty gaze fixed itself on Rok, its glare like an icicle spearing through his heart.
"You will leave…" the creature hissed, "NOW!"
A/N: Holy cow this is late.
Anyway…
A new character has appeared!
I gotta say, I'm looking forward to writing more of them in the future. They were barely here in this chapter but they were still good fun to write.
Please review!