Chapter 8: Outbreak

Owen finally woke up. Eli was waiting right next to his bed.

(Eli) "Good morning Owen!"

(Owen) "Morning."

(Eli) "Did you have a good sleep? You've been asleep for a whole day."

Owen hopped out of bed.

(Owen) "Wait. I slept through yesterday?"

(Eli) "I'm sorry. I didn't want to wake you after you had that nightmare."

(Owen) "Did I miss anything?"

(Eli) "No. Bewear gave us all day off. I hung out with Pawmo and Charcadet."

(Owen) "That's it?"

(Eli) "Y-yep! That's it."

(Owen) "Okay. Hey, have you seen Cramorant yet? I wanted to have a chat with him."

(Eli) "Uh...no! He's not here right now! He's off...doing stuff..."

(Owen) "Okay? Are you alright?"

(Eli) "I'm totally fine! I just...I...I ran into Barnaby yesterday and I'm just shaken up."

(Owen) "Oh. Well, I'm sorry."

(Eli) "I-it's fine. Bewear, Pawmo, and Charcadet stood up for me yesterday. I'm just happy that they're not here right now."

Bewear and Dachsbun came running into the room.

(Eli) "Hey guys."

(Owen) "What's with all the hurrying?"

(Dachsbun) "It's Oranguru and Toucannon."

(Bewear) "They're back!"

Bewear, Eli, Owen, Dachsbun, Pawmo, and Charcadet gathered in Oranguru's throne room. Oranguru and Toucannon were waiting for them.

(Toucannon) "Hello everyone! We have returned from our trip!"

(Pawmo) "Did you find out about the darkness?"

(Charcadet) "Do you know how to cure it?"

(Eli) "Can we stop it?"

(Toucannon) "Calm down everyone. We will explain everything we discovered. We do have some good news to share."

(Oranguru) "Hey where's Cramorant? He should be here for this too."

(Bewear) "Oh he's..."

(Eli) "He's not here right now!"

(Bewear) "Huh?"

Eli pulled Bewear into a huddle.

(Eli) "*whispering* Owen is right there. We can't say where Cramorant actually is."

(Bewear) "*whispering* You're expecting me to lie to the Guildmaster?"

(Eli) "*whispering* I told you I don't want to freak Owen out. We'll tell Oranguru the truth after Owen leaves."

(Bewear) "*whispering* Okay. I guess we can lie this once."

Bewear and Eli broke the huddle.

(Bewear) "Eli's right! I sent Cramorant off on a mission today. He won't be back for a while. We can just fill him in on what you tell us when he gets back."

(Oranguru) "Okay. I guess that works."

(Dachsbun) "So what did you find out?"

(Toucannon) "A lot actually. Take it away Oranguru."

(Oranguru) "Well, Calyrex had heard about this darkness before. Turns out that the Crimson Canyon is not the only place it has spread to. Calyrex told us who caused the darkness. His name is The Shadow King. He's been going around, draining the world of color and light. All Calyrex knew about him was a codename; UB Stinger."

(Pawmo) "The Shadow King? UB Stinger?"

(Oranguru) "We were also correct about what had happened to Koriadon. Pokémon who have their color and light drained by the darkness become uncontrollable rage filled slaves to the Shadow King. That's what happened to Koriadon, and it will happen to anyone that succumbs to the darkness."

(Dachsbun) "That's awful!"

(Owen) "So Koriadon didn't attack us for no reason. He was corrupted by the darkness. And it could happen to us too! My nightmare was true!"

(Eli) "Calm down Owen. Speaking of that, do we know how to stop and cure this darkness?"

(Oranguru) "Sorta. Calyrex told us the requirements to do so. According to her we need to find 2 things. The Dawn Wings and the Dusk Mane. We have to bring these 2 items to someone known as UB Black at a place called the Temple of Light. But of course, we have no idea what any of that is."

(Charcadet) "Dawn Wings? Dusk Mane? Temple of Light?"

(Owen) "Okay. So most of that stuff is foreign to us, but at least we know about what to do."

(Oranguru) "Owen is correct. We know how to fix this. We just have to figure out where to find the materials to fix it. Me and Toucannon will do our own research. The rest of you need to ask around town. See what you can learn about the Dawn Wings, Dusk Mane, and the Temple of Light."

(Eli) "We can do that!"

CRASH!

(Toucannon) "What was that?"

(Oranguru) "I don't know. Sounds like it came from the bedrooms."

Eli's heart sank into his chest.

(Eli) "Uh...uh..."

(Toucannon) "I'll go check it out."

Eli ran in front of Toucannon.

(Eli) "Wait!"

(Toucannon) "What?"

(Eli) "Y-You can't go!"

(Toucannon) "What's wrong?"

(Eli) "N-n-nothing."

(Toucannon) "You're acting suspicious. What's going on?"

(Eli) "Um..."

Suddenly, Cramorant turned a corner. All color and light was gone from him. He had looked just like Koriadon.

(Toucannon) "Cramorant?!"

(Eli) "He's been fully corrupted! Don't let him attack you!"

(Oranguru) "What?!"

Cramorant lunged at Dachsbun, tackling her to the ground.

(Pawmo) "Dachsbun!"

(Bewear) "We have to go! There's nothing we can do for her. She's going to turn just like Cramorant!"

(Owen) "What's going on?!"

(Bewear) "We'll explain later! Let's get out of here!"

Everyone except Cramorant and Dachsbun ran.

Everyone ran outside. Bewear blocked the front door shut with his body. Cramorant and Dachsbun slammed against the door.

(Owen) "Someone better explain what's going on!"

(Eli) "Would you believe those 2 are just cranky today?"

(Oranguru) "Eli!"

(Eli) "Um...Okay fine! I lied, okay! Cramorant wasn't off on some mission. He's been locked in his room since yesterday."

(Toucannon) "What?!"

(Eli) "Yesterday we found Cramorant acting like a jerk and being aggressive. We discovered he had a scratch on his back from when Koriadon attacked him, and the feathers around the scratch had turned black. We made the connection and realized that Pokémon attacked, scratched, or whatever by a Pokémon who was corrupted by the darkness would become corrupted by the darkness. We locked Cramorant up in his room to prevent him from attacking anyone else."

(Oranguru) "So you lied about this? Why didn't you say anything?!"

(Pawmo) "We wanted to, but..."

(Toucannon) "But what?"

(Eli) "I didn't want to freak Owen out. After he had his nightmare, I was worried about him finding out. I swear we were going to say something...once Owen was not in the room."

(Owen) "Excuse me?!"

Suddenly, the door burst open. Bewear was knocked back. Cramorant and Dachsbun walked outside. Dachsbun had lost her color.

(Charcadet) "They're free!"

Bewear quickly grabbed the 2.

(Bewear) "I've got this! I'll hold them back!"

(Eli) "Bewear!"

(Bewear) "There's no time! Evacuate the town, now!"

The Guild members nodded and ran through the town.

(Oranguru) "Attention all townsfolk! An emergency outbreak of the darkness is corrupting Pokémon! We need everyone to evacuate now!"

Pokémon started to scream and scattered. The Guild members rushed towards the edge of town.

(Oranguru) "Come on everyone! Let's move!"

Suddenly, Barnaby, Grimsnarl, Hakamo-o, and Salazzle jumped in front of Eli and Owen, blocking them off from the others.

(Barnaby) "Well well well. Look who finally decided to show up!"

(Owen) "Barnaby? Team Strength?!"

(Barnaby) "Did you miss me little Fuecoco?"

(Eli) "Look, we can talk about all this later! We need to evacuate town, now!"

(Grimsnarl) "Yeah right. You're just stalling for your friends to show up!"

(Salazzle) "Yeah! We aren't falling for it!"

(Barnaby) "It's time to settle the score...now!"

Salazzle and Hakamo-o were tackled to the ground by 2 corrupted Pokémon. Barnaby and Grimsnarl were caught off guard.

(Grimsnarl) "Salazzle? Hakamo-o?"

(Barnaby) "What's going on?!"

(Eli) "There's no time to explain! If you don't want to end up like them, we need to run! Now!"

(Grimsnarl) "End up like what?!"

The 2 Pokémon got off of Salazzle and Hakamo-o. Salazzle and Hakamo-o also got off the ground; fully drained of color and light.

(Barnaby) "Wh-what's going on?!"

The 4 corrupted Pokémon lunged at Barnaby, Grimsnarl, Eli, and Owen. Suddenly, they were blocked by Reflect. Owen turned around to see Oranguru had come back for them.

(Oranguru) "Let's go! Now!"

Eli, Owen, Barnaby, and Grimsnarl bolted out of town. Oranguru set up a huge Reflect wall, blocking the corrupted Pokémon in temporarily. He then quickly followed after everyone else. Eli glanced back to see the chaos behind him. The town was slowly starting to lose its color and light as well, just like the Crimson Canyon.

(Eli) "What have I done?"

End Of Chapter 8