Pokemon: The Nine Way War

[thatguyinthecorner]

Remember that RP I made a whiiiiiiile back that got a few joins but dropped dead near instantly? No? Not surprised.
Pepperidge Farm remembers
Uninspired meme aside, I thought it was a good idea and so I set about writing this....thing. I have a bunch of sheets written down and last time I checked, seventy six named characters.
*Sigh*
This might not end well.

Prologue: A continent of Hate

A long time ago, this world had eleven great, powerful nations, each of which overlooked by one of the nearly omnipotent creatures known as legends. For the most part, barring occasional skirmishes, they were peaceful. That peace, however, would not last. For the last five hundred years, a great war has scarred the land, claiming thousands of lives and killing all but a select few legends, even three of those with nations. This, you see, is where our story begins.

The world as we know it harbors a single giant continent floating in a vast sea. That continent, Iriyen, is populated by mystical creatures known as Pokemon. The continent is divided like so:
Twin mountain ranges form a shallow but wide semicircle across it, starting in the west and east coast and meeting near the northern tip of the continent. The western half is the kingdom of Highland, ruled by king Jall and Queen Emslala, and looked over by the mighty dragon Rayquaza. The eastern half of the range, on the other hand, is territory of the Kingdom of Flames, home to king and queen Blaze and Kyubi, and watched by the great pheonix, Ho-oh. Below the middle ground between them and near the center is a great forest, inside of which the Nature Tribe can be found. It is ruled over by Axel and Isabel, and Celebi serves as its guardian. The northernmost tip, Iceland, is a cold and hostile place created and watched by Articuno where few can survive. Those that do are under the jurisdiction of queen Mist and her husband Darah. On the opposite side of the continent is a great valley in which the Cavern Dwellers, whose rulers are named Ranoda and Tiereaux, live and pray for the awakening of their protector: Groudon. To the west, the Wasteland Kingdom watches the rest of the world from the other side of the vast and infamous Desert of Death, enviously awaiting the order from either king Meridan, queen Azundere, or Zekrom, to invade and conquer a fertile land. On the other side of that spectrum is Dread Isle, a plateau overlooking the very easternmost edge of the world, which is full of scum and villainy, exceptions not being made by the king Bruteas, the legend Darkrai, or even the queen Zezza. Next-to-lastly, tucked away behind Highland is an isolated area called the Land of Truth, over which Guile the king and Alice the queen have dominion. This is the home of Mew. And lastly, there is Atlantis, a massive underwater sea off the southeast coast with colonies just about all over the shoreline. Its king Clovis died, leaving the queen, Lilu, with much on her plate. The city itself is under the watch of Kyogre.


(Infodump aside, this is my most grand work yet!-granted, that doesn't mean much.)

[thatguyinthecorner]

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 the sheet 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. I 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.
"Stupid dog, you make me look bad."
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, noone 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 in the sky completely."
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!"
He shoved the door shut, knocking Mane over in the process.
"Very well, I shall..."

(Took longer than I thought to write that first post)

[thatguyinthecorner]

Chapter Two: Now With One Hundred Percent Fewer Flying Shirtless Dudes

Above the city, bright cyan and white lights danced about along the edge of the water, the enlarged silhouettes of fish vaguely visible beyond them as they swam about their lives. Below the edge, however, was a massive city. In order to create buildings, the sea was pulled away, leaving a massive dome of air, like some kind of bubble, in which a kingdom formed. The lights from above reflected onto this city, lighting up statues and houses alike. Near the center of this establishment was a market, in which many pokemon were going about their daily business. One of these pokemon, however, was standing still and staring at the castle. It was a truly enormous settlement, more than a hundred feet tall, the castle was flanked by towers made to look like Garydos. They stood, their bodies each a helix of perfectly cut marble, just as high as the majestic behemoth of architecture they stood by. The Pokemon, his eyes having scanned each, turned around, surveying the market mentally. It was full of various Pokemon, each carrying groceries. He smirked.
Soon my plan will go into motion.
He began walking, listening to the gentle trickle of water as it poured into the fountain's base. From this pool extended two Milotic statues, wrapped around each other and their heads held just above their respective tails. Bright, cyan water poured from their open mouths and flowed along their bodies, before being deposited in the small pool their tails sat in. Rath chuckled, pulling a scoop of the crystal clear water from it in a massive, cupped fin, and drinking it. The Carrecosta's fin fell to the ground as he smirked.
I won't miss this place.


Meanwhile in the castle, the prince, a Dewott, sprang to his feet from sleep, fist trusted upwards.
"HAH! Take that, demon!"
He had a great smile, but it quickly sank.
".....damnit, that was another dream...."
His fist fell to his side as he sullenly walked to his bedside, where a greatsword lay in its golden sheath. Taking it and strapping it around his shoulder, he walked to the bowl of water he kept in his room and looked at his reflection. He heard a creek and turned to face the door, which had been opened. A Lanturn, his slave, smiled at him from the other side.
"Good morning, Mister Master Sir~!"
She was smiling, as usual. The Dewott crossed his arms.
"How many times have I told you never to call me that?"
He crossly responded, a hint of a growl in his voice. The Lanturn hung her head.
"Sorry, Master Hiro."
Hiro smirked, his chin up.
"That's better. Come on, let's go."
He walked to his loyal slave, Azul, and closed the door. The two briskly walked along a narrow hallway with many rooms. Reaching the end, he looked up.
"Dad used to sleep on the next floor...."
Azul bit her lip.
"Master, are you upset or something?"
Hiro ignored her inquiry, leading her up a staircase which lead to the throne room. It wasn't long before they reached the top, and were face-to-insert-substitute-for-face-here with a massive set of doors, each with a huge doorknob on the end, about one fourth of they way to the ceiling which was at least ten feet feet up. This put the knob just high enough Hiro couldn't reach it. Before he could knock, however, the right door swung open with a clatter, causing Hiro to step back. Before it swung back, another Lanturn exited the room. As the door came closed with a great boom, the Lanturn, this one sporting a monocle, looked over Hiro and Azul.
Hiro didn't react, but Azul did.
"Good morning, da-er, Mayor Samson."
"Perfect timing, Master Hiro, Azul-chan."
He mumbled before briskly swimming past them. After a quick shrug, Hiro knocked on the door. Not long after, the great doors lurched backward and slowly slidto the ends of the room, screeching the whole way. Hiro was unfazed, walking through the empty space they used to fill. Azul floated behind him, bowing even as the doors came crashing shut again.
"Good morning, Hiro-chan."
A harmonious voice rang across the room. Hiro dropped to one knee and bowed, one hand on the ground and the other, folded arm's front half resting on his front knee. As he dropped, his sword hit the ground with a loud clatter. Azul just closed her eyes and lowered her head, fins humbly clasped.
"No need for such formalities."
The two returned to their normal positions, staring at the speaker: a female Samurott.
"Good morning, mother!"
Hiro chimed, his voice louder and more cheerful than usual. Azul swam next to him.
"Good morning, Queen Lilu~"
Lilu chuckled, walking to the window. A third Lanturn, this one female, watched her, everything but her eyes totally immobile. Lilu turned to face her, face neutral.
"Blue, get us some breakfast, if you would. All four of us."
The Lanturn nodded quickly.
"Yes, master."
She quickly swam out, leaving Lilu, Hiro, and Azul in the throne room alone.

[SkyGinge]

Kk, so I'll be amending this post as I read each chapter. This is te first proper critique I've attempted to give in quite a while so apologies for if I'm a little rusty.

Prologue

I'll start with a few grammatical errors: (comments in bold)

Prologue: A continent of Hate Whilst this isn't a grammatical error as such, you probably should capitalise "continent" as you have done hate as it is a key word in the title too. Or, alternatively, have standard capitalisation and just leave "A" capitalised.

The continent is divided like so:
Twin mountain ranges form a shallow but wide semicircle across it, No capital letter needed on "Twin".

The western half is the kingdom of Highland, ruled by king Jall and Queen Emslala, Going by the rest of your pattern, "Queen" also doesn't need capitalisation.

Firstly, the positives. I like how fleshed out this world already seems through your decision to start with factual detail and such. Your grammar, bar the very few mistakes shown above, is accurate and you clearly know how to write. A smaller thing, I also like how you give a, if a little brief, introduction to Pokemon as a general and the key legends. A lot of people writing fan-fiction just presume that everybody else knows what they are talking about, so good job for that.

I do have a few gripes however. Mainly, that second paragraph. It is massive, and rather ugly to look at, and I feel you could benefit much more by splitting up your paragraphs to stop then from reaching such lengths as they make what is written hard to want to read and can put off younger readers. I'll move into more of how you can do this when I cover your first proper chapters. Another thing: whilst I understand the need and reasoning for such detail, reading such a long list of purely factual information can be quite dull. As a reader, I think you could have spiced this all up with more imagery added in just a little to describe the places and people. This allows us to see your world as a proper place rather than just as a page in a map book.

Anyhow, good job. I'm interested to see where this will go. I'll also edit in my review of the next two chapters when I find the time.

Chapter 1

Firstly, a few general notes. As mentioned previously, you really should start breaking up your work into paragraphs. This chapter contains two sections and yet those are the only separations in the text. This makes it quite hard to want to read. You should start a new paragraph every time the main subject is changed. Another thing that you should be doing which helps with breaking up the text is leaving a line before a new speaker starts dialogue. In books, authors leave an indentation instead but writing on the Internet you can't do that so it is best to leave a line as suggested. I'll add in where I would digest splitting it up in bold below, along with my annotations:

Spoiler:

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.
(Space)
"Master......what the hell are you doing?"
(Space)
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.
(Space)
"Why are you here so early? Normally you're in your den investigating our economic status at this hour." His servant, a Sharpedo, grimaced.
(Space)
"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 the sheet and walked past the line, rattling off names and assignments. At the end of the line was an Umbreon covered in scars.
(Space)
"Mane, I understand you and Pyhrus have a history?"
(Space)
Rather than speak, Mane gave a rough nod. "Yes, that I do. I advise keeping us apart, as one of us would likely start something and therefore derail or possibly prematurely terminate the meeting."
(Space)
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.
(Space)
"Young Master-"
(Space)
"You forgot to make my morning tea."
(Space)
"My apologies, I had not realized that the meeting would be taking place so early-"
(Space)
The Zorua scowled angrily, scratching Mane to shut him up. "You also let me oversleep on the day of an important meeting."
(Space)
"Young Master, I will have your morning tea ready soon. Please just let-"
(Space)
"And don't you dare burn it like you usually do!" The Zorua walked away.
(Space)
"Stupid dog, you make me look bad." 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.
(Space)
"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.
(Space)
"Pyhrus, can we remember the task at hand?" Bruteas asked, drinking his tea. "Besides, noone else I have can make tea that doesn't taste like crap."
(Space)
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."
(Space)
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.
(Space)
"I fail to see why we were brought here. We're killers, not soldiers. Let alone generals."
(Space)
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."
(Space)
Bruteas raised an eyebrow. "So, kill all of them or just attack and hope we leave them-"
(Space)
"No, no. Just step in, butcher a few innocents, fear tactics."
(Space)
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.
(Space)
"About damn time, the sun is in the sky completely." 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!" He shoved the door shut, knocking Mane over in the process.
(Space)
"Very well, I shall..."

In doing that, I noticed numerous issues involving spacing around your dialogue. I've tried to amend them above, but it was often unclear who was actually supposed to be speaking. You really must work to clarify this as your characterisation is superb.

Your description and wide vocabulary is impressive, but I feel it should extend to describing in exactness what each Pokemon look like and not presuming that everybody knows what they are like. I know a Pokemon fan-fic will always be aimed at Pokemon fans but doing this allows newcomers to the series to still enjoy your story. Your grammar is also largely correct bar the speech issues.

EDIT: Outninja'd by ABat below. His explanation is far superior to mine :').

[Lamby]

^He needs to capitalize King and Queen since they're followed by names, making them titles. I'm thinking he just typoed.

That said, guy, you need to be using the proper format for non-indent online submissions. Every time a new person speaks, you must create a new line. And do not separate action from dialogue. Only a new speaker or new paragraph needs a new line. Space before any new line. The correct format makes who is speaking more clear and establishes progression and flow. It is standard when you cannot indent. When you can indent, in Word or on paper, for example, you would indent new lines instead of spacing. For example. Your description gets more visibility this way:

"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 in the sky completely." 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!" He shoved the door shut, knocking Mane over in the process.

"Very well, I shall..."

I pretty much agree with Sky's positives.

[thatguyinthecorner]

Chapter Three: It Was All I Could Do To Not Name Anyone Walt

The Land of Truth was a strange place, defying many conventions other nations happened to hold. It had a few towns, but most of the populace was concentrated into a single city near the edge of the continent. About three miles from the northern coast of Iriyen, the city of Zoliair was bustling with life. Traders, merchants, cabbage guys (though few of those were making a profit), and entertainers, to give a few examples.

Three weeks ago...

Victoria, a Gardevoir, was one such fellow. Her profession was dancing. Walking down the street with a parchment in her left hand and a spring in her step, Victoria spun every few feet, humming a soothing tune to herself as she went. She had no idea what the letter was for but it had a gold embroidery and the letters looked fancy and that meant one thing: Whatever it was, the royal family sent it. It wasn't long before she bumped into a Medicham, awkwardly stopping and rubbing her head with her free hand.
"Sorry sir."
She bowed, hiding a blush.
"I lost track of where I was going, and-"
The Medicham turned around, a bronze chain making klinking noises as he moved. Attached to it via clasp was a flute, with two intersecting strings running across his body. From one hung a harp and the other, a satchel.

"Hardly, my dear! Imagine, it was almost like the red strings of fate! Don't worry yourself over this trivial inconvenience, madame!"
She instantly remembered his pompous tone of voice; it was Lex. Her blush instantly faded and she returned to a standing position, annoyed. The melodious quality her voice usually possessed disappeared.

"Gh. Anyway, you're a bard, you can read, right?"
He nodded uncertainly.

"Um, yes, so?"
Shoving the parchment towards him, she eyed his face.

"Be a gentleman and read this to me, would you?"
Lex, with a smirk, took the scroll and unfolded it. As it landed in his hand, his face shrunk.

".....er, this is calligraphy. I can't read that."
Victoria took the parchment back,carefully rolling it up.

"Why not?"

"It's calligraphy. That's how royals and scholars write." Victoria shrugged and walked away, her usual skipping way of doing so and overall cheerful demeanor quickly returning. Her attention was soon caught by the movement of a Swoobat, which she recognized as having delivered the letter.
"Hello, were you the one who gave me this, by any chance~?"
The Swoobat perched on a nearby fence, hopping as it turned to face her, then nodded.

"Yes, I was. I apologize for such short notice-"
"No, no, don't worry about that~ Finding travelers like me can be hard, I understand, but....can you read calligraphy?"
The bat-like creature nodded.

"Why yes, madame, I can."
Victoria gently held it out.

"Would you kindly read it to me?"
The Swoobat nodded, hovering slightly as it took the parchment in its tail and unfolded it, angling its face down.
"To a certain Gardevoir entertainer by the name of Victoria, you have been selected to work under royal employ at the festival of anniversary the night of May Seventh, at the Castle of Knowledge. Well, there's more, but that's about it. Plus I can already tell you've stopped paying attention. Goodbye."
The Swoobat flew away, leaving a rather elated Victoria.

In the present day...

A loud din emanated from the ballroom, what with everything going on. Music filled the everything with its...music, I guess...and the royal family was finishing its preparations. Elizabeth and her mother Alice, princess and queen, were waiting to go out while having a conversation to pass time.
"So, dad's been king for five years."

"Yes, it's hard to believe, isn't it?"
Alice, with a smile, patted her daughter's head. Both were shiny Gardevoirs, and Alice was actually youthful-looking enough they were often confused for sisters.
A loud craaaack sound echo'd through the hallway, signalling that Guile had teleported in. Sure enough, the Alakazam could be heard speaking even from outside the room. Mother and daughter nodded to each other, their oddly dress-like outer skin dragging somewhat against the ground as they walked. The room was massive, spanning most of the castle's bottom floor, so everybody just sort of awkwardly paused and watched while they did so. Elizabeth in particular looked around as they went, picking out the family's personal servants from the crowd: Maxwell and Zine. The former, a greenish birdlike creature with wings resembling a native American's headress and bodily feathers with a totem pole-like pattern, and the latter a large floating rock with other, smaller rocks sticking off that together resembled a sun with a face. She turned around at her position, as did her mother, and Guile began speaking, twirling his right mustache with the spoon in his right hand as he did so.

"And now, without further adieu, the celebration!" His jolly smile faded for a moment, and underneath it shone a look of sly content, before once again being masked. Elizabeth took a seat, watching her parents dance for a minute, before her eyes were drawn to one of the entertainers they'd hired. She was surprisingly elegant, her body seeming to flow like water as she jumped about and spun. So she spent an hour or two, her eyes constantly moving from one sight to another.

However, after a quick blink she saw the dancer, Victoria, standing over her. Elizabth's eyes squinted for a moment before she realized Victoria was reaching down. Looking up, Elizabeth found herself staring straight at Victoria's face. Just like Elizabeth and her mother, Victoria had a helmet-like extension around her head, curved in a sort of boomerang shape. There was a difference, however: Unlike Elizabeth's and Alice's, Victoria's was green, as per the usual in their species.

"Hello~ And who might you be?" Her voice had a pleasant ring to it, almost like she was singing.

"I'm Elizabeth."

"The princess? Where are my manners?" She did a curtsy for a moment before leaning over again.
"I'm Victoria, one of the entertainers you hired. It isn't proper for a lady to go to one of these things without dancing, is it?" Elizabeth awkwardly looked down.

"Well, no, but I...can't."

"Very well, I'll teach you then~!" She grabbed Elizabeth's hand and pulled her to her feet. "Come on, this way~" She ran to a small, empty area, with Elizabeth following her. She then paused, breathing for a moment, before taking Elizabeth's side in one hand and her shoulder in the other. "Make like I just did, using the opposite hands~" Elizabeth did as she was told, albeit clumsily and awkwardly. Not long after, she convinced Victoria to let her go and returned to her old position with a sigh.

"Well, that was awkward."

Long after sunset, Guile once again took his place, commanding total silence. His usual calm demeanor had been pierced, ever so subtly, by a shade of annoyance nobody but Alice would pick up.

"And so we conclude. Here's to another half decade of prosperous actions!" He raised a toast and in a few minutes everybody began to scatter. However, Victoria approached Elizabeth with her hands behind her back.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Lady Elizabeth! May fortune be on your side for the rest of youur days~!" She got up and turned, leaving quickly. Elizabeth, Alice and Guile withdraw, the latter two calling for their servants to check on Elizabeth's younger sister, a shiny Kirlia named Elice, as they did so.

(I read what ya's said after I wrote this, so that's why I made so little improvement in the "describe the Pokemon" department. I'm terrible at editing. But thank you for reading, and for your input.)

(EDIT: Luckily, this chapter is supposed to do no more than introduce a handful of characters, because wow, that was dull.)

[thatguyinthecorner]

Chapter Four: The Shaking Seed of War

On the far west side of Iriyen, a slowly crumbling castle was home to family that was constantly plotting revenge. Hateful of the world, envious of those in it, hungering for freedom, lusting over the land just beyond the horizon, eagerly awaiting a chance to heal their wounded and dying pride, wanting, desperately wanting for the world and everything it held to become theirs, their eyes were glued to the horizon. However, between them was a great expanse of sand: The Desert of Death. True to its name, the desert had taken thousands of lives in attempts to cross it, and of the two or three dozen or so that returned alive, only half did so with their sanity intact. There were two ways around it: Skirting the desert's northwest edge, which came close to the edge of Highland's territory and was a narrow pass for the most part, meaning that it was a tiring, difficult trek and would be slow for the transfer of troops, and to go south, which took them past many Atlantis colonies and left them exposed to guerrilla attacks. Anyway, atop a balcony of stone, a black lion-like creature gazed down at his domain. A spiky mane protruded from the back of his head, one that crackled with electricity as he slowly growled. He had a blue face, and a set of yellow eyes that almost resembled cross-hairs, with red irises. His fangs bared, he swished his short tail in agitation, the star-shaped appendage at the tip bouncing up and down erratically.


"Master, is something wrong?"

"Eel. Shut up." The snake-like creature behind him paid the warning no mind. Standing on two fins, it raised its two paddle-like arms, each adorned by three conical claws, and stuck a serpentine tongue out from its 360-degree maw before retracting it. Yellow marks forming a "o-o" pattern covered its tail, each side of its face, and the back of each of its arms. A metallic clink filled the room as he
descended, striking the chain around his tail against the ground.

"Yes everyone, shut up." Leon, a small blue kitten with yellow eyes and a tail resembling that of the lion, pouted.
"Huh!?"
"Eel."
"Yes?" The creature saluted.
"Eel, take Leon and leave."
"Of course." Eel turned, awkwardly lumbering toward the door and motioning for Leon to follow. Leon, sighing, did. However, just after they got out and the door closed, a female, deep voice thundered through the room.


"Meridan." The speaker was the same species as the king, but her mane was shorter. Nevertheless, calmly and elegantly walked across the room. Meridan, the king, turned to face his wife. She was every bit as intimidating as he was, more so even, and she was capable of both calm and rage, simultaneously, to such extremes as to disturb him deeply. He remembered finding her passion for revenge captivating when they'd met; it no longer held the same allure as it did when he'd met her as Madam DeForge.
"Yes?"
"Tsunar is missing."
Tsunar was her slave; a small flying squirrel-like Pokemon that carried a satchel with him everywhere.
"I sent him on an assignment! A recon mission, if you will." Meridan chuckled. "I want to see what those Highlanders are up to." Meridan turned around.
"You'll have to do your own handiwork and chores for now. So put down the quilt, will you!?"


(And shortest chapter by far. Don' worry, once I've done one of these for each kingdom things will get interesting.)

[thatguyinthecorner]

Chapter Five: And So The Awkwardly Written Descriptions Ensued

As the sun rose higher and higher into the sky, it cast its warm light into the forest in the center of the land; called the Purity Forest by some and the Heart of the World by its inhabitants, this place was Celebi's home. On this particular day she was sitting on a tree branch overlooking the Pool of Life And Capital Letters and resting her tiny, stubby hands on that branch. Her body was slim, with tiny, translucent wings protruding from her back. She had a disproportionately massive head ZIM'S AN ALIEN!, and puny legs to match. But being a petite little...fairy...thing she was small herself. Her body was a green-like grey color, other than her dark green feet. A pair of antennae-like structures stuck up from her head, which bent back at the tip. She smiled, looking at her reflection.
"Finally, steps toward some peace in the world~! This war is finally on the verge of ending...~"
She got up and took flight, spinning every now and then to make everything near her bloom like some sort of Disney-ificated version of Okami heading towards a large, hollow tree. Landing near it, she looked down...and her head sunk. Nothing ruined her day more thoroughly than an encounter with the sort of heartless, evil monster that she had just seen.


A short fellow with a twisted, stalk-like body stood near the entrance. He had twigs for arms, green ones that matched his body, that ended in massive roses. He had a face resembling a drama mask that hid the eyes, with a white puff on top of his head. Rounded legs with pointy feets held him up. Arms crossed, he looked straight forward. Before him towered a massive green serpent, which stared down at him. The creature had a colossal body, which was clearly made mostly of muscle, lifting his neck into the air above a coiled mess. A tail with a a curved end of chewed leaves rose as well, but not very high. Its tongue sprung out and darted back multiple times. Axel, the Roserade, sighed.
"So you mean to tell me you want to move the entire army to attack two others, both of which belong to primarily militaristic nations, on their own soil....while their generals are present. This is a good idea why?"
"You cut me off before I could finissh my proposssisssstion." The creature, a Serperior, hissed. It lowered its head, coming face to face with Axel, and stared straight at him. Axel was presented with the sight of a primal and massive, blood red eye, adorned with a vertical slit of a pupil that stared maliciously, angrily, murderously, into his soul.
"Yesss, the mountainsss have decccided to unite. But my idea wassss not to attack them then like a pack of mindless dogsss. I merely wisssh to exploit their abssensse....I want to go around there, attack Icccceland. Attack, that issss, and wipe them out entirely."
Axel buried his face in one hand.


".......you don't actually plan on me allowing this, do you?"
"No. But it wasssss worth a ssshot."
The beast slithered away, leaving a disoriented Axel alone.
"Damnit Vladimir, do you really feel that compulsive a need to remind me you exist all the time?" A large shadow engulfed him. Turning around, he looked up to see a purple and black insect towering over him. It had a vaguely boxy form, with six small legs holding up a horizontal abdomen from which its torso extended straight up. A rounded head with a pair of mandibles stared down.
"Master, what are my instructions for the day?"
Holding back a laugh at the use of master, Axel rubbed his chin.
"Go get Stem and Isabel."
"Yes. Of course. Yes sir. Yes master. Y-"
"Just do it, Yoxe. Go. Stop wasting my time."
"Of course.

Toxe turned, showing a pincir and swinging his arms in a wanton manner, his massive albeit circular scissor-like hands glimmering in the morning's light. Soon her returned with a dainty figure resembling a woman in a dress both made of plants; she had a white face expressing a pleasant smile, an orange flower on the right side of her head, two small leaf arms, and a large umbrella-like leaf on her back. She was accompanied by a small fox with a leaf for a tail and one on top of her head. She also had paws adorned with them.

"Hello, father~" The vixen purred, bringing a faint smile to her adoptive father's face. She sat at attention, her parents staring at each other.
"How's my domain doing, Isabel, Axel?" Celebi jumped down, hugging Stem in a playful manner for a moment as she passed. Axel awkwardly tried to bow for a moment, then realized he couldn't possibly lower himself below her hieght without a shovel, fingers, and several hours of free time, instead rising back to his full...if still short...size.
"We're doing well." Celebi frowned.
"I really wish someone would find out why that snake is so angry all the time. Just being around him is depressing." Axel quickly hid a look of annoyance when he heard this.
"Well, we aren't a total pushover any more, and having one evil with us is better than having millions of evils everywhere setting us on fire." He replied with a hidden tone of anger.
"I know, I know, but it is unsettling to watch my peacefully and happy abode disturbed that way. Maybe I should make him a leash..."
"Enough with the speculation, Celebi, I have work to do." Axel stormed off, leaving the rest to watch him disappear.

[MoonDancer]

I am Speechless,all I can say is,you should make more Stories.

[thatguyinthecorner]

Chapter Six: No Apple For You

In between the middle territory between Highland and the Kingdom of Flames, off to the left a little, there was a large area of cold, surrounded by a swirling, perpetual blizzard. In the space protected was a never ending field of ice. Cold, harsh, ice. The ground was completely frozen. In this place was a castle made entirely of ice, a beautiful palace of white and blue. This was home to the notorious Mist.

A large, segmented snowflake-like being rested on a throne. Four strings with an arrangement of blue beads hung from its "face", which was blank. Before it was a large, blue sphere of ice with black horns. Its front bore a face and had human-like teeth, and floated a few feet from the ground. Turning, it levitated away and was soon gone.


"Diary Entry for February 27:
I remember how I used to wish that some prince would come sweep me off my paws so I could be a princess..."
A Glaceon lay in her room, a diary open in front of her and a quill in her claws. She stood with a yawn before being alerted by a knock at her door. She looked over, closing the book. As she shoved it aside and under her bed, she lamented the lack of spare time in her life. The door was still shut, however, calling her attention.
"Come in." She stated with a deadpan expression. The door slowly opened, revealing a large-headed light blue ghost. A slender body hung from its disproportionate skull, with two arms that resembled long sleeves. It had two light blue icicle horns and small yellow eyes. It looked down at its master, a small and light blue vixen with a curved icicle-like appendage sicking out of each side of her head and a flat tail,before setting down a breakfast of duck meat.

"Eat."
"Of course, what else would I do?" Maria, the Glaceon, answered before eating at some of it. She was watched, of course, the whole time. The process made her uneasy, even though it was a daily event now.
"I presume Master enjoys this meal? If not, I could easily have Mist replace i-"
"No, no, I'm fine." Caroline's odd speech and droning monotone were grating to the ears; Maria didn't like listening to her talk. She was distracted, as well, by the red band around her midsection but paid it no mind.

Phrei, the ball-shaped entity described earlier, returned to the Ice Queen's throne room. Behind her were Caroline and Maria, as called for earlier. The queen eyed them warily.
"Both of you know that Darah is out in battle currently, yes?"Maria nodded; she knew full well that her adoptive father, the king, was on a march towards an Atlantean settlement. She tried not to imagine the conflict in her head but ultimately failed, causing a paleness to cover her face.

"Anyway, Tusuer, our general, is also with him. This leaves us undefended. If either of you is attacked by some assassin I hope you don't expect my help." This got a terrified gulp and hesitant nod from Maria. Mist nodded, her entire body rocking.

"Enough. Dismissed."

[thatguyinthecorner]

(Sorry for the long wait. In order life, drama llamas/family issues, writer's block and working out the skeleton of Project Q [a colab thing a friend and I will be starting in about a month] have been getting in the way. Also attempting to write a chapter about the Cavern Dwellers has had me stumped for weeks so, sadly, skipping it. To compensate, have a character who definitely wont be more important later.)

Chapter Seven: A Prelude to the Union of Fire and Wind

Alone in a cold black cell, a large, humanoid creature sat. It was red, with circular legs that ended in a pair of three talons each protruding from yellow, flat feet, with a birdlike face, beak and all, and thin arms ending in hands almost identical to the feet of what we'd call a chicken. It had plumage hanging from the back of its head that formed an upside-down V, and feathers covered the whole of its body. Red feathers. It sat alone, staring down from a seated position at another of its kind, that one younger. The seated Blazekin seemed elderly not from lack of muscle, nor from wrinkles; you couldn't see either past all the feathers covering its body anyway. No, it had very deep eyes and an expression of great sorrow.


"....what are you doing here?"
"...you're general Roy, my great-great-great-great-grandfather....right?"
"...assuming you have your lineadge right, yes. I am Roy, though I never saw my grandchildren, let alo-yes, I am the one named Roy. I shall leave it there. I repeat my question from before. Why are you here?"
The smaller one looked up.
"I'm Fi. I wondered if the rumors of you being here, neither starving nor eating, not even aging, cooped up in this cell were true..."
"I requested that I be here. Does that answer your quest?"
"...no. I just wanted to say, I've gotten your position from my father, who got it from his...so on, recently. It's what we're bred for, apparently."
His statement earned him a scornful look. His own was aimed at the ground, though, and he did not see it.
"Today we negotiate a treaty with Highland. I assume they were around in y-"
His elder nodded, grunted, hurried him along in his speach.
"A-anyway, I wanted to tell you. Thought you might want to know."
Another grunt. This one was of disapproval. The younger chicken....thing...looked up at the older with a look of confusion. He stood up as well, awkwardly shifting his neck as he did so. It was strenuous, because of his armor. The suit was pitch black, covered most of his body other than his arms, was quite lustrous to look at. It was for this reason other nations' peoples usually called him "Obsidian". His great(x4) grandfather noticed this and his eyes narrowed.

"Are you...proud of your position?"
"O...of course."
Another disapproving grunt. Roy waved his hand.
"I tire. Please depart."
Fi, the younger, understood the significance of the order and obeyed. Roy scoffed as his great(x4) grandson walked away.
"Damn fool."

[thatguyinthecorner]

Chapter Eight: Union of Wind and Fire

The black armored Blazekin stood up, exiting his abode and walking a great distance. A general reddish glow consumed the area; thick, rich shadows danced across every stone wall as the bright, molten lava flowed by some distance away, churning with a din vaguely resembling that of a cauldron whose contents were being stirred hard but slowly. His soft pattering footsteps, already lost in the clanking of his armor, was negligible next to the noise about him. He slowly ascended on a slant to entrance to their magnificent city, which he crossed quickly, coming to an exit. Another upwards walk led him outside. Arcanines in full battle gear stood sentinel, spread intermittently around the mountain to deter and/or kill intruders. And to spot approaching armies. Fi stopped and took a deep breath; mountain air. Fresh. Smelled faintly of dew as it always did in the morning. It tasted delicious, although compared to the charred, stagnant, hostile air below ground a Skuntank would smell like nothing, even postmortem. He reached upwards to make sure he could still feel his arms and let them drop back down, advancing forward. He was on his way up a spiral trail to the peak when he was suddenly interrupted.

"General Fi, I do not believe we have met." That voice, elegant but unmistakably old, was not he would forget. It was Pram, the oracle. Fi turned to look at the lieutenant in surprise, but quickly masked his expression. Pram was a Delphox, a curious species resembling a yellow humaniod fox with a robe of red fur. Its face was somewhat old looking, with squinted eyes, and a bushy red tail extended out behind her. Her "robe" had patches of paler tone than the rest, a sign of age. Her ears had thick tufts of crimson fur sticking out, something that had always baffled him.
"H-hello. What brings you...here...?" His inexperience shone like the North Star; she squinted even more than usual at him in aggravation.
"I am a lieutenant, am I not? And today is a momentous occasion, or am I wrong?" Fi hurriedly stammered out an apology, one she dismissed with a flick of the tail. "Honestly, whomever had the idea your family was great by merit of blood clearly never met you-or any of the others." Fi was not surprised or shocked, nor even insulted. He had been warned previously she was like this whenever one got the job, and to be fair to the lad, he had not implemented the system.
"Very well. I assume the other four...?" He asked sheepishly, in reference to the other four lieutenants.
"Adel, Vanin, Franz, and Fir? Yes, they are all present." Fi gulped; he had only met Adel and Fir, and the latter had not taken to him well.
"Long lived be the phoenix..." He weakly uttered, a standard way to depart. The saying it bit. It was normally either stated with emphasis to show concentration, mourning or seriousness, or bellowed to show enthusiasm. He heard Pram grunt.
"Yes."


Two foxes sat in a room with two giant obsidian thrones. One was the queen and the other, her daughter. The elder of the two had a yellow coat, with nine thick tails. Each one shifted to a red color near the tip, and each were thicker and a bit longer than one might expect for a fox. She had something of a mane hanging about her throat, giving an elegant appearance, and a wild tuft of fur sat atop her head. Next to her was another fox, this one much smaller, with a much shinier, cleaner coat of a rich gold hue. Her head was topped with an even darker colored tuft of fur in a neat curl, and she also had nine tails, though these were much shorter and, unlike those of her mother, clumped to each other. They were curled, almost looking like sideways commas. The younger fox, Scarlet, looked up at her mother.
"Mother, something big is gonna happen today, right?" Scarlet's mother looked down with a comforting smile.
"Yes. After today we'll have one less enemy to worry about." Kyubi, the queen, curled one tail around her daughter, stroking the small creature with the tip of said tail. Several hours later a large, yellow creature nodded at them and they departed.

After a long day of discussion and political meandering, the trio returned to their throne room. The king, Blaze, was an impressive creature resembling a large yellow mouse with blue fur along his back. He stood hunched over with small arms reaching forward in front of him, a wide maw matching his stance. His fur extended backward at the ends, giving it a flame-like shape. He retired in front of his throne, curling into a ball.
"Wake me if we get attacked. Or if you find any pests for me to kill." Kyubi nodded solemnly.
"Come on Scarlet, let us go meet our new friends~" She piped in an uncharacteristically happy tone. This got a warm nod from her enthusiastic daughter, whom dashed for the exit of the room. Kyubi rose and slowly followed.


Meanwhile, two winged visitors sat by a food vendor. The first was small, having blue feathers and large talons with a huge beak, was busy gorging himself. He had white flufy down all about his head and a single red feather protruding from the top, which was much larger than the others. Small wings were folded against his petite form, which had a ruffle of feathers forming a flat tail, almost like that of a duck. Floating near him was a pink bat with a round form and two tube-like ears as well as four wings, two on each side of its body. They extended from where its spherical body would, were it a square, have corners, each with blue folds on the front. It had a wide mouth on the front that showed white flat teeth and two yellow eyes that were almost cat-like in appearance.
"Crallu, must you make such a show of yourself...here...!?" The bat, a Crobat by the name of Zeeway, interjected. Her voice was mostly drowned out by the sound of meat being ripped open but the boy did here.
"But this is delicious!" He replied in between gulps of fresh meat.
"Yes, but you're the crown prince, and-"
"Ah, whatever. What good is running a country if it means having to act like one is tied up all the time?" Diuray had been looking forward to the event for a chance to meet her brother Diuray, who was often far away on conquests and rarely talked to her for very long. She was hardly disappointed, however, as she had been expecting something like this. "Man, these....people are really, really good cooks!" Zeeway sighed in frustration; they were getting glares. Naturally, this would not break the alliance, that would be beyond ridiculous, but his reputation was poor as it was.

Two more of the bat's species were perched on a gate nearby. Their legs, molded into small wings over time, clutched in a clumsy manner the top of said gate. They were having a discussion when a great vulture flapped over. She had black feathers, with a bone half-ring covering her front from which large claw like bones hung. Her body was pink, but this was only visible on her head and feet. A grey ruff of feathers, almost like a massive collar, sat at the base of her crooked throat. Her beak was long and somewhat thin and she had something resembling a ponytail made of feathers, wrapped around a bone.
"Took long enough." Muttered the first bat, her butler. "Political mess, it was. Did we really have to plan this for months?" The vulture shrugged.
"On the bright side, this festival is producing revenue. We need as much of that crap as we can get. Diuray, come. We have a speech to give." The second bat obediently nodded, taking flight and silently following her as the two advanced toward the center of the affair.

[thatguyinthecorner]

Chapter Nine: Sword of Damocles

A Luxray, the same species as Meridan, stood in front of a window. This window overlooked a vast, sprawling desert. The desert contained no buildings except for a single, giant tower. This tower was where the window rested. It was the only window built into the tower. It was a very lonely place. This tower was in the center of the Desert of Death. A strange grey stripe run across the tower's otherwise tan surface. This stripe was covered in strange symbols all throughout; they were remnants of a culture long lost. No mortal alive would be able to read those symbols. The tower contained three inhabitants. The Luxray, one of those inhabitants, was very pale. His body was white, almost zombie-like in appearance;he had two swollen, blood-shot eyeballs that protruded slightly from their sockets. His fur was not yet been shed away,but was nevertheless very thin. He had long, dagger-like claws; long ago, they had lost the ability to retract. His body had patches where his flesh was thinner than it should be, the most glaring consisting of his entire underside. His tail had scars throughout and the star-like structure at the tip had lost one point. This cat-like being sat on its haunches, front legs straight down, with its spine erect; it had the posture of a noble beast. This stance showed his throat, which had three curved red bars going from the left and right edges of his neck inward such that the space in between was proportionately the amount taken up by a human's Addams apple. There were three on each side. He silently sat in place, watching his domain, eyes unblinking, tail swishing every few minutes as though to reassure himself he could still move. Eventually his ears, the one on the right having had a substantial bite taken out of it previously, twitched. He turned to see the second of the tower's three tenants.

"Hello, Grace."He stated, calmly greeting his ally. She was a Gardevoir; her thin frame bowing for a moment before returning to a standing position. Her body itself was, for the most part, extremely slim; her arms and legs spindly enough it was a wonder she could support her own weight. A second layer of skin hung over her starting at the chest which resembled a dress. Just above that point a large red protrusion extended outward on both sides of her body. On each side of this one's waist, there hung a scimitar. Most of her species were, if fighters, oriented on the side of "give the foe a heart attack or otherwise pelt them whilst standing far enough away they can't shred me"; she was more along the lines of "Go from point A to point B, administering a lethal dose of acupuncture to everything in between."

"Hello, Master." She looked out the window, agitation clear as day in her voice. "My idiot brother is off on another revenge-hungry tirade against Guile, should I stop him?" To her surprise, the Luxray shook his head.

"Your brother needs to figure out on his own that it is foolish." He turned and made for the room's exit. "It will likely take a long time. Come, we need to gather fish before we starve." Gathering food and water was, normally, his job and his alone. His offering for her to accompany him in that endeavor was tantamount to an order.

"Yes,Master."

[thatguyinthecorner]

Chapter Ten: The Prince's Flight


Night fell across the land of Iriyen, the sun drifting below the sky and the moon rising to take its place. Everywhere but Dread Isle shut down completely, sentries standing sentinel while everybody else slept peacefully. The land was at rest for the time being...something Hiro planned to exploit. Rising from his bed and donning his father's sword, a great and almost triangular blade that was not very conductive for fast movements. Slinging the sheath's strap over his left shoulder and holding the hilt so as to keep the blade horizontal and therefore minimize sound, he crept from his chamber down the spiral staircase to the servants' quarters. Moving as quietly as he could manage, he shook Azul awake and motioned for her to follow. Confused, and still half-asleep, she followed in a sort of slow and jittery manner simalar to that of a dazed monkey. Somehow she avoided breaking anything with her long tail, and the two made their way out of the castle.


They traveled through the town, which was now pitch black as it would normally be at this depth, using the two bulbs on Azul's head as a flashlight. They passed through one empty alley after another, the blackness of the city giving it a stark and oppressive feel much unlike that of the beautiful, cerulean piece of art it would normally resemble. It was quite expansive, and more than once Azul would knock something over and the two would freeze (Hiro with a purpose and Azul out of imitation) for a moment before continuing. Near the outskirts of the city, they stopped, looking up at the great dome that marked the edge of the ocean. Nothing held the water back (nothing tangible anyway); it just stopped at that point courtesy of Kyogre holding it back. Azul motioned toward the wall and Azul gulped but, fearfully, complied.

They walked forward, crossing the wall into the ocean. Instantly, the two were overcome with the immense weight of thousands of pounds of water pushing down on them. In addition, Hiro being a mammal, he had to hold his breath. Grabbing hold of the side of Azul but taking care not to obscure her gills, he nodded toward a small cave a few yards away. Reluctantly, Azul obeyed the unspoken command. Her hesitation was greater than before but still passed quickly enough not to cause a problem. They swam into the cave and emerged in a pool of water that took up most of its volume. Noticing that the rock of the formation the cave was bored into extended above the water a short way off, Azul took Hiro to it, allowing him to get on. He frantically clambered on top, gasping for air to fill his bursting lungs and finally breaking the silence that had been with them the whole time. It was like a spell had been lifted; instantly, the two regained a much more jovial composure.

"We did it...!" Hiro forced out, still panting heavily. His chest ached from the two rapid changes in pressure. And holding his breath at several thousand feet down without training. "We did it!"
"Sorry, Master, but....did what?" Azul inquired, a look of confusion in her eyes as she floated with her head above the water.
"We ran away." Hiro pulled out the cumbersome sword he had brought along, looking at the blade with a look of satisfaction. "You probably want to know why. Well!" He jumped to his feet. Azul smiled, knowing what his last word had entailed. He looked upward at the cave's ceiling and then back down to Azul. "As you know, my father was killed in battle by Darkrai a few months ago!" He lifted the blade to a position where it was pointed straight up, held just over his head. "And seeing as how my father had just started to get us back to our former glory, his death is a big problem! And there are some that would even say I don't deserve to inherit his throne, or that I, being a mere child, am not fit to rule! And while those in the latter group have a point, I am the rightful heir! I will be just as great as my father! And to put those naysayers in their place, I have decided to run away!"

He swung the blade downward, just barely managing not to strike the ground or drop it. He held it there for a moment, his eyes narrowing slightly in "And with this, my father's sword, I will find Darkrai and strike him down like the vile demon he is!" He swung the sword around a bit, stumbling with it, before returning it to the sheath. He turned to face a hole in the rock wall before them. It was around four, four and a half feet in diameter-not bad. "Through the old scouting tunnel we go! But you first. You're the torch bearer." Azul, having the same ability as all other fish-like Pokemon except Magikarp to swim through the air a small distance above the ground, obediently rose and floated into the tunnel, waiting for him to get behind her before advancing. The two hobbled off, setting into motion a grander scheme of events than even Azul and his imagination could not have conjured up.

[thatguyinthecorner]

Chapter Eleven: Visitors

Dread Isle slowly came to a stop as their designated "night" came about. Activity ceased and every citizen, noble and other being living there retired to their sleeping quarters, signaling the end of the day. The castle's inhabitants did so noticeably slowly; living in the same vicinity as Darkrai meant nightmares every time they slept, and today was not one of those days when he was absent. The prince, Mezza, shifted about as he struggled to find sleep, as every time he managed to relax some image from a previous nightmare darted to the forefront of his thoughts and he would freeze in terror, sending him back to ground zero. However, in time, he eventually found sleep...even if nothing pleasant awaited him in his dreams.

The sun rose again, and Mane entered his master's room. Setting down a tray, he set Mezza's favorite teacup next to him and filled it with tea. A gentle steam slowly rose from the cup as the concoction's pleasing scent filled the room. Mane sat at attention, ears back and spine straight, in front of his master.
"Young Master,morning has come. You have no scheduled occurrences today and therefore our course of action is yours to decide. I will be fetching you breakfast now; please ring for me if you need anything." He indicated a set of ropes and bells next to the curtain at the far side of the room. These were magic; pull them and they alert a specific person that they are being pulled. They had a limited distance but they were quite handy. Mezza snarled slightly.
"What, did you think I was afraid to bother you!? Of course I would grab your attention if I needed something; that's what you're for, you lazy dastard."

Mane was unfazed and nodded, backing out of the room. Mezza watched the door gently close, before lapping up his tea. It had a calming quality to it that one could hardly explain and while he did not dare admit it the stuff was the highlight of the castle's cuisine by far. The tea was at a perfect temperature, as it always was. The thought lead him to think of what had happened yesterday, and with that thought he grimaced.
What, are you trying to kill me!? This is burning hot!
He quickly returned to lapping up the tea set before him as it was an altogether more pleasant endeavor to partake in. Soon he had run out, which left him mildly disappointed; the same feeling he always had when he finished the tea. He stood up and looked at the door with a forlorn expression, perhaps wondering what he would do that day. The door opened again, and through it walked Mane, who carried in his maw another tray. The fox set it down, fetching Mezza's cup and using a new kettle to fill it again. This was part of a sort of ritual he had developed over the years; every day started exactly like this, with no deviation. At least, that was the norm;some days, like the day before, were interrupted and therefore without.


"Four of each of your favorite berries and a small chunk of meat."
Mezza nodded and walked forward, beginning to nibble at the food. Slowly, bit by bit, he managed to down it all. He looked to Mane with a look of annoyance.
"Stop just sitting there! Get this worthless crap out of my space!"
Mane, bowing, proceeded to place both kettles, a handkerchief he had provided with the meal (as it was considered lowly for nobility, and doubly so for royalty, to clean oneself with their tongue, something Mezza seemed to defy just for the sake of defying it) which was still as clean as it was when retrieved, the stems from the berries, and a single bone from the meat. He turned, balancing the tray skillfully, and navigated his way back to the kitchen. Mezza looked at the still-open door with a look that was hard to describe, let alone attribute to any specific emotion, and waited for his butler to return. When he did Mezza had developed a scowl. "You left the door wide open, uncivilized brute! Who the hell leaves the door to a prince's chamber open!? Idiots and conspirators, that's who! Are you plotting something!?"


Mane was unaffected, calmly responding. "My apologies, Young Master, I knew I would no be gone for long and wished not to disturb you while you finished the second batch of my tea." He looked over, seeing it was mostly untouched. "Young Master, is something the matter?"
"Of course there is! If you were stupid enough to leave the damned door wide open how am I supposed to know you were smart enough to check it for poison!" Every day was like this in spirit, but few had Mezza this constant in his sheer antagonism. Normally he just had a few quips, not a shouted insult to every motion. Mane noted, mentally, that perhaps the youth was angry because of the morning before, as he had awoken alone and, as nobody else in the castle seemed to give a crap about the lad, had probably never eaten. Why, then, he was so slow eating his last meal? Mane pondered. He looked to Mezza.
"As I have previously stated, you have nothing on your schedule as of now." Mezza was quick and sharp in his response.
"I need to get away from you. Go ask my father for something, and get out of my sight." Mane quietly obeyed, bowing and promptly leaving. Mezza went out into the courtyard, meandering toward the castle town.

As Mezza grew farther and farther away from the castle (which was a giant stone structure literally built to look imposing) he felt a weight gradually lift from him, almost like some morbidly obese angel sat on his shoulder that couldn't use its wings if it got too close to it. He went into the town, were the bleak sky, oppressive air heavy with moisture, and bone-penetrating cold his land was known for were all present. They were also present in the castle, of course, but torches and the occasional surf channeling all the water to either a storage facility or the ocean that sat on the other side of the cliff remedied them somewhat. He looked around, noting all of the merchants and vendors he passed. He went in a grand circle around his domain, passing a great many indecencies but never doing anything but turn away. It pained him greatly to do this but he knew he could not help any of them. He knew his place here; being the prince gave him little authority on his own, just enough to protect him for as long as he minded his own business. He eventually decided to return to the castle. The trip back was uneventful, but he appreciated that. He returned to the castle, and made his way to his quarters. However, upon entering...

"Hello~!" A familiar voice rang out, before he found himself knocked to the ground by a giggling mass of white fur.
"Get. OFF." The mass disobeyed, staying there a moment, before quickly withdrawing. Mezza rose to his paws, looking at the other Pokemon-another Zorua, this one a bright shade of white. Her body, fur, everything-everything except her eyes, which were a cool blue color. The fur was not natural, though whether it was dyed, an illusion, or what Mezza could not tell, nor did he care. A small ribbon adored her right ear, which was red. While not complimentary to the blue of her eyes, it was enough to keep her eyes from being distracting. She sat with an elegant, gentle posture-after all, she was nobility. She stared at him with unblinking eyes, full of adoration-unrequited as it was. He stared back with anger-he had been doing this for years, since she had run into him at a party and decided she was in love. It was, bluntly, very annoying. He could not tell whether she was smitten or simply trying to secure a position as queen later on-though it meant very little to him.
"You look so adorable when you get mad~" She spouted in her singsong way, smiling, "Although you could show some respect and stay inside." Mezza looked at her in confusion for a few seconds.
"The black, fiery depths of Hell does that have to do with anything!?" The Zorua pouted, although it was a mock, exaggerated gesture-or at least, he assumed it was.

"Because, your...um..." She gestured toward the ruff of fur around her neck. "...whatever you call that is normally all nice and warm and fluffy so it makes a great headrest but since you went outside it got all cold and it got covered in ice." That reminded him of another habit she had-randomly resting her head on his mane. Of course, it was not entirely unplesant as, loathe he was to admit it, he had come to be able to tolerate her to at least some degree and her presence gave him an excuse to ignore whatever hell was going on around him. But right now there was no such-

"The princey is out alone with a lady, eh? Picks up from his father." Mezza froze, eyes locked onto the wall in front of him. He knew already the voice's owner, and he was not going to enjoy this. "Cat got your tongue? Agh. I don't understand just how your father is still in power, the damn wretch. And of course your mother, your mother, oh the time the bards of foreign lands have with her exploits. What has she done since she came into power? Smack you around and complain her son will not be king. HAH! I doubt your father even has plans of that, after all he literally stabbed his father through the back with his bare claws to get where he is, I doubt he wants any more children than is necessary." Finally, Mezza tore his eyes over to the speaker. It was a Sneasal, a slim, short creature with a head bent forward like that of a cat, a red pair of two primal, hateful eyes, those of a killer, those of a cold, cold creature. He had triangular ears, midnight blue fur, and a pair of arms with paws at the ends, each sporting a pair of two nasty looking claws. The top of his head was adorned by a long, red feather. This...was Draco.